YC109.10.08
After last week's relatively heavy fighting, the third week of Operation Just Redress was relatively quiet. Electus Matari, having suffered significant losses against Reserve forces despite support from a variety of underworld organizations, appeared to retreat back into their stations and only probed Reserve forces on a few occasions. This tactic had two results; the first was a reduction in the losses taken by Electus Matari forces, and the second was an increasing amount of pilot fatigue on the part of Reserve officers, who continued to run patrols despite a relative lack of enemy activity. Despite the lack of kills, Reserve forces continued to maintain an upper hand, holding a strong advantage in space superiority despite being outnumbered by Electus Matari, Fate Weavers, the Black Rabbits' Gurista forces, and the Sansha-aligned Naqam corporation.
The last significant threat made to Reserve forces during this operation occurred on 3 October, when close to 30 Electus Matari and allied vessels laid siege to the forward base in Vullat. Outnumbered 2 to 1, Reserve forces chose to disengage and then challenged the enemy force as it withdrew piecemeal. Unfortunately, LCDR Ayari, who was attempting to hold down an enemy Scorpion, was not able to escape in time as the Electus Matari fleet warped back to assist the ship that had been left behind. As the rest of the fleet withdrew in the face of the large enemy force, LCDR Ayari managed to keep them occupied long enough for the rest of the fleet to pull out in good order. Though her Brutix-class battlecruiser was lost, her sacrifice enabled the rest of the Reserve forces to escape unharmed. Unfortunately, no losses were inflicted against the enemy during this battle.
Friday and Saturday would see the bulk of the fighting by Reserve forces during this last week. The fighting began with an attack on relatively inexperienced Reserve officers in Vullat on Friday morning; hoping for a quick strike against a Naqam battleship, four Reserve pilots engaged the enemy near the Reserve forward base. Unfortunately, without adequate firepower and with a number of intelligence oversights, the Reserve pilots were ambushed by an enemy fleet waiting a pair of jumps out. The Reserve lost a Scorpion and a Drake and inflicted no losses.
Later that day, a Reserve fleet led by CDRE Ladel Teravada began a patrol in force against Electus Matari, forcing most of the enemy fleet to retreat back to its stations. Though only a single kill was scored, an Electus Matari Vigil, Reserve forces demonstrated a stranglehold on space superiority in the operational area. With Electus Matari effectively contained, the Reserve fleet began looking for their underworld allies; scouts located a Black Rabbit force in the Oddelulf system, preying on civilian traffic, including their leader, Napthalia. Reserve forces split into two groups, with the first led by CDRE Teravada and the second under the command of CAPT Scarlet. As the Black Rabbits moved to strike at a civilian vessel jumping into the system, CDRE Teravada's group warped in and began to hold down the enemy as CAPT Scarlet's force quickly followed to reinforce, lagging behind to draw out the enemy. Despite the loss of a Hyperion,Malediction, and Myrmidon, Reserve forces managed to eliminate the entire Black Rabbit fleet with the exception of a single Deimos, including Napthalia's own Vulture-class command ship.
Fighting continued into the early hours of 6 October, with a small Reserve force meeting a slightly larger Electus Matari force in the Eystur system, trading a single Myrmidon battlecruiser for an enemy Myrmidon and Typhoon, and four hours later, a similar engagement resulted in two battleship losses for Electus Matari and no losses for the Reserve. After these engagements, Electus Matari withdrew until the conclusion of the war declaration some 16 hours later. War declarations against the Reserve by the Sansha-aligned Naqam corporation and the Black Rabbits-led Gurista forces expired soon after, another indication of the coordination between Electus Matari and these outlaw corporations despite the protests of the Electus Matari leadership.
Though fighting continues against the Fate Weavers Minmatar extremist alliance, Reserve forces have concluded major combat operations and withdrawn to Caldari space. With over 1.5 billion ISK in losses inflicted against Electus Matari, not including kills against their allies, and less than a billion ISK in total losses by Reserve pilots, the command staff is largely satisfied that the punitive goals of Operation Just Redress have been a success. In addition, it has exposed Electus Matari's links to a number of underworld organizations, something which has opened a rift between the alliance and other more reasonable Minmatar paramilitary forces -- something which will hopefully reduce their belligerence in the future. However, CDR Char and her staff seem to have no remorse for their actions in Tannolen and over the last three weeks, and as a result the Reserve has classified Electus Matari as a hostile force to be engaged whenever possible.
The potential remains for Electus Matari to redeem itself diplomatically with the Reserve and others, however, under the current leadership, it seems unlikely that such a reproachment will occur.
