Okkamon system, Black Rise region. On the 8th of February at 21:55 EVE Standard Time, a skirmish occurred between Project.Mayhem. [16-13] and Holy Cookie [HCOOK] and their allies.
The battle was fought over a Fortizar citadel belonging to Holy Cookie. The structure had been reinforced by Project.Mayhem. following the alliance’s deployment to the region. In order to protect the citadel, Holy Cookie contacted No Handlebars. [SWEG.] and Pandemic Legion [-10.0] and prepared a trap.
Pandemic Legion set up 3 squadrons of super carriers in range of the system and had a 70 pilot Proteus strategic cruiser fleet to accompany the super capitals. Holy Cookie and No Handlebars. in the meantime formed a joint Machariel battleship fleet of 70 pilots, with nearly an entire squadron of Apostle force auxiliaries to be used as bait. The No Handlebars. portion of the fleet bridged to the contested Fortizar and tethered, waiting for the Holy Cookie pilots to get ready.
Project.Mayhem. assembled its own 70 pilot Machariel fleet and arrived in the system, warped at long range of the citadel and waited for the defenders to engage it. Finally, the Holy Cookie pilots were ready and their Machariels undocked from the structure before joining the No Handlebars. Machariels. With the entire fleet ready, the defenders lit a cynosural beacon, bringing in their force auxiliary squadron and engaged the Project.Mayhem. force.
The two sides exchanged long range artillery fire, both able to volley mainline ships off the field in the opening barrages. As the battle progressed, the defending Machariel fleet quickly stabilized due to the sheer number of force auxiliaries present. The attackers in contrast, were unable to tank the incoming damage lacking force auxiliaries of their own which led to a steady stream of losses.
Wishing to break through the powerful shield erected by the defenders’ force auxiliary squadron, Project.Mayhem. decided to escalate things further, calling its allies Snuffed Out [B B C] and preparing to drop 2 squadrons of capitals and super capitals to take care of the Apostles. Snuffed Out flash formed a 50 pilot Proteus fleet of its own and secured a cynosural beacon on top of the defending Machariel fleet while Project.Mayhem. lit a cynosural beacon near its own fleet which allowed 8 super carriers and a squadron of force auxiliaries and carriers to jump in.
With the enemy taking the bait, the defenders scrambled to lit a cynosural beacon of their own to allow the Pandemic Legion fleet through. The field had been observed by cloaked ships fitted with cynosural field generators, and once the order was given, the ships uncloaked and warped in.
It was at this point that a major mistake was made. The pilot which was suppose to light the cynosural beacon for Pandemic Legion had warped to the wrong beacon, instead landing on the Fortizar rather than on the Project.Mayhem. super carriers which by then had managed to dispatch 3 of the defending Apostles. By the time he had corrected his mistake and landed near the super carriers, it was too late.
The Maller cruiser lit its cynosural beacon, allowing the Pandemic Legion super capitals to jump through and land on grid, their escort fleet bridging in with them. As they came through, the Pandemic Legion fleet was treated to the sight of the Project.Mayhem. super carriers warping out to a safe citadel with the majority of their capital escort. The Pandemic Legion fleet attempted to tackle what it could, snagging 4 Apostles and a Thanatos combat carrier.
Seeing this, both the Snuffed Out and Project.Mayhem.’s fleets reacted quickly, warping out the bulk of their forces off the field. This allowed the defending Machariel fleet and the Pandemic Legion fleet to dispatch the tackled capitals, clearing the field from hostiles and allowing the Fortizar to exit its reinforced mode in relative safety. With no hostiles to contest it, the Fortizar finished its self repair stage without interruptions and resumed its regular invulnerability cycle.
With the grid clear and the attackers making no sign of coming back, the Pandemic Legion fleet and the defending Machariel fleet extracted, ending the fight.
Battle report for the Okkamon system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 14 minutes with Time Dilation not reported and the system holding an estimated 300 pilots at the peak of the fighting.
Project.Mayhem. and Snuffed Out lost 22 ships including 4 force auxiliaries, 1 combat carrier, 9 battleships and 4 strategic cruisers for a total of 24.91 billion ISK damage.
Holy Cookie, No Handlebars. and Pandemic Legion lost 8 ships including 3 force auxiliaries and 3 battleships for a total of 8.72 billion ISK damage.
*Banner made by Niden of Snuff Box, Snuffed Out, and used with his explicit permission. All rights reserved to him.
Salivan Harddin is a member of V0LTA, WE FORM V0LTA, and covers battles across New Eden
