Executioner/Merlin v Rifter

Vincent Lorrene @ 00:40
Mentis Fidelis [Circle-Of-Two]
Executioner, Mannar, Everyshore, 0.3

Chadilac @ 00:41
Mentis Fidelis [Circle-Of-Two]
Merlin, Mannar, Everyshore, 0.3

A fight is more exciting when there are multiple targets, needless to say I was somewhat excited. So I'm on another very long roam over 50 jumps and I'm doing my usual, jump into system, check local, do some scanning, fight or move on. In this case I jump into Mannar where there's no more than four in local including myself. There are two ice belts and three roid belts. I figure what the hell and jump to the bottom belt. Not expecting to find much I drop out of warp and to my surprise not one but two ships present themselves. Vincent in a Merlin and Chadilac in the Executioner.

So I beat to quarters and clear for action. The Executioner is the closest so I focus on him, mods are activated and the Executioner is locked. It didn't take long to take his shields and armor, of course his hull was no match for my faction ammo. During the executioner engagement I made sure to not lose situational awareness in regards to the Merlin. I don't remember if the Executioner ever took my shields, a quick glance and I felt I was in good shape. The 400 RTP and three trimarks are a lot to chew through. I was hoping Merlin was rail or blaster fit in which case my neut would come in handy, as it turns out he was rail fit. I really didn't have a tactic vs the Executioner, but I did have one in regards to the Merlin. I know that some pilots like to fit blasters so my first order of business was to gain some separation which I did. After looking at his fit I realized he was fit for ratting, at least that's what it looked like to me. He had an active shield tank in which case my neut proved to be even more valuable.

It was a gf from my perspective, I think if they were a little more coordinated in their efforts they would have had a chance. I also think I surprised them which accounts for their somewhat slow reaction. Chatting with Vincent after the fight revealed his partner was fairly new so I threw them 50M to get them back into some ships. In the end I'm not really a pirate, I don't ransome or rely on my kills to make iskies. I prefer to fly alone and lowsec is the best place to solo, it requires more skill especially in locating targets. Besides I like being blinky red.