The Rival, Part 3

Previously, on MinerBumping... Agent Australian Excellence inadvertently uncovered a secret plot to take highsec from the New Order. The plotter-in-chief was Bucklee, a miner with strong opinions about how highsec should be governed.

Bucklee was disgusted by the way CODE. operated. He was convinced that the correct way to control highsec was to protect nullsec miners. Obviously our Agents weren't spending enough time doing that.

The miner had intended to seize control of highsec himself. Bucklee was greatly disappointed to see the New Order had gotten there first, only to completely botch the execution of his idea.

Now it was impossible for Bucklee--or anyone else--to implement his brilliant plan.

Agent Australian's attention was divided, as he was still ganking Code violators while Bucklee ranted in local.

Ever since the first days of the Code, highsec miners have attempted to distract our Agents by telling them to go to lowsec and nullsec. But the New Order understands that highsec's problems must be solved first. If anyone needs to relocate, it's the highsec carebears.

Agent Liek DarZ delivered a public announcement as he passed through the system. (And the miners say nobody warns them about the Code!) Bucklee ignored the words of wisdom; nothing could interrupt his lecture about how the New Order should operate.

Australian Excellence found the miner's beliefs confusing. Did Bucklee think Australian was an Agent of the New Order of Lowsec Entrances Connecting Jita to Nullsec?

Bucklee wasn't buying it. He was certain he knew exactly what the New Order was trying to do, because he was trying to do it.

Our Agent tried to reason with Bucklee. MinerBumping documents hundreds of accounts of Agents enforcing the Code outside The Forge. Indeed, birthplace of the Code--Halaima--is in another region. And CODE.'s killboard displays tens of thousands of non-Forge kills.

But Bucklee proved nearly impossible to teach. The miner thought he already knew everything, so there was no reason for him to listen to anyone else.

Agent Australian cautioned the miner not to persist in this path. Bucklee didn't fear anything--not even the dreaded Red Pen list--because he had a trump card up his sleeve: The map of The Forge he'd spent 8 hours working on.

In his arrogance, Bucklee believed himself to be the smartest person in the system. But his delusion didn't make him happy--quite the opposite. He was frustrated by the failure of others to do things as he thought they should be done. And Australian Excellence's refusal to enforce the Code by protecting lowsec trade routes was getting on Bucklee's last nerve. He was almost ready to snap.

...So he snapped. Australian and the rest of our Agents had ruined the game for him.

Bucklee's war was over. He abandoned his carefully crafted plan to rule highsec. If only he'd thought of it a few years earlier. There still might've been time to prove it would work.