ILLAL STRAIT - A starcruiser of the Coreworlds military has been reported missing at the border between the Conglomerate Exploration Zone and the Empire of the Queil. The CCS Fortitude disappeared from sensors during a routine patrol in the Illal Strait, and attempts to contact the vessel have so far been unsuccessful. While details remain scarce, AlTime’s sources inside the Conglomerate military say they’ve been briefed that the Fortitude was likely hijacked by the Queils in an attempt to provoke an escalation in the cold war currently unfolding between the two factions. No demands have yet been issued by the hijackers.
While border skirmishes between vassal states of the Queil and mercenaries under Conglomerate employ have grown frequent, the loss of a ship from Aglostarros’ own small standing fleet represents a direct targeting of the Queils’ former ally and Trifold Union member. So far, neither side has yet to formalise the growing Queil-Coreworlds conflict.
In a surprisingly candid statement to press, Coreworlds Admiral Taro Kell conceded that “regrettably, it seems the Conglomerate is now facing direct aggression from the Empire of the Queil. If the Fortitude and its crew are not returned to us, unharmed, we will have no choice but to declare a state of open war against the Empire, in order to safeguard our citizens.”
Despite this, analysts believe that war is still unlikely. Seasoned political writer Tenla Ti explains, “This sabre-rattling masks one very simple truth: the Queils would trounce the Conglomerate in open war, and both sides know it.”
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