Failing to salvage a class 1 w-space anomaly
1st September 2012 – 3.16 pmOur diminishing gravimetric site is still mostly intact in the home system, but there's no one around to take advantage of that. I don't count as a miner. Instead I resolve the only other signature and jump through the static wormhole to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system, looking for trouble. I don't find it near the K162, with my directional scanner being clear of all but celestial bodies, and a single planet out of range probably means I'll have to look further afield for any activity. A blanket scan of the system shows no ships, seventeen anomalies, and eight signatures, and exploring finds no occupation. An empty C3 is a rare sight.
The first signature I resolve is a chubby wormhole, which seems promising, after which I get the usual mixture of gas, rocks, a magnetometric site, and a radar site, with a second wormhole somewhere in the middle. But the wormholes are uninspiring, the first being a K162 from high-sec, which comes from the Metropolis region, and the other a super-stable exit to low-sec empire space. Leaving w-space for low-sec puts me in a faction warfare system in Verge Vendor, where it looks like I'm scanning if I want to find some action. Two extra signatures resolve to be rocks and a wormhole, a rather nifty K162 from class 1 w-space.
C1a has a tower on d-scan, but no ships. No one's home, and if there is another wormhole leading further backwards it will be quick to find, as there are only three anomalies and two signatures in the system. But, nope, it's just rocks. With nothing more to do here I head back through low-sec, across C3a, and out to high-sec to scan another system. High-sec is where it's at today, with seven extra signatures to keep me busy, although being in a dead-end system in a small high-sec island surround by a low-sec reef probably explains the unusual number of sites. Even so, despite there being several 'unknown' type of signatures only one resolves to be a wormhole. Stupid empire space.
The wormhole is a good find, though. A K162 from class 2 w-space offers more exploration, as well as a second static connection that will lead to w-space. That's just as well, as jumping in to C2a has d-scan show me a tower and no ships, so it looks like I'm scanning for more wormholes once more. My notes from a month ago point me to the tower and give me the impetus to scan, as the other static connection will lead to a class 1 system, which could give me something soft to shoot. Better than that, three more wormholes give me options. The static connection is my first choice, but a second outbound connection to class 2 w-space is also good, and a K162 from high-sec gives me a last resort.
C1b could be where the action is, though. Jumping in to the system has a tower on d-scan along with a Legion strategic cruiser and Catalyst destroyer, which makes me think of an old-school shoot-and-salvage operation. A lack of wrecks dulls my optimism a little, but I perk up again when I find the tower and only the Catalyst to go with it. The destroyer is piloted and the Legion is elsewhere, and as there are plenty of anomalies I may well have a shot at a salvager soon. I swing d-scan around and, sure enough, locate the Legion in one of the anomalies. I warp in to watch what he's doing.
The Legion is flying solo against the Sleepers, making it a bit of a shame that our home system is more than a couple of jumps away. The strategic cruiser is also actively moving towards the drones he's shooting, so even if I could make the journey home and back in time there would be no guarantee I could drop my ship-killer in range to engage. Today I'll wait for the salvager. I watch as the Legion clears the site of Sleepers, is joined by the Catalyst, and leaves the salvager alone. Alone with me. Almost as soon as the Legion leaves I send my own strategic cruiser in to the anomaly, albeit a little clumsily. I drop in to the cleared site a bit too close to the Sleeper structure, decloaking my Loki, but in range of the Catalyst.
I lock, point, and shoot, burning towards the destroyer as I do. There's no real battle, and the Catalyst gets ripped to shreds pretty quickly. The pod flees almost as soon as the destroyer explodes, the pilot obviously realising his ship was lost and prepared to warp clear. It's been long enough since I last engaged a salvager that once again I was a bit eager, shooting the target before he even started to sweep up the wrecks, so I get little to loot. That's okay, really, as class 1 Sleeper loot is not worth much, and the Tech II salvager modules I recover probably more than make up for a lack of other salvage. I loot and shoot the wreck, reload my guns, and return to lurk outside the anomaly.
Neither pilot returns to the site, but the pod back at the tower plonks himself in to an Eos command ship. I doubt either pilot knows the location of the incoming connection yet, just as I doubt I will see any more activity that I can disrupt. I'm moving on. Or, rather, back. I return to C2a to explore in to C2b, where an occupied but inactive system awaits. The eight signatures hold two more static connections, but one is a wormhole to a class 3 system that's reaching the end of its life and I don't care for another exit to k-space. That's okay, as I've had an adventure already, culminating in crushing a Catalyst. I'm happy to head home and hit the sack.
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed.