NIDJ-K system, Delve region. On the 16th of February at 4:45 EVE Standard Time, Pandemic Legion [-10.0] struck deep into Goonswarm Federation [CONDI] territory, destroying 75 billion ISK in industrial capital ships.
Ever since Goonswarm Federation was forced to vacate its holdings in the north of New Eden, its worked ceaselessly to entrench itself in the Delve region following its successful invasion. Feeling secure in its new home, the alliance fell back to its old habits, often responding with overwhelming force to any transgressions made by outsiders into its space. Things became even worse after the recent changes made to the Rorqual industrial capital class, the ship became a common feature in the asteroid belts and ore sites of the region.
This naturally drew the attention of neighbouring alliances and wormhole inhabitants, who attempted to raid the region, often times unsuccessfully due to Goonswarm Federation’s response time and force. Steadily, the Delve region rose in its industrial prowess thanks in part to the abundance of minerals created by the fleets of Rorquals who mined in seemingly complete safety around the clock.
Seeing this, Pandemic Legion chose to rise to the challenge, planning to strike at the least opportune moment for Goonswarm Federation. When the wormhole chain was mapped that would allow Pandemic Legion to travel to the region and near a system where scouts reported mining was taking place, a fleet was organized to capitalise on the find. Pandemic Legion fleet commanders hoped that their attack would catch Goonswarm Federation pilots unaware and cause them to hesitate before committing to the field, as Pandemic Legion managed to destroy a substantial amount of super capitals in Goonswarm Federation’s own staging system.
As it turned out, the alliance more than succeeded in its plans. A 100 pilot Proteus strategic cruiser fleet was assembled and travelled to the system, sending its interdictors ahead to tackle the ships. Seven Rorqual industrial capital ships were pinned down in a site, allowing the Proteus fleet to warp in and swarm them. The Proteus fleet landed near the ships and lit a cynosural beacon, allowing a mixed capital squadron to jump in and join the battle. With its capitals in, the fleet started anchoring mobile cynosural inhibitors to make sure Goonswarm Federation reinforcements couldn’t jump in directly onto the field. Even as the inhibitors started to online, the Rorquals lit up their own cynosural beacon to allow reinforcements to jump in. Yet no relief force came through.
Sources within Goonswarm Federation reported that confusion reigned as the player who controlled all the Rorquals was apparently in the wrong fleet, making it impossible for the standing fleet to jump in to its aid. Whats more, any attempts to communicate with said player proved impossible due to language barrier. This left Pandemic Legion in control of the field, virtually unchallenged.
The Proteus fleet with its capital support started the arduous job of destroying the Rorquals. Each one activated its Pulse Activated Invulnerability Nexus Core (PANIC) module, leading to the ships becoming invulnerable for the duration of the modules’ activation. However the module itself quickly overheats, meaning after five to ten minutes depending on pilot skills, it burns out, leaving the ships vulnerable again. This scenario played out for the seven stranded ships, each in turn exiting its invulnerability phase and quickly dispatched by the combined firepower of the Pandemic Legion fleet.
Once the field was clear of hostiles, the Pandemic Legion force looted the wrecks and extracted its capital ships. With the capital assets safe, the fleet then departed the system, making its way home unseen by Goonswarm Federation forces who later camped the system’s in-gate, believing Pandemic Legion forces were still present in the system though in reality they were by then long gone.
With this, Pandemic Legion completed its raid, incurring 75 billion ISK damage to Goonswarm Federation forces and demonstrating once again the surprising weakness of the so-called “Giant of the South”. This marks the second successful raid committed by the alliance against the sovereign of Delve.
The Battle from the Perspective of the Pandemic Legion Proteus Fleet
Battle report for the NIDJ-K system can be found here.
Salivan Harddin is a member of V0LTA, WE FORM V0LTA, and covers battles across New Eden
