After the ambush
15th March 2014 – 3.46 pmI'm out of the pocket seconds after the successful ambush. I don't feel a particular need to be in any great rush, though, not with my reduced-range directional scanner still showing no one coming to help. Regardless, it is good practice to clear the pocket and get out of harm's way, even if no one is coming. Reverting d-scan to its full range shows that the Tengu strategic cruisers and Drake battlecruiser remain in the system, just not doing anything apparently. Whatever, dudes.
An Anathema covert operations boat has found our K162, which I find out by returning to it myself, with it being the only relatively neutral space for me at the moment. Or it was. But fair enough. The other ships don't come across to investigate, and still no new Sleeper wrecks are being created. Given that there is no tower visible on d-scan, the fleet is almost certainly not local and sitting on their K162, waiting for the Noctis that's not coming home.
The ships leave, Drake and one Tengu first, followed by the Anathema, then the other two Tengus a minute later. I'm alone, just me and my new buddy and his 140 Miskie corpse head. I'd rather I hadn't had to rush the hunt so much, but this time it was more prompted by the Noctis salvager being active in a despawned site as much as it was the discovery scanner potentially pinging our K162 to the ships in the fleet. And I got an actual hunt for the first time in a while. Good times.
I slow down, take a look around. This class 3 w-space system turns out to be unoccupied, and as the fleet was on d-scan near the Noctis I think I know where to look for their K162 amongst the seven signatures. I'm also pretty sure I won't jump through it. But there is merit in resolving its location, of course. Before I do, a Drake named 'Close WH' appears on d-scan, and I'm unsure whether the name reflects the ship's purpose or is a message to me.
A Scorpion battleship with the same name appears in the system, as I scan where the Drake was. That's good, as the battleship gives my combat probes an even fatter target than the Drake or K162, and I resolve and warp to the wormhole within seconds. The fleet come from class 5 w-space, and they are well on their way to collapsing their wormhole to this system. The connection is in a critically destabilised state as I reach it, and gone seconds later as the Scorpion jumps back through. That's good, I have an empty system to myself.
It's time to scan for the low-sec exit and look for more wormholes. Unsurprisingly, what with the fleet engaging Sleepers in C3a, there are no other connections beyond the exit wormhole, but before I explore further I head back home to dump my loot and corpse. I can't carry any more, not with a bulky prototype cloaking device in my hold, and, ever the optimist, I am looking to find more loot in other ships. Besides that, though, I currently can't actually recall all my probes.
Cargo sorted, I return to C3a and exit through the U210 to a system in The Bleak Lands. It's a pretty boring system, though, engaged in faction warfare and with a single extra signature that resolves to be a combat site. I turn around and head back to w-space, but what to do now? It's perhaps a bit late to think about collapsing our static wormhole and do something afterwards. And even though HR turns up, keen to stargate-hop and find his own targets, I am feeling too tired to join him. I think I'll just go off-line. Our schedules will align again soon enough.
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