Sticking to ships I can shoot
10th October 2011 – 5.34 pmScanning remains simple with just the single signature at home. I resolve the static wormhole and jump in to a class 3 w-space system I visited only a month earlier. The last time I was here I watched and thankfully ignored a Myrmidion battlecruiser successfully baiting a local Hurricane battlecruiser in to an spiky ambush. It's maybe good news that I am back in this system so soon, as the locals are willing to take risks and put up a fight, but that only works if they are still here. Warping to one of the towers in my notes sees it stripped of everything, leaving a bare tower anchored around the planet, whereas the second tower, owned by a different corporation, is fully operational. There may have been a takeover here.
Whatever happened in this system in the past few weeks there is nothing happening now. A blanket scan reveals no ships, and only the one anomaly to go with the ten signatures that I start to resolve. I ignore gas and rocks, rocks and gas, find the static exit to low-sec empire space, and ignore rocks, rocks, and gas. It's a simple enough start to the evening, but it sucks up some time and all I have to show for it is a connection to low-sec. I'd better make use of it.
Jumping out of w-space puts me in to Molden Heath, where unsurprisingly I see a few pirates in the system. Ignoring them I launch probes and scan, finding two additional signatures to resolve. One turns out to be the insalubrious-sounding Angel's red light district, the other a chubby wormhole, an X702 to more class 3 w-space. I jump in to this second C3 in the constellation to take a look around, finding only another occupied but inactive system. A blanket scan shows the locals like to keep on top of their anomalies, with none in the system, but don't really care about other sites. Eighteen signatures is a lot of mess; try to keep it tidy, people.
Sifting through the signatures in this C3 finds a lot of gas and the static exit to low-sec. A second wormhole is more interesting, particularly as it flares as I drop out of warp to bookmark its location. An Anathema covert operations boat decloaks in front of the K162 from class 4 w-space and warps away. I get a look at the direction he's heading and follow behind, as I note that he's not heading towards the tower here. Exiting warp at a distant planet has the Anathema launching probes, but his navigation systems sent him to one of the moons. I find the moon quickly enough, sweeping d-scan around until I see his ship, but by the time I've warped to his position his ship is once again cloaked, leaving only a cluster of probes that will soon be whizzing around the system.
Whilst the scout is here I can explore what could be his home system, and I warp back to the K162 and jump in to the C4. D-scan is clear from the wormhole, with only one planet out of range. I don't launch probes yet, instead waiting to see if the system is unoccupied before looking for more wormholes leading backwards, and warp out to explore the distant planet. Getting in d-scan range shows me two towers and some ships, and finding the towers sees two Tengu strategic cruisers, a Rattlesnake battleship, and a Jaguar assault ship all piloted at one of the towers. Perhaps the Anathema is out looking for targets for his colleagues, either capsuleer or Sleeper.
I'm not going to threaten the ships here and there isn't likely to be another K162 to find in this C4, so I head back to the C3 and exit through its static connection to another low-sec system. The system in the Kador region is empty of other pilots, and although the only other signature to be found may be a wormhole it is only a K162 from null-sec k-space and not terribly interesting. I pass a little time popping some Blood Raider rats in the sole anomaly here, looking for some pocket money and a minor increase in my security status.
Just as the last of the rats explodes a pilot enters the low-sec system, d-scan telling me he's in a Drake battlecruiser. A second pilot in the same corporation soon follows, at which point the Drake's ship name changes to 'Bait'. I'm not that stupid, chaps. Exploration has finished, and I've done all the shooting for the evening that I'm likely to be on the winning end of, so I'm heading home to get some sleep.
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