The holo opens on a scene of war. The location can be identified as East Hav, a mining settlement in the southern continental zone of Floseswin IV. Minmatar militia troops are conducting an assault on the entrance of a mine where Amarr naval forces have become entrenched. The visual comes from a set of Minmatar combat drones. Apart from being spliced together, the footage does not appear to have been altered.
The Minmatar troops are approaching the mouth of the mine. They are first greeted by defensive fire, staccato bursts that are placed with deadly precision yet betray that the Amarr are having to conserve their ammunition. With some difficulty, the Minmatar push forward, only to come upon set after set of resourceful booby traps. Here, the footage first begins to grow graphic as Minmatar soldiers are subjected to everything from grenades and IEDs to tripwires and hunting snares.
There is much hissing and swearing, mostly off camera.
ââ â â â â â â slavers. When the â â â â did they set this â â â â up?â someone demands.
âDuring the truce!â another voice answers. âWhile the civilians cleared out!â
ââ â â â it, thatâs gotta be it.â
The Minmatar soldiers finally reach the entrance of the mine, besting the traps but sustaining significant losses. The barricades set up there prove difficult and time-consuming to push through. Upon entering the cave, they encounter yet more traps. Even the mine itself becomes a weapon: minecarts laden with explosives or just weighed down to knock people over come barrelling down at inopportune moments, blasting devices bring rocks down around them, and everyday mining tools fly out of nowhere.
The shout comes too late: âItâs an ambush!â
Before the Minmatar have fully cleared the current round of traps, the Amarr infantrymen fall upon them. Most of the fighting is done in close combat: the Amarr wield knives, tools, the butts of their submachine guns, and even their own hands, feet, and heads against their Minmatar challengers. The footage is sometimes dim and blurred, but the Amarr can be seen to be covered in dirt and dust and blood, a fearsome spectacle to behold. They attack their enemies with zeal bordering on madness.
At the forefront of the battle is @Ekaterina_deSilvestris . She is just as soiled and disheveled as her troops. She appears to be wounded, through itâs not quite clear how. She still fights with fearless expertise, wielding her Naval cutlass with moves that seem almost dancelike in their gracefulness and preciseness. Yet her ferocity is a touch less than serene.
As the battle wears on, there are fewer angles of footage; the camera drones themselves are succumbing to damage. In the background captured by one of the last remaining drones, different parts of a mural on the mine wall can be seen. It appears to be a sketch of Empress Jamyl I.
When the final camera drone goes down, knocked out by a piece of debris, the fight is still too blurred to discern a winner, but the carnage strewn about marks it as a bloody, deadly brawl.
I have just this moment returned from Floseswin IV, with barely enough time to dress wounds and debrief. What is this footage? Where did this come from? Is Minmatar Operational Security so lax that anyone can simply steal their Camera Drone footage from a current conflict and post it for general consumption?
I admit, it is rather flattering that deSilvestris Household Naval Infantry should be the chosen subject, and I am sure my troops would agree. I am, however, rather intrigued as to the reason for this leak, assuming it is a leak. Doubtless, the Minmatar Ground Troops brought their devices along in order to have a propaganda victory in showing the demise of Amarrian forces, so I am very much sceptical that this has been released by that particular party.
I will, however, take this opportunity to say that the enemy fought well, and with Honour. There was no shame for them in this defeat, no shame at all. God was on our side these last days, and we shall be offering our Prayers and Thanks for Holy Mercy and Victory.
Aspirant Ekaterina Mariya deSilvestris, Captain, 1 Company, deSilvestris Household Naval Infantry.
Some Evacuation effort⌠I guess firmly reinforcing ground is the new helpless civilians? Hmm?
Perhaps you missed that the civilians were evacuated at my request, and not that of their supposed âliberatorsâ? You may also want to check with your allies who were actually there in East Hav, rather than at a safe distance, because I assure you we were not reinforced. Minmatar casualties in that settlement were inflicted by my troops, and mine alone. Although it was a little hard to tell from my position, as I understand it Minmatar ground troops withdrew before further Amarrian forces arrived. I would call that a wise tactical decision on their part, and commend their sense.
If you can present a reliable witness from the settlement who saw any reinforcements arrive to support my small force during the civilian evacuation and cease-fire, Iâll be happy to discuss the matter further.
Have to say, youâre not on Flos4, they are. Are you sure this qualifies as a âdefeatâ for their strategic objectives?
As for why this was âleakedâ⌠look to the source. Clearly, it was leaked to make people wonder why it was leaked, and so that Blackguard Intratech can later claim more or less anything she likes about why this was leaked, who leaked it, and so on, and that we were all fools to fall into her trap of thinking literally anything else, ever. Hell, I wouldnât doubt sheâd claim that the whole âcarbon-oxygen-based-cellular-respirationâ thing is probably another of her incredibly long-term ploys if she thought she could get away with it.
