Not every exit can be an entrance

The static wormhole in our system is feeling the stress. Our corporation has pushed enough ships through that the wormhole's mass allowance is below half. But a Manticore stealth bomber can still come and go as it pleases, and I jump out of our system to roam our currently mapped constellation.

Our neighbouring class 4 w-space system is occupied, but only has an unpiloted Iteron hauler sitting inside the shields of the local tower and nothing else. A K162 connects from a class 2 system, the wormhole reaching the end of its natural lifetime meaning I don't venture through. Instead I jump through the C4's static connection to a class 3 system, which is also occupied and again has only unpiloted ships at its tower, this time a Megathron battleship and an Ishtar heavy assault ship.

There is little else to see in our w-space constellation today. A K162 from null-sec empire space has evaporated, although the static connection to low-sec space remains. I poke the nose of my Manticore through to the Placid region, finding it to be suitably named and lacking in activity, before returning to w-space and heading back home. All is quiet.

I set my Manticore to orbit the tower idly and kick back in my pod with some Quafe. The next I'm conscious I find some corporation fellows have turned up and are collapsing our weakened wormhole, which sounds like a good idea to me. What doesn't sound like a good idea is trapping our Orca in the adjacent system but it seems the corporation lost track of the number of jumps made during the earlier Sleeper engagements. At least there is a route out to empire space that can be used, one that is suitably free from menace. We just need to find a new exit that the Orca can use as an entrance.

Swapping the Manticore for my Buzzard covert operations boat I join a colleague in quickly finding the new static wormhole in our home system. Jumping through to the C4 finds a system sparse of signatures, only five anomalies and three other signatures to resolve. Ignoring the gas-filled ladar site the system's static connection leads us to an unoccupied class 5 system. My colleague resolves an EOL K162 from a C3 and then the static wormhole, which leads to a class 1 system. I am able to find a K162 coming from low-sec empire space but the exit is in the Metropolis region and not near our misplaced Orca.

I jump back to w-space and continue in to the C1. A Buzzard is briefly seen on the directional scanner and then noticed outside one of the three towers in the system. It warps away before I can identify its allegiance. As I scan I look for the other two towers, finding the second with an unpiloted Heron frigate inside its shields and the third unprotected and abandoned around the outermost planet. A wormhole is found that connects to empire space and is reasonably convenient, but a link to a class 1 w-space system cannot cope with the mass of an Orca. One new colleague wanting to come to w-space is able to make the journey but our industrial command ship has to remain in empire space for a while longer.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: buzzard, eve online, ishtar, iteron, manticore, megathron, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space