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Continued

Meanwhile, In Period Basis: April 15th - April 25th

Something had to be done to staunch the coalition's bleeding in Querious. Pilot participation was in the gutter, and increasingly it seemed that the average pilot viewed Querious as an irrelevant buffer region not worth expending effort over - or, worse, that they were completely unaware of the mounting strategic losses. In hopes of combating this, we began publishing daily 'war updates' laying out a frank assessment of our failings. Participation slowly began to recover.

By this point, Sir Molle, leader of KenZoku (RKZ), had made it clear to his forces that the Second Great War would be won in Querious, and that all other fronts were irrelevant. Yet Period Basis still contained a substantial number of RKZ holdings: three stations in the hands of RKZ pets Executive Outcomes (EXE) and another three split between Frontal Impact and BeachBoys. Since the assets of the Period Basis pet alliances had not been directly threatened by the conquest of Delve, they were 'fresh' and participating substantially in KenZoku fleets. Destructive Influence (DICE), one of the primary RKZ corporations, still held seven of the nine Rarity 64 (R64) moons in the region, meaning that where the rest of RKZ was starved for isk, DICE was loaded. Two coalition alliances, Zenith Affinity (ZAF) and KIA, lived in a 4-station constellation wrested from RKZ in Period Basis. If the region could be conquered and the DICE R64s taken for ZAF and KIA, not only would RKZ's income be substantially impacted, but ZAF and KIA would be free to move into Querious to reinforce the rest of the coalition. Having uncovered Sir Molle's Querious-focused plan through the judicious use of agents, the coalition decided that the path to victory wouldn't be Querious at all, but Period Basis.

While the rest of the coalition began trying to slow KenZoku's progress in Querious by focusing attacks on RKZ-held R64s in that region, Morsus Mihi (RAWR), KIA and ZAF assaulted and towered the first 'pet' constellation in Period Basis, the Frontal Impact station of TN25 while simultaneously attacking the DICE R64s. Over the next two weeks, every Period Basis R64 was seized for ZAF or KIA. On April 20th, TN25 fell. Over the next four days, Frontal Impact and BeachBoys evacuated their holdings as their remaining stations GR- and E2- were conquered. All that remained of KenZoku's forces in Period Basis was Executive Outcomes. 

Meanwhile, back in Delve, Goonswarm constellations began ticking over to Sov4, rendering the region nigh invulnerable to surprise attack.

The H74 Hellpurge: April 26th - May 3rd

In reaction to the increasing success of the coalition in Period Basis, KenZoku launched a new offensive in Querious on H74, the coalition station closest to KenZoku's strongpoint of 49-. By this point, RKZ was showing signs of weakness; as of April 27th, they held only five R64 moons for income, down from sixteen at their peak. As a result, the attack on H74 appeared hesitant. Each day after downtime, RKZ would place five new towers. The coalition countered with towers of their own. KenZoku appeared to be unable to take down the cynojammer in H74 themselves, having to call their allies in Stain Empire to manage the jammer on their behalf.  Immune from hostile capital ships as long as the jammer remained intact, the coalition packed the system with dreadnaughts and rapidly destroyed the KenZoku towers. The invasion had begun haltingly on April 26th; by the 29th, every hostile tower was purged.

Spurred by the rout in H74, KIA, ZAF and RAWR began the next phase of the Period Basis front, assaulting the Executive Outcomes constellation in Z-M and G-Q. In a confused example of strategic indecisiveness, EXE was initially told by Sir Molle to not bother fighting for Period Basis and move fully into Querious. After many EXE pilots evacuated their fleet stockpiles from the region, on May 1st Sir Molle announced that RKZ would make a stand for EXE's territory after all and assembled a huge fleet to defend Z-M. Z-M was still jammed, so the coalition capitals would not ordinarily be able to prevent RKZ from attacking the KIA towers within. Giving an order which was immediately seized upon by the paranoid as evidence of some sort of conspiracy, Sir Molle ordered the Z-M jammer turned off temporarily to allow new capitals access to the system. The coalition immediately bridged 140 capitals into Z-M, scattered the RKZ fleet and took the system. All three Executive Outcomes stations fell shortly thereafter, setting a new record in EVE: fastest conquest of an actively defended Sov4 constellation. Shortly thereafter, the largest corporation in EXE abandoned the alliance and left the Great War for good.