Low rumblings

The w-space constellation's already been mapped, I think I'll take my stealth bomber out for a spin. I board my Manticore, copy the bookmarks to my nav-comp, and set off towards the static wormhole. Jumping in to our neighbouring class 3 system returns me to a system I have visited once before, and although I am expecting some change to have occurred in the intervening eleven months I find the tower to be in the same place as listed in my notes. This corporation looks to be quite settled. There's no one home, though, only an Abaddon battleship sitting unpiloted inside the towers shields.

The rest of the C3 is empty, and emptier than when it was scanned earlier, a wormhole connecting in from further w-space having collapsed of old age. And despite there still being two wormholes present they both lead to low-sec empire space, a K162 leading in to the system and the static connection outbound, curtailing my roam rather disappointingly. Then again, low-sec doesn't have to feel like a dead end, even if continuing to pursue capsuleers there is destroying my security status. I may as well check both exits to see if opportunity is on the other side.

Jumping first through the K162 puts me in a system with several other pilots, and as my directional scanner suggests they are mostly in interceptors I think I'll leave them alone. The other wormhole lands me in a rather quieter system, in the Bleak Lands region. Just me and one other pilot are present, and he looks a bit sleepy. Yet again, I don't have to treat this as a dead end, but I will need to get a different ship if my adventure is to continue.

I return to w-space, but before I warp home a routine check of d-scan shows a Helios covert operations boat somewhere in the system, as well as one scanning probe. I sweep d-scan around to try to find the Helios but he cloaks soon enough, and a few seconds later not even the probe remains. For once, I am not going to lay an ambush for a scout I've seen for all of five seconds, and instead continue with my own plan. If the Helios, or his chums, show up again I can change my mind about hunting.

I get home, swap Manticore for Buzzard, and take my cov-ops to the empty low-sec system to scan for more wormholes. Actually, the appearance of the Helios in the C3 makes me pause, and I stop to scan the w-space system first. It shouldn't take long, as glorious leader Fin scanned everything earlier and left me the bookmarks, with signature identifiers included, so I should be able to find any new signatures easily. I ignore the three gravimetric, two ladar, and single radar sites, along with the known wormholes, and am left with two signatures to resolve. Maybe I have more to explore after all, thanks to the new scout. Or maybe not, as I resolve only a new ladar and radar site each.

No new wormholes means returning to my plan, and I jump out to low-sec to scan there as well. Unsurprisingly, there are no wormholes in the low-sec system either, although I find a few anomalies and a magnetometric site. As there is still no one around I decide to risk my Tengu in the sites in low-sec, the danger not so much coming from the rats I'll encounter but from other capsuleers seeing my strategic cruiser as an enticing target. I should be okay with the lone and inattentive capsuleer, which makes it more of a surprise that on my return to the low-sec system in my Tengu the local channel is now peaking at twelve pilots.

I continue with my plan to shoot rats, but keep an eye on the number of pilots in local and put d-scan to use, getting ready to warp my Tengu back to the wormhole if any ship gets close to me, or if I see scanning probes. Within a couple of minutes the system population is back down to safe levels, no doubt the roaming gang just passing through. I calm down and rip through the magnetometric site, opening the cans to get a bunch of disappointing salvage for my efforts at the cost of swapping a shield hardener for the analyser module. I move on to one anomaly, then another, seeing the roaming gang return through this system as I pop rats like a bored engineer with bubble wrap.

It is only when I get completely blasé about the threat level of the anomaly when I decide maybe I should warp out. Webbed, neuted, and aggressing every rat in the site drops my shields to alarm levels, but I get out and back to w-space without losing my Tengu in a rather embarrassing fashion. And Fin's here now, we can shoot Sleepers instead. I swap the Tengu for my Golem marauder, Fin boards her own Tengu, and we jump in to the still-sleepy C3 for some rather more profitable combat. There are four good anomalies here, which won't take long to clear.

I get to hear the shield alarm again, in my much more expensive Golem, when I fail to realise how much attention the Sleepers are paying to me. That's what happens when Fin and I start reminiscing about our days as logistics pilots, flying Guardians to keep our armour-compromised fleet afloat. The Gist B-type booster once again proves its worth and pulls me back up to full shield strength in no time, and we continue shooting without missing a beat. Three anomalies are indeed cleared efficiently, loot and salvage swept in to my Golem's cargo hold as we go, but moving to the fourth sees us pause.

A Cheetah cov-ops is now on d-scan, according to Fin. She warped ahead to make a start whilst I finished salvaging the last battleship wreck, although it looks like someone started this anomaly before us anyway. The Cheetah is probably only at the tower in this system, only spotting it now because the other anomalies weren't in d-scan range, but it's still a good reason to stop. We've had our fun, made about a hundred and thirty Miskies in profit, and are getting home safely. I think I'll grab myself a bite to eat.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: abaddon, buzzard, cheetah, eve online, golem, helios, low-sec, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, sleepers, tengu, w-space