Intergalactic Summit

A recent Sukuuvestaa aid convoy bound for Home - Caldari Prime - sparked controversy amongst the pilots loyal to the State. On the other hand, the program was approved by the Chief Executive Panel (CEP), the closest equivalent to central government in the Caldari State. On the other hand, an executive order by Tibus Heth of the Caldari Providence Directorate (CPD) ordered the supplies seized for the Caldari Navy as critical for the war effort. The majority of independent or loyalist commanders present in Yashunen system, the origin of the convoy, aligned with the CEP, securing the undock for the convoy after a brief exchange of fire with a detachment of battleships carrying Templis Dragonaurs identification.

It would probably be of interest to readers to know the actual cargo carried by the Sukuuvestaa convoy. Sela Media has been able to confirm from multiple sources, including our own scanners, that the cargo contained of the following items (in standard SCC trade units):

200,000 antibiotics
300,000 biofuels
400,000 frozen food
400,000 hydrogen batteries
200,000 oxygen
400,000 water
400,000 wheat

In addition, the freighters carried starship fuel and reportedly personnel to assist in handling the cargo. The personnel stayed in the Federation, while the fuel - arguably the dual-purpose good most useful in waging war carried - returned to the State with the freighters. Therefore, it would indeed seem that the argument of critical supplies for war seems not grounded in reality.

What seems clear is that this incident does solidify Templis Dragonaurs' reputation as the corporate security contractor for the CPD. Kaalakiota - legally a distinct entity despite being headed by the Executor - has its own units and the CEP, representing the State, holds authority over the thinly-stretched Caldari Navy. What seems unclear is the willingness of Kaalakiota and Lai Dai - the main opponents of a peaceful solution to the Caldari Prime part of the crisis - to back up their stance with force. These entities have certainly seen the results of the Ishukone Corporation being separated from the State in general and preyed upon other corporations, but Kaalakiota alone is much larger than Ishukone, and widespread support amongst the Patriot-aligned workforce to the Caldari Prime military campaign has seen the ranks of the Home Guard - KK's corporate security - swell with new recruits. While open warfare between proper megacorporations at times like this would seem unthinkable to anyone calling themselves Caldari, so would have it seemed to see such of a rapid establishment of a guri-status organization as the sword and shield of the wartime leadership. To the delight of the State's enemies, a storm is brewing - and the CPD and their allies seem to be set to walk against the wind.

By using the Dragonaurs - an organization until recently outlawed due to their involvement in the strike against the Federal megalopolis Nouvelle Rouvenor - the CPD may be attempting to keep corporate interference to a minimum. For the benefit of the part of audience not aware of early Caldari State history, the Federal ultranationalists consolidated their power much due to the reaction to this act of terrorism, ultimately leading to the orbital bombardment that marred much of Home.

What caught our sensors in specific was the way the will of the Executor was enforced by Templis Dragonaurs. The Peace and Order Unit, second-oldest corporate security arm in the State, responded to unrest at the station with standard "civilian" technology battleships. The Dragonaurs squadron was equipped with military grade hulls which, until relatively recently, were reserved for those most trusted by the corporations. While the Caldari Navy standard equipment is currently freely tradeable (assuming it has first entered independent capsuleer hands by some method), it seems necessary to ask the question whether the technology that was cutting edge but a few years ago would have been better used to support the Caldari Navy in the war effort instead of in an unfortunate attempt to blockade a food convoy? And even more importantly, the Dragonaurs' merits - besides of their apparent loyalty to the Executor - hardly seem to warrant issuing military grade vessels for internal security patrols. Has the CPD succumbed to the nepotism it was founded to weed out of the Caldari society?

