According to a Lazerhawks pilot, the roaming gang spotted an Aeon Super Capital ship floating outside of a POS. Kadeshi didn’t know they had been spotted but recounted that a neutral had popped into the system for a few seconds. The Aeon cloaked and left system but the Lazerhawks were intrigued. When Kadeshi carriers were spotted floating nearby, Lazerhawks returned to their base and changed into the favored Ishtars – Heavy Assault Cruisers with high drone DPS. They also sent a message to Pandemic Legion, complete with wormhole instructions on how to get to the area. Pandemic Legion began to mobilize a medium sized force. The counter attack clock started ticking.
The Lazerhawks moved to make Kadeshi commit their forces. They brought in 2 ramming battleships on the (likely bait) carriers and the Kadeshi reacted by lighting a cynosural beacon and bridging in an impressive ten strong super capital fleet with tackle support. The Kadeshi, feeling safe deep in their own territory, began to easily destroy the intruders. However their progress was not fast enough and Pandemic Legion emerged through the wormhole path supplied by Lazerhawks. Kadeshi were sideswiped by their former ally, as they swept into the fight and tied the Kadeshi supercapital fleet down.
The Kadeshi fleet defended itself by attacking the PL ships that held them captive, but the Heavy Interdictor Cruisers were being repaired too fast to kill. PL and Lazerhawks went to work and started to destroy the Kadeshi’s only usable weapon systems – their fighters. The capital fleet was trapped but safe now that enemy capital ships could not jump in from far away staging systems or fit through wormholes. They would be indestructible as long as they stayed together and within repair range.
Pandemic Legion and Lazerhawk knew this too, so they began to work on separating them one at a time to bring them down. After a Lazerhawks pilot, Replika who managed to survive the initial attack, used his ramming battleship and was able to repeatedly smash into an Aeon, eventually bumping it 70 kilometers from the pack. Known for their massive armor hulls, the Aeon could withstand a lot of damage. There was still hope, if it lasted long enough.
Knowing they had limited time, The Kadeshi scrambled a subcapital Tengu fleet, and their ‘brolition’ mates, DARKNESS. also tried to lend a hand, to destroy the enemy tackle and save their Aeon. Unfortunately the Tengu fleet was outnumbered and dispatched by the joint PL and Lazerhawk forces. They watched as the massive Aeon was slowly crushed under a hail of drone damage.
Bolstered by the success PL and Lazerhawks followed up by ramming a second supercapital, a Nyx away from the pack. It was annihilated quickly due to it having too many energy modules and not enough defensive tank modules fitted. The pilot of the Nyx had prepared for a different scenario than the one that was unfolding.
Hours had passed and the Kadeshi, mired like giant elephants in a tar pit, were being picked apart and eaten by a pack of hyenas. They came to an uncomfortable conclusion and reluctantly sent an SOS to the HQ of Northern Coalition. (NCdot). Their allies’ juggernaut capital fleet was stationed within jump range. This was a tough decision for Kadeshi. First, for needing help in their own back yard, and second for complicating NCdot diplomacy. NCdot and Pandemic Legion are allies – they cannot fight each other.
NCdot responded quickly, fully appreciating how fast their ally Pandemic Legion could bring down a capital fleet in the past and knowing that, even in Phoebe Pandemic Legion was still a force to be reckoned with and even in this new world of slow travel, they could not be underestimated. NCdot assembled pilots for supercapitals and carriers for a rescue fleet.
Pandemic Legion and Lazerhawks were tearing down their third victim, another Nyx. Lazerhawks had prepared and set up Mobile Cynosural Inhibitors which prohibited NCdot supers from landing directly on the trapped Kadeshi supercapitals. Sue to the Mobile Cynosural Inhibitors, NCdot was forced to jump part of their fleet to a ping over 200 kilometers from the battle. PL put up warp disruption field bubbles to block the NCdot capitals from warping into repair range of the beleaguered Kadeshi force. No shots were fired at each other, but they were wrestling over the fate of the Kadeshi fleet.
Finally, NCdot maneuvered around the PL forces and broke through to the battlefield, landing as the Nyx was deeply damaged. Repair beams lit up from the huge NCdot fleet, making any further destruction impossible. The Nyx was saved, as were the other seven supercapitals. Even with saving most of the fleet The Kadeshi still lost over 90 Billion ISK.
The Kadeshi leadership got an earful from Vince Drakon, leader of NCdot.
Video of the fight from Lazerhawk point of view:
https://zkillboard.com/br/15213/
Kadeshi post battle assessment:
