They just sat there, on the jumpgate to Eha from the Innia system. Smug, comfortable, knowing that they would be able to perfectly ambush anyone entering the system, and easily able to get away from anything they didn't want to fight.
We had been dancing around each other for 15 minutes now, one system to the next, both sides looking to fight but only on their own terms. Finally, things were coming to a head. Only problem was, we were outnumbered and outgunned.
Sure, our side was strong by any measure. Our 3-ship gang included a Cynabal-class cruiser from the Sicarius Draconis alliance and my Enyo-class assault frigate, both in the Eha system. A Taranis-class interceptor from Sicarius Draconis was waiting on the other side of the gate.
But the Caldari gang was stronger. A Coercer-class Destroyer, backed by an Algos-class destroyer, 2 Corax-Class Missile Destroyers, a Harpy-class Assault Frigate, and, backing them up, a Kitsune-class Electronic Attack Frigate, no doubt bristling with ECM jammers to render us toothless within seconds. 4 destroyers, 1 assault ship, and ECM on field.
Our Taranis pilot spoke up first. "How do we take them? Reckon you can handle their DPS? They must have over 1500 DPS at least?"
There was a pause while we considered this, then he answered his own question. "Well, if you take down the Coercer first, that's a big chunk of their DPS, then maybe a Corax?"
Jeremiah Killbrew reluctantly agreed from his Cynabal. Boredom and the urge to fight have a way of counteracting the fear of losing an expensive ship. The Taranis pilot finally settled the matter. "I'll tell you what - if you lose your ship I'll pay for it. I just really want a fight".
And so a plan quickly came together. The Cynabal and I would jump through the Caldari gang into Eha, then the 3 of us would double back and jump into Innia within seconds.
The Taranis would burn for the Kitsune to try to panic the pilot into focusing all jams on the Taranis, while the Cynabal and my Enyo would burn down the Coercer and other destroyers. Jeremiah and I duly moved into Eha and jumped back in to Innia.
No plan survives contact with the enemy, and this was no exception. We didn't see the weakness in our plan until too late - the Taranis both being default Fleet Commander as well as primary target for the Kitsune's jammers.
The Cynabal and my Enyo had both barely uncloaked when the Taranis pilot cried out that he was jammed and couldn't call targets. I waited for a second, but heard nothing from Jeremiah. Every second counted and hesitation would risk split damage. I couldn't wait any longer. The Coercer was 10km off me and the plan had called for him to die first. I hit my Microwarp Drive to charge towards him, activated my warp scrambler on him, and growled into comms. "Coercer is primary. Target the Coercer".
The range ticked down. At 6 km I began unloading Caldari Navy Antimatter into the Coercer and watch his shields melt down fast. With relief I noticed that his armour was melting just as quickly - it was an untanked all gank ship, and taking his down first was the right call. In preparation for the next target I called out a nearby Corax as secondary target.
My ship rapidly slowed down as one of the Caldari landed a warp scrambler on me, shutting down my MWD. My shields began taking a heavy pounding as well, but assuming it was the Corax, I continued unloading into the Coercer until rewarded with a beautiful flash as it exploded. No time to go for the pod, I opened fire on the Corax......
.....and my shots all missed. Quickly looking at my screen, I discovered that he was now over 17km away from me. Worse, my capacitor was suddenly at less than 33% capacity. That was when I discovered the Algos, now just 3km away from me and letting rip on me with blasters and energy neutralizers, rapidly working through my shields and about to bite into my armor. Even worse, the Taranis pilot announced that he was now heavily damaged and had to warp off.
We were now one ship down, and the enemy ECM was still on field.I was warp scrambled and escaping was out of the question.
I had to assume that the Cynabal was still nearby. With the Algos scrambling and neuting me, catching up to the Corax was out of the question. I opened up comms and called that the Algos was the new primary target. My targetting lock cycle completed and I let my guns pound into the Algos at point blank range. His shields and armour plates collapsed in seconds under the beating from the combined blasters of my Enyo and the 425mm autocannons of Jeremiah Killbrew's Cynabal.
As the enemy destroyer blew apart my ship was finally freed from the warp scramble. Checking my overview revealed that the Corax destroyers and Harpy were still burning back to us from where they had chased our Taranis off to.With my Enyo now having lost its shields and half of its armor plating, surviving a fight against three more ships seemed unlikely, even without factoring in the Kitsune's jammers.
"We're done, bail bail bail" I called. My Enyo quickly warped out into the safety of space, followed seconds later by our Cynabal.
Result: 6-man gang of Destroyers and T2 frigates engaged by 1 faction cruiser and 2 T2 frigates. 2 enemy destroyers killed for no friendly losses.
======================================
Our Taranis was the real hero of this fight and it would have gone very differently without him. He burned straight away for the Kitsune, and stayed aggressive despite being jammed, not only forcing the Kitsune to burn away from the fight, but also drawing off the 2 Coraxes and the Harpy to try and save the Kitsune.
This left the Coercer and Algos behind - the Coercer was scrambled and couldn't move fast enough to try to save the Kitsune, while the Algos pilot correctly realised that with the heavy 400mm plate on his ship he couldn't move fast enough to help out anyway.
