I log in, and Hiljah is already on. There are three sigs in our system. Two are bookmarked: our static, and a C4 link. Just as I am getting ready to scan down the last, Hiljah says he is doing that and reports it's a wormhole too. I notice that we are down three anomalies -- Frontier Barracks that I wanted to run. A quick check at staticmapper shows someone ran them 14 hours ago. Oh well, they come and they go.
I am in my stealth bomber, and I figure that since someone already scanned down our static, I'll have a look. I warp over and enter. OK, whoever opened it did not scan it down. Still, even without scanning I can find the tower and have a look. This takes some time with the dscanner. OK, moon 3 of planet 2. I warp over. Nobody home. The owning corp appears to be Russian, so we probably won't see any of them tonight.
I come back and get my scanning Tengu, reenter, and scan it down. There are two lowsec wormholes one of them static, and ours. There are two relic sites we might run, and a handful of anoms. Still, without Jayne (who is laid up with a bad case of real worlditus), and with extra wormholes in our system, I am not particularly keen to do sites.
Let's look at C4b. I leave C3a back into our home, then warp across, and jump. C4b is very clean. No anoms except an ore site, which I instantiate. One sig. OK, nothing happening here. I leave.
Meanwhile Hiljah has entered the other wormhole, which is a second C3 link, hence C3b. C3b has a lowsec static, but also a nullsec link and I think one other wormhole. Anyway, at this point we make the decision not to run sites. We'll do that tomorrow. Tonight, we're doing our own things. I log in my ice miner in The Forge and get him mining. Then I get my exploration Buzzard and head out into lowsec via C3a.
My expedition is mildly successful, but the region I am in is rather too populated. I do find a few empty systems and two relic sites in them, which I loot. But not that much gained, perhaps 15m ISK. Not a great use for an hour. Meanwhile Hiljah has headed out into null to rat in a stealth bomber. Hmm, interesting, never done that. It seems like something I should try. Anyway, after several systems of nothing in lowsec, I decide to head to null. So back to the wormhole exit from C3a, through it, to home. Then into C3b and down into null.
I scan eight systems, and all of them have nada. This is disappointing, especially given that several have warp bubbles at the gates that I have to slowboat through. By this point it's getting near to bedtime for me, so I pack it in. Back through null to our entrance, and back in I go.
I always dscan whenever entering a new wspace system. It's a good habit. And this time, I don't see what I expected (two towers, one online, some fixed cans, etc.) I see a fleet in action, killing sleepers. There are five or six combat ships featuring mostly drones. Several Myrmidons, some T3s. There is also a Noctis. And there are wrecks from at least three anoms. I tell Hiljah (who is still out in null ratting).
OK, first thing you do in a situation like this: bookmark all the anomalies that are still there. Probably all of the wrecks I can see, I cannot get to; the anoms are gone. However, if the fleet stays around and runs more sites, then I'll be able to get to all of them.
I'm in my Buzzard, and that's the wrong ship to kill things in. So I warp back to our wormhole -- no obvious scout here -- and transit into our home system. Safe on this side too. I warp back to tower, and jump in my Manticore. I am not going to kill a fleet by myself, nor with Hiljah. But I might be able to gank that Noctis if they are not sensible about escorting it.
Back across our system, and I jump, polarizing myself. Hmm... there's a scout here. Imicus, so I am not particularly concerned. I hold cloak a minute: why is he not cloaked? Can't tell. Anyway, I make my move: off the wormhole, microwarp, cloak. Just as I do this, the Imicus enters the wormhole. Odd coincidence. I hold position a while to see if the Imicus will return. He does, and deploys drones. I guess he is just a picket. I think to get his corp: E-UNI. Eve University. Interesting.
I warp back to the nullsec entrance to make sure it is safe for Hiljah to come it. It is. He does. Now I am going to use dscan to try to figure out where they are. I start pointing it at anoms, and on the second one, I can see their fleet. I warp over at 100, then start backing off to make a perch. They are killing sleepers madly. One of them uses a warp scrambler. Wait, did I really see that? Could it have been a sleeper? I look up the site (Fortification Frontier Stronghold); no warp scrambling sleepers in this one. So, I know the fleet has at least some PVP ability. Good to know. I don't think it would be a good idea to try to gank with the fleet present.
While I cruise slowly out from the site, I keep looking for the Noctis. After some work I find it, in a direction down and sunward from myself. Unfortunately, there is no known anom there. So, I cannot get to it, barring combat probes. And in any case, they are not fools and have an escort, a Legion.
I am far enough out, so I make my perch. Now the fleet is done with this site, and they warp. Hmm, some nice loot out there. Come here, Noctis! But it doesn't. Instead it finishes its site -- no more wrecks with it on narrow dscan -- and it disappears. It may have warped off or it may have cloaked; I cannot tell that from just dscan. Where did it go? There are some anoms out of dscan range that I know about, and I want to check the outer planets for the Noctis. So, I warp around the system dscanning. The sites are intact. No Noctis anywhere. I see a Manticore at an outer planet, but it's Hiljah's. Accidental decloak. Careful!
 |
| im in ur base, steelin ur bluez |
I warp back to the perch. Still nothing here, and no Noctis. So, I warp to the one large sleeper wreck, and grab the blue loot. 7.5m ISK worth. Mwahaha!
I check up on the fleet. They've finished their second site, another FFS. I warp there. Nobody. So again I steal the battleship's loot. Hiljah is in the first site, and reports that the Legion is salvaging. Hmm, bad news. I don't think we can gank it, even with two of us. Torpedos have a huge explosion radius, and T3s tend to be hard. I am still hoping to get the Noctis.
The fleet had moved on to a Outpost Frontier Stronghold. I watch them finish it, then warp. This one has three sleeper battleships. I bookmark one, warp out and bounce off a nearby POCO, then back onto the first wreck. I grab the loot; the second is 5km off and the third 20km after that. Watching dscan, I grab all three. Just as I get the last one and have moved off, the Legion lands on grid about 20km from me. Too late! He sits for a minute, then warps.
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| precious |
Good luck Hiljah. Good night, EVE. No PVP, oh well. But hey, 37.5m ISK richer. That's nice.
In the morning, mail from Hiljah:
I grabbed loot from 5 more BS wrecks. Everyone seemed to leave except the Myrm and the Legion. I got out and back to base and reshipped into the Ishtar and Falcon. Hiljah jumped through, held cloak for a bit, the Myrm didn't move. D-scan is clear. I point, and jam him, still no movement. Aitu jumps through, Ogres are out. I web but he's out of scram range so I approach. He is tackled and shields are dropping fast. D-scan is still clear. He's at 3/4 armor, then he jumps. I scramble to jump Hiljah through after him. I remember to pull drones in and send Aitu in too. I see him on the other side, but then he jumps back. I forgot about that. Blundering around ( again, sorry about that ) and still managed 37.5 Misk and some cheap pvp lessons.
Combat on wormholes is complicated due to polarization. Anyway, nice try and good job getting even more loot!
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