Intergalactic Summit

I also have seen her flying around in a Tengu class cruiser.

With all due respect Commander Tuulinen, the consistent dismissal of any responsibility on the part of the State, its leadership and its military in the events leading up to and surrounding Operation Highlander is ethically fallacious.

Yes, it was the intent of the Federation to destroy the Shiigeru over the planet but it was not the Federation Navy that put a titan over the planet and essentially held the planetary population hostage (which is precisely what Tibus Heth was doing by using firing on them as a tactic to dissuade attacking the titan), it was not he Federation Navy that ordered the titan into low-orbit and it was not the Federation Navy that complied with that order, it was not the Federation Navy that attempted to buy time for the titan's weapons to fire by sacrificing those dreadnoughts and their crews in a fight that was obviously a losing engagement from the outset.

The continued assertion that the Federation was at fault for removing the titan, which was a hostile military asset within Federation sovereign space that was implanted following an illegal invasion of that sovereign space and then remained there specifically to hold a population hostage as the power play of an increasingly delusional regime is not only fallacious, it's outright insulting.

Your own government, its military and its people supported the invasion, the hostage-taking and the sacrificial defense of that titan. Your own government and military ordered the Shiigeru into low orbit to begin with and it was your own government that refused alternate resolution to the conflict to begin with and backed the Federation into a corner.

I have, and will continue to, accept that the Federation and its leadership are not innocent in the events leading up to and surrounding that day. The least any decent and honest Caldari could do is the same.

I will yield to you that the Federal Senate proved to be far more fair and farseeing than I had believed possible - even if they were so against the request of the President of the Federation. I will even stipulate that you had no possible reason to trust in Admiral Yanala as I did - the woman has been a hero in my eyes since well before the battle over Home.

That said, the decision to engage and destroy Shiigeru over Home was made by the Federal Navy with the specific understanding that it risked causing damage to the planet below. That risk was assessed as being acceptable - so I must ask the Federal Navy to accept the responsibility that goes along with taking the risk.

As for the rest, though, I happily admit that I supported the invasion, the hostage-taking and that I was a proud part of the doomed defence operation. You were attacking Home again - I would personally shoot the Commander who advocated withdrawing their fleet due to being outnumbered and then I would whip their family naked through the streets of New Caldari Prime, bankrupt them and drive them from honour.

The planet was only at risk if you attacked it, I believe. As I've said before, though, I would not have kept Shiigeru there to wait for the Highlander fleet, I would have warped her to Gallente Prime and she would have fired on the planet immediately upon landing on grid. It is far better for both our peoples that Admiral Yanala was in command on that day - I would have sought to make myself a modern day Tovil-Toba.

Generally speaking, I would agree with you that it is better to withdraw and save your fleet to fight another day - but this is Home we are talking about and historically and culturally there is literally no price too high to pay for Home. Perhaps you have to have lost your homeworld to understand this and, I have to say, your desire to save lives in no way reflects poorly upon you, but what price would you not pay if that Leviathan had been over Gallente Prime?

The planet's population was at risk from the moment the titan was placed there because they became pawns in the political schemes and maneuvering of two military and political giants more concerned with prosecuting one another than considering the plight of the people trapped in the middle.

The fact that those people were held hostage makes them under threat or do you have a different understanding of a hostage situation than I do? Given the obvious and increasing decline of Tibus Heth's tether to reasoning, it isn't a far stretch to consider that he'd have used that situation and its hostages, perhaps even fired upon them for any perceived slight.

Under those circumstances and given the history of our two peoples, it's no small wonder the Federation choose to take action against it. Period.

Your last point only further emphasizes why the Shiigeru needed to be removed, because as long as it sat there anyone with the power and will could have simply ordered a massacre of any planet within short range warp, including Caldari or Gallente Prime and clearly that notion was not inconceivable for you or your people.



That leviathan was over Gallente Prime for all intents and purposes, it was within warp range and was a continuing threat as you yourself has clearly just demonstrated.

But that again dismisses the original point. Which planet the Shiigeru was hovering over is irrelevant, the fact that a population of people were being held hostage demanded action. It doesn't matter what planet it was.

I know you and yours continue to petition that Caldari Prime is "Home" and therefore justify nearly any action you have or would consider taking, no matter how atrocious, but the fact remains that Caldari Prime is now "Home" to more than just the Caldari and the people currently on that planet deserved more than to be held hostage under your guns.

You will not get me to withdraw from that point now matter how you choose to color it. I suppose it is safe to say that I feel as passionately about the wrongness of the situation and the leadership and people that permitted it, encouraged it, supported it and now justify it as you do about which geological mass it was centered over.

So-- by mentioning both Caldari and Gallente populations of Caldari Prime, and omitting that your attack in orbit and adventurism on the surface of the planet had increased the danger of that threat being acted on, you're not attempting to imply a nobility of purpose that is, to be frank, self-serving?

Well, then! Consider my comments withdrawn, Antolliere. Truly, the Federation's heroic service to the cluster is without parallel.

I completely understand why you would feel that way but, with the greatest of respect and empathy, you do not feel as passionately as we do unless you would consider acceptable any action short of the total destruction of your Federation and your people as an exchange for keeping Home.

Do you think that I would lightly commit the kind of atrocity that would see me turned into a Caldari version of Alexander Noir? I believe that the greatest source of misunderstanding between our peoples has always been your inability to empathise with how the loss of our ancestral home makes us feel and the lengths to which many of us are willing to go to recover it.

That is a populist fad, Mr Antolliere. The first time this term has started to be used by many Caldari freelance capsuleers was right after the attack and the blockade on Luminaire.

I do not remember any caldari of the 'old guard' to have even used it that way. No matter how we look at our short history here, this is very heavily loaded, ultra nationalist term that originated with the rise of the Providence Directorate.

Also, isn't this a bit... weird ? I always thought that calm, level headed considerations were always preferable to overtly emotive reactions that most of the time lead precisely to that kind of tragedy...

I will leave the former part of your inquiry to the Caldari. While I do see Admiral Yanala as a heroine, I do not believe I am in any position to speak on her behalf or on the behalf of the people whom she has become a national figure for.


As to the latter part of your inquiry, there are (as far as I am able to tell) two primary reasons titans were not employed by the Federation to remove the Shiigeru:

The first would involve the concept of "escalation." Bringing one or more titans to the field would have presented several opportunity targets (particularly for capsuleers who would undoubtedly be involved in both sides of the conflict) and would have escalated the firepower and presence of the conflict.

The second would be simply that more titans in space would mean more chances for catastrophic events over the planet, which would have been rather counter intuitive to the operation to begin with.

I'm not an expert on the matter by any means, but those are the conclusions I've been able to draw from my limited understanding.

Escalation with capsuleers starts at the smallest level, and you might know as well as I do that as soon as capital assets are deployed, it escalates. Capsuleer are hungry gods when it comes to the sacrifices them reclaim...

In any case, capsuleers were limited by the high security status of the system. Titans or not, they could not bring bigger.

Also... The Shigeru was already a titan in itself. The incentive was already here.

I would also think that rationally, taking away the Shigeru in one sweep is the sensible and tactical choice to do, rather than leaving it with plenty of time to execute what everybody knew it was supposed to execute.

That it did not carry out his orders while being slowly beaten by a fleet of navy dreadnaughts was actually, a miracle.