Life in Catch has been incredibly hectic over the last couple of days and I haven’t had much time to write about it. Yesterday was no different. You’ve probably read by now that yesterday was a pretty hectic day in the southern areas of Eve. I’m not going to talk about the politics of it, there are other people better able to do that. Instead I’m going try and tell the story of what happened from my point of view.

I woke up to be greeted by a Jabber message reading “Goons Sov is down get in FLEET NOW”. I quickly scrambled into my ship and dashed through Empire space to catch up with the main fleet. The Goons had anchored TCUs in all of the systems that had dropped sovereignty and the race was on to kill them all before they came online. By the time I caught up we had already dropped the TCUs in I1Y-IU and ED-L9T, both station systems, and we were heading for H74-B0. While we were rushing around IT were engaging the Goons in 1-SMEB, leaving us free to roam at will. Unfortunately CCP didn’t have the same idea and we spent about 20 minutes stuck in K-L690 with the gates refusing to let us out. After a stuck petition filed on behalf of the whole fleet had failed to free us up we were about to give up. Suddenly the gates opened again and we were able to charge down to H74-B0 and take down the TCU there.

Our next strategic objective was J-LPX7, home to GoonFleet’s capital fleet and their construction yards. By now our fleet was at approximately 90 with battleships, logistics, and some support. While the battleships began work on the TCU our support camped the station and gates. A seemingly innocuous looking badger undocked. Was it an evacuation? Apparently not because a cynosaural field went up and two carriers were able to jump in before we could kill it. The carriers dropped another cyno and more jumped in until there were approximately forty in system with us. Our small fleet couldn’t stand against this force and we opted to go next door and kill the TCU in F-TE1T instead. Once the F-TE1T TCU was down we moved back to J-LPX7 and began working away there again. Another cyno went up and the Goon capitals jumped in again. This time we were agonisingly close to victory and some excellent bubbles from our interdictors kept the hostile carriers at bay long enough for our fleet to do its job and then get out.

By now we had been at it for several hours and had taken down Goon TCUs in five systems. We had a date with some Libertas Fidelitas TCUs back in Catch after down time and it was decided to head home read for that. Just as we turned back we got word that IT Alliance were in NOL-M9 engaging a goon capital fleet with the full might of their own forces. Never ones to skip an opportunity to kill carriers we set course to NOL-M9 and made it in time to take part in the last five carrier kills and take down the TCU. There wasn’t enough time to make it home and the fleet docked up in 319-3D, one of Delve’s NPC stations.

When the server came back up from downtime we quickly logged the fleet back on and made all haste from 319-3D back to GE-8JV, our own staging system. Along the way we were able to take down two further TCUs and fleet numbers were growing all the time. The second of these TCUs was taken down just seconds before it came online. Excellent work from all. Once back in GE-8JV we took a minute to reorganise and then set out to kill LFA’s final sovereignty claims in WD-VTV and F9E-KX. CVA and friends had set up a camp on the F9E-KX gate in D-GTMI to cover their evacuation so we decided to go in and bust it. As soon as our force jumped in the camp scattered but we didn’t have time to hang around and interfere with their preparations. Our TCUs and SBUs in Querious were coming online and it was time to go back and take the stations.

After another frantic dash we were back in I1Y-IU and the station was under attack. By now we had mustered sometime approximating our full strength and a mass fleet of capitals and sub-capitals was laying into the station for all it was worth. It turned out we had left some of our logistics arm behind in 319-3D and I agreed to run back in my Stiletto and scout them out while the fleet did its thing. The run out was pretty uneventful until 319-3D itself where I ran into a Goon camp with a Devoter, Arazu, Rook, Huginn, and Drake guarding the gate. There was no way I was going to be able to get our stragglers out through the direct route. I took a few minutes to make some bookmarks around the system while I investigated alternative routes. Eventually I found a route out through NPC Delve with the only problem being that it passed through PR-8CA an active system that borders NOL-M9. While I scouted the route I ran into some IT Alliance scouts and after a quick intel exchange I decided that this was the best way home. Back in 319-3D I undocked the straggling fleet and warped them to an insta-undock bookmark I’d made. With them safely out of the station I began to scout them out of the system and through the journey home. We passed through a few systems with plenty of hostiles and neutrals logged in but there was no effort made to camp us in and we were soon moving towards the main fleet at full speed. Before the station fell we made it back to I1Y-IU and rejoined the main fleet.

The next few hours were spent capturing the stations in I1Y-IU (now known as I1Y Evil Thug Memorial), ED-L9T (ED Fix HQ), and H74-B0 (H74iti Sov Earthquake Memorial). The former residents offered no resistance and we captured all the station unopposed. Our work for the afternoon was done and the fleet took a couple of hours to stretch its legs and take a break. It had been a very long and exciting day already.

