At 1300 EVE, January 27th, 2014, the system of B-R5RB was lit up with the flare of crackling cynosural fields. A moment later, in staggered waves, CFC carriers jumped in. Then came the dreadnoughts. Then the supercarriers. Finally, the Titans. The assembled fleet of a stellar nation. Their Russian allies followed suit. Their ships blocked out the sun.
Two hundred kilometers away, sat their enemy. A desperately thrown together contingent of carriers and dreadnoughts outnumbered and outgunned. They had to defend the system. A minute after CFC/RUS forces entered the field, they received their reinforcements. The combined Pandemic Legion/N3 super capital fleet took the field.
The stage was set for the greatest battle in gaming history. As interdictors burnt in and warp disruption bubbles went up, the die was cast. They would stand and fight. They had no other option.
The alliance Pandemic Legion held the system. They used it as a base for their operations against their enemies, the joint CFC/RUS coalition. They had taken an outpost in the system and used as a dock for their dreadnoughts, supercarriers and other capital assets. These vessels were crucial for their continued operations. Without them, their war machine would take a significant blow.
Their ownership of the system was determined by a marker known as a Territory Control Unit (TCU). This required a certain amount of money every week to maintain functionality. On January 27th, the bill came due.
But there was no money in the account.
The TCU ceased functioning, and the system became vulnerable to capture. If CFC/RUS captured it, then they would lock off Pandemic Legion from much of their capital fleet and replacement ships.
Initially, Pandemic Legion fleet command did not believe that CFC/RUS had noticed the vulnerability open. With active engagements in the northern Drone Regions, they deployed the majority of their forces away from the system. They merely began the online process for another TCU. Unfortunately for them, CFC/RUS had learned through scouts of the situation and planned an offensive.
The PL spy network noticed this before the disaster. Their forces in the Drone Regions had to redeploy to meet the challenge. While their primary fleet finished operations in the north, a hasty blocking force moved into place. The initial CFC/RUS plan was to destroy the onlining TCU and prevent PL from re-establishing control of the system. However, Russian commanders swiftly determined that it would be better to place their TCU in the system. Then, they could take the station for themselves.
With this plan determined, they jumped in their fleets. The battle was joined a few minutes later. It would continue for 20 hours and result in the heaviest casualties in EVE history.
