On the 25th of September at 19:00 EVE Standard Time, a long convoy of carriers and dreadnoughts left the Insmother region, departing from the A24L-V system and making its way southwards, where it was spotted in the Great Wildlands region by local residenst. The capital fleet, with a wing of super capitals embedded in it, belonged to the Triumvirate. [TRI] alliance.
The alliance had deployed a considerable force which made best speed to the Hasateem system in the Derelik region, where it will base in the coming months in order to target the Providence and Catch regions, according to Triumvirate. officials. The system has been a popular one with invaders of the region; recently, Northern Coalition. [NC] staged there in its now famous campaign in the area.
This move has several objectives in mind. Mainly, the hope is to bring the alliance back to full fighting strength as the summer lull had hit its player base hard. Another target of this deployment is both to generate content for the line members as well as remove some of the rust accumulated by its pilots in the past months which had little to no large scale engagements for the alliance. There has also been talks of experimenting with new doctrines and testing them against Providence Bloc, which is known to fight mainly with sub-capitals and decline capital escalation, making it the ideal sparing partner.
That said, the move has raised many eyebrows as the south continues to suffer upheavals. This is especially true in the Catch region, which is engrossed in a war over systems between former Delve region alliances that had been dispossessed by the invasion of Goonswarm Federation [CONDI] and local residents such as The Volition Cult [VOLT]. When asked if Triumvirate. would take sides in the war, the officials stated that they are not searching to make alliances in the area, and are considering all combatants as targets. However, if outnumbered, they may seek temporary treaties on a case by case basis.
As for the reason for this current deployment, Triumvirate. officials cited the conflict in Catch, as well as Providence Bloc’s reputation for engaging hostiles in limited conflict for their choice. Though they claim Triumvirate. is not seeking to take systems, they will use the mechanics of Aegis sovereignty system to reinforce systems and illicit fights out of local residents.
This turn of events is making many people in Providence Bloc and The Volition Cult wary. The move comes at a time of great turmoil and internal strife between the two allies, not to mention the current invasion of League of Unaligned Master Pilots [LUMPY] to the JZV-O6 constellation in the Catch region. Further more, the size of the force moved (including its many super capitals) is causing many in Providence Bloc to doubt Triumvirate.’s motives and wonder what its real goals are.
For The Volition Cult, the addition of more hostiles to the mix might tip the balance of power in the area against it, causing its defense of the region in the face of invasion to be a significantly harder and more costly fight, perhaps to the point of failure.
In Stain Wagon (SW) coalition, worried eyes now turn to the Derelik region. There is no lost love between SW and Triumvirate., especially when the latter, according to the former, turned on SW forces following the agreement signed between Triumivrate., SOLAR FLEET [SOLAR] and Legion of xXDEATHXx [X.I.X] which saw the rebirth of the Drone Regions Federation (DRF). The two had fought each other ever since in and around the Immensea region.
With the current peace in the East of New Eden laid on a fragile foundation of Non Invasion Pacts (NIP) between the two major power blocks, any incident might shatter it completely leading to an all out war. Some in SW even surmise that this is the real goal of the deployment; to create a provocation or cause an incident to justify open warfare. Regardless, one misstep by Triumvirate. might set the entire East aflame.
With Triumvirate. still settling down in Hasateem, much is yet to be seen. But what is certain is that the Catch region has just become even more of a powder keg than it has in the past few weeks; all it will take is for one stray shot to light the fuse. And as Catch goes, so well might the East of New Eden.
EVE News 24 will continue to follow the Triumvirate. deployment in the Derelik region and report on the battles that are sure to follow it.
Salivan Harddin is a member of V0LTA, WE FORM V0LTA, and covers battles across New Eden
