Another Noctis for our hangar

The Sleepers are at it like bunnies. Scanning the home system finds two new frontier barracks anomalies the day after we clear three of them. It would be a iskmine if we could keep up with the pace. I also find an additional gravimetric and ladar site, which makes it look like the situation is getting out of hand. So to deal with the building number of sites at home I put my hands over my ears, chant 'la la la, I can't hear you', and jump through the static wormhole to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system.

As is becoming common, a tower and no ships are on my directional scanner, and searching the system finds it to be devoid of activity. I launch probes and scan, resolving ten anomalies and a handful of signatures. Two of the signatures turn out to be wormholes, leaving me no real opportunity to leave the static connection unvisited and inactive, as it probably has already been opened. One wormhole is a K162 from null-sec space, and reaching the end of its natural lifetime, the other is the static connection leading out to low-sec empire space, and is in pristine condition. I don't suppose any null-sec pilots will bother us, and the low-sec exit may be useful if it leads to a convenient system. Otherwise, there are only three radar sites to be resolved in this C3.

I pop out through the static connection and check my relative position in New Eden. More specifically, I check the market for any Noctis salvager ships for sale, as Fin got a little jealous over yesterday's use of it in clearing the barracks so efficiently, and now understandably wants one for herself. There are plenty for sale, the closest being five hops away, and the bigger market of Amarr ten hops from here. The exit doesn't seem terribly convenient, but it isn't in the Aridia region either. And it is good enough for Fin, who takes her pod out to buy a shiny new Noctis for herself.

Fin lets me know that the exit is only two hops from high-sec space, which I neglected to check myself, but that a Raven Navy Issue battleship is sitting on the gate connecting from low- to high-sec space, which will be a threat when bringing the Noctis home. I am happy to volunteer to scout, and perhaps provide a deterrent, and choose a cloaking ship that may be of some use. I select my Manticore stealth bomber, which isn't exactly a match for a Raven, but hopefully I'll just need to monitor the gate and not actually engage. Refitting with remote sensor damper modules beguiles me in to thinking I could irritate the Raven, but he would have to be particularly inexperienced to ignore a fat Noctis target to swat a gnat like me, particularly as the gate guns would act as fly spray for him. And out I go to defend glorious leader Fin!

I see the Raven Navy Issue sitting on the gate, now joined by an Abaddon battleship too. But soon enough the Raven jumps out of the system, followed a little while later by the Abaddon as Fin's shopping list increases as I remember modules I should be buying myself, getting her to fly to Amarr after all. But the delay for the extended journey may be beneficial, as my sheer force of personality and keen hatred of other people slowly but surely empties the low-sec system of hostile presence. By the time Fin returns, the gate is clear and her new Noctis warps across the two low-sec systems and through w-space without another soul in sight. And that's about all for tonight. I fit the rocket launcher II modules I can now use to my Vengeance assault ship and Malediction interceptor, curse at not being able to fit the siege launcher II modules to my Manticore, and thank Fin for bringing them all back with her, before retiring for the evening.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: abaddon, eve online, manticore, mmorpg, noctis, penny ibramovic, raven, scanning, w-space