Under the sponsorship of I N F A M O U S <GLORY>, the reformed Mercenary Coalition <MC> arrived in Curse at the beginning of December with a contract intent on ‘relieving The Initiative. <INIT.> of all assets in favour of their client’. Nestling into J7A system (transitory port for the recently departed GCLUB/Kadeshi), Mercenary Coalition began its blood work sieging The Initiative. towers in the region and performing low-intensity probing attacks.
0SHT-A / 2015-12-06 / 17:00
With growing hostility, Sunday, December 6, offered up a trio of event timers, the first of which went uncontested, allowing The Initiative. to leisurely defend its tower without incident. The subsequent timer of 17:00 EVE Standard Time in the system of 0SHT-A offered a more substantial contest, with the combined forces of I N F A M O U S and Mercenary Coalition arriving in system with a 92 pilot fleet comprised of Proteus, Legion and Loki strategic cruisers.
The Mercenary-Coalition-led assault swiftly warped in to face a 65 pilot Rattlesnake fleet from The Initiative. which had moments prior portalled into system and set up defensively on its tower with an accompanying Chimera.
Landing at 40km from The Initiative. Rattlesnakes, Mercenary Coalition drew first blood, taking down 2 Rattlesnakes and a handful of support as remote sensor damps from the Legions disrupted The Initiative.’s logistics wing. The Initiative. Chimera was ordered into Triage to compensate, while sub-capital logistics closed range to get under the ceiling of sensor damps.
For a brief interlude, the Mercenary Coalition position seemed assured, until the combined barrage of rapid heavy missiles and heavy drones plunged into the heart of the strategic cruiser formation. Unable to cope with the incoming damage, Mercenary Coalition strategic cruisers disintegrated before their logistics could react.
With fast target-switching, Mercenary Coalition were able to destroy a further two Rattlesnakes before attempting to pull range away from The Initiative. tackle. Recalling heavy drones, The Initiative. deployed sentries to volley the withdrawing strategic cruisers as they fled.
With the field clear, The Initiative. exchanged gf’s in local and began looting, before being taken by surprise as the Mercenary Coalition fleet warped back in at 30km range to kill a further Rattlesnake in exchange for the loss of 6 more strategic cruisers.
This last act brought the battle to a close, with Mercenary Coalition withdrawing to its staging system of J7A-UR while I N F A M O U S withdrew to F4R2-Q in Catch.
Over the course of the 30-minute engagement, The Initiative. lost 20 ships, including 5 Rattlesnakes, for a total of 2.82b ISK. Mercenary Coalition and I N F A M O U S lost 34 ships, including 17 strategic cruisers, totalling 13.67b ISK.
JWJ-P1 / 2015-12-06 / 20:30
Following the earlier fight in 0SHT-A, expectations were high for another engagement over the last timer of the day in JWJ-P1 as The Initiative. prepared to defend its tower from Mercenary Coalition and I N F A M O U S, whose respective fleet numbers climbed to 110 and 45 respectively.
Forces from The Initiative. sat patiently in their staging waiting for movement from hostiles. Curiously, I N F A M O U S did not undock to move towards Curse. Mercenary Coalition numbers did not drop as the timer exit came and passed, signaling there was still intent to engage.
Minutes passed before Mercenary Coalition undocked in a reduced-in-number Ishtar fleet and warped towards the JWJ-P1 stargate, leaving tens of pilots docked in J7A-UR. The Initiative. scouts had previously observed Mercenary Coalition capitals moving in to Curse, and prepared escalation wings of INIT.’s own capitals in response for what looked like a pre-planned bait trap.
The Initiative. intelligence reports confirmed Northern Coalition. <NC> was airborne with a 90 pilot Ishtar fleet, although no other significant threats were apparent in the region. Despite the numbers disadvantage, The Initiative. fleet elected to take the fight regardless and deal with the escalation as it unfolded. If anything, it would be a bloody but fun contest.
Undocking a 97 pilot fleet including 39 Rattlesnakes, The Initiative. portalled into JWJ and warped into position on its tower, whilst Mercenary Coalition withdrew to a safe observation point on grid and waited.
With the scene set and the impending escalation about to unfold, The Initiative. pilots consumed assorted boosters and primed cruise missiles before the Mercenary Coalition fleet warped in, dropping warp disruption probes and fresh sets of sentry drones. Responding in turn, The Initiative. Rattlesnakes deployed their own sentries and opened fire on Mercenary Coalition in parallel with cruise and sentry volleys ripping through the Ishtars two-abreast.
As casualties mounted, Mercenary Coalition deployed 3 Moros dreadnoughts to immediately target The Initiative. triage Chimeras. To counter, The Initiative. undocked and jumped its first Dreadnought wing into the field to neutralize the Moros threat as pressure mounted on its Triage. On cue, remaining Mercenary Coalition forces undocked and began streaming interdictors into system to seal the escalation for Northern Coalition reinforcements confirmed just a few jumps out of JWJ-P1.
Within the space of 6 minutes, the bulk of Mercenary Coalition forces had been destroyed with no losses for The Initiative. although its Triage had soaked up pressure from the now-destroyed Moros attack. There was no time for consolidation however, as waves of interdictors landed to pin down The Initiative. Dreadnoughts were instantly dispatched within moments of the interdiction spheres’ launch.
Flooding into system, the 113 pilot Northern Coalition armour Ishtar fleet joined the fray, while The Initiative. worked to clear all tackle from its capitals. Deploying sentries and applying remote sensor dampeners, Northern Coalition put The Initiative. under immediate pressure, destroying 5 Rattlesnakes before switching to focus on their Triage Chimeras.
The Initiative. continued to clear tackle, alternating to dispatch accessible soft targets whilst in parallel refitting signal amplifiers and sensor boosters to respond to the mass electronic warfare attack which had shut down the majority of Rattlesnake pilots.
As the 46th Mercenary Coalition / Northern Coalition interdictor exploded, The Initiative. Dreadnoughts extracted, save for a lone Naglfar which was tackled at range met its fate along with the first pair of Triage Chimeras (quickly supplemented by a second set).
With two new Triage Chimeras on the field labouring to soak up damage and decoy-rep-coast, The Initiative. worked hard to stabilise its position through refitting, repositioning and pruning out the hostile drone cloud before starting to focus on the Northern Coalition Ishtars.
At this stage, 2 additional fleets entered system – a Spectre Phantasm fleet consisting of approximately 100 pilots, and a Providence Bloc Cerberus fleet of approximately 85 pilots. Their intent was soon confirmed when warping in on The Initiative. fleet at close range in support of Mercenary Coalition and Northern Coalition.
Against the overwhelming force of some 300 hostile pilots, The Initiative. elected to withdraw into its stricken tower, leaving their remaining Chimeras to their fate.
After an hour and a quarter of intense combat, Mercenary Coalition, Northern Coalition, Spectre and Providence forces withdrew from system, leaving The Initiative. to complete repairs and extract back to its own staging of G-0Q86.
Over the course of the engagement, The Initiative. lost 40 ships, including 8 Rattlesnakes, 4 Chimeras and 1 Naglfar for a total of 20.52b ISK. Mercenary Coalition, Northern Coalition, Spectre and Providence Bloc lost 159 ships, including 3 Dreadnoughts, 24 Ishtars and 46 Interdictors for a total of 22.1b ISK.
Details of the Mercenary Coalition contract and future commitment to engage The Initiative. in conjunction with I N F A M O U S remain unknown.
Editor’s Note: This submission comes from Sister Bliss of the Initiative, FC for both of the fights in question.
This article originally appeared on TheMittani.com, written by Sister Bliss.
