Huola system, The Bleak Lands region. On the 2nd of February at 15:38 EVE standard Time, a capital brawl developed in the system.
The battle was instigated by Mercenary Coalition [MC]. Siege Green. [SSGRN] had a fleet in the system comprised of Machariel battleships and a mix capital squadron of dreadnoughts and force auxiliaries. All told the fleet was reportedly around 20 pilots strong. The force was busy bashing planetary customs office around the system while keeping eyes on local hostile entities.
Suddenly, a Phobos heavy interdictor belonging to Mercenary Coalition warped in near the Machariel fleet and lit a cynosural beacon, ushering in 2 Mercenary Coalition mixed capital squadrons. 5 dreadnoughts, 3 force auxiliaries and 8 combat carriers materialized on the field near the Siege Green. fleet. The Dreadnoughts entered siege cycles and opened fire, joined by squadrons of fighters and backed by the force auxiliaries which acted as logistics backbone.
The Siege Green. fleet was caught by surprise but quickly reacted, switching targets to the hostiles while calling for allies to join. More and more Siege Green. battleships and combat carriers started warping in from the station and joined the fray as the battle commenced.
The first target of the Siege Green. fleet was the heavy interdictor, which was easily removed from the field. Following it, the battleships and dreadnoughts focused their fire, targeting the Mercenary Coalition dreadnoughts. Within a few minutes 3 of the closest dreadnoughts caved in to the relentless assault by Siege Green. and exploded in bright flashes, their hulls rupturing by series of internal explosions. At the same time, the Mercenary Coalition fleet attempted to dispatch the Machariel battleships. The tough ships managed to absorb most of the damage, their thick armor plating buying them enough time for the force auxiliaries to apply remote armor repairers and restore them.
With its own combat carriers on grid, the Siege Green. fleet started to de-fang the hostile combat carriers. Space superiority fighters were unleashed upon the grid, quickly targeting and firing upon the hostile fighter squadrons. In a couple of minutes, whole Mercenary Coalition fighter squadrons were destroyed as the space superiority fighters shot them down.
Having dealt with most of the dreadnoughts and the space superiority fighters taking care of the hostile fighter squadrons, the Siege Green. fleet turned its attention on the force auxiliaries. Autocannon rounds started ripping into the armor of an Apostle force auxiliary, quickly joined by the capital munitions of the Siege Green. dreadnoughts. Under constant fire, the Apostle slowly withered, its armor eaten up by the firestorm unleashed on it. After a few minutes the force auxiliary gave up, exploding in a bright fireball that quickly evaporated in the vacuum.
After the Apostle, came the turn of the Minokawa force auxiliary. Its robust shields offered no more protection than the Apostle’s armor afforded it and was destroyed a few minutes later. By this time, Siege Green.’s ranks had swelled to nearly 40 pilots, as allies poured in to join what was fast becoming a one sided slaughter.
With 2 force auxiliaries down, the Siege Green. started to work its way through the combat carriers. Thanatos, Archon, even a Chimera combat carrier soon felt the wrath of the Siege Green. fleet. Every couple of minutes a Mercenary Coalition carrier was overwhelmed by the growing firepower of the hostile fleet. That said, the Mercenary Coalition fleet managed to inflict some losses in return, destroying two Machariels even as it was losing more and more combat carriers.
Finally, as the number of Mercenary Coalition capitals dwindled, the fleet started to extract. The remaining dreadnoughts, force auxiliary and combat carriers started jumping out or warping off, leaving Siege Green. to catch a few stragglers and clear the field of any abandoned fighter squadrons left behind.
With Mercenary Coalition in retreat, Siege Green. looted the field before resuming its work, thus ending the fight.
Battle report for the Huola system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 30 minutes, with Time Dilation not reported and the system hosting an estimated 80 pilots at the peak of the fighting.
Mercenary Coalition lost 14 ships including 3 dreadnoughts, 2 force auxiliaries and carriers for a total of 28.59 billion ISK damage.
Siege Green. lost 5 ships, including 2 battleships for a total of 1.38 billion ISK damage.
Salivan Harddin is a member of V0LTA, WE FORM V0LTA, and covers battles across New Eden
