I had the merciless mercenary in my sights for some time. It had become clear that our online times varied to the point I rarely saw his green lit up image at the bottom of my datapad.
When it did a few weeks ago and I was scheduling some more Celebrity Death Matches I had the least success of my CDM career. Chribba turned me down for the fact he could not afford to beat me, he has a clean reputation to uphold. That very same day I had been denied the opportunity by Mr Turrek. Being a mercenary and on war contracts for most of his time he had no space on his busy schedule to meet me.
He did however keep the possibility of a meeting open if he would get some time away from the front line. As I follow his blogs loyally I spotted a reference at the bottom of one of his posts last week.
The blog ended with;
PS: And Nash, I'm on R&R, so hit me up if you see me online. We'll see what we can do.
Sweet, I thought, as I immediately changed my bio to read the match was pending, not declined.
This morning mid chores, and skill-queue update I spotted his stern face in my ‘TO CONVO FOR CDM’-list. Without hesitation I requested the conversation. ‘Aha’ Hallan started. ‘Yes, I come calling’ I replied.
I had only met Hallan Turrek once before but his cold and short replies had become familiar. He talks when he has to but says the minimum the conversation requires. A real man, who does not waste time on frivolous conversation, getting to the point quickly.
He indicated he was preparing a ship and instructed the meeting place was to be in the Dodixie area. I logged and re-logged to do the first Celebrity Death Match with my to-be-main Nashh Kadavr.
Without further ado I set of from my temporary (hopefully permanent) home Evati. I had spent most of my week getting some combat vessels ready and have found the Kestrel setup I like the most. The little buggers have been good fun to fly and above all are affordable. Most of my ships and modules have been purchased lately as my production line has halted. Also some upcoming events have forced me to spend many 100’s of millions of isk and thus the wallet size is decreasing rapidly.
I don’t mind however; it only increases the tension when taking a ship out and makes it all more exciting.
Hallan indicated he was not going to stay up much longer thus I had to get a move on. I got briefly interrupted by the mother in law unplugging the router. She clearly does not understand the importance of spaceship battles versus hoovering.
I apologised for the interruption but Mr Turrek had waited patiently and had found the location he wanted to meet. The fight was to be at the sun in Ethernity.
On route Hallan had requested a specific rule, one I had already anticipated and did not require a refit. There was to be no ECM. My fight with Venom Orchid still echoing bad vibes through the celebrity community…
On arrival and meeting at the sun we were to take from each others can then take 30 clicks distance from one another. A classic duel, very cool, with our backs to pressed firmly together we started to create a gap between us. Saving every ounce of capacitor this took a little longer than it could have done but it gave me time for some screen shots.
When the space between his Rifter and my Kestrel reached 30 k I turned and made steady pace towards the foes vessel. I expected him to settle in a tight orbit and thus I selected an orbit slightly wider.
Without delay I locked and fired. Every rocket valiantly screamed to the target but fell short and exploded mid space. The bright sun filling my screen forced me to switch camera angles regularly but on closer inspection it was not me wanting the wider orbit, it was him…
‘Crap’ I uttered in our chat window. My shields where taking a steady pounding. Rocket bays had emptied and reloaded the Faction Thorn Rockets automatically. Overheating my afterburner and some manual forced approaches still did not allow me to get within range.
There was only one option left; run… I aligned to a celestial and burned away from my foe in the hope I could create enough distance and give my shield a chance to heal. Epic fail is the only way to describe the effort. The mercenary’s microwarpdrive had me where he wanted me and stripped the remaining sliver of shield.
For a brief moment I remembered my fight with Roc’s Firetail. I pictured a tall man holding a midget at arms length whilst kicking him in the groin…
Without a Damage Control the armour and hull where left unprotected and vanished like snow dropping in a live volcano.
A good fight it was indeed, very frustrating but played well. Mr Turrek explained he did some research himself and had prepared an artillery fit Rifter for this occasion.
It brings new problems for me to think that I have brought the same setup to this fight as I did to various ones before it. Clearly an opponent spending a little time on preparation will find a more suitable fit to fight what I am likely to bring.
I had really hoped to beat Hallan, not because it’s Hallan but because he flies under the Noir banner. With 10 minutes to go before the Alliance Tournament my friends in the Bastards got the order to stand down and where informed that a different Alliance was to be the reserves called upon to participate.
I had hoped to bring a smile to the Bastards faces by beating a member of Noir. Instead I was beaten black and blue and sent home with my tail between my legs.
Hallan, although tired, perked up a bit and we talked for the remaining minutes before downtime. A genuine nice guy and it has been my pleasure to lose against a clever and formidable opponent.
I hope to get an opportunity at some point in the future to meet him in the wild and take my revenge…
Related Links/Posts;
Mr Turrek’s Blog; http://amerrylifeandashortone.blogspot.com/
Noir Kill Boar; http://noir.pinacoderm.com/killboard/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=5562
CDM Kill Board; http://818-k.eve-tools.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=19
