KenZoku Retreat; Bloodraider Territories Conquered by GoonSwarm
49-U6U, Querious - Following months of fighting, Delve War II (as it was known) has come to an end. SirMolle ordered a KenZoku retreat on the 16th June, abandoning its remaining systems and control towers in Delve and Querious and withdrawing, leaving the wealthy territories to GoonSwarm.
The last KenZoku sovereign system, KY-I1L fell on the 18th, and sovereignty in the hotly fought-over system of 49-U6U was taken by GoonSwarm at noon on the 19th.
The Northern Coalition's Southern Campaign Fleet Commander, Imperian, announced the withdrawal of RAZOR Alliance and Morsus Mihi the same day. He commented on the campaign and its end:
"In the beginning, a lot of people were doubtful, but we showed them that we are able to fight in any situation. Even if GoonSwarm were not our best friends in the beginning... we learned from each other and now have common goals for the future. But now it's time to deal with all the trouble Triumvirate and White Noise caused in the North while we were away."
Many pundits believe that when the former allies reset each other, it might lead to the occasional skirmish between roaming gangs, but no real territorial challenges to each other.
Fred0 of RAZOR Alliance gave his views on how any standings reset would work:
"We'll reset each other... in due time. First, we need to be careful so we don't [mess] this up in some way and get ambushed. Secondly, we need to hand over... assets in Querious; RAZOR, for example, holds a number of [high-end moons] to cover our expenses... Those need to be turned over to Goons in a safe way. After that, we need to ship all the stuff we've taken down here out. When that's done, it's probably time to say goodbye to friendships forged over a few years.
"That's my take on... how it'll turn out, doesn't mean it'll happen like that."
A source within KenZoku predicted a less rosy future for the forces who have been allied against them, anticipating an increase in tension between GoonSwarm and the Northern Coalition which he described as "inevitable" without KenZoku as an enemy to unite them. Sources in RAZOR and Morsus Mihi were quick to reject this idea, saying that many of them had developed close friendships with allied pilots during the long war.
Shortly prior to the retreat order being issued, rumours spawned that KenZoku were suffering financial difficulties after they moved control towers from one system to contest sovereignty in another. The alliance has a considerable Tech 2 blueprint portfolio, however, that is capable of generating an estimated 142 billion ISK per month, so Viper ShizzIe of Pandemic Legion thought the use of existing towers was simply a matter of logistic convenience. Flinx Evenstar, also of PL, mostly agreed but felt that the lack of high-end moons cut off an important source of fast, easy income.
"The constant income from high-end moons is the easiest way to keep capitals in the front lines without having to worry about losing them. This is a luxury KenZoku does not share with their enemies."
LadyScarlet of Destructive Influence, KenZoku, declined to comment on whether her alliance had any moon-mining revenue still available to it, but her views on KenZoku's financial status were quite succinct:
"Unlike EBANK, we don't need a bailout."
It is said that there are only two routes to defeat for a force of effectively-immortal capsuleers: bankruptcy and broken morale. It was the second of these that led to the decision to retreat, as KenZoku pilot Pagefault explained:
"The last few weeks and months since Haargoth disbanded BoB and we had lost our home have been painful, morale-sapping and fun-destroying. We are burnt out and tired of the war how it is now. The end of the war in Querious was expected and the bad turnout... made the decision to retreat the only logical one.
"For now the war is down South is over. RKZ is refreshing its minds, reinventing itself, re-motivating its members and creating new goals, new principles... Once BoB, with whatever name we will fight with, is able to field big fleets itself, we will start this war again, trying to get hold of our former home. This won't happen quickly... A year might be a reasonable time-frame until Delve runs red with blood again.
GalNet References
Interstellar Correspondents News:
Two Dozen Doomsdays Fired in Querious
Querious - GoonSwarm Resecure H74-B0
Titan Downed in 49-U6U
Hotdrop in 9CG6-H Leads to Heavy Capital Casualties
Multiple Doomsdays Fired in 49-U6U
GoonSwarm Defend Protectorate Sovereignty in 49-U6U
Pitched Battle in Querious Claims Over 650 Ships
KenZoku Capitals Escape PR-8CA Camp
Delve: The Rise of Protectorate Sovereignty and the Fall of Outposts
Heavy Fighting in Delve Over Capital Ship Assembly Arrays
KenZoku Secures Outposts in Delve
Delve War II Begins
Band of Brothers Alliance Disbanded
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