Ghost Site Success

It's another day, and another static C3a that connects to nullsec.  This means another shot at ghostbusting.

In a very strange coincidence, the wormhole connects to the exact same system that I was in a few days back when I was ghostbusting.  Weird.  I set off vaguely north.

After about 10 systems of nothing, I head south for a bit to do a small loop I have bypassed.  At the last system, I turn around and burn the 15km to the gate.  But when I am still 11k off, a guy "black top" lands on grid; another Tengu.  Is he after me?  I doubt he can stop me in time, but I take no chances and cloak anyway.   As I drift up to the gate, he jumps.  On the other side, I hold gate cloak for a while until I feel silly.  Then I just warp and cloak.

I am running parallel with black top for a while, which is not surprising since there are no branches yet.  I wonder if he is ghostbusting too.  After two systems, we get to SNFV-I.  Ecidently he goes another direction.  I keep heading north.  Two hops later, I enter MY-WV1; I'm alone again, and there is a ghost site!

Finally!

I warp to it, anxious that black top will come this way.  But he is not in system by the time I am on site.  I lock up the four cans and start scanning them.  In one there is a 'Wetu' mobile depot blueprint.  That may actually have some value.  (Later I look it up: sell price at Jita is 40m ISK, probably dropping fast.)  No ascendancy implants.  I head over and start hacking.

PVP danger

I am expect the "hard" minigame.  That is the one that is typical in nullsec (at least in my limited experience).  But instead it is the "medium" difficulty minigame, featuring 50/20 firewalls and none of the nasty nodes.  I tear across the minigame map and find the core!  Woo!  Click click, and I can loot the can.  Cha-small-ching!

This was fast; I hope there is time to do a second can.  I head across 20km to the nearest can, but before I arrive the Serpentis spawn appears.  I head off into space as they warp scramble me and start shooting.  As I flee, waiting for the 30 seconds or so, I notice local and I see that black top has just entered the system.  That's a bit scary -- he may notice the ghost site and perhaps fly to it, and here I am warp scrambled.  Still, it should take him time to arrive and I will probably be cloaked by then.  In any case, he does not appear.  The Serpentis damage my shields a bit, then leave.  I immediately cloak.  Instead of warping off, I hang out to see if black top will appear on the site.  But he does not after about 20 seconds, and that's probably as long as it should take him.  The site has despawned so he cannot even try.  So I continue northwards.

ghostbusters that pass in the night

The next system, he speaks in local.  Asks what I got.  So he did see the site was there.  I tell him I got a 'Wetu', just as I jump 4M-HGL, and lose him.

Now I head north then west (directions in terms of where they are on dotlan), all the way to E3-SDZ, and find no sites.  Then I head back towards the cluster to the east.  I have skipped on site on the way, B-XJX4, which I hit this direction.  Ghost site!  And nobody here again.

I do the now standard procedure for unopposed ghost sites.  Warp to the site, lock the cans, scan them all looking for something good.  There is another mobile depot blueprint, but no Ascendancies.   I burn over to the can with the blueprint, setting an orbit for 2500m in case I need to GTFO.  I am hopeful that it will be another medium minigame.  But it is not.  It's hard.  I hit one Restoration Node, then a second.  But I get some good utilities.  I click across the map, and before I even have to use a utility, hey, there is is.  System Core.

Just as I find the core, the pirates arrive.  OK, I have to get the stuff fast!  Kill the node: click click click, and it dies.  Now I can loot the can -- but I can't!  Crap!  I am too far.  I am orbiting at 2700 because of my earlier order!  OK, "loot".  Seconds tick away.  I have the can selected, hitting "loot", "loot", over and over.  My ship turns to the can, ever so slowly, as the pirates lock me and start shooting.  I am sure I can tank this long enough, but will they explode my loot?

All at once, I get the loot window, and the can blows up, and I loot it.  Did I get the loot?  I did.  OK, maybe I got the order wrong there, but honestly I am not sure.   I burn off, and the pirates get me down to about 30% before they warp.  Whew.  Lesson learned: in future, I will orbit the can at 1000m, not 2500m. 

The rest of the run yields no further sites.  I return to my wormhole, and enter C3a.  As I am crossing it, I pay attention to my loot and I notice that the second mobile depot blueprint I got is not another "Wetu", as I had thought.  It's a "Yurt".  A quick look at Jita via my Jita alt shows the price: 450m (also most likely still dropping like a stone).  Whoa.  A good run.

Ghostbusting has more potential for those of my modest skills than I thought.