TENERIFIS - On Friday 22nd June 109, Band of Brothers (BoB) lost one of their Titan class vessels to a co-ordinated assault by Goonswarm and Red Alliance pilots in the 46DP-0 system.
The behemoth ship, named ‘Darwin's Contraption’ was set upon by numerous smaller ships, along with capital class vessels. Despite holding out initially, the damage provided by the dreadnought-class ships present was enough to breach the hull, ejecting the pilot, Shrike, and crippling the vessel beyond repair. The wreck was subsequently looted and extensively salvaged for components.
Fleet Commander and Goonswarm CEO Sesfan Qu'lah retold how his forces and those of his allies were able to trap Shrike and swiftly destroy the Titan: “She [Shrike] warped to a group I was leading on the 9-9 gate in 46DP system then doomsdayed and cloaked.”
The Doomsday Device (Often shortened to "D3" or "DDD") is an impressive high powered weapon that the Titan can emit in all directions, causing severe damage to ships caught in its wake. It is capable of completely destroying smaller ships in its blast radius, although it can be resisted by utilizing shield or armour modules.
In this instance, Sesfan Qu'lah and his forces were able to evade the worst of the blast by warping away from the gate, Shrike then activated a cloaking device to hide the Titan from sensors.
Sesfan continued his explanation: “One of my interceptor pilots then decloaked him 100km off the gate, and we had four interdictor bubbles down on her within a few seconds...we then cynoed in our capitals that were waiting and she died.” In conclusion Sesfan praised recent advances in interdictor technology that allow interdictor bubbles to prevent super-capital jump drives from operating within their radius.
Shrike countered that the loss was not a morale or financial blow to Band of Brothers, stating: "We have three more, and the ship was built to die, as all our ships are.” When pressed if their forces would still include super-capital class ships in front line engagements, she added: “We don't build ships to look at them; we build ships to use them.” The Titan pilot added that BoB forces were expecting an attack, but ran into some timing issues with a nearby Red Alliance operation to defend a reinforced star base. Band of Brothers were only fielding around 40 ships in the 46DP-0 system when the attack occurred, with numbers peaking at 250 during the battle.
With Darwin's Contraption destroyed, there have even been some pilots, and planet-bound citizens taking their credits to betting syndicates to place money on which of New Eden's elite group of Titan pilots will be next to lose their prize ships.
Shrike declined to make any final statement, instead stating "I'll keep those last words, people will have to find out themselves the hard way". Sesfan Qu'lah has called for the location to be host to a monument, presumably to mark their victory, although this would also serve as a memorial to those crew members who lost their lives serving on board Darwin's Contraption.