OK. I admit it, I am little trigger happy since the whole ore theft thing. Maybe a little bitter too. While doing an agent mission or two, to get a better one for locating people, I hear on the chat that Just Leonard was in Rens. I knew that this was just a couple of systems away and there I was in my pretty Thorax all loaded with guns.

A hasty search party is formed and off we go looking for him. After a couple of minutes it is clear that he is in non of the roid belts but he is still mouthing off in the local chat. I decide that he is either camped in a station or heading for Pator since he is known to frequent the stations there.

I check the stations while the others make their way to the gate. The first station I jump to gives me a yellow threat warning from a player. I open the window on his, some guy called Zotz, and notice he has a small bounty. OK it was only 5000 isk but what the hell…. Just Leonard is not in Rens anymore according to my friend who was in Pator and saw him heading for the Eram gate. I might as well make some profit here.

I lock the target, who was in a weak Probe, and set a course for intercept. I was then wondering as I was getting into range, 'Why isn't he warping?' He must think I won't fire. Well that was his mistake. After all, he does have a bounty. So I activate all my guns and watch in joy as his ship is pummelled. Then he manages to jump to warp before the second killing salvo comes in.

The next thing I know is getting whacked by the station guns. I managed to warp out of there quickly but lost a lot of armour. The reason? He did have a negative rating low enough for a bounty, but he was not low enough for free will attack. He had -1.6, he needed -5 minimum.

I can say one thing, it was a learning experience indeed.