Istodard system, Molden Heath region. On the 3rd of January at 20:00 EVE Standard Time, Iron Armada [FLEEP] fought Space Marines. [-WAR-] and their allies in a battle over a Feign Disorder [FEIGN] tower which saw both sides field capitals.
The Molden Heath region has been experiencing upheavals lately with new and old entities taking residence in its systems and scrambling to secure its few lucrative moons. One of the recent arrivals was Iron Armada, a former resident of Cloud Ring and Syndicate regions. The alliance made its way to the south east of New Eden before settling in the Istodard system. Conflict with local residents and regional powers followed suit, with the main war being fought with Immediate Destruction [IED], the local powerhouse, and Feign Disorder which holds the more valuable moons in the region.
After fighting a few hard battles against Feign Disorder, Iron Armada managed to reinforce one of its enemy’s towers in Istodard itself with a reinforcement timer exiting in a favorable time for the alliance. With news that Feign Disorder wasn’t going to form a fleet to save the tower, it seemed like it would be an easy gain for Iron Armada. However, Space Marines. and their allies had other plans and started moving capital assets in range of the system.
It remains unknown as to why Space Marines. formed for the timer. Sources in Iron Armada suspect that Feign Disorder promised the moon to Space Marines. should it successfully defend it, however there is no confirmation that such a deal was made. Another possibility is that Space Marines. saw a chance to either steal the moon or third party the fight in Feign Disorder’s favor, as Iron Armada had taken Space Marine.’s moons as well.
Regardless, Space Marines. and their allies started moving capital ships into jump range of the system. This did not go unnoticed as one of Iron Armada’s fleet commanders kept tabs on their movements and planned accordingly.
With the timer nearly expiring, a small mixed sub-capital gang belonging to Space Marines. and their allies, estimated at 15 pilots, entered the Istodard system. The force warped to the Republic Fleet Assembly Plant station and began engaging random pilots on its undock ramp. Realizing quite quickly it was bait, Iron Armada formed a 20 pilot mixed armor battleship fleet. The force quickly undocked from its staging station and warped to engage the Space Marines. gang on the other station, starting the fight proper.
As the two sides fought at close range, Space Marines. lit a cynosural beacon and brought a single dreadnought in an attempt to entice Iron Armada’s capitals to undock. However Iron Armada did not oblige, forcing Space Marines. to bring a second dreadnought in. With the two dreadnoughts on the field, Iron Armada undocked its capital squadron and warped it to its fleet. It was quickly met with the rest of the Space Marines.’s dreadnought force which jumped in as the enemy capitals warped in to engage.
Evenly matched in numbers, the two capital squadrons squared off against each other, starting a brutal fire exchange at short range. Dreadnoughts on both sides were brought down by the massive firepower present as the fighting intensified. However as the battle progressed Iron Armada gained control of the field. Having already secured the upper hand with its sub-capital support, including the many Armageddon battleships with fitted heavy energy neutralizers, the Iron Armada battleships were able to add their considerable firepower to the mix as well as shutdown the enemy dreadnoughts.
Whats worse, two of the Space Marines. dreadnoughts bumped off the main force upon jumping into the system, meaning they were out of range which lessened the fleet’s overall firepower.
As the fighting continued, other residents of the system took notice of the battle. Rabble Alliance [RABLE] having long suffered constant attacks in the past by Space Marines. and living in the same station on which both sides were fighting, saw an opportunity for revenge. Quickly it organized and undocked a 20 pilot Megathron battleship fleet. This fleet quickly targeted one of the bumped Space Marines. dreadnoughts. A cynosural beacon went up and a capital squadron belonging to Rabble Alliance and their allies entered the system, landing on the stranded dreadnought. This force had little trouble dispatching the isolated ship.
On the station itself, Iron Armada managed to destroy the last of the Space Marines. dreadnoughts present on the undock ramp, and the two groups quickly converged on the last bumped dreadnought which went down without much trouble. With only one dreadnought managing to escape the slaughter and having to deal with not one but two enemy fleets, the Space Marines. force quickly disengaged, conceding the field.
With no common enemy left, the two remaining fleets waited nervously for the other to act. While both entities maintain friendly relations, both fleets had neutral capitals embedded in them, carrying the potential of a diplomatic incident. Whats more, with Iron Armada’s fleet bloodied and bruised, it would have been easy for Rabble Alliance to press its advantage and potentially annihilated the exhausted force. Regardless, it decided to withdraw back to its station, allowing Iron Armada to extract as well without further incident.
The Fighting from the Perspective of the Rabble Alliance Fleet
Repairing and refueling, the Iron Armada fleet took a short break before undocking once more and taking down the Feign Disorder tower without any resistance, thus securing both the field and the objective.
With the moon captured, large scale hostilities in the system came to and end.
Battle report for the Istodard system can be found here.
All told the battle 22 minutes with system hosting approximately 100 pilots at the height of the fighting and no Time Dilation reported.
Iron Armada lost 6 ships; 3 dreadnoughts and 3 battleships for a total of 10.25 billion ISK damage. Space Marines. and their allies lost 14 ships including 9 dreadnoughts. Rabble Alliance and their allies suffered no losses.
Salivan Harddin is a member of Reikoku, Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden
