Ombeve

I had been away for a long time- months even. Looking back on the last entry I made here, it was almost exactly three months ago and we’d been killing Sylph Strategic Cruisers.

Shortly after that, I had a call from one of my close friends- a mutual close friend was very ill after being involved in an accident around Pator I, and wasn’t expected to pull through. I immediately left Catch and went to be with him and his family. That is a story for another time. Suffice to say he was a true Brutor warrior and didn’t succumb to death’s inexorable pull easily. I didn’t plug into GalNet once during my time there, instead I threw myself into helping out his family with various tasks.

As I got off the inter-orbital shuttle on the Republic Fleet station above Pator V, there seemed to be a barely perceptible buzz in the air. I paused, took a deep breath, shut my eyes and mentally re-entered the kingdom of the pod pilot.

I made my way to the eLockers, and retrieved my GalCom tablet, strapping it to my wrist. It made a subdued chirrup, warning me of a very low charge. I tutted and made my way to the nearest bar, a small place called “24/7 /V”. I knew there’d be a charge point there and I could do with a drink while I caught up with exactly what’d been going on in New Eden.

The bar wasn’t very busy, which suited me and while my tablet charged and I sipped my Blinkade I started the catch up. Scrolling through page after page of text, watching newsvid clips, I was stunned. It seemed that Libertas Fidelitas (LFA), one of the Providence alliances (see my primer here, which is now utterly obsolete!) decided to make a land grab for the F9E-KX system in Catch- this is a border system between Providence and Catch. It has switched hands a few times, the last owners were Against All Authorities (-A-) but they’d lapsed their claim for a few weeks. It was considered a neutral buffer zone, though this opinion differs depending on who you speak to.

Anyway, LFA made a grab for it and took it. Hostilities started on a low level, then a CVA led operation was mounted against HED-GP, a few systems away. HED-GP is a major -A- system, and so not only was the attack a  bold one, it was carrying a message. The timing of the attack was a double blow for -A- as they were busy fighting Goonswarm (now disbanded, but that’s another story), and it was considered a less than honourable thing to do. CVA had launched Operation Deliverance.

Goonswarm was disbanded around the same time, and it left a rather annoyed -A- to bring it’s considerable attention toward the Providence Bloc. It retook F9E, then moved into D-GTMI, the next system along, and with assists from a few alliances, of which U’K featured strongly, took the system over a few days of fighting. There was a huge capital ship fight on the 28th January in D-G, and this proved to be decisive in breaking the back of any organised resistance from the ProviBloc. A lot of ships and lives were lost that night. Paxton Federation, who were the owners of D-G, paid the initial price for CVAs folly.

-A- offered peace terms at that point to CVA, but they were rejected on the 3rd February. The war machine that was the combined force of -A-, U’K, Systematic-Chaos was now turned full force on Providence. One system after another fell, CVA publicly stated they hope we’d get bored and give up [ooc- can't find linky, if someone can provide it, would be hugely appreciated as I like being able to source!]. 9UY was taken- this was the spiritual home of Ushra’Khan, and retaking it was a major moment in our history- the rise and fall and rise again was completed.

Round about the same time, Atlas Alliance decided to join in on our side, and started to apply considerable pressure on the KBP area which belonged to Sev3rance (-7-). Providence was burning, pilots were fleeing with or without their assets, firesales were being contracted in the many fallen outposts.

Strange bedfellows were being made. Genos Occidere who were traditionally blue to U’K (indeed I had flown with them several times) and red to the ProviBloc decided to throw their lot in with -7-  and joined them. They didn’t like the direction Providence was taking as it would affect their roaming through and shooting people, so decided to do something about it. They were, as expected, very worthy opponents and skilled pilots and inflicted a lot of damage on U’K and allies. Yesterday morning, they left -7- shortly after KBP fell. -7- still hold space down in the KW- corridor, so it will be interesting to see what they do. Without a JB network to make travel there from KBP simple, I can’t see them holding it for very long.

I gazed at the new map of Providence, and was amazed at the huge changes. The ProviBloc’s much vaunted Jump Bridge network, the scourge and envy of U’K pilots was in tatters. Sylph Alliance had disbanded and was no more. LFA had fallen out with CVA, their membership dwindling to 200. Cold Steel Alliance (STEEL) had withdrawn completely and suddenly, leaving their constellation with fuelled and operational POSes and sov claim units. These structures have been removed and a new face to Providence has taken the constellation- Sodalitas XX. Presumably they are friends of -A-.

Aegis Militia, who I quite liked as they never smacked in local and always fought with spirit, have had their space and membership decimated. They only have 125 members left, from a high of over 800 two months ago. However, they still hold a couple of outposts and I think they might well recover. It seems that Paxton and Aegis have survived the onslaught by not entering the war of words.

I clone jumped to Curse Watchtower in F4R, and, as I had been out of a spaceship for some time, I decided to ease myself back into the fight and boarded an old Rupture I had hanging around. After some modifications to the weapons systems, I flew out to see what it was like in Catch and Providence. The answer was…quiet. The KW- pipe was deserted, not a camp in sight.

When I got to QR-, local channel incremented by one, and the out-gate, which I’d just arrived at, flashed. I orbited the gate, primed weapons and mods and waited… and an Ares appeared at 17km from me. We locked each other, and warp disrupted each other. I knew he’d go at range, so I set my Warrior IIs on him and MWDd toward him. My Warriors quickly caught him and started to chew on his shield. The gate flashed again and a Taranis appeared- he was Agony Empire alliance also… and I knew there’d be more. Ah well, I’d take something down with me. I knew the Taranis had to come in close to use his blasters (unless he had rails, which would be a terrible fitting), and sure enough, in he came…

I recalled my drones, and at the same time, scrambled the ‘ranis and hit him with my medium neut. My drones attacked him, my guns strained to keep up with the nimble ship. I landed the occasional hit, trying to keep his transversal down but i cursed my 220s, wishing they were 180s. He obviously didn’t have an afterburner fitted as well as an MWD, so that was good. My shields collapsed quickly, and now a Hound and another Taranis appeared. The Hound’s torpedos were hurting a lot, which was a shame as if it was just me and the inties it could’ve been a longer fight.

The pinned ‘ranis wasn’t shooting my drones which was good, and eventually he stopped firing completely- I assume he was capped out. As such, he couldn’t repair either and we both entered structure at the same time…and I started praying my guns would get one final hit to help out the drones…sure enough:

Your group of 220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II lightly hits Fassin Taak [AGONY](Taranis),
doing 223.7 damage. 

It was enough. He exploded just before I did, and I warped my pod out of there pronto. There’s something very liberating fighting in such a cheap ship, you really don’t care who you engage. And you get insurance worth a damn! I made a mental note to look over my fit and make some changes- smaller guns, bigger armour maybe. Again, I’d forgotten to overheat my guns, I can be an idiot sometimes.

Anyway, it was great fun, even though they got the loot, I felt I’d won that engagement

[OOC- I have tried to keep this recounting of what's happened in Provi/ Catch factually correct and neutral so if there are any glaring factual errors, please let me know! ]

~ by Ombey on March 24, 2010.