Open letter to CBT to initiate an invistigation of EDENCOM's embezzlement of State's funds

Fiction Portal Intergalactic Summit
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Honorable Judges and Dear Readers!

I am writing you as a soldier of Caldari State, who, while being dispatched to the warzone to fight against Gallente aggressors, on a personal initiative joined the fights against Triglavian occupants and fought them alongside EDENCOM but not with them.

I witnessed with my own eyes inefficience and criminal negligence that led to the loss of Caldari systems to the enemy. I saw how dozen of EDENCOM capsuleers in battlecruisers were struggling with objective that just a wing of two Protectorate battlecruisers in tandem were securing with ease and efficiency. I saw how our baseline ships with all their crews were sacrificed by EDENCOM for no gain, like their goal was to kill as many State citizens as they could. I saw how EDENCOM capsuleers were abandoning systems when they were reaching so-called liminalities. And what’s worse, I have seen how EDENCOM itself was designating systems as being “lost”, losing the precious time and allowing Triglavian stellar anomalies to destabilize the gate. Of course we didn’t know back then it will happen, but willingly giving up our systems to the enemy while saving systems in same Republic or Federation I find unacceptable.

They wasted our money to help our ENEMIES.

Nowadays to invade illegally occupied by the Collective systems we need not only firepower, but also means of re-establishing communication with these systems. I believe in our Wise Scientists to do this job, but meanwhile our Citizens suffer and profits of our Corporations are being lost.

I know that we had troubles in our own camp and CEP had to cleanse our ranks from all sort of Triglavian and Pirate collaborators, but it didn’t bring results, because the main corruption was coming from the EDENCOM itself.

That organization harbors all sort of triglavian, pirate, Gallente and even Minmatar terrorists. It puts under its umbrella all these whom we have sworn to protect our State, our Citizens, our assets from. Gallente and Republic influnce that was driving fights from our systems, loss of the main trade route between the State and Empire (although it wasn’t Caldari system, I think it was the largest damage to the international business of our State). It even escalated to the degree that under the fog of war in Wirashoda Gurista who were fighting for EDENCOM stole State citizens!!

They developed ships and weapons that proved to be inadequate in terms of performance for their construction cost.

And they fail to protect our Citizens and Ships from frequent Triglavian raids into our territory. Where did all these money go? To protect Federation space where Triglavians don’t show up?

I applaud to the decision of our Honorable CEP to cease this humiliation and reduce funding of the dubious organization, but I believe it’s not enouh.

EDENCOM is an anti-profitable organization and shall take responsibility for their actions against profits of Caldari State.

I believe they should refund us every hundredth of an ISK that our State entrusted them with, together with fines for the damages to the reputation of our Armed Forces.

Glory to the State!
– D. Kim, Strike Cmdr.

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Your unwillingness to work with the forces trying to save the systems contributed towards them falling. Had you actually cared about saving the systems you would have made an effort to coordinate with the EDI capsuleers.

The capsuleers were no more “EDENCOM” than you were in the situation. While I’ll be the first to admit that the public EDI groups had a lot of inexperienced capsuleers, your fiction of Proctectorate battlecruisers running away with the field is pure fantasy. What I remember of your contribution in Ichoriya was you losing a Drekavac when you were too stubborn to work with the people actually trying to save the system and continuing to yell at the people who you wouldn’t work with to do something when you were just hugging a station in fear.

The Republic and the Federation actually tried to save their own systems. Their navies actually took the fight seriously. Their could be saved with regularity. The Caldari Navy was a ■■■■■■■ disgrace.

The capsuleers who showed up to each invasion were mostly only getting paid negligible amounts of ISK from EDENCOM for conduit closure. The only money the State wasted was that which it spent on a navy that cannot fight.

When those same capsuleers and supporting forces were successful in all three of the other empires, the fault obviously lies in the hands of the Caldari Navy itself. The fact that you go on this tirade against EDENCOM when the organization and its supporting capsuleers produced results everywhere else is probably at the core of why the Caldari State was so absolutely pathetic. Unless the State and its loyalists decide to look inward and acknowledge that your losses and failures are your own fault you might not make it though the next set of invasions.

