At around 0100 EVE time on January 23, 112 billion ISK worth of ships was destroyed in a brawl between the Gallente militia and the Caldari Militia, plus their pirate allies and some other parties. The fight was initiated when a Galmil alt corp called “Vouch Me In To PL Please” dropped Two Raitarus and One Astrahus on grid with a Caldari militia Fortizar in a manner similar to the current siege happening in 9-4.
As the structures went into their vulnerability timers out of anchoring, Calmil initially used small fleets of Catalysts and carriers, which launched fighters tethered from the friendly Fortizar. This will most likely change in Upwell 2.0, as carriers will no longer be able to be tethered if fighters are deployed. As this was beginning to occur, Galmil titan-bridged a Machariel fleet onto field, and started going from structure to structure, attempting to clear them of fighters and Catalysts. Eventually the Caldari formed up in full, and fighting took place on one of the Raitarus as Caldari Machariels warped to the structure.
The fleets exchanged volley after volley, but throughout the battle the Gallente blew up more Machs than the Caldari could, and forcing the Caldari to bring in Force Auxiliaries and Dreadnoughts, much like the Battle of Rakapas (Editor’s Note: which saw Caldari and Gallente militias clash late last month, with hundreds of ships and some capitals destroyed). However, the outcome of this capital fight would go much differently than Rakapas. This time, the Gallente were completely ready. They escalated with FAXes, dreadnoughts, and carriers of their own. The Gallente further escalated by bringing in four Nyxes, and three Aeon supercarriers, winning the capital engagement by a large margin.
While this engagement was going on, the other Raitaru was destroyed by fighters, making the Astrahaus and the already low-health Raitaru the only structures left alive. After clearing the field of subcaps and making the rest retreat back to the Fortizar, the Gallente FC decided to try and save the Astrahus, warping the fleet once the Astrahus was cleared of all fighters. The Gallente dug in with their subcaps, ordering capitals and supercapitals to friendly citadels as they waited for out cynos.
The second Raitaru was destroyer during this time, and with the Astrahus at half hull it was their last hope. The Caldari then sent back their Machariel fleet to try and inflict further damage on both the structure and the Gallente fleet, but were once again made to retreat against the superior Gallente subcapital force. After seeing a mass of Caldari at the wreckage of the previous skirmish on the Raitaru, the Gallente FC saw another chance to deal a crippling blow to their fleet, warping in on the Caldari, and once against winning grid control. However this distraction by the Caldari bought the Caldari carriers extra time to do more damage against the Astrahus, and before the Gallente could make it back, it was pushed past the critical structure levels and destroyed.
As the dust settled, the Caldari won the tactical objective, managing to destroy all three of the besieging structures, but at a very great cost. The Gallente lost 23.01 billion ISK in the form of 58 ships. Meanwhile, the Caldari lost 87.8 billion ISK, and an enormous 263 ships. Gallente forces won the ISK Battle, more than making up for their losses at Rakapas. The battle also included an impromptu cameo appearance of eight Snuffed Out titans, which warped off as quickly as they cynoed in, not influencing the fight. All in all both sides agreed it was an intense brawl and a fun fight, without any TIDI present during the entire fight.
