Just poking around
16th September 2013 – 5.42 pmIt's just the static wormhole that's new at home, and our neighbouring class 3 w-space system doesn't seem much more appealing, not with only a tower and shuttle visible on my directional scanner. I initiate warp to a distant planet so that I can launch probes only to see a Falcon recon ship appear on d-scan. Belay that command, cadet! Hold position. Okay, the Falcon's gone, dunno where. Let's launch probes.
Okay, let's not launch probes, not as I've bumped in to a second tower on the edge of the system, this one appearing on d-scan with two Orca industrial command ships, a Tengu strategic cruiser, and Iteron hauler. Locating the tower sees one Orca and the Tengu piloted, making this a poor place to be launching probes from, and I warp back to the inner system to locate the first tower. The shuttle is floating empty inside the force field, and now d-scan is showing me probes.
No matter, they are core probes, so won't detect my ship, and with no obvious pilot around this is the best place to decloak without being spotted. A blanket scan of the system reveals two anomalies and nine signatures, holding lots of gas and a pair of wormholes. One feels weaker than the other, which is indicative of the static exit to high-sec I'm expecting to find, so I warp that way to get the unexciting connection reconnoitred first.
Well, it's a wormhole connecting with high-sec, but it's a K162. My intuition is a little off today, it seems. I'll still check it, now that I'm here, and I jump through to appear in a system in Devoid, where an Incursion is currently taking place. There are no other signatures in the system, though, so my interest wanes immediately and I return to C3a. Warping to the static wormhole finds the connection to The Forge at the end of its life and of not much use, just as the local Tengu blips on to d-scan. Where was he going?
Warping back to the K162 from high-sec has the wormhole crackling soon enough, the Tengu returning from the Devoid region polarised. Polarised, but not engaged. I don't know the Tengu's fit, and although I can easily evade the ship I really don't think it's worth revealing myself just to waste some ammunition. But this is interesting. A minute after the Tengu has warped away the Orca drops on to the wormhole and jumps to high-sec. Are they collapsing the wormhole and about to give me a polarised Orca to play with? Because that I would waste ammunition on.
Nope, the Orca doesn't come back. I even wait the few minutes for polarisation to dissipate, in case the pilot is being suitably cautious, but there is no sign of the whale. Curious, I poke back out to high-sec, where there is no Orca, no oranges, and a six-hop route to the trade hub of Amarr. I suppose he's running logistics and not about to trap himself on a high-sec wormhole.
Out of reasonable options, I think it's a good time to collapse our static connection and try again. A few fat ships stress the wormhole in the right ways, and I'm not interrupted as the connection collapses on schedule. I start again, scanning, resolving, jumping, and having d-scan show me a tower with no ships this time. That's no improvement. Twelve anomalies and eight signatures are whittled down to a pair of wormholes, the static exit to low-sec leading to a system in Solitude with a few extra signatures, the other not being the outbound connection my malfunctioning intuition expected but a still-good K162 from class 4 w-space.
Jumping to C4a gives me a warm sensation of anticipation, as d-scan shows me a Retriever mining barge, Orca, and Drake battlecruiser, but that is soon subdued when I realise there are no anomalies in the whole system. The ships are probably empty at either of the two towers also visible. Well, it turns out that the Retriever is piloted, but what's he going to do? I'm assuming nothing, so scan the one other signature in this bare system. It's a wormhole, naturally, leading back to a class 5 system. Maybe something is happening there.
A tower, two pods, and a Helios covert operations boat aren't going to provide much entertainment in C5a, and although a second tower elsewhere holds a Covetor mining barge and Heron frigate the ships are empty. Performing a blanket scan reveals an untidy system too, the thirty anomalies somehow putting me off scanning the manageable seven signatures. The few in low-sec look more attractive right now. It will be quick and simple to check them, and may lead me to a system holding a soft kill. Or I'll resolve gas, a relic site, and a wormhole at the end of its life. Well it was quick. And now it's game over for tonight.
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