Passing time poorly

27th May 2014 – 5.39 pm

I'm only two stargate hops to Rens. That's neat, maybe. I dunno. It's better than Dodixie, by default, but it also means that waiting half-an-hour for an Iteron hauler to make a return trip is probably too long. With that in mind, I do what any reasonable capsuleer would do, and open the market interface and check a few prices.

Hey, a skill book I apparently need is available in this very system. I can't pass up this opportunity to get it, so buy it, collect it from the station, and inject the skill in to my head. Still no oranges enter the high-sec system, so on leaving dock I warp to the other wormhole I resolved whilst waiting. It's a K162 from class 2 w-space, but one that's wobbling away at the end of its life.

Back to loitering on the wormhole to C3a, wasted time be damned. I wait, wait, and wait a bit longer. Maybe the Iteron did actually go through the class 3 system's static exit to low-sec instead of this high-sec connection, even if the wormhole has been stressed to half-mass level in a way that makes it appear used. Or he could be sleeping one off in a station. To be honest, I'm not convinced he's even on-line.

I wait, wait, and wait a bit more. That's long enough, still without success. At least I scanned this high-sec system and picked up a skill book. That's progress, right? Time to make some more, perhaps by scanning the low-sec system on the other side of C3a. I jump back to w-space and update my directional scanner. The Punisher frigate has gone, the Iteron is not to be seen. That's something. I warp across to the U210 and approach it, updating d-scan as I do, and see a Typhoon new to the system.

The battleship appears to be on the high-sec wormhole. I wonder if that's the Iteron pilot returning in a ship I probably couldn't have popped in the couple of seconds it would take for him to reactively jump back to high-sec. Either way, it's a lot of mass to bring through the already mass-stressed wormhole, making me curious enough to warp back to it and see how the connection fared.

The wormhole lives, if you can call being in a critically unstable state 'living'. The Typhoon's missing too, although the Punisher is back on d-scan. A Helios covert operations boat is gone too, perhaps replaced by a pod. A pod that drops on to the wormhole and jumps to high-sec. Damn him, that only encourages me to wait for his not-at-all-inevitable return.

Pod jumps from w-space to high-sec Heimatar

The Punisher leaves after the pod, perhaps unconnectedly. I could follow, but the wormhole's instability now doesn't guarantee its survival with even my Loki strategic cruiser passing through, let alone when following a ship back. I don't even have the alternative entrance from low-sec. I can correct that part, at least, and warp across to the U210, poke my prow through to bookmark the K162 in Derelik, and return to resume my loitering in high-sec.

My plan is the same as earlier, but now with different targets. Wait to spot an orange in the system, time my jump back to w-space, and hope to catch a ship on the high-sec wormhole. It wasn't the best plan when waiting for a hauler, to be honest, and now that I have no idea what ship will be brought back it's a pretty dumb plan. Still, it's a plan. A better plan—which isn't saying much—may be to collapse the wormhole. No kill, only minor disruption, but event altering. I pulse my micro warp drive as I jump to high-sec.

The wormhole lives. I loiter, looking for oranges, waiting for polarisation to not be an issue. I don't suppose it matters if the wormhole dies, as I'll be stuck in space regardless, but if the wormhole survives I'll be kicking myself if I get caught polarised. So I wait. Five minutes passes and I jump back, micro warp drive engaged to increase my ship mass. The wormhole is still standing.

Punisher jumps from high-sec to w-space

I can try again to collapse the wormhole. I'm almost certain I could be doing something better, but whatever. Back out to high-sec, wait for polarisation effects to expire, and this time an orange appears in the system. The Punisher drops on to the wormhole and returns to C3a. At least he doesn't kill the wormhole. Now I can jump back safely. Well, safely-ish. The wormhole collapses on my return, stranding me in empty space, but also stranding at least one C3a pilot in empire space. Mission success?

Punisher returns to empty space

I move and cloak, no one wise to my moderately malicious scheme and waiting for me, but within thirty seconds the Punisher returns to see no wormhole. Was he heading out again or did the discovery scanner tell him the signature disappeared? I dunno, but he turns away immediately, and a Navy Augoror cruiser follows up behind the Punisher a minute later, perhaps to confirm that this is indeed empty space and not a system's malfunction. I would rub my hands together and cackle, but I've not really done anything. No, that's not true. I injected a new skill. What an amazing evening!

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