The 30 December Incident was a military engagement fought between the forces of Imperial Nova and the forces of Vega, the latter aided by Vask Authority mercenary z4nityy. The engagement is significant for having been the first large military battle to involve Vegan forces since the Battle of Asteri, and for setting in motion a diplomatic state of affairs between Vega and Imperial Nova which would ultimately culminate in the Vega-Nova War two months later.

History

30 December Incident
	; A /fleet broadcast to the Vegan fleet, instructing them to attack and kill the Novan forces.; Image credit Solesey.
Date	30 December 2024
Location	Regulus, Sirius
Result	Vega victory: Both novan ships sunk, station secured.
Vega Vask Authority	Imperial Nova
Strength
500 Gunship (MaidPierce) 500 Gunship (Solesey) 500 Gunship (z4nityy) 500 Gunship (Sherbet_S)	4k Corvette (_Longy) ; 4k Corvette (NovaManGood2110)
Casualties and losses
~50 warship blocks lost	8000 warship blocks lost

Prelude

ArtifactAlpha Controversy

On 28 December 2024, Sherbet_S of walkemdownand_kickintheydoors sieged the Novan siege station of ArtifactAlpha in Sirius. The following day, on 29 December, walkemdownand_kickintheydoors was disbanded (with Sherbet_S joining Hegemony), leaving ArtifactAlpha un-owned. Vega elected to capitalize on this opportunity, capturing the station on the evening of 29 December.

Imperial Nova, believing that the station was still rightfully theirs, planned on 30 December to re-take the station. Vega, however, became aware of this plan ahead of time, and prepared a substantial fleet to intercept the Novans and inhibit their siege attempt.

Conflict

30 December Incident

At the start of the ArtifactAlpha siege window, Imperial Nova attempted to field two battlecruisers (piloted by _Longy and NovaManGood2110, which were intercepted by two 500s, piloted by AssassinXX and the mercenary z4nityy. No substantial fighting occurred in this time (save for the inadvertent sinking of AdelieXY who rammed AssassinXX but was sunk by his ally _Longy who shot in an attempt to sink AssassinXX), as battlecruisers and 500s are both unable to substantively harm one another.

Novamangood2110's battlecruiser was able to deal major hull to z4nityy's gunship by unpiloting it at a nearby station clam, (baiting it into engagement range), repiloting, and volleying it with a full volley of Quad Turrets, instantly hulling the ship. However, it was able to retreat and z4nityy was able to pilot another gunship.

After some time, the Novans disengaged AssassinXX and z4nityy, and instead brought two corvettes to Sirius. After taking the first shot in violence against Vega, MaidPierce, Sherbet_S, Solesey, and z4nityy grouped together (AssassinXX opted to leave the battle due to connection issues.) and sunk both novan corvettes.

Vegan adoption of 500 block gunships

Learning from Ilios Alliance fleet strategy during the Ilios Alliance-Vask Authority War, Vega opted to use 500 block gunships to deny Novan battlecruisers from Sirius before the fight.

Legacy

The 30 December Incident was the first in a series of sporadic Siege Station battles fought between Imperial Nova and Vega over the following two months; in this timeframe, neither party formally declared war (with MaidPierce of Vega describing the situation as a "special military operation").

This state of affairs ultimately ended with the 7 March Vega-Nova Siege, after which point the Vega-Nova War broke out.