INTAKI PRIME – While many people on Intaki and its colonies were observing the Kumhbelaa holidays, others were distracted by the specter of militia warfare, which is threatening to return to the area.
Saxon Hawke, Suresha of the Intaki Liberation Front, said his group has been monitoring an increase in militia pilot activity.
“Since the empyrean war started, Intaki space has been a battleground,” he said. “But since Federation forces cleared the Caldari out and the Intaki Assembly called for a ceasefire, things had been relatively peaceful. Then, about two months ago, I started to notice unfamiliar militia pilots surveying Intaki and the nearby systems. They weren’t the usual pilots I was familiar with and it gave me an uneasy feeling.”
Hawke’s suspicions appear to have been on target, as Caldari pilots began making moves to secure bunkers in Intaki space. Hawke said ILF diplomats have been working unsuccessfully to encourage those pilots to observe the Assembly’s ceasefire.
General Damar Rocarion, a leading figure in the Caldari militia, said he does not recognize the authority of the Assembly to do more than request the ceasefire.
“Militias are governed by CONCORD rules. Ultimately the Intaki Assembly can make requests but are not in position to dictate terms for the militias who make their own decision,” he said.
The general was similarly dismissive of the role of the Intaki Liberation Front in local affairs.
“Personally, ILF has always been an entity which does nothing regarding the current armed conflict, even so much as to advocate peaceful separation from Federation so Intaki would no longer be a war zone,” he said.
Other leading Caldari capsuleers were also asked to weigh in on the possibility of increased violence in Intaki space.
Hamish Grayson, a pilot with the Caldari Independent Navy Reserve and a former employee of Lai Dai Infinity Systems, said the Intaki Assembly’s ceasefire existed only to prevent militia pilots from firing on transport ships contracted through the Ishukone Corporation and their Mordu’s Legion escorts.
“I suspect that the Intaki Assembly had little choice in asking for this ceasefire since many of the massacred crewmen aboard those ships were local Intaki hired by the Ishukone Corporation,” he said. “I seriously doubt their constituents would be happy if the Assembly stood by and allowed Intaki citizens to be murdered in the thousands by rabid dogs like Julianus Soter.”
Grayson went on to say that ILF abused its relationship with Caldari allies, using them to fend off other enemies and then casting them aside.
“When the fighting was over they turned against us. They spat in our faces, denoucing the entire Caldari race. It is they have alienated us,” he said. “Further, if the ILF truly wished for the militia conflict to stay out of Intaki then they would be selling mining lasers and holovids not military equipment. They are arms dealers profiting from the war and death.”
John Revenent, whose Ishukone created subsidiary, Ishukone-Raata Enforcement Directive, has worked in the development of the Intaki system, said the activities of the militia pilots choosing to fight in Intaki space are not representative of all Caldari.
“Heth’s private military is choosing to violate the Assembly’s request. Ishukone and many other organizations within the Caldari State are choosing not to, nor do they plan to start,” he said. “In recent years diplomacy has been placed on the sideline to all but a few. The fire of hatred continues to fuel people who are able to make a change for peace, and so long as hate is in supply diplomacy will remain as a second grade item.”
The last time the Caldari militia occupied Intaki systems, planetary unrest resulted in riots, panic and death. For the most part, Caldari capsuleers were disinterested in the effects their militia presence might have, dismissing it as a local problem.
“The planetary situation has never and will not be on militia’s responsibility,” Rocarion said.
Grayson said if any Caldari corporation would be responsible for the situation, it would be Ishukone.
Revenent said Ishukone wouldn’t directly involve itself with planetary affairs, but it would not stand by and do nothing.
“Indirect aid is not out of the question,” he said.
The activities of the Caldari militia have not escaped the notice of their counterparts in the Federal Defense Union. Gallente militia pilots have been put on alert.
“Contigency plans are in effect,” said Commander Seriphyn Inhonores of the Eleutherian Guard. “We have committed all our available energies to countering the threat.”
However, Federation support for increased focus on Intaki space is not universal. X Gallentius, an Intaki pilot with the Quantum Cats Syndicate, said not every pilot or corporation in the militia views Intaki as any more important as Ladistier or Mercomesier.
“Many members of the Federation militia were turned off by the Assembly’s ban of Federation forces in the Intaki system and instead aligning with Mordu’s and Ishukone interests,” he said. “They believe that perhaps it is up to those forces to keep Intaki from once again suffering under Caldari oppression.”
Like Grayson, Gallentius also believes that there is no militia ceasefire in effect in Intaki.
“There is no ceasefire with Caldari forces—only with Ishukone Corporation and the incompetent Mordu’s guards that never patrol past 20 km from the Astral Mining station,” he said.
General Julianus Soter, CEO of the Moira. corporation, said the Caldari militia’s recent activity is “reprehensible” in light of the greater threat from incursions by the forces of Sansha’s Nation.
“A universal ceasefire should be declared between the empires for the duration of the threat,” Soter said, but added that Federation militia pilots will act to block Caldari forces from occupying bunkers in Intaki space. “FDU may well participate in operations in the system to counteract Caldari militia operations. This will be done in full acknowledgement of Intaki sovereignty and the rule of law.”