Yulai – In an impromptu press gathering delivered from Yulai City, commanding officer Oveg Drust of the Special Affairs for Regulations & Order (SARO) unit of the Directive Enforcement Department (DED) of the Consolidated Cooperation and Relations Command (CONCORD), speaking on behalf of the CONCORD Assembly, declared “that the Triglavian Invasion is ‘illegal.’”



Drust personally laid out the case for the illegality of the invasions, leading with the most pressing concern: “These ‘Triglavians’ have not declared an Upwell structure and therefore are not ‘war eligible’ for the purposes of conducting aggressive acts against capsuleers in Highsec.” The Upwell Consortium has, under subpoena from CONCORD, revealed that the Triglavian invaders who currently occupy numerous systems of New Eden in both High and Low Security space, have no operational Upwell structure. Yani Sar Arteu, the chairman of the Upwell Consortium, reportedly attempted to block the subpoenas and only relented once the CONCORD Assembly agreed to indefinitely table all discussions regarding adjusting Upwell-structure vulnerability timers.



Arteu, who is also staunchly opposed to changing the operational parameters of Upwell Structures in Factional Warfare Zones as established under the CONCORD Emergency Militia War Powers Act (EMWPA), joined Drust at the press conference, “The Upwell Consortium is committed to improving the lives of all of New Eden’s citizens and releasing confirmation that the Triglavians have not declared a structure is in line with those goals.”



Observers from other branches of CONCORD, notably the Secure Commerce Commission (SCC) were ambivalent towards Upwell’s cooperation. Speaking on behalf of the SCC, CEO Eman Autrech stated, “Upwell may be declaring that they are cooperating with the DED but it is obvious from their stark disregard for the EMWPA that they are no allies to New Eden’s citizenry. After all, you don’t see the SCC allowing the Triglavians to breach the Independent Planetary Management Act (IPMA), do you?”



Scope reporter and journalist Lina Ambre was present during the press conference, but her questions were routinely disregarded by the veto power of Amarr representative Captain Marshal Sirdan xer Qosh, who insisted that the only real news agency in New Eden was Amarr Certified News (ACN). In the ensuing uproar, which saw Ret Gloriaxx of The Scope’s Galactic Hour with Ret Gloriaxx, forcibly removed from Yulai City by Colonel Kasiha Valkanir of the Authority for Emergency Interdiction and Security (AEGIS) unit, the members of the Inner Circle finally took questions from ACN reporter Zara Serir.



“Given what we know about Zorya Triglav’s intent regarding Upwell Consortium structures in EMWPA-recognized space, what steps are CONCORD, the DED, SARO, and AEGIS taking to ensure that the SCC’s IPMA go unbreached?”



Society of Conscious Thought (SoCT) representative Matshi Raish responded, “New Eden can rest assured that CONCORD, DED, SARO, and AEGIS, in EMPWA space and non-EMWPA space, will work hand-in-hand with the Upwell Consortium to protect the SCC’s IPMA from breaches.”

Naturally, the Arataka Research Consortium (ARC) through its media body, The Discourse, is expected to provide footage of the press conference well ahead of the Scope.