Pay her no heed. Weâll all be better off, that way.
I must be mistaken. It must be some mysterious other Amarr that holds the southern regions of the planet, and not that of Her Imperial Majesty. How foolish of me. I suppose I must also have been on some other Floseswin IV for the last two weeks or so.
I also mentioned nothing of strategic matters on either side. I said it was a wise tactical decision, for them to withdraw before numerically and technologically superior forces arrived, and so it was. Please do not undermine your own sideâs bravery and tenacity. They fought well, and facing them was an Honour.
As for Blackguard, you are probably correct. Pay her no mind. Just ignore her.
Numerically superior I am willing to grant. As for your other claimâŚIâve seen your technology up close on a number of different occasions. Canât say that that I was particularly impressed.
Have I said all Amarr troops had left the planet? I said you had. Without control of the system, your forces on the ground canât easily reinforce or resupply. You were on Flos4. Now youâre not. If the Amarr forces need to be removed one at a time, like fleas, then itâs still a victory once theyâre gone.
Clearly reinforcing your positions isnât the same as evacuating civilians.
You know, it almost sounds like you are relieved I am not currently planetside. I would never have been so arrogant to assume I was such a thorn in the side of the Mighty Warriors of the Republic of Freedom and Light. I am terribly flattered and honoured that you think so of me, but I really must insist that you stop this nonsense talk of me being such a linchpin in the Amarrian war effort. I am but one of Godâs Soldiers, nothing more.
However, perhaps I should go back. I would not want you or any of your allies to miss me. Besides, I am sure there are more civilians out there who need someone to negotiate them to safety. They sadly cannot seem to rely on you so-called âFreedom Fightersâ.
No, of course it is not. I did not evacuate the civilians. Lady Llyr and Maira Blackfire did. I merely requested that it be done, so that no more needless innocent deaths be suffered. What I did was use the time available to make my Companyâs position more advantageous. I do not believe I would be alone in taking such measures, nor is it against the Rules of War.
What did not happen, however, was any further Amarrian forces being brought in, nor those present evacuated. Just as I promised.
Well, first: Iâm not there, Iâm in Delve, so youâre not a thorn in my side at all. To the extent that you were a thorn in anyoneâs side, you leaving Flos4 is no more or less significant than any other individual Amarr soldier leaving. And each and every one that leaves is one closer to â0 remainingâ.
But hey, donât let the fact that Iâm pretty open about not being anywhere near there get in the way of you claiming Iâm one of the active combatants, yeah?
You pop in on occasion.
Iâve seen it.
Thought they just fumigated themâŚ
I have come into Floseswin once since Sarumâs announcement of illegal attacks on civilian populations. Itâs not even hard to point to when that was[1]. And I have had absolutely nothing to do with any ground operations.
1. Incidentally, none of the crew died in that fight. I bounced off-grid, got them all out into lifeboats, and then came back in with just me in the hull. Truth be told, that ship had always been intended for a one-way trip. It was just supposed to have gotten it during the summer YC120 campaign. Stupid Horde ran away before we could use the carriers.
I do not believe I actually did make such a claim, though I suppose my words could imply that I was under that impression. Perhaps I was, I did not really give it any consideration about who was where, in all honesty. I was somewhat preoccupied with my own immediate situation.
If it makes you feel better and soothes your apparently wounded sensitivites I categorically state to all in New Eden that I do not claim any knowledge, direct or implied, that you, Arrendis, were an active participant in combat on, above, or anywhere near Floseswin IV.
Honestly, you Tribals are so anxious all the time.
No?
In a reply to me.
In the same reply. Both indicate that you are counting me among the âFreedom Fightersâ who would miss your presence, and thus, are directly involved in the fighting on the ground.
But like Iâve said to Meatpuppet over there more than once: donât let the facts get in the way of making obviously false statements and looking like an idiot.
As for âwounded sensitiviesâ⌠mostly, I just object to people being completely and obviously full of crap like you and Meatpuppet there. I mean, I expect you folks to lie about us. I just think you should, you know, be competent at it.
Your language does have the collective âyouâ in it? Or do I have it wrong that you consider yourself fighting for the âliberationâ of other Minmatar (something many people, I think, would consider to be a âFreedom Fighterâ, but perhaps your definition is different).
Again, my knowledge of how the Minmatar language works is quite poor, but I do not feel that is quite the same as me saying âOh, look everyone, Arrendis was on Floseswin involved in the ground battlesâ.
In all honesty, this is a pointless and tiresome discussion and I have more important things to do. The footage shows what it shows, I have no knowledge of how or why it came to be here.
No such thing as âtheâ Minmatar language so indeed.