49-U6U, Querious - GoonSwarm and their allies deployed a camp on KenZoku's sole remaining outpost last night. A joint force of pilots from Pandemic Legion, GoonSwarm, Morsus Mihi, Razor Alliance and KIA deployed 27 titans around the station in a show of force and gave a demonstration of the sheer power embodied in such a gang.
Querious has been the scene of heavy fighting since GoonSwarm launched their invasion of the region hot on the heels of their agent disbanding the official alliance registration of Band of Brothers. BoB (as they were known) reformed as KenZoku and managed to recapture some of their former space, but recently GoonSwarm and their allies have driven them back again. Presently, KenZoku hold sovereignty in five systems, with 49-U6U housing their only outpost.Yesterday, a heavy fleet from GoonSwarm and their allies finished putting the last of the sovereignty-claiming control towers in 49-U6U into reinforced mode and managed to destroy 4 towers and set up their own. Shadoo, a Pandemic Legion fleet commander, talked a little about their methodology:
"Without control towers it is difficult to maintain control during an assault in a [Province-sovereignty] cyno-jammed system such as 49-U6U for a long period of time. The staging towers also allowed us to bring in titans to reinforce our grip on the system."
With a firm grip on the system and no KenZoku forces currently offering opposition, the allies deployed a force composed solely of titans around the bubbled outpost. "The camp was a show of force, a show of strength if you will" Viper ShizzIe of Pandemic Legion explained. "Sitting 27 titans in a hostile [sovereignty 3] system 100km off of a station has no strategic value other than simply [saying] 'we can do this and you can't stop it.'"
Prior to this current conflict, more than a few titans deployed in a single battle was a rarity. With coalitions forming between long-standing and wealthy alliances, however, it has become possible to deploy gangs of the multi-billion isk vessels. To emphasise the potential power of such a fleet, Viper ShizzIe sacrificed a Thanatos-class carrier in a demonstration.
The titan fleet activated their doomsday devices in waves: Avatars followed by Erebuses, Leviathans then Ragnaroks. The Thanatos took over 400,000 damage before it exploded, and only 16 of the 27 doomsdays managed to register on it before it succumbed. It seems there is a playful rivalry in Pandemic Legion as Shadoo quipped about the destruction of Viper ShizzIe's Thanatos: "This is a personal achievement I will cherish."The titans themselves were unharmed, despite inflicting over a million damage to each other. Shadoo credited this at least in part to the careful structuring of the gang - placing experienced commanders equipped with appropriate warfare links at every level in the fleet - but nonetheless, it made a powerful statement about the ability of such a gang to defend and destroy in the right circumstances.
The Interstellar Correspondents will continue to follow developments in what some are speculating may be the last days of the Delve-Querious conflict, with further commentary from both sides in forthcoming updates.
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