The battleship went off and fought some Sleepers, the Exequror mined some decent ores (unavailable in high-security space), and I probed around for more things to do. Then it was time to leave.
Uh oh... the wormhole was gone. In the local channel there was already some anxious discussion about what to do. I decided to speak up and tell people that I was probing for a new exit and would let them know when I found it; for some reason a number of people had come in without any probe launcher and so were helpless to get themselves out. All that gained me was a lot of worried harassment as more and more time passed without me being able to find an exit.
Both I and the battleship pilot probed, and probed, and probed, for about 3 hours without any success finding an exit. Eventually I had to get some sleep, since I was falling off my chair and making stupid mistakes (I didn't plan to stay up that late, but I didn't want to abandon my team in w-space either). We found tons of other sites, but no way home.
About 11 hours later I logged back on, and found things "shaken up" a bit -- this time, the first site I probed was a wormhole. However, it led only to another w-system, not out to k-space. The Exequror pilot and I were online and had a tough time deciding whether to go explore the next system (risking separation from the Megathron), or to stay and wait. In the end we decided to cross over and search from there, because the wormhole wasn't giving any warnings about its mass limit. After a while searching, we decided to return and search the original system, and finally I found a second wormhole out into high-security Empire k-space.
The Exequror got out safely; without a probe launcher, he couldn't help any more in w-space. I'm still in w-space now, waiting for the Megathron pilot to log in so I can guide him out. However, there's still a glitch: he's persona non grata with the Amarr empire, and the wormhole leads out into Amarr sovereign space. I think there's a risk the Amarr navy will destroy his battleship on sight. So we may need to get a trustworthy corp pilot to fly his battleship out for him (I can't fly battleships, so I can't do it).
This wormhole exploration business is quite the complex adventure. I look forward to the more lucrative side of it, where we bring sufficient force to defeat a substantial number of sleepers, and salvage their components or harvest their resources.
Lessons learned:
- train up astrometrics skills, particularly astrometric pinpointing; the deviation in readings makes it hard to narrow down hits quickly.
- be well-rested and ready for a long haul before heading to w-space
- every ship should fit a probe launcher and lots of extra probes in case they get separated.
- Sleepers are hard, even in the mildest sites of the mildest systems
- there are valuable resources here for the taking if you can deal with the unpredictability of wormholes and w-space
- now I really want a transport ship (Occator or Viator) for leaving wormhole space with loads of valuable goods
Post Script: My friend in the battleship logged on, and we headed out into the Amarr Empire. Immediately he was set upon by Navy battleships, calling him out as an enemy of the state. We ran, jumping from stargate to stargate, pursued for a dozen jumps or more until we reached Caldari territory (where he is disliked but not to the point of instant violence). Home at last! I think I'll take a break from probing for a little while, and clean up some almost-expired missions.
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