Killrights

Killrights. A Do-It-Yourself revenge liscense granted by CONCORD so that someone can seek retribution for a loss. I never gave it too much consideration before this last month when I took a much needed sabbatical from the constant back-and-forth without results that is the current Amarr-Minmatar conflict.

The loss was entirely avoidable. I idled at the gate as their gang arrived, intending to keep them there as long as possible by tanking their incoming fire until either the rest of my gang arrived or I had to jump. Apparently, however, I wasn't as close to the gate as I thought; an idiotic mistake that proved fatal for my ship and crew.

It would be more than a week later that I noticed the killrights and decided to take advantage of them. Each of those pilots would be added to my watchlist, allowing me to track them more easily. I have to say, my operations started off as what could be described as "rocky" at best. SotR Black Betty, an armor tanked Curse that had been tailor made for -and never used in- the ill fought Mandate War.

My first target, the name of which I cannot remember, was holed up in Kakakela in Lonetrek. I flew up there, my Curse having been designed to take on targets solo, was more geared towards disabling and outlasting an opponent, an option that wasn't available when my killrights target, or KRT, undocked in a Hookbill and quickly docked back up once I aggressed. Aggravated at the double failure (failing to destroy the target and tipping him off that I was after him), I decided to switch my ship of choice.

The next day I came back out in a brand new offense oriented Astarte-class command ship. Heavy Neutron Blasters, Magnetic Field Stabilizers, and some EC-300s just incase I got in over my head. Always good to have a back-up plan. This kind of power, I hoped, would give me the sheer power to instantly destroy anything too small to usually catch at an undock, and also give me the ability to destroy ships before they could slowboat back to a gate and jump through.

The next KRT I went after, Sobkilla, turned out to be idling around Domain, more specifically, my usual stomping grounds the Maddam constellation. However, home field advantage was apparently non-existant. My first attempt at ensnaring him had us both jumping through a gate and him coming out on the other side 35km away from me, much to far away to try and get a point before he could warp off, even in his Drake. Luckily, I was able to catch up with him again. Unluckily, my web activated before my scrambler, actually helping the bastard achieve warp and tipping him off that I was hunting him. At this point, I was wondering if this was going to be a futile endeavor. But I still had 3 weeks to get something, and I had a number of targets to choose from.

I think I probably put a few locator agent's kids through the academy with the amount of business I was giving them trying to track multiple KRTs at once. A good number of my targets seemed to live out of Kakakela, running contracts for the Caldari Navy. It would be in that system that I'd get my first break. While sitting outside the undock in my Astarte, I saw one of my marks, ArcAngel083, undock in a Nighthawk command ship. Knowing that I wouldn't be able to kill such a ship before he could dock, I decided to sit, wait, and observe. Even without me showing any signs of being active, he docked back up. I was afraid that word of my efforts had been spread through the ranks by the first two, and that the others would now be vigilant, or worse, have me marked for easy identification. However, soon after the redocking of the Nighthawk, another one of my KRTs undocked in a Noctis. I did the same as I did with the Nighthawk, staying still, giving no indication of my intentions. He floated out of the docking bay for a bit before I saw him start to align for warp. Setting my guns on overheat, I locked him up and made sure to activate my scrambler after achieving the lock to avoid the webbing disaster that happened with Sobkilla. My Astarte made short work of him. I removed Wolf from my watchlist, his debt paid. Knowing that ArcAngel083 wouldn't pop back out in something I'd be able to kill, I took my victory and went back home.

My next successful action took place a few days later, after I had decided to lay low a bit and let them come back out, for some had already shown signs of being aware of my intents. My apprentice had found another one of my KRTs for me, old Sobkilla, the one who got away. She found him chilling in the little pocket of high security space that his alliance called home. Best of all, he was doing in in a hulk. However, it seemed ol' Sobkilla remembered me. I jumped the gate, warped to the belt he was at, and landed just in time to see the tail end of his Hulk warping off into space. Hoping to maybe catch him on the station, I chased after him, but found him already docked up. Sure that he wouldn't undock with me sitting out there, I went ahead and left the system, sitting on the other side of the only gate out of the system. Maybe he'd come through. That was my hope, at least, so I waited for a short while. My patience was rewarded when he came through in a Drake. No Hulk, but I'd take it. To his credit, he didn't try and jump back through the gate, but instead engaged me from the get-go. Maybe he knew that if I didn't get a kill, I'd keep hunting him, and the advantage to killrights was that I got to choose when the fights would happen; he couldn't fire first. Whether that was his reason or he thought he could take me, he put up a fight. I'll admit, he lasted a bit longer than I thought he would. My Astarte's combination of high raw offensive power and an active tank was an unsurmountable obstacle for his Drake, however. I took what was left, removed Sobkilla from my list, and moved on.

