Alright so I've had this suspicion for a while about the NMLA attacks and something being off about them, like they weren't a new plot thread but tied to a previously dangling thread. With the latest GalNet article outright mentioning the plot thread I was thinking the attacks might be linked to, that thread is the one left open following the "end" of the League of Reparation. I say left open because the mastermind of the League, Riri McAllister, is still MIA.
What really got me looking into things was the GalNet article from March 19th 3307:
The article goes in to asking the question of how the NMLA went from being a minor Empire problem, to a major galactic terrorist organization. And so I started digging, and one of the first places I went to was previous terrorist organizations in Elite to see if there were any insights. I was surprised by the some of the similarities that the NMLA shared with the League of Reparation, each is seemingly led by an individual going by a moniker rather than a given name (Nexus for the League and Theta Seven for the NMLA), both starting with assassination attempts (Nestor Cartesius by the League and Harold Duval by the NMLA), but one being eliminated swiftly while the other was left to escalate, and now we have each one setting a trap that kills a lead agent who was investigating them (Kay Kilbride by the League and Niamh Seutonia by the NMLA) and the agent that died to the NMLA is the very agent who confirmed the dismantling of the League back in 3304.
Going back to March 19th though, after my initial digging, I decided to listen in on the Lave Radio broadcast from a few days prior to see if they expressed any insight and was greeted with the which was all about the Nine Martyrs. So I had a listen and I heard an interesting point, there was a standout station from the nine martyrs attack, that station is Lave Station, the main station in the Lave system where Riri McAllister is from. More digging was needed.
So I went back into research mode and started fact the News Digest video and taking a closer look at the stations that were attacked and was surprised at how much more it made Lave Station standout to me. So here's a breakdown of each station.
- We have Li Qing Jao, an Orbis Starport in the Sol system. Makes sense in the motivations we are given for the attacks. It's a major station in the Federations capital system, striking so close to home is a good choice to stir up anyone in the federation.
- We have Dawes Hub, another Orbis Starport this time in the Achenar system. For the same reasons as the Li Qing Jao, this target just makes sense. Antagonizing the empire by hitting them in their capital system.
- We have Donaldson, yet another Orbis Starport this time in the Alliance's capital system of Alioth. Seems we have a slight pattern here.
- Hahn Gateway, another Orbis Starport, this one Nanomam which just happens to be the system where Zachary Hudson is headquartered.
- Ito Orbial, once again an Orbis Starport, this one Rhea the headquarter of Felicia Winters.
- Parkinson Dock, NMLA just loves hitting those big Orbis Starports, this time it's Denton Patreus' headquarters of Eotienses.
- Shajn Market, you guessed it, an Orbis Starport, and of course this just happens to be the headquarter system of Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval, Kamadhenu.
- Dublin Citadel, our final Orbis Starport in the Aliance Prime Minister Edmund Mahon's headquarter system of Gateway.
- Lastly we have our ugly duckling of the group, Lave Station, a humble Coriolis Starport, in the headquarter system of… Oh no one, it's just in Lave. Huh that's strange, right? All the other targets have been large Orbis Starport, why target this little Coriolis, surely the NMLA could have found another prominent Orbis Starport in one of the many other headquarter systems. You know like in Princess Asling Duval's headquarters of Cubeo, which just happens to have three nice big Orbis Starports.
I don't know about anyone else but to me that looks pretty strange. It's almost like 8 Orbis starports were targeted for compelling political reasons and Lave Station was targeted, why?
This is where we come back to Riri McAllister, the former Rear Admiral of Lave's Navy, turned terrorist leader of the League of Reparation. Last we heard about Riri McAllister was in 3304, she was being transported to a medical facility following being shot at her trial, but this medical transport never arrived. It went missing and according to speculation by one of the Inspector's currently leading ACT in the NMLA investigation, McAllister's transport was either destroyed by someone seeking to silence her, or was hijacked by someone trying to rescue her.
Now, let's take a step back and ask, would FDev really use plot threads from 3 years ago? Well quite frankly yes, they absolutely would, we just had CG's relating Jupiter Rochester and the Presidential assassination attempt in 3301 with the Starship One Disaster.
So before I continue, just for some further backstory on the League, it was also speculated that the League might be much older than we think due to a number of unsolved murders prior to the League's exposure might have also been committed by their agents. This tells me that the League likely had deeper roots than we knew and that they likely weren't dismantled but simply forced back underground.
Now I want to be clear, I'm not saying Riri McAllister is alive and running the NMLA, that doesn't fit with who she is or what her motivations have been in the past. What I am suggesting is that she might be alive, and she might be helping the NMLA. If she is alive, it gives real motivation for the attack on Lave Station since she used to serve as part of their Admiralty, and also the NMLA trap that claimed the life of Niamh Seutonia, a major player in the foiling the plans of the League and the arrest of Riri McAllister.
It's hard to say for sure though who's involved with the NMLA as the criminal organizations go largely undetected to us CMDRs unless we get a GalNet article about them or we find something scannable hidden out in space. Maybe the entire criminal underworld is working together to burn the bubble 😉
Anyway, love to hear all the other theories you folks have, and I can't wait till we figure out what is really going on.
TL;DR I think Riri McAllister is alive and she and possibly the League of Reparation are helping the NMLA and the NMLA is returning the favor by bombing Lave Station and killing the people responsible for McAllister's capture. Thoughts?
