Ships passing by
28th June 2014 – 3.23 pmMy glorious leader is in class 2 w-space, judging by the trail of bookmarks she's left in her space-wake. Not that she's talking to me at the moment, probably focussed on some pilots she'd like to shoot. As such, when the K162 from C2a crackles with a jump as I orbit it, wondering if I should join Fin or not, I get myself primed. Fin would at least acknowledge my existence, so whoever is coming through the wormhole is not her.
It's an Ishtar. The heavy assault cruiser has come from C2a to our home system and, what the hell, I can try to persuade him to go back again. If he flees through the wormhole he'll be polarised, and if I have to flee through the wormhole I won't be. It looks like I have a relatively free shot, as long as he doesn't have any friends nearby.
I decloak and try in vain to lock on to the Ishtar as my sensors recalibrate, only to watch the HAC warp away. Still, he could only have gone in one direction, if he's acting rationally, and that is to our static wormhole. My reactions are a little slow, although not as ponderous as my Proteus strategic cruiser aligning for warp, and as I enter warp I am not hopeful of catching the HAC.
Because I don't expect to catch the fleeing target, particularly now that he has seen me, I cloak during warp. Updating my directional scanner sees the ship persist in the system, and reaching the wormhole sees why he isn't jumping, when a colleague of the Ishtar's decloaks in a Falcon recon ship. Damn their ECM.
I am tempted to give the pair a poke anyway, perhaps trying to blast the Falcon down quickly, but circumstances change quickly. On the C2 K162 I had the advantage, because of the Ishtar's jump. On our C247 I have no such advantage granted by the polarisation mechanics, giving the HAC the probable advantage in firepower and the definite advantage in support.
The possible engagement is academic, anyway. The Ishtar turns and warps, the Falcon burns away from the wormhole and cloaks. I'd be a fool to try anything now. Still, Fin says hello, and tells me she's been watching some pilots in C2a configuring a new tower. Interestingly, the pair I almost tussled with are not local to the C2. I suppose that places their home system either in C3a or through a wormhole in our neighbouring system.
With this news, I consider checking on the Ishtar, seeing what he's up to on the C2 K162. Except he appears to be in empty space, or, look at that, on our static wormhole. The HAC jumps, the Falcon reappears and follows, and I don't think it will do me any good to join them. I continue my lazy orbits around the wormhole, interrupted only when Fin jumps past me some minutes later.
Perhaps coincidentally, after Fin jumps to C3a, a Helios covert operations boat does the same moments later. Not much of a threat, but activity to be aware of. 'Helios warped', Fin says, noting that d-scan is clear. There's a pause. 'Crow in empty space.' It's a trap! Or the interceptor's on a wormhole. 'Oh, right.' An Atron frigate and Hound stealth bomber appear too, but Fin stops my jumping to join her. At least, not before she's scanned for the Crow.
'The Crow is on a C5 K162', and there are two other wormholes in the system. The K162 crackles with activity. 'Bustard.' The transport belongs to the same corporation as the interceptor, so it naturally gets past. Fin leaves both ships alone too, and nothing is happening where I am. I head the other way, to C2a, to see if there have been any changes or are signs of activity. Nope. All as Fin described when she left it.
The Bustard returns after a while, passing the Crow to C5a again, and dragging the interceptor back with it. That makes C3a quiet, and as quiet as C2a. A couple of ships drop off-line, making it look less likely that anything more will happen. I turn myself around, as does Fin from the other direction, and we head home. After an interesting start the evening never really got going. I didn't even launch scanning probes.
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