Suffering some slight space madness
25th January 2012 – 5.28 pmDammit, someone's stolen all our anomalies again. I'm sure we left loads of them scattered around but now there are only a handful left. They really held the system together, did they not? If I didn't get bored quite so quickly shooting Sleepers then I may be slightly irritated by this turn of events. As it is, I simply launch probes and scan, looking for our static wormhole and another opportunity to explore a dynamic w-space constellation. There are no new signatures in the home system either, not even a stressed wormhole to show signs of a fleet's travels, but at least that keeps exploration simple. I resolve our static wormhole and jump to our neighbouring class 3 system.
That's curiously soothing, popping out of the wormhole to be exactly 20 AU from the furthest planet. It's the only planet out of range of my directional scanner too, and all I can see that is in range are two off-line towers. I launch probes and perform a blanket scan as I warp to the outer planet, seeing a Chimera carrier and Rorqual capital industrial ship on d-scan at about the same time as my probes report them as the only two visible ships in this C3. I locate the tower to confirm the ships to be unpiloted, before settling down to the Herculean task of resolving the three signatures here.
Well, two signatures. I know the third is our K162. And as there aren't any anomalies in the C3 I am not in the least surprised that the two unknown signatures resolve to the unknown type that denotes a wormhole. This system is kept spotless, I have to admire that, even whilst wondering what the pilots do as they wait for new sites to appear. Go to empire space, I suppose, as their static wormhole leads to low-sec. The other wormhole is a K162 from null-sec, terminating the w-space constellation early again.
My glorious leader arrives and I update her on our situation, as I exit to low-sec to find myself again in the Genesis region, a popular destination for class 3 w-space system wormholes currently. Today, a single hop will take me to high-sec, and Fin suggests we export the loot we've accumulated recently, which sounds like a good idea when scanning the system finds nothing of interest. I head home, board a Crane transport ship, and take it loaded with loot to market. I sell salvage and Sleeper loot, and melt modules stolen from other capsuleers, plumping up our wallet to healthy levels again.
Back in w-space, I bounce off the tower in the C3 in my Crane, just to see if anything has changed. It has, a Hoarder is now sitting piloted in the shields. I let Fin know and scramble her stealth bomber here, as I take the Crane home and bring my own Manticore back to keep watch on the hauler. Maybe he'll want to collect planet goo, making himself a target, as there definitely isn't much else he could get up to. And there really isn't much to do, for any of us, as we watch and wait, and wait, and wait.
The monotony is broken by a Cheetah covert operations boat appearing on d-scan and launching probes, before disappearing again, presumably cloaking. But that's a bit odd. Our K162, the K162 from null-sec, and the static wormhole are all far out of d-scan range from the tower, so the Cheetah launching probes so close to the tower is perverse. Either he's a local pilot and hiding in a safe spot whilst scanning, a complete idiot, or a new wormhole has opened in to the system and he's a complete idiot. Either way, Fin and I are still watching the Hoarder and waiting for it to move.
The Hoarder refuses to budge, and with a puny three signatures for the Cheetah to resolve it may be worth trying to catch the cov-ops instead, should he investigate beyond our K162. I jump home, get an interceptor on to our side of the wormhole, and rely on Fin's eyes in the C3. Catching a cov-ops without a bubble for help is tricky, but he looks to be a slow scanner, so maybe he's a slow pilot too. Most likely, he doesn't care to explore our system, as Fin reports the Cheetah appearing on d-scan and disappearing again, after the probes themselves disappear. That sounds like a jump.
It's not long before the Cheetah reappears briefly, pretty much confirming that he left the system, and now we wait to see if he investigates the other wormholes. 'If he's blue, I'll cry', says Fin. If he's blue, I'll shoot him. Actually, he's looking more like a local scout, as a Hoarder zips past d-scan before disappearing itself, obviously not visiting a customs office but very probably heading to low-sec and further in to empire space. It looks like we were waiting in the wrong place.
Just to confirm what's been happening, I get back in to my covert Tengu strategic cruiser and perform another blanket scan of the C3, confirming no new signatures present. But reconnoitring the tower again sees the Hoarder and its pilot still there, in the same position, not having moved an inch. I'm not entirely sure what's happening with that Cheetah and ghostly second Hoarder now. I go to sit on the low-sec wormhole for the moment, hoping that the Hoarder at the tower will return from low-sec and give me a target.
Whatever the situation, it has beaten Fin's and my patience for tonight. We're ready to call it a night. Fin heads home and goes off-line, I bounce off the tower one last time to see, oh, the Cheetah, but with the pilot of the Hoarder. That makes even less sense, unless I've been hallucinating. Did I really see the Hoarder in the tower a few minutes ago, or was it the Cheetah? Is it really the same pilot? I don't know any more. I think I need rest. I turn my boat around and think about getting some sleep.
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