failed sovereignty transfer leads to conflicts over six systems in providence

reported by ISD Falstaff Labron | 2010.02.20 09:09:24

Z-RFE3, Providence – a leadership succession followed by a failed sovereignty transfer to a new alliance caused Providence Holder Aegis Militia [AM] to lose ownership of six systems in Providence and intense fighting in the affected systems with Against All Authorities, Ushra’Khan (commonly known as AAA and U’K respectively) and allied alliances.

Former AM executor K5Project explained that after taking over executive roles six months ago and rebuilding AM “back up strong on its feet”, the recent sovereignty war with AAA lead to several internal problems with spies and corporations that were “making problems if you asked them to do something.” These issues lead to a decision to assign AM executor leadership to ShadowandLight of Hammer of Light [HROLT] corporation.

Jason Marshall of HROLT claimed “A group of the corporations in AM, mostly station owners, were tired of a lot of the smaller corporations who were not keeping to standards. They had lax recruitment policies and were not bringing the fight to Ushra’Khan. On top of that, the old AM was full of spies. We wanted to form a new alliance to purge the fat and disease.” Upon taking executive control of AM, ShadowandLight was reported as intending to reform the alliance under a new name – ‘Retribution Incarnate’ – and HROLT left Aegis Militia to form a new alliance.

According to Shooter McGaven of Demio’s Corporation in Aegis Militia, “When the time came [for the sovereignty transfer] there was either a glitch or someone… didn’t tell the exact truth… The exec of AM… dropped sovereignty at the same time in all systems… The new alliance was not ready to take back sovereignty in any of the systems… Aided by the mass confusion of many AM corps not knowing what was going on, U’K and AAA were able to come in and plant TCUs in most of the systems. What was left of AM… rallied and took out all the TCUs that U’K planted.” TCUs are Territorial Claim Units, used to stake claims for sovereignty over a system.

Ushra’Khan officer BHaddow stated “To our understanding, there was an internal dispute within Aegis Militia that turned into a power grab. As a result of this their sovereignty was dropped… With Aegis Militia’s alignment being pro-slavery, Ushra’Khan decided to step in to try and take sovereignty in some of the systems… We are not interested in holding the space for a long period of time, however the fight against slavery often forces one’s hand… [This is] nothing of the scale we saw when we helped our allies AAA claim D-GTMI from Paxton Federation, however the fighting has been around the clock.”

Shooter McGaven went on to report that the two alliances and the Providence Holders are working together to recover the lost systems and that the current plan is to have HROLT reintegrate Aegis Militia while a new leadership plan is being worked out.

Asked to comment on the Aegis Militia situation, Aralis (the executor of CVA) said that CVA was informed of the Aegis Militia decision to change leadership and added “This is an AM internal matter. We have confidence in HROLT and hope that the new alliance will go to greater heights… Our thanks to K5Project for his long leadership.”

Following a yet-unexplained “quirk” which caused first Ushra’Khan and then Aegis Miltia to lose sovereignty shortly after taking it in 3D-CQU and Z-RFE3, Aegis Militia has now recovered control in four of the six lost systems: 0B-HLZ, 18XA-C, 3KB-J0 and I-MGAB. Fighting for sovereignty control is still currently underway in systems Z-RFE3 and 3D-CQU.

the providence war: part iv – the return of unity

reported by ISD Falstaff Labron | 2010.02.15 11:10:27

9UY4-H, Providence – “Deliverance Reclaimed” outpost in 9UY4-H system fell to Ushra’Khan [UNITY] on the 08.02.112, with system sovereignty falling into their hands the following day. Ushra’Khan have been fighting Amarr loyalists Curatores Veritatis Alliance [CVA] in Providence for half a decade; they originally held sovereignty in the system which was home to their first outpost, “Unity Station” until it was conquered by CVA.

Ushra’Khan allied with Against ALL Authorities, who currently reside in Catch adjacent to Providence, after the losing their space in Providence in the so-called “Unity War” of 109 and joined AAA in their retributive invasion of Providence following incursions by Providence Holders into AAA space in Catch.