I want to say “do as you like” and “it’s no skin off my back if the State falls” but the fact of the matter is, when it comes to Triglavian invasions… any territory or resources they get just make the Collective more threatening to everyone. If your incompetent State doesn’t perform better, it could very well drag the rest of us down with it.

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You are a singularly poor party to argue on embezzlement charges, given your wholesale refusal to acknowledge the malfeasance and embezzlement of Kaalakiota funds by Heth-guri.

The rest is farce.

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First of all, I think it is very important to make a clear distinction between EDENCOM (The entity put in command of naval forces in systems that got invaded) and EDI (A volunteer capsuleer force). The latter you can absolutely accuse of gross incompetence often bordering on malice as well as the abandonment of the State even as they claimed to fight to repel Triglavian invasions anywhere they struck, but not really embezzlement, since they were only paid per objective met. An unorganized, bickering mess as they may have been, they actually devised an effective doctrine by using Naga-class battlecruisers towards the end of the invasions, but it was too little, too late, not to mention that they blatantly refused to fight in State space, declaring it lost oftentimes without even a fight.

But let’s not lose ourselves to the usual egocentrism that afflicts so many capsule pilots. With the exception of systems like Raravoss, Niarja and Arshat, capsuleers served a minor rapid response role at most in either side, responding to opened conduits and cyno bridges for the most part. The true fault lies with EDENCOM themselves.

How can it be that throughout the entirety of the State, only those forces under EDENCOM performed this poorly, all while corporate security forces under their own command structure effortlessly shredded the Triglavians whenever skirmishes between them broke out? Why is it that the one piece of EDENCOM equipment that was actually deployed against the invaders, the GunStar weapons platforms, were only deployed in Amarr space, the one empire Provost Marshal Valkanir pledges her loyalty to above all others? And the Upwell ships EDENCOM commissioned with the Empires’ money? Their so widely advertised weapon against the Triglavian invaders? Never deployed even once, instead those hulls went straight into CONCORD’s hands to outfit their Disparu death squads and secure technology for themselves.

I can stomach to accept that EDENCOM’s abhorrent incompetence in directing the Caldari Navy is just that, complete and utter failure on their part, perhaps their commanders did not know how to properly employ a missile-based doctine, their counterparts in various megacorporations commanding even smaller numbers of vessels proved their brutal effectiveness just fine when fielded by competent command. The blatant embezzlement though, all to feed our funds back to CONCORD and their Upwell lackeys? Valkanir’s obtuse demands for more funding all while she and the forces afforded to her have done nothing but sit on their hands and toss the occasional scouting squadron to their deaths in Pochven for a whole year?

This is blatant and unmistakable malice. Not solely against the State, should we believe that their failures there had no ulterior motives, but towards ALL CONCORD signatories, with some mild favoritism towards the Amarr Empire, as expected of the Marshal.

I for one fully support the CEP’s decision to severely restrict their funding, and if I have any criticism it is that funding and the seconding of Caldari Navy forces has not stopped outright. It is clear that the State is vastly better suited to defend itself without the parasite that is EDENCOM clinging to it.

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In a hypothetical situation of me leaving Protectorate fleet and joining Edencom fleet the Protectorate fleet would drop its efficiency by 50% while Edencom fleet would gain about 10% efficiency. Considering both fleets were doing same job in about same time (and I’d argue our fleet was doing even better), you don’t really have to be a math genius to see that your statement is straightforwardly absurd.

I wonder though how you don’t remember same Drekavac was shutting down conduits, cracking them like nuts one after another even ignoring all these pesky kyberanuts trying to repair triglavians.

What is even more amusing, is that I did actually call for help and offered my help multiple times in the EDI channel after the system hit liminality. Where there were all these people willing to fight, eh? Our initiative worked more efficiently than EDI before liminality and the loss of Drekavac means we have at least tried to fight after liminality.

