C-J6MT system, Insmother region. Drone Regions Federation (DRF) forces have been stepping up their attempts to capture the system, which serves as Red Menace Coalition (RMC)’s main staging in the Insmother region. While previous attempts have failed, this time DRF seem to be fully committed, prompting a series of long and bloody battles that are not expected to end before the conclusion of the week.
After successfully capturing the infrastructure hub, but failing to take the station, DRF forces continued their assault on the system. This time attempting to take down RMC’s Territorial Claim Unit (TCU). With the reinforcement timer set to expire in Russian prime time, both sides were gearing up for another major battle.
The DRF amassed approximately 400 pilots including two Machariel battleship fleets and a Cerberus heavy assault cruiser fleet, which was primarily tasked with capturing command nodes outside of system. DRF forces were assisted by a 50-pilot Pandemic Legion [-10.0] Tengu strategic cruiser fleet and a similar sized Northern Coalition. [NC] fleet of Ishtar heavy assault cruisers.
RMC and its allies mustered 300 pilots for the defense of the TCU, with the majority in a Tengu fleet with The Initiative. [INIT.] supplying the RMC’s stealth bomber wing.
At 14:30 The main DRF Machariel fleet bridged in at a perch above the C-J6MT station, prompting RMC forces to undock and engage, starting the battle.
The battle proved to be a bloody affair as both sides exchanged devastating volleys. Machariels were blown apart by swarms of missiles, while Tengus and Scimitar logistics cruisers were shredded by artillery barrages. As the RMC fleet maneuvered on grid around the DRF Machariel fleet, bomber squadrons from both sides started making their presence known.
At the start RMC forces seemed well balanced against the DRF Machariel fleet, however as the battle wore on, more DRF forces entered the fray, starting with the second Machariel fleet which warped at optimal range of the fight and later on top the Ishtar fleet of Northern Coalition.. With there fleets hammering at them, outgunned and outnumbered, the RMC fleet was forced to quickly capitulate, withdrawing to a tower in the system rather than risking total annihilation.
Video of the first engagement from the perspective of the joint Stain-Wagon Coalition and Red Menace Coalition Tengu fleet
As the battle raged on in the C-J6MT system, the command nodes for the TCU de-cloaked, prompting skirmishes in neighboring systems for their control. However, these struggles were on a much smaller scale than the day before and the majority seem to have been won by DRF forces.
With RMC forces beaten, the DRF set up camp over the station itself with one of its Machariel fleets while its forces busied themselves with capturing command nodes. Northern Coalition. forces took the opportunity to extract, after suffering numerous casualties in many bombing runs, but they were soon replaced on field by Pandemic Legion forces.
While bloodied, RMC forces were not yet defeated and quickly re-shipped, preparing for a second round. Once their forces were ready, the RMC fleet re-grouped on the station, linking up with their fresh reinforcements. A second battle flared up, this time on the station grid.
Heavy fighting on the C-J6MT station between Drone Regions Federation and Red Menace Coalition
Again, a bloody exchange took place as both forces fought tooth and nail outside the station. Yet again the second DRF Machariel fleet joined the fray, however unlike before they were dragged dangerously close to the RMC Tengu fleet due to an interdiction probe. Regardless, the close range did little to decrease the fleet’s efficiency with the artillery cannons proving deadly to the Tengus even at such a short range.
The RMC fleet kept maneuvering around the station trying to maintain distance from both Machariel fleets while keeping in range of the station itself. Their Tengus kept firing their missile payloads at the DRF Machariels. Yet unlike the first exchange, which started off evenly, this battle was a lot more one sided.
While the DRF forces kept losing mainline ships, it was at a far better ratio than before. Part of the reason for this was the Pandemic Legion Tengu fleet which warped to the station grid at range and positioned itself at maximum distance from the RMC Tengus. The Pandemic Legion fleet concentrated solely on the logistics wing of the RMC, its sniping Tengus decimating the cruiser hulls.
Pandemic Legion Tengus Sniping at Range
Losing logistic cruisers fast and facing the immense firepower that two Machariel fleets can deliver, RMC forces decisively broke. Sustaining heavy losses, the RMC fleet ceased fire in order to clear aggression timers from its pilots and thus dock up and save as much of the fleet as possible. The DRF and their allies used this opportunity to destroy as many ships as possible before RMC forces managed to retreat to the relative safety of the C-J6MT station.
With RMC forces camped in the station once more, DRF forces continued to capture command nodes uncontested, allowing them to destroy the TCU. Once the RMC TCU was taken out, DRF forces deployed their own before extracting from the system and putting an end to the fighting, at least for the day.
Battle report for the second day of the C-J6MT assault can be found here.
The second day of fighting saw the two sides battle for only two hours with Time Dilation registered at times but quickly subsiding. 900 pilots were registered in the system at the start of the fighting before settling around 800 pilots for much of the duration of the battle.
The destruction caused by this battle is less than the previous day, with only 367 ships destroyed for a total of 97.93 billion ISK of damage.
DRF forces lost 115 ships including 39 battleships, 8 strategic cruisers and 11 heavy assault cruisers for a total of 36.44 billion ISK.
RMC forces and their allies lost 251 ships including 61 strategic cruisers for a total of 61.49 billion ISK.
The fighting is expected to continue for at least a week. Should DRF forces manage to win the assault, it will be a terrible blow to RMC as well as the first time a constellation capital system had been captured under the new Aegis sovereignty system. Regardless, EVE News 24 will continue to report on the assault on C-J6MT.
Salivan Harddin is a member of Reikoku, Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden
