Since Garst Tyrell has hastily edited out the title of his own account of the battle in Kamela between Star Fraction and our Matari allies against the combined force of the 24th Crusade and their State Protectorate military advisors, it becomes important to ensure we provide a record of the how this fight came to happen and what deeds were done there. Elsewhere Miss Alica Wildfire provided the following pertinent commentary which I reproduce with pleasure and no apology since these words should be remembered and blazoned bright in the mind of Free Captains and independent minds the cluster over:

The Star Fraction was legally declaring war to Amarr Militia corporations. This is no "third party support". This is direct action but not under the command of the Minmatar Government but by CONCORD laws. Their engagement was successful. The Amarr Militia was unable to field battleships for a long time. Until they started to evade Kamela and have given up the system. We seldom were finding larger groups of Militia fleets in that system anymore. I call that a success.

Very few pilots were standing against many. And while most of the Amarr Militia only were daring very little for their Empress -you may see so many cheap stuff for a few millions on the battlefield- the Star Fraction pilots were daring billions of isk with every ship they fielded. There is no shame in fielding small ships, I do that myself often enough. But who is daring and fighting for so long against the Amarr Militia, so few against so many, has to accept some losses. That is natural and I don't see any Star Fraction pilot complaining about this.

They are taking their losses with greatness and I'm sure the next capitals are already ready for fielding.

So there is no breach in the fortress Kamela. Never have been so few how have done so much for so many. Accepting losses and dangers for the cause of freedom, for the fight against slavery and false gods. Against a monstrous Empire that wants to swallow New Eden and destroy the diversity of religion, culture, individualism and freedom.

There have never been an enemy worth fighting that much as the Amarr Imperial idea. Never been a sole ideology that has shedded more blood and has seeded more suffering among the people of the universe. Huge parts of the Amarr Militia was breaking the laws of CONCORD and have been punished with big losses of standing by this fight. They have proven to be pirates. Just take a look at the standings. And many were killing off very few ships but were on all capital kills. Without losing much of their own ever. I take a look at the statistics of those pilots. Not that I give much on statistics, I don't give fedo excrement on mine, but they are now poisoned. By acts of piracy. I just checked the statistics of some of the pilots.

Let's just take one of the pilots of Amarr Miliita that I respect most: Veshta Yoshida. For I know she is one of the pilots that updates her losses honestly. She is on an efficiency of 88% with those capkills. But she only lost nine battleships her own. I know that fighting the factional warfare is mostly done in frigate class vessels. But as a warrior she never dared to bring into the war at least a fraction of what she destroyed this one day. I call her a great warrior and don't doubt this. But if I compare her involvement and daring for her Empress with the daring of the Star Fraction pilots, the only thing I can do is to bow my head in shame. For I feel so deep respect for their fight and daring and it is for me like someone has put gasoline into the fire of freedom that is burning in my heart.

Sorrow for the thousands of crewmembers that were lost. A raising fist for those who went into the enslavement under the Amarrian knute which is worse than death.

We will come for our people. We will come for them and free them. When the flag of the Empire is burning on the capital of Amarr Prime. A salute for the brave battle of the Star Fraction. Many forget what it means to dare such values for the fight of freedom.

I do not. Even if I find myself still unworthy for the scale of their fight, it is inspiring. This may have been a defeat on the field, but for me it is a win in the hearts. A win in respect. Freedom has it's price. And I hope I'm wiling and daring to pay one that high like these heros of freedom.

Free Captains! Never give up, never surrender. Always Freedom!

-Alica Wildfire

Days later I read these words from an independent Matari fighter who I have watched evolve from a fledgling Rifter pilot to a seasoned campaigner and well-respected commentator on current political climate of the Republic and I feel pride in my heart and feel obliged now to tell the true story of the battle of the Sosala gate and remind the IGS public of the value of sacrifice and camaraderie and of battlefield kinship the like of which Garst Tyrell and his Caldari Jackals will never know.

