Unfriendly Fire - The Minmatar Militia

Chatgris stared out of the window at the planet below. Behind her she could hear half a dozen heated debates between various people. This would not be a fun meeting she thought. A pair of Thrasher class destroyers undocked from the station and passed the window before slipping into warp together. It was ironic that they used so much from the Minmatar Republic, yet this meeting was having to take place.

She took her place at the head of the table and cleared her throat. The discussions died down.

"Right. Thank you all for attending. This meeting has only one thing on the agenda."

The Quantum Cats Syndicate CEO waved her hand over the conference table and it came alive with holographic projects of starships engaging in combat.

"These are the recordings of the last two weeks where the Minmatar Militia have engaged in unprovoked aggression against QCATS pilots. So the question is what do we do?"

Chatgris turned to her right and looked at JAF Anders.

"We need to remonstrate with the Matari leadership. We're supposed to be allies in this war, not attacking each other. Haven't we got any diplomatic options here Kirk?"

MinutemanKirk steepled his fingers under his chin and lent forward.

"The Matari militia is as bad as ours for working together. There is no single leader or leadership, it's a collection of corporations and alliances each doing their own thing. The attacks on our pilots come from a number of alliances who in the end answer to nobody. But I agree, we need a diplomatic solution to this.

"Drack? I think we all know where you stand on this...." Chatgris was cut off as Drackarn raised his hand in a stop sign.

"I've changed my mind. I know I said we should keep them allied but now I say we treat them as neutrals."

"Wow. Thats a pretty impressive u-turn in less than a week. What changed your mind?" Kirk asked.

Drackarn leaned into the table and tapped a few commands into the holo-projector. Rather than the initial show of a dozen separate dog-fights, there now was just one.

"I was capturing a Caldari complex yesterday and had neutralised the State Navy defence force. My crew were hacking the installation to capture it. We got a Wolf class assault frigate on short-scan and went to battle stations. As he dropped out of warp threat indicators showed he was allied. So we went back to hacking the installation. After about 20 seconds...."

"Let me guess" Andre Vauban cut in "You got ganked?".

Drackarn just nodded.

"Been there, done that, got the loss-mail. As far as I see it we need to treat the Matari like any other neutral in the warzone. If it's not blue, we can engage freely." Andre followed up.

"Well we don't have any doubt where your vote will be going Andre. But all I ask is you remember, the Gallente and Minmatar are long standing allies. We almost fund their entire republic in aid payments. A quarter of their civilisation live with in the borders of the Federation. They are allies in the end." Chatgris replied. "Jetty?"

"To be honest I don't know which way to go. I agree with you boss, the Matari are supposed to be our allies. Hell they are fighting the Amarr and nobody likes the Amarr, they get the blame for everything. But, and it is a huge but, they are coming over here and attacking us."

"Nexxala?"

"No discussion needed as far as I am concerned. They shot first, we need to make sure we shoot back bigger and harder."

"Chan?"

"I'm with Nexxala. We cannot keep them blue if they are engaging us. We are losing ships to these supposed allies. Revoke their blue status and give our pilots a chance to fight back."

Chatgris knew the tide was turning. The meeting had been off to a good start, but now there was a growing feeling of animosity towards the Matari. Revoking their blue status would weaken the combined war effort and create a diplomatic headache for all.

"OK. Rabugento, what do you think?"

"I agree that we should be allies fighting together against the Amarr-Caldari axis of evil."

"Well thank..."

"Wait a sec boss. I said 'should' and the reality is they are coming over here and engaging in unprovoked acts of aggression against our pilots. I was for keeping them blue, now, seeing the loses we've suffered, I say we revoke the automatic blue status and treat them as neutral."

"Right. Cromwell?"

"I'm against revoking their blue status to be honest. We can treat them with suspicion and expect a possible attack without firing the first shot. If they start targeting you or approaching our ships in an attack posture then either get the frack out or return the target lock and start evasive manoeuvres. Its not rocket science."

"And last but not least, Onezen?"

"I'm sorry? Did every one not see that Rapier class recon ship they attacked? If any other organisation had attacked us this many times in two weeks we'd have set them 'kill on sight' 13 days ago and we certainly wouldn't be having this discussion!"

Chatgris typed some more commands into the holodesk and pressed a button, a holographic bar chart appeared above the table, slowly rotating. The blue bar moved along a notch.

"OK, my votes cast. I say keep them blue and progress through diplomacy. Ladies and gentlemen please cast your votes."

Each of the QCATS leadership team leaned forward and tap their chosen vote on the desk. The red and blue bars on the holodesk chart moved up neck an neck as each vote was cast. As the last vote was given the results displayed.

"MinutemanKirk. I hope you are ready for some diplomatic drama." Chatgris said with resignation in her voice. "Send the mail, the general Matari militia are now neutral standings to us."

The room errupted in heated discussions again and Chatgris had to quieten them down again.

"We're not finished. The result is dissapointing to me, we have good relationships with some of the major power-blocs in the Matari militia. We've fought side-by-side with them. We've gone to help them when they have asked, and they have helped us in return. I'm not prepared to throw the baby out with the bath water just because some Minmatar are a bit bored and are taking advantage of the fact that we won't shoot first. We need to get appropriate blue status with those corporations and alliances we know we can trust and make sure we have negative standings set against those who agress us. Kirk, you've got a lot of work to do. Make it so."