Another recovery mission
26th January 2013 – 3.45 pmI don't call her my glorious leader for nothing. Fin managed to get out of the class 6 w-space system and through two class 4 systems in to a class 3 system, resolving three null-sec connections before finally finding a static exit to high-sec empire space. All of that in an Orca industrial command ship, and without an expensive trip to a clone vat, like someone else in the corporation I won't mention needed. (It was me.) Now Fin shops for fuel and sundries, as I don't start scanning just yet, not with fan mail waiting. I remember this chap too. Well, how can I forget a Spiky Dildo? He's even sweetly corrected his spelling.
'Is he saying nice things?' Fin asks, and I'm not quite sure. He says he and his corporation got a good laugh from my account of how they caught my Loki strategic cruiser, but I don't quite remember being 'butt hurt' about it. Maybe I was and I tried to stifle it. Still, it's always nice to get mail. Now I'd better redeem myself and scan Fin a way home. One extra signature in the home system is interesting, particularly as the K162 from class 5 w-space is stressed to half mass, but I ignore my instincts to look for activity today. I am on a mission. Get Fin home!
Warping to our static wormhole finds it in good health, so the C5ers can't have been shipping the same tonnage across our system and in to C3a, which suggests Fin's return won't be interrupted. I have to scan it first, of course, so after exploring the system and finding only a single tower with no ships or pilots I launch probes and see what's out there. Eighteen anomalies and ten signatures will hold a static exit to low-sec, according to my notes from ten months ago, and that they do. There is also a second wormhole hidden amongst the rocks and gas, a K162 from class 2 w-space. That could come in handy, depending on where its k-space connection leads. Let me check C3a's static wormhole first.
Hello, Wembley! Well, the system's Arena, not an arena, and twenty-six stargate hops from Jita, which is a fair distance to take an Orca, even without a high-sec island that needs negotiating to get here. That's not a great result, but I'm not finished yet. I return to C3a, warp across the system, and jump through the K162 to C2a, where my directional scanner looks clear. The one planet out of range holds a tower but no ships, and scanning the system can't get much easier. There are two anomalies and three signatures, and I entered the system through one of those signatures.
I resolve a radar site and, hello, a static exit to high-sec empire space. The colours shimmering from the other side even seem Caldari-esque. And jumping through—my god, it's full of stars—I appear in Jatata, in The Forge, three hops from Jita. It couldn't get much better! Fin thanks me for finding such a convenient route home, I mumble something about being sorry for isolating her in the first place, and I turn my Loki around to see what's happening in the C5 connected to the home system. It wouldn't do to bring Fin back right in to an ambush.
W-space is quiet in the couple of systems between high-sec and home, and the pulsating C5 K162 doesn't look changed when I reach it. Jumping in has ships and towers galore, although I think that's more a reaction to the mostly empty and inactive space I've seen recently. Six ships and three towers shouldn't really have me bandying around words like 'galore'. And no wrecks, no cans, but the capsule amongst the ships suggests there are pilots around.
Warping out finds no more towers, which tend to proliferate in higher-class w-space, and I launch probes and perform a blanket scan of the system. And now I'm recalling my probes and heading straight back home. I am glad that I decide to warp back to the wormhole after launching probes, instead of a planet to start looking for towers, as it lets me see the Broadsword heavy interdictor decloak and warp away. And that makes me wonder quite what the HIC has done to the wormhole, considering what happens when HICs and wormholes get together. Sure enough, the connection is now critically unstable and on the verge of collapse. However funny it would be to get isolated minutes after bringing Fin home, I'm not hanging around here.
I jump home safely, easily within the time the Broadsword is polarised, and no other ships look to be on the wormhole, either in the home system or jumping through after me. I loiter cloaked by the connection for now, watching for jumps and waiting for Fin to make it back home, during which time nothing happens. Well, Fin makes it home and takes a hauler out to Jita to sell our stockpiled loot, but no ships come or go, and the critical wormhole isn't pushed to collapse. The constellation seems safe enough, and a final roam confirms no new activity in C3a or C2a, so I'm happy to go off-line, having brought Fin home and accomplished this evening's mission.
3 Responses to “Another recovery mission”
One would think that by now, there would be much fewer 'Find a way home for Fin' posts by this point in my career. I have a knack for either getting lost or getting shot out of the sky. Often both.
p.s. Scanning in an Orca is slo-o-o-o-o-o-o-w. Even with great skills, a Tech 2 rig and Sisters faction probes I cannot recommend it for anyone... Except perhaps Mr. Spiky Dildo.
I tried scanning in the Devoter. Then I gave up and got myself podded on the Torrinos gate. It was actually less painful and embarrassing.
Also, I wouldn't have to recover you as much if I didn't miscalculate the wormhole mass so frequently. Or didn't let you volunteer to throw the HIC through the critical wormholes.
Good Rescue!
Scanning those systems to get the Orca our sounds painful. But being able to do it and get the Orca out…. safely is commendable as well.