G-5EN2 system, Providence region. On the 7th of May, 20:00 EVE Standard Time, forces belonging to Pandemic Legion and Northern Coalition(dot) [NC] clashed head on with Providence Bloc who were defending the Infrastructure Hub in the system, resulting in a massive fight.
In the previous reinforcement timer, Providence Bloc brought an overwhelming force to the field, prompting [NC] to abstain from the fight. This time, taking note of the numbers brought previously, Pandemic Legion was contacted and brought along to reinforce the attackers.
Pandemic Legion brought a 160 pilot Tempest Fleet Issue Battleship fleet, with 5 Triage Archon Carriers. [NC] brought a Proteus Strategic Cruiser fleet, 110 pilots strong with Triage Carrier support as well.
Providence Bloc brought a 200 pilot strong Ishtar Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet with Goku Bomber support, around 70 pilots big and a regular Stealth Bomber wing. All told Providence Bloc had close to 300 pilots in the system.
Providence Bloc was further reinforced by forces belonging to the Curse Russians, also known as the Red Menace Coalition, who brought an approximately 70 pilot large Ishtar fleet as well.
The fighting began when [NC] forces skirmished the Red Menace Ishtar fleet over the 9-F0B2 gate in the G-5EN2 system. While no significant exchanges were made, Providence Bloc forces entered the system soon after, just as Pandemic Legion arrived on the 9-F0B2 gate as well, at a perch. This forced Providence Bloc to anchor up immediately and start the main event.
At this point the two sides started to exchange blows, with Providence Bloc focusing fire on the Pandemic Legion ships, while the Red Menace fleet warped out. The sheer amount of damage output from the two sides was overwhelming. Battleships and Ishtars melted before Logistics pilots could even lock them, which was not helped by the high amount of Time Dilation present.
As the two forces continued to battle, [NC] forces joined Pandemic Legion and contributed their fire as well. With split damage across the Providence Bloc fleet, Providence Bloc was hemorrhaging ships. The Goku Bomber fleet in particular suffered heavy losses and was forced to leave the system for a while.
At one point, one of the Triage Archons belonging to Pandemic Legion was almost destroyed, as the Ishtars rained punishment on it, managing to survive with only a sliver of hull remaining as it exited Triage mode in the nick of time, allowing it to receive remote repaires from its sister Carriers.
At this point the Red Menace fleet warped back on field, but was dragged by the interdiction fields active, landing on top of the Pandemic Legion Battleships. It lost several ships as it tried to burn out. However, they did not contribute much to the fighting altogether.
Screenshot of the Battle Taken by Yulai Federation Network
The battle raged on for a while, but as Providence Bloc was losing more and more mainline ships, its damage output reduced, it was unable to break either the Battleships nor the Strategic Cruisers’ tank.
As a last gambit, Providence Bloc sent their Logistics to the Infrastructure Hub, in order to repair it enough to reach 26%, so the shield reinforcement timer will reset. At the same time, the Ishtar fleet remained on field, distracting the enemy forces.
This however, turned out to be futile, as [NC] brought in their Super Capital fleet to reinforce the Infrastructure Hub, pushing it into its second reinforcement timer while the two sides kept battling.
With the Infrastructure Hub once again reinforced and half the fleet destroyed, Providence Bloc forces sounded the retreat. Red Menace Coalition also took the opportunity to withdraw, leaving the field to [NC] and Pandemic Legion to hold.
Having won the battle, Pandemic Legion and [NC] extracted from the system without further incident.
Battle report for the G-5EN2 system can be found here.
Alternative battle report can be found here.
During the peak of the fighting, the system hosted 713 pilots, with Time Dilation being a constant factor, effecting the battle, capping around 20% and remaining that high for the majority of the fight. The battle took approximately a full hour before dying down.
As killboards are still synchronizing, it is impossible to tell the exact number of losses. However, so far it seems that Providence Bloc lost the majority of the ships, with 88 ships lost for a total of 18 Bil ISK of damages. Red Menace Coalition suffered light losses, only 6 ships for approximately 600 Mil ISK damages. As for [NC] and Pandemic Legion, they lost 26 ships, for a total of 8 Bil ISK in damages, the majority of which was inflicted to Pandemic Legion.
With the conflict escalating further, as more allies and neutral coalitions are sucked into the fray, it becomes very clear that G-5EN2 will see many more pilots lose their lives fighting over it. While losing the battle, it seems morale in Providence is still high, as many see the fact [NC] had to call upon Pandemic Legion for support a clear sign of the former’s inability to take them head on. Thus, they are still confident in their ability to win the war.
Propaganda Poster Calling Providence Bloc to the Flag, Courtesy of Yulai Federation Network
As Providence Bloc continues to resist the jackboot of [NC], further fighting is expected, as both the Station and the Infrastructure Hub come out of reinforced mode in the next few days. The EVE Scribe will keep you posted on the events as they unfurl.
Salivan Harddin writes for The EVE Scribe, Providence Bloc’s News Portal. When he isn’t busy writing, he usually fails to bubble noobships in gate camps.
