I Watch a Null Gang

It's late evening in the USA, and I am on alone.  I could run around with my Jita alt, moving stuff from A to B, buying low and selling high.  But it's kind of late for that.  And it's boring.  And wspace calls... perhaps I can gank someone tonight.

It's a long chain tonight.  C4a to C4b, to C4c, to C2a to highsec.  C4c has C3a and C6a hanging off it, which I don't explore first because I want to find the route in first.  C2a has C3b and C5a hanging off of it.  First I get the highsec entrance: it's in Solitude and so useless for a supply run.  (Solitude is separated from the rest of highsec by a dangerous nullsec corridor.)  But still, it's important to have a way back in if I get killed.

I see a probes in C2a, from where I don't know.  I look into C3a next.  It's got nothing happening, and the connection to C2a is its static.  Nothing further here tonight.   Back to C2a, and then on to C5a.  I am hoping to find good gas.

When I enter, I see nothing, so I fire probes and hide them, and cloak myself.  Eleven sigs here, so I'll be scanning for a while.  But before I do that, I want to find out if anyone is around.  There is nobody in the inner system, where I am.  Nobody uncloaked, anyway.  But there is an outer planet.  I warp out.  Just as I warp, I dscan, and there is a Proteus.  Hmm.  Interesting.

I can't kill this

I warp to the outer system, and nobody is out there.  Good, I'll start scanning here.  There are three sigs.  One is low value gas; the second is a wormhole.  I warp to it at 30km as I continue to scan.  It's a nullsec -- not very interesting.  I am near to resolving the last of the three outer-system sites (a data site, yuck), when a Hurricane appears on dscan, and then at my wormhole.  Hmm.  Then it is joined by a Hyperion and a Proteus.  Well, I want that last site and they've already had plenty of time to see my probes, so I do one more scan to resolve it at 100%.  Argh, 97%.  OK, two more scans.  Then I do throw my probes out of the system.

The gang is joined by a Legion, and the Proteus enters the wormhole.  Hmm.  It certainly appears that they are hunting out in nullsec.  (Massing a gang or fleet at a wormhole or gate is a classic tactic.  In nullsec, it means you do not appear in local of the next system over.  In wspace, it means a scout watching the wormhole in the target system won't know you are on the other side.)  I'd love to know what is going on out in nullsec beyond that wormhole.  But right now, it looks like nothing at all.

Time to make a perch.  I warp to outer planet, then back at 100km and make a bookmark.  Then I repeat, warping back to the bookmark at 100km, so I am 200km from the wormhole.  That's a good perch.  One more member joins the gang, a Crow. 

I figure I might as well scan down the inner system while I wait, hoping something interesting happens.  Thus, I scan.  There are more wormholes: a second null, and then a third which is EOL.  And a C3.  Each time I find a wormhole, I warp to it to find out what it is, and bookmark it.  Then I warp back to the perch to watch.  Other than the wormholes, I find some data and relic sites, and gas.  Among the gas I find two Vital Core Reservoirs.  I'd love to get Ventures and return to suck these up.  But not with a gang in the system. 

I've scanned the system down.  The gang is still holding at the wormhole.  Bored now. I'll go hunt in the systems hanging off of C4c, then I will return. Maybe by then something will happen.

I warp back to the C2a wormhole, and cross.  While I still hold gate cloak, a shuttle warps up.  It is tempting to try for it, but I doubt it will work.  I could cross but then I'd be polarized, and shuttles warp almost immediately so I doubt I could get the guy.  He enters the wormhole.  He may have noticed my transit from the wormhole flash and noise, but he may not.  In any case, they already saw me and ignored it.  I warp off towards the C4c wormhole.

Entering C4c, I dscan and nothing is there.  Let's check C3a first.  I warp, cross, and check out the system.  A tower and nothing else.  Lowsec static, and six sigs.  Not even really worth scanning.  I back out, polarizing myself.  Nobody back in C4c.  Now I warp to C6a.  I cross and there is an Orca and tower on scan.  Four sigs.  Since these may be gas, I fire probes.  (The chance of the Orca being manned is negligable.)  I move off and circle the wormhole cloaked at 20km as I start scanning.  One of the four is gas, but it is just medium level, so not interesting.  I move in to 15km.  Another is a wormhole.  I check it -- nullsec.  Not interesting.  I warp back to the wormhole and orbit at 10.  Two more sites have a very low signature and I am hopeful they are gas.  (The two gas sites with the best gas are both very low signature.)  But they are not gas; they are data sites.  Boo.  OK, this system is boring.  I am out.

Let's have another look at the gang in C5a.  I cross C2a, then enter.  I dscan as I do, and I see a  Hurricane.  Hmm.  Well, he's not here at the C2 wormhole, and the one nullsec wormhole has been EOL since I scanned it.  So I figure he is probably from the other nullsec.  I move off the wormhole, then warp to second nullsec wormhole.  The Hurricane disappears from scan, but I see the Hyperion and the Legion warp on grid and jump.  It certainly appears that whatever happened is done.  I warp out to my perch just in case someone is still there.  Nobody is there.

I think I'll have a peek into nullsec, just to see if there are any obvious wrecks I can loot or looters I can jump.  From my perch I can warp to the wormhole directly.  I warp and cross.  There are six characters in local, five of which share the same first name.  So, a guy and his alts, and maybe a second guy.  Dscan shows nothing interesting.  Oh well, nothing to see here, move along.

It's getting late for me, so I take a chance and immediately cross the wormhole again, polarizing myself.  But still nobody is there, and I warp back towards home.  I'll get that gas, at least.

A lot of wspace hunting is like this.  You see something but you're too late, or too early, or you can't get to it or you can't find it.  Maybe something happened and maybe not, but whatever it is, it did not happen to me.