Comings and goings
29th July 2011 – 5.52 pmI've left the boring class 3 w-space system behind me, but not w-space itself. Back out in high-sec empire space I wake up to see a contract waiting for me. Inspecting and accepting the contract gets me a set of bookmarks that looks like they'll take me to our class 5 bivouac, which is convenient and much appreciated. Not only that, the contract was made only one jump away from where I docked for the night. I don't even have far to travel to rejoin my colleagues. At least, not far in empire space, as the seventeen bookmarks could present a somewhat labyrinthine journey through wormholes.
My first jump, having collected the bookmarks, is in to a class 2 w-space system. An almost-handful of ships can be seen on my directional scanner, along with a tower, and my notes remind me that Fin and I were here only two months ago, when we popped a Scorpion battleship collapsing a wormhole. Good times. I locate the tower to find only the Anathema covert operations boat piloted, and with no probes in the system it looks like he's inactive. I leave this C2 behind and take a dekko at the other static connection in here, which leads out to class 3 w-space. The C3 is empty and inactive, though, and as getting home is more of a priority than roaming I jump back to the C2 and warp to the K162 leading in to a class 4 system.
Jumping in to the C4 gives me a clear d-scan, with only one planet with moons out of range of the scanner. As it happens, that planet's moons hold a tower, although there are no ships or pilots to go with the signs of occupation. I continue to head backwards through the chain of systems to another C4, and find a Thorax and Moa cruiser, Brutix battlecruiser, and Orca industrial command ship all participating in a gas mining operation. A can has been jettisoned to hold the gas and there isn't a tower in sight, making the ships all wonderfully tempting targets, if they weren't corporation-owned. I calm down my colleagues when their vigilant scanner notices my Tengu strategic cruiser appear, and the system settles down again.
One more jump gets me to the C5 bivouac, and I just make sure it's the right system before turning around to go roaming more properly. The C3 still needs scanning, and I have four apparently phantom bookmarks for wormholes in systems I haven't passed through. Maybe I can find them, or confirm that they are not needed. I travel back through the two class 4 systems in to the C2, where some core probes can be seen on d-scan. The Anathema isn't in the tower any more either. A bit of loitering sees the probes go and a Stabber cruiser appear, only to disappear again moments later. He could be a tourist from high-sec and I warp to lurk near the exit wormhole, but I get antsy quickly and decide to scan the C3 to be active instead of sitting still.
Nine anomalies and eighteen signatures are in the unoccupied class 3 w-space system. I soon find the static exit to low-sec, and shortly afterwards a second wormhole, this one a K162 from more class 4 w-space. Sadly, the C4 is probably the origin of the pilots Mick mentioned he scared away when he jumped in to this C3 earlier. I take a look anyway, seeing a bunch of ships on d-scan but all seemingly at a tower. Of all the cruisers and haulers available, the only ship piloted is a Noctis salvager, which is a curious choice for a solo endeavour, particularly with no wrecks visible on d-scan. I check the rest of the C4 but turn up no other pilots, and scanning only reveals three signatures and one anomaly.
Even when a Tengu turns up at the tower there is nothing happening, unlike with my tummy, which is rumbling along like a warp engine. I turn my ship around and get back to the C5 without event, taking a break to get some food. When I get back, a fleet of ours is tackling Sleepers in our neighbouring C4. I should join in, as it has been a while since I made some iskies, but I don't feel the urge. I take a look around our constellation first, pretty much just an excuse not to shoot Sleepers, but find the second C4 empty, the C2 quiet, the C3 dull, and a pilot asleep in a Noctis at the tower in the furthest C4. Even the exit to low-sec in the C3 leads to Aridia, devoid of other pilots and other wormholes. I go back to join the corporation fleet.
Rather than shoot Sleepers I take a more protective role, launching combat scanning probes and making sure we are the only obvious ships present and confirming a lack of new connections in to the system. I also resolve a handful of magnetometric sites for the fleet to get more lucrative profits, hoping for a finder's fee for myself, but time pressing on so that only one of the sites is completed on top of the anomalies already cleared. And although w-space has been quiet I've got back to the bivouac, and the eight hundred million ISK in Sleeper loot my colleagues looted means it has been a productive evening on average.
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