I see you’re too quick to toss baseless accusations.
But first, tell me please:

Is there something more disgraceful than a treason?

Than betraying country that gave you food, shelter, education, job. Your parents, your ancestors, your Faith, your friends and co-workers. Is there at least something that could be more disgraceful than that?..

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Makoto, you are a well known liar and proven dishonorable disgrace who don’t have courage to answer for your pathetic slanders. Whatever else toxic words you are going to toss about me or about greatest Caldri Hero, or about other Caldari authority won’t change that fact.

The only farce in here is you.
Begone.

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As someone from the other side, I can see your interest in defunding EDENCOM. On the other hand, I do agree with your arguments in this case. Probably I have asked you this before, but still… Are you actually on our side or Triglavian? I know that trying to get us with Collective into good terms is a noble deed, but they’re still invaders and hold territories that do belong to Caldari State.

Shall we come to take our systems back, would you fight with us or against us? You can’t really sit on both chairs at once. You’ll fall through between them.

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I do not argue as ‘someone from the other side’. Had the invasions not ended already, nothing would please the Collective and its followers more than to see that EDENCOM remains, gorging itself on the funds and manpower of its targets. I argue as a concerned Caldari alone. As for where my loyalties lie, you have asked it before but it hardly hurts for me to answer publicly.
I am loyal, first and foremost, to the Caldari State. My status as a Kybernaut as it is now, is strictly for the greater benefit of the State. I will, of course, try my best to act as a liaison to normalize relations between the Collective and us in the coming days, but should they prove irreconcilable, I will stand with my people.
Don’t think the stunts the Feds and the Minmatar pulled in the Proving Grounds are anything different from what I started for the State. They yearn to prove themselves, to curry favor now that the open hostilities have ceased. I will gladly assist the State in this endeavor as well.

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In that case, Ms. Maltia, please accept my sincere apologies. I came to conclusion taking into account your participation in the war under discussion on the other side and made an assumption you would discuss it as so without asking that first.

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Blind loyalty in the face of leaders who betray the people whose interests they are supposed to serve.

Maybe you should have helped before the system hit liminality, considering once the ball got rolling in either direction, it was far easier to accelerate the slide than halt it. The time to make a difference was when making that difference was still generally feasible. Only one or maybe two systems had liminality reversed, and those took monumental effort from capsuleers of all four empires.

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You bring up very good points. I saw EDI apathy towards State systems myself, supposedly because they were undefendable. But early wins, such as Samanuni, proved that wrong. My organization pulled support for EDI fleets in non-State systems due to this unwillingness to do the hard work when it needed to be done.

It was said, before the invasion, that the Caldari Navy was the strongest in the cluster. One has to wonder if there was deliberate intensions behind some of the tactical and logistical decisions taken by EDENCOM command staff.

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All things considered, EDENCOM officers wouldn’t have been in direct tactical command of each battle group in a system. They’d have been in operational command, laying out objectives and goals, but—unless EDENCOM was willing to display a specific, documented pattern of malfeasance and incompetence only within the State—direct tactical command would have stayed with the officers who were trained specifically on how to use the combat assets they had at their disposal, ie: the Caldari Navy.

I mean, I get why the megas are trying to make it out like that’s not the case, but none of the empires trust any of the others enough to allow foreign officers to have direct tactical command from the bridge of a battlegroup’s flagship. Moreover, as soon as it because obvious that there were systemic failures going on and the specific tactics weren’t working, the CN officers would have simply re-asserted direct command and relieved the EDENCOM officers as unfit.

But most compellingly: What you’re talking about happening cannot have been done without a paper trail. It’s a paper trail that would have had to have included documentation from every CN ship in every one of those systems. And it would have been duplicated by the officers of those CN ships, over and over, just to protect themselves from exactly the kind of shitstorm that erupted. There’d be no room for ‘one has to wonder’, because the lesson every officer in every military has most deeply ingrained in their psyche is ‘Cover Your Ass’.

We’ve seen no indications of that paper trail. It’s been almost a year, and the Caldari Navy didn’t immediately rage in the damned streets with the well-documented record of EDENCOM malfeasance and misuse. The mega haven’t gone public with the documented evidence that would clear the Caldari Navy, even in the face of significant public outcry. There hasn’t even been the slightest whisper that such a documented account even exists—let alone the hundreds of such accounts that would exist from every single CN ship’s CO and XO, at the very least. Not even the tiniest leak of it from even a single outraged XO about the way his or her skipper was being pilloried for failure when it wasn’t the Navy’s fault.

No, it wasn’t said that the Caldari Navy was the strongest in the cluster. The Federal fleet was the most powerful, the Imperial fleet the largest. The Caldari Navy was the most modernized fleet: the one with the newest tech and the fewest obsolete hulls. Pound for pound, possibly the strongest, but nowhere near the overall potency of either of the expansionist powers.

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You basically just whined at people after the fact. You should have decided you cared about Ichoriya before the system fell to liminality.

We were still there after liminality in Ichoriya too, actually. While you hugged a station, we hunted for enemy capsuleers and Triglavians. There are killmails on record that prove it ( Cynabal | Tetra Fett | Killmail | zKillboard ). The thing is, most of the Triglavian sympathizers had mostly left themselves. Ichoriya was rapidly falling because the Caldari Navy was rapidly falling against just the Triglavians themselves. The fleet did absolutely lose size in liminality, but we kept trying to do what we could for some time. You’re really in a position where you have no idea what was going on in the system, it seems.

You’d know that if you had tried to work with the other capsuleers. I understand that you’re delusional enough to think that you outpaced the EDI fleet (you didn’t - in Ichoriya we were running emergings, minors, and roamings pretty much throughout).

There’s a lot that the EDI fleets could have improved on, but your criticism is basically worthless. You don’t even know what actually happened.

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Kim,

I write in reply to your accusations against EDENCOM and associated EDENCOM Defence Initiative (EDI) pilots and organisations, as a former senior commander of EDI and as an individual that strongly believes in the spirit of international co-operation in earnest.

You were not alone to witnessing gross incompetence and misconduct - except that it was the shameful performance of the Caldari Navy and associated groups comprising the State Armed Forces rather than the actions of EDENCOM or EDI. It grieves me to say it, but to not say it would be frankly dishonest and disrespectful to my ancestors that would turn in their graves if they saw how their beloved Navy had fallen from a premier fighting force to a reckless and disorganised mob that frittered away the lives of it’s personnel without care or concern. It prosecuted their defensive operations in a manner akin to the keystone cops: without a sense of direction, the knowledge or the will to implement even the most basic of strategy. It’s reputation is quite rightly, deservedly, shattered.

To misdirect blame to CONCORD or EDENCOM rather than on the SAF and CEP, where it belongs, is to spit on the sacrifices that the ordinary crewman and woman made in the name of the State. Take responsibility and accept your failures, rather than attempt to apportion blame to those that tried to help the State in the Triglavian Crisis.

You of all people are without grounds to criticise the efforts of EDI - multi-national forces fought for three days without pause in an attempt to prevent Ichoriya from falling into First Liminality. State, Federal, Imperial and Republic forces were all present and fighting valiantly against Collective naval assets. You on the other hand, operated independently and shunned any offer of co-operation because of my presence as either the Fleet Officer Commanding or as a Squadron Commander, I suspect. Despite the willingness of others in the Protectorate to join our fleets, you refused to contribute to the greater effort. You refused to join us when we desperately tried to prevent the fall of Sakenta, and you refused to join us in subsequent defences where the odds of success were slim to none.

Therefore, you are ignorant of the wider situation that gripped New Eden and were content to wallow in Black Rise whilst the heroes of EDI stood against monsters that brought a new horror to our cluster. I reiterate, you have no right to criticise our efforts, when you have done so little yourself.

