Stale constellations
2nd November 2013 – 3.53 pmThere is no change in the home system beyond the standard wormhole churn. I say hello to people, delete and move bookmarks, and scan and resolve the new static wormhole. Jumping through to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system and updating my directional scanner sees the pretty normal sight of a tower and Orca. I pay it little mind, expecting the industrial command ship to be empty and simply stored inside the tower's force field. But d-scan also shows me four Basilisks. That's distinctly abnormal, and positively weird.
Maybe the logistics ships are repairing the tower's defences or force field but, even if they are, if they are doing it together they could just switch to repairing each other. It would take a lot more firepower than just me to break through a chain of four logistic ships. So I suppose it's not so disappointing for my notes from eight months earlier to point me directly to the tower and to find none of the ships piloted. It's still weird that the four Basilisks are just left floating there, though.
Weirdness uncovered, I scan. My notes also tell me that the system holds a static exit to null-sec, which could be good. On top of that, the two anomalies and ten signatures give me gas, a data site, and two chubby wormholes. The K346 connection has some background radiation visible and a yellow-green Jovian splotch, and takes me out to a system in the Venal region, where there are other pilots around but no other signatures. That's okay, I don't want to be here anyway.
The second wormhole in C3a is a K162 that's almost C2-like, but the deceptive blue band is actually empire colouring. It is also a null-sec connection, with the flying lizard version of the Malpais nebula that can only mean it comes from Oasa. A system in Oasa, specifically, with no other pilots and a couple of extra signatures. Scanning here can be Plan B. Back to C3a to check the third wormhole and I see another K162 from null-sec, this one with a mixture of Stain and Immensea. What can it be? Ah, Tenerifis, a new one for me, that's good.
There are even Hulks mining in the system in Tenerifis. Well, the exhumers were mining. They're not any more. The transparent local communication channel alerts those in the system to my presence this time, the dumbscovery scanner merely strongly hinting that I entered through a wormhole. I take a look around for the Hulks, just in case they are not paying attention, but all I find are abandoned canisters of ore in a field of rocks. No doubt they'll be returned to once I've gone, and I see no reason to stay.
Plan B. Back to the system in Oasa to scan. One signature is a combat site, the other a wormhole. But where's my K162, null-sec? This is a useless N432 outbound connection to class 5 w-space. Bah, it'll have to do. In I jump to C5a, to a clear d-scan and some recent notes. Two towers were present three weeks ago, both currently out of range of my position. Exploring finds that, yes and yes, they both remain, but they lack a hauler making trips through a K162 from low-sec for me to surprise. Well, as far as I know. Maybe I should scan for one, just in case.
Twelve anomalies and fifteen signatures are whittled down to what looks like just the H296 being of interest, until the final signature also resolves to be a wormhole. And warping to the second wormholes sees it to be a K162 from null-sec—with the dancing-man version of the Malpais nebula, and so coming from Outer Passage—at the end of its life, so the H296 wormhole to further w-space is indeed the only signature of interest. And not even that, as it turns out. My glorious leader has appeared and has started to collapse our static wormhole.
I think Fin's killing our connection to give her something to do, not to finally get me out of the system, and I head back so that we can explore a new constellation together. I return in time to do nothing but circle lazily around the wormhole as Fin waits for polarisation effects to dissipate before throwing the final massive ship through and back again. The wormhole implodes, a new one pops up, and we soon have a replacement neighbouring system to appear in with no element of surprise.
A tower with an Iteron looks good on d-scan in C3a, but even if the discovery scanner hadn't announced our imminent arrival I don't think the hauler was going to collect planet goo without a pilot. We're back to scanning, the fourteen anomalies and eight signatures quickly reduced to the static exit to low-sec and a T405 outbound connection to class 4 w-space. Fin sticks with w-space, I head out to, of course, Aridia, where three extra signatures give me gas, a combat site, and a wormhole. It's a K162 from another class 3 system, the poor buggers. Maybe I can put them out of their misery.
My first thought in jumping in to a large warp bubble encapsulating the wormhole to low-sec in C3b is that it is rather suggestive of activity occurring. My second thought is that it is perhaps suggestive of a desire to hinder activity. Either way, I ignore it, partly because I only see a tower on d-scan, and partly because it's only a warp bubble. I warp away, bumping in to a second tower on d-scan that I would have known about had I paid attention to my notes from a previous visit, but there are still no ships.
Scanning the system has little to reveal, with a mere three anomalies and two signatures. In such a clean system I would expect the errant signature to be another wormhole, but today the constellation stops with an unwanted relic site. Okay, game over. Two dull constellations already, and I don't want to bang my prow in to stale wormholes more tonight. There's always tomorrow! For now, I find a clone soldier in low-sec to pop for his tag—dunno what to do with it still, I should research this—before heading home to slink quietly in to a corner.
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