5ZXX-K system, Pure Blind region. On the 7th of November at 19:00 EVE Standard Time, a battle unfolded in the system between Scourge. [URGE.] and Mordus Angels [MOA] as well as their various allies over a tower.
The tower in question was used as Scourge.’s staging in the area and had been previously reinforced by Mordus Angels. The two entities have been fighting for weeks in a series of battles ever since the former moved to the area. After a few bloody fights, both alliances geared up for a major confrontation.
Mordus Angels formed a 40 pilot Rattlesnake battleship fleet with 2 Minokawa force auxiliary ships in tow and made its way to the system, setting up on the tower grid and waiting for the tower’s invulnerability period to expire. The fleet was joined by a 65 pilot Brave Collective [BRAVE] Maelstrom battleship fleet which traveled to the system and had set up near its allies. Aiding them was a 30 pilot Pure Blind Cartel [CRATE] Gila cruiser fleet, which was held in reserve. The allies also had a dreadnought squadron and a few force auxiliaries prepared in advance, set up in range of the system.
Scourge. gathered a 60 pilot Rattlesnake fleet of its own, with Minokawa force auxiliaries and a dreadnought squadron waiting in range of the system. The Scourge. fleet had gathered in the 5ZXX-K station itself. Undocking, it aligned to the tower and warped in range of the two allied fleets, landing at roughly 40 kilometers from each one. Immediately the three battleship fleets opened fire, signaling the start of the battle.
Sentry drones were deployed in thick clouds and opened fire on hostile battleships, aided by swarms of cruise missiles which crisscrossed the void between the two sides. Maelstroms took aim and coordinated fire, hurtling high explosive shells from their artillery cannons into the heart of the enemy fleet. Rattlesnakes and Maelstroms evaporated in the ensuing exchange as logistics wings were overwhelmed by the incoming damage, whose efforts were often ignored completely by the two sides.
For the Scourge. fleet, the battle went badly from the start. Though able to trade fairly well with its enemies, its Minokawa support had failed to warp with the fleet, getting caught on the station by the Gila fleet and held in place. Deprived of their force auxiliary, the Rattlesnake fleet could not tank the incoming damage and simply melted away as artillery barrages and missile salvos found their targets. Focusing on the Maelstrom fleet, Scourge.’s Rattlesnake fleet managed to inflict losses on the Brave Collective force as the relentless missile fire engulfed entire battleships in storms of fire, overloading their shield generators and exposing the weaker hull beneath.
With losses mounting, the Brave Collective fleet commander had no choice but to bring in his reserve force auxiliary, lighting a cynosural beacon on the grid and bringing in a Lif force auxiliary to augment the faltering logistics wing. Seeing this, the Scourge. fleet reacted immediately, lighting a cynosural beacon of its own and bringing in its dreadnought squadron. The dreadnoughts jumped into the system and entered their siege cycles, their capital turrets slowly rotating to focus on the Lif of Brave Collective. Once their guns were locked on target, a devastating capital barrage was hurled at the Lif. Volley after volley impacted against the enormous shield of the Lif and caused it to overload in a few moments, burning out its many generators. With its hull exposed, the capital munitions tore through the armor plating and the structure below, ripping the ship apart. Within moments the force auxiliary faltered, growing ominously quiet before exploding, hurling debris and waves of scorching fire across the battlefield.
Seeing this, the allies counter escalated, lighting another cynosural beacon and bringing their own dreadnought squadron to the field. Dazzling spheres of light heralded the materialization of the allied dreadnoughts, who wasted no time in entering their own siege cycles and targeting their hostile counterparts. The field quickly devolved into a capital brawl, as the two sides fought bitterly.
As the capital squadrons dueled, the sub capital fleets continued their own fight, battleships on both sides disappearing at an alarming rate and leaving behind only cold wreckage to mark they had ever existed. Yet, with another force auxiliary brought in, the Brave Collective fleet was able to tank the incoming damage far better. This became especially apparent as the Scourge.’s losses steadily increased, depriving it of much of its firepower.
On the capital front though, things were much different. The better equipped dreadnoughts of the Scourge. fleet were able to hold their own against the allied force, inflicting heavy losses on their enemies. With the grid mostly under their control, the allies decided to further escalate. One of the fallen dreadnought pilots volunteered his Hel super carrier, jumping it into the fight. As the super carrier hit the grid, it swiftly aligned to a safe location and unleashed its fighter squadrons on the enemy dreadnoughts. With the addition of the super carrier, the allied fleets were able to change the tide of the capital battle.
Whats more, by then most of the Scourge. sub capital fleet had been annihilated, allowing the remaining Rattlesnake and Maelstrom fleets to focus on the capitals themselves. They were aided by the Gila fleet of Pure Blind Cartel, which had arrived on grid once the dreadnoughts entered the field, skirting at nearly 100 kilometers from the center of the fight. One by one, the Scourge. capitals and remaining support were cut down by the attackers, giving them control of the grid. The survivors retreated to the station, organizing a new fleet to engage their enemies.
For their part, the allies focused on dispatching the last of the stragglers before focusing on the tower itself. The main fleet commander for the allies gave the order for all the remaining dreadnoughts to exit their siege cycles and prepare for extraction. However, before they could carry out his plans, a third party intervened. Alerted to the fight, and seeing the remaining capitals and the super carrier on field, Pandemic Legion [-10.0] chose to interfere. As the three fleets focused their attention on razing the tower, a cynosural beacon suddenly lit up near their capitals and into the field streamed a Pandemic Legion super capital force.
An estimated 80 pilot Pandemic Legion Proteus strategic cruiser fleet bridged on top of the still stranded capitals, its interdictors and heavy interdictors deploying their warp disruption fields and trapping them in place. With it jumped no less than 30 super capitals, including many titans. Doomsday devices cycled immediately, unleashing their destructive energy on the immobile dreadnoughts. The Hel, seeing this, warped off without delay and jumped to an exit cynosural beacon prepared in advance, managing to reach safety. The sub capital fleets, seeing the many super carriers and their vicious fighter squadrons on the field, declined to engage. Most of them managed to fire their micro jump drives and teleport out of the range of the Pandemic Legion Proteus fleet, allowing them to simply warp off to safety.
Pandemic Legion attempted to snag as many stragglers as it could, tearing apart whatever ships it could lay its hands on. With the grid cleared, Pandemic Legion forces decided to raze the tower, destroying it before extracting. With their battle won and the objective taken, the allied fleets withdrew to their respective staging systems, with Brave Collective harassed on the way by the pursuing Scourge. Tempest battleship fleet. While managing to inflict some losses to the retreating Maelstrom fleet, it could do little to avenge its losses.
With this, the battle for the 5ZXX-K tower came to an end.
The Battle from the Perspective of Brave Collective Maelstrom Fleet.
Battle report for the 5ZXX-K system can be found here.
The battle lasted 20 minutes, with Time Dilation not reported and the system hosting nearly 320 pilots near the end of the fight.
All told, Scourge. and its allies lost 64 ships including 7 dreadnoughts, 1 carrier and 25 battleships for a total of 46.2 billion ISK damage.
Mordus Angels, Brave Collective and Pure Blind Cartel combined lost 59 ships, including 12 dreadnoughts, 4 force auxiliary, 3 carrier and 11 battleships for a sum of 60.53 billion ISK damage.
Salivan Harddin is a member of V0LTA, WE FORM V0LTA, and covers battles across New Eden
