In for a Venture, in for a Drekavac

[Yto Itinen]

As it happens everyday, yours truly is on his way to do some escalations near LSC, when in Grispire, just before the last gate to the hisec island my D-scan picks a Venture named after its owner. I refit two scrams on my shield fit, PvE Stratios, and jump back to melt it, but he seems to be on a cosmic anomaly and before I can get probes out another neutral gets in system. I recognize her as a local PvE player from the hisec island, but I'm wary of being baited with a Venture so close to the gate, and decide to investigate further without uncloaking. Rat wrecks appear on D-scan and soon I'm on grid with the Drekavac she is flying. She is belt ratting! I weight my options and decide to tail her, and if needed, tackle her, even if I'm not fit to survive the clash.

A ping to HSC chat yields no results, as they are wary of bringing DPS over 7 jumps of Losec.
The ping to LSC chat is met with more enthusiasm and Glen Burney offers to rally DPS for this encounter

Roam members (4)

Spoiler

Amoni Panala - Republic Fleet Firetail
Glen Burney - Vexor Navy Issue
Miccio Kaku - Vexor Navy Issue
Yto Itinen - Stratios

The Drekavac continues ratting, belts and some green anoms which are not gated. As soon as we have the DPS and the cavalry is on their way, she warps off to the very dense center of the system and leaves D. Such bad timing
I still decide to check all the structures in the system, but there are lots of them, meanwhile the fleet is trickling nearby and checking adjacent systems.
Our luck turns, as Glen sees her in local in Pellile, but is not able to get her on D without spooking her. He is confident that our best bet is the cloaky ship that has followed her so far.
My jump to Pelille is lucky, as our victim is outside of D-scan range from the gate and has no idea what ship is in system with her. I pinpoint her location, get on grid with her and see she is belt ratting. She bounces again, but I see that in her direction there is only one belt.

This is our luckiest break in the long chain of fortunate events, as she warps 5 au from the gate where the main fleet lies in wait.
I get on grid 50 km from her and slowboat closer, but some debris breaks my cloak at 25 km. Overheated prop, overheated points and I notice she is redboxing me, so she is not ready to escape.
WWW in chat and the DPS lands and gets secondary point, as my tank is flashing structure. Once in my capsule, I start bouncing, but the engagement has been decided at that point.


Kills and Losses

(17:05:32) Pelille
Stratios -266.55m

(17:06:31) Pelille
Drekavac +494.6m

Stats
ISK Destroyed: 494,604,236.81
ISK Lost: 266,546,393.33
ISK Delta: 228,057,843.48
Efficiency: 64.981%


We got it!

This was my first time as a cloaky hunter for a fleet, and I have to thank the LSC corpmates for answering my call so swiftly (and for letting me keep the loot )

[Amoni Panala]

This was such a fun little thing to have happen. It sucks that you lost your stratios, but goodness was it worth it. Big thanks to you for going for it, thanks to Glen for your expertise in securing the kill, and thanks to Miccio for jumping in and providing that extra damage application.

[O'Hearn]

Thanks for sharing. Sorry about your lost Venture.