The capsuleer who warps out in a Tristan but comes back in a pod

There is still not much to find in our home w-space system. This makes finding the wormhole to the neighbouring C3 system quick, and I poke the nose of my borrowed frigate through to see what is on the other side. First, I bookmark the wormhole itself, as it has a separate entity in each system. Second, I activate the directional scanner, which shows general activity in the system. Finding a tower and a few ships indicates that the system is inhabited and, unless the capsuleers are sleeping, the sites are probably unavailable for us to run. But I still have a wormhole exit to k-space to find.

The first wormhole I locate in the C3 system leads to deeper w-space, a C4 system with a pulsar. I bookmark the location, but head back to the C3 to exhaust the possibility of an exit wormhole there first. Another check of the d-scan reveals a Raven and Hurricane now in the system, rather than the more benign ships previously. I suppose the inhabitants detected the presence of scanning probes and are adopting a defensive posture, which is understandable. I am not overly concerned about the two ships at the moment, as I can quite safely sit cloaked at an arbitary point in the system whilst continuing to scan.

I see another wormhole. I show a little caution and approach the wormhole at range, rather than warping directly on top of it, because of the change in attitude of the inhabiting capsuleers. As the ship slows to sub-light speeds, my screens and overview become busier. There is a warp bubble surrounding the wormhole and the two hostile ships are waiting inside it as an ambush for unwary travellers, so it is good that I am wary. As soon as I drop out of warp I engage the cloaking device, to foil attempts to lock-on to the ship, and, yes, I am training to fit a covert ops cloaking device. I quickly turn tail and warp back to the wormhole to our system, returning to our tower.

It is possible that the capsuleers assume I came from the wormhole they have bubbled, and were looking for easy prey to pick on, which gives credence to the wormhole leading to high-sec space. Locking down the wormhole also preserves their claimed system, a good tactic to employ when running sites in a system with an exit to k-space. Back at the tower, I return the borrowed Imicus to the relief of its owner, and I tell him of the bubble and two ships on what I suppose to be the exit wormhole. His curiosity is piqued, and he grabs a ship out of the hangar, as he wants to 'see what size bubble it is'.

Off he warps. 'Oh, the two ships were a Raven and Hurricane', I finally remember. I was a little flustered when he asked during my rapid warp out before. Then a capsule returns to the tower. 'Didn't you leave here in a Tristan?' It seems that the hostile ships were rather more prepared this time, and manage to destroy his frigate before he even has a chance to turn around. I suppose my failure at supplying intelligence caused his own failure of intelligence. At least he comes back in a pod, and with the knowledge that it is a medium bubble on the wormhole. And I know that my colleague has just lost a ship, but I can't help but giggle at the comedy. Going to reconnoitre an ambush and getting ambushed is an embarrassing accident that cannot be concealed when he returns in a bare pod, although I'm giggling perhaps a little too much.

'I think it's safe', I say about ten minutes later. 'Why don't you go back to take another look?' I am only teasing, still tickled. To my astonishment, he actually grabs another ship and warps off! Now I am starting to feel guilty, thinking that the next communication I hear will be from his clone. Luckily, he only enters the C3 to drop a probe on top of the bookmarked wormhole, which lets him verify that the bubble and two ships are still there. He comes home safely and intact this time.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: eve online, hurricane, imicus, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, raven, scanning, tristan, w-space