Not all mobile tractor units were created equal

After our adventures with drunk Russians, me and Trey left for high-sec. You know when sometimes there's a voice that speaks to you? I haven't been in the empire for a long time and it usually is just for a short time. This particular time, there was a deep urge to do something in high-sec. Anything. Might have something to do with nostalgia to my past shenanigans. Without thinking much I've opened the zkillboard and searched for mtu kills. I don't know why, I just did it. It didn't take long for me to notice a pattern. A certain individual had unexplained hard-on for mtu kills.

Almost daily, like clockwork, he would kill mtus left and right. Ship of choice? Non other than a Machariel. While most people use a t1 cruiser or a t3 destroyer, this guy was using a faction battleship. No messing around, His prime-time matched ours and I just knew this was it. I suggested Trey we try and bait this guy. After all, I know a thing or two about this kind. We went to the nearest hub, bought a new shiny mobile tractor unit and proceeded to the system. The plan was simple. Find the guy in the system, drop mtu, park cloaked Proteus 5km away and wait for the Machariel to appear. I do just that.

We theorized a little bit what would happen if the guy actually had a lot of neutral alts or other corps supporting him. A not unusual thing for the high-sec baiters, but the killboard intel did not show anything to be concerned about. I drop an mtu, keep eyes on the station with probes ready to get Machariel's ship signature once he undocks. There are also other combat probes present in the system and I am confident those are the probes of our target, since narrowing down d-scan I saw them towards my mobile tractor unit.

After waiting several minutes. the Machariel undocks. Without wasting any time he warps to the mobile tractor unit and I follow. I land 5km away, just in time to see the faction battleship charge in with guns blazing against the defenseless structure. The velocity concerned me as it was almost twice as fast as my Proteus, but he did not see the need to orbit the mobile tractor unit. Big mistake. I decloak, activate sensor booster and lock the battleship in just seconds.

Once tackled, I order the fleet, sitting next door, to jump in and warp at best speed. Fight is not over yet. I can get neuted and lose the scrambler and it would take one mwd pulse for the Machariel to create distance. But thanks to Nestors fast align time and an extra warp speed rig, the fleet lands before Machariel can do anything. Ship goes down and oh boy:

If you were looking for a proper fit against mtus, look no further. The loot fairy generously drops most of the faction loot. I have had a straight forward, according the plan, baits before, but this probably takes the cake. It would be quite difficult to be more predictable. I am surprised this guy haven't lost a ship in such a long time, but I was happy to remind him high-sec is not as safe place and you can't relax, even while shooting the defenseless mobile tractor units. 

Few days later, I receive a follow up email.

What a surprise, the day following the kill, there were no mtu kills. After I explained, that this was purely an opportunistic bait kill, with no grudges involved from anyone, Gandsky was back to his old habits. Good for him that there's nobody else to take the advantage of his predictability. Wink, wink.