On September 2 at midnight (Eve time), something unusual happened in high-sec, which went almost unnoticed by everyone in Eve.
Two nullsec alliances turned up to assist the owners of a high-sec citadel in the final defense timer. The citadel had been attacked by Vendetta Mercenary Group (VMG) for the first two timers, then other high sec merc groups (PIRAT and Public Enemy) had joined for the final timer, along with a host of small corps hoping to get in on a Fortizar killmail.
The citadel was one of the Fortizars surrounding Jita, in New Caldari, owned by Mogul Financial
The first timer had not been defended, so, the second timer was approaching, at 0:00 on August 27, and it looked like VMG would have a free shooting opportunity again
Then something unusual happened:
Unfortunately, due to the way high-sec war mechanics work, the offer was not accepted in time for the allies to be active when the timer hit, (there is a 4 hour delay after assistance is accepted before you can take part in the war), so the second timer also went undefended. This meant all the citadel services went offline, and it went into a five-day reinforced mode before the final timer, at midnight, September 2.
On August 26, PIRAT also declared war on Mogul Financial
Two days later, another offer came in:
The final large group to join the wars was Public-Enemy who declared war on Mogul Financial, with the war going active on August 29.
PL and TISHU also joined all of these wars as allies, late on September 1.
It was unsure whether PL or TISHU would even turn up to defend, as they are not known for their highsec activity, and PL notoriously has the ticker of “-10”. Late on August 31, a one-man corp joined the war, with the war going active 3 hours before the timer.
This further raised concerns, as, due to high-sec war mechanics, no allies could join this war, and, using the shell corporation tactic, it would have been possible for VMG, PIRAT, Public-Enemy, or any of the other wardeccers to either drop alts into the corp just as the timer went live, or corp hop over there themselves.
This would effectively have given them a way to shoot at the citadel while being safe from any allies who came to assist. The downside of moving their merc corp characters would have been that they would have been unable to rejoin their original corp for 7 days, but, this would be of no concern for alt characters. They could of course, have put the shell corp into the main alliance, which incurs only a 24h delay.
As the timer approached, tensions grew. Would anyone come to assist, or would they be left alone?
The timer began its 15-minute countdown to full repair, and there were no war targets in the system. Sources in Jita reported an influx of approximately 60 PL and TISHU into the system, perhaps to stock up on ships for defense, perhaps just on a rare outing to breathe the air in highsec for a change.
The timer finished, and the citadel stood fully repaired without a shot being fired. Not a single merc entered the system.
It is somewhat strange that the three main merc corps in highsec did not arrive at all. Even with PL next door, there are no cynos, bubbles or supers in highsec, so, the combined forces of the merc corps could have made for a somewhat decent fight, whoever came out victorious, and PL have far more to lose out of the two sides. If they lose to highsec mercs, they would be called out for being unable to win without their supers.
PL’s “ -10 “ ticker seems somewhat inappropriate now, given that even Grath Telkin and Ron Mexxico are below -2.
PL have dominated recent fights in NS and LS, and this excursion to HS indicates they are willing to branch out into an area they have largely left to its own devices until now. What this means for HS in the near future is uncertain. Sources close to PL have reported a rise in purchases of subcap ships. The purpose of this is as yet unknown, but, their recent appearance in HS cannot be ignored.
PL were also busy last night in other regions of space, taking down a Nyx they had been hunting for a while, and engaging in a sub-cap brawl with Darkness and friends.
