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The Battle for 9UY4-H Part 4

October 24, 2013

23.10.13

With the final station timer set to come out at 18:30 eve time, Provi-Block formed up early, killing off a SBU in G-5EN2. G-5EN2 is the first system in the pipe from Assah (Insidious Empire’s staging system) to 9UY4-H (the current battlefield for both sides) perhaps Insidious Empire hoped that while Provi-Block was focused on the battlefield in 9UY4-H they could capture the system en route or maybe they thought they could distract Provi-Block from 9UY4-H if only temporarily and capture the station, nevertheless Provi-Block killed off the SBU and so the temporary assault on G-5EN2 quickly ended.

After successfully killing off the SBU in G-5EN2 with no opposition Provi-Block headed back to 9UY4-H and began killing off the SBU’s in system before Insidious Empire had fully formed up. As the Hit-points slowly drop off from the SBU’s local began rapidly climbing. As local began filling with reds, Provi-Block got ready to fight for the final station timer against whoever came. Oddly enough it was Darkness of Despair who had jumped in, in a 250man Typhoon fleet, fearing the worse the Provi-Block Battlecruiser Sentry fleet began aligning back to their POS. Reports came in of the Darkness of Despair Typhoon fleet attacking the SBU on the ZQ-Z3Y gate. Continuing their assault on the SBU at their gate the Provi-Block members began to wonder amongst themselves why Stainwagon, who just a few weeks earlier had taken the ERVK-P system off them, would help them? Earlier this summer while The Dinner Squadron was busy fighting the Stainwagon the two sides developed some bad blood between them, eager to see Insidious Empire’s plans come crashing down they opted to help Provi-Block out for the night.

The 2 SBU’s fell almost simultaneously under the combined might of the Stainwagon and Provi-Block forces. Insidious Empire now fully formed up in a Moa fleet with Scimitar support numbering around 130 bridged into system and began aligning to the Provi-Block fleet. But before they warped their main fleet there, they had a treat in store for Provi-Block. 20 Ravens, fully fitted with Smartbombs warped onto the Provi-Block in a attempt to re-create the legendary tales of the Rooks and Kings pipe bombing runs. Unfortunately though Insidious Empire did not ask tips from Rooks and Kings and so their Pipebombing run failed miserably. They managed to kill off an interdictor or two but that was about it, at the cost of a Raven. As the Provi-Block fleet warped off, Insidious Empire put up a few last second bubbles, catching about 1/7th of the Provi-Block fleet. They quickly dispatched the stragglers and prepared to engage Darkness of Despair.

It was at this Point Northern Coalition., Nulli Secunda and Against all Authorities all entered system. Against all Authorities in their tengus warped to Darkness of Despair to deliver their shipment of Vodka and assist in the incoming battle. Northern Coalition. had come in ishtars with Nulli secunda in hurricanes, as they warped onto the Stainwagon forces Provi-Block warped their fleet onto the N3 forces and thus the brawl began. Against all Authorities began targeting Northern Coalition.’s ishtars while Darkness of Despair and Provi-Block began to wipe Nulli secunda off the field. Nulli secunda’s hurricanes began popping left right and centre and so they quickly had to warp off field or lose their entire fleet, they chose the first option.

It was at this point the fight got a little confusing. In recent months we have seen Legion of xXDEATHXx territory in the north being handed over to alliances such as Hard Alliance, Red alliance and No Value they had decided to group in and bring Mallers and other cruisers to the fight. They arrived on the battlefield and began targeting Darkness of Despair typhoons. This rag tag group of mallers while very resilient lacked the dps needed to break the typhoons tank and so they were quickly forced off field, loosing some of their fleet while at it. A Red alliance-bombing run now set their sites on the typhoons and began their run but Darkness of Despair Microjump drived out sustaining little injuries in the process. Black legion then decided to say priviet to the Darkness of Despair forces by un-cloaking their bombers and attempting to send them home, the bomb run did little damage though and the logistics from Darkness of Despair were quick to repair up the damage.

Provi-Block began taking heavy damage from the ishtars at this point and so were forced off field. As Northern Coalition continued to Brawl with Darkness of Despair they began bleeding ships rapidly. Provi-Block hearing about this from their temporary buddies warped back onto field and began engaging Northern Coalition. Northern Coalition. then burned off from the Darkness of Despair fleet and began trying to engage the Provi-Block forces without the Russians intervening. Provi-Block now reduced to few logistic ships began to lose ships rapidly and so were forced off field again, leaving behind 1/5th of their remaining fleet who were quickly killed off. Pandemic legion Bridged into system at this point, with the same fleet they had been using the previous nights except this night they brought logistic ships instead of their usual RR setup. As Pandemic legion warped onto the I-HUB and began pushing it down to its 2nd timer (providence had repped it fully 2 days ago, Insidious empire had forced it to its 1st timer a day ago) after realising they were structure grinding instead of getting involved in the pvp pandemic legion quickly left the I-HUB and warped onto the battlefield and began engaging the Against all Authorities tengus. The Insidious empire smart bombing gang warped onto the Darkness of Despair ships attempting to take them out, but yet again they failed miserably at it. Darkness of Despair simply Microjump drived out if it. A provi-block bomb run then attempted to take out the Against all authorities tengus (darkness of despair was helping provi-block, Against all authorities was not), they did not bubble the tengu flock though and so they simply flew off.

