K3JR-J system, Venal region. On the 12th of February at 18:50 EVE standard Time, a battle unfolded in the system as Pandemic Legion [-10.0] forces unsuccessfully tried to bait Out of Sight. [OOS] super capitals.
The battle was prompted by Pandemic Legion, who attempted to lure Out of Sight. into a trap using Bora Alis [BORA] capitals. The capitals were staged in the K3JR-J system and had attacked other ships on the station’s undock ramp.
The ploy succeeded in drawing Out of Sight.’s attention. The alliance, alongside its allies in Red Menace (RMC) coalition had formed a joint 120 pilot Rattlesnake battleship fleet in order to defend a citadel in the MTO2-2 system in Perrigen Falls. However, their opposition never showed up, resulting in the fleet splitting up and portion of it moving to the 1-Y6KI system to destroy a Pandemic Legion tower while those who remained in the PF-QHK system were quickly tangled up with a Scourge. [URGE.] gang.
By the time the alliance noticed the two Bora Alis carriers, some time had passed, and with intelligence of a Pandemic Legion fleet departing, Out of Sight. and its allies gathered again and prepared to drop on the carriers. A cynosural beacon was secured and the fleet bridged on top of the carriers. However, unexpectedly for Pandemic Legion, Out of Sight. brought its Rattlesnake fleet and only one squadron of dreadnoughts, a few of which bumped away from the station.
This in part was a mistake by Out of Sight.. The alliance wanted to bring in only three dreadnoughts, but several pilots disobeyed the order and jumped in regardless. With the whole Rattlesnake fleet and dreadnoughts landing on top of them, the Bora Alis carriers had little chance to resist and were quickly dispatched. At that point Pandemic Legion interdictors appeared and started laying warp disruption probes on the Rattlesnake fleet while Pandemic Legion capitals jumped into the KQK1-2 system in Pure Blind to get in range of the fight.
Out of Sight. quickly ordered its dreadnoughts to dock up as most were in range of the station, with only four bumped out of docking range. At the same time, Out of Sight. interdictors managed to deploy their own warp disruption probes to slow down the Pandemic Legion capital squadrons, delaying them considerably. By the time they managed to free themselves, most of the Out of Sight. capitals had docked up. In the meantime, the Rattlesnake fleet prepared for battle.
Pandmeic Legion secured its own cynosural beacon and bridged in a 120 pilot Proteus strategic cruiser fleet. The fleet had used a few wormholes to circumvent Out of Sight. scouts and hide, managing to reach a titan in range of the system and had waited for the portal. The fleet anchored up immediately and started to brawl with the Rattlesnakes, which burned away from the station and returned fire. The Proteus fleet managed to break through the robust shields of the Rattlesnakes, following the ships as three of its capital squadrons started jumping to the already lit cynosural beacon and set up. Two squadrons of dreadnoughts entered their siege cycles and started hammering the Out of Sight. dreadnoughts, managing to destroy them all in just two minutes.
Out of Sight. kept pulling range, reaching 100 kilometers from the maelstrom while returning fire. The Rattlesnakes’ cruise missiles managed to destroy a few strategic cruisers. Yet having to deal with both the Proteus fleet and the dreadnoughts who quickly switched targets to the Rattlesnakes were faltering. The Rattlesnake fleet was unable to tank the incoming damage and its fleet commanders were unwilling to deploy force auxiliaries to the field in order to try and stabilize, due to Pandemic Legion’s reputation for counter escalating. What’s more, the fleet had lost a number of logistics cruisers in the earlier fighting with Scourge., meaning it had already been operating with sub optimal logistics cruiser numbers.
Losing ships and facing a substantial capital force, Out of Sight. fleet commanders decided to withdraw, warping the fleet out. With the hostile fleet gone, Pandemic Legion decided against pursuing and instead focused on extracting its forces. Thus the battle came to an end.
Battle report for the K3JR-J system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 10 minutes with Time Dilation not reported and the system hosting an estimated 300 pilots at the height of the battle.
Out of Sight. and RMC lost a combined total of 30 ships combined, including 4 dreadnoughts and 18 battleships for a total of 20.54 billion ISK damage.
Pandemic Legion and Bora Alis lost 22 ships, including 2 carriers, 1 force auxiliaries and 4 strategic cruisers for a total of 11.59 billion ISK damage.
Salivan Harddin is a member of V0LTA, WE FORM V0LTA, and covers battles across New Eden
