Syndicate Alliances Walk Political Tightrope
Y-W6GF, Syndicate - A battle over a Cry Havoc moon-mining tower in Syndicate, leading to massive capital casualties, also caused a complex political web that saw blues fighting on opposite sides and enemies who had recently engaged giving their all for the same objective.
Mistress Suffering of Cry Havoc explained it:
"Multiple groups who had been fighting with each other moments before ended up on the same side of the battle during the Y-W6GF engagement. Dara Cothram's [DACO] capital group was attacked by the same Pandemic Legion capital group that was used in this battle in attempt to gank a DACO mothership."
While Pandemic Legion were on their way to assist in the defence of the Cry Havoc tower, they were diverted by word of a neutral fleet of roughly 50 capitals sieging a tower in Cloud Ring. This turned out to be the Dara Cothrom fleet that would later be coming to help defend the Cry Havoc tower.
The Pandemic Legion fleet had taken time to mobilize from Delve and did not arrive until the enemy dreads were dropping out of siege mode and could potentially escape. Viper ShizzIe, the Pandemic Legion FC, described the engagement:
"Tackle failed pretty hard and the Nyx (humbleTHC) managed to cyno out, barely dipping into armor. Most other capitals managed to [escape] as well due to us having one interdictor as our only support, but we managed to bag 4 capitals before they [got out]."
Meanwhile, in Syndicate, Mistress Suffering was watching SOLAR FLEET and their allies massing forces to beseige the first Cry Havoc control tower to exit reinforced mode when she received a request for aid from the Dara Cothrom fleet she had invited to help her defence. While Dara Cothrom's fleet managed to escape with relatively light casualties, the engagement would negatively impact the fleet's ability to arrive in time. Mistress Suffering explained what happened next:
"[A] chat window popped open [from Viper ShizzIe]. 'Hi there, so we've got a bunch of sniper dreads that want to kill something. Got someone we can hotdrop?'"
"Cry Havoc maintains diplomatic ties to both groups and we juggled entry of the groups accordingly. First on the field was Pandemic Legion, then after they had departed, DACO came in to assist with the later portions of the battle. Unfortunately the fact that they were attacked delayed DACO's participation and probably lowered their numbers but we don't enforce our standings on people we work with. Pandemic Legion frequently (as in this case) don't set standings at all for ops, but simply do target calling based on alliance."
"Huzzah as well, has historically fought against Cry Havoc extensively in Syndicate, but we maintain a courteous relationship (we strive to do that with most foe who behave similarly), and as such they mentioned via a friend that they would also be interested in participating."
Pandemic Legion, too, found themselves in an awkward diplomatic spot. Viper ShizzIe laid it out:
"Our single support scout reported that a Solar Fleet gang was around and it was later confirmed that they were working with the other... alliances in the area and Triumvirate. This presented somewhat of a political challenge to us as we currently have positive standings to them. The decision was made to go in anyway, knowing it would be somewhat of a cluster[expletive deleted]."
This did not cause a diplomatic row, however. Pandemic Legion were there with a capital fleet, hunting for capitals, while SOLAR FLEET were flying a sub-capital support fleet for Triumvirate. and White Noise. The two forces simply never engaged each other while freely attacking each other's allies - an interesting example of how standings can work when driven only by common interests, without high feelings involved.
GalNet References
Interstellar Correspondents News:
Giant Capital Fleet Battle in Syndicate
Contemporary Accounts:
Syndicate (Mk2.) - General discussion of the battle
Total Capital Loss Tally
Mistress Suffering's Battle Report
Triumvirate. Battle Summary
Campaign Records:
Cry Havoc Battle Statistics
Pandemic Legion Battle Statistics
Dara Cothrom Battle Statistics
Penumbra Alliance Battle Statistics
White Noise Battle Statistics
Fremen Sietch (White Noise) Battle Statistics
SOLAR FLEET Battle Statistics
Triumvirate. Battle Statistics
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