[Icefox]

Military Policies Bring Border Conflicts with Octavius
by John Robertson, Senior Reporter Solrain News Network
Camelot, The Greater Locks
106.09.10.21:00 Ekoos

Heavy fighting between Solrain and Octavius continues along the Greater Locks/Dark Gateway border as military fighters on either end re-evaluate the battle tactics necessary to win a conflict in a rapidly changing political environment.

The conflict started when recent changes to major faction policies, especially regarding the hiring of 'Military' pilots, created a significant amount of tension between the factions. Military intelligence gathering missions into Solrain territory upset the STCC. Fearing such intelligence gathering could be a prelude to war, the STCC ordered many intelligence gathering misisons into Octavian and Quantar space, to better keep an eye on foreign military and civilian traffic. Soon after this increase in intelligence gathering operations, the STCC's worst fears were confirmed - the Octavian military declared open hostilities with the brave military forces of Solrain. This action has left the Commonwealth and Empire in a high-intensity border war for a week now - a border war which the Commonwealth is slowly winning.

One military squadron, Solidarity, has opted to keep a better eye on Octavius and Quantar traffic by flipping foreign beacons to Solrain frequencies, allowing better Optimus monitoring of military activity near Solrain borders. Solidarity has also been stepping up patrols along the dangerous Greater Locks/Dark Gateway corridor, as repeated complaints of large groups of Octavian military craft amassing along the GL/DG border has the Commonwealth concerned at the prospect of an invasion.

A vicious gang of hostile military ships comprising of OV and various traitorous Solrain pirates have repeatedly engaged the brave forces of Solidarity Squadron. Intense battles, often led under the Solidarity and OV Squadron flags, involving one to two dozen valiant pilots have been raging during prime flight hours for numerous days now, and with more pilots reporting for military duty every day, it looks as if this conflict is just beginning. But with no place for military pilots to dock while deep within hostile territory, the nature of war is slowly changing to one of localized border conflicts, based around pilot owned stations or border sectors not entirely far from faction stations.

As Octavian military pilot Purge noted, "it is impossible for me to dock anywhere in sol space . . . Why should I go deep into enemy territory? It is suicide, and not very smart. All of my enemies can outrun me." This very attitude, shared by a large number of military pilots, has been one of the leading reasons for the border conflict nature of this most recent of conflicts with the Empire.

Will the war continue as a border skirmish, or will it expand across factional space despite the inherent limitations of this new era of conflict? Will this fighting, regardless of its location, intensify or become subdued as time goes on? Will the new Military hiring system continue to bring in new factional combat pilots, or will the war with the ConFlux once again rise as the primary concern of the pilots of Solrain? Regardless of these answers, SNN will remain with you to report on the rapidly changing nature of these conflicts.

This is your military correspondant John Robertson at Camelot, signing off.

[Reece]

What? That guy hanging out in Camelot was a reporter? Man..i thought he was the janitor!