Lack of combat leads to mining

I could use a bit of cheering up. Popping a planet goo hauler would work, but I can't find one in the home system. I suppose that's for the best, as Aii may not like me shooting him again. Scanning my way out of home shows just a gravimetric site and the static wormhole to be found, and I resolve the connection and jump to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system. My directional scanner is clear from the K162 in C3a, and yet despite the system being 90 AU in radius and my appearing near the star there are only two planets with moons out of range.

My notes suggest one of those planets will hold a tower, although my last visit was eighteen months ago. That was when Fin and I moved a wormhole and tried to catch a transport aiming for it, but Sleeper technology has since been upgraded to prevent that kind of shenanigans. And the tower is in the same place, along with four ships that a blanket scan of the system has already revealed. The Orca industrial command ship, Hurricane and Drake battlecruiser, and Merlin frigate are all unpiloted, though, so I scan through the simple six signatures.

Gas, gas, wormhole, rocks, rocks. The static connection is an exit to low-sec empire space that's in pristine condition, so I am probably the first to visit it. I break its hymen to appear in a system in Derelik by myself, where attempting to rat and scan has me perform miserably in both. No signatures in the system, besides the K162, has nothing for me to scan, and before I can get comfortable in a rock field the local channel spikes with pilots, going from nought to over a dozen in a matter of moments.

The fleet simply passes through, and I watch them exit using a stargate, leaving me and a stray Reaper frigate in the low-sec system. As tempting as it is to pop an abandoned ship for fun, somebody should be thinking about my security status. And I'm trying to, it's the rock fields that aren't. If the asteroid belts aren't empty of rats then all I find are simple frigates to pop, which are barely worth the cost of ammunition, and it isn't until maybe the tenth belt where I find a cruiser. That will have to do, I suppose.

Actually, I may have more luck in one of the anomalies in the system. It's been a while since I've blasted my way through one of these, and after the first couple of waves I'm remembering why. It's pretty dull. Lock, shoot, lock, shoot. It's a straightforward exercise, and I don't even get to rescue any exotic dancers from the brothel. Maybe that means I killed them all in the explosion, I dunno. Either way, I'm heading home to collapse.

A few trips through our static wormhole in an Orca and I've killed the connection. I can start the evening again, just ninety minutes later than normal. And I can do so with company. No doubt having their spider-senses tingling, both Fin and Aii come on-line just as I have completed the tedious task of isolating ourselves from a boring constellation. But that's okay, as they are keen to continue Project Capital and get back to their industrial roots, and having an isolated system is a big help. Fin and Aii board Hulk exhumers, recently brought back to w-space, and warp off to the sole gravimetric site in the home system. A puppet pilots an Orca, and I scan the system to confirm that we are alone.

The rock site and a new and definitely unopened static wormhole are the only two signatures in the system, letting my colleagues shoot rocks in peace. 'You are welcome to join us', Fin says jokingly, and although I can't bring myself to board a mining barge I kind of do end up helping. I dash out in a Bustard transport ship to recover the mined ore every so often, keeping the miners concentrated on mining. It seems to work, as one bistot rock gets obliterated, and then a second. It's all too much excitement for me, though, and I have to make my excuses to go off-line and lie down for the night.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: bustard, drake, eve online, hulk, hurricane, merlin, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, reaper, scanning, w-space