Summary by an Honorable Third Party member :
U’K And CVA are some of the oldest alliances in the game. The Station in 9uY has historical and personal significance to U’K, and they launch a campaign to take the Unity Station from CVA with about 20 Pilots and a dream. And win.
Brothers, Sisters, Free People of New Eden,
Today marks the end of a long journey. It started months ago with a dream: A monument for our beloved alliance. To honour those that came before us and those that are with us to this very day. A tribute to their fortitude and their willpower.
Twelve years after building it, Unity Station would be ours again in Providence.
As time went by our hope grew that we could make that dream come true. Members donated materials and funds or helped with transports. Our alliance worked hand in hand to reach a common goal.
We fought for our dream and at times it seemed like it was all in vain. We faced overwhelming enemy fleets and had to retreat more then once. But we didn´t break. We didn´t give in to despair and frustration.
Some say that alliances go to faction warfare to die : what about the alliance who saw the birth of faction warfare, was here even before faction warfare ?
We pulled together. We fought when and wherever we could inflict damage and evaded their counterstrikes. We fought the Matari way.
It was this joined effort that made Ushra‘Khan exist in the battlefield among the local powers. It was our stubbornness that showed the groups that outnumbered and outgunned us that we could still fight, that our resolve wasn’t fake.
Flying fewer and cheaper than our opponents, almost each time we still managed to inflict more damage than we received before retreating.
It was this determination that opened up new channels of communication and appealed to the honour of some.
We therefore salute their honour : those who fought with us, those who fought against us on equal ground but also those who could have crushed us undocking their capitals but chose not to.
For us, this station wasn’t a pile of isk or even a brand new faction citadel. It was a memory of why we are an alliance, of how we came to be what we are.
In an ever changing battlefield, temporary possessions are just smoke and mirrors. Only remain the deeds and feats. No matter the odds, our alliance fought years ago for this station, we couldn’t do otherwise a decade later.
While elsewhere the past disappears behind the necessities of the present, History won’t be forgotten in 9UY4-H : our red fist will be always flying.
Right now our raised standard is facing CVA’s own standard as they should be, as freedom and slavery in a never ending fight.
After campaign report :
This testimony is far from perfect, so much happened and so many entities were involved that sometimes approximations can happen. I trust the readers to notice the errors and the protagonists to give their own version of those battles to complement this one. As an alliance, we wrote History and History never has enough witnesses.
The start of the campaign can be found here :
Our forces :
During this campaign, we mainly arrayed the following types of fleets :
The first and main one was made of Caracals for our veterans and Talwars for our fresh recruits. The fits were the following :
Caracal : Caracal | Khaprice | Killmail | zKillboard
Talwar : Talwar | Nektor Davilius | Killmail | zKillboard
We also used Harpies :
Harpy : Harpy | Ada Kilndown | Killmail | zKillboard
The commonly seen Claws’ fleet :
Claw : Claw | Harkon Thorson | Killmail | zKillboard
And our trademark Hounds :
Hound : Hound | R Dan | Killmail | zKillboard
As you can see, we didn’t fly only Minmatar. Of course we prefer to fly our tribes’ ships but we are not against using our Gallente allies’ ships or even our enemies’ own ship against them.
Battle report being what they are, here are the whole registers of Ushra’Khan in providence :
The 14th : the beginning and before
The weeks before, the alliance members received transmissions from the leadership. Clues were given but the operation was still confidential.
During this time, a huge effort was made to prepare our staging. Those preparations, vast for an alliance of our size, occurred almost without incident.
The 21th : The arrival
On the 21th, we undock from our bases in low-sec. Twenty-five capsuleers crossed the Amarr empire space to reach the unknown of null sec. We arrived at our staging citadel without trouble.
Those same capsuleers then bring back their childhood memories by discovering that it’s possible to do bubbles in null-sec.
The 23th : First Blood
We engage for the first time : Brave, Test and Requiem Eternal at the same time in YWS0-Z. We fight to the bitter end and hold our own : even sinking, our ships keep firing. Outnumbered five to one, our Osprey Navy Issue all fought to the bitter end, each of them accompanied by an enemy of similar value.
If the battle is finished in YWS0-Z, the war continues in 4B-NQN. Again hugely outnumbered, we still give as good as we get. The situation starts to get even more complicated when PL jumps into the system while the last of our harpy is going down and our pods exploding.
https://br.inyour.space/?s=3706&b=8095380&e=90&t=jvb
This time our nineteen pilots flew their Talwars and their Harpies to the last one, making this battle a draw against a far more superior enemy.
But the night is still young and our legacy is old :
Again versus Test, Brave and Requiem. But this time, the numbers are evenly matched. We loose a lot of cheap ships but their shiny ships go down too, making it a fair exchange.
Some small skirmishes also happen in the nearby systems : KBP7-G, XHQ-7V and of course 9UY4-H.
The 24th : Entosis, what’s that ?
We undock with entosis modules and the heroes we need to operate them. The pilots listen carefully the mission briefing : “warriors : think of it as a plex, it’s the same except that here we have to lock the i-Hub equivalent with a module useless in pvp”.
First battle occurred in 4B-NQN when a Brave/Test/Boogeyman/Warped Intentions/Requiem Eternal/Drones Walkers puts an end to the entosis effort. On the way back, we nonetheless found a lone Broadsword at the gate.
https://br.inyour.space/?s=3706&b=8096820&e=90&t=sf
The fight continues in 9UY4-H but let’s be honest here : we didn’t get a shot back before dying. Our eleven versus their seventy died in vain, not even killing one of their Jackdaws.
https://br.inyour.space/?s=3707&b=8096940&e=90&t=rvvb
We almost conquered Unity Station this evening, reaching 68% in the conquest of the station.
The 25th : The old guard dies but doesn’t surrender
Undocking our hurricanes versus the Cynabals of Test and their superior numbers proved to be our unfortune.
Battle reports are not reliable for this day since several fights happened in the same places but as for this specific skirmish, our alliance lost all the fielded Hurricanes and didn’t score a single kill.
https://zkillboard.com/region/10000047/alliance/1966049571/page/16/
The 26th : When the wolves meet the hounds
The first fight of the day ends up pretty even ( we were only outnumbered two to one) between our Caracals and their Nagas :
And the second round in 4B-NQN. Still outnumbered four to one, our fleet almost didn’t exchange any fire.
https://br.inyour.space/?s=3706&b=8099700&e=90&t=rvKvf
But by now the battlelust now rages in our veins and find its path in YWS0-Z at 20:30. Outnumbered, our fifteen pilots nonetheless, and once again, fight with all they have against the seventy enemy pilots and only loosing slightly against their Jackdaws ( 311m lost vs 245m killed).
https://br.inyour.space/?s=3705&b=8099760&e=90&t=rvuvb
Back to our birthplace, our Claws and Caracals fight against the superior numbers of the enemy fleet :
https://br.inyour.space/?s=3707&b=8099760&e=90&t=fvbvfb
No clear victors in this day : all fights ended in draws, neither side suffering heavy losses.
The 27th : Against all, against all odds
Hostilities start at 18:00 in 4B-NQN. Outnumbered thirteen to forty, we nonetheless inflict one billion of damage, destroying eleven ship while only loosing only nine ships worth the fifth of the damage we dealt.
https://br.inyour.space/?s=3706&b=8101080&e=90&t=rv
The spirits were pleased by this battle and those deeds.
Our Ospreys and our Caracals meet again the Jackdaws of Brave in our birthplace. Our fifteen loose twenty-four ships against their forty, the latter losing only five hulls. Duck tape and rust are cheap but it’s still our loss ( 200m killed vs 300m killed).
https://br.inyour.space/?s=3707&b=8101140&e=90&t=rb
The final battle didn’t happen. Their 130+ fleet appeared in the system and except a token fight, we just recognized that our watch was ended for this night. This situation would repeat itself soon.
https://br.inyour.space/?s=3707&b=8101200&e=90&t=vrvvbb
The 28th : Animal Farm. A Null Sec Story
If you followed us until here, you will know by now that we were fighting the following alliances : Test, Brave, CVA, Boogeyman, Warped Intentions, Requiem Eternal, Apocalypse Now, Drones Walkers and Sev3rance.
On our side, only Honorable Third Party fought with us those uphill battles. Our thanks to them for joining without fear our campaign.
But one guest was still missing the party and came this day to say hello : Goons.
We then added the Bees to the Dinos in two skirmishes in our birthplace and in 4B-NQN :
https://br.inyour.space/?s=3706&b=8102640&e=90&t=rv
https://br.inyour.space/?s=3707&b=8102640&e=90&t=fvf
Always outnumbered, always outgunned, never fearful. Once again we hold our own, killing more than dying, our rusty ships blasting their shiny ships.
Besides those two small skirmishes, the day was pretty quiet.
The 29th : Old Feud and Lost Hope
The day started early at 3:00 by a lost defence of a fortizar belonging to Honorable Third Party. Hundreds of capsuleers fought in Y-MPW. The Citadel went down at 3:30.
War raged again from 18:00 in H6-CX8 and then at 19:00 in our birth place, both time against Test. It’s our shame that we suffered such losses in front of our station, our predecessors watching us.
We needed retribution, honour demanded it. We avenged this insult to our ancestors thanks to our old enemies : CVA. YWSO-Z saw our rightful wrath against the slavers :
The forces of freedom suffered no losses while making the Amarr pay for the horrors they imposed on our brethren. But we outnumbered them so honour demanded more battles.
Very small skirmishes happen in 4B-NQN and 49GC-R against Apocalypse Now but we outnumber them so the spirits are not pleased even in victory : to conquer without risk is to triumph without glory.
https://br.inyour.space/?s=3706&b=8104080&e=90&t=e
More pleasant to ours eyes, we see again the golden ships of CVA in 9-F0B2. Once again we make our ancestors proud : liberty won’t bow down before oppression.