***

It was a Friday evening like any other. The 24th Crusade fleet had been detected by our Matari allies ranging fitfully into Auga and surrounding systems, sticking closely to Stargates and well protected by a significant number of Guardian-class logistics cruisers. This tactic much favoured by the 24th Crusade high command would allow them to engage smaller groups with Matari fighters with very little risk of individual ship loss since the Guardian’s were able to project their battlefield-altering repair beams without triggering aggression that would delay their immediate jump-out through Star gates if they were themselves attacked. Each Crusader warship was heavily armour tanked and would add its fire to engagement only so long as the protection of logistics ships could be counted upon to maintain structural integrity and would itself jump out and flee within a minute of incoming aggression should its position be threatened.

The Matari acknowledged the efficacy of the strategy while disdaining the cowardly role of the many logistics pilots who risked little in battle and could generally be counted on to flee immediately rather than stand with their brothers if threatened.

Gate to gate the Amarrian fleet moved, never risking themselves unnecessarily, never leaving the sanctuary of deagression and flight all the while calling out harsh challenges and carping complaints in local channels demanding their enemies fight them in smaller ships and suicidal charges while boasting of their “kill-death-ratios” and record of accomplishment in scoring vestigial “touches” with frigate laser fire on the hulls of doomed combatants as proofs and sureties of their martial prowess.

As I said, it was a Friday night like so many others.

The Matari war council was attempting to raise a fleet to fight these 24 Crusaders but having difficulty planning against the remote repair superiority provided by the multiple Guardian hulls present and their representatives contacted Star Fraction officers inquiring of our status and availability for a joint operation.

In truth we had few ready for duty and combat but saw an opportunity to provide significant fleet support nonetheless and quickly hatched a plan for us to deploy a small mixed Carrier and Battleship group into the midst of the Amarrian fleet where we’d concentrate on hitting the No.Mercy flagged battleships and guardian backbone while the Matari would sweep in to carry the field against those targets we were able to tackle and hold on the field.

It is always a risk to consider such a deployment (this was 10 vs 40 at the outset) but when one pledges support on the field of battle with allies then sacrifice and risk is required, the interests of camaraderie and blood demand no less.

The Matari begin to rouse their fleet and prepared their own capital ships as we brought 4 carrier class vessels to the Space and Freedom tower in Kamela beside 5 battleship grade hulls to match the single scout Pilgrim I was commanding with direct visual feeds on the enemy numbers. I checked the status of my on board cynosaural generators and gave the signal for the Star Fraction Erebus rift engines to power up and prepare to bridge our nine vessels to join me via jump drive if the Amarrians could be brought to battle. The plan was set.

Almost immediately the presence of the “Black Plan” was detected in Kamela and the 24th Crusade battlegroup began to move quickly towards Amarrian high security space as they had countless times before. Typically this ends in a single 24th battleship being tagged in the pursuit and held behind his fellows, to be killed while the rest flee like dogs and hunker down in their hisec nests and we saw no reason to doubt this would be the outcome this time either.

Events moved quickly, the Amarrians fled from Auga to Kourmomen, to Kamela, to Sosola – I was relaying their fleet disposition all the time from the command bridge of my Recon class vessel and we got ready to jump in the fleet if a tackle could be made. The Matari were still preparing their fleet and were several jumps out but their trusted command was in Kamela relaying situation to their fighters and we were confident the battle would be grand and bloody if only we could prevent Garst from fleeing entirely into high security space where the TLF could not pursue.

But pride does sometimes go before a fall, and we had been betrayed. Garst and the Caldari had an agent in our shared communications with the Matari fighters. Our planning and intentions were known to our enemies, our disposition and capabilities were reported and unbeknownst to the tens of thousand Fraction crewmen on the ready decks and weapon stations of our warships their doom had already been decided by a trap being readied that would project the entirety of waiting 24th Crusade and hidden State Protectorate fleet power onto a force they outnumbered at least 10 to 1.

