Somehow A Good Day, With Help From The Harriers

The eleventh of November was an interesting day to be sure. I started it by joining Suresha Sakaane Eionell and Mahesha Bataav as they began the planned "removal" of a Pilot Owned Customs Office in Vey. Really they should be called COCO's or Corporation Owned Customs Offices, but I digress. I brought the heaviest DPS ship I had available, a blaster fit Dominix, to assist in their efforts. We were later joined by several other ILF pilots, and over the course of the next few hours we continued to bombard the POCO with ridiculous amounts of firepower, hiding as necessary when neutrals and hostiles wandered into system. My personal troubles began as we were nearing the end of our structure grind, when we were scouted by a HYDRA RELOADED pilot flying the limited release Chremoas covert ops. Most everyone got away by the time a small fleet arrived, including Sakaane in her Abaddon, but my Domi was still next to the POCO when my cloak was popped due to proximity and locked down. I was unable to bring any of my considerable DPS to bear on my captors due to their small size and speed, and the end came relatively quickly for my poor Domi. The crew had been ordered to evacuate once I lost control of the warp core, so their losses were minimal, but with a ship the size of the Dominix there were bound to be a few regrettable losses. I was later informed of an interesting fact: aligning with a cloak engaged will still help you get into warp faster, something that had allowed Sakaane to get her Abaddon out before it could be scrambled.
We returned a while later when the coast was clear to finish the job we had started, this time I was flying my lower DPS, but much safer Manticore Stealth Bomber. We quickly tore through the remaining few shreds of the Interbus POCO, and stood by while some of our allies set up their own. All in all a successful operation, despite the loss of my Dominix to my own ignorance, though in my own defense it's not often I fit a cloak to a battleship... 
Over the the next hour or so, members headed planetside for the day, while some remained in and around Intaki. A few of us discussed the upcoming overhaul of many ships and other upgrades to the Neocom in the coming weeks. My biggest concern during this discussion ended up being the Orca Industrial Command Ship I somehow moved into Intaki unscouted, and how the changes to more efficient warp calculations might effect my ability to get it back out again. I queried the vetted Intaki Intelligence channel, wondering if anyone would be willing to help scout me out of lowsec now that my industrial work foe the day was complete. A short time later I a positive response was sent by Hong WeiLoh, so I quickly transferred my pod to the Orca and got the now active-duty crew working on moving all the necessary ships and materials into its holds. Less than 20 minutes later I was undocked from Intaki V-5 on my way to my new hisec mining location, Hong as the vanguard of our small fleet, and another Harrier by the name of Apollo Kids guarding the rear. 
The trip itself was rather anticlimactic in reality, we quickly and efficiently made our way to the nearest high sec entrance to my destination. As I was dropping off the Orca Hong suggested we could go on a patrol after I was done, and I readily agreed, always looking for more action. I made my way back to Intaki to pick up my Algos, and the Harriers met me there before we headed out, Hong in another Algos and Apollo in a Thrasher. We made a loop through the Viriette constellationbefore making our way through the Pegeler constellation where we encountered a small group of TEST pilots in frigates. We scanned them to one of the complexes in the Moclinamaud system and quickly engaged. The Testies scattered as soon s we landed, warping off in multiple directions, but not before we were able to point and quickly destroy a Merlin, and then not so quickly a very well tanked Punisher. We continued on our patrol afterward, as we were averse to sticking around in case the Testies called in reinforcements. Our course took us for a quiet jaunt through the Josmaert constellation before we made our way back to Intaki, I think Hong and Apollo were ready to get some sleep at that point.
I trailed a bit behind, so when Hong and Apollo were on their way to resupply at their bases in Intaki, I was still sitting on the Agoze gate in system when a pirate named Titus Veridius emerged from warp nearby in an Algos. I targeted him and began to burn towards him as he turned and burned away from the gate, my ship letting loose the first salvo once we were out of jump range since he would have been destroyed by the gates defenses had he attacked me. What followed was a brutal fight as we engaged at close range, guns and electronic warfare blasting and blaring between us as our drones viciously careened all around us. My tank must have been just slightly better as my structure was half destroyed before his finally gave way, his pod quickly escaping the twisted wreckage. We both posted "Good Fight" into the local network as I turned my ship to gathering up the remains of his, including the abandoned and confused drones he had apparently purchased from me only moments before he got to the gate.
Hong congratulated me on my solo kill, apologizing that he hadn't made it in time to help, while observing that his fleet boosts as he made his way to me had likely provided that edge I had needed to outlast my opponent. I thanked him for all of his help and company throughout the night before he departed, likely to get some sleep, I think I'd kept him up rather later than his normal operating hours. As for myself, I limped my way back to home base, instructing the repair crews there to take their time getting my Algos put back together, as it was unlikely I would take it out again that night. As I relaxed into the hydrostatic fluid of my capsule to get some rest of my own, I imagined a small smile on my face. Despite the initial setback of the day it had ended on a pretty good note...