I have been mulling over the incident which occurred on the 15th. After due deliberation, I have concluded that whilst this tragedy certainly led us to question what our State is doing, it did not lead us to question what we can do for our State. This is what I wish to discuss today.
I would like to start by quoting a speech I heard as a young woman, working at an insurance sales company:
It was a speech delivered in a different time, under a different set of circumstances. Despite this, it’s essence rings home today as sharply as it did during those five years, when our brave men and women retook our home world.
Today, over a decade later, our brave men and women have fallen on hard times. Our nation has had to contend with the loss of many systems, worlds and ships. Many fathers, brothers and sons. Many mothers, sisters and daughters.
During the Triglavian Invasions our navy took body blow after body blow. Solid punches before our shields were recalibrated to account for entropic disintegrators, whilst struggling to retaliate due to the difficulties involved with using missiles against small, fast-moving targets. And whilst assistance from both domestic and foreign capsuleers in the shape of the EDENCOM Defense Initiative made the difference in many battles elsewhere, even they were unable to turn the tide in our invaded systems.
In the immediate aftermath of the Triglavian invasions, it became apparent that the Caldari Militia was still hard-pressed in Black Rise. That the EDI was starting to dissolve from lack of a common enemy, and that it’s most prestigious and able members were preoccupied with taking the war to Pochven under the banner of Lux Invicta.
However, as the events of the 15th have shown us, the end of the Triglavian Invasions did not bring about the end of Triglavian intrusions into our nation’s territory. Instead, they now come through wormholes, with little to no warning, to raid our people. And our navy, wounded from the war, and with it’s officer corps bled white on the orders of the Chief Executive Panel, requires our assistance.
Whilst we as Caldari capsuleers are exempted from our responsibilities as citizens of the State in a legal sense, there is no CONCORD decree which exempts us from our moral responsibilities as sons and daughters of the Caldari nation.
It is for this reason that I call upon all Caldari capsuleers who are not involved with the wars in Black Rise and Pochven, and who do their part as miners, industrialists, haulers, explorers or researchers, to band together in this time of duress.
I do not seek a position of power, nor do I wish to ask anyone to set aside their commitment to the corporations in which they find themselves employed. As such, I have chosen to adopt the same formula as EDI, by creating a communications channel, from whence a defense can be organized.
Similarly, like EDI, which was not blind to the superiority of our nation’s ships, I have chosen to center our tactics on the venerable Naga, a fast battlecruiser which has served our navy well for nearly a decade.
I have seen, first-hand, how effective these warships can be. During my tenure as a senior fleet commander in the EDI, Eleven Nagas held back both the Triglavians and a fleet of seventy Kybernauts in the Knophtikoo system for over a day, thus buying the time for my more traditional fleet of Feroxes and Ospreys to save the Usi system, which to this day stands as one of the few Caldari systems to be saved from being dragged into the abyss of Pochven. The Nagas also served admirably before and after these two invasions. These ships were not only the most efficient, but also fully usable by capsuleers with an alpha clone license.
Like the archers of the Raata Empire of yore, we will strike true at range, and either sweep the field before us, or withdraw before the enemy can close, leaving the survivors to rethink their decisions.
With open arms, I invite my fellow citizens to join me in this Caldari Defense Initiative to keep our core worlds safe. Let New Caldari Prime be the last thing these triangle-obsessed death cultists see before they are annihilated by railguns from over a hundred kilometres away.
Any loyal Caldari capsuleer needs but to signal that they wish to be included in this endeavour, and I shall extend an invitation into the comms set up for this purpose.