I followed Garst’s group into Sosala and went for the tackle as we powered up the jump portal preparations and checked the status of the TLF fleet – “still forming” was the response but this was now or never. Sometimes a warrior needs to take a chance and I decided to fight and hold the field long enough for our allies to arrive and carry the battle. I targeted and killed the translight engines of one of the Amarrian Battleships and prepped for the cynosaural field and was fired on in return by a single battleship from their group.

Not enough. Because the rest could immediately flee when we jumped through the portal, I held position for half a minute while the lone vessel ineffectually played laser fire over the resistance plating of my Pilgrim and then decided to reposition with a quick warp and bounce back to the gate to see if I could attract a better quality of victim.

No such luck, they were holding fire as some of their number jumped back to Kamela. I pursued and jumped through back to “Fortress Kamela” (in Garst’s words) the object of his near-obsessive fixation in recent secure briefings inside 24th Crusade leadership councils.

Again targeting a No.Mercy battleship I deactivated its translight engines and this time called a direct in-system warp of all available ships capital and sub-capital to the Sosala gate to engage the tackled Battleship and any of its fellows that decided to remain on the field. We knew it would be a hard business to overcome the remote repping of so many Amarrian logistics ships and various out-of-militia auxiliaries pretending neutrality in the false flag of training schools and starter academies but as I said, sometimes a warrior needs to strike a blow and worry about the outcome afterwards.

Our vessels began to arrive on the field and apply their fighter drones and direct fire weaponry to the primary target immediately but from seeming nowhere more Amarrians were boiling into system – the numbers of logistics ships soared from a mere four, to eight, to a full dozen. Repair beams criss-crossed the fighting as the entire damage output of four carriers and five battleships were neutralized by gate-hugging Amarrian repair cruisers as more and more combat ships arrived to bolster their number.

My Pilgrim was destroyed when the incoming firepower rose above the ability for our own remote repair to keep up with the damage and I immediately angled my capsule for warp to the Kamela station intent on bringing the best reinforcement I could to a fight that was turning to a very bad situation indeed. Our battleships were being eliminated one by one by the immense forces the Amarrians were conjuring as if from thin air and then reports of Caldari joined the field as the State Protectorate Drake hulls blotted out the overview even as their waves of heavy missiles shaded us from the sun.

Suddenly a dozen logistics ships looked a very conservative estimate; I counted thirteen, others of our formation counted 16 or more. It seemed this trap had been planned long before and Garst confirmed the suspicion by announcing loudly in local that this was the day of reckoning and Fortress Kamela was breached by the conquering firepower of the Amarrian fist (on the Caldari arm).

Reports from our combined intel channels became scant, Star Fraction vessels were being overcome by the incredible odds we faced 100 to 10 became 100+ to 5 – as quickly as our ships burned we rushed back to board replacements. My cousin’s Thanatos class carrier the –JFS- Tarrantula was going down fast under the bulk of the enemy fleet’s firepower and our fighter drones were ineffective against the coruscating gleam of nano repair beams in the night. A phalanx of Guardians, a cluster of Basilisk, a full skirmish group of Scimitars – they enemy had raided the larders this night!

What we needed more than anything was time though. Time for the Matari to bring their fleet and even the field and time for our primary cycling to cheat the enemy logistics cover, time to reship to counter the enemy remote repair ... time ... time we didn’t have.

I ordered my reship the –JFS- “Shining Path” an Archon Class Carrier to the gate just as my cousin’s Thanatos was about to enter structure but here matters took another turn as the Scrap Iron Flotilla pilot Karum Korinth swore out his frustration at the cloud of cowardly dogs clustered around his Nidhoggur’s hull and ordered triage mode established on the carrier logistics station. This is the equivalent of a proud warrior setting his back to the wall and weapons at his side and resolving not to move from the spot as he holds the shield line.

Quickly this enhanced capability stemmed the tide against all incoming firepower and restored stability to Jasmine’s armour integrity.

