4-CM8I system, Scalding Pass region. On the 8th of November at 23:30 EVE Standard Time, Phoebe Freeport Republic forces [PFR] attempted to protect their system from forces belonging to Advent of Fate [CORD] and their allies.
The station and infrastructure hub had been reinforced previously by Advent of Fate forces who have been stepping up their assault against Phoebe Freeport Republic. After several battles in which Phoebe Freeport Republic had Red Menace Coalition (RMC) and Test Alliance Please Ignore [TEST] fleets backing it, Advent of Fate turned to Triumvirate. [TRI] for help. Triumvirate. agreed and the two prepared to assault the system.
Triumvirate. had an estimated 50 pilot Rattlesnake battleship fleet with a triage Chimera carrier held in reserve while Advent of Fate had a 75 pilot Ishtar heavy assault cruiser fleet. As Triumvirate. forces bridged directly to the system on the station grid, Advent of Fate forces jumped next door and started the process of capturing command nodes.
The original plan was for Triumvirate. to engage any allies Phoebe Freeport Republic would bring while Advent of Fate maintained control of the neighboring systems as it was claiming command nodes. This however changed after Phoebe Freeport Republic undocked in an estimated 120 pilot Cerberus heavy assault cruiser fleet. The battle commenced with Phoebe Freeport Republic engaging the Triumvirate. fleet.
Quickly, the Cerberus fleet kitted at maximum range of the Triumvirate. forces while applying electronic warfare from its many Blackbird cruisers, effectively shutting down Triumvirate.’s logistics wing. Unable to lock and repair, Triumvirate.’s logistics wing had to watch their own fleet bleed ships while both fleets exchanged missile volleys.
Triumvirate. attempted then to bring its triage carrier in to stabilize its fleet only to find that Phoebe Freeport Republic had managed to turn on its system wide cynosural jammer. This forced Triumvirate. to move the carrier by gate while its ships kept soaking up missile volleys, losing a few as time went by. Advent of Fate were quickly informed of this development and burned back to the system, getting on the station grid and engaging the Phoebe Freeport Republic Cerberus fleet.
The battle quickly turned into a chase with the Cerberus fleet on the run from the Ishtar fleet which was pursuing in an attempt to engage. The Ishtars unleashed their swarms of drones which managed to chew through the Cerberus and Blackbirds as the two fleets weaved a long line of wrecks, though the Cerberus fleet did manage to destroy a few Ishtars in the process. Triumvirate. itself managed to get its triage carrier in and finally stabilize, joining the fray by warping on top of the Cerberus fleet, destroying several ships before it ran out of range of its Rattlesnakes.
This process repeated itself several times before a Test Alliance Please Ignore Maller cruiser fleet entered the system, estimated at 50 pilots. The fleet had warped in close proximity to the Advent of Fate logistics wing, but declined to engage it, preferring instead to warp off the grid and back, on top of the Cerberus fleet. A short fire exchange ensued between the two as the Cerberus fleet continued to run away from its pursuers. However, while both Advent of Fate and Triumvirate. managed to hold their ground, the Maller fleet was simply obliterated by the Cerberus, forcing its remnants to withdraw.
By this point a few unaligned gangs had managed to destroy most of the Entosis ships belonging to Advent of Fate, while its fleet had exhausted quite a few flights of drones. Thus, the Ishtar fleet disengaged, preferring to re-stock on drones before committing again. With Advent of Fate gone and no real third party to contend with, Triumvirate. forces withdrew as well, leaving Phoebe Freeport Republic to claim the field.
Advent of Fate did attempt to come back to the system after re-stocking, however learning that Phoebe Freeport Republic forces were already situated on its entry gate at range and unwilling to engage while a large Imperium Hurricance battlecruiser fleet was spotted only a few systems away made it re-consider. With the risk of being sandwiched between two hostile fleets and the main objective already lost, Advent of Fate forces extracted instead, allowing Phoebe Freeport Republic to save the system and the station.
The Battle from the Perspective of the Advent of Fate Ishtar Fleet
Battle report for the 4-CM8I system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted an hour and 20 minutes with local peaking at 321 pilots and Time Dilation not reported by any of the participants. However, strange behavior had been noted by some, such as skills not applying to modules.
Phoebe Freeport Republic lost 186 ships including 13 heavy assault cruisers for a total of 8.11 billion ISK damage. Advent of Fate and its allies lost 27 ships including 3 battleships and 2 heavy assault cruisers for a total of 4.51 billion ISK of damage. Test Alliance Please Ignore lost 40 ships, 38 of which were cruisers for a total of 1.76 billion ISK.
Salivan Harddin is a member of Reikoku, Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden
