In the European Timezone of November 19, a Keepstar belonging to the Northern Coalition exited its anchoring period and became vulnerable to attack.
The Keepstar was located in H-5GUI, a system in Vale of the Silent on the regional border into Geminate. Its positioning and placement were largely to project influence into the region against ongoing campaigns by Goonswarm/Imperium, Test Alliance/Legacy, and various other smaller entities harassing and attacking Pandemic Horde, Geminate’s current residents.
Pandemic Horde is currently deployed to Branch, fighting alongside Black Legion to strike against GOTG in the heart of their territory. With their home no longer reinforced by the bulk of the alliance, PanFam saw fit to anchor this Keepstar to support in Horde’s absence.
As the Keepstar became vulnerable, Initiative arrived on field with ranged Cruise Ravens and Micro Jump Destroyers. Using their high mobility, the Ravens were able to keep the timer paused for a considerable duration, after which Imperium and Legacy were able to arrive on field and contest the PanFam fleets and support the damage posed against the structure. Though Imperium and Legacy had previously performed a mutual reset after the major Northern War in August lost momentum and concluded with GOTG’s surrender to Imperium and Fraternity’s surrender to Test Alliance, for this battle, they were once again Imperial Legacy.
The system quickly reached heavy Time Dilation, with PanFam fighters following after the Initiative Ravens and local spiking to over 2600 pilots. TiDi was reported at 10%, with occasional relief periods to upwards of 50% as fighters were pulled back.
During the height of the battle, an Imperium spy in the PanFam fleet was able to secure control of a squad, and fleetwarped a portion of the PanFam supercapitals into awaiting bubbles. While over a dozen supercapitals became trapped, Imperial Legacy forces jumped dreads into a nearby system and gated them onto the grid, where three titans and several supercarriers were downed as the Keepstar was destroyed.
Due to the system’s cynojammer in effect, Imperial Legacy were largely forced to fight without any capital assets against PanFam’s assembled supercapitals. PanFam losing the battle despite this major advantage presents a concerning view on the strength of the coalition.
The loss of the strategic Keepstar and the morale hit from the circumstances of the loss may not bode well for the future of Geminate and the coalitions surrounding it.
