New Caldari - The State Protectorate aired a public statement in response to the recent Gallente Federation campaign known as Justice's Reach.

The campaign, announced yesterday at a Federation Navy press conference, was called in response to evidence supporting the theft last month of Gallente military equipment in transit in the Castlemon system. In their statement, the State Protectorate reveal the Gallente's target systems as Raihbaka and Martoh, citing a source within the Federal Defense Union. The statement elaborated further on their belief that the Gallente's true aim: to secure mineral deposits in these systems and to damage the budding industrial backbone of the region.

"These mineral assets are of a purely civilian nature," the statement concluded. "It is deplorable such a tragic incident would be used as a smoke screen in an attempt to secure these assets by force. Therefore, we have issued a call to arms for the capsuleer militia to defend this area. Any FDU capsuleer will regret venturing into our space."

The Gallente militia command responded quickly to the Caldari statement, confirming their awareness of these systems' industrial applications, although the Gallente believe the applications to be far from civilian. The Federation claims that several mineral deposits in Raihbaka are critical to the construction of shield emitters, and factories in the nearby system of Martoh produce superconductors. "This evidence clearly indicates military usage [in the Black Rise region]; the industry feeds the Caldari war machine."

When asked to clarify their intentions towards the Caldari industrial infrastructure, the Federal Defense Union stated, "These are simply secondary objectives at best, and a mere bonus to our primary goal of securing our stolen property."