Hit and run

Many wormholes died to bring us this cleaner constellation. The K162 in to our home w-space system was killed, murdered, I suppose, but the others have no doubt passed away from natural causes by now. It's not wormhole life I'm looking for, but capsuleer life. Glorious leader Fin comes on-line as I blanket the home system, looking for new connections and finding none, before heading out to see what new shape and activity the constellation has.

There is no change at the tower in our neighbouring class 3 system, and the K162 from class 2 w-space although not dead is at the end of its life. I have no idea how long it will last, so look in another direction. That other direction takes me through the outbound connection to class 4 w-space, in to C4a, where out of four wormholes three were EOL earlier. Those three are gone, which I am assuming without checking, but the K162 from class 2 w-space lives and is healthy. With nothing happening in C4a, I jump to C2d.

The wormhole is alive and well, but the system isn't. There's nothing and no one of interest to keep me here. Thankfully, I realise that of the three wormholes that are now dead in C4a one is the static connection. That gives me a replacement static connection to scan for, which will lead to more class 4 w-space and, if necessary from there, more w-space. I drop back a system, launch probes and scan, and resolve and jump through the wormhole to C4b.

Two towers, no ships. My directional scanner shows me little improvement in circumstances, but I know I have more w-space to move to. Launching probes and blanketing the system reveals three anomalies and seven signatures, out of which the sole wormhole is too weak to lead to another C4, but not so weak as to connect to class 5 w-space. I suspect, but don't voice, a C2 wormhole, and am happy to see just such a static connection when I warp to it, finished with scanning. Well, I am finished, someone else isn't, as core probes are now visible. Whatever, other scanner, I'm moving on.

A tower and no ships appear on d-scan in C2e, so I sit on the wormhole as I scan, because of the probes behind me. Four anomalies and six signatures are reduced to a ladar site, radar site, rocks, and the two static wormholes, as the wormhole flares behind me to bring a Cheetah covert operations boat in to the system. This is why I sat on the wormhole. I let the cov-ops go, not having much chance of catching it, and finish resolving the second static wormhole. The Cheetah finds that one pretty quickly, warping to the exit to high-sec and leaving w-space shortly after I reach the wormhole myself.

The Cheetah's left w-space, but if he comes back he could be in trouble. His ship will be polarised and, knowing this, and having the high-sec wormhole as an escape route myself, I get close, decloak, and prepare as many offensive systems as I have buttons for. Nothing happens immediately, but I can wait another couple of minutes and still catch him polarised. If he comes back. Which he doesn't. Well, that's that, I suppose. Maybe he's gone back to his carebearing ways after a short jaunt exploring w-space. Me, I'll continue exploring, through the second static wormhole, in to C4c.

D-scan is clear. Blanketing the system has four anomalies and four signatures appear, out of which the static wormhole is easily resolved, allowing me to move on to C4d. And activity! Six Tengu strategic cruisers, a Loki strategic cruiser, Navy Scorpion battleship, and Noctis salvager all light up d-scan with no trace of a tower. Passively scanning the system has me bookmarking five anomalies, as the Noctis and Loki disappear, to be replaced by an extra Tengu. But there was a Noctis, which gives me hope that I can ambush the salvager at some point.

The whole system is in range of the wormhole and there's no tower in sight, which may be good, I'm not sure. The fleet isn't in an anomaly, although there are plenty of wrecks around, which probably means I have to launch probes to find them. Thankfully, the ships are on one side of the system, far enough away from one planet to let me launch probes covertly, which I do quickly and quietly, throwing them out of the system once done. Fifteen signatures join the handful of anomalies, and I get a rough bearing on the ships. There's no Noctis, so I'll hunt the ships and not the wrecks, to find them directly, as the battleship will give me a fat target to aim for.

Oh, it looks like the fleet is now in a standard anomaly, and I may not need my probes after all. That's better, as it lets me remain covert. I locate the fleet, warp in, and start shadowing them. They chew through Sleepers pretty quickly, and I follow them to second, third, and fourth anomaly, creating a perch in each that allows me to watch them at a distance, whilst still pinging d-scan in case the Noctis returns. When it's clear the fleet is staying in basic anomalies I warp back out of range, cluster my probes above me, and recall them whilst I remember.

The fleet moves to the fifth anomaly, which is around the planet where I shuffled my probes in and out of my launcher, putting them out of d-scan range of the other sites. I make a perch in that anomaly but return to the first site I know about, definitely not wanting to miss the Noctis. I know where the ships are, and what they are doing, so they're not going to surprise me. I'm almost tempted to loot some of the wrecks, but if I get my timing wrong I'll be spotted, and a looted wreck will give the game away. I'm not here for the ISK, but for the explosions, so suppress my base urge for petty larceny.