9UY4-H StationThe siege of 9UY4-H station lasted less than a week and on 08.02.112 the station fell to Ushra’Khan. UNITY are claimed by the Providence Holders as a major enemy of Amarr interests in New Eden. Sources among the Holder alliances of Providence claim 9UY4-H system is an important trade hub and of strategic value as a central location for most access routes to Empire space.

AAA was reported to have brought over 400 pilots to the siege, fielding several super-capital vessels.

Karn Mithralia of Ushra’Khan said that his alliance has waited a long time for this opportunity.

Regarding the invasion of AAA’s systems in Catch, Karn expressed surprise at the turn of events. “CVA is usually cautious and skilled in strategic decision making. The timing of the war in Querious was perhaps coincidental, but regardless, it was obvious AAA would not walk over this [move] so close to [their] home systems.”

“We have worked for near three years building our strength, undermining the enemy, breaking their Holders and throwing as much energy as we could into our allies wars so they would have reason to do the same for us.

“Nothing inspires Ushra’Khan to fight like the opportunity to fight slavers and their Holders. We were already fighting [alongside AAA], fully committed, are used to working together, have good [communication systems] in place, fleet discipline and knowledge of what to expect from each other. Yet even then we didn’t expect to stand so soon once again in Unity Station; we knew our allies in AAA respected CVA’s settlement efforts in Providence and expected some level of return to status quo, we hatched our plans to move on other weak points but then again things played to our favour.”

Karn Mithralia considered ‘Amarrian hubris’ to be the major factor that lead to CVA not backing down, which in turn lead to AAA and allies assaulting Providence with full strength.

AAA’s other allies, Systematic Chaos were heavily involved in D-GTMI and 9UY4-H; “freespace” and transhumanist alliance Star Fraction are independently invading the space of CVA’s allies Sev3rance in western Providence and ATLAS have sent roaming gangs into Providence to engage Holder forces.

Asked to comment on his alliance’s plans for the conflict, Karn Mithralia first expressed his surprise at the lack of resistance when entering 9UY4-H and then added “We need to secure our hold, it’s early since we have taken [only] one station. Providence is a highly-populated space. It is possible that CVA and their Holders will rally in Northern Providence about their home systems. And I have no doubt Sev3rance won’t go down without a fight.”

Aralis of CVA considers this capture as “more of a problem for them than for us”, since the opposing forces are now left deep inside the Providence Holders territory and this exposes them to facilitated CVA offensive actions. Members of CVA continue to express confidence in public that Unity Station will return to its Amarrian name of Deliverance in due course, but Unity station provides a toe-hold not just for AAA but for Ushra’Khan’s other allies in the anti-slavery and Minmatar loyalist movements. Aralis (executor of CVA) has stated that he is prepared for a long war – exactly the course it will take remains to be seen.

the providence war: part iii – internal struggle

reported by ISD Falstaff Labron | 2010.02.14 23:56:56

D-GTMI, Providence – Following the capture of D-GTMI system in Providence from Providence Holder-alliance Paxton Federation, Against ALL Authorities (commonly known as “AAA”) offered a 72-hour cessation of sovereignty warfare, during which negotiations could take place between AAA and Curatores Veritatis Alliance [CVA] and their allied Providence Holders. CVA rejected the cease-fire offer and the subsequent terms of territorial non-aggression put on the table by Against ALL Authorities, which led to dissent among those Holders that backed CVA and those who wanted a swift end to the conflict.

A few days after the fall of D-GTMI, Manfred Sideous of AAA issued a public statement on 31.01.112 in which they invited CVA to negotiate a settlement of the conflict. In this press release, he claimed “As it currently stands, we have spoken with CVA leadership, stating our intent to not cause permanent harm, even with a scenario of a return of the D-G system, and informed CVA leadership of -A- holding back (unless again provoked) until [01.02.112] at midnight pending their reaction and willingness to contain the current conflict. However, even this has been refused.”

