Intergalactic Summit

When the hell did you have a beer with Admiral Lok'ri, and why wasn't I invited? I am PIE's social event honor killer, I should have been informed so that I might fulfill my duty.

Of course. I am not unsympathetic to your predicament, as there are parallels in every Pendulum War faction. One of the reasons I personally left was because there simply is no will to reject undesirables like that, be they known Sansha associates or in your case Blooders. However, I still do question your priorities.

Is the end you seek truly justifying the means you use to achieve it? The Pendulum War has no real effect on either of our nations, this is well known. At best, it's a place where you can achieve one thing: Setting an example to follow and provide inspiration to the baseliners that actually can affect things in our nations.

So the question then becomes, is setting the example that tolerating, accepting and at times even flying with undesirables - be they Blooder, Sansha, or whatever else - even within your own borders where these people are supposedly an outright enemy of your people truly worth such pitiful gains as imaginary flags on a bloodsport scoreboard?

What would set the greatest example for your people?

Of course, I know you don't have the means to successfully fight them. They'd crush you like an insect in any stand-up engagement simply with sheer numbers. It still begs the question then, if it isn't still worth it in order to keep certain principles rather than abandoning them in favor of an easier path where you're not burdened by principle and honor.

Not that I should really be expecting something like that. It's not like any of the other factions in the Pendulum War has any standards in that regard either, so it's not like you're not clearing the bar set by all the others.

....awkward....

I hear through the grapevine that this siege isn't going too well. It's just the opening act I'm sure, but so far the 24th is taking two losses for every win, both ship and ISK wise.

... awkward.

It's not like the crews in nullsec and the militias are somehow disconnected from the rest of the baseliner population.
Who doesn't know somebody who knew somebody who worked shipside and died?
These years, when you're a baseliner, you can't go a day browsing galnet without seeing a crew recruitment ad or an education package that leads to a crew tour through contract. On top of that, recruiters for both local rat crews and capsuleer crew pools show up in person in a lot of towns to hard-sell.
It's not a dead clone or two floating around in space after a fight that makes the pendulum war a bloodsport.
I don't know if it's different in the State and Empire, but in the Republic and Federation there are a lot of things we can change about how our crews are recruited, managed, and compensated, if we choose to. There are some legal limits to mitigate possible damage to planetary economies, but those laws are themselves more limited in scope than they might seem. And then there are the choices we make in space: whether to fly a Gallente ship or not; whether to take a crew on your frigate or accept the hazards of going without; whether to get in CreoDron's good books or ORE's and negotiate for access to experimental automation upgrades; what engagements to get into; what you're willing to risk lives for.
But of course it's easier to forget anything past your in-pod Neocom exists.

Double WHAT, is the question, kirjuun.

You're one to talk.

If you had ever had the pleasure of sharing my company, you would know that beer would not have been on the table.

I do hope I get a chance to kill you, Blood Raider.

I could say the exact same for a Federal Navy recruitment contract, Kolodi, and it would mean just as little in terms of meaningful exchange. Of course there's complexity. It's a legal agreement, same as any military or paramilitary organization.

I'll just cut to the chase, since my patience is limited nowadays...

Are you actually looking for a fruitful exchange? Or trying for a cheap shot? It feels like the latter, and I don't appreciate it.

Ah, that makes more sense. My apologies, then.