Residents of Fountain would be forgiven for being surprised at the sight, as the Serpentis Corporation set forth. Intent on engaging the Band of Brothers (BoB) Alliance, the Serpents brought a fleet that consisted of several Vindicators and a Thanatos carrier to the Delve region, where BoB have been quite busy in various locales.
BoB were quick to respond against the attacking force which included elements of Celestial Apocalypse, Vertigo Coalition, and the Fountain Alliance. They met with the forces of Evolution, who have been guarding BoBs home territories in the last few days, as war along their many fronts continues.
After a few fierce engagements, and several lost battleships, Evolution were able to destroy the Serpentis carrier and scatter the enemy force. There is a free holoreel available of the fight here .
Reasons for such a move are not completely clear. Shrike, of Evolution, believes the attack to be a probing force. "They were poking to see our awareness." she said, "We saw no objective stated, the Serpentis commander seemed to have visited a chemical factory and was mostly giggling. I believe they are looking to get a reaction since we have more or less ignored their futile attempts to reclaim Fountain. Either that.. or the Grand Admiral really HAD visited a chemical plant before."
For Serpentis Grand Admiral Benton, the reasons are far from muddled. "Silly, this is our space! Mr. Sarpati wants us to start clearing out the bad people, okay? They were mean and kept blowing up our ships! Only silly people fight the corporation. We've got tons and tons of isk and lots and lots of ships, and Mr. Sarpati loves to show me the pretty explosions."
Questions still remain about Serpentis' choice of allies in this endeavour. While groups like VC, CELES, and FA have pledged support to Sarpati in these actions, none have very positive standings with them, and Serpentis vessels have long been 'engage on sight' for most of the groups involved. Several theories are now being debated among Fountain residents reguarding Serpentis' new choices of friends. "Well, I think Admiral Junsest has some kind of plan for that," said Admiral Benson, "He's been mentioning increasing our capital ship production, and he keeps ordering more of these new ships. He's also been talking to all these nice people from different alliances. I think he wants them to do something to someone else? If you're all extra nice, you can contact the Serpentis through the Serpentis-Military channel! Isn't that fun? It's where you can ask us all these hard questions and where we can talk to you if we need you! Okay?"
Reguardless of intentions, BoB forces insist they are ready for a repeat of this fight. "The next time we see a carrier, we'll be ready for it's firepower." said Shrike, "To the Serpentis.... you better come more heavily armed next time if you plan to stay alive. We eat fleets like that for lunch. Bring us a proper meal next time."
"We'd much rather have people buy our products and have a nice time with our pilots," responded Benton, "They're all really nice, and they like to have a good time!"