EVE has always been player driven which leads to some really epic plots and stories. One such event unfolded over the last week in a C4 class wormhole and it started with a single unrelated kill...

Members of Heaven’s Angels moved into their new home just recently. With a few citadels in place they just started to feel comfy in their own corner of space. Little did they know that the events that are about to unfold will turn into a huge brawl with over 350 pilots involved in a short time over a single week. To describe the fights and the lead-up to the main Fortizar brawl, we bring you the after action report written by Sir Bastien, one of the main [HVEN] FCs:

Saturday, 21.11.2020.

Just a normal afternoon in the wormhole when a new signature popped up and it was a C2 that opened into us. We poked around and noticed a small gang fight on the High Sec hole, so we formed up a group to go see if we could third party. After chasing everyone out into Hi-Sec, we hung around for a bit with a HIC on the Hi-Sec to see if we could get a fight. Since it was connected to our home hole, we brought a roller in to close other holes to control access either back from Hi-Sec or from the stations which had a few docked-up in. Scouts called out a Proteus undock and one of our highly skilled pilots sat on the edge of the bubble from their station warp-to and decloaked him.

Little did we know, this would start a turn of events that would escalate to epic proportions. We next noticed a Tempest undock and expected them to start rolling home connection. I convoed the pilot asking if they were going to form and assured them that we were here strictly for a small fight and were trying to 3rd party on their previous fight on the Hi Sec. With no response, we pulled the fleet home and assisted with rolling. We advised the group that they could bring their Tempest home and we could go on with our day. A Helios jumped in and cloaked just as the hole was closing and Tempest exited via a C3 Static. We rolled the holes and received a message in local from the Helios pilot “Night night”.

Wednesday, 25.11.2020.

We noticed a Small POS was dropped by the Proteus pilot’s corp during Russian Time Zone. We knew something was going to go down. We kept eyes and tried to gauge the enemy's force as this was coming up on United States Holiday Thanksgiving.

Thursday, 26.11.2020.

The next morning/afternoon depending on what part of the world you’re from, the enemy dropped a Raitaru on the grid of our Fortizar and then proceeded to ref our structures. We decided to take this fight on the Fortizar in a very hurried fashion. While pinging and slapping pilots into ships, we engaged in a fight we should have sat out. With lack of organization and lots of folks multiboxing, we got crushed (battle report). 

The night of Thanksgiving, the US Time Zone bros said goodbye to their families and let them know they would hopefully be home soon and to save some Turkey. In the deep of night for the Russian time Zone, USTZ reffed the small POS and got supplies prepared for a proper fight.

Friday, 27.11.2020.

We knew that if the Raitaru Anchored, we would have some serious problems to deal with. We called some friends and asked if they wanted to jump in some ships we had lying around and help remove a Raitaru from the hole. We leveraged Cruise Typhoons with ECM support and spearfishers to help handle their Logistics. In a cataclysmic hole, Logi is very powerful and needs to be dealt with before any real DPS can be expected to succeed. In a nail-biting fight, we destroyed the Raitaru with only 20 seconds left on the anchoring timer. While the cruise typhoons didn’t have the greatest DPS, the ECM and spearfishing were very effective to keep their Logi away. We defended our structure timers while at the same time destroying their anchoring Raitaru and reinforced POS (battle report).

During the lull between EU and US time zones, a new Small POS was dropped… And our Structures Reffed again… Ok, this is getting serious. Why are we being evicted? For a Proteus kill?

Knowing their duty, US Time Zone as well as some very tired and dedicated EU bros reffed their new POS and continued to prepare and restock for the next fight sure to come. The small POS was destroyed the next day and the enemy rebutted with a Large POS dropped just before the next major engagement.

Saturday, 28.11.2020.

We formed up for the initial Astrahus timer and were able to keep the attackers at bay. The Fortizar they pushed hard on. As we engaged with similar tactics from the previous fights, a flock of TEST Cerberus landed on grid and started tearing our spearfishing fleet apart. This was not expected and allowed their logistics to provide repairs in a somewhat more consistent manner. Losses were experienced on both sides and the Fortizar was managed to be reinforced to hull with little timer left. This was a fun fight… Athanor was not contested and everyone regrouped. Fortizar Hull timer was in a little less than 2 days (battle report).

Battle wearied and separated from their families, the pilots of Heaven’s Angels once again reinforced a POS, albeit a large one this time. This action was met with two Astrahaus being dropped. Could this really be over 1 proteus kill???

We decided that we needed to refit the Typhoons to Torpedos as the new buff came out and would pretty much double our DPS. Much more preparation happened as neither side decided that 24 hour hole control was a fun way to play a game. :) Knowing this was for the Hull Timer, we asked for help anywhere we could get it. At the end of the day, we’re a newbro corporation!

Monday, 30.11.2020

As we prepared and started formup, (Monday morning for USTZ bros) we decided not to contest Astrahaus timers as even with Bombers, the enemies were probing and bringing in small tackle. We would take the fight on the Fortizar. As we were organizing and coordinating with other FC’s, we got some dire news. Parabellum and Mgla. had just splashed the C3 hole in a 40-man Absolution fleet. (my stomach sank) My FC capabilities consist of maybe 10-15 man fleets. This was getting ridiculous. We made it this far, we were taking this fight!

We undocked on the timer with 1 Ninazu we had saved for Hull timer. We had only recently moved into this hole at the end of the day. Enemy fleet engaged on the backside of the Fortizar. We moved to a ping and warped in to take the fight at 20km to allow our Leshaks and Torp Phoons to do most damage. The rest is kind of a blur to be honest. We primaried a couple Leshaks and a late landing Smartbombing Barghast to try and handle our missiles (Smartbombs destroy missiles), but the Absolution fleet was alpahing our Guardians. Called for the Ninazu to come to grid and go into Triage knowing this was certain death. We couldn’t hold. Both allied FC’s were headshotted early in the fight and anchoring and target calling fell apart about 5-10 minutes in. Our small ships didn't stand a chance against Absolutions and Dreks. We were sorely outgunned. The Fortizar was lost (battle report).

On a personal note, this was one of the funnest times I’ve had in Eve. Reconnecting with old friends and showing newbros what larger fleet battles (in wormholes anyways) can look like. I tip my hat and salute the battle hardened Elite wormhole corps that were on both sides of the fight. It was an honor and am super grateful to have learned so much from the guys who are as comfortable as I am where local doesn’t exist and D-Scan is your key of choice :) I am also grateful for all the FC’s and leaders that probably worked pretty hard on this fight to get people access to some pretty epic content. You guys are what makes Eve fun.

Heaven’s Angels is a newbro friendly wormhole corporation that strives to keep J-Space alive and filled with content. Our goal is to teach folks about living in wormholes and give Good Fights. We appreciate this community and love Eve no matter how mean she can be. :)