Nulli secunda now licking their wounds at the station encountered a devastating bomb run from Red alliance, killing off the majority of their remaining fleet and forcing them to head home, heads held low. Provi-Block decided to wait until the Stainwagon forces and the remaining N3 forces killed each other a little more before they got involved and so they waited in F-YH5B (Provi-Block’s Staging system, and only a Jump Bridge away) for a chance to pounce on any stragglers they could. Darkspawn proceeded to warp onto the Stainwagon camp in a Cerebus fleet of around 100. They engaged the Stainwagon forces but unable to match the combined numbers of Darkness of Despair and Against all Authorities they were forced off field. Northern Coalition. trying to save anything they could warp off at this point and so the Stainwagon forces were left alone to loot the battlefield. Pandemic legion decided their 50man tengu fleet would be unable to make a significant dent to the Stainwagon forces and so they headed home, after accomplishing very little. Insidious Empire camped the 4B-NQN gate, killing off any stragglers attempting to leave the system. Provi-Block attempted a bomb run onto them but they warped off before the bombs impacted. As the Stainwagon forces began to gate camp the H6-CX8 gate and remove the SBU from that gate the Insidious Empire Smartbombing gang landed on them. The Stainwagon forces were grouped on the H6-CX8 gate and so must of seemed like a juicy target to the Insidious Empire smartbombing gang. As they landed they bubbled up and manage to catch the entire Stainwagon fleet in their bubbles. As they activated their Smartbombs a realisation hit them, you cannot smart bomb within 5km of a gate (ask Rooks and kings for advice before attempting a smart bombing run next time) they were quickly killed off and the Stainwagon forces got back to destroying the SBU.

Provi-Block decided the enemy forces were pretty worn out by this point and so they jumped through the Jump bridge into 9UY4-H, right into the jaws of Northern Coalition. trap. Just as they jumped through a 20man Northern Coalition. bomber squadron de-cloaked and launched their Shrapnel bombs directly at the blob of sentry battlecruisers. They bagged a few kills and forced the entire fleet down to low armour, delaying the Provi-Block fleet doing anything for a few minutes. Red alliance now re supplied with bombs warped back onto the Stainwagon forces and bombed them, grabbing a few kills but not forcing them off field. Insidious Empire gave up their gate camp at this point and realising they could do something more useful in a system with a vulnerable station in its final timer decide to go hit the station. As they engaged the station, Provi-Block got to work on another SBU in system while the Stainwagon forces also work on another SBU in system. As Provi-Block continued to wear down the SBU, a Noir. Lead bomb run hit them, causing no casualties but a lot of damage. Insidious Empire decided that a station in 20% armour with no more reinforcement cycles was boring and so they warped off to camp the Jump bridge from F-Y cutting off any reinforcements to the Provi-Block forces. As a Provi-Block Cyno went up (someone was trying to move a jump freighter in the middle of all this) Provi-Block bombers land on the Cyno quickly bombing it down, another group of Provi-Block bombers then also landed on the Cyno bombing away the 1st set of Provi-Block bombers.

As Insidious Empire warped around system looking for any stragglers or targets of opportunity they landed in a drag bubble, darkspawn is quick to warp in and engage them but ultimately Insidious Empire managed to escape and warped off field. As Provi-Block finished up killing the SBU the Insidious Empire fleet warped on top of them and engaged them. What happened next can only be described as slaughter. Over the course of the next few minutes Provi-Block killed all of the Insidious empire fleet (numbering around 80 moas, 10 scimis and some support ships) while only losing a handful of Cruisers and 1 or 2 battlecruisers. The Stainwagon forces finished off their SBU and headed home, without the Stainwagon’s support I am doubtful if Provi-Block would have been able to win this night and would of most likely lost a station that has not only has a tactical importance to Providence but a historical one too. With the battle now over Provi-Block warped to the station and began to rep it up from 20% armour to 26% shield. Meanwhile their Combat ships removed any remaining SBU’s in system. As they finished off killing an SBU and headed back to station a Cyno went up in system, Pandemic legion had formed up a 35man Proteus fleet with Onerios support. They bridged in and began attacking the Provi-Block fleet. The Proteus’s were heavily tanked but Provi-Block managed to kill off 13 Proteus’s before they warped off field, this reckless attack cost Pandemic legion around 10billion isk while only costing Provi-Block around 280m isk, A decisive victory for Provi-Block.

Provi-Block then droped a dozen Archons onto field to rep up the armour, Insidious Empire hearing of this quickly formed up a Brutix fleet. As the Archons docked up and a lonely Nidhoggur undocked to rep up the shield a Re-shipped Insidious Empire Brutix fleet warped onto the station, removing any logistic ships they saw and forcing the combat ships off field. They landed a tackle on the Nidhoggur which was 60km from station and so unable to dock up. They proceeded to kill off the Nidhoggur before warping around system looking for a fight. Provi-Block reshipped in F-Y and prepared to push out Insidious Empire. As they jumped through the Jump Bridge, the Insidious Empire fleet warped onto them. As the brawl began Insidious Empire targeted whatever was closest while Provi-Block went for the Scimitars of Insidious Empire, with all of their logistic dead Insidious Empire warped off field and headed home. Provi-Block then stood down for the evening,

Provi-Block managed to rep the station back up to shield, effectively resetting the attackers progress and they managed to rep up the I-HUB. Tonight was certainly a big win for Provi-Block. Now the question seems to be if Noir/Insidious Empire/Sound will continue their pursuit of 9UY4-H or if they will instead head home, heads held low in defeat.