Ashmarir system, Khanid region. On the 2nd of January at 9:00 EVE Standard Time, Pandemic Horde [REKTD] and DropBear Sanctuary [DROP] forces clashed in what rapidly became an impromptu capital fight in the system.
Having recently arrived in the region in order to help Darwinism. [DRWIN] combat Pandemic Horde’s assault on its moons, DropBear Sanctuary had only clashed a few times with Pandemic Horde and were an unknown quality. Thus when Pandemic Horde pilots spotted a DropBear Sanctuary Archon carrier traveling via gates near their staging system, they decided to attempt and drop it.
After a couple of attempts to tackle it on the Ashmarir gate in the Kaira system, the carrier managed to jump to Ashmarir, only for an Arazu force recon cruiser to de-cloak and point it before lighting a cynosural beacon. Into the system jumped no less than 5 Pandemic Horde capitals including 3 dreadnoughts and 2 carriers. The force attempted to destroy the carrier which promptly entered triage mode, soaking up the damage. At the same time a small mixed armor battleship fleet, estimated at 20 pilots, belonging to DropBear Sanctuary and its allies entered the system and warped to the gate. Another cynosural beacon went up and 3 more hostile carriers entered the field. Too late, the Pandemic Horde fleet realized it was a trap.
While the DropBear Sanctuary force didn’t expect Pandemic Horde to drop capitals, it nonetheless adapted quickly and returned fire, exchanging carrier losses as the fight raged on at close range. Pandemic Horde for its part quickly raised a Ferox battlecruiser fleet to protect its capitals and rushed it over to the fight. As DropBear Sanctuary and its allies attempted to bring more reinforcements to the field, Pandemic Horde’s Ferox fleet entered the system, numbering approximately 60 pilots.
With the aid of the Ferox fleet’s support ships, the dreadnoughts quickly re-fitted for tracking and started targeting the battleships, switching from time to time to destroy a supporting carrier or the lone dreadnought present. With the dreadnoughts’ guns brought to bear on the battleships, they could do little to resist and went down in rapid succession. Heavy interdictors swiftly secured focused points on all the present DropBear Sanctuary capitals.
Regardless, DropBear Sanctuary forces continued to commit to the fight, attempting to bring more capitals and battleships. However losing all their ships fitted with cynosural field generators early on in the fight and unable to hold ground, the fleet was ultimately destroyed with only a few ships managing to escape.
Once they secured the field, Pandemic Horde forces extracted their capitals back to their staging system, bringing an end to the engagement.
The Battle from the Perspective of Pandemic Horde Fleet
Battle report for the Ashmarir system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 20 minutes with Time Dilation not reported and the system hosting approximately 120 pilots at the peak of the fighting.
Pandemic Horde lost 16 ships including 1 carrier and 1 combat battlecruiser for a total of 3.76 billion ISK damage. DropBear Sanctuary and their allies lost 29 ships including 4 carriers, 1 dreadnought and 12 battleships for a total of 16.29 billion ISK damage.
Salivan Harddin is a member of Reikoku, Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden
