The Fourth District News Service managed to secure an interview earlier today with Lieutenant Turelus of the Caldari Independent Navy Reserve, where we were able to get the details of The Fourth District’s first two Alliance Tournament matches.
District News: First of all, welcome Turelus and thank you for taking some time to have a chat with us.
Turelus: No problem.
District News: For our first question, how have you felt about the overall training and preparation of The Fourth District in regards to the tournament?
Turelus: I've been very impressed with it. We have seen a lot of participation from each of the member corporations of The Fourth District this year, and have worked closely as a group to improve upon faults we discovered early on. I really felt with each practice flight that we were becoming less individual pilots from our respective corporations and more of a united team.
District News: For those who have followed the tournament in previous years, one noticeable difference this year is the change in team captain from Fleet Admiral Trony to Admiral Teravada. Can you tell us about this decision?
Turelus: While Admiral Trony has led the team in previous tournaments, his growing responsibilities as The Fourth District Executor meant that Admiral Teravada stepped in to assume the position of team captain this year. Admirals Trony and Teravada have worked closely together in regards to our tournament training and organisation in the past, so while he is not the captain of our team this year you can rest assured that Trony has had a great deal of input into our team.
District News: Moving on to the matches you participated in this weekend, could you tell me how confident you were going into the first match and a little about your thoughts and tactics within the match? From our point of view it was an impressive and clean victory.
Turelus: Certainly. Going into the first match we were pretty confident, and while you're never sure what fleet compositions you will come up against the setup we chose had proven in previous tournaments to be a strong and capable fleet. Before the match our nerves were high; there is something about Alliance Tournament matches that make even the most veteran pilots return to the adrenalin-pumped and heart pounding feeling of being a rookie Capsuleer.
Once we saw our opponent’s setup we were very confident we had the match won as long as we kept our cool and didn't make any stupid mistakes. The MJD (Micro-Jump Drive) from our opponents caught us off guard, but the team was able to recover quickly and adapt to a new set of tactics, a testament to the hours each pilot has spent in training. We did take a couple of avoidable losses due to piloting error, which were discussed by the team in the post-flight debrief.
District News: Thank you. We have the same question now regarding you confidence and tactics for the second match. This one didn't go as well for you.
Turelus: No, not at all. There was a lot more pressure going into this match. Rote Kapelle has proven to be a formidable opponent in previous tournaments and there is still a lot of tension when our two alliances clash. We knew the battle would be a struggle from the moment we saw their fleet composition and the announcement of their flag ship Bhaalgorn in local channels. Our greatest fear had been realised as they had fielded the scissors to our paper. This didn't stop us from trying though. We're not the kind of alliance to say "well, we're screwed, let’s go home," so tactics and orders were laid out before the match began and we tried our hardest to overcome the immeasurable odds. Unfortunately, it didn't work out.
District News: You have a week now before your next match where you will face off against R.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N. How confident are you about this match and will you be making any special preparations for it?
Turelus: We're reasonably confident about the match, but we won't get cocky. R.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N is an unknown to us as a new alliance within the tournament so we don't yet have a full grasp of their skills. As for preparations, we will go back to training and discussions to continue pushing the potential of our team.
District News: Lieutenant Turelus, thank you again for your time. We wish you and the rest of The Fourth District alliance the best of luck in your upcoming match and look forward to watching the team hopefully make it all the way to the finals and beyond.
Turelus: Thank you.
District News: We will be setting up an interview with another member of The Fourth District’s tournament team after next weekend's matches. Be sure to tune in for the latest information and news as we follow the team’s progress through the Alliance Tournament.