The enemy fleet was thus split and totally unable to use its numerical and DPS superiority to take control of the engagement. Defeat was inevitable.
We had been dancing around each other for 15 minutes now, one system to the next, both sides looking to fight but only on their own terms. Finally, things were coming to a head. Only problem was, we were outnumbered and outgunned.
Sure, our side was strong by any measure. Our 3-ship gang included a Cynabal-class cruiser from the Sicarius Draconis alliance and my Enyo-class assault frigate, both in the Eha system. A Taranis-class interceptor from Sicarius Draconis was waiting on the other side of the gate.
But the Caldari gang was stronger. A Coercer-class Destroyer, backed by an Algos-class destroyer, 2 Corax-Class Missile Destroyers, a Harpy-class Assault Frigate, and, backing them up, a Kitsune-class Electronic Attack Frigate, no doubt bristling with ECM jammers to render us toothless within seconds. 4 destroyers, 1 assault ship, and ECM on field.
Our Taranis pilot spoke up first. "How do we take them? Reckon you can handle their DPS? They must have over 1500 DPS at least?"
There was a pause while we considered this, then he answered his own question. "Well, if you take down the Coercer first, that's a big chunk of their DPS, then maybe a Corax?"
Jeremiah Killbrew reluctantly agreed from his Cynabal. Boredom and the urge to fight have a way of counteracting the fear of losing an expensive ship. The Taranis pilot finally settled the matter. "I'll tell you what - if you lose your ship I'll pay for it. I just really want a fight".
And so a plan quickly came together. The Cynabal and I would jump through the Caldari gang into Eha, then the 3 of us would double back and jump into Innia within seconds.
The Taranis would burn for the Kitsune to try to panic the pilot into focusing all jams on the Taranis, while the Cynabal and my Enyo would burn down the Coercer and other destroyers. Jeremiah and I duly moved into Eha and jumped back in to Innia.
No plan survives contact with the enemy, and this was no exception. We didn't see the weakness in our plan until too late - the Taranis both being default Fleet Commander as well as primary target for the Kitsune's jammers.
The Cynabal and my Enyo had both barely uncloaked when the Taranis pilot cried out that he was jammed and couldn't call targets. I waited for a second, but heard nothing from Jeremiah. Every second counted and hesitation would risk split damage. I couldn't wait any longer. The Coercer was 10km off me and the plan had called for him to die first. I hit my Microwarp Drive to charge towards him, activated my warp scrambler on him, and growled into comms. "Coercer is primary. Target the Coercer".
The range ticked down. At 6 km I began unloading Caldari Navy Antimatter into the Coercer and watch his shields melt down fast. With relief I noticed that his armour was melting just as quickly - it was an untanked all gank ship, and taking his down first was the right call. In preparation for the next target I called out a nearby Corax as secondary target.
My ship rapidly slowed down as one of the Caldari landed a warp scrambler on me, shutting down my MWD. My shields began taking a heavy pounding as well, but assuming it was the Corax, I continued unloading into the Coercer until rewarded with a beautiful flash as it exploded. No time to go for the pod, I opened fire on the Corax......
.....and my shots all missed. Quickly looking at my screen, I discovered that he was now over 17km away from me. Worse, my capacitor was suddenly at less than 33% capacity. That was when I discovered the Algos, now just 3km away from me and letting rip on me with blasters and energy neutralizers, rapidly working through my shields and about to bite into my armor. Even worse, the Taranis pilot announced that he was now heavily damaged and had to warp off.
We were now one ship down, and the enemy ECM was still on field.I was warp scrambled and escaping was out of the question.
I had to assume that the Cynabal was still nearby. With the Algos scrambling and neuting me, catching up to the Corax was out of the question. I opened up comms and called that the Algos was the new primary target. My targetting lock cycle completed and I let my guns pound into the Algos at point blank range. His shields and armour plates collapsed in seconds under the beating from the combined blasters of my Enyo and the 425mm autocannons of Jeremiah Killbrew's Cynabal.
As the enemy destroyer blew apart my ship was finally freed from the warp scramble. Checking my overview revealed that the Corax destroyers and Harpy were still burning back to us from where they had chased our Taranis off to.With my Enyo now having lost its shields and half of its armor plating, surviving a fight against three more ships seemed unlikely, even without factoring in the Kitsune's jammers.
"We're done, bail bail bail" I called. My Enyo quickly warped out into the safety of space, followed seconds later by our Cynabal.
Result: 6-man gang of Destroyers and T2 frigates engaged by 1 faction cruiser and 2 T2 frigates. 2 enemy destroyers killed for no friendly losses.
======================================
Our Taranis was the real hero of this fight and it would have gone very differently without him. He burned straight away for the Kitsune, and stayed aggressive despite being jammed, not only forcing the Kitsune to burn away from the fight, but also drawing off the 2 Coraxes and the Harpy to try and save the Kitsune.
This left the Coercer and Algos behind - the Coercer was scrambled and couldn't move fast enough to try to save the Kitsune, while the Algos pilot correctly realised that with the heavy 400mm plate on his ship he couldn't move fast enough to help out anyway.
The enemy fleet was thus split and totally unable to use its numerical and DPS superiority to take control of the engagement. Defeat was inevitable.
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