9-266Q system, Venal region. On the 29th of December at 22:00 EVE Standard Time, a small RAZOR Alliance [-RZR-] fleet was ambushed and subsequently destroyed by forces belonging to Northern Coalition. [NC] and Out of Sight. [OOS].
In a continuation of their attempts to remove Out of Sight. from the Venal region, Imperium forces have been reinforcing and removing infrastructure that belongs to the alliance. These fleets have become routine, assembled usually at hours when Out of Sight.’s pilots are asleep. However being predictable, it seems it was only a matter of time before Out of Sight. exploited that fact.
RAZOR Alliance had assembled an estimated 50 pilot Rattlesnake battleship fleet complete with capital escorts, including several dreadnoughts, in order to reinforce hostile towers in the Venal region. Out of Sight. scouts kept tabs on the fleet while contacting Northern Coalition. for support. With a convenient wormhole leading to the region, Northern Coalition. formed a 120 pilot Proteus strategic cruiser fleet and moved it into position while Out of Sight. continued to monitor the hostile fleet, getting interdictors and a cynosural beacon into position.
However, the Rattlesnake fleet didn’t bridge out of its staging system to hit the system Out of Sight. believed was the intended target, instead taking gates to reach the 9-266Q system. Once it entered the system, the force set up on a tower belonging to an ally of Out of Sight. and started the process of reinforcing it, the dreadnoughts entering their siege cycles.
Out of Sight. quickly confirmed this and updated the Northern Coalition. fleet commanders of the situation. As luck would have it the wormhole exit for the Northern Coalition. fleet was the same system the Rattlesnake fleet was occupying. Without a moment to lose, the Out of Sight. interdictors raced to grab tackle as dreadnoughts were brought into range to help combat the hostile capitals.
Out of Sight.’s scout landed on top of the Rattlesnake fleet, deploying interdiction probes as the Northern Coalition. fleet jumped in and quickly warped to the tower, landing on top of the battleships. While the capital ships were trapped, more than half of the Rattlesnakes managed to evade capture, firing their micro jump drives which allowed them to teleport away from the hostile force. As the Northern Coalition. fleet anchored up and started tackling the remaining Rattlesnakes, those that got away simply warped out and escape the slaughter.
Those that remained could do little to resist the incoming damage as the Northern Coalition. fleet started clearing the field, though their two triage Chimera Carriers did their best to keep the battleships alive. Yet with the massive amount of damage on the field and with Out of Sight. jumping in dreadnoughts as well, the fight quickly became a massacre. One by one the trapped battleships were destroyed, followed shortly by their carrier and dreadnought escorts.
Once the field was secured and the last hostile ship destroyed, Out of Sight. and Northern Coalition. extracted from the system without further incident, signaling the end of the fight.
The Battle from the Perspective of the Northern Coalition. Proteus Fleet
Battle report for the 9-266Q system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 13 minutes with Time Dilation not reported and the system hosting less than 200 pilots at the peak of the fighting.
RAZOR Alliance suffered the brunt of the damage, losing 4 dreadnoughts, 2 carriers and 13 Rattlesnakes for a total of 27.03 billion ISK damage. Out of Sight. and Northern Coalition. sustained only negligible losses in return, mainly in the form of interdictors and interceptors.
Salivan Harddin is a member of Reikoku, Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden
