Late-night loitering

The frigate hunt is over and there are no suitable systems to rat in. I'm about to head home when I realise there is another class 3 w-space system yet to be explored. Shev turns up to help Aii and I push in to unknown space, whilst Fin continues buying and selling to finance our tomfoolery. C3c has some probes on d-scan but no obvious ships, and exploring finds a tower with no one home. The probes go, no ship heads our way, and as a previous visit to this system indicates a static exit to high-sec, and so little chance of catching a scout, I launch my own probes and blanket the system.

With my probes launched and hidden from d-scan one ship appears, then disappears. A second ship seems to go in the opposite direction across the system, a Loki strategic cruiser blipping on d-scan as it does. But whoever they are they're not using the connection we came through and know about. It's likely they are using the wormhole to high-sec, but if they are coming from a second wormhole we have a chance of causing disruption. And as I have seen roughly where the ships came from and were heading I can make a couple of prospecting scans.

My two scans resolve two wormholes. Surprisingly, both are K162s from class 5 w-space, but neither seems to be ejecting ships at the moment. We have enough pilots to cover our options, so we can hopefully intercept a ship exiting either system before it enters warp towards high-sec, so each of us picks a wormhole and loiters with intent. An Anathema appears on d-scan as we get in to position, but that is small-fry compared the to possible strategic cruiser movement, and it presumably disappeared to high-sec anyway. A Tengu strategic cruiser is a much more interesting target, and it has appeared by a C5 K162 with Shev.

I warp towards the wormhole with the Tengu and ask if Shev can tackle the target. He's not that close, though, and can't move fast enough cloaked to get in range. As I drop out of warp at the wormhole I see the Tengu slowly move around the K162, in a bait-like orbit, but when he jumps a second later, and with Aii and Shev behind me, I don't waste time in following. I decloak, jump to the C5, and engage the Tengu, who appears promptly. But it is to no end, as the ship warps clear from the wormhole before I can get a positive lock, and I tell my colleagues not to follow me in to the system. All looks clear, but there is no point in showing our hand if anyone is watching.

I hold on the wormhole and monitor d-scan as I wait for the polarisation timer to end, not expecting an ambush from my colleagues on my way out but also not wanting to risk a situation that can be easily avoided. No ships come to the wormhole, d-scan remains clear, and I return to C3c with nothing to show for my our efforts. In a bid to find some action for Aii and Shev I warp across to the other K162, and jump to the class 5 w-space system to see what I can find.

A tower with an unpiloted Crane transport ship is uninspiring, particularly with the rest of the system empty. The hour's late enough that I'm not scanning further, so I take my leave and head homewards. There was promise in this corner of the w-space constellation, but I think we were a little late to the party.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: anathema, crane, eve online, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, tengu, w-space