Posted on

How to Earn 65 Million ISK in 30 Seconds in Hi-Sec

The Forge Region – Kimotoro Constellation
Kisogo System

6 August YC 121

Kisogo was surprisingly populated for a cul-de-sac – there were 47 capsuleers in the local channel. Having checked the overview, I discovered the reason for such popularity – just like Uitra this system was home for another State War Academy Station. I thought that most of them were students and D-scan confirmed my guess revealing an inordinate number of Ibises in space.

Having established a safe spot, I opened a probe scanner window and whistled, “Look, Aura, there are three signatures here!”

With a mien of a woman of the world, Aura snorted, “Wormholes. The locals would have cleaned out all other sites as soon as they appeared.”

“Well, as you said in Urlen, you never know your luck. I am ready to try mine.”

Aura made a grimace which was a mimical equivalent of “Whatever”.

I set to scanning the first signature and quickly discovered that it was a tough nut. Continue reading “How to Earn 65 Million ISK in 30 Seconds in Hi-Sec”

Posted on

Pilfered Guristas Outpost

Pilfered Guristas Outpost
The Forge Region – Kimotoro Constellation

6 August YC 121

From Jita we travelled to Uitra where I needed to pick up some stuff which I left behind after moving the base to Poinen. Having loaded everything into the cargo hold, I asked Aura, “Which constellation shall we explore next?”

Aura looked at the map and said, “Kimotoro?”

“Kimotoro? We’ve just returned from it. And in any case, I expect all signatures in the vicinity of Jita will be swept clean.”

“You never know your luck,” winked Aura. “Besides, we’ll have to explore it sooner or later. Currently, it is the closest unexplored constellation in The Forge, so why not now?”

I didn’t really have any strong objections so we made our way to Urlen. There were two signatures the first of which turned out to be a wormhole.

“Let’s go and take a look at it,” suggested I and jumped to its location. Continue reading “Pilfered Guristas Outpost”

Posted on

Explorer with a Bite, Part 1

Guristas Debris
The Forge Region – Onirvura Constellation
Obanen System

16 July YC 121

Next signature I scanned down in Obanen was an easy one and represented a relic site – Crumbling Guristas Excavation. This was my first real relic site, so you can imagine my excitement. I expected containers full of rare modules and materials which were waiting for me and my faithful Relic Analyser. When I arrived to the site I was greeted by a scene which could have been described as space junkyard – broken engines, abandoned drills and various debris littered the area. Somehow, Neocom managed to recognise certain pieces of debris as containers which possibly had some loot. I locked them down and started hacking.

Crumbling Guristas Excavation
Crumbling Guristas Excavation

After Sleepers’ defences in Hyperfluct Generator and Remote Defence Grid Unit, Guristas’ protection measures looked rather primitive. I quickly hacked three containers and became a puzzled owner of eight Artificial Neural Networks and a few lumps of coal.

“Eww,” said Aura, “that’s gross.”

“Hmm… yeah, kind of,” agreed I, “That coal leaves rather unsightly marks in cargo hold, but the cleaners usually do a pretty good job removing them.”

“I don’t mean carbon, I am talking about the neural networks.”

“Erm… What’s wrong with them?”

“Ha! Typical insensitivity of biological intelligence,” scoffed Aura. “How would you feel if you discovered a container filled with human brains?” Continue reading “Explorer with a Bite, Part 1”

Posted on

Standard Sleeper Cache, Part 3

The Forge Region – Onirvura Constellation
Obanen System

15 July YC 121

The rift brought me to a huge pocket filled with strange structures. My immediate vicinity was called Logistic Depot and contained things like Remote Defence Grid Unit and Coordinate Plotting Devices. About 300 kilometres away from me were 3 sentry guns.

Standard Sleeper Cache
Standard Sleeper Cache

“What’s their range?” whispered I.

“Around 250 klicks,” said Aura in normal tone.

I realised that I was subconsciously trying to be inconspicuous although there was no way anyone outside the capsule could hear us talk.

Relaxing, I raised my voice, “Now, suppose I was in a properly fitted Heron. What would I do next?” Continue reading “Standard Sleeper Cache, Part 3”

Posted on

Standard Sleeper Cache, Part 1

The Forge Region – Onirvura Constellation
Obanen System

15 July YC 121

The first signature that I started scanning in Obanen, to my relief, did not immediately disappear, but neither did it yield to my analysis. I began with the usual 8-AU constellation of probes and worked all the way down to 1 AU but all I got from the scanner was an indication that it was some kind of a data site.

“Is it one of those ghost sites again?” I asked, frustrated.

“No, don’t think so,” replied Aura. “If it was a covert research facility you would have identified it by now. Keep scanning and I’ll see what I can find about it in GalNet.”

I reduced the constellation size to 0.5 AU – no result. There was only one standard size remaining – 0.25 AU. I willed the probes into the tightest formation a-a-and… Bingo! I’ve got the name – it was called Standard Sleeper Cache.

