Nothing out there
22nd May 2014 – 5.42 pmI'll get out of the home system this evening, just you watch. Huh, a new anomaly has appeared, a good one too. But what's that new signature? 'Incoming C3', says Fin, which means no anomaly for us. Good. Now, which way first? Through our static wormhole for me, with my glorious leader having gone through the K162, so I jump to one of the neighbouring class 3 w-space systems for today.
Updating my directional scanner sees nothing of interest from the other side of the wormhole. It's a fair-sized system, though, with 50 AU to planets either side of my position. I launch probes and perform a blanket scan to get an idea of what's out there, and it reveals a single ship to go along with the nineteen anomalies and four signatures. I think I'll find out what that ship is.
The sole visible ship in the system is near a planet with two moons. As it's almost certainly inside a tower's force field I aim for one of the moons, and choose poorly. D-scan at least shows me the Epithal and tower as I warp to the right moon, and reaching it sees that the hauler isn't piloted. Never mind, time to scan, as I check my notes.
My last visit to C3a was over three years ago, when we popped an Iteron hauler carrying subsystems for a Proteus strategic cruiser. That must have been rather exciting back then. Nothing to do here today but look for wormholes, and there are two of them, plus a pocket of gas. Sadly, the second wormhole is only a K162 from null-sec Providence, with pilots in the system and only one extra system. I'll consider scanning it if I find nothing better elsewhere.
Back to C3a and across to the static exit to low-sec, obviously leading to Domain by the golden nebula colours seeping through. The system itself is vast, has a bunch of pilots in it, and holds five extra signatures. It is also two hops to high-sec and nine to Amarr. I'll scan. Three combat sites and two wormholes. The X702 outbound connection to class 3 w-space isn't great, but neither is the N944 that links this low-sec system to another. To another system in Domain too.
That wormhole being Domain-to-Domain piques my interest, and I jump through. Now I'm only one hop to high-sec and six to Amarr, and four to the other low-sec system. Okay, it's not so bad after all, but I'm still not going to use it for much, not with a Deimos heavy interdictor and Taranis interceptor on d-scan, perhaps patrolling the system. Back to the first low-sec system and through the X702.
D-scan is clear, one planet is in range, and a blanket scan reveals nine anomalies, twelve signatures, and three ships. My notes from over two years ago remain valid, but warping directly to the tower only helps in finding three empty ships more quickly. My last visit was again more interesting, popping a gassing Brutix battlecruiser and narrowly missing a Mammoth hauler warping in to the ambush-in-progress, before getting isolated from the home system and mucking up my return through null-sec. Great days.
My reminiscing says I have an exit to null-sec to find. That the K346 is the weakest signature should make it easy to pick out of the noise, but it still takes expert-scanner Penny two attempts. Are there any K162s too? I sweep through the chubby signatures and resolve a crappy K162 from low-sec Lonetrek that's at the end of its life, a null-sec K162 that isn't terribly interesting in itself, and a T405 outbound connection to class 4 w-space. Well, the T405 is my best bet for w-space activity, being the only wormhole to w-space, so in I go.
There's still not much to see. D-scan is clear, and although the one planet out of range holds a tower there is no one home. Notes made a year ago detail an H900 static wormhole to class 5 w-space, which is not a fun wormhole to scan for, and as this constellation has gone nowhere so far I'm not inclined to continue it. I'll just head back the way I came, checking the null-sec systems for rats as I go. Or I could poke this C4 system for K162s. Nope, none. Okay, back I go.
In to C3c and through the null-sec K162 to be alone in a system in Catch. Excellent. I warp to a rock field to look for rats and, well, launch probes to scan that extra signature. It's an addiction. Thankfully, the signature resolves to be a combat site and I ignore it with ease. I pop a rat, go back through C3c to the K346, where I am not only alone in the system in Detorid but there are no other signatures. Phew, just ratting for me. I pop a battleship, return my Loki through the inactive w-space constellation to our home system, and go off-line.
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed.