In light of todays disturbing events, the Excubitoris Chapter sincerely hopes that the Matari Republic and Brutor Vanguard will do more than simply deny responsibility for this action. It is imperative that they punish those involved in this clear breach of all treaties between the Amarr Empire and Matari Republic and work to make a repeat of the action impossible.
If this does not happen, the Chapter will revise its appraisal of the Brutor Vanguard from a combatant loyal to the Matari Republic to a criminal entity acting without authorisation from any state. Barring communication from our chain of command to the contrary or clear evidence that the Brutor Vanguard has taken decisive action to rid its ranks of these criminals, the Excubitoris Chapter will then operate on a policy in which the Brutor Vanguard is understood to not be protected in any way by the laws of war or the CONCORD agreements, but rather to fall under the laws about the treatment of pirates.
Furthermore, we are deeply concerned by the parallels between this attack and the events of the One Day War. The last breach of CONCORD High Security space by Matari capital ships, also ones disavowed by the Republic itself, led to the end of a hard won peace between the Republic and Empire.
As such, the Chapter is also opening an investigation into the means through which this breach of Ammatar space occurred. It is in the interests of all those who value the security created by the CONCORD agreements to work towards understanding, and ideally negating, whatever technology allowed Ammatar anti-capital defence measures to be bypassed. Such a technology represents a major threat to the stability of the cluster. We hope that all those who value that stability will work together to understand it and do whatever they can to make sure that it does not become normal to see rogue capital ships in High Security space.
May God be with us in these troubling times,
Chapter Master Gaven Lokāri Excubitoris Chapter of the Order of the Sacred Throne Holder of Lokāri, in the Jad-Gheinok region of Oris.
Wait ā if the Minmatar Republic declines to punish Brutor Vanguard, is that not evidence that the Vanguard is not āa criminal entity acting without authorization from any stateā but in fact āa combatant loyal to the Matari Republicā?
When three Dreadnaughts and a Vargur, piloted by 12+ year veterans, are deployed with a highsec authorised cyno capable of breaching Ardishapur Circuit anti-cap defences, it is a reasonable assumption that they are not working alone. Someone provided them with that technology, someone provided these individuals with those ships. And so on. More than those involved in the immediate attack were responsible for facilitating that attack.
Please accept my sincere condolences for loss of lives of faithful from such a treacherous attack.
I am afraid that your words will fall on deaf ears. To my knowledge, the Republic itself is currently governed by a raider who is known for committing crimes in Imperial space.
If I am not mistaken, the Republic havenāt returned the slaves that were kidnapped during that One Day War.
It sounds to me, unfortunately, like asking somebody like gurista pirates to punish their own pirate for destroying a transport.
I believe that the best course of action to prevent more rogue ships from appearing in High Security space is to deal a staggering blow to the attacking side as a retribution for their action. That will make them to think twice before doing something like this again.
As I understand things about how cyno beacons function for nation state level actors, there is a jammer network, that has some oversight by CONCORD, and state navies are allocated authorisation codes to allow movement of capital ship groups.
So these rogue dreadnoughts were able to either receive a false authorisation from an agent in the Ammatar Navy, which would be a significant security issue for the Mandate, or, more seriously, to deploy subverted or subversive technology that can bypass or override the CONCORD controls, which raises the prospect of a major escalation of the currently limited empyrean militia wars.
If one can jump arbitrary capitals into Tanoo, then one can jump them into Pator. Or Luminaire.
That said, itās kind of odd to expend such an asset on such a trivial mission. Why 3 and not 300 ?
Sure, but youāre getting way out ahead of things here.
First, we donāt know that ānot working aloneā means āworking with more of the Brutor Vanguardā. We donāt know that the tech was provided to them by anyone higher in the organization, either.
For all we know, this was a self-contained operational unit that took on a job from an outside money-man who provided the cyno thingy. This unit then took the ships they already hadābut which were not supplied with the intent of āgo hit Tanooāāand did this.
Or they got sent falsified orders by some interest that wants things destabilized. Weāve only gotā¦ lemme check the official countā¦ oodles of groups thatād love to see more conflict between the Republic and Empire.
Now, is it possible the leadership of BV is lying? Sure, and if so, then appropriate measures should be taken. But itās also very possible theyāre not, and thatās the conditions on which my question was founded. So:
If Brutor Vanguard is telling the truth, what then?
There is a lot that doesnāt add up. The Federation has generously provided the cluster with examples of how to suffer major planetary damage from just one capital ship, and that example appears to have been ignored by the commanders of this suicide attack. Yes, ancient history is ancient, but it seems like anyone with three capital ships to spare should at one point have been told ādonāt crash one of those babies into a planet while youāre listening to an inspiring earnings report, now!ā
Of course, the Federation has also generously provided the cluster with examples of how to turn back an attack by Matari capital ships only to immediately capitulate to all Matari demands. However, we cannot reasonably expect any other sovereign nation to possesses the Federationās incomparable patience or its well-established distaste for effective self-defense.
