Last night in EVE we formed to pop an enemy Raitaru that was anchoring. We were super excited as we undocked 5 jumps from our target to go hit it in its final anchoring vulnerability window. As we jumped the first gate our entire fleet was slaughtered by overwhelming firepower from a third party t3 cruiser fleet that cynoed in.
After killing us, they went on to kill the Raitaru. I don’t believe the t3 cruiser gang would have come to the area had we not formed.
It is a tactical loss but a strategic victory. You lost the tactical mission of your fleet killing the structure amd returning home intact. However, your strategic aim of killing the structure was a success.