To catch a Hurricane...

The Hurricane is very easily my preferred piracy ship. It packs a destructive punch. It resembles a Star Destroyer. It is highly versatile in that it can be effectively shield tanked and/or armor tanked. Furthermore, you can equip it with auto-cannons and missiles or auto cannons and neuts / nos. In short, there is no cookie cutter Cane load-out which keeps adversaries on their toes. Lastly, and most importantly, in true Minmatar fashion, the Cane is agile and fast (for a battlecruiser).

The brilliance of the Hurricane lies herein.

My corp. mates and I scanned a Drake class battlecruiser in the Lisbaetanne system. After scanning for several minutes we realized that this Drake was at a safespot. A call went out to one of our cov ops specialist who rapidly joined our foray in Lisbaetanne. The cov ops specialist released a fathom grade probe and shortly thereafter shouted feverishly over communications that he had a visual on the Drake about 70 km away. The cov ops specialist then closed to within 8 kilometers and ordered us to warp to him at 0.

This is the moment I, as a pirate, enjoy most - the anticipation of a kill. I activated the warp drive on my Hurricane and the vessel engines responded affirmatively. While in warp, knowing that the Drake would be within 5 to 10 km/s once I exited warp, I decided to load my preferred ammo, Hail M. Hail M is short range and high damage ammo which is larger than typical Matar ammo. The force of Hail M exiting my Hurricane's cannons is enough to cause a turbulence like effect throughout the Hurricane. As a result, the use of Hail M, unlike most other Matar ammo, requires cap use to stabilize the ship.

As I exited warp, I activated my microwarpdrive and moved within 1000 meters of the Drake. I then activated my autocannons and the mighty Drake - known for its massive shield tank - eventually succumbed to my and my corp. mates fire. As always, I recorded evidence of this engagement in my log book and saluted the Drake pilot.

The Drake pilot, understandably, was not happy about the loss of his ship. Shortly after we popped the Drake two to three Megathron class battleships appeared on our ship scanners. The cov ops specialist reported that the Megas were camping a station. We decided that the Megas did not pose much of a threat and idled at a safe spot while our criminal timers reset. This, we would learn, was a false sense of secuirty.

Within minutes, I was aroused by the sound of several Megathrons attaining a target lock on my Hurricane. With the Mega pilots, in a separate ship, was the Drake pilot whom we just relieved of his battlecruiser. Apparently, the Megas also had a cov op's specialist with them who managed to locate our small fleet due mostly to our complacency. My corp. mates, being more alert than myself and flying ships which were more agile than mine, were able to immediately escape. However, before I could activate my ships engines, my Hurricane was scrambled, webbed, pinned down and apparently about to be blown to bits.

At this point, I had two options: 1) try to escape; or 2) try to pop the Drake pilot's ship before I went down. I chose option 1. I aligned towards a stack of planets and asteroid belts, activated the thermodynamics unit controls for my microwarpdrive then activated my microwarpdrive. My plan was, in true Minmatar fashion, to outrun my enemies, get out of web range, get out of scrambler range then warp away to the planets and belts ahead of me.

As my ship accelerated I watched my shields and armor melt away under the heavy firepower of the Megathrons. I then entered structure and at this point was convinced that this particular Hurricane had seen its last days. My ships sensors were in disarray and smoke spewed from every crevice and corner of my ship. As this went on I could hear my corp mates exclaiming: "What's going on?" "Did you get out?" "Did you lose your ship?" I then entered about 25% structure when the Hurricane hit its max speed of about 1800 km/s, damage began to come at a slower rate, and I was finally able to activate my warp drive. The Hurricane battlecrusier, moving faster than the Megathrons that aggressed me, escaped!

I docked the smokey heap at a station and thought to myself that piracy and ship loss typically go hand in hand but not on this day!