Saving Capt Lynch, Part 3

Previously, on MinerBumping... I gave Capt Lynch some advice worth its weight in gold, and he reluctantly apologized for lying about New Order Agents making his brother cry. Capt was eager to shield his corporation from retaliation. Upon receipt of a 100 million isk payment, I agreed not to attack Capt's corp. However, I could not guarantee my Agents would not defend their honour in the manner they saw fit.

The day after Capt paid me my money, he sent me an invitation to a private convo. He was in good spirits, and had finally learned how to begin a conversation with appropriate pleasantries.

Capt wanted my assistance in putting together some materials for a guide to EVE, to help convince his friends to give the game a try. The effort ran into a roadblock when he didn't take my advice on using the guide to emphasize miner bumping as the best career choice.

Without warning, I invited a couple Agents into the convo, and I asked Capt to invite someone from his corporation, Ashfell Celestial Equilibrium.

Capt obliged and invited Kthk'dor Mhrynn, one of the three leaders of the corp. Now my private convo with Capt consisted of two Agents, myself, Capt, and Kthk'dor. Classic negotiating strategy: Always have more of your own people in the room. I took the opportunity to interview Kthk'dor and get more info about his corp.

I was interested in securing a lasting peace between the New Order and Capt's corp. Capt's "starter's guide" for EVE got put on the back-burner, where it frankly belonged.

Kthk'dor already knew about the controversy with Capt. I set that aside and began exploring commonalities between the corporation and the New Order. With any luck, we could come to an understanding.

My Agents maintained a respectful silence. Capt did, too, for the most part.

Kthk'dor and I came from the same place. We both wanted peace.

It was a good first meeting, and I was optimistic that progress had been made.

A couple hours later, I received another convo request from Capt. I invited a few Agents. Capt was in a panic; he was being threatened with expulsion from his corp.

Kthk'dor had received another threat of a wardec from one of my Agents, and he blamed Capt.

Capt was despondent. As the closest thing to his guardian angel, I tried to help him out, and asked him to start again from the beginning. Agent Willy Bryan had threatened Capt's corp with wardecs. The corp was not happy with Capt about it.

Capt requested confidentiality, but I told him I couldn't arrange that unless I knew what he was talking about. Capt put aside the need for secrecy and went on ahead with his story.

According to Capt, Kthk'dor's calm demeanor in the peace conference belied much angst about the situation. He gave Capt a stern talking to.

The key issue here was honesty. Capt's fate rested entirely on his ability to tell the whole truth. He insisted he had, and that he was hiding nothing.

Capt then asked me to defuse the situation and try to encourage peace, to maximize his chances of not being kicked from his corp.

Capt was certain he would be kicked from his corp, but vowed to soldier on. Those highsec missions won't run themselves.

Two days later, I posted Part 4 of "The Curious Case of Capt Lynch". Agent Mallak Azaria noticed Capt had been expelled, and theorized it was because Capt was a corp thief. Mallak's source about the missing ships is unknown.

For a week, Capt had great difficulty finding another corp that would take him. According to Capt, every corp he talked to was either afraid of the New Order or was leery about the corp-theft rumor.

But the story has a happy ending. Capt secured employment with Penguin Brigade. I don't know whether Penguin Brigade is aware of Capt's checkered past or the rumors about corp theft. I'm also unsure of whether Penguin Brigade will come under threat of wardecs due to its new association with Capt. But I am confident that whatever happens, Capt Lynch will face the challenges of the future with the same level of dignity and grace that he has thus far.