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[Morwen Lagann]

The latest chronicle, written by CCP Falcon, details a number of behind-the-scenes events surrounding the battle for Caldari Prime. You can read it here.

[Iwan Terpalen]

Yanala nnnoooooo=

[Samira Kernher]

“The Navy can move as soon as they have approval, but the FEDCAFT story we pushed to the media will only hold for so long."

Confirmation that the "naval exercises" were definitely not exercises.

“Ranchel? Blaque. Phase two of Operation Highlander is go. Deploy at your discretion.”

Aaand confirmation that setting the stage for an attack was orchestrated by the Black Eagles from the start. The actual naval attack was not a reaction, it was phase two of the operation.

Black Eagles are awesome.

Henette's eyes were torn away from the weapon as one of the bald men disrobed beside the exposed control interface for the array, revealing an almost organic looking black dropsuit that shimmered slickly as if wet. The soldier began to watch with intrigue when the other hairless figure slipped a wiring harness from within his coat. It almost seemed to come alive, shimmering with fiber optic activity as experienced hands connected it to one of the access ports beneath the control interface.

Another huge flash lit up the sky and then a second as two more capital-class vessels succumbed to the ocean of destruction overhead, tens of thousands of crew vaporized with them. Henette recoiled slightly when he saw the bald-headed man peel back a layer of synthetic skin covering a neural jack at the base of his neck. It was then that he noticed the lettering stenciled between the capsuleer's shoulder blades.

The loose cable hung down over the identifying mark of the Equipment Certification and Anomaly Investigations Division – a sub division of the Interstellar Services Department, which in turn belonged to CONCORD. The second of the two capsuleers showed no emotion, his voice flat and direct. Their features were almost completely neutral, as if stripped away purposely with only the slightest hint of Gallente ethnicity. Even their accents were neutral.

“Don’t be concerned about that. We’re not with ECAID on this one. You can consider us freelance.”

The capsuleer connected to the platform closed his eyes, his voice quiet as the rest of the troops set up a defensive perimeter. As he spoke, the locked control interface above his head lit up and a set of three enormous turrets across the open ground burst into life, their armored shields retracting, twin barrels extending and lifting skyward.

“I can unlock the console, but if you read me the positioning co-ords this will be much faster.”

His eyes remained closed as Henette called over his commander. Vrie took up vigil beside the capsuleer and rested a hand on his back beneath the tangle of wiring.

“What do you need?”

“Positioning data.”

“One seven. Zero Three. Seven Six. Inclination is seven niner point three two degrees. I hope these numbers are still good.” was the reply from Vrie.

The capsuleer repeated the numbers in a soft mumble, a frown of concentration creasing his features. The turrets across the facility immediately repositioned themselves, aiming up toward the blanket of destruction above the cloud line.

“Dual 1000mm coils active. Siege hardware enabled. Systems ready to fire on your mark.”

The response from Vrie was a simple “Do it.”

He nodded, the flickering tangle of fiber cables swaying like a bio-luminescent ponytail. The two capsuleers raised their hands to their ears, and in the first display of emotion they smiled at each other as the turrets fired.

Anslo will like this one. Capsuleers engaged in groundside support during a combat operation. Specifically, seeming to use their neural implants to interface directly with computer programs for the purpose of hacking and controlling them.

Also, canon showing of the black podsuit.

“There were seven instances when the order was given to fire. Fleet telemetry examined by the Caldari Providence Directorate also shows that while charged, Oblivion was armed on none of these occasions. This is despite contradictory statements made over fleet comms by you, Admiral. How do you explain this?” The growing irritation in his voice began to seep through with the question.

“Micromanagement of a fleet engaged against over a thousand hostiles leaves room for mistakes to be made, Sir. In eight decades of piloting for the Caldari Navy, I have learned to minimize the risk of human error. Arming the weapon increases the risk of accidental deployment.”

...

“Sir, do you honestly think that unleashing the full capability of the Shiigeru would have had any less effect than what you see behind you? She was capable of vaporizing a capital ship with a single shot. Her entire purpose was to destroy anything that posed a threat to her. Firing on the surface of our home world would have caused infinitely more damage. I suggest that you leave the theorycrafting of military tactics to those of us who have served in our armed forces for over half a century.”

Yanala deliberately did not fire on the planet. Her comments over Local were falsified.

“By drinking, I retain my honor. I also make the choice to punish myself for the shame I have allowed you to bring upon the name of my family. That is the difference between the two of us. I will retain my honor, and in time the truth will be known that I refused to fire on my home world after being ordered to do so at the whim of an incompetent commander who is out of his depth.

