Nothing but a Pilgrim

There is a K162 from class 3 w-space at home today, so Aii tells me. He found the wormhole and has jumped through to take a look around, finding no one home and lots of signatures. I leave him to it and head towards our static wormhole, there being a second class 3 system behind it that is yet to be explored. Jumping in to C3a, the system getting the prime alphabetic modifier for virtue of it being connected by our static wormhole, finds what feels like a remarkably familiar J-number. It's enough to have me looking at my notes immediately, even before checking my directional scanner, where I see that the system number really should be familiar. I was only here two days ago.

It's funny that I remember the J-number of this system but not what happened here, even when it's all only two days stale. Checking d-scan brings back more memories, as most of the ships I saw then I can also see now. I'm getting images of maybe some planet goo hauling that I miss and some stealth bombers flitting here and there, admittedly the images helped along by flipping through my notebook a little too. At least I know where the tower on d-scan is, and that there is a second further out, and I warp away from the wormhole to look for pilots.

The tower holding most of the ships does so because they are empty, much like a couple of days ago. The second tower also has the same unpiloted Mammoth hauler and Covetor mining barge floating inside its force field, giving me little to care for until an Iteron hauler appears. There was an Iteron here previously too, and he did nothing interesting. The question is whether this pilot with do anything. Actually, the real question is whether this Iteron pilot will anything when I warp out to launch scanning probes.

I wait for a few minutes, watching and hoping for the Iteron to move, but nothing happens. I suppose if he's going to be active when I launch my probes I may as well get it over with. I warp out, launch probes, and blanket the system as I head back to keep tabs on the Iteron. He's still there and in the same attitude as before, so I haven't missed anything. And apart from planet goo collection I don't think I will miss anything, as the system holds a mere four anomalies and two signatures. I can't even catch the hauler heading out of w-space, as the signature that isn't our K162 is a static exit to high-sec empire space.

I resolve the static connection whilst the Iteron's idling, exiting to appear in the Domain region and only a handful of hops to Amarr. But the wormhole reaches old age when I jump back to w-space, making it unlikely to be used for any serious logistics now. I watch the hauler a little longer, still hoping he'll collect planet goo, as our glorious leader comes on-line. I give her a sitrep and a tentative plan of collapsing our static connection, scanning C3b, and potentially engaging Sleepers in that second system, making our second visit here much like our first. And as much as I am tempted to bubble the exit to high-sec in the hopes of catching the Iteron, he goes off-line before I can convince myself it's a good idea. I suppose we're putting the tentative plan in to action.

Our wormhole dies from being smothered by big ships, after which we get back in our scouting boats and head in to C3b to help Aii's scanning. He's been quiet this past time, which probably means he's been distracted by more important matters, so we launch our own scanning probes and check that we don't have a branching constellation behind us. My notes place me in C3b about thirteen months ago, when I pop and pod a Noctis salvager in my Manticore stealth bomber. Ah, good times. The tower is in the same place as it was, and there should be a connection to low-sec somewhere. Our probes reveal one anomaly and ten signatures, which is not quite the bounty I expected, but that's okay.

We resolve the static exit and I decide to take a look, because if the T405 connecting to our system is open then so will be the U210. I exit to Metropolis, appearing in a single-system low-sec island, which would probably explain why there are plenty of pilots present. I scan the system, wondering what else connects here, as Fin confirms no more wormholes in C3b and decides to venture through our new static wormhole to look for opportunity. The low-sec system I'm in looks pretty good to me, as the four signatures give me three more wormholes. One is a K162 from class 5 w-space, the second a K162 from class 1 w-space, and the third an X702 outbound connection to more class 3 w-space. So many options, I almost don't know where to start.

Of course, I do know exactly where I want to look first, and jump in to C1a to look for soft targets. A tower and some drones are visible on d-scan, but no ships and no wrecks. Wondering if some action has passed through here recently to leave those drones I launch probes and poke around, but the six signatures hold no more wormholes and the drones are not in the sole anomaly. It's all a bit quiet, so I head back to low-sec and jump through the outbound connection to C3... um, C3c? Yes, I think so, as the connection to the first C3a is dead and Fin is now in the new C3a. It's all relative, after all.

There's nothing to see from the K162 in C3c, which isn't too disappointing as there are planets out of d-scan range and being here allows me to launch probes without being seen. I was last here eleven months ago when, would you look at that, I pop and pod a Noctis in my Manticore. That was a popular ship choice for me back then. My notes are more informative than the simple ship kill too, as apparently this podding happened 300 km from a tower. I remember this well, as the locals had bubbled their own tower to the point where they needed an intermediate spot to warp to just so they could get back to inside the shields safely. Needless to say, it didn't work too well against a patient stalker.

It took me a while to get in to a position where I could strike the ships bouncing off this distant point, so I made sure to keep it in my bookmark collection instead of deleting it with my other daily bookmarks. Sadly, the tower it was useful for is now gone, as have some others, leaving just the one tower in the system. And no one's home. I perform a blanket scan of the C3 but, with time getting late and another system to explore from low-sec, I don't bother scanning when the odds are I'll only get another connection to low-sec. I recall my probes, return to low-sec, and jump in to C5a.

The class 5 system is empty and unoccupied, much as it was three months ago, and I launch probes knowing that I'm looking for a static connection to more class 5 w-space. It won't take long to find, with ten signatures to sift through, and I would like to see some signs of activity tonight, so I resolve the static wormhole. In fact, I resolve it as a ship appears under my probes, which switching to d-scan shows it to be a Purifier stealth bomber before it disappears. It's gone before I get to the wormhole, of course, but the connection flares as I sit there considering my options, and I watch a shuttle warp towards the connection to low-sec.

I've found movement at last, but nothing I can really do anything about. I don't chase the too-agile shuttle, and I don't know if I saw the Purifier jump in to this C5 or in to C5c (Fin's found a C5 and has claimed the 'b' designation by now). But my curiosity is piqued, so I jump in to C5c to at least take a look at what's there. Nothing, that's what. No occupation, no ships, no activity. Whoever is passing through is coming from another system, and I don't care to scan for it. Besides, maybe I don't need to. I head back out to low-sec and start perusing the local communication channel.

I got the name of the shuttle pilot as he passed by me, which let me identify his corporation. Assuming any other pilots using this connection to low-sec are in the same corporation then I can quickly identify their arrival and prepare to attack their ship. But no one comes, from either direction, and I am getting sleepy. I head back to the K162 from C3b, dropping short just as a pilot from the marked corporation appears in the system. Not too tired to take a look, I flip my ship and warp back to the C5 K162 to land with plenty of time to wonder if this pilot is actually returning himself. I wait long enough that I nearly leave again, before a Pilgrim force recon ship appears and enters w-space, alone. I don't think I'll pit my covert Tengu strategic cruiser against an energy-neutralising drone boat, not by myself. I'm going home. At least I've seen some movement amongst the three C5s, four C3s, and single C1 in the constellation. Aii and Fin have been wandering empty space all evening.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: covetor, eve online, iteron, mammoth, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pilgrim, purifier, scanning, tengu, w-space