Fountain - The recent Puppet Masters [PMS] assault on the Fountain region has come to a grinding halt in the face of heavy resistance from Fountain residents including Sons of Tangra [SOT] and elements of Pandemic Legion [PL].

The assault, staged from a beachhead in D4KU-5, saw the Puppet Masters make a bid for swathes of Fountain with support from Force of Evil alliance. An anonymous source has alleged that Puppet Masters were receiving support from KenZoku in the form of both control towers and tower armaments, though these allegations are unconfirmed.

Dwight Hammerhead, speaking on behalf of Sons of Tangra alliance, believed that the turning point in the campaign came when PMS attempted to take sovereignty in the PNQY-Y system. Mr. Hammerhead claims that Puppet Masters "...dropped a good deal of control towers, which were reported as stolen from our allies Arcane Alliance."

Concerned at the prospect of a protracted campaign, Sons of Tangra leaders decided to commit the bulk of their forces to strike a decisive blow to PMS interests in Fountain. Captain Hammerhead stated "0ren Ishii, a key director and primary target from Bulgarian Corporation [BULG] was quoted saying 'I don't have time for lengthy and tedious POS warfare. This ends now.'"

"SOT and allied forces, including detachments from Pandemic Legion, moved into PNQY-Y and surrounding systems and began reinforcing towers," said Mr Hammerhead regarding SOT's counter attack. "As losses started to mount, the numbers in PMS fleets slowly began to decline."

"Not counting minor skirmishes and roaming PMS gangs of ten to fifteen pilots, the fighting is effectively over," finished Dwight Hammerhead in his statement to the Interstellar Correspondents.

This end to large scale engagements has been confirmed by Arimathea Anthalas of Puppet Masters who tells us "There are some small scale skirmishes in D4KU-5, YRNJ-8, and surrounds. [Puppet Masters] have not been defending any existing installations."

Puppet Masters Alliance Schisms

An initial statement by Arimathea Anthalas of Corp 1 Allstars described the removal of DAB corporation from PMS and the circumstances which led to less than amicable parting of ways.

"Apparently [DAB CEO] Aneu Angellus was unhappy with the direction of our alliance and how we chose to correct the problem. He is working on forming a new alliance. Reportedly he has basically the entire list of PMS corps minus NICE1 and GONZO" said Arimathea in his original statement on GalNet.

The reaction to the perceived backroom dealings from other Puppet Masters leaders was swift. "We kicked out DAB from the alliance this morning and closed Aneu's access to the forums to minimize damage."

Aneu Angellus responded to Arimathea's version of events by citing a lack of coherent leadership in the alliance for why he felt it time to split from Puppet Masters. "Arimathea has not been [active] for quite some time..." and "...C4w3 [of Corp 1 Allstars] was meant to be the alliance leader, but bluntly did not step up to the plate."

In his response, Aneu claimed that "Most of the...corporations in PMS are now leaving to join me on my venture - If they are wrong then no-one can be right in all of this."

When asked if removing DAB reinforced the stability of PMS, Arimathea told us that "Getting rid of Aneu was not an action to stabilise the alliance. [It] was damage control."

Sons of Tangra gave only a short response regarding PMS' leadership troubles "I would refrain from commenting on the widely discussed capsuleer pilot Aneu Angellus and DAB Corporation. Whatever internal problems the PMS leadership was experiencing eventually led to the complete breakdown of their offensive," stated Dwight Hammerhead.

In the wake of the stalled assault and internal strife, Arimathea Anthalas confirms that many member corporations have since decided to leave Puppet Masters. "It's hard to say who followed Aneu and who didn't. That's for Aneu to confirm or deny. We wish all corps who either followed him or went separate ways the best of luck despite some of the challenges we had in working together."

Aneu Angellus has so far been unavailable for comment.

Galnet Resources:

[Puppet Masters Statement]

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