BPK-XK system, Curse region. On the 7th of December at 18:45 EVE Standard Time, a The Initiative. [INIT.] fleet was ambushed by Pandemic Legion [-10.0] forces in the system.
The Initiative. has been waging a campaign to clear towers and reclaim moons in the Curse region following its return from settling the Tenal region. After retaking many of the moons it lost in its absence, and defending them from neighboring alliances, a decision was made to clear a tower in the BPK-XK system belonging to IT’S ONLY PIXELS [PIXEL] alliance. The tower itself was mainly used for logistics and had little value of itself but was near The Initiative.’s staging system.
According to sources within Pandemic Legion, IT’S ONLY PIXELS was aware of the situation and contracted Pandemic Legion to guard the tower. Keeping a vigil over it, Pandemic Legion scouts spotted The Initiative.’s fleet organizing in an attempt to reinforce the tower itself.
The Initiative. had a 48 pilot Rattlesnake battleship fleet including 7 dreadnoughts organized for the task. The force made it to the tower and set up close to it in order to quickly blast its shields and cause it to enter its reinforcement mode in preparation for its eventual removal.
Pandemic Legion scouts kept watch while fleet commanders hastily formed a Sleipnir command ship fleet, sending chat channels alight with pings for pilots to log in and join. In a short time more than 100 pilots were in the fleet and moving out of the staging system. The force traveled swiftly to a nearby system where a wormhole was found that connected directly to its targets’ location.
Once it was confirmed The Initiative.’s dreadnoughts entered siege mode and a warp in secured, a small interdictor strike force was sent ahead to deploy its bubbles and keep the capitals trapped while the rest of the fleet waited. Once the cries of “Capitals tackled” were heard, the Pandemic Legion fleet commanders gave the order for the fleet to jump through the wormhole.
As the Sleipnirs went through the tear in space they quickly aligned to the moon where the tower was located and warped to one of the remaining interdictors, who were quickly destroyed by The Initiative.’s sub-capital force. Landing on top of The Initiative.’s fleet, a battle ensued as the two fleets exchanged fire.
The Pandemic Legion Sleipnir Fleet Descending
However, it soon became apparent that The Initiative.’s fleet was outnumbered and outgunned. The Sleipnirs’ artillery cannons ripped through the shields of the Rattlesnakes, penetrating armor and hitting the now exposed hulls. Whats worse, the first casualties for The Initiative.’s were its fleet commanders which only helped the spread of chaos in The Initiative.’s ranks.
Those that could attempted to retreat from the system and re-group in their staging system. Pandemic Legion, mindful of the risk of The Initiative.’s escalating further and organizing a relief force, sent a squad of interdictors to delay it while clearing the field from any remaining sub-capitals.
With the sub-capital fleet defeated, it was the turn of The Initiative.’s dreadnoughts to suffer the unrelenting fire of the Sleipnirs. The command ships circled closer to the behemoths, energy neutralizers draining their capacitors while the artillery cannons thundered at point blank range, slamming round after round into the trapped beasts. Shields faltered, armor plates stripped and hulls punctured until one by one, the dreadnoughts caved in to the inferno and were destroyed.
One of the Last Remaining The Initiative.’s Dreadnoughts Facing Its Doom
Leaving a field of wrecks behind and the tower secured, the Pandemic Legion fleet departed the system, swallowed once again by the emptiness of space.
Battle report for the BPK-XK system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 15 minutes and saw approximately 160 pilots in the system at the start of the fighting. Time Dilation was not reported.
The Initiative. lost 33 ships including 7 dreadnoughts and 13 battleships for a total of 31.28 billion ISK damage. Pandemic Legion lost 5 ships including 1 command ship for a total of 700 million ISK damage.
Salivan Harddin is a member of Reikoku, Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden
