Seeing an orange and feeling a lemon
18th March 2014 – 5.21 pmCrap, our home sites have been plundered, all without my being able to interrupt or explode anything. That's a damned shame. An unexpected signature isn't even a wormhole leading to the perps either, just a new pocket of gas that I'll ignore and hope someone else has designs on harvesting. Never mind, onwards, ever onwards, and through our static wormhole to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system.
There are just a few bubbles visible on my directional scanner from our K162, and nothing is out of range. No occupation, no activity. I launch probes and scan the seventeen anomalies and twenty signatures, which gives me a fair bit to sift through, and as my notes say that I'm looking for a static exit to null-sec I can't ignore the weak signatures. That's cool, as I ignore four gas sites, resolve a chubby wormhole, and find the weak wormhole next to that. That's some good scanning, Penny.
The K162 I've found is just from low-sec, so I keep scanning the other signatures, hitting data, relics, and gas, until there's just one chubby signature left. Good, it's a wormhole. I ignore the rest of the skinny signatures, recall my probes, and, as I'm sitting next to it, check through the low-sec K162 first. I exit to a faction warfare system in Placid, with one pilot in the system and a few extra signatures should I need them.
Back to C3a and through the K346 to Great Wildlands. Two pilots, more signatures. Also good to know. But what's the third wormhole in C3a? It's a K162 from class 2 w-space, which is nicely saving the best to last. Jumping through even sees occupation and possible activity, with two towers on d-scan along with two Tengu strategic cruisers and an Iteron V hauler. There are no wrecks, though, so I don't feel too bad at appearing less than one kilometre from the wormhole.
My last visit to this C2 had my podding a Hound stealth bomber on the static exit to high-sec. Good days. What about today? There's an extra tower, for a start. The tower in my notes holds a Tengu and the Iteron, both piloted, and the new tower has the other Tengu, also piloted. That bodes well for potential activity, and before they get any ideas I warp away from them to launch probes, in case I need them. That only gets me closer to two more towers and three more ships, but scoping the ships finds no pilots, so I launch probes out here anyway.
A blanket scan of C2a reveals seven anomalies, seven signatures, and five ships. That doesn't seem right, not having counted three in the inner system and three on the edge. I head back to watch the Iteron in case it moves, but the hauler turns out to be the ship that's now missing. Great, there was no activity until I stopped looking for it. But, hey, maybe it's gone to high-sec and I can catch that coming back polarised! That must be more likely than it having gone off-line. I scan quickly, looking for the wormhole the Iteron almost certainly used, getting one as the first hit.
I drop out of warp next to a K162 from Domain, which could be relevant, but I keep scanning, looking for the B274 that also could have been used. That's the second wormhole I resolve, an exit to high-sec Lonetrek, but one wobbling away at the end of its life. I imagine the Domain exit is more likely to be active, so I head back that way to loiter. In fact, I'll jump through to get myself a decent exit and see what's happening in the system.
Jumping through the K162 lands me a mere two hops to Amarr. That's a short journey for any hauler to make, and for it to return quickly. There are no orange pilots in the local communication channel, but I think I can wait a few minutes. That is, until I remember that the Iteron pilot belonged to a state corporation and didn't get painted when I marked the C2a corporation. That's going to make him harder to spot. In fact, do I even remember the name? Maybe, maybe not.
I may as well scan the two other signatures in the high-sec system, whilst trying to remember and identify the Iteron pilot who may or may not have come this way, hoping that he'll jump through the wormhole and save me some precious mental effort. Whether I successfully remember the name or not, no Iteron jumps past me, and I've resolved two wormholes. I would say my time will be better spent reconnoitring them than sitting here, given the circumstances.
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