Difference between revisions of "The Kassigainen Incident"

Revision as of 13:17, 13 November 2009

Kassigainen

The system of Kassigainen is part of the Caldari Border Zone, located in The Citadel.

The system borders directly onto the Federal Sovereign system of Algogille, in the Crux constellation of Essence and is of strategic importance to both the Caldari State and Gallente Federation due to the border's close proximity (a mere two jumps) to core Federal system of Luminaire, and the Federation's political capital Villore.

While the system is not settled by space bound inhabitants and no stations have as yet been constructed within its borders, it is populated with rich mineral reserves in the form of a single dense Asteroid Belt and a number of valuable planetside deposits. It also serves as the border crossing point from Gallente to Caldari controlled space along the trip between the main trading hub system of the Federation, Luminaire and its counterpart in Caldari space, Jita.

The system is primarily controlled by the Kaalakiota Corporation, the largest of the Caldari mega corporations, via a series of planetside mining colonies.

Truiisu Station

Truiisu Station is one of the largest mining colonies in the Caldari border system of Kassigainen. Owned by the Kaalakiota Corporation, it employs a workforce around 1700 strong in strip mining operations on the system's fourth planet. Truiisu Station was, as with most mining colonies, little known to those other than its workforce or those connected with its operations until the events of November 108.

The November 108YC Riots

On November 6th 108 a small riot broke out, initially thought to be a worker's revolt. The causes for the fighting are widely disputed even three years on and detailed information on transpiring events are hard to come by. Many unconfirmed reports were made of atrocities against the worker population over the first 24 hours of the riots. These included apparent instances of workers being hunted down and murdered in front of their families by the facility's corporate security force.

The violence raged on for a further 24 hours eventually leading to the planet being cut off via orbital blockade by Home Guard forces, the corporate security force of the Kaalakiota Corporation.

CEP & Federal Response

On the afternoon of November 7th 108, recently re-elected President of the Gallente Federation Souro Foiritan annouced the Federation's intent to send a Federation Navy aid convoy to Kassigainen IV to assist with what the announcing press release called "a major - and growing - humanitarian crisis."

The release stated that the convoy was meant as "a gesture of goodwill, and a hopeful step towards better relations with our neighbors."

Only a few minutes after the announcement, the Caldari State's Chief Executive Panel released a statement indicating the situation was "under internal review," and strongly urged the Federation to stay out of Kassigainen until proper clearance had been granted. The CEP repeatedly referred to the incident as a "minor revolt by political insurgents," in what many analysts called an effort to downplay the humanitarian crisis angle.

Home Guard forces in Kassigainen were placed on elevated patrol duty, with many Caldari State loyal capsuleer corporations, most notably the Caldari Independent Navy Reserve, offering support to the Kaalakiota Corporation.

The Incident

At approximately 1930hrs on the evening of November 7th, a convoy consisting of two Federation Navy issue Megathron class battleships, two Navy issue Vexor class and two Thorax class cruisers, along with an Obelisk passed through the Federation controlled system of Algogille and breached the State border, jumping into Kassigainen.

Home Guard forces in Kassigainen were immediately on the scene, blockading the Algogille gate within minutes. According to witness accounts, Home Guard forces had repeatedly informed the convoy that no official request for aid had been made by either the Kaalakiota Corporation or the Caldari State and that they did not possess the necessary clearance to enter orbital airspace of Kassigainen IV.

The convoy's captain, Commander Dirai Guvera, apparently countered by declaring that the convoy was there in the name of the President as a gesture of friendship and goodwill, carrying only food and medical supplies. A stand-off ensued between Home Guard and Federation Navy forces for a little over thirty minutes, with tension growing further when one of the Home Guard vessels scanned the convoy's Obelisk class freighter, finding a 500 man strong batallion of Federation Navy marines on board.

Attack On The Convoy

Within minutes of the announcement by the Home Guard of the presence of Federal marines, a strike force of six battleships along with force recon support from Veto Corp pushed through into Kassigainen from the bordering Caldari system of Hatakani and assaulted the Federal convoy head on.

The Veto Corp group lead by CEO Ethan Verone, and including lone pilot Vendrin Latanis from APEX Unlimited completely destroyed the convoy and its escort in an engagement lasting a little over three minutes, before in turn being assaulted by CONCORD forces routinely patrolling Kassigainen. Home Guard and Caldari Navy forces present did not intervene or offer any assistance to either party.

Within 24 hours, Veto Corp made the first public press release since its formation and claimed "full responsibility for any deaths or injuries during, and resulting from the destruction of the Federation Navy Convoy." The corporation cited and un-named contractor rewarding a substantial payment for the destruction of the convoy, along with generous compensation for losses incurred to CONCORD forces.

Response To The Assault

On the morning of November 8th in a precursor to the Veto Corp press release, Federal President Souro Foiritan released a statement condemning the destruction of the convoy and expressing his regret that "an operation intended to save innocent lives instead ended up costing even more." He concluded the statement with the notion that "The Gallente Federation has extended the olive branch, and it has been torn from our hands and burned."

Caldari authorities from the Home Guard and Kaalakiota Corporation offered no response or statement to Veto Corp's assault. The situation on Truiisu Station remained largely unchanged for a number of days, with the planetside death toll rumoured to stand at approximately four hundred people, in addition to the tens of thousands lost in the destruction of the convoy.

Political Fallout & Kaalakiota Statement

On November 22nd the Kaalakiota Corporation office of public relations released a statement proclaiming that the situation at Truiisu Station on Kassigainen IV was "fully under control" in the wake of steadily-crescendoing voices of condemnation from various international parties over the previous week.

The Release stated that "The insurgent force has been neutralized as peacefully as was possible under the circumstances," and that "the majority of the people on the colony have been transported to safer havens, and the station's facilities have survived mostly intact. We estimate that repair operations and work force replacement will take a period of three to four weeks, after which Truiisu Station will be up and running at full efficiency."

The statement was met with widespread scepticism. Senator Mentas Blaque of the Gallente Federation, in a short interview with the Scope the morning, called it "a blanket of lies, incompetently woven by rank amateurs to cover up the fact they don't care one whit for the well-being of their people." He furthermore claimed he had data from reliable sources which showed the "so-called peaceful neutralization of the insurgents was anything but." Pressed for details, the senator refused to comment further during the interview.

Others cast aspersions on the Kaalakiota Corporation's statement, variously questioning the considerably drawn-out time frame of the operation, the hush-hush nature of the corporation's methodology and the sparse wording of the release itself.

Another outspoken critic of the release was Touvelas Sarkin, senior professor of political science at the University Of Caille. "It [the statement] doesn't really answer the questions most people have, such as why there have been Home Guard and Caldari Navy dropships stationed in orbit around Kassigainen IV for the past week, with not an aid vessel in sight," Sarkin also commented that the efforts made by Kaalakiota to salvage the situation showcased more of a desire to sweep the symptoms under the carpet rather than make any moves towards fixing the underlying problem. He also accused the Kaalakiota Corporation of trying to "stamp it out and pretend it didn't happen instead of actually looking at what they can do to make sure it doesn't repeat itself."

Many Federal sympathisers branded Veto Corp as State sponsored terrorists after the assault on the convoy, and criticised Ethan Verone's choice not to reveal the source of the apparent contract to decimate the convoy. In contrast, many Caldari loyalist corporations applauded the strike, and congratulated Veto Corp on a successful and well executed operation.

The reasoning behind the assault on the convoy, along with who ordered the strike and the reward for its successful execution remains a closely guarded secret known only to those involved.