So... I'm not dead.

Yep, just getting that out of ze way. Over the last few weeks I've been forced into a bit of a sabbatical from EVE due to school and such, but I'm back. :)

So I decided to mix it up a bit, and do some can flipping instead of missioner ganking, since that's pretty much all we in Jerks do. I jump into my nearest Rifter, and undock in it with my alt in his Orca tagging behind, acting as hauler for whatever I manage to pillage from the belts. I head over to Botane, which is one system off Dodixie, and start prowling the belts in order of name. After literally a few minutes, I came across a Miner by the name of Outrageously French, in his Retriever mining his little heart out into a can. Of course, the relationship bears seem to have with their ore has always intrigued me, and this was no different. This called for an experiment! I waltzed up to his can, and opened the contents... FULL! Wow. I had underestimated this one. He seriously thought that he could protect his stash with his Retriever? I dropped my own can, and dumped his ore into it. Seconds later, he popped another can out, and flipped it back! This was a little weird... Never had a bear do that before... And he only had mining drones out too. Well, not one to turn my nose up at something juicy put right in front of me, I locked, scrammed, webbed him (not like a scrammed retty's going anywhere), and opened up with my little frigate. it took a little longer than I'm used to, what, with using a throwaway fit and all, but in under 15 seconds, his retriever was no more. I instructed my Orca alt to jump in and clean up the mess, while I went in search of more prey. I fired off a message to Mr. French, only to find out that he had ragelogged minutes after the kill.

I found myself in Auvergne, another system right off Dodixie, tearing through empty belts. I came across Tandenil in his hulk in the next one, another bear mining away... Again I walked up to the can, and took a peek. FULL! What is it with the bears today? I come back and suddenly they're all being completely careless? I flipped the can, and watched as he warped off. Once again I instructed my Orca to pick up the goods while I went on. A few minutes and empty belts later, I happened to glance at my alt's screen. The Hulk pilot was back in an Incursus! Feeling lucky, I warped to the belt, but, sadly, he warped _just_ before I landed. So I went back to belt scanning. Four belts later, I warp to zero, and land right on top of his Incursus. Oh crap... I slam on my afterburner, and hit max speed in an attempt to put some distance between myself and his more than likely short range weapons. He immediately targets me, and turns a flashy red. I scram and web him, and open up. Surprisingly, his shields melt in a few seconds, and I wonder what exactly he's fit with... Next, he launches a drone - a Hobgoblin I. At this point, it's doing more damage than his little frig, so I target it, and begin to take it out. When it's in half structure, he recalls it. Darn. :(

Now, we've switched, and I'm chasing him, apparently, he had enough sense to throw a web on me as well, so I was having trouble keeping up, and he was slowly getting out of point range (note, fit a disruptor, and not a cheap scram you looted from someone). When he was at about 1/3 structure, with me overheating, he warped. Crap. This time, I had a good estimate at a direction, and I took a gander at the station, and hit warp. My little Rifter shuddered out of warp once again right on top of him, and I used the element of surprise to instantly lock him up, scram/web, and let loose with pre-overloaded guns. The third of his hull, as well as the last quarter of his armor vanished in two volleys at point blank range, and he was reduced to a floating capsule. Unfortunately, this one too, shed no tears.

I cruised the belts some more after that, and ended up scooping around 3 more full cans of ore, before heading home to sell all my loot. All in all, a successful day, netting me a full Orca of loot to melt down. This just goes to show that one can have much fun by simply trying out something out of the norm for you, of course, missioners and their tears will still have a special place in my heart, but in all honesty, flipping miners' cans is just fun.