There were, of course, times that I would go out and find targets unmoving. Plenty of times, while conducting normal business in the warzone, I'd stop by a locator agent and run a search for any active KRTs. Numerous times I'd get the reports back and they'd be still sitting in the same station. For hours. Even when I was an entire region away. Maybe it was a coincidence. Or maybe I was having an effect.

I again went after ArcAgel083. The locators were telling me he was in Kakakela. On the way back up there, I ran another locator, my usual practice, to see if he was still sitting in station or if he was out doing contract work in a neighboring system; in other words, if I had a chance to catch him. The locators told me he was in a neighboring system, somewhere in space. I set myself up on the Kakakela side of the stargate and waited. After a fair bit, I saw the gate activation and his name appear in local. Spotting me, he held his cloak for as long as he could. When it ran out, I engaged him, catching him before he could warp off. It was the Nighthawk again. I set about locking him down with a web and scram. He didn't engage me back, but began heading back towards the gate. The pitiful damage, a mere 13% of my raw volley, hinted that his last contract had been against the Gallente fleet. Seeing that I wouldn't be able to down him before he could get back, even at the slow rate of 68m/s, I began trying to bump him away from the gate. Guns blazing, drones swarming, and my ramming proved to not be enough to get through his mighty tank. At 25% shield the gate activated and he jumped through to safety. He had escaped, but besides a feeling of disappointment at being unable to attain the juicy kill, I felt that he had earned it.

Soon enough, the alloted time for my chances for revenge was about to end. I had one day left, and still had six KRTs to hunt, but only a handful of them online. Running another set of locators I found two missioning together in their usual Kakakela haunt. I wondered about how to tackle two at the same time. I could tackle both, but picking a fight with two large ships might be a bit more than I could handle. I did have the EC-300s, so I did have options. I'd just have to play it by ear when they came back through. I sent a scout into their system to watch for when they left, and I set myself up on the Kakakela side of their suspected gate of egress. After about a half hour of patient waiting, one of them jumped through, Altimo. This was a KRT that I hadn't seen too much activity from, and was curious about what I was about to catch him in. He held his cloak, however, and I knew that he recognized me sitting there on the gate even though the two of us had never met aside from the night of my Harbinger loss. So word of me had been spread. While Altimo held his cloak his friend jumped in, Duplicitous Eto. He and I had a number of encounters over the past couple weeks, with him even once trying to distract me in another Hookbill. As if I'd chase him around in my Astarte, hoping that some miracle would allow me to catch him. But his jumping though meant that Altimo hadn't warned him. Duplicitous Eto uncloaked first, his Drake either aligning out or back towards the gate. Still uncertain of what Altimo was in, I went for the certain kill that would be Eto's Drake. As soon as I agressed him, Altimo appeared on my overview. In a Machariel. Regardless of if I had even been able to lock something as slippery as a Machariel in the first place, this man was afraid of engaging my absolutely short-ranged Astarte in his speedy and agile Machariel that could likely keep me at arms reach with even the shortest ranged ammo loaded. Eto had sacrificed his Drake to save Altimo's Machariel. A noble act to save a fool. After Eto's Drake had been disposed of, Altimo even came back to the gate in his Machariel, idling at it and waiting for me to make a move. I thought he came back to exact certain justice against me, but I had less than a day left and a chance at a Machariel kill was one I couldn't pass up. I began approaching him, and once my ammo was reloaded I agressed him. And he warped off. Brave soul.

Aside from a standoff with a KRT Crow a region away later that night (He was content to watch me from 100km away), the encounter with the Altimo and Eto would be the last major operation before CONCORD revoked the killrights. However, for the cost of a Harbinger, I killed 1 Noctis, 2 Drakes, almost bagged a Nighthawk, scared the piss out of a Machariel, and instilled the fear of undocking in a few others. I may just take advantage of any future killrights for the interesting diversion they can be.

Oh, and the issue about the crew aboard the KRT ships that died for the "avenging" of my ship and crew who were lost to a mistake that was entirely my own? I find myself ok with it. The fact that I wouldn't have been ok with it before? I find myself unconcerned.