Many groups in New Eden practice the art of the black ops (BLOPs) drop. It consists of a covert cyno-capable ship (often a stealth bomber) finding a high value target (usually a solo ratting battleship) and decloaking and tackling the target and then lighting the covert cyno.
Then a number of his friends cyno in via a Black Ops bridging ship and destroy the target. These ships are often BLOPs battleships and/or stealth bombers but any ship with a Covert Ops Cloaking Device fitted can be used including Stratioses and even Strategic cruisers. The practice is so common in null sec that many inhabitants will not rat with a cloaky neutral or red in system.
But not all.
Shtangist007 of Monkey Attack Squad decided he was going to bait some BLOPs droppers from Rote Kapelle. He knew who he was dealing with having had brushes with them before. He watchlisted their cyno pilot Nemo Sakana and when he saw Nemo online on December 10, he warped his bait Rattlesnake into a Forsaken Hub and waited.
Nemo took the bait. He tackled Shtangist007 with his Prospect and lit the cyno. Shtangist007 quickly killed the Prospect but not before six Stratioses and two stealth bombers cynoed in.
What happened next is the stuff of legend and the reason you are reading about it now. Shtangist007 proceeded to destroy his attackers.
“I killed first the cyno, second all Stratioses in range of my scram,” said Shtangist007.
One by one the passive shield-tanked neuting nano Stratioses went boom. Boom! Boom! Boom! Kaboom! (And a little ‘pop’ for one stealth bomber.) The remaining two Stratioses and one stealth bomber then pulled range to get the hell out of harm’s way and had to suffer the indignity of watching helplessly from afar as Shtangist007 looted the field, smoke and fire trailing from his battered Rattlesnake. Gf’s were exchanged in local and we can imagine they were sincere.
Shtangist007 showed us his fit but asked us not to publish it. We can tell you it is a fairly standard active shield-tank fit, nothing that would raise an eyebrow from Rattlesnake pilots out there. So it is all the more to his credit that he defeated his enemies by the use of skill rather than technology. Shtangist007 did admit he made liberal use of boosters and overheating. No kidding!
Perhaps Rote Kapelle intended to drop more ships but the cyno was destroyed before any more could get through. We do not know because the pilots we contacted declined to comment, perhaps understandably. Certainly they will be adjusting their calculations somewhat after this failed drop.
We asked Shtangist007 if he intends to bait them again even if they will bring more next time.
“Yes. I’m always ready for battle. I have had many chocolates from them,” he replied.
Congratulations Shtangist007 on such an impressively successful bait. We are sure there are many Rattlesnake pilots out there who have lost their ships to BLOPs drops who are now taking inspiration from you.
“Let our enemies know, the Goons have samurai.” – Shtangist 007.
This article originally appeared on TheMittani.com, written by Ion Blacknight.