Virtuozzo of AAA said “It’s no political document; it’s from one group of soldiers to another group of soldiers… When push comes to shove, it really comes down to Curatores Veritatis Alliance choosing to expand its dominion in the wrong direction, at the expense of the wrong alliance.

“As much as we regret it, there are some unwritten rules that apply to all alliances active in lawless space, and as such we can but react and continue to react.”

According to documents leaked from CVA’s alliance network, discussions did take place between CVA executor Aralis and Manfred Sideous of AAA in which AAA offered a treaty that would return D-GTMI to Paxton Federation and cease further invasion of Providence by AAA, in return for CVA forswearing any future attacks upon AAA sovereignty in Catch. Sources claim that no more extensive NAP was offered, however, meaning Against ALL Authorities pilots could still pursue Providence Holder pilots and any other pilots roaming in the region – their gangs could be engaged by CVA but the Holders would be unable to take any action to permanently remove such gangs by ousting AAA from the neighbouring space. On behalf of his alliance, Aralis declined.

Asked to give his perspective of the overall situation, Virtuozzo replied “It’s a shame the current mess – in spite of our reputation and our usual preferences… we are not enjoying the current situation of having to slaughter pilots who are essentially stuck with a situation caused by flawed vision of leadership.”

An anonymous source inside AAA confirmed “Based on what I know, AAA doesn’t want to destroy Providence because it is considered a training ground for new pilots… The Providence Holders brought this upon themselves.”

Galandrius Malkin, a former member of LFA, commented that some Providence Holder alliances “were trying to get the Holders together to force CVA to accept AAA’s non-aggression pact… The Holders were split between prolonging the conflict and settling for peace… The LFA block disagreed with [continuing engagements] and all LFA pilots were barred from attending offensive actions… defensive actions were still approved… [My corporation] disapproved of Lasterax’s measures and supported fighting AAA… Other corporations have expressed opinions similar to our own… LFA was assisting in defensive actions in Providence and individual corporations left LFA and have gone pro-war.”

An anonymous source within LFA commented on internal affairs immediately after the fall of D-GTMI: “As far as I understood, AAA announced to CVA… a 72-hour cease of sovereignty warfare – and AAA knew how to use this time very well… They started to heavily roam Providence with a focus on D-GTMI, 9UY4-H and all entries to Providence. We had several mercenary corps… in Providence as well as small to medium sized gangs of AAA, Ushra’Khan, Systematic Chaos and others. At the same time AAA made a [public declaration that] was very successful at spreading an open conflict between CVA and the Providence Holders; it even lead to LFA being removed as a Holder. After a few days of [internal disagreements, we] decided to stand together in this fight… and the inner conflicts have been resolved.”

LFA leader Lasterax commented “Unfortunately some internal Providence Holder discussions were intercepted and made quite public… Suffice it to say, LFA voiced our disagreement with CVA regarding AAA’s offer of a treaty to end hostilities in Providence and Catch and return things pretty close to the status quo… LFA has made a commitment to fight with our friends should they be attacked.

“We don’t agree with pursuing attacks on sovereignty and won’t be engaging in them… We believe there was a diplomatic solution to be taken there but apparently CVA and AAA couldn’t come to terms on it. I think the future of Providence lies in finding a diplomatic solution to the issue or else everything that has been fought for down here will be lost… It would be too bad to see the only region in null-sec that welcomes neutrals and rookie pod pilots fail because of a failure to work out our differences and find a solution that would benefit everyone.”

Aralis of CVA expressed his view on the current situation: “AAA offered some [unappealing] conditions for peace… A permanent sovereignty non-aggression pact and the return of D-GTMI… I have no doubt they thought were generous.

“There are always a few [that do not want to] fight, usually those pushing hardest for a fight in the first place… Most people are brave and solid. With the current power of Titans and the [problems with spatial anomalies], a large scale victory is not currently possible. We have a wide variety of tactics that we are confident will bring us eventual victory. But a two-year war would not be a surprise.”