Avoiding one camp for another
21st September 2011 – 5.16 pmI'm ignoring the Myrmidon. The battlecruiser is fairly obvious bait, confirmed when I see the trap sprung, strategic cruisers decloaking to pop an unfortunate victim local to this class 3 w-space system. I'll continue my scanning, looking for an exit so that I can guide an isolated Mick back to the home system. I resolve a wormhole and get ready to recall my probes, but have to stay my hand when I drop out of warp next to a K162 from deadly class 6 space. That's not quite what I was looking for, and makes me wonder if the ambushers are actually from this system and not the class 4 system also connecting in to this C3.
I saw the Myrmidon jump through the K162 from the C4, but it could be that the pilots first set a trap there before moving in to this C3. It's kind of a convoluted idea, though, and moving to loiter on the other K162 sees a Proteus allied with the Myrmidon jump to the C4, presumably returning home. It's simply coincidence that a C6 also connects in to this system, but that doesn't make it look any safer. I continue scanning and resolve another wormhole, this one a random outbound connection to more class 3 w-space, still leaving me the system's static wormhole to find.
The Myrmidon is still in the system and acting as bait near the farthest planet, probably seeing my combat scanning probes and hoping to get another bite. I tease him a little, moving all my probes near to his position, but I only do so because I suspect the wormhole I'm looking for lies out there. And it does, the battlecruiser coincidentally sitting close to the static exit to low-sec empire space. The connection is reaching the end of its natural lifetime and cannot be relied on to stay around for long, so I leave it alone. I don't give the Myrmidon and friends the satisfaction of popping my covert Tengu strategic cruiser, instead recalling my probes and disappearing through the outbound connection to C3c.
A Drake battlecruiser and tower are on d-scan in this class 3 system, and the lack of wrecks suggests the Drake isn't active. I locate the tower to see the Drake piloted but doing nothing, and simply launch probes to scan for the exit to low-sec. That's not a guess, I was here ten months ago and found such an exit on my last visit here. The small system leaves nowhere to hide, making the decision to scan openly easy. And scanning itself is relatively simple once I ignore the twenty-one anomalies and sift through the nine signatures, finding the static wormhole and jumping out to see where it leads.
I'm in the Placid region, close to the null-sec border, but also a mere two hops from the safety of high-sec. This looks like a good enough route to get Mick home. I head to high-sec to dock and contract the bookmarks to my colleague, only to stumble past a gate camp on my way there. Some speedy cruisers and powerful battlecruisers are sitting on a choke-point to low-sec, looking to catch unwary travellers, and despite my cloaky configuration I am still a little concerned about being caught. I make it to dock in high-sec without difficulty, contracting the bookmarks Mick needs to get home, along with a warning about the gate camp and bait Myrmidon, but it's getting home that worries me. I could probably evade a simple camp, but only if luck is on my side. If the stargate throws me in to the system too close to one of the camping ships I could be toast.
Thankfully, space is more connected than a simple linear path, and although it is a bit of a detour I decide to take the scenic route home. I have my atlas in front of me and there is an eleven-hop path back to the low-sec system with the wormhole, and I think I'd rather go that way than run headlong in to a gate camp. Then again, better then devil you know than the devil you don't. My first few jumps in to low-sec in the other direction are suitably quiet, until I hit the choke-point in this direction. Rather than a few cruisers vaguely blocking my path I have seven or eight ships, all piloted by red-skulled pirates, and dozens of drones floating around ready to interfere with any cocky cloaky ships. This doesn't look good.
I'm lucky this time, far enough away from any of the ships for them to pounce effectively, and I initiate warp and cloak with no troubles. I wonder if I would have been as lucky heading the other way, because if so I would be home by now instead of having another eight hops to make through low-sec. At least the rest of the journey goes smoothly and I am jumping back in to w-space soon enough. The Drake in C3c remains inert in its tower and there looks to be no change in C3b, where the Myrmidon was bait. Out of curiosity I pay it another visit, only to see the pilot has switched to a Drake now.
I would think that if the ambushers really wanted to catch more unwary ships they probably ought to get rid of the wreck of the ship they caught earlier. Having it sit next to their bait is rather a sign that something untoward has happened here. Ah, I see. The Drake is actually here to dispose of the wreckage, activating salvagers to do so profitably rather than simply shooting it. And once the wreck is gone so is the Drake, the pilots no doubt having got bored of waiting for me to fall for their trap and gone home. I go home myself, making one more jump through a wormhole and heading back to our tower for the night.
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