“And what the hell is Standard Sleeper Cache?” muttered I looking incredulously at the signature. The thing is, although I got the name, I was still far from getting the coordinates – the signal strength was barely over 80%. Continue reading “Standard Sleeper Cache, Part 1”

Posted on

Disappearing Signatures

Jove Observatory
The Forge Region – Onirvura Constellation

15 July YC 121

On Monday we returned to Josameto, ready for new adventures. The probe scanner showed two signatures which I immediately started to analyse. To our surprise, the first signature disappeared from the radar before I could even identify it.

“Where did it go?” frowned Aura.

“Don’t know. All signatures disappear sooner or later, otherwise there would be a very long list of them in each system. I think we were just unlucky that it happened while we were scanning it. Let’s try another one.”

I focused my probes on the remaining signature and guess what… it disappeared too. Aura was furious. She said that she didn’t like that system as soon as we jumped into it yesterday, she blamed Nugoeihuvi for disappearing signatures, and she couldn’t decide what she wanted more – to warp to NOH information centre and blow it up or to leave this system immediately and never, never return to it. I carefully noted that although I totally supported her feelings toward treacherous NOH personnel, our Heron was not really equipped for structure bashing. That left only one option. Continue reading “Disappearing Signatures”

Posted on

Nugoeihuvi Information Centre

Nugoeihuvi Information Centre
The Forge Region – Onirvura Constellation

14 July YC 121

Good people of NOH corporation fixed up my armour for mere 7,680 ISK. As I was authorising the payment, I thought that it would have been a significant sum to pay for curiosity during my baseliner days, but now it was just pocket money. The single Symmetry Decryptor that I extracted from Guristas Virus Test Site was enough to pay for three Heron hulls, to say nothing about its armour.

When the repairs were finished we headed to the next system in Onirvura Constellation – Otela. It was very populated and very busy. While I was scanning the skies, the number of pilots in the system fluctuated wildly, sometimes rising and falling by one or two hundred people within a minute. I guess those were organised fleets making their way to or from Jita which was just three jumps away.

The probes revealed that the only cosmic signature in the system was a gas site.

I looked at Aura and asked, “Do you want to visit this quiet place devoid of pirates but full of natural beauty? It probably has a romantic name too, something like Shiny Nebula.” Continue reading “Nugoeihuvi Information Centre”

Posted on

Exploring Poinen

R943 Wormhole
The Forge Region – Onirvura Constellation
Poinen System

14 July YC 121

Although there was still a whole lot of stuff and ships remaining in Uitra, I decided against investing my time into moving it all to Poinen. If I needed something, I reasoned, I could always go there and bring another load to the new base. Besides, I was keen to start exploration in earnest and I had everything I needed, or so I thought.

“Where do we go today?” asked Aura when I boarded Haikarat.

“We don’t really need to go anywhere,” said I. “Let’s just kick this frigate out of the dock and start with exploring Poinen. Then we can visit the rest of Onirvura Constellation.”

“Sounds like a plan,” agreed Aura.

After we undocked I bookmarked a safe spot, warped there and launched the probes. The scanner showed four signatures which was more than I had seen in any other system so far. I rubbed my hands and started signature analysis. The first one that I managed to scan down was Sunspark Nebula Gas Site.

“What a beautiful name,” said Aura. “Let’s warp to it.” Continue reading “Exploring Poinen”

Posted on

It Started with a Splash

The Forge Region – Anttanen Constellation
Uitra System – Planet VI, Moon 4
State War Academy Station – The Abyss Bar

20 June YC 121

It was a busy time at The Abyss – the throng of thirsty students who waited for their drinks was four men deep, and bartenders were jumping crazily from tap to tap like monkeys during mating season. I was standing in a queue after another capsuleer; I recognised him by an interface slot on his exposed neck. When he finally made his way to the bar, with me in his tow, the bartender greeted him like an old friend and made small talk. I couldn’t hear them well because of the noise, but I caught a few words, like ‘decryptors’ and ‘bargain’. As you can imagine, having just looted a data site I was very much interested in any bargains that involved decryptors and moved closer to the bloke in front of me. Unfortunately, it coincided with the moment when the guy received his order and turned around with a drink in his hand. As I was literally breathing down his neck, he didn’t have enough space for manoeuvre and rammed his glass into my chest, splashing the drink all over my shirt. Continue reading “It Started with a Splash”

Posted on

The Mystery of the Datacore

The Forge Region – Anttanen Constellation
Uitra System – Planet VI, Moon 4
State War Academy Station

20 June YC 121

I was standing in Haikarat’s cargo hold and inspecting the loot I got from two data sites.

“So which ones are those famous Villard Wheels?” asked I.

Aura who looked through CCTV cameras replied, “It’s those cylindrical things on the top of the pile.”

Indeed, there were four wheel-like objects, about a metre in diameter, which were badly damaged.

I scowled and said sceptically, “Hmm, they look pretty battered. Why would anyone want them?” Continue reading “The Mystery of the Datacore”