Inter-Galactic Media Report - The Audesder Incident
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Minmatar pioneers recently discovered an ancient Nefantar holy site within Audesder which was thought to have been lost forever during the Rebellion. It is the burial place of the long-dead Nefantar prophet, Tyrion Plethar, the first Minmatar priest of the Amarrian religion, as well as hundreds of other priests and saints. It so happens that this holy site is located inside a giant space ship, still intact despite many years of neglect, and incredibly the crew was found still alive, albeit in a cryogenic state.
Originally this holy site was located in Hjoramold XII which now resides in Minmatar Republic space. During the great Rebellion, the Nefantar government on the planet had given up all hope of defending their solar system against the massive rebel forces headed their way. The neighboring constellations had already fallen and it was only a matter of time before their own fell into the hands of their enemies. So they decided upon a drastic plan to save the holiest site located within Nefantar space, the burial place of Tyrion Plethar.
The plan was to transfer as much of the holy site, buildings and all, into a giant space ship, renamed to the 'Pletharian', which would in turn fly towards the Amarr Empire, where it would most assuredly be kept safe. The ship had originally been built by Amarrian engineers to be a mobile outpost of sorts, but was the only available vessel that could carry the massive buildings which were part of the burial site.
Loading the burial site onto the ship took a matter of days, although it was quite a hasty procedure and resulted in a number of mishaps, where a number of the buildings were damaged and one even completely destroyed as it toppled from the cranes used to elevate it from the ground. But eventually the majority of the buildings had been painstakingly transferred into the space ship. It was then that the rebels attacked, appearing out of nowhere and quickly descended upon the meager Nefantar defenses,.
But even though the defenders were no match for the incoming Minmatar armada, they still bought the Pletharian enough time to set off on its course towards Amarr Space. The only problem was, it was too massive to use the stargate. It had been brought to the system in parts and assembled, but in its current state there was no way it could access the stargate out of Hjoramold. So they had to manually fly it through the vastness of space, without any jump-drive capability.
The destination was Audesder, a solar-system heavily fortified with Amarr forces. At the time the Nefantar government in Hjormold believed that it was impossible for the rebels to advance far enough to conquer Audesder. Ironically this system was one of the last to be taken during the later stages of the rebellion.
Little is known of what happened to the Pletharian during its journey, and eventually the remaining Nefantars, now called Ammatars, gave up hope of ever finding it again. But with its discovery by Minmatar explorers, the situation has changed dramatically. The Republic has released little info on their findings to the public, but one thing is clear, something must have caused the Pletharian to malfunction and become stranded in space for all these years. Possibly a collision with an asteroid, or simply a breakdown of their thruster system. Whatever the cause, the Pletharian has now become the hottest topic on everyone's lips within the Ammatar / Minmatar border zone.
Needless to say, shortly after the discovery had been confirmed by Republic authorities, the Ammatar government demanded that it be handed over to them. The Republic refused, citing that it contains the remains of convicted mass-murderers and Amarrian collaborators, and it would be an affront to all those enslaved and tortured during Amarrian rule to hand them over to the Ammatar. Instead they intend to make it into a museum, to be shown to Republic citizens as a grim reminder of the past.
The Ammatars were far from pleased. This was the last straw in a chain of political collisions between their people and the Republic. Their citizens demanded action, and even within the Amarr empire itself there were rumors that the imperial fleet was preparing for war. After all, Tyrion Plethar was the most highly regarded member of the Amarr faith which was of Minmatar origin. The Republic's refusal to hand over his remains was not only an affront to the Ammatar nation, but to the Amarrian church as well.
And so the buildup for war has begun. The Amarr and Ammatars have built a massive military outpost in Kenobanala, which is directly connected to Audesder. Cruisers and battleships keep arriving daily from all over the empire, and media reports indicate that even Minas Iksan, one of the Empire's most prestigious military generals, who led the successful campaign against the Blood Raiders a few years ago, has arrived. This does not bode well for the stability of the region, which is already on the brink of a potentially disastrous war.
To top it all off, the Caldari and Khanid, which have recently become official allies of the Amarr Empire and Ammatar, have been caught up in the fray. They have sent both financial support and military aid to the front lines, boosting up the already massive invasion force.
On the other side of the fence, the Minmatar Republic has been flooding Audesder with its own troops. Desperate to prevent another Amarr occupation, it has poured all of its resources into creating an impregnable defensive barrier between it and the Ammatar. The Gallente Federation and ORE have lent their support as well, the Federation sending an armada of ships to help defend Audesder incase of an attack, and ORE supplying the Minmatar forces with financial aid as well as hired mercenaries.
War looms over this troubled area, and analysts suspect that it may spread to outlying regions. This could even be the start of a new galactic war that no one wants except the most fanatical nationalists. CONCORD are monitoring the situation closely, and have reportedly been trying their hardest to soothe the political climate to prevent an all-out-war. But even they cannot prevent the inevitable battle over Audesder, and we can only hope the conflict will not spread to the neighboring regions.