Capsuleers Drawn Into Struggle as Amarr / Blood Raider Fighting Continues
Wednesday saw the latest in a series of ongoing clashes between the Amarr Navy and the forces of the Blood Raider Covenant. Two main battles are reported to have been fought; a Covenant ammunition convoy was taken down in the Alkabsi system by Navy forces assisted by capsuleer fighters, after which a retaliatory strike against a Navy scout team in Haras saw Covenant forces and loyalist capsuleers strike back against the Empire.
Capsuleer organizations involved in the fighting include Empire loyalists Aegis Militia and the Curatores Veritatis Alliance, Covenant loyalists Blood Inquisition fighting alongside members of Finite Horizon and Developmental Neogenics Amalgamated, and members of the Huzzah Federation, who fought on the side of the Amarr though their exact ideological affiliations are unclear at this point.
The dual-layered nature of Wednesday’s battles has military experts intrigued. “It’s been a long time coming,” says Matteus Harpet, a noted independent station security contractor and military analyst working out of Oursulaert. “Ever since they arrived on the scene, we’ve known the eggers are the next step. They’ve been steadily growing in power and influence, and their involvement in wars like these comes as no surprise. It’s interesting to see how there are really two battles being fought here; one between the Empire and the Raiders, the other between their loyalist capsuleer factions. The dynamics of interplay are intriguing.”
Asked whether he believes capsuleers will come to play a greater role in the future of intergalactic conflict, Harpet replied, “Seriously, look around you. I give it two years before the empire navies will be assisting the capsuleers with their wars, and not the other way around.”
The past week has seen numerous strikes against Blood Raider assets and hideouts on the sovereign fringe, with imperial Navy forces proclaiming major tactical coups almost without fail. In a release earlier this afternoon, Ministry of War spokeswoman Ialema Kalonne stated that Navy forces had, in the week since declaring a state of war against the Blood Raider Covenant, destroyed an estimated four billion ISK's worth of Covenant assets in coordinated strikes on stations and on planetary outposts.
These announcements of success come in the face of expressed concern among certain holders that the Amarr Empire is not conducting itself in a manner behooving a superpower of its stature. Earlier this week, speaking from the steps of the Sarum estate on Sarum Prime, appointed family guardian Pomikide Haromi sternly reprimanded the Empire for “taking up the proportional response tactics espoused by advocates of democracy and other hopelessly feeble forms of governance.” The holder further went on to state that “The Empire should do as Empires do: overwhelm their enemies and grind them into dust, eradicate them so thoroughly that only a fading memory remains.”
