Aiming for an Armageddon
11th February 2014 – 5.29 pmJumping to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system isn't anywhere near as interesting as finding the dash system connecting behind us. One tower, no ships, one salvage drone, no wrecks. It isn't inspiring, but you can't judge a system by its d-scan result. I warp out to launch probes, but hit a second tower instead. There are still no ships, so I ignore it and launch probes anyway, blanketing the system to reveal three anomalies and eight signatures. My notes say a high-sec exit waits for me in this direction too. Let's find it.
The high-sec wormhole is pretty obvious from its signature strength, and I resolve two more wormholes as well. The devil man seen in the exit tells me the connection leads to Heimatar, and the other two are both w-space connections, one a K162 from class 4 w-space, one a K162 from class 2 w-space. A K162 from class 2 w-space with an Anathema covert operations boat appeared on it, in fact.
I approach him, he approaches me. That's curious, because my Loki strategic cruiser is cloaked, which I'm pretty sure makes me at least a little bit difficult to see. And, like Jaws, the Anathema cloaks a few kilometres from me. Also like Jaws, I don't think I want to do anything about it. I'm almost given no choice, when the cov-ops resurfaces a gnat's chuff from decloaking me. He turns and burns to the wormhole, and jumps through, which is curious indeed.
I loiter by the wormhole, wondering what, if anything, will come through next. The connection crackles. It's just the Anathema again, who warps clear and launches probes elsewhere in the system. I wait for a short while as the scout scans, and when his probes are recalled the Anathema returns to C2c, his system. I wonder if he'll hit Heimatar. I can't resist taking a look through the wormhole to see if I can determine his intentions.
My directional scanner shows me nothing on the other side of the wormhole, and my notes tell me nothing but that this is my first visit. Even so, a C2 with a wormhole to class 3 w-space will have its own connection to high-sec, so either their own exit is poor, the scout is merely scouting, or this C3 connection is random. For the moment, I merely hold on the wormhole, not daring to wander away. And for my efforts, nothing happens.
And nothing continues to happen, right up until an Armageddon battleship appears on d-scan. As there appears to be nothing else in space around here, it's perhaps no surprise that the Armageddon soon drops on to the wormhole where I wait. Is he going to engage Sleepers in C3a, or is he taking the ship out to high-sec? I have no idea. I also have no idea if I can feasibly prevail in this encounter. The Armageddon jumps. I quickly check the time, and it looks like my polarisation timer is almost reset, so—what the hell—I follow.
The battleship is sluggish, still on the wormhole even after my slight prevarication. The battleship is also fat. I gain a positive target lock in almost no time, letting me disrupt its warp engines and start shooting almost immediately. I aim to get my Loki in to a tight orbit, hopefully inside the battleship's guns, but my plan goes a little awry when the Armageddon chickens out and jumps straight back to C2c. I would follow, of course, but I am actually still a little polarised, by thirty seconds. I dare say even the Armageddon can comfortably enter warp in that time.
I jump back when I can, not entirely sure I want to engage the ship when polarised anyway, and see the battleship a hundred kilometres from the wormhole. I suppose it has a micro jump drive fitted, and has been waiting to see if I'd come back. Now that I have, the Armageddon aligns towards a planet and enters warp. I follow, covertly, to see the battleship appear far below a local tower, trying to avoid his own corporation's warp bubbles. He does so, enters the tower's force field, and swaps back to the Anathema. Yep, I'd say that's it for me for tonight. Still, I'm pretty pleased with myself on my way home, because at least I tried to take on the battleship.
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