The State Caldari deserve so much better. Instead, it languishes under a State that is more concerned with the preservation of the status quo than making meaningful changes. My heart breaks when I think of those that flew with complete confidence in their leaders, only to be let down when they needed them the most. It is unfit for purpose as a representative of the Caldari. In a time of trial where it faced it’s greatest challenge since the Interstellar War, it was weighed and found wanting. Undoubtedly, this weakness has not gone unnoticed by your allies. Let us hope that they do not see an opportunity to put the Caldari Navy to another test.

With utter contempt,

Edward Adams
Of the Line of Adams
Of Nadire, and the Federation
Proud to have served with EDENCOM and EDI

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Arrendis, kindly keep your mouth shut and focus on things you actually know. You have written nothing but utter nonsense for the sake of arguing alone, and if you think anyone with half a brain cell is going to take into account the opinion of the braindead goon that publicly stated that she believes that no capital assets were even deployed save for solitary dreadnaughts, and implied that all reported capital engagements and losses are fake news because you didn’t see them with your own camera drones, seriously, you are hilariously mistaken.

Sit the hell back and focus on your little nullsec territorial dispute, darling, or at the very least educate yourself a little before attempting an argument.

As someone present both in system and EDI internal communications at the time, no, not at all. EDI’s chaotic conduct and stubborn nature made them an inflexible, uncooperative mess during stellar reconnaissance.

Elkin, you really need to reel in your ego, you are completely undeserving of it and it comes off as particularly sad.
Your leftover fleet was a handful of windrunner tornadoes that, and correct me if I am wrong, would be completely useless against anything that isn’t a sizable Kybernaut ship. You didn’t bring a fleet to repel any invasion and, most importantly, you and your handful of followers at the time, are not the majority of EDI. The majority pulled out never to return, just as the majority later outright refused to fight in State systems. You went into liminal Ichoriya fishing for some easy kills against Kybernauts, not to liberate the system, and I dare you to claim otherwise with that kind of fleet presented as somehow proof that makes EDI look favorable.

But lets not forget the point of this thread isn’t EDI. It is EDENCOM.

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It’s amusing how GalNet trolls blame others in something they have not even a slightest clue about. I am not even sure shall I laugh at you or pity you. No knowledge about the topic, no even reading comprehension…

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Also, can we stop with the ridiculous ad hominems and tu quoques for a moment, directed either at Commander Kim or as I suspect will happen soon enough, myself and the uniform I wear?

Let’s focus on the actual points brought up. I don’t quite recall if it was on here or some more transient channel, but I have a pretty clear recollection that Elkin at the very least also found it quite puzzling how Valkanir elected to only deploy GunStar platforms in Amarr and CONCORD space.

Ignoring the undisputable facts about EDENCOM serves no-one here. Keep your childish finger-pointing out of this. Nobody cares about the EDI besides pointing out their abandonment of the State. This is about EDENCOM proper.

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Excuse me, I think I have stated it several times I was there before it hit the liminality. That much from someone who blames others in being delusional. Shame.

How many conduits you have closed after the system hit liminality?

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And you’re of all the people are without grounds to criticise ANYONE.

Treason is the most amoral act one could have ever committed. You’re not even a human in eyes of any Caldari. And when you write “With utter contempt”, that’s what you bring into discussion by mere showing your face, like you’re a talking fedo whicn points its tentacle to people who are better than you. And, really, anyone is better than you.

Stop doing that, please.

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We didn’t ‘go in.’ We were already there when it flipped fighting till the moment it did. We certainly did lose most of our numbers when it happened, but more of us stayed than Triglavian sympathizers. We were mostly in the Tornadoes doing hit and runs on both enemy capsuleers and the Triglavians while WANGs were still in the system reinforcing all the structures. We had our other ships to return to once they left. But the fact is that we couldn’t push as fast as the Caldari fell… with no capsuleers attacking them.

Except we did actually engage the Triglavians with the Windrunners time and time again. Including in Ichoriya. But thanks for your contributions.

This was a direct result of Ichoriya. People refused to help the State when it refused to help itself.

The EDI fleet is what was constantly brought up and conflated with EDENCOM itself by the original poster. So that’s what I’ll be responding to.

But thanks for your contribution.

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