Scanning finds a scanner
18th February 2011 – 5.13 pmI can't get lucky three days in a row. And, sure enough, the new signature by the sparsely surrounded outer planet turns out not to be the static wormhole but a ladar site. I continue my search along my normal routine, checking the other planets on an inwards spiral before dealing with the dense fog of bookmarks in the inner system. But I just can't find the wormhole. Site after bookmarked site is ignored and still nothing looks promising. On a whim I go back to check the outer planet again, only to find the wormhole has been there all along. I should have looked harder.
Our neighbouring class 3 w-space system looks familiar, and indeed I've been here before, but before I consult my notes too heavily I check my directional scanner. There is an Anathema covert operations boat somewhere in the system and no on-line tower to accompany it. The Anathema isn't cloaking, making me wonder what it's up to, and I move away from the wormhole and cloak to start looking for the cov-ops boat. It doesn't take long to locate the ship around a moon, where it sits unpiloted next to an off-line tower and nothing else. That's a curiosity, but one I can ignore for the moment.
Now I can check my notes, which put me in this system six months ago, making it unlikely that I actually recall the system number, particularly as nothing of interest occurred the last time I was here. There are now two off-line towers instead of one, plus the Anathema, but that still equals no pilots. I launch probes and scan. Two anomalies and fifteen signatures are revealed, and I start to sift through them. I ignore plenty of rocks and gas until I get to a particularly weak signature that resolves to be the static wormhole, an exit to null-sec k-space. It is also the penultimate signature I scan in the system, the final one being another ladar site. There is nothing of interest to be found today. Except for the Anathema, I suppose.
I return home and drop off my own cov-ops boat at our tower to return to the C3 in my pod. It's possible the Anathema could be a lure for an ambush, but it would be a seriously elaborate ruse to take place in an unoccupied system with no active wormholes beyond those I opened myself. So it's no surprise that I safely get my pod nestled in to the Anathema, where I find it is fully fitted and fancy! I activate the installed cov-ops cloak to hide myself, out of good habit mostly, and am tickled to find a Sisters expanded probe launcher, some Sisters combat scanning probes, and a smattering of Tech II modules. I think I'll keep it. There isn't much else to do today, but the Anathema is a nice reward for a little scanning.
2 Responses to “Scanning finds a scanner”
This story is full of win. Some folks just are a little careless with their goodies. Good job!
Thanks. It's odd to find a fully fitted and useful ship like this, particularly one so small.