Shiraz Merlot
Octavian Vanguard RAZOR Alliance
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Posted - 2007.06.25 09:23:00 -
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Edited by: Shiraz Merlot on 25/06/2007 09:23:39 TENERIFIS - On Friday 22nd June 109, the Band of Brothers alliance lost one of their titan-class vessels to a co-ordinated assault by Goonswarm and Red Alliance pilots in the 46DP-0 system.
The behemoth ship, named 'Darwin's Contraption', was besieged by numerous capital class vessels and their supporting fleet. Whilst initially holding fast, the damage caused by attacking Dreadnought-class ships eventually breached the enormous vesselÆs hull, ejecting the pilot, Shrike, and crippling the vast superstructure beyond hope of repair. The wreck of the Amarr-designed ship was subsequently looted and extensively salvaged for components.
Fleet Commander and Goonswarm CEO Sesfan Qu'lah told how his forces and those of his allies were able to trap Shrike and swiftly destroy the ship. "She [Shrike] warped to a group I was leading on the 9-9 gate in 46DP system then doomsdayed [sic] and cloaked," said Qu'lah from his command headquarters.
The doomsday device in question, known simply as "Judgement", is one of the most destructive weapon systems known to the cluster and lends the Avatar ship design its battle-turning reputation. This devastating superweapon floods the battlefield with EM radiation, causing colossal damage and utterly destroying smaller ships in the blistering eruption. Only specially-fitted battleships and capital vessels can hope to survive this feared blast, and many captains will leave the pitch of war rather than stand against it. However, the device is also a titanÆs AchillesÆ heel. Following activation, the gargantuation ship is so drained of power it cannot immediately leave the scene of battle, no matter what comes against it, until internal jump systems have been recalibrated.
During the engagement in Tenerifis, many of Qu'lahÆs forces evaded the blast from Shrike's Judgement weapon by warping away from the nearby stargate. The pilot then activated a cloaking device to hide her Avatar from sensors. QuÆlah then continues his explanation: "One of my interceptor pilots then decloaked her 100km off the gate, and we had four interdictor bubbles down on her within a few seconds. We then cynoÆd in our capitals that were waiting û and she died."
Qu'lah later praised recent advances in interdictor technology that allow warp disruption systems û known colloquially to pilots as "bubbles", to prevent super-capital jump drives from operating within their radius.
Shrike countered that the loss was neither a morale nor financial blow to Band of Brothers, stating: "We have three more, and the ship was built to die, as all our ships are." When pressed if their forces would still include super-capital class ships in front-line engagements, she added: "We don't build ships to look at them; we build ships to use them." The well-known pilot added that BoB forces were expecting an attack, but ran into logistic problems caused by a nearby Red Alliance operation defending a star base. Band of Brothers were able to field only 40 ships in the 46DP-0 system when the attack occurred, with forces reaching 250 captains as the battle raged about the doomed Avatar.
Shrike declined to make any longer statement, instead declaring "I'll keep those last words, people will have to find out themselves the hard way." Sesfan Qu'lah has called for the remains of the Avatar to be left where she fell, as a monument to the historic and bloody battle. And the brutal alliance wars seem set to continue. Within days of the destruction of DarwinÆs Contraption, many cynical, battle-hardened pod pilots of the cluster were rumoured to be wagering their kredits with gambling syndicates, betting on which of New Eden's elite group of titan pilots will be the next to lose their prized, cluster-famous ships.
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