Amarrian slave traders Imperial Human Resources announced today that they will no longer be conducting business with pod pilots. The decision comes after a series of violent attacks on IHR shipping orchestrated by the Brutor Freedom Front and their leader Alger Skaven.
Speaking from his office in Sharhelund, IHR CEO Malachi Bolden stated that the decision was made after “much deliberation and prayer” following his corporation’s failure to pacify Skaven in The Bleak Lands last week. On December 7th, Bolden’s fleet of warships made an attempt to capture Skaven’s capsule in Kourmonen. The fleet, which consisted of five Apocalypse-class battleships and four smaller escort craft, was met by the Brutor Freedom Front and nearly thirty representatives from the capsuleer alliances Electus Matari and Fimbulwinter, among others. IHR forces lost all nine of their ships in the proceeding battle.
During the course of the press conference, Bolden repeatedly emphasized the insignificance of his corporation’s recent losses, claiming they alone did not influence IHR’s newest move. “It is true that Skaven and his band of terrorist scum have made business difficult for my company over the past few weeks,” he said, “but I would like to assure our loyal customers and shareholders that the Brutor Freedom Front has not so much as made a dent in our overall gross earnings.”
When asked about continued accusations of illegal slave trade made by several Minmatar pod pilots on GalNet, Bolden responded: “the terrorists cannot hope to justify any attack made on our peaceful trade vessels. Imperial Human Resources operates under perfectly legal circumstances and we consider our business bound by all laws and regulations enforced by CONCORD.”
“Over the past month we have seen an alarming increase in the amount of reported terrorist activity in and around our area of operation,” he said. “My own experiences with the Brutor Freedom Front and their supporters certainly seem to reinforce such statistics. If the situation continues to decline, my humble enterprise will begin to encounter substantial self-defense and logistics issues that we are not currently prepared to face.” Bolden punctuated his final statements by claiming that his corporation’s new policy was “not a sign of cowardice but rather a precautionary measure.”
IHR shares fell 1.4% following the announcement. The corporation first started selling slaves to pod pilots six weeks ago.