Next on the menu was another fight in D-GTMI. The infrastructure hub was exiting its second reinforcement cycle and we needed to destroy it before the Providence residents could destroy any of our SBUs. While we had been busy in Querious the CVA-aligned forces hadn’t been slacking either. The jump bridge and cyno jammer were both online again and they were ready for us. Because we couldn’t jump straight into D-GTMI and hadn’t had time to get our forces in ahead of the showdown we needed to come up with a different plan. In the end the decision was taken to jump our combined fleet (-A-, U’K, and Systematic Chaos) into the neighbouring system of FSW-3C. The defending forces saw our cyno beacon and moved their fleet to the FSW-3C gate ready to repulse our attack. The plan was simple, break in and take down their fleet and let our super capital fleet that was in system take down the jammer so we could bring in our conventional capital fleet too.

We warped to the gate and jumped into a grid with 250 or so set up ready for us. We aligned to the station and burst MWDs to get out of the bubble on the gate. For me the lag on jump in was terrible. It took me ages to even load system and then once I was in it took another age to load the grid. Once I found my bearings I burnt to safety and surveyed the battlefield. Primaries were being called in the enemy fleet but we didn’t yet have any bubble on them so my first order of business was to get in the thick of things and give the interdictors something to warp to. I burnt to the secondary that was being called and settled into an orbit with my disruptor on. Hopefully the ‘dictors would see me in place and if not then at least I could keep this battleship in place until it was taken down. Unfortunately I was able to do neither and a Rifter came in and tackled me. With a warp scrambler and stasis webifier on me I thought that my fight was over. I aligned myself away from the field and crossed my fingers. However, it seemed to be my lucky day. In high lack situations the important thing to do is to turn off auto-repeat on your guns and fire them a single round at a time. Even like this you can’t fire at full pace but at least you don’t get stuck with your gun cycling and not firing. By doing this I was able to eventually kill the Rifter one shot at a time. During the eternity that this seemed to take I was also tackled by a Vengeance and Crow but they both lost interest. The Rifter eventually went down but I then spent several agonising minutes being tackled by the ghost of my former foe. Eventually I warped off grid and in the reduced lag made sure that all my modules were ready to go again.

Fearlessly I warped back into the thick of things and began to go about my work. With the battle now raging around me it was time to go back to basics and I went to work making sure that their tackle and light support was removed from the field. After each successful tackle I had to warp off the field and let my modules recover before returning to the fray. Eventually their tackle went down and it was time to make sure that their remaining battleships and battlecruisers didn’t leave the field. It was a bloody and intense fight and eventually -A- held the field with the enemy dying, retreating, or logging off. Unopposed we destroyed the infrastructure hub and a fair few POS services. Our killboard currently says that we were able to kill 165 ships for just 29 losses, largely due to excellent work by our logistics wing. The fact that we had superior numbers (our capital wing wasn’t in the gate fight) definitely helped us win the fight but I think the key telling factors in our engagements with CVA and co are that we are used to operating in high lag situations and know how to get the most out of them. We are also very well organised with clear, central leadership that means we have a focussed and prepared fleet on the field for all engagements.

Whatever the reason that we won I would like to say thank you to all involved. It was a truly epic slugfest against opponents who turn up every day to defend their system despite the overwhelming amount of firepower that we can put on grid. During last night’s engagement we fielded 10 titans and 13 of the recently revamped super carriers. I think that despite all the bad press around Dominion the changes to super capitals have achieved their objectives and they are now useful tools that provide previously unimaginable amounts of damage on the field. The days of them cowering under the protection of cyno jammers are over it seems, but I digress. Once the fight was over there were plenty of heart-felt good fights exchanged in local and I’d like to say thanks to all the guys who said hello to me in the aftermath. I hope you like the report.

By now it was midnight and what I hope you will agree was a hectic day was drawing to a close. The Goons had just finished a State of the Goonion address and rumour had it that they were planning a mass breakout from J-LPX7. IT Alliance had set up a camp and of course we were going to go along and join in the fun, even if it was suicidal to do so. We moved to our new station system H74-B0 where an IT titan met us to provide a bridge into J-L. After an hour camping J-L we received word that the Goons had decided to change their plan and I decided to head back home with some others who had worn themselves out after a long day of fighting.

So there you go. A day in the life of a typical interceptor pilot in a typical null sec alliance. It just wasn’t exactly a typical day. After all that excitement I am glad that I get the chance for some well deserved rest and a chance to catch up on reporting my adventures. I think a couple of days of peace and quiet will do me good but I’ll be back for the final showdown in D-GTMI. Fly reckless, guys!

PS – I did have the second part of my null sec politics article written but because of recent changes I am going to have to start it again.

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