Looking for high-sec
12th July 2014 – 3.23 pmI get my pod back to the home system, unfortunately without a fuel-laden Bustard transport ship wrapped around me. That's not a problem at all, certainly not one that needs to be solved tonight, but, even so, I have this compulsion to continue my efforts to drag some fuel in from empire space this evening. The tower's not even complaining, and I'm certainly not mentioning that too much because I'm nervous. I just need a new plan.
Heading back through the low-sec gate camp that separates the high-sec island in Placid from civilisation but doesn't in any way threaten our continued existence in w-space really doesn't seem like the best option. I could try the high-sec connection I found in a class 1 w-space system from our neighbouring C3's exit, but that wormhole was at the end of its life when I found it, and that was before I travelled half-way across the galaxy in a slow-moving Bustard. Think harder, Penny.
There are more systems to explore, perhaps with fortunate K162s from empire space. Or, indeed, there is a new signature in the home system, spawned since I left to get the Bustard, and drawn to my attention when I spot a Cheetah covert operations boat blip on my directional scanner. What are the odds the signature is a C2 K162, with a corresponding high-sec exit? I board my scouting Proteus strategic cruiser, launch probes, and scan. It's a wormhole, of course. It's also a K162 from class 2 w-space. That's actually hilarious.
It's a little late, perhaps, but at least the C2 K162 that I was hoping for earlier has finally turned up in the home system. I jump through and, well, maybe this isn't quite the C2 K162 I was hoping for, seeing that a Myrmidon battlecruiser is sitting directly on top of the wormhole in C2a. Just to make sure, I update d-scan and, yep, along with a tower in the system there are more battlecruisers and other ships, almost certainly available as reinforcements. I don't think this system will be a viable route to ferry logistics through.
I'm less than two kilometres from the wormhole, making immediate evasion less likely, but as I'm hardly going to try to run a transport ship this way my hand is already tipped. I decloak and engage the Myrmidon, if only to see what happens next. He fights back, of course, trading gunfire with me and launching drones. I have drones too, but I don't think it is in my best interest to deploy them right now.
Shields drop on my ship and his, both of us flying armour boats, and the wormhole crackles. It's just the Cheetah returning. Even so, help comes from within the system, a Dominix battleship dropping out of warp on to the wormhole. I can't break the Dominix, neither can I realistically expect to do anything to an armour battlecruiser with Dominix support, and before the Dominix exits warp I jump back through the wormhole to our home system.
I am less spat and more dribbled in to the system, appearing significantly less then two kilometres from the wormhole. It doesn't feel like my night for surviving, but in this case it's not really much of a problem. I move, pulse my micro warp drive, and cloak before either the Dominix or Myrmidon have jumped behind me in to the system. The Dominix was still decelerating, the Myrmidon paused to recall his drones. I do sometimes think circumstances through.
Not able to find me, the Myrmidon returns to C2a, a second Dominix jumps in to our system. Both battleships return, destabilising the wormhole to half mass. I watch from a safe distance as they continue the process a few minutes later, resulting in the wormhole imploding. The additional high-sec exit is gone, but I suppose so is the threat. I should get back to checking other systems for exits. C5a first, through a K162 in the home system.
The C5 K162 is wobbling away at the end of its life now, but that should be okay. It was fine when I first found it, so there should be a couple of hours of life left in the connection. That it must have been opened over half-a-day earlier may even mean no one is around to bother me too. Indeed, I jump through to a a system where no one is waiting for me, and only towers appear on d-scan, no ships. Ignoring standard operating procedure somewhat, I immediately launch probes to scan.
Poking C5 for wormholes uncovers four of them. A K162 from null-sec is far from ideal, a dying K162 from class 5 w-space is poor, and a critically destabilised C5 K162 is equally bad in a different way. The EOL K162 from high-sec, though, is tempting. I exit through the dying wormhole to appear in a system in Metropolis, a mere ten hops to Rens. Most days that seems like a trek, but tonight I think I can make it. As long as the wormhole lives long enough, maybe I can salvage this evening after all.
I return to C5a, warp across the system, and jump home. I swap boats at our tower, opting for a Crane blockade runner transport ship, mostly because it is quick and agile, and it can carry enough fuel to run our tower for a little over a day. Not that we're desperate or anything, it just seems like a suitable amount of fuel to carry on a single trip.
Back to C5a, across to the wobbly wormhole, and, well, I'm polarised. Only twenty seconds of polarisation, but, yeah, the Crane is pretty quick, I suppose. Thankfully, no one is around to catch me, and I back off so that I can cloak and orbit the wormhole as I count down the seconds. That'll do, pig. I decloak and—shit. I get the message that the wormhole doesn't exist any more, as it collapses in front of me. Well, at least it had the manners to collapse before I used it. Thank goodness for polarisation effects. But we still really don't need fuel tonight. Back to the drawing board.
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