Karishal's Defiance ended

PROVIDENCE – The war between Ushra’Khan and Curatores Veritatis Alliance took a new turn on Wednesday, and continues unabated with CVA taking control of the station system QR-K85 earlier.

CVA had declared war on Imperial Order following a succession of incidents in the former's space that led IO to join forces with U'K but this appeared not enough to stem the tide.

The initial target of the CVA and its allies appeared to be more of a strike at morale rather than a tactical push, with their initial focus on capturing the outpost home to the remains of the deceased leader of The Defiants, Karishal Muritor. The Outpost was named “Karishal’s Defiance” as a mark of tribute to the fallen leader.

Fighting was fierce between the two sides with PIE Inc, Aegis Militia and Vigilia Valeria joining CVA on their offensive. U’K started to lose ground despite the help of the Imperial Order, Electus Matari, Fimbulwinter, Chaos Incarnate and The Star Fraction in defending the system.

According to observers, U’K had been asking for help from numerous entities and received assistance from a variety of forces including EM, CI, Namtz'aar K'in, the Littlest Hobos, IO and numerous independents including Mori Felding as well as SF.

Even with this aid, the battles continued and U’K seemed incapable of stemming the flood of CVA and its allies, with some losses considered to have been avoidable and blamed on the inexperience of young fleet commanders.

Despite accusations from both sides of the conflict that U’K were not as committed to defending their space as they should be this does not tell the whole story. The Herculean efforts of EveJoker did not go unnoticed by combatants and one of the few times that he took a break from proceedings led to erroneous reports that SF were in control of the defences. He was ably assisted in the fight by Aequitas Harbinger of IO and Algey of the Littlest Hobos but their tactical nous was not enough to beat back the advancing horde.

News just in indicates that the QR-K85 Outpost “Karishal’s Defiance” was captured and renamed to “Karishal’s Folly”, by Amarrian paramilitary forces earlier on Wednesday. This could lead to a huge upswing in the conflict with Amarr forces attacking what they percieve to be terrorists, whilst at the same time looking to protect their commercial interests. Regardless, Ushra'Khan desperately need to defend their nearby systems which are now under threat.

As a result of recent developments, "The Voices of Matar' held a protest rally against the current government of the Republic. The rally, which took place in Lustrivek V – Republic Justice Department Law School, threatened to spill over into violence.
A report on the rally is forthcoming.