Continued from the first half of YC110, available here.
June
June of the year YC110 was not to be a month of anti-climax when set against the revolutionary events of May, though many might have wished it had been when the dust of events settled. The first few days were full of problems but the pace of events was to accelerate beyond imagining on a day that any history of New Eden will surely count as the most tumultuous for centuries, if not ever.
It started with the Minmatar Republic slipping further into chaos and the Caldari State seeing Gallente fleeing in the face of Tibus Heth's ascendancy. The Angel Cartel in Skarkon held a referendum on its presence as the ruling power that showed the population to back them and not Karin Midular's Republic. Krusual Tribe militia were fired on by Republic Fleet vessels on the Minmatar-Ammatar border as the government and military tried to stop total disintegration and war from breaking out.
Political Turmoil
Tibus Heth, waxing in power, declared a national draft, invoking the Malkalen Disaster as evidence of the need for the Caldari State to defend itself. Violence on Caldari Prime flared up once more as the sight of Gallentes fleeing the State caused anti-Caldari riots on the troubled planet. President Souro Foiritan was moved to decree martial law on Caldari Prime and pointed to Tibus Heth as the responsible party for 'inciting' the violence.
With the Republic lurching out of control, and the State and Federation at odds, the Amarr Empire seemed momentarily to be uniquely serene among the great empires of the core. This serenity was rudely shattered by the news that a large population of Starkmanir had been discovered among the slave population of the Ammatar Mandate. Thought all but extinct after a campaign of extermination by the Amarr centuries ago, the discovery of a viable population of surviving Starkmanir within territories essentially controlled by the Amarr came as an astonishing surprise.
Confirmed by the Servant Sisters of EVE and Minmatar biotech corporation Eiyr & Co, the news transfixed the Minmatar Republic, with Prime Minister Karin Midular acknowledging the news and welcoming the pledge by Amarr Court Chamberlain Dochuta Karsoth to do everything possible to preserve the Starkmanir. Others in the Republic expressed dismay at how readily Midular moved to work with the Amarr on the Starkmanir issue. The Speaker of the Republic Parliament, Maleatu Shakor, long a critic of the government and what he considered policies of 'appeasement,' called an emergency session of Parliament to hold a vote of no confidence in the administration of Karin Midular.
Amid violent scenes, the vote was tallied and found to be overwhelmingly in favour of the no-confidence motion. In response, Karin Midular dissolved the Republic Parliament and declared Maleatu Shakor to be "expelled" from government. As news of the dissolution of the Parliament spread, riots erupted across the Republic with citizens enraged by the lack of action on the Starkmanir issue. Curiously, within a day the Angel Cartel was to abandon its claim to Skarkon, leaving many facilities behind it. Despite this, Shakor commented that the Skarkon issue was one of many that led to the vote of no confidence in the Midular government.
As the Republic found itself convulsed by political turmoil, Chamberlain Karsoth moved to assert his control over the situation within the Amarr Empire, recalling Admiral Vanazir Saracen to the Throne Worlds and putting Saracen's Amarr 7th Fleet on stand-by. Echoes of the Theology Council Justices affair were seen when Karsoth detained Admiral Saracen on charges of high treason as soon as the latter arrived in Amarr. The 7th Fleet was swiftly reassigned from the Bleak Lands to duties in the Aridia region, justified by the lack of any Defiants activity for over a week.
Even though former Republic Admiral Kanth Filmir spoke out in support of Karin Midular the day before, the ninth day of June saw the disappearance of the Prime Minister and ended with the Gallente Federation losing all diplomatic contact with the Minmatar Republic. This perplexing state of affairs, taken with Karin Midular's absence, seemed to indicate the total collapse of the Minmatar administration. In fact, it indicated the faint traces of something far more than the mere fall of a government.
110.06.10
110.06.10 is a date that it is inconceivable could ever be forgotten by the New Eden cluster. It is the date that more than any other defines the year YC110 and perhaps can be considered the beginning of a new era, a new age.
The fulcrum around which the day revolved was the unprecedented neutralization of CONCORD, an unthinkable happening in the political and military order of New Eden and yet one which did indeed take place. Early in the morning, Yulai was invaded once more by a combined Minmatar-Thukker fleet, once more unidentified and once more apparently using jump drives and portals somehow bypassing the cynosural jamming technology used by CONCORD to secure the system. The instant the invading fleet arrived, CONCORD shut down the stargates leading to Yulai and mobilized its entire fleet. Given the size and power of the Minmatar-Thukker fleet that entered Yulai that morning, it is doubtful any measures could have been taken by CONCORD to stop what happened next.
As the Naglafar-class dreadnoughts of the invading fleet began to pound the CONCORD Bureau station, their escorts engaged the CONCORD defence forces. Casualties in those first moments of intense, close-quarter space warfare were massive on both sides, but the invaders were to prevail. As the defenses of CONCORD's shining star of a headquarters were crippled and overwhelmed, the entire CONCORD network failed. When the Minmatar capitals delivered the death blow, the CONCORD rapid-reaction system - foundation of peace in New Eden for decades - was disabled, leaving DED forces reliant on fast deployment, out of position and effectively impotent. Their work done, the assault force retreated back through their portals leaving their awesome flagship, a Ragnarok-class Titan, to unleash its Gjallarhorn doomsday weapon just before it departed Yulai, ensuring the absolute destruction of the CONCORD Bureau and any remaining defense vessels.
Despite the destruction, an evacuation of the station had been possible and a majority of the CONCORD Assembly delegates were later found alive. Search and rescue vessels combed the system as the Inner Circle took the precaution of evacuating their own station and relocating to an unknown location on Yulai VIII. Surviving CONCORD vessels were able to report a total absence of Minmatar and Thukker vessels in the system. With CONCORD looking to its own, the effects of a crashed network and the absence of DED enforcement ships began to be felt. Jita, for some the hub of New Eden itself, experienced the consequences in short order, with pirates flooding into the system to take advantage of the opportunity to plunder without interruption from CONCORD battleships. In some respects, the Jita market crashing, along with most others across the cluster, as SCC systems went offline was a minor matter.
The Minmatar Fleet
Analysts would later recognize the strike at CONCORD to be a means to an end, rather than an act with any element of political significance in itself, for the next step in the broader plan was not long in coming as events shifted to encompass the Ammatar Mandate and the fate of the Starkmanir. Taking the Ammatar Fleet by surprise, a Minmatar-Thukker armada jumped into Jarizza system and, after making short work of the scattered Ammatar patrol groups, began deploying across the system. In particular, the invaders massed the bulk of their force over the planet Halturzhan (Jarizza IV), where the surviving Starkmanir had been discovered.
As waves of dropships descended on the planet to recover the Starkmanir, unconfirmed reports carried the news that the Ammatar Consulate Governor, Ana Utulf, was encouraging her citizens to defect to the invaders. This turned out to be true and probably accounts for the notable lack of resistance to the Minmatar incursion into Ammatar space and on the ground. Of course, the presence in the field of a Ragnarok-class Titan may also have factored into the successes of the invaders.
Barely had the Amarr registered the incursion into Ammatar space when they had to deal with a second Minmatar-Thukker armada in the heartlands of the Empire. Also backed by a Ragnarok-class, this fleet struck at Kor-Azor Prime, a core system and home of the Royal House of Kor-Azor. Heavy space-fighting across the region was seen as elements of the invading fleet sought to deal with the dispersed Kor-Azor forces before they could regroup. Landings took place on the heavily-populated planet of Eclipticum, and the Kor-Azor Family Bureau Station was taken by Minmatar shock troops.
Panic seemed to grip the Empire as rumors of a third Minmatar-Thukker armada swept the Domain region, causing Amarr troops to begin mass executions of slaves in Sarum Prime. As the presence of just such a third invasion fleet was confirmed and fierce fighting erupted in Sarum Prime, the Imperial Navy appeared to rally and began to mass forces in Sarum Prime in an effort to make a stand.
In the Minmatar Republic, a state of stupefied confusion among the populace gave way to chaotic rejoicing as the news of the invasions and the rescue of the Starkmanir overtook the disturbing news of defections in the Ammatar Mandate. As it became clear that the Amarr Empire was being beaten on multiple fronts by Minmatar-Thukker invasion forces, and the armadas were reported to be led by the legendary Elders, the celebrations took on a frenzied, almost primal air.
In the background of these celebrations, more sinister events were taking place as literally hundreds of government officials at every level of the Republic apparatus were assassinated in what has become known as 'The Purge.' Every corpse left behind by the assassins had a dossier of evidence with it purporting to show the complicity of the victim with the Amarr Empire's efforts to infiltrate, destabilize and control the Republic. This deeply controversial aspect of events in the Republic is a topic seldom spoken of since that day.
As the Imperial Navy desperately assessed the movements and strength of the invaders - military analysts discovering that decisive engagements had taken place in the Bleak Lands, Derelik and Kador before the invasion fleets arrived at their primary targets - all prospect of successfully counter-attacking in the Kor-Azor region collapsed with an assault in the Andrub system leaving the Ministry of War station, hub of the regional command, offline. Sarum Prime became the entire focus of the Amarr Empire's defense and the Imperial Navy continued to marshal its forces with that in mind.
The Caldari Invasion
With CONCORD neutralized and two empires seemingly engaged in a fight to the death, another empire decided to seize the opportunity to act. Thus was the Caldari Invasion of the Gallente Federation launched, even as the Amarr Empire looked to rally its forces against the Minmatar invaders. The Caldari State invaded in force at the Kassigainen border crossing, using multiple jump portals as well as the stargate.
The Gallente Federation had no inkling that a task force numbering in the thousands of ships was approaching their border until the invasion force had crossed over. The total failure of the Federation early-warning system known as "Tripwire" echoed many technological failures on this day, not least the ease with which CONCORD's defensive strategy was bypassed. Hard lessons were being learned on all sides but the Federation was perhaps to be forced into learning the hardest ones of all.
Within half an hour of the Caldari task force crossing the border it entered Luminaire, the home system of the Gallente Federation and ancestral home system of the Caldari people. No Federation forces of sufficient strength to stop it could be mustered in time. A Leviathan-class Titan and capitals from all of the Big Eight megacorporations spearheaded the invasion. The thousands-strong force proceeded to lock down the system and impose an unbreakable blockade, despite the best desperate efforts of Federation Navy reinforcements.
In a move that some might consider rather cursory, the Gallente Senate in Villore declared war on the Caldari Senate in an emergency session called by Senator Mentas Blaque. Panic erupted elsewhere in the Federation, as the news of full-scale invasion by Caldari forces spread over the news feeds, urgently replacing accounts of the shocking events elsewhere in New Eden. Federation systems in the assumed path of the invasion suffered the greatest chaos and transit systems were effectively paralyzed as citizens made to flee from the invaders. In the Caldari State, the news was equally shocking but provoked a strange solemnity in the citizenry, as if the Caldari people were only now understanding what it meant to be at war again.
The Gallente response to the invasion rested on two main planks: the first resistance within Luminaire itself and the second a counter-thrust by the Federation Navy. In respect of Luminaire, the Caldari Navy concentrated on maintaining the blockade, which it successfully held throughout the invasion, and on gaining control of Caldari Prime. Bloody as the invasion was, the horrors that would have attended an assault on the densely-populated Gallente Prime were not unleashed. Yet an assault on a populated planet was undertaken nonetheless and the Caldari Navy's first move was a bombardment of Caldari Prime's defenses, a bombardment replete with irony in more ways than one.
As the Caldari Navy carried out its bombardment of the Caldari Prime defenses and established its superiority in Luminaire space beyond all doubt, the Federation Navy began its counterthrust. Recognizing that a relief of Luminaire was unattainable, President Foiritan authorized his forces to converge on Tierijev, a system under Caldari control that stood astride a route leading to the heart of the State. As the Federation Navy hastened to its new objective, Caldari dropships were entering the atmosphere of Caldari Prime and mechanized infantry were soon to be landing in the cities of Tovil and Arcurio.
Then, quite suddenly, President Souro Foiritan called off the counterattack in Tierijev. Within a quarter of an hour of that order, the Gallente Federation ceded control of Caldari Prime to the Caldari State and Tibus Heth personally raised the State flag over the city of Arcurio. All this is believed to have followed negotiations between Souro Foiritan and Tibus Heth. While the precise details of those negotiations remain under diplomatic seal, it is alleged that Heth threatened to bomb Gallente populations centers in Luminaire if Foiritan did not accede to his demands.
Hostilities on Caldari Prime came to an end at 16:00 EST, the agreed truce coming into full effect with all sides under ceasefire orders. The truce stipulating that the Caldari State's claims are for Caldari Prime alone, the bulk of their navy forces began to withdraw almost immediately from Federation space. With the blockade of Luminaire lifted, the Federation Navy was able to shadow the main Caldari force while discovering that the Leviathan-class Titan and its escorts remained in orbit around Caldari Prime.
Mekhios
The humiliation of Souro Foiritan and the Gallente Federation was achieved in a lightning strike typical of Caldari military doctrine, but elsewhere in New Eden heavy space fighting had taken on the aspect of a brutal grind. The Imperial Navy, rallying its forces above the planet Mekhios (Sarum Prime III), engaged the enormous Minmatar-Thukker armada in orbit there with determined fury. By the time the Caldari-Gallente conflict had effectively been settled, the warfare above Mekhios had become a grim stalemate, the Minmatar Ragnarok's doomsday weapon rendered impotent by the continuous stream of dropships laden with rescued slaves returning from Mekhios.
The breaking of this stalemate was perhaps the most astonishing event in a day filled with hitherto unthinkable happenings. Even as the Caldari Navy withdrew back to the State, the Amarr Imperial Navy began to retreat from its positions over Mekhios. The Elder-led fleet disdained pursuit and held its own position as the Amarr warped away. Perhaps assuming the Imperial Navy to be broken, the Minmatar-Thukker taskforce continued its work and redoubled efforts to rescue the many slaves on Mekhios.
Perhaps the commanders of the invasion fleet were puzzled by the appearance of a lone squadron of only thirteen Amarr battleships over Mekhios, but we will never know what they thought when they realized what their overviews were telling them about the identity of the lead Amarr ship's commander. Jamyl Sarum, returned from the dead, leading a squadron of battleships against an entire Minmatar-Thukker armada. The impact this news had on the New Eden cluster when it spread across the news feeds was powerful enough. How it affected the men of that armada can only be conjectured. For analysis of telescopes, detector arrays and fragments of holodata all point to one thing: a massive explosion above Mekhios destroyed that entire invasion fleet. No ship survived, no-one survived.
With their fleet destroyed, the Minmatar forces on the surface of Mekhios were doomed. Amarr retaliation was swift and merciless, crushing the invaders. The woes of Mekhios were not ended, though, as vast quantities of wreckage from battle and the destroyed armada began to fall into the atmosphere, wreaking havoc across the planet. Jamyl Sarum's victory here had come at a price.
Perceiving that the Amarr had gained the upper hand by virtue of Jamyl Sarum's possession of a weapon of terrible power, even if the nature of that weapon was not fully understood, the remaining Elder fleets elected to retreat from their positions in Kor-Azor and Derelik. The Imperial Navy pursued with Jamyl Sarum at their head. As the invaders became the hunted, an act of heroism by the Defiants rebels allowed the retreating fleets to gain ground. Engaging the pursuing Amarr forces in a desperate holding action, the Minmatar freedom fighters paid with their lives to buy precious time for their Minmatar and Thukker comrades. When the Imperial Navy once more took up the pursuit of the Elder fleets, no trace of the Defiants remained.
CONCORD's network comes back online
Appropriately enough, the final act of the day mirrored the first as CONCORD finally restored its rapid-reaction capability and brought its networks back on line. Issuing a cease and desist order to all combatants, CONCORD designated the Minmatar-Thukker fleets as mercenaries charged with "crimes against humanity." They alone could be engaged at will. The CONCORD Assembly was not finished, however, as it invoked the "Emergency Militia War Powers Act," providing for the four empires to form capsuleer militias. In this way were the State Protectorate, Federal Defense Union, Tribal Liberation Force and 24th Imperial Crusade brought into being.
While the Imperial Navy pursued the fleeing Elder fleets to the border with the Minmatar Republic, Jamyl Sarum chose to heed the call of CONCORD and avoid a confrontation with the Republic itself, pulling up the Amarr forces at the Vard stargate in Ezzara system. The Elder fleet was allowed to pass through Republic space without contest, the Republic Fleet refusing to engage Minmatar-Thukker armada no matter what criminal status CONCORD may have given it.
As the dust of 110.06.10 began to settle, reports indicated that the Elders had rescued the entire Starkmanir population together with tens of millions of other slaves. Amarr Court Chamberlain Dochuta Karsoth was found to be missing with his once-loyal Ministry of Internal Order searching for him. As Jamyl Sarum's fleets began to return home, the Order of St. Tetrimon took it upon itself to speak for the Amarr, with Grand Master Horm declaring that: "God's children rejoice as His light returns home, and the light shall bring death and despair on His enemies."
The Aftermath
The aftermath of 110.06.10 in the Amarr Empire included fearful reprisals against those rebellious slaves that were left behind when the Elder fleets retreated. Thousands upon thousands of rebels were killed as the Imperial Navy used orbital bombardment to eliminate any holdouts. Military mobilization in the Khanid Kingdom was suspended as it became clear that no incursions had taken place in its territory, and Khanid II calmed the population with an address to the Kingdom. As Jamyl Sarum's return from the dead was absorbed it met with mixed reactions within the Empire. Her apparent failure to properly observe the ritual of Shathol'Syn - requiring the suicide of all remaining Royal Heirs on the accession of a new Emperor to the throne - constituted a religious crime. Yet counterbalancing this was the critical role Sarum had assumed in halting and repelling the Minmatar invaders.
While the Amarr Empire recovered itself, reports of a new region of space opening up in the volume of space known as "Black Rise" were confirmed. Convinced of their strength, the Caldari State opened up the new region they had secretly colonized and showed the Gallente Federation that yet another border with the State now existed. Concerned with affairs within the Federation, President Souro Foiritan addressed the nation and revealed the treachery of Grand Admiral Anvent Eturrer, promising to bring him to justice and pledging to restore the dignity of the Federation.
Even though the formal militaries of the empires had ceased belligerent operations, it soon became clear that the newly-formed capsuleer militias would lose no time in fighting across the territories of all four nations. Fleets of capsuleers numbering in the hundreds clashed across Black Rise and the Bleak Lands in particular, with the State Protectorate and 24th Imperial Crusade allying against the Federal Defence Union and Tribal Liberation Force.
Despite the misgivings of some in the Amarr Empire, the Royal Heirs of Ardishapur, Kador, Kor-Azor and Tash-Murkon backed Jamyl Sarum's claim to the Imperial Throne, waiving their own rights to contest the succession by trial. In the absence of a Court Chamberlain, Aritcio Kor-Azor, as son of the last Emperor Doriam II, appointed the interim Chamberlain Hemirin. The Theology Council was soon petitioned by Court Chamberlain Hemirin to approve his declaration of Jamyl Sarum as Empress-elect. Moving swiftly, the Theology Council confirmed the validity of the nomination of Jamyl Sarum and authorized the Chamberlain to hold the Imperial Coronation as soon as possible.
Republic Parliament and the occupation of Caldari Prime
Even as the order of things seemed to be overturned in the Amarr Empire, the Minmatar Republic was re-adjusting itself to the new reality. Having called an emergency session of the Republic Parliament, Sebiestor Chief and former Prime Minister Karin Midular called for elections to be held as soon as possible. Keitan Yun, now a hero to many, asked Maleatu Shakor to return to the Republic. Within a few days, Shakor did just this, at the head of a large fleet, and was escorted by the Republic Fleet to Matar, where he was welcomed by Karin Midular and the other tribal chiefs.
Named as the unity candidate for the premiership of the Minmatar Republic, Maleatu Shakor ran unopposed in an election that took place within a week of his return. The turnout was the lowest on record for 30 years but counting, although a formality, was scheduled to take some days.
As the terrible and fantastic month of June in the year YC110 drew to a close, the occupation of Caldari Prime acquired a settled and routine air, with the remaining Gallente military forced into hiding. The months ahead would see guerrilla warfare, mass imprisonments and all the problems of occupation on Caldari Prime.
July
July opened with the official declaration of the election of Maleatu Shakor as Prime Minister of the Minmatar Republic. Almost as if the pitch and pace of events from May through June could not be maintained by a fatigued New Eden, the month saw little to astonish. The warring capsuleer militias kept up a steady battle across contested systems, with some seeing occupation while others were relieved by militias supporting their sovereign powers. The Theology Council decided to recall various artifacts from the Bleak Lands, now a region more dangerous than ever it was when the Blood Raiders roamed its spaceways.
Street violence was a minor theme of the month, as Federation citizens gave vent to feelings of anger and humiliation in the wake of the Caldari Invasion and the occupation of Caldari Prime. In the Republic too, gangs of youths roamed, using their idolatry of Shakor and the tragic Defiants as an excuse to vent their feelings. Perhaps the whole cluster was gripped with the need to express pent up anger; even the Mordu's Legion mercenary company experienced a surge in recruitment.
August
August saw the idolatry of Maleatu Shakor result in tragedy as a pair of foolish youths blinded themselves in imitation of the old white-eyed hero. Elsewhere in the Republic, many Minmatar were so inspired by the appearance of the legendary Elders that they set out as 'pilgrims' to the Great Wildlands, where the Minmatar-Thukker fleets were believed to have gone. At least one such convoy was to go missing in the course of the month.
Huola system became the focus of warfare between the 24th Imperial Crusade and the Tribal Liberation Force, as the Amarr searched for a missing Ammatar scientist, Dresen Karnell, believed shot down in the system at the end of July. Karnell was eventually found and extracted, and the incident demonstrated the usefulness of militias to the empires in achieving delicate objectives.
The occupation of Caldari Prime took a turn for the worse as Gallente resistance fighters turned to bombings and used the tactics of a guerrilla insurgency in the face of the well-equipped and large Caldari military. The death toll rose steadily throughout the month, which ended with the grim revelation of a secret prison set up by the Caldari occupation force in an abandoned underwater arcology.
September
September got underway with a building backlash against the Federation military erupting into plain sight, as an emergency summit held in Villore became the focal point of Gallente criticism of the Navy's performance during the Caldari Invasion. Acting to head off the anger of citizens across the Federation before it destabilized his government further, President Souro Foiritan announced the formation of a new division within the FIO, the "Special Department of Internal Investigations and Federal Security," headed by Senator Mentas Blaque, one-time bitter rival of Souro Foiritan but an undoubted patriot. With its rather unwieldy name and a logo consisting of a plain black Federation eagle, the new organization soon became known as the "Black Eagles."
The Minmatar Republic saw subtle but definite change with the inauguration of Prime Minister Maleatu Shakor as "Sanmatar" of the Minmatar people. A title resurrected from the days of the Minmatar Empire, the Sanmatar was de facto head of state in the old empire, with the role of mediating between the tribes and guiding the nation as a whole. The transformation of the office of Prime Minister into something harking back to tribal times met with a mixed reaction within the Republic and beyond.
In the Caldari State, Tibus Heth's program of reforms had been in place long enough for an independent audit to assess them and give a positive report on their effects. A cautious reaction to this outside the State was of little interest to State citizens, who enthusiastically backed the Heth program. The Amarr Empire's Chamberlain Hemirin announced the coronation of Jamyl Sarum for the Twenty-Sixth of September, but despite much preparation it was later postponed until the first week of October.
October
The first week of October was a time of rejoicing for the Amarr Empire as Jamyl Sarum was crowned Empress Jamyl I in the Cathedral of St. Kuria the Prophet on Amarr Prime. Coronation proclamations followed, confirming Merimeth Sarum as the new Royal Heir of House Sarum and appointing Sarum Hose Steward Pomik Haromi as Empress Jamyl's new Court Chamberlain. The Ministry of Internal Order released the footage of the coronation across the Empire so that all of the Empress's subjects could watch the awe-inspiring event.
The Chief Executive Panel of the Caldari State got on with more mundane affairs, as it established a Reform Guidance Board to oversee the Provist reforms of the Caldari State in the absence on sick leave of Caldari Providence Directorate COO Janus Bravour.
November
November was to demonstrate just how mutable the politics of the New Eden cluster had become. Even in relatively small matters, such as the involvement of Royal Heirs Uriam Kador and Yonis Ardishapur in the campaigning of the 24th Imperial Crusade, or the strange corporate scandals that collapsed the Caldari State's Reform Guidance Board, events seemed to pile up with a new urgency. Perhaps after 110.06.10, even at five months' remove, people believed that almost anything could spark tumultuous change.
Kador Incursion
Shocking as the Kador Incursion was, perhaps it was not quite so startling as once it would have been. Alert watchers of interstellar events might have felt something was in the wind when a 200-strong Amarr fleet was in the Tash-Murkon region, and the ruling house of that vast demesne declared they had no knowledge of the fleet nor any Imperial Navy exercises in their territory. The astute would have felt something unusual was definitely afoot when a similarly-sized force was detected in the Aridia region.
It was surely a surprise, however, when this fleet of Amarr warships was sighted crossing into Gallente Federation space. Reportedly under the orders of Amarr Royal Heir Uriam Kador, the fleet made for the Ratillose system and, upon arrival there, engaged in heavy fighting with the Gallente defense forces. As the news of the incursion was confirmed, the Imperial Navy declared the fleet 'rogue,' acting without the sanction of the Ministry of War and not representing the Amarr Empire.
Whatever the Kador plan may have been - and the reason for the attack does remain obscure still - it was thwarted by a massive Federation counterattack as an Erebus-class Titan and accompanying Federation Navy forces moved to destroy the invading fleet. Outnumbered at least four to one and sustaining heavy losses, the Kador began to retreat immediately. Commanding the counter-attack, Federation Grand Admiral Anteson Ranchel declared that the Kador fleet would not be allowed to return to Amarr territory. Whether some surviving elements did eventually limp back or not, the Grand Admiral's promise was substantially made good and the Gallente Federation was able to claim a 'decisive victory.'
The penalty for miscalculating so badly was initially a reprimand for Uriam Kador from Empress Jamyl I and the confiscation of what remained of the House Kador fleet. This last caused some comment and it was noted that the Empress appeared to be bringing back into force the old edict of Emperor Heideran VII against military fleets independent of the Imperial Navy. In the Gallente Federation, President Souro Foiritan declared the Navy ready to protect the Federation with "terrible force" and suggested that further action might be forthcoming.
Gallente Response
It was not too much later in November when that further action materialized, as a Federation Navy fleet moved in force across the Aridia border. With Amarr Navy vessels monitoring their movements, but not moving to intercept, the 100-strong fleet headed for Kador Prime. The Federation Navy forces were able to overwhelm what was left of the Kador defense fleet and sent boarding troops into the Kador Family Bureau station in orbit around Kador Prime I. Shortly thereafter the Federation fleet withdrew, its mission apparently successful, and departed Kador Prime, heading for the Gallente Federation with no more interference from the Imperial Navy than before.
Later that day, President Souro Foiritan addressed the Federation to announce the capture of the traitor Grand Admiral Anvent Eturrer. It transpired that the extraction of the renegade Federation officer was the primary goal of the operation in Kador Prime and with this, and the dissolution of the Kador fleet, the Federation considered the matter of the Kador Incursion closed.
For its part, the Amarr Empire maintained an inscrutable silence throughout the affair. Empress Jamyl I's next public declaration concerned the Ammatar Mandate, which she placed under the direct authority of Royal Heir Yonis Ardishapur.
December
December opened with the Federation citizenry rallying enthusiastically behind their government and military in the wake of recent defensive and offensive operations, not to mention the capture of the reviled Anvent Eturrer. In contrast, the Caldari State was wracked with uncertainty about its economy and the occupation of Caldari Prime continued to be problematic, with the Gallente resistance found to be receiving substantial offworld support.
The Amarr Empire was to see further political developments as the Empress appointed Aritcio Kor-Azor to the post of Imperial Chancellor and Yonis Ardishapur began to take control of the Ammatar Mandate, sweeping out the failed Ammatar nobility and placing his own vassals in positions of authority.
Unusual news of large-scale operations carried out against the Blood Raider Covenant by the Royal Khanid Navy led to an even more astonishing revelation. After intense fighting and massive losses on both sides, The Khanid Kingdom was able to send the renegade ex-Chamberlain Dochuta Karsoth in chains to its Amarr allies. That the disgraced Chamberlain had chosen to hide among the heretical Blood Raiders confirmed the rumors that had been whispered in the Empire since his disappearance. Empress Jamyl I expressed her deep gratitude to King Khanid II, and the Kingdom and Empire seemed closer than ever before.
The final days of the year saw three remarkable events, but one of these towered above all others. On the 25th day of December YC110, the traitors Anvent Eturrer and Dochuta Karsoth were executed by their respective governments. The heretic and former Chamberlain was extraordinarily permitted the small dignity of an execution held behind closed doors. In this, perhaps Jamyl Sarum thought to send a message. In the Gallente Federation, the renegade Federation Navy officer was put to death in a quite different fashion. Anvent Eturrer was publicly executed in the most grotesque fashion that the Federation could devise, as a sound-sensitive chemical agent disrupted the very cells of his body in response to the roars of the watching crowds. The contrast between these executions was not lost on anyone.
While President Foiritan may have considered his work for the day done, the Empress of Amarr did not. For following the execution of Karsoth, she made a declaration that was so unexpected it could hardly have been a more fitting finale to a year of so many unexpected events. By Imperial decree, Empress Jamyl I ordered the emancipation of all slaves of 9th generation and upwards, with the additional emancipation of all slaves working as academics or theologians. Dominating the remainder of the year, the emancipation edict's most immediate effect was to provoke rejoicing among former slaves. Its longer-term effects remain to be seen but as a sign of the ability of Empress Jamyl I to make radical change it cannot be understated.