“For the first time in a half decade, I can see clearly now. For the time being, you may sit in the ivory tower that your Provist thugs have constructed. In the end, it will be torn from beneath you by the very people you seek to subjugate in order to cling to your weakening grip on power.

“You may think yourself intelligent enough to be able to read the people, but you are wrong. The State’s capsuleer loyalists are already beginning to move against Provist policies. How long do you think it will take for the people to do the same?”

Spoken like a true Caldari, and she killed herself. Awesome.

[Grideris]

/sniff

Good read, long read, best read.

I guess I was wrong on the whole firing thing. But I don't think Grid will ever know that (not unless Yanala somehow survives the Tea, something I highly doubt).

Not sure if there will be any implications due to the presence of ECAID guys (though that becoming public knowledge is not likely anyway.) I'm sure the Caldari wouldn't be happy to see agents under CONCORD's jurisdiction directly engaging their forces.

[Esna Pitoojee]

In this chron: CCP confirms DED helped the Gallente. I expect we'll see someone claiming to know this at some point.

[Morwen Lagann]

In this chron: CCP confirms DED helped the Gallente. I expect we'll see someone claiming to know this at some point.

I don't see anything in the chron about the DED. ISD, yes - there are two ECAID pilots (aka, bughunters) doing it as freelancers, which is likely a reference to the number of CCP volunteers who helped prepare and put on the event.

But nobody from the DED got involved from what I could see.

[Grideris]

In this chron: CCP confirms DED helped the Gallente. I expect we'll see someone claiming to know this at some point.

I don't see anything in the chron about the DED. ISD, yes - there are two ECAID pilots (aka, bughunters) doing it as freelancers, which is likely a reference to the number of CCP volunteers who helped prepare and put on the event.

But nobody from the DED got involved from what I could see.

What Morwen said more or less. The only DED involvement was when Brig. Gen. Odo got DDed by Yanala and them suspect flagging everyone in system.

[Esna Pitoojee]

Admittedly that was a mistype by me. Meant ISD. /o\

[Mithfindel]

I think ISD was at one point displayed as being half-rogue anyway.

[Natalcya Katla]

Sweet.

[BloodBird]

Yanala deliberately did not fire on the planet. Her comments over Local were falsified.

We will never know this IC unless something changes to reflect this in an IC manner. Cronicles are not IC info, sometimes sadly.

Yanala was awesome, exactly the kind of Caldari that my main toon respects and exactly the kind of behavior that he misses. He would have offered her the best of respect, sadly her comments in local has destroyed her reputation. Much the same as Noir, unless something changes she will never get the reverence she deserves by my characters. 

Also, fuck you Heth. There will be a cron one day where you die or are disposed of.

I will enjoy it.

[Grideris]

Yanala deliberately did not fire on the planet. Her comments over Local were falsified.

We will never know this IC unless something changes to reflect this in an IC manner. Cronicles are not IC info, sometimes sadly.

Yanala was awesome, exactly the kind of Caldari that my main toon respects and exactly the kind of behavior that he misses. He would have offered her the best of respect, sadly her comments in local has destroyed her reputation. Much the same as Noir, unless something changes she will never get the reverence she deserves by my characters. 

Also, fuck you Heth. There will be a cron one day where you die or are disposed of.

I will enjoy it.

Not if I don't get to slam an antimatter charge into his face first.

[Samira Kernher]

Yanala deliberately did not fire on the planet. Her comments over Local were falsified.

We will never know this IC unless something changes to reflect this in an IC manner. Cronicles are not IC info, sometimes sadly.

Yep. Although a couple of us have already theorized it IC.

[BloodBird]

They have, many have also theorized Noir's actions as that of another, but again we simply don't know it IC, and now there are two NPC's whose legacy is a false, black reputation. EVE being grimdark and all, this is to be expected, but still somewhat sad.

The chronicle itself was completely awesome though, and an enjoyable read with great flow, remaining truthful to characters as portrayed earlier. THIS is what proper EVE stories should look like, being awesome, enjoyable, enriching or possible and respecting setting and characters. I'm sure it has a few flaws and maybe a typo or two, but I've not seen anything obvious so far and I'm not going to dissect it to find out.

[Esna Pitoojee]

Also, since judging by mail I wasn't being clear enough earlier apparently, I was being facetious about the knowing-about-ISD stuff.

Anyhow, the real interesting thing here for me was how clear it was made that DUSTies enjoy certain advantages beyond their immortality - a level of suit/soldier integration apparently not commonly available to the footsoldiers of the Big 4, and perhaps only widely seen thus far in Cyberknights or True Slaves.