Checking my behind

3rd July 2014 – 5.45 pm

It's just me to start the evening. I think. No colleagues are on-line yet, but two new signatures in the home system could indicate the possibility of company. I should check them, so launch probes and scan. They are both wormholes, which, along with our static wormhole, offers me early opportunity. The first wormhole is a K162 from class 6 w-space, deadly w-space. That's cool, as they only connect to class 4 w-space, so they're probably bigger cowards than me. I next warp to and bookmark our static wormhole, before visiting the other K162 in our home, this one from class 2 w-space.

I should check the K162s before heading through our static wormhole, to try to make sure that if I find anything happening in front of me I won't be taken by surprise by what's behind. C2a first, as it will give me an exit to high-sec that I may need to use if circumstances go pear-shaped. All looks fairly normal when updating my directional scanner in class 2 w-space. A tower, three Orca industrial command ships, a Guardian logistics ship, and a flight of ECM drones are somewhere, probably all at the tower, I suppose. I doubt the mix of ships and drones are up to anything. The discovery scanner is only showing me two signatures too. I won't be long in this system.

My last visit to this class 2 system was about two months ago, when I found three towers. Two should be out of range of d-scan from the wormhole, though, so my notes seem to stack up. I warp to the tower with the Orcas and Guardian—all unpiloted—then further afield to confirm the other towers remain, bumping in to four more empty Orcas at one of them. I suppose I'll scan.

Resolving the static exit to high-sec is pretty easy, as is seeing that it leads to Heimatar and is at the end of its life. The devil-man is as obvious as the wobbling. I poke out anyway, bookmark the other side, and return to w-space and our home system. In to C6a next, where d-scan is clear and there is a whole lot of space between me and the other planets.

I launch probes and try to blanket the system, just about managing to do so, revealing nine anomalies, nine signatures, and no ships. My notes from a year ago to the day say 'yes' to occupation but not where it is. Switching the filter on my combat probes to show structures gives me a good idea of where the occupation may be, and I warp all the way to the centre of the system to see three towers on d-scan. They're straightforward to find for reference, one being around a planet with a single moon, the other two around a planet with two moons.

There's no one home, of course, so I poke the signatures for possible K162s. I identify relics, gas, relics, gas, relics—I'm sensing a pattern—relics, more relics, and the final signature is the K162 I'm looking for. Well, maybe not the one I'm looking for, but a K162 all the same, and it comes from class 5 w-space. I recall my probes and jump through.

Another clear d-scan result welcomes me in to a fair-sized system, a blanket scan still not showing me any ships, just six anomalies and six signatures. They also show me no structures whatsoever. I bet there's a K162. I ignore the non-chubby signatures to make scanning quicker, leaving me with three to poke. One is the V753 I'm sitting on, the second is gas, and the third a wormhole. It's a K162 leading back in to more deadly w-space.

I don't think I'm going back any further than C6b, not after taking a little look around. I don't mind the C6ness of the system, or the prospect of any K162 coming in from more deadly or dangerous w-space. It's more that the last time I was here was under a month ago, and my notes again list occupation but not where it is. I must have got bored and turned around, and past Penny is pretty smart. I see the ten anomalies and sixteen signatures, stop caring about scanning backwards through inactive space, and turn my ship around.

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