Disputed Intel Implicated in Titan Execution
WY-9LL, Fountain - Divine Retribution [DVRN], a Sons of Tangra [SOT] alliance corporation, gave the order to hot-drop and destroy one of their own Avatar-class titans last week. The titan pilot, Hurley, was thought at the time to be defecting to IT Alliance, but she claims adamantly that this was untrue due to a long and well-known emnity between herself and several IT Alliance member corporations.
A joint force from Sons of Tangra and allies Pandemic Legion engaged the super-capital at a control tower belonging to SOT corporation Bulgarian Mafia Squad. The tower was offlined by its owners before some 60 pilots engaged the titan, including 17 dreadnoughts, 5 supporting carriers and a pair of Broadsword heavy interdictors to prevent its escape.
Hurley initially took no action, stating "I doomsdayed when I was in structure, because until I was in structure I thought it was all a joke."
The Judgement blast from the titan destroyed multiple offline structures on the control tower but inflicted minimal damage to the attacking fleet, which were fitted to engage a titan and thus heavily defended.
It is not the death of this titan, however, but the reasons for it that mark it out as something of interest. Intelligence was relayed to DVRN CEO grappler that Hurley was planning to leave DVRN and join their enemies, IT Alliance. A mail was sent to Sons of Tangra command declaring Hurley a viable target.
Grappler stated: "It's not an SOT thing. I made the call based on the evidence I had at the time." He went on to say "There will be no further statements by myself or any of directors and SOT leadership has told its members not to comment about this on CAOD. Any statements by myself or SOT leadership will be twisted and contorted by the IT propaganda machine, so for now I decline your request for an interview."
Hurley has a long history of an intense and frequently-expressed dislike for Band of Brothers, its leadership and subsequent incarnations such as IT Alliance (which houses the original core corporations of Band of Brothers) since she was expelled from Black Nova Corp some years ago.
"In my time in 0.0 I have witnessed more than my fair share of backstabbing, spying and [politics]. I had joined SOT for the purpose of being a no-one, a whisper in the background. I wanted no important roles, expectations or responsibilities... I choose SOT because they were a small fish with some 0.0 space and enough [fighting] to enjoy."
A member of IT Alliance had apparently asked internally if their friend "hurley" could join; it's unconfirmed whether this refers to Hurley the titan pilot or is someone else known by the same or similar handle, but IT Alliance members assert that Hurley-of-DVRN was never invited to join, had not approached them about membership and would not have been accepted if she had.
Hurley had been inactive for two weeks prior to the incident and claims to have been planning to sell her titan but not to leave Sons of Tangra. Her roles were revoked due to inactivity by DVRN command staff, but rumours appear to have spread rapidly that she removed them herself. Hurley claims to have started loading her assets into the titan to evacuate them in case she was expelled and unable to retrieve them from stations and control tower hangars later on. It was during this process that the titan was engaged and destroyed.
While reimbursement of the titan has certainly been brought up within DVRN, there has been no official statement as to any outcome or the factors considered in the decision.
Espionage and intelligence are common, even vital aspects of nul-sec warfare and internal communications are known to be read by both sides of a conflict. Given this situation and the level of wariness it instills, was such an outcome as Hurley's death inevitable?
Hurley stated "[Old pilots] quit... for reasons other than boredom. I believe that the [fighting] never gets boring; it's the political garbage that burns out old [captains]. They then try it on their own or go back to empire and die out there, because it just isn't the same for them anymore."
"Will I quit? Probably not, but I do want to give up on 0.0 now and that could possibly lead to the end of my career. Is it worth it? For me, not anymore. I could buy another titan, but why?"
GalNet References
Sons of Tangra Battle Record - note that the "Friendly" and "Hostile" columns are disrupted by the friendly status of the titan.
Hurley Dead - CAOD announcement & debate. For an archived version prior to many of the edits in the CAOD debate, see eve-search.
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