What happened?
At 2046 EVE on October 21, a Provibloc fleet headed by Jin’taan warped into contact with a routine PL fleet led by Killah Bee in the system of 3D-CQU. The two sides exchanged volleys for a few minutes, before Jin ordered his thirty dreadnoughts siege green—PL responded, and soon the Provibloc forces started being destroyed. This was all according to plan for PL, and for a little while it seemed like it would be another normal Provi farming expedition.
However, this was not to the case – because PL had walked into a trap. Even as Jin warped his fleet into contact, ProGodLegend was flash-forming a TEST capital fleet in their staging. It was two jumps out from the battle, and so it took them approximately 7 minutes to arrive. In that time, Provibloc suffered tremendous casualties.
But they held long enough for TEST to take the field.
From there, the action swiftly took a turn for the worse for PL, as more TEST ships jumped onto the field. The first wave of capitals; mostly dreadnoughts – was swiftly reinforced by elements of the TEST super fleet, including six Titans.
Total losses stand at 195.2bn ISK for PL, including 46 Dreadnoughts and 11 FAXes, whilst total losses for the combined TEST/Provi fleet stand at 89.6bn ISK, including 28 Dreadnoughts.
Order of Battle
Pandemic Legion
- A 57-man dreadnought fleet, mainly consisting of Revelations with Apostle support
- A 129-man Machariel fleet
CVA
- A 30-man dreadnought fleet
- A 90-man Abaddon fleet
TEST
- A 30-man supercapital fleet, comprised of 6 titans and 24 supercarriers.
- A 128-man capital fleet, mainly carrier based.
Aftermath?
In the immediate aftermath, there was the standard reddit triumphalism – but, overall, the tone was amicable. Jin’taan has instructed all pilots to ‘remain humble in victory’, in the finest Amarr tradition, whilst Killah congratulated PGL on a well-played trap.
Possible Effects?
All sides maintain that the action was not a significant material defeat for PL – though expert analysis indicates that the size of their Provi deployment might be limited for the next week or two whilst they rebuild their cache, this should not seriously change the tempo of their Provi operations.
However, TEST has left a sizable force within one jump of Provi space, meaning that it is plausible for PL to be dropped on again if they operate a sizable capital fleet in the region. The impact of this shift in force disposition remains to be seen. Moreover, there are some rumours which suggest that drama has welled up within PL over the defeat due to the dent the battle gave to PL’s reputation. If these allegations are indeed true, then their impact remains to be seen.
Until then, this was the news at 2100 on October 21 in the 3D-CQU system.
