As X1376 has already mentioned, IRC and ED are down south helping our allies, Goonfleet.
The reasons for why we have gone are many, but personally the fact they came to help us, and lost a titan, in our home system when we were seiged by RK/SMASH/Atlas has something to do with it.
Also the idea of AAA and BOB as neighbours doesn't appeal....
Moving our fleets down to join the battle took literally hours of travel (at least for sub-caps) and even for the caps required multiple jumps even to just reach the staging system. As an idea of the scope, the caps brought with them a jump freighter of fuel.
Once we had all arrived, refuelled, and had the required bio breaks; the time came to move out, and towards the final destination (0-w). Which involved jumping to a Goon jump bridge, via which we were to enter the system.
The sheer number of caps involved, necessitated that the bridge would have to be constantly refilled, but after a period we all arrived in system. With local standing at over 900 people in system the lag monster was present, and no doubt was expected to be a factor. The order to align came.... and we all dutifully aligned, the fleet of caps beautifully pointed in the same direction at full speed awaiting the order to warp.
Suddenly an IRC carrier reported that they had been emergency warped off due to the lag, and had found himself scanned down and tackled before they could warp back. The FC ordered the carriers to warp to him, in an attempt to keep him alive, while the Dreads would continue on to complete their mission to engage an enemy POS.
Upon arriving in my carrier to help save the tackled carrier, the situation appeared relatively benign, and I quickly locked the friendly carrier and applied my capital shield transfer.
Some time after the beginning of the rescue the lag began to pass, and I found myself subjected to a significant jamming attempt, and the size of the enemy fleet suddenly became apparent - 170+ ships...
Versus a significant BS fleet with a significant amount of ewar and dictors, with no hope of rescue; we simply had no chance.
One by one the carriers began to fall.
The FC apologised to us; that unfortunately we had to die, and that there was nothing the rest of the cap fleet could do, or indeed any of the support fleets either. There simply wasn't the assets available to stage a rescue (against that firepower).
When my turn came (2nd to last carrier) and I was primaried, the sheer amount of DPS was horrifying. My capital shield booster had no chance of standing up to it, and my tank collapsed like a butter sculpture in the middle of the desert.
- From my killmail alone there were 152 ships involved including:-
105 Battleships (the only T1 ships involved)
18 HACs
12 T2 Tackle (including 4 Interdictors)
8 e-war (including 7 Falcons alone)
3 Command ships
With the explosion, and subsequent popping of my pod, I found myself suddenly back in station.
The commiserations were quick to come, but the reality was that I simply didn't mind. The carrier had lasted a year, when in fact I had always expected to lose it within a couple of months.
I have always viewed every undocked ship as lost, so this was no exception.
Although I wasn't able to attend the following days fight, I was able to attend the one two days later, in a carrier loaned from my corp, and was back in the fight. Indeed a replacement carrier has already been obtained, and is only awaiting fitting before being ready to rejoin the fight next weekend.
War is fun
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