The ongoing skirmishes between HERO and Pandemic Legion (PL) continue to bubble away down in Catch, still one of the most dangerous regions of New Eden. PL has used its Supercapital superiority to capture the systems of U-QVWD, 1P-WGB, and after a spectacular battle F4R2-Q. HERO, which was able to hold the field in the initial engagements with their usually superior numbers, was quickly dispatched from the battlefield by the PL supercapital fleet in the latter engagements. The situation was looking dire for HERO.
Could the tide be changing? HERO are known for their tenacity, their sheer stubborn refusal to give up and to never back down from a fight. So when HED-GP, an important system as it connects Catch to Highsec and provides an important logistic transport route to the Brave Collective HQ and HERO staging system of GE-8JV, was blockaded by PL and the station reinforced the word was sent out that all hands were required to defend the system.
An hour before the battle, pings were sent and HERO began to form up for the 01:20 timer. Between 00:00 hours and 01:00 GE-8JV swelled from the usual 200-300 people in local to approximately 1,000, probably the highest its ever been as pilots from the Brave Collective, Test Alliance Please Ignore, Spaceship Samurai, Of Sound Mind, The Explicit Alliance, Nerfed Alliance Go Away, Bloodline and FOX.HOUND poured into the system to get ready for battle. Bolstered by the high morale from the recent destruction of a PL Titan and Super Carrier that attempted a Drive-By Doomsday, HERO Coalition was ready for the battle ahead.
Six separate fleets combined to make up HERO’s defensive force comprised of some 250 Dominix Battleships, a Anti-Bomber Harpy Fleet, a Bomber Fleet, the Auxiliary Fleet made up of non doctrine newbie ships, a Test Ishtar fleet, and the force-multiplying electronic warfare fleet totaling approximately 550 ships.
As HERO prepared for battle, Mumble comms swelled to 900 people, morale was high and with only 40min left until the station was due to come out of reinforcement, Mumble promptly crashed under the strain.
After 20min of total chaos, where tinfoil hattery was in full effect with comments such as ‘PL is DDOSing us!’ and ‘PL has paid off mumble!’, the server was reset and people were able to re-join and the usual chaos of ‘Have we left yet?’ ‘Where is the fleet?’, ‘What ships are we flying?’ resumed.
After a short wait, the HERO fleet bridged into HED-GP to join up with a supporting Black Legion. Tengu fleet some 182 men strong, bolstering the HERO fleet and allies to some 700-800 ships.
PL brought their Tengu fleet to the field, augmented by their Bomber fleet, totaling approximately 194 ships in their effort to wrest HED-GP from the grasp of HERO.
The full battle can be seen on the Daopa Twitch video highlight feed.
PL’s Tengu fleet spent the majority of the time attempting to take on and destroy the HERO Auxiliary Fleet, Harpy Fleet, E-War Fleet, and Bomber Wing. The PL bomber wing wreaked havoc on the smaller ships while the Tengu fleet avoided the combined firepower of the 250-strong Dominix Fleet and its Archon support. This allowed the battleships to remain relatively unscathed while taking down the Sovereignty Blockade Units at the gates.
The Blockade Units were eventually destroyed and the HERO combined fleet called out ‘Operation Success’ while the remains of the many support wings lay scattered around the gates, a mute testament to the efficacy of the devastating PL bomber fleet.
While the defense fleet was withdrawing, a couple of BRAVE Archons were accidentally left behind which resulted in one of them, piloted by KARACBEY, being tackled by PL. In an attempt to rescue the Archons, the Battleship fleet warped back only to be caught in a strategically placed PL bubble which opened the door for the PL bombing wing to launch one final devastating attack. The resulting bomb run destroyed some 38 Dominixes before the fleet managed to move off leaving the sole remaining Archon on field to its demise at the hands of PL.
In the end, HERO and Friends lost a combined total of 258 ships and 109 Capsules totaling 18bn ISK while PL lost only 67 ships and 32 Capsules totaling just shy of 4bn ISK but the ultimate objective of the HERO fleet, defend HED-GP, was a success.
PL have now consolidated their position in HED-GP with a POS and appear to be setting up to try again in the near future. This fight for HED-GP may be over, but the drums of war continue to pound cadence, foretelling more bloodshed in this strategic system.