Suddenly we had some hope. Well, for about a minute at least.

“Where is the Matari fleet?” We asked.

“It’s not ready” The answer came back.

“How long?”

“Jade, I have to tell you we have very little, the fleet - it’s not coming.”

The combined might of the Amarrian and Caldari Militias had turned their fury on Karum’s Nidhoggur now and were wearing down its defences as this brave pilot overheated repair modules and ordered his crew to prepare escape pods as the skeleton command staff remained at their stations providing what support they could to reshipped Free Captains still plunging lone battleships into the 100+ enemy ships at the Sosala gate.

Private communications – coded frequency:

“Jade, I’m going to warp my Moros to the gate.”

“I’m not sure it’ll make a difference.”

“You are here for us its fitting we die with you.”

I didn't have a reply.

Our Nidhoggur’s hull breached explosively as a counterpoint to the words and the entire enemy fleet moved its focus onto a second Nidhoggur under the command of Liisa of Jericho Fraction.

Confusion reigned for long moments and the sheer number of enemy ships made fine targeting and manouver near impossible and I ordered all remaining unsieged Carriers to make distance from the gate to try to reduce the incoming firepower from the stubbornly gate-humping Amarrian battleships as the Matari Moros class Dreadnaught arrived on the battleship and without hesitation engaged its siege mode and declared by local communications...

“I spit in the face of the slavers and scum, I come for my people!”

I was moved and astonished. What a gesture, how can this people who spawn such courage and bloody-minded commitment to their freedom from oppression ever lose?

Here came 10,000 Matari crewmen willing to warp a single Moros class Dreadnaught into 100+ enemy ships simply to die with their allies and laugh in the face of the tyrant spitting blood and derision even with their dying breath.

I heard the singing from their vessel as they manned the guns and drone decks, I heard them calling out to their ancestors to welcome them in the otherworld and prepare their mead flasks and feasting robes, I saw them firing weaponry to the void at the cloud of insects that surrounded us all drawn like carrion flies to the massacre and I knew in that single shining moment this was all meant to be – sometimes a sacrifice must be made in blood between comrades on the battlefield that vows be made and kinship joined and nothing in this universe is more important than a man’s pride and freedom of action and laughing in the face of death.

Another explosion, Liisa’s carrier had buckled under the firepower of the nationalist lackeys and was tumbling without power as its superstructure vented gas and atomics in a dramatic death spasm amongst the throng.

Our last remaining battleships were also destroyed, succumbing quickly to the tide of laser and missile fire soaking from all directions in an endless tapestry of destruction.

Now the Archon class vessel of Karol Kei was in trouble – I was close; our ships in formation as they struggled to make range from the Sosala gate while urging our fighters against targets stubbornly protected by the vast weight of logistic energy amongst the opposition ranks. Karol’s ship began to dip dangerously to low armour and I devoted all my own remaining power reserves to strengthen its integrity in the futile effort to preserve a wounded comrade in the fray.

The Matari Dreadnaught all the while was screaming challenge and imprecations to the spindly bloodlines of the starved offal-sniffing dogs surrounding the field and I saw it obliterate an enemy Raven in a volley even as Karol’s Archon was descending into structure and losing the fight for its own life.

I was next, My archon was practically cap dead by this point – many minutes of maximum remote repair against enemy firepower had compromised the capacitor stores and many enemy battleships appeared to have been specifically configured for a neutralizer role as the energy-damping beams destabilized the reactor and off-lined all active functionality from the ship. Even so crippled the “Shining Path” fought to the last, stubbornly giving up its existence in the face of feral aggression and spite writ large on the faces of the hungry crusaders and their state handlers around the field.

I saw numbers of Matari vessels arriving on the field now, few in number and light of ship class but they had heard the death song of the heroic Moros and had come to join its chorus and show respect for fallen friends and allies writ in blood. Outnumbered and outclassed, tiny and fragile in contrast to the vast array of imperialist dogs gathered at Garst’s urging they still fought, they knew they couldn’t save us but they gave up their own lives and fighting spirit to take their shot at the tyrant’s face.

