30 December Incident
| 30 December Incident | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
 Vega |
 Imperial Nova | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 0 warship blocks lost | 8000 warship blocks lost | ||||||
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 status and ramifications of this event are presently unclear.
History
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 a fleet of four Vegan 500s, piloted by MaidPierce, Solesey, Sherbet_S, and the mercenary z4nityy. No substantial fighting occurred in this time (save for the inadvertent sinking of spectator AdelieXY by _Longy), as battlecruisers and 500s are both unable to substantively harm one another.
After some time, the Novans successfully disengaged from the Vegan 500s, and instead brought two corvettes to fight the Vegan fleet. Both corvettes were subsequently sunk in the ensuing 2v4 battle.
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 hold Novan battlecruisers down during the first segment of the fight.
Legacy
The political and military consequences of this event are as yet unclear. While Imperial Nova presently retains an in-game "ENEMY" status against Vega (spurred on by Sherbet_S setting "ENEMY" status against Nova first, in what was later revealed to be an unsanctioned move), MaidPierce stated repeatedly in Horizon's End global chat that "we arent declaring war", setting Vega's relation wish with Imperial Nova merely to "UNFRIENDLY". Imperial Nova has not yet delivered a diplomatic response.