Wait, wait, wait. Maybe they don't want the loot, and just want to see the Sleepers burn. Hmm, a Tengu and Orca industrial command ship on d-scan are a curious pair. And there's the Noctis. Now I have a tricky decision to make, fighting against my bloodlust to see how much loot I can wait for the salvager to collect before I strike. My decision is made easier by the Noctis first visiting one, maybe two sites that I came in too late to find, before I finally get my eyes on him, warping to the centre of the cleared anomaly I'm waiting in. Just a little longer, Penny, then you can shoot him.

I continue watching d-scan, and the other Tengus return to clump together... somewhere. D-scan definitely puts them somewhere other than the wormhole I entered through, so I'm supposing they are sitting on their own K162 along with the Orca. And, judging by the movements of the Noctis, it doesn't look like the salvager is dropping off each site's haul at the Orca before moving to the next cleared anomaly. That's good, as it gives him a belly of loot. And I know there are more sites to clear after this one. Yes, watch and learn, see his behaviour, and get it right in the next site with even more loot to steal. I like this idea.

The Orca disappears, the Tengus remain in the system. That concerns me a little. They are not with the Noctis, but they may come to his aid. I may not have time to loot, if I even manage to destroy the Noctis. But I'll get a shot, I'm sure of that. The Noctis isn't doing anything special or different, just moving between the wrecks and looting and salvaging. I'll get him in the next site. This one is cleared, the Noctis warps away, and I move to my next perch. But, again, I practice patience, and let him drag even more loot to him, and salvage more wrecks, before I warp in for the kill.

I'm going in. I get close, decloak, and get my systems hot as I burn even closer to the salvager. I get a positive lock, disrupt the Noctis's warp engines, and start spewing autocannon rounds in to my target. Not wanting to take any chances with my timing, I overheat my guns on their first cycle, wanting this to be over as quickly as possible. This is normally not required against industrial ships that can't shoot back, but this one has friends nearby. Pointy friends. I have no idea how long it will take the Tengus to get here, if they come, but I'd rather get this over with.

Shields die, armour drops, the hull disintegrates. I aim for the pod of the Noctis, if only because I can crack them open with one shot, but he flees. And the Tengus arrive. I'm opening the wreck as my overview starts filling up, and I see ships decelerating from warp dangerously close to me. Thank goodness for the 'loot all' option. Spong! Done. No dragging items across, no ambiguity, just grab everything and run. And run I do. Or, at least, try. The Tengus are well and truly locked on to my Loki and have started to inflict damage, which isn't a good sign.

I aim to get back to my perch as the Tengus plink away at my shields, not caring to pop the wreck of the Noctis, and have deactivated my micro warp drive already in the hopes that my alignment time won't be adversely affected. Of course, that means nothing if my warp engines are disrupted, but they aren't. I turn, accelerate, warp. I get clear of the six angry Tengus, chuckling to myself as I activate my cloak, nice and safe a few hundred kilometres away, looking at the 190 million ISK of loot and salvage now sitting in my hold.

Time to bug out. There's little point basking in the warmth of a successful ambush and escape without actually escaping properly. The fleet may not know about the wormhole I used to get here, but that doesn't mean they won't find it soon. I should get home. But, as it turns out, they do know about that wormhole, as it leads to their home system, which I find out jumping through it and seeing the pod of the ex-Noctis pilot on d-scan. That's rum.

So the fleet stayed in the system to protect the Noctis, but without providing any direct protection. I popped it before they could prevent it, after all. And they weren't sitting on their wormhole either, to detect transitions directly, but somewhere else. Okay, that keeps them safer, but I don't see how it helps. Minimal deterrence, and no warp disruptors so no revenge. I just waltzed away. After stealing the loot too, mind you. Knowing all this makes the kill sweeter.

Anyway, I'm not going to dally now. I warp my way across w-space systems, jumping through wormholes, to make it home, happy that we have a few systems' buffer between us and them. Hi Fin, I'm home. Thanks for getting fuel through one of the high-sec exits. I brought loot. It's ours now. 'It was nice of them to collect it for us. We should send them a thank-you note.' Maybe tomorrow. It was a long wait for the ambush, and worth it, but now I should get some rest.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: cheetah, eve online, loki, mmorpg, noctis, orca, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, scorpion, tengu, w-space