By Emanir Horeres

Yehaba, Aridia – Imperial Navy elements lead by Ministry of Internal Order (MIO) officers raided a large ‘blood farm’ operated by a branch of the Blood Raider Covenant, local navy command announced Saturday.

The operation was carried out after at least three weeks of steady observation by covert elements of the Ministry of Internal Order, which in turn was preceded by several months’ investigation to pin down the location of the large outpost.

“This has been by far one of our most successful operations of late in the region, praise God,” commented Commodore Ilsareth Madum, the naval officer in charge of the strike, during the announcement of the strike. “We have struck down tens of thousands of heretics today, sending them to the eternal fires of God’s justice.”

According to the released statement, the operation began with months of cumulative intelligence, with the first hints arriving amidst the wreckage of Blood Raider vessels destroyed during attempted raids on traffic in the region. “The raids started increasing in frequency and size. That was our first hint that something was occurring in the region,” Commodore Madum said. “Typically when we are able to respond to a Blood Raider Covenant attacks on vessels, destroying the heretics’ ships takes top priority to prevent them from escaping or causing further destruction,” Commodore Madum said. “We are rarely able to board ships intact in order to examine their databanks for clues. Occasionally, however, God does smile on our efforts and allow us to secure a functionally intact Blood Raider vessel for examination.” Clues within the captured vessels were turned over to the MIO. Eventually analysts determined a series of suspected systems for the raiders’ forward operating base. “The Blood Raider Covenant often establishes such outposts in areas they intend to expand into,” explained Dr. Fillemore Dukard, an expert on the Blood Raider Covenant and Sani Sabik at the University of Caille. “This both serves as a religious hub at which rituals can be performed and leaders speak to their ‘flock’, but also serves the practical purpose of providing easy storage of their ‘collections’.”

Days of combing the systems with covert-operations frigates and scan probes eventually pinned down the location of the facility allowing the raid to go forward. Static defenses at the Blood Raider base were rapidly destroyed by a significant Imperial Navy task force, although not without casualties. “Even as our soldiers sent the heretics to their burning demise, thirteen thousand of our men and women were ripped from life. We pray for their souls,” was Commodore Madum’s statement on the topic. Blood Raider Covenant casualties are estimated to be in the high tens of thousands, primarily from vessels destroyed during the attempted defense against the Imperial Navy force.

Yet, the greatest surprise was yet to come for the Amarr. When the facility was breached and boarded, the prisoner population was found to be overwhelmingly Gallente despite the Raiders’ traditional hunting grounds being based in Imperial space.

“We suspect the Blood Raider Covenant was using the Gallente heathens’ obsession with all forms of blasphemous worship as a lure, enticing their youth with tales of passion and kinship before revealing the true face of their hideous trap,” explained Commodore Madum. Gallente Senator Si-Len Asi, a representative from nearby Federation territory in the Solitude region, disputed this claim. “It is patently ridiculous to claim that our children would willingly participate in such hideous rituals. With all due respect to the Commodore, the Blood Raider Covenant are not known for asking their victims to partake.” He then added that “perhaps we might instead focus on how such a sprawling facility was constructed without the knowledge of the authorities? I do not believe so many of our people could have been taken had the Blood Raiders not constructed a depot so close to our border.”

The released Gallente are expected to be repatriated to the Federation over the coming week. The Blood Raider Covenant has not released any comments on the raid.