Crazy Like a Foxbolt, Part 2

Previously, on MinerBumping... Reddit was horrified to learn that Admiral Foxbolt was trying to collect real money from members of his corporation, BATTLESTAR FEDERATION. Foxbolt was soon deposed, and he biomassed himself. The danger had passed... Or had it?

Six days earlier...

It all began as most things do, with the gank of a bot-aspirant's mining ship. Praetor Venerabilis planned to undock in a Hulk, activate his mining lasers on some Pyroxeres, and go AFK. Against any other enemy, his plan might have succeeded. But Praetor was dealing with the New Order of Highsec. Agent Maou Solidus engaged in elite PvP with the miner and killed him.

Several hours later, CODEdot went to high alert when Agent loyalanon received a disturbing EVEmail about the Hulk gank. Admiral Foxbolt was reborn! Now he was the champion of the anti-bullying movement, and apparently Praetor was one of his "paying clients".

You know how a lot of highsec corporations say their corp is dedicated to "mining, hauling, industry, PvP, exploring, whatever you feel like doing"? This was a new one: BATTLESTAR GAMING. corporation existed for the purpose of improving player retention. I've been saying for years that EVE's players are oddly fixated on CCP's financial health. This was the logical outcome of all that madness.

After condemning our Agent's attempt at extortion, Foxbolt demanded 160 million isk. There were three pieces of good news, though: First, the demand was for less than the 240 million isk value of the ship. Second, Foxbolt wasn't pursuing a claim for emotional damages. Third, Praetor agreed to continue playing EVE as long as he got reimbursed for his lost Hulk. (Whew! That was a close one!)

Now for the bad news: Unless 160 million isk was paid, Foxbolt would have CCP ban our Agent from the game. Interestingly, Foxbolt claimed that the miner hadn't brought the gank on himself, even though there was no record of Praetor possessing a permit to mine.

loyalanon was reluctant to hand over the money. Foxbolt urged him to reconsider. Otherwise, The Conference Elite risked a corp-wide ban.

Among other things, loyalanon is an impressive diplomat. He was confident that he could negotiate a peaceful solution. To that end, loyalanon proposed an eleventh-hour TeamSpeak conference. loyalanon always shines at those; he's very comfortable in that format.

However, the situation was even more fragile than loyalanon feared. Foxbolt wouldn't join the TeamSpeak channel unless the money was paid first.

Clearly, it was going to be hardball. Dear reader, it must be so thrilling for you to watch the battle between these two titans of highsec, both at the top of their game. Who would buckle first?

Now it was war. Admiral Foxbolt declared his intention to bring down CODEdot once and for all. Since these EVEmails were forwarded to everyone in CODEdot, random Agents sent replies of their own. Foxbolt brushed them aside:

It was a new day in highsec. The end of the New Order had finally arrived.

To be continued...