The Rival, Part 1

When you're an Agent of the New Order, everybody knows your name.

...or they learn it quickly.

Agent Australian Excellence went forth into highsec to enforce the Code. He educated the carebears about the Code, and as a result, the carebears also learned about Australian himself. Becoming a rock star is a side effect of enforcing the Code.

Our Agents encounter many different breeds of carebear. Just as species are categorized according to their physiological characteristics, carebears are identified by the kind of tears they produce.

Every so often, our Agents come across a new type of carebear. But it isn't always apparent at first.

Agent Australian made his way into the Poinen system, a popular haunt for PvE'ers of all types. He immediately received negative feedback from a fellow named Bucklee.

Bucklee questioned the legitimacy and mission of our fair Order. This is typical. Why, if carebears admitted our legitimacy, they'd soon be out 10 million isk.

At first, Bucklee attempted to downplay the influence of the New Order. He claimed not to have noticed our Agents for the three months he'd lived in highsec.

Bucklee's story quickly fell apart. He suggested he'd rather quit EVE than play on the same shard as our Agents--an awfully touchy reaction, if our Agents didn't matter.

Apparently three minutes of talking to our Agent wiped out the three months of peace and quiet Bucklee claimed he'd experienced. Bucklee accused the New Order of completely ruining the game. So much for our organization having no influence.

Bucklee's attitude about the game was heartbreaking. He thought EVE was designed to be "played" AFK. What an insult to the CCP devs who work so hard on this game.

Now Bucklee felt that the New Order was turning highsec--a paradise for effortless, risk-free AFK isk--into lowsec. Which, presumably, is a much worse place.

The versatility of the New Order mining permit is one of its great selling points; you don't need a separate permit for each kind of activity. Bucklee managed to spin that into a bad thing. Agent Australian was disappointed in Bucklee. But just when he felt he was starting to understand the carebear, things took a sudden and unexpected turn:

Bucklee was no ordinary carebear. His ambition was nothing less than total dominion over highsec. He intended to take highsec away from the New Order and seize control of it for himself.

To be continued...