Return to the dash system

One new signature at home today is a second wormhole, how exciting! And for a signature with the three-letter identifier ISO it is quite apt that the K162 connects our class 4 w-space home with more class 4 w-space. Jumping through sees—hey, it is exciting! No mere hyperbole in pursuit of a interesting hook today, as I find myself in the dash system. My last encounter with the locals of this system was awfully enjoyable, and profitable, and although no one appears to be around at the moment I am still happy just to be here.

Both towers are out of directional scanner range of the wormhole, but checking their presence shows that they are still here. A blanket scan also reveals eight anomalies and four signatures, which I'll check for further connections. After all, maybe the locals didn't open their wormhole to our system. Scanning finds some gas, the wormhole I came through, a data site, and a second wormhole. The K162 from class 2 w-space looks good too. Jumping to C2a still sees nothing much, with d-scan clear, and a blanket scan revealing no ships, just two anomalies and five signatures.

One, two, three wormholes, plus a bit of gas to round out the results. Got to have something to tempt the industrialists out. A K162 from class 5 w-space has potential, the static exit to high-sec could be convenient, and an outbound connection to more class 2 w-space should be more exciting than the discovery scanner makes it. I'll get the exit first, jumping out of w-space to appear in a system in The Citadel, a mere six hops from Jita. That is pretty convenient. But what catches my eye is that orange pilot in the system, who appears to be from the dash system.

Even more interesting, if you can bear it, is the orange pilot dropping on to the wormhole in his pod and jumping to C2a, as I hold my session-change cloak. That's pretty neat. But what's he going to do next? Well, he's going to be followed, for a start. I give him enough time to get clear of the other side of the wormhole and return to C2a, warping across the system and jumping to C4a to catch up with the pod. I don't quite manage that, as I see a Bestower on d-scan as I warp towards the towers, but thankfully I haven't completely misgauged my timing.

I drop out of warp at the tower in the dash system in time to see the hauler warp back the way he came. I expected as much, and as soon as my warp engines deactivated I aligned back to the wormhole to C2a. I am back in warp seconds after the Bestower, and as the industrial ship accelerates a little slower than my Loki strategic cruiser I can expect to catch up. I know where he's going, I know what he's in, and it seems obvious that he's ignored our part of the constellation thanks to the near-Jita connection. Because of this, I warp-to-zero on the wormhole, not feeling a need to be covert any more.

He's on the wormhole and jumping as I land. That works for me. I jump through too, decloaking my ship as early as possible to get my sensor booster active. He's making a break for it, also as early as possible, because I do declare that he's got himself polarised. Me too, of course, but I think the simple industrial ship is in a worse position than me. I gain a positive lock, disrupt its warp engines, and start shooting. I stop shooting pretty quickly, if only because the Bestower disintegrates after a few rounds of autocannon fire. It's a beautiful sight. It could only look better if we were flying off the shoulder of Orion.

The Bestower's gone, and the pod's gone even more quickly. The pilot flees towards the high-sec wormhole without a moment's hesitation, leaving me a wreck containing a couple of expanded cargoholds and a whole load of oxygen. I daren't blow it up, because finding oxygen in the depths of space always strikes me as a good result. It's normally in such short supply. Even at the minor risk of losing a ship myself to pick it up, I've got to try to recover the oxygen.

I hold on the wormhole for a minute, waiting for polarisation effects to end, and head backwards. To and through C4a, in to the home system and towards our tower. The core probes visible on d-scan in C4a give me pause for thought, but never mind that now. I grab a Bustard transport ship from our hangar and go back to the wreck on the wormhole in C2a. Hey, thanks, Mr Wormhole. I like being spat in to the system on the opposite side of the wormhole to the wreck when piloting a transport, now having to cross some twelve kilometres quite slowly.

I urge the Bustard on and we make it to the wreck, where I grab as much of the oxygen as I can fit in to my hold. About 80% of the gas is transferred. Now, do I go to high-sec to sell this immediately, or do I head back to our tower and dump it there. On the one hand, selling it now would mean we wouldn't have to haul it again later, which seems like a good plan, considering how much volume it's already taking. On the other hand, adding time for other pilots to find this route, as well as notably travelling along the route the originally ambushed pilot must have taken, could make me much more vulnerable. I'll take it home.

Jumping back to C4a and warping away from the wormhole see an Anathema covert operations boat blip on my overview. I doubt he can stop me, but a different ship could, and the scout could bring them this way. I make it home, dump my booty, and swap back to the Loki, heading once more back to the wreck on the wormhole in C2a. I want to pop it, just to see it burn. Core probes are in this system now, so the Anathema almost certainly wasn't looking for me. On top of that, he's not even affiliated with C4a. I should have noticed his lack of orange hue, but I'm not always that observant. He asks me in local about the wreck, and I tell him. And that's that. I leave the Anathema alone, taking myself back home. I have another arm of the constellation to explore.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: anathema, bestower, bustard, eve online, loki, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, scanning, w-space