I saw Jasmine’s Carrier last of our forces on the field, all Star Fraction vessels were wrecked and lost. Our ten pilots had reshipped many times and refused to abandon the field and were even now preparing to come back in another wave of battleships with several dreadnaughts powering up and laying navigation course for the Sosala gate.

“Can you make it out Jasmine?”

“Not in a million years.”

“See you on the other side.”

My ship gave up its last with the reactors exploding in a rush of furious energy casting a thousand shadows on the battlefield from the motes of enemy ships and submunitions scattered round the drifting wreck.

“No more.” I ordered. “No more ships to the gate.”

Elsewhere the valiant Matari Moros had ended its first siege cycle and had found itself ignored as the entirety of the enemy fleet was focused on the last remaining Star Fraction capital as Jasmine finally outranged the cowardly logistics flotilla that refused to leave insta-jump range of the Sosala gate and was now engaging with more success even as her vessel touched structure.

Three vessels exploded in quick succession around the “Tarrantula” as the Matari captain laughed out loud and ordered his crew to initiate a second siege cycle with few remaining Matari fighters on the field and the last remaining SF carrier dwindling to burning wreck to the carping jeers of Garst Tyrell and his imperial dogs.

As Jasmine’s Carrier gave up its structural integrity seconds after it claimed the final destruction of a foolish Ishtar that had gotten too close, the Matari hero turned his guns on the pack now approaching his position and declared the fulfilment of the blood oath our kinship demanded.

“Free Captains first on the field of death and bones, it’s fitting the light of Matar is last to leave.”

And that was the last we saw of him and that ship.

In the days past we’ve had a lot of talk from Garst about his victory in Kamela. The early claims of “Breaching the Fortress” that he was ordered to remove by his fellow Crusader captains on the grounds it might suggest they actually had to fight in Kamela rather than simply lurk in Ohide whenever danger threatened.

We saw opportunistic wardecs incoming and a resurgent 24th Crusade for 24 hours following their victory (though truth to tell usually with significant State Protectorate backup it must be said).

But what has really changed? After the fight on the Sosala gate Garth was still downshipping his forces to frigates to travel freely. He still lacks the ability to “breach” Star Fraction occupation of Kamela. He’s still ordering his fighters to remain docked in Ohide through the majority of the day.

Undoubtedly there has been a strategic shift in the overall campaign with the near total collapse of organized FDU resistance on that front allowing State Protectorate forces to act as a hand-holding role for the previously underperforming 24th Crusade and these numbers will allow the Amarrians to be more bold when they can count on Caldari aid.

But this is politics. This is warfare in New Eden. The weak will always seek the protection of numbers above talent and courage and to a degree they are right to do so. But against that backdrop of motley accomplishment and logistics poltroonery and the great howling mob of opportunistic kill/death ratio misers desperately seeking “laser touches” to massage their egos is the true picture of legend in New Eden.

In five years time when we speak of the battle of Sosala gate in the Operation Castrato campaign we will not remember Garst and his boasts. We won’t remember the clouds of opportunistic Caldari, we won’t recall the trap and circumstances of battle. We won’t remember the logistics ships and the boasts of puling crusaders in local.

We will only remember that few fought against many.

And that when the day was darkest and our few ships were surrounded and alone, hounded by vast assemblage of faceless drones chittering and gnawing at our hulls as they bleated their success in the local comms channel.

When the hour was bleak and there was no hope then an insane-brave-heroic Matari Captain brought his ship into harm’s way to die with us to show he meant the things he’d said about camaraderie and alliance and his people knew precisely how to find a good way to die.

My salute to the captain and crew of that bold ship: the battle of the Sosala gate will always be your story.

My respect is with the Matari people.
Your cause is just.
Freedom or Death.
We must Rise.