The questions do not end there - what is the motivation of the Templis Dragonaurs to hinder rebuilding of Home? We remember that the initial escalation of the Caldari war of independence was because of the same organization. Is the unrest that lead to nearly losing - or, in the rhetoric of the CPD supporters picketing the convoy, losing - Home to the Gallente actually instigated by the Dragonaurs? While we here at Sela Media do not subscribe to conspiracy theories such as Dragonaurs vying to escalate the conflict further to justify ever-tightening regulations and overthrow the corporate state in favour of a monocultural Caldari Federation, it seems that in the coming weeks we may need to be on the lookout for further clues on their goals.

This is Christine Anderson, Sela Media, reporting from Yashunen.

This is why I have never been able to support Heth. His actions to resume the meritocracy amongst the megacorps were admirable, but the second he rose to power, he threw all of them away with regards to solidifying his own power.

I always knew that Heth, the Provists, and the Dragonaurs were cut from the same cloth, but this is beyond the pale. Can there be any more definitive proof that Tibus Heth has been a blood crazed terrorist from the beginning? Even now, after all the pain and death he has caused for both our peoples, he would rather strike against the Gallente he hates so much than send aid and succor to his own folk in need.

Thank you of your feedback. The specific phrase you referred to is included for the benefit of non-Caldari readers who might not know what the Chief Executive Panel is. Naturally all Caldari are expected to know the structure of our State. The description was selected based on capability of the CEP to make agreements that bind all the megacorporations within the limits of its mandate, such as setting directives for common foreign policy. The most recent example is, naturally, the agreement to demilitarize Home which is legally binding to Kaalakiota and Lai Dai, even when they voted against it. Alternative descriptors such as "extracorporate co-operative entity", while technically more correct, were felt not convey the substance of the role of the CEP sufficiently. A careful reader will notice that the CEP is not claimed to be a government, but rather "the closest equivalent".

Do you have more information about the subject of our article? Do you wish to add your own view? Please contact us at Sela Media or comment below.

I truly hope it does not come down to civil war. For a single man and his band of thugs to be able to split a nation like that is a serious matter indeed, and I cannot understand how any Caldari can justify holding loyalties to such a person over corporate loyalties and more importantly, loyalty to the State.

The Templis Dragonaurs are nothing more than brutal, racist terrorists. They've never been anything more than brutal, racist terrorists and they'll never be anything more than brutal racist terrorists. Simple fact is that not so long ago it was, if anything, more illegal to be a member of TD in the State than it was in the Federation. Now you have them openly working for the Providence Directorate, and he's using them to try and sieze aid to a stricken planet. It's like Heth isn't even pretending to be reasonable anymore.

Paint all the rosy glow you like on the situation Kim, the fact is that the CEP are of one mind and voice on this matter (with the exception of Lai Dai, who are at least smart enough to sail with the wind even if they don't like where it's blowing), and the ones doing the throat-cutting last night were the Dragonaurs, who explicitly said that their orders came from the Executor.

The divisive voice in the State right now is that of the CPD. Their mantra five years ago might as well have been "move with the times". Well, times are moving against them, and they are refusing to move with them. If they fail to adapt, they'll be left behind.

As is the Caldari way.

We retain the same unity we had five years ago. The difference is, Heth and Lai Dai are now the dissenting opinion rather than Ishukone. The way our corporate system works allows for dissenting opinions, and dissenting opinions are not in any way disharmonious until we have said opinions assaulting the people who don't agree with them. lai Dai is clean in all this. Like a proper Caldari megacorp, they have spoke their piece on the matter and the reason for their disagreement, but they ultimately fall in line with the will of the CEP as they should. Heth on the other hand sends his goons to steal private property, and that is many times more traitorous than anything Ishukone has ever been accused of.

- And also we have a traitorous scum, that would prefer to see all corporations disunited fighting each other instead of fighting common enemy. This traitorous scum slanders Templis Dragonaurs, CPD, Heth and provists, ignoring all their merits and good deeds.

Funny you should claim that since the majority of the megacorporations are united at them moment. Even Lai Dai who does not agree with those actions has signed off on the plan as they are required by Caldari law to do. The only ones fighting are Heth, the CPD and his Dragonaur goons.