Bumping in to a Bestower

High-sec here I come! The activity in the class 2 w-space system I was just meant to be passing through has been suppressed, giving me a new corpse to carry, and so I can get on with scanning for more wormholes through the static exit to Essence. Seeing three extra signatures is a positive start too, although watching them drop to two is a little rum. I suppose that one was a site that has been cleared.

The other two signatures are wormholes, which I discover by launching probes and resolving both. I warp to the first as I resolve the second, landing near an outbound connection to class 1 w-space As the second signature is really quite weak it will also be an outbound connection, making neither a particularly good choice to explore, so instead of warping back-and-forth I'll just drop through this wormhole to C1a.

Going through an outbound wormhole isn't great, with the discovery scanner shouting its spawning, and appearing almost eight kilometres on the other side of the connection in this class 1 system doesn't make me feel optimistic about finding any entertainment. The system will only lead back out of w-space by default too, so I am pretty much relying on finding a K162 or two to keep myself amused.

I launch probes and perform a blanket scan of the system, revealing twenty-two anomalies, eleven signatures, and an unsurprising lack of ships. Exploring finds a tower, though, so I loiter there as I sift through the signatures. I also see four mobile depots in the system. They may be worth looking for, if only to experiment at shooting them. One is near the tower, the other three around a different planet, all easily found with my combat probes. I also incidentally resolve a wormhole at the same time, because I'm that good at scanning.

A ship appears under my probes, which I manage to identify on my directional scanner as an Imicus before it disappears again, and now there are core scanning probes whizzing around. I hide my own probes and warp to the wormhole I resolved, wondering if perhaps the Imicus came from that direction, or may head that way once the scout resolves it too. Maybe not, though, not with the exit to low-sec being at the end of its life. I don't have a much better spot to lurk, and although I could warp to the K162 I came through my ship has other ideas.

It all goes dark. I try to restart my Loki, but the strategic cruiser is adamant about my taking a short break. Eventually, I manage to kickstart a network connection back to life, and I can get the Loki powered again, but I can only imagine how long my ship has been visible in this class 1 w-space system. Long enough for the Imicus to spot, most likely, although only if he checked d-scan. His core scanning probes wouldn't have detected me.

So I have a slight chance of still catching the Imicus, made slighter by the core probes disappearing, the frigate blipping on d-scan, and nothing jumping past me. Oh well. I still have my own probes out, hidden high above the ecliptic plane in their blanket-scanning configuration, so it's probably worth my having a poke for possible wormholes the Imicus left through. I bring in my probes and, on the first scan, the EOL J244 I'm sitting on crackles.

No, that can't be the Imicus, not if it didn't go past me. And it isn't the Imicus. It's even better. A Bestower hauler appears in space next to me, piloted by a capsuleer red to our corporation. If that weren't lucky enough to stumble in to, I get luckier still in that he stumbles in to me. Literally. As soon as I think 'I'm having that' and try to de-activate my cloak I realise that I can't. It's already been dropped by the Bestower, thrown through the wormhole to appear within two kilometres of my own ship.

Thanks for inadvertently helping to soak up some sensor recalibration delay, red. Have some autocannon fire for your troubles. I lock on, scramble the Bestower's warp engines, and start shooting. I rip through shields and most of the armour of the hauler, who poops some probes in surprise before deciding that jumping back to low-sec would be a better option than dying in w-space. That's cool, I can take the hit to my security status. I follow behind.

Decloak, lock, shoot. The Bestower explodes with a couple more volleys of autocannon fire. I don't aim for the pod, not in low-sec, which may be why the pilot returned this way. That doesn't stop me looting the wreck, which at first looks like I've bagged what survives of a resupply run. The Minmatar fuel blocks went down with the ship, not that we could have used them anyway, but there is a good clasp of modules and ammunition to steal.

It's not just modules and fuel that were in the Bestower. It takes Aii's admiring the kill report to spot the packaged Anathema covert operations boat that was also being carried. It's a shame to not have it survive, but it explains a lot of what else was being hauled. The Bestower was carrying all the parts to put together a hacking ship, including the ship itself. No wonder it's coming up as a listed loss of 180 Miskies. Packed to the gills, vulnerable, and red. This is the kind of hauler I like to find. Or for it to find me. Either way, it makes for a happy Penny.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: bestower, eve online, imicus, loki, low-sec, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space