Never twice, without thrice in 4B-NQN. Our Harpies face the Jackdaws of CVA. Outnumbering them twenty-six to seventeen, we inflict 324m of damage while only losing one interceptor worth 40m.
But for all the importance of those killmarks, CVA wasn’t the only power in play : one can win battles but looses the day.
Unity Station was at stake and a few trophies could never compensate for the loss of our home. The real battle of the day would begin : a battle that we lost.
A fleet of eighty entered in 4B-NQN to face our seventeen in an one sided slaughter. We fought to the last one, no coward abandoned his comrades.
We came back to our birthplace, facing this time one hundred ships including Nidhoggur carriers and one Wyvern super carrier. Death being better than dishonour, we nonetheless undocked to a certain doom.
The system then had a spike at 130+, their whole fleet camping our staging citadel. With an heavy heart, we jumped to our clones in low-sec.
The U’K flag wouldn’t fly this day on Unity Station.
The 30th : Guerrilla
Fortitude can make up for numbers until a certain point in those frontal battles. We needed to fight another way : our way.
Order was made to undock and entosis every station we could. Hounds would undock and roam. If our opponents found strength in their numbers, we would make this strength irrelevant. Provi would burn and its station become vulnerable just before their decommissioning, publicly ripe for the picking.
Parallel to this guerrilla effort, battles kept occurring to defend our right to be here.
The morning sun of our birthplace shed his light on our defeat. Outnumbered, members of Brave nonetheless managed to win the first blood of the day : our warriors’ salute to them.
While in low-sec dusk was setting on Starkman, fleets arrived in null-sec. Outnumbered thirteen to forty, we suffered a close defeat in H-GKI6, dying to the last one but wounding our opponent.
Less outnumbered, only twelve to twenty-three, we then fought with courage in U-HYMT, losing more ships but inflicting more damage to their wallet.
The rest of the evening was spent in dogfights and duels ( o/ and good fight Kyle Saltz for accepting our duel, it was an honour to fight you).
The last fight of the day happened in our birthplace against Brave. Outnumbered six to thirty-one, those glorious six died bringing with them in death as much value in trophies that they lost.
In the meanwhile in Shintaht ( finally a null-sec system which has a real name), a small skirmish also occurred against Brave with zero losses on our side :
The 31th : The pen & the sword
Diplomatic channels being opened, order was given to cease all hostile activities and concentrate on the low-sec warzone.
Our fight hasn’t gone unnoticed and people with honour agreed to let us to our private war with CVA for our shared history, for the final flag on the monument to come. Our thoughts and respects go to the one who reached to us to talk with an open mind.
The night was then spent in small dogfights and duels. Again our salutes to those who fought with us for the sake of fighting and holding one’s flag.
The 1st : A knife in a gunfight
Another quiet day on the null-sec front. The only fight being our eight people small gang going against a CVA/TEST fleet three times their number, cruisers and destroyers vs carriers and one super-carrier.
The 2nd : A New Hope
Another day which we marked proudly on our hulls. The main battle will be remembered : our warriors fought against carriers and obtained the upper hand, destroying 1,8 billion while only loosing half a billion.
The rest of day was spent undocking cloaked and using surprise against superior firepower.
Outnumbered eleven to fifty-five, our hounds made their Feroxes and Jackdaws remember that safety in numbers can only be an illusion.
This day was also the day of the entosis of Unity Station then becoming a Freeport. For the first time in a decade, Ushra‘Khan forces could undock from Unity Station : once again, we are home.
The 3rd : Old Feud
Small skirmishes and an affront : CVA plants his flag on top of the TCU. Our bombers can’t prevent the deed and now the CVA flag looks upon us. Weakened but not broken, CVA continues again its operation Deliverance.
The forces are preparing for the final battle of the morrow.
The 4th : We face History
The final battle, the last hope, the ultimate stand for our history. If we win, our flag will fly for all time in a monument, as the alliance who built the station but also the alliance which twelve years after mobilized all its pilots to null-sec, in a seemingly hopeless campaign to retake it.
If at the end of the day, another flag was flying, all would have been in vain : our weeks of continuous fighting but also the last decade which saw our alliance expelled from Providence, nearly die, come back in force once.
But history was on our side, despite the difficult hour, thirty-five of our pilots undocked in the early hours of the day.
Much to our regrets, CVA was nowhere to be seen for this historical moment, only their flag was watching us from the TCU.
Capsuleers from The Watchmen honoured us with a fight allowing us to raise our flag in the smoke and explosions of a battlefield : a fitting scene for our red fist.
On this day, the U’K flag faces the CVA’s flag.
And for the years to come, no matter who owns the system : whichever flag flies for a passing moment of sovereignty, it will be facing ours, flying not on top of material possessions but on top of History.
Good fight all and see you again in the battlefield
