Avoiding the Executioner

Another day of scanning. Without enough colleagues to engage Sleepers there is little else to do in w-space. I wouldn't mind the lack of w-space activity so much if it didn't take so long to scan an exit back to New Eden that I then can rarely take advantage of that exit. I really ought to collect the dozens of datacores that my R&D partners have accumulated, or perhaps run a few missions so that I can get the salvage required to manufacture rigs on my newly researched blueprints. But scanning an exit takes time, and ending a session outside of w-space risks not being able to be guided back in easily for the next. Hopefully, more experience at scanning will let me find exit wormholes sooner.

I find the wormhole out of our w-space system and start scanning today's neighbour. The neighbouring system is unoccupied, but cleared of any interesting sites. There are no opportunities to profit here, but at least the location of a connecting wormhole is quicker to find. The next system is occupied, the directional scanner revealing a Nighthawk, Basilisk, and a couple of Drakes present. What a sensible corporation this seems, with their Caldari shield-tanking ways. I'm sure they won't mind a Buzzard scanning in their system. Still in a class 4 w-space system, it is unlikely I'll find an exit to k-space, but I am surprised when I find one anyway. The wormhole leads to null-sec space in New Eden and has been bubbled on this side, presumably by the occupants of the system. No one seems to be monitoring the warp bubble, making it less of a deterrent, but I also don't fancy a trip through null-sec, so I return to scanning.

A second wormhole is found in the system, this one leading to a class 3 or lower system. As I am about to pass through the wormhole, a quick last check of d-scan shows a Loki now in the system, which is a little concerning. But the ship isn't local to the overview, so apart from my scanner probes disappearing from d-scan indicating that I've moved on, he won't know in to which system I've headed. The next system is unoccupied and full of signatures to resolve. The corporation won't want to head three systems deep to run Sleeper sites, even if there weren't a small fleet of powerful ships in the way, so I ignore any signature that isn't a wormhole.

Luckily, I find a wormhole fairly quickly, but this one also leads to null-sec space. Without the hindrance of a warp bubble on the wormhole, I consider poking my nose through to null-sec to see if anything is happening, but activity on d-scan changes my mind. An Executioner appears in the system. There are still many ship names and types I don't recognise, nor understand the relative capabilities of, and 'Executioner' sounds sufficiently dangerous to make me reconsider my actions. Judging from our own neighbouring system having been cleaned of sites, I imagine this is a scout for a fleet looking to clear this system too. I don't want to be caught on a wormhole when a fleet of Tech II and III ships is travelling for combat, so it seems like a good time to head home and drop off the bookmarks I have gathered.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: buzzard, eve online, executioner, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space