Maut system, Placid region. On the 29th of December at 22:00 EVE Standard Time, an attempt by Syndicate residents to nab a few Imperium super capitals in the system went terribly awry.
The battle took place on a staging tower used by Imperium forces to house one of their super capital fleets. As part of their campaign to subdue low security space residents, the Imperium has stationed a super capital force in range to act both as a deterrent and a last resort, as seen in previous battles between the two sides.
This did not go unnoticed, as scouts belonging to The OSS [OSS] located the tower and started observing it. With the system of Maut being in range of their capital force and the Imperium preferring to log off all of its ships in a single tower, The OSS fleet commanders knew the chances of a super capital bumping out of the tower’s shields were quite high.
Thus, a large dreadnought force, estimated at approximately 30 pilots, as well as a squadron of heavy interdictors and other assorted sub capital support was organized. The force contained pilots from The OSS, Hax. [HAX.], Suddenly Spaceships. [CYN0] and Cynosural Field Theory. [MOROS] among others.
Once the fleet was in position and the heavy interdictors ready to bridge from a titan, the waiting started. The OSS scouts kept watch, looking for the moment to present itself. Slowly, Imperium pilots started logging in and their super capitals warped into the tower’s shields.
As the super capitals piled into the tower, ships started bumping out, several including a Hel supercarrier and a Leviathan titan, catapulted outside the shields. This was the moment the Syndicate fleet was waiting for. Quickly a cynosural beacon was lit on the field and heavy interdictors rushed in to tackle the Hel and the Leviathan.
With the super capitals captured, a second cynosural beacon was lit this time by the heavy interdictors and into the field jumped the Syndicate dreadnought force.
Without hesitation the dreadnoughts entered their siege cycle and started tearing apart the Hel, who could do nothing to resist the oncoming damage. At this point the plan of the Syndicate fleet was to cause as much destruction as possible before regenerating enough capacitor to jump back out to safety.
The Hel Supercarrier Destroyed by the Syndicate Fleet
With several other super capitals bumping out of the shields, this could have been a disaster for Imperium forces. Yet, luck was on their side as one of the members of the Imperium super capital fleet belonged to the corporation that owned the tower. What more, the pilot had the necessary roles to bring down the shields.
With the tower’s shields down, the assembled super capital force and their capital escorts could freely lock and open fire on the Syndicate dreadnoughts, unhampered by the now offline shields.
Almost instantaneously half the Syndicate capital force vanished, obliterated by the many titans present as they activated their doomsday devices. Supercarriers unleashed their hordes of drones while support carriers and dreadnoughts rushed to assist their tackled brethren.
Seeing the tide of the battle turn against them, the Syndicate force tried a last ditch effort to inflict some losses on the Imperium forces, targeting a Wyvern supercarrier.
However, with their number of dreadnoughts dwindling fast and the sheer size of Imperium support fleet on the field, it quickly became apparent that they couldn’t break the ship’s shields in time. Thus, focus was given instead to the Imperium capitals present on the field. The Syndicate fleet managed to destroy a dreadnought and two carriers before finally disengaging.
The surviving Syndicate capitals that could, jumped out of the system while the sub capital force warped off, leaving the Imperium to hold the field.
Thus the engagement came to an end.
The Battle from the Perspective of the Syndicate Fleet
Battle report for the Maut system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 7 minutes with Time Dilation not reported and the system hosting an estimated 200 pilots at the peak of the fighting.
Imperium forces lost 1 supercarrier, 1 dread and 2 carriers for a total of 33.58 billion ISK damage. The Syndicate fleet lost 30 ships including 26 dreadnoughts for a total of 89.76 billion ISK damage.
Salivan Harddin is a member of Reikoku, Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden
