It has been almost a whole year since the Elarel massacre, where over 300 Gallentean dignitaries and entertainment industry personnel were slaughtered. This incident, one of the worst terrorist atrocities in living memory, was the handiwork of the UDI (United against Decadence and Impurity), a group who has claimed responsibility for countless terrorist incidents in Federation space over recent years.
Ever since the attack in Elarel, President Foiritan has waged war on their activities, a war which he seemed to be winning with the capture of the suspected orchestrator of the attacks, one Goran Mitelek.
Try as he might, however, Foiritan couldn’t hold onto him. Mitelek was extradited to the Amarr Empire to face separate charges, much to the displeasure of the outraged Federation population, 87% of whom wanted him prosecuted for his crimes.
His extradition should have been the end of it, but an attack on the prison convoy escorting him has left a lot of questions unanswered. How did it happen, what exactly transpired, but perhaps most importantly, “Is Goran Mitelek dead”? The only thing recovered from the wreck of the prison transport ship was unidentifiable biomass, which could have come from any one of the hundreds of personnel on that ship. Only a fraction could be positively identified.
Scattered security camera footage from the ship showed what appeared to be an Amarr Navy officer attacking another officer in the corridors of the ship barely a few minutes before the ship succumbed to enemy fire. The Navy has fiercely denied this, saying that the footage is misleading as the ship was shaking heavily under enemy fire at the time.
What is most curious about this whole series of events is that since that attack the UDI appear to have gone underground, their activities all but halted. The Federation Navy claims that this is due to their actions in rooting out the terrorists, cutting their supplies and making it harder for them to operate. Regardless of whether this is true or not, many doubt that the UDI is truly gone. One prominent citizen was last week quoted as saying “I’m not sure whether I like this more than back when their acts were commonplace. Nowadays I find myself looking over my shoulder wondering where they are hiding, or if one of my loved ones is their next victim”. Clearly, a year after they achieved notoriety, the UDI's name still carries an image of fear.