Keeping the skill queue flowing
25th May 2013 – 3.48 pmI'm only really here to update my skill queue. It's not full enough to make it through another day, so even though I was going to have a night off I'm sucked back in to w-space, however briefly. But I should be okay. I can quit any time I want. Still, it won't hurt to check that home's secure, or to see if there's an easy kill waiting to be ambushed in the neighbouring system, right? Right?
Two extra signatures at home intrigue me, but they're just a new pocket of gas and Sleepers protecting a more valuable second pocket of gas. It's nothing to get excited about. And as I resolve the static wormhole too it would be churlish not to at least poke my nose through. A tower and lack of ships visible on my directional scanner in the class 3 system should really be all I need to see to turn around and head home, but I stay. No, I don't know why either.
My notes do their bang up job again, informing me of a can planted at the hundred-kilometre warp-in point for the tower, which I'll avoid by warping in from a different direction today. Except the tower isn't there any more, and neither is the can. Never mind, notes, have a biscuit anyway. The new tower is straightforward enough to locate, and it's prickly but not booby trapped. And as I'm getting in to a groove already, I warp out, launch probes, and start scanning.
Eleven anomalies and thirteen signatures isn't light going, but nor does it feel like a chore to sort through them, and is made easier by their close clustering. Three wormholes are plucked from the noise, which I think means I'm out here for the night. The static exit to low-sec empire space is obvious, and takes me to a faction warfare system in The Bleak Lands that I comfortably ignore. The second wormhole in C3a is also ignored for now, being a K162 from null-sec k-space, but that just leaves me with a dying K162 from more class 3 w-space.
Dying, but not dead, or it wouldn't be there. I take the slight risk of isolation and jump through the wobbly connection, to see a couple of towers and a Bestower on d-scan. Is it piloted, is it active? Finding the tower says no, and no. That's good enough for me here, so jump back to C3a and The Bleak Lands to look around with probes this time. There seems to be plenty of faction warfare occurring, as ships come and go, and plenty light up my combat probes, but I'm interested only in the signatures. Well, signature, singular, as there's just the one.
The signature is weak, and of 'unknown' type, which means little outside of w-space. But as it resolves to be a wormhole, its relative strength gains semantic strength. It must be an outbound link. And indeed it is, the Z971 leading to a class 1 w-space system. As I jump to C1a, I notice core scanning probes in the low-sec system. Whether that's an explorer looking for wormholes or not, I don't know. I can't pay it much attention for now either.
Circumstances don't look optimistic in C1a. A shuttle is the only ship visible on d-scan along with a tower, so rather than find that I may as well hold on the wormhole to scan. If that scout from low-sec comes this way I'd like to know. He doesn't, not in the time it takes me to identify six signatures and resolve three wormholes: a K162 from high-sec, K162 from class 2 w-space, and static exit to high-sec. I get both high-sec exit systems first, with one ending up in The Forge but rather out of the way, and the other coming from Sinq Laison, before seeing what I can find in C2a.
I have a curious note about this class 2 system. I don't have any previous visits listed, but I am apparently in Elroy Skimms's home system. That's neat, as he appears to be on-line too, and there are two haulers and a tower visible on d-scan. Maybe I can surprise him with this pop-in visit. No, apparently not, as neither hauler is piloted, merely floating empty inside the tower's force field, and owned by a corporation that doesn't match Skimms's. The bastard's moved out and not told me.
Seven anomalies and four signatures are quick to resolve, giving me rocks, gas, and the second static connection. The other wormhole is another exit to high-sec, leading to a system in Derelik and terminating the constellation. I'm not scanning more empire space systems. I'm not even supposed to be here. Okay, it's time to head home, without having even seen another pilot. I don't think this has been the best use of my time. But, damn, probes are now visible in C1a, tempting me to loiter a little longer.
The scout from low-sec must have come this way, but quite why I'm waiting for him now I'm not sure. Maybe I am a little desperate to at least see someone in w-space to make me feel that my evening hasn't been wasted. Actually, I think I just like explosions, and I'm hoping to make one. Eventually the probes disappear, and the only ship that d-scan shows me is a Nighthawk. That would be a little weird, except I know that Aii is coming back through one of the high-sec connections with the command ship. This is why I scouted every exit system, so that his route would be optimal.
I warp back to the K162 to low-sec, just in time, in fact, to see the Nighthawk that is distinctly not being piloted by Aii warp away. Damn. Who the hell scans in a Nighthawk? I try to catch up with him, but miss the command ship on the C2 K162, and feel that chasing him further is somewhat futile as the other two wormholes lead to high-sec, so head back to low-sec and wait on the wormhole for a minute. He doesn't come back this way, though, so it really is time to go home and hit the sack. At least I remembered to update my skill queue.
2 Responses to “Keeping the skill queue flowing”
Sorry to have missed you. I'll do a better job next time keeping you informed of my w-space address. You'll only use this knowledge for good, right?
'Good' is a relative concept.