The Battle for Aridia, Part 5

Previously, on MinerBumping... Agent Alt 00 came under attack from Aridian rebels who belonged to the United Systems of Aridia alliance and its feeder corp, U.S.A. - University. Initially, the attacks consisted of the usual anti-Code slurs and insults. But as Alt 00 became increasingly famous in Aridia, resistance escalated. The rebels began attempting to suicide gank our Agent's scout.

One of the mouthier rebels, tfalcon2b1 Echerie, landed on grid and targeted the scout alt's Buzzard with a Catalyst. Having much experience with the ship, Alt 00 was well aware of the Catalyst's capabilities. She maneuvered out of the Catalyst's effective range--and was surprised to see a criminal activity notification occur anyway.

It wasn't the Catalyst who had gone criminal; it was a Svipul piloted by Mirko Vinci Anneto. Yet another rebel.

Mirko didn't fare any better than the previous would-be gankers. In fact, he did even worse, being immediately blapped by sentry guns. The scout alt's Buzzard gracefully glided by the Svipul wreck and scooped over 100 million isk worth of loot.

'Twas another teachable moment. The cowardly carebears had repeatedly tried and failed to suicide gank an unarmed ship. Maybe they should've focused on shooting ships that can shoot back--like Hulks with combat drones.

Another member of the rebel band logged in just in time to hear fresh reports of New Order victories.

The rebels were concerned about opsec. But Alt 00 knew that the only security in highsec comes from total compliance with the Code.

When the New Order first came to highsec, they compared us to Nazis. A few years later, ISIS references materialized. Who would've guessed that the host of "The Apprentice" would be the next logical step in this sequence?

The Aridian rebels longed for that blissful, pre-Code era. They were nostalgic for something that never existed, really. If you weren't a bot-aspirant, highsec was awful in those days.

Alt 00 couldn't help but notice that she and her alt were outnumbered by a wide margin, yet were continuously victorious. Would the rebels have the strength of character to commend our Agent on her elite PvP performances?

The rebels doubled-down on their bad sportsmanship. One even suggested he'd pay miners not to buy permits--which must rank among the worst ways to spend one's money in EVE. What a Goofus.

Alt 00 saw no alternative but to activate the next phase of her plan.

Each of the rascals received a bounty of 315,315 isk.

Alt 00 hoped that taking this step would clear the air and improve the toxic Aridian atmosphere. But as a seasoned Agent, she also knew there was a chance that the anti-Code carebears would only get even more out of control.

To be continued...