Setup and Sacrifice
Another Friday brought another trip up to the north for the Imperium’s USTZ late night fun fleet. Thomas Lear called for hurricanes and was rewarded with a respectable fleet that was ready for a fight. After taking a couple of wormholes, the fleet found itself in it’s familiar stomping grounds of Deklein. Things started off with a bang as they found a freighter untethered off of it’s citadel. It was quickly tackled and dispatched with as a fitting sacrifice to christen the fleet. Needless to say, Goon’s spirits were high as they continued on looking for a fight.
The Trap
Solyaris (Slyce) responded quickly to the loss of one of it’s member’s freighters with a ferox fleet. As the Imperium fleet jumped into the system of FMB-JP, they found themselves bubbled on the gate. The Slyce fleet was set up at range, a bad omen for the Goon fleet. There was little that the hurricane could do, and so they decloaked, anchored up, and began the fight. Ships were traded on both sides as the Imperium’s fleet burned to escape the bubbles while Slyce pursued them mercilessly. When the canes emerged from the warp disruption fields, they were able to warp off to reposition and fight on their terms.
Turning the Tides
The Slyce fleet had claimed the grid, but tarried too long and so after loading up for a close range brawl, the Imperium fleet warped back in. Because the ferox fleet had remained in the same place, Lear was able to warp his fleet in directly on top of their logi and tackled them. As expected, it was like shooting fish in a barrel as the Slyce logistics crumpled under the alpha of the Goon’s hurricanes. Realizing their mistake, the ferox fleet warped off, presumably to regroup or stand down after the devastating blow.
Winds of Chance
All of this happened relatively quickly, but as the bubbles went up on the Slyce logi, a Minokawa was caught warping onto the field. It is assumed that the fax was being brought in as additional support since last week this same match up had resulted in a rout. The details of that fight was previously reported on here. Unfortunately for it, but to the delight of the Goons, it was now trapped on field virtually alone. This forced the Ferox fleet to warp back in to try and save it, but they no longer had a logistics wing to properly support them other than the lone Minokawa.
Round Two
There was a bloody brawl as the Imperium’s canes tore through the Slyce fleet. With only a single fax, the Ferox fleet was unable to catch reps and ships were blown away rapidly while only inflicting minimal damage. They quickly realized the fight was going down hill and began pulling distance, slowly being picked off. The Goon fleet was relentless though, clearing the field of almost every other ship before returning it’s focus to the helpless Minokawa.
Aftermath
At this point it was only a matter of grinding down the shields of the fax to earn that juicy killmail. There were a few valiant attempts by some bombers to try and save the fax, but ultimately it ended in an explosion. The Imperium clearly won the battle this day. In total, between the freighter and the fight, Goons destroyed around 11 bil while only losing around 2.7 bil. Another great Friday night fight.
Zaphod Beedlebrox recorded this video of the fight.