Whoever is performing terrorist acts against us in an effort to provoke all out war does appear to have given Amarr the most concrete claim, yet.
I would just like to update this release with a brief statement that the Excubitoris Chapter is pleased by the reports about a full investigation by the Brutor Vanguard into the leaders of this attack. They suggest at least the possibility that their denials of responsibility are genuine and that those responsible for the action will be identified and brought to justice.
I also would express the hope that the situation on the Ardishapur Circuit/Matari Republic frontier deescalates and that further violent actions such as those seen in the last two days do not continue to occur on this frontier.
What if the pilots were performed this act did not do so out of free will? After all, there are many entities and ways to corrupt or compromise a human. Sanshaā¦Driftersā¦Triglavians. I would not be surprised if any of those had corrupted them to weaken their enemies.
Given the events in Girani-Fa, the Chapter has been given full mobilisation orders in preparation for whatever decision the Empress makes.
However, unlike the Brutor Vanguard hit, which was entirely in character for veterans who began service around the time of Shakorās coup, the Gallente provocation is strikingly out of character and I would suggest that the odds that this is indeed some sort of false flag conspiracy are far higher than they were yesterday.
I was confused about the history of Girani-Fa. However, the source of confusion has been cleared up.
I admit the Federation is perfectly capable of acting foolishly.
However, a favorable deal was in place. That deal was reached through Quafe diplomacy, one of our most cherished forms of art. I do think it is a safe bet the Federation did not decide to ruin everything by trying to seize the system with five dreadnoughts. Someone is screwing with us.
Whoever is behind this is purposely baiting the Empire into demonstrating just how much we have militarised in the last two years.
I can see scenarios in which a Matari or Gallente agency would decide to set that bait. I can see several other options as well.
Either way, it is imperative that the Matari Repubic and Brutor Vanguard as well as the Gallente Federation and Crux Special Tasks Group need to quickly figure out how these breaches occurred and provide evidence that deescalates the situation as quickly as possible. We need to see clear evidence of investigation in good faith and punishment of those responsible for enabling these attacks for this situation to deescalate.
āFalse flagsā or not, attacks are attacks. They must be dealt with. It is not only a matter of avoiding international conflict, though that is certainly a worthy goal. There is no reason why whoever is manipulating the situation could not turn the resources being mobilized against whatever nation is āresponsibleā for them.
The primary concern in my eyes is the introduction of these cynosural field beacons that are able to bypass the jammers that normally deny unauthorized cyno fields from being deployed. No matter if these are āfalse flagsā or not, whomever is in control of these units is able to strike anywhere within the Empire, thus the mobilization is entirely necessary.
If it is controlled by the Republic and Federation, it represents an existential threat to the Empire. If it is controlled by another party, it still represents an existential threat to the Empire, and we do not know the motives or strength of the enemy.
Completely agreed. I fear that the inner cluster will ignite while the party truly responsible benefits from the flames.
If war is to be the outcome and it is truly the fault of the inner powers, there is little to be done that is not being done already. If there is an enemy lurking among us, manipulating this, it is all the more reason to turn the forces mustered against them instead of each other.
I believe it follows a pattern and I do not believe any of the inner powers to be responsible. I pray they are not. But if they are, there is nothing to be done. If they are not, and the true enemy is not uncovered, the price of failure will be measured in oceans of blood.
And on that note, Chakaidās whereabouts have not been mentioned since the single update that was given, confirming his whereabouts are unknown. That was shortly after the first dreadnought attack. How odd.
And if the evidence points back to the MIO? I mean, if I was running a false-flag operation that already involves operatives infiltrating 2 different nationsā military structures, the first thing Iād do would be to nest it at least 2 layers deep. Iām already going to need to be planning long-term and waiting for the right opportunity, so it doesnāt make sense to half-ass the thing.
Worst case, by first infiltrating the ultimate targetās intelligence agencies, I get access to all of their research on the best ways to infiltrate my catspaws, and if my later infiltrators are discovered, even that serves my ends by getting the empires pointing fingers at one another.
It is my honor to report that last night an Amarr Militia Fleet mustered by Paladin Newelle of the Excubitoris Chapter and led by Divine Commodore Mikal Vektor of Local is Primary was able to secure the wreckage of the most recent of these planetary dreadnaught attacks.
As is our clear duty to God and Empress, we have contracted the evidence from this wreck to @Khemon_Dulsur_an-Tetrimon as the duly appointed representative of the Blessed Emperor of All Amarr, Catiz I into the investegation of these incidents.
We would like to express the deep hope that this evidence will be useful in defending Amarr first and foremost, but also in preserving the relative peace created by the collaboration of the CONCORD signatories.
May God be with us all as we untangle what seems to be a bizarre conspiracy.
For God, Empress, and Amarr,
Chapter Master Gaven Lokāri Excubitoris Chapter of the Sacred Throne Order
