Tuskers Gonna Tusk

Once a Tusker - always a Tusker. At least that's what several (curiously some of them former) corpmates confirmed in their interviews with NEUN correspondent Sketur Treveiwern (collected in Romeo Blakstorms logs Life Among the Pirates Cutthroats Pirates again).

Back when it was my turn, I couldn't provide a definite answer myself. But recent events lead me to believe that it can't be far from the truth.

I was out hunting in my Vengeance. I had been wildly impressed with its capabilities, as it is always the case with vessels Suleiman Shouaa recommends; on its very first roam, it devastated a Wolf/Rifter combo. What a joy it was to actually see my armour crawl back up to 100 percent when only the Rifter remained.

To see it mauled by a swarm of angry drones a couple of days later was however rather unpleasant - PreZiDenT1 had mischievously called his Myrmidon after a very young pilot in system and only had to wait for me at an asteroid belt.

Well played, and he was lucky too: both my rather expensive afterburner and armour repair unit survived the explosion. So I figured I'd like them back, though having no other option but to pay for them.

After I politely asked PreZiDenT1 for said trade, he invited me to dock at Hulmate's only station. Dock up I did and promptly was greeted by an incoming transmission of two items. I was a bit confused why PreZ confirmed it without any discussion for a price so far.

Being the nice person I am, rather than hitting ACCEPT!!1 as fast as I could have, I asked if this was intended. PreZ assured me of that and I thankfully received the modules back.

To clear my confusion, he advised me to check his employment history - indeed, he had been a Tusker for quite some time.


Another time and more recently I undocked in a Taranis. Mere moments later, I arrived at Jovainnon gate in Hevrice and got targeted by another Taranis; I decided to fight back. Long story short, I failed miserably. A prime example of what happens if you hesitate a second too long in an interceptor fight. More importantly - even more embarassingly - I didn't deploy my drones.

The pilot I was going against was Caster Rom, also a former Tusker who likes to visit us in Hevrice now and then. As I undocked in a Rifter to maybe turn this day around, he was sitting near the docking bay. I decided it was time to kite yet another web-less Taranis. Except that it wasn't yet another web-less Taranis, but an ex-Tusker's Taranis.

I might have should have won this time, but instead I got plenty of reason to kick myself: no Barrage loaded, no overheated afterburner. Pop. The first Rifter I have ever lost to a Taranis. A dual-prop Taranis. Yes, the ones with no web I normally laugh about.

Here is what normally goes on in local when someone gets to pop a usually at least half-way competent pilot of a pirate corp two times within five minutes: ... you know what? I'm sure you get the idea.

If the pilot has flown under the Tusker banner in his past however, chances are you will get none of that rubbish. And if he doesn't care for the autocannons and ammunition he got to loot, he might even give those back to you.

I'm sure there are other pilots out there without any relation to The Tuskers, who would be just as good sports as PreZ and Caster after wiping the floor with you. But it's great to see that one seems almost certain:
Once a Tusker - always a Tusker.

And another thing: you better bring your A-game when you go up against one.

At least if he happens to remember his bloody A-game that is...