Scanning in triplicate
26th November 2012 – 5.55 pmOkay, I realise my mathematical error from earlier. It's not that the fuel blocks would not fit in the Orca's corporate hangars, but that the industrial command ship must have had something hiding in one of its enclosures, reducing the amount of available space. I am embarrassed not to have come to this conclusion earlier, like when buying fuel in Amarr, and a quick poke around the hangars indeed finds a mining foreman link module in the Orca. But, to be honest, I still find the univentory confusing and cluttered. Anyway, back to roaming the w-space constellation.
Fin's here, but in-Amarr here, getting more parts for the Revelation dreadnought that will be assembled one day. 'Seventy-seven more trips to go!' she announces when she returns to the tower, procrastinating about whether to make another trip. I was scanning C4b through an outbound connection in C3a before Fin asked for me to see if her w-space route home was clear, so I get home and jump through the K162 to class 2 w-space and confirm that the wormholes look fine. Now that I'm here, I see that C2a looks quiet, and poke my nose in to C4a, through a K162, where two Badger haulers from earlier remain at the tower.
I suppose if they haven't moved in the time I've been away they are unlikely to spring in to action just as I arrive. I leave them to their nothing, and C2a to its passivity, and head back through C3a to C4b to resume my scanning. Right, thirty-one signatures. I remember that now, and my earlier self left this scanning effort for my later self, which is me. Earlier me can be a douche sometimes. Only, this time, a Buzzard covert operations boat is visible on my directional scanner, as are two sets of scanning probes. The Buzzard adds a third set, but doesn't disappear, getting the 'covert' part a bit wrong. Maybe I can find him.
The Buzzard is moving away from his probes he launched around one of the planets in the system. Although I can't get to him without being spotted, as my Loki strategic cruiser's micro warp drive cannot be engaged when cloaked, I can maybe scan his position and warp on top of the Buzzard. But by the time I've travelled out of d-scan range, launched probes, and returned to the inner system the Buzzard has found the switch to activate his cloak. Never mind, I need my own probes out to scan anyway. I'd like to find where these scouts have come from too.
One strong wormhole presents itself amongst the morass of signatures, but I doubt the K162 from class 2 w-space spat out the scouts, as it is reaching the end of its life. Then again, the only other wormhole is the static connection to more class 4 w-space. I'll leave the scouts' origin unknown and press on. Jumping in to C4c puts me in an unoccupied system that is bursting with signatures, with twenty anomalies and forty-four other signatures to sift through. But my notes give me incentive to scan like a crazy person, as I see that I resolved a static connection to class 1 w-space the last time I was here.
As I get started with scanning I sit on the K162 leading back to C4b. There is no occupation, so no towers to monitor for activity, so my best option is to see who follows in behind me. A Cheetah cov-ops does first, and then the Buzzard I briefly saw. I wonder how predictable he will be, and warp off to find out. Very, is the answer. The Buzzard warps to the same planet as in the previous system to launch probes, and if only I'd paid attention to the distance too I imagine I could have caught him. As it is, I made a guess and got it wrong, appearing fifty kilometres from the cov-ops ships. But his predictable nature is going to get him killed.
I return my focus to my scanning probes, and ignore plenty of boring sites with rocks, gas, and assorted Sleepers, until a weak wormhole is resolved. The outbound connection is blue-green in appearance, and even though I'm looking for a wormhole to class 1 w-space I could swear this leads to a C2. In fact, I'm sure it does. It's possible I mis-identified the wormhole on my last visit, but as I was only here six months ago, and not as green as a C1 wormhole, I doubt I would make such a mistake. Even so, a C2 is a C2, and if I jump ahead then maybe I have another chance of catching the Buzzard. In I go.
A tower and lack of ships appear on d-scan from the K162 in C2c, and a blanket scan shows one anomaly and twenty-five signatures. Sitting on the K162 as I scan, resolving a wormhole is as easy as XYZ, or WYZ, which is just as good an expression that I'm sure will catch on. No scouts follow behind me, and maybe they are taking their merry time with all the signatures in the previous system, allowing me to warp to the wormholes to see another connection to class 2 w-space and an exit to low-sec empire space. I keep going forwards, looking for activity, but stall in C2d at the wormhole. Seven towers on d-scan with no ships in sight looks like too much grind at this time in the evening. My notes, which just list occupation as 'yes', there is some, indicate that I thought much the same way seven months ago. I shall leave this system unexplored.
I head back to C2c, and C4c, where the two scouts appear still to be scanning. I rejoin them, keen to uncover that static connection to class 1 w-space, but finding nothing resembling another wormhole. A misidentification or error in transcription, I correct my notes to reflect the actual wormhole found in this system and call it a night. I make my way back through unoccupied, empty, or inactive systems until I am home. There has been plenty of scanning this evening, but with little to show for it. I had best draw a map to make me feel accomplished.
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