Originally by: Mahrin Skel

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To understand what happened at the end of the CODA war, you have to understand where we were at: Most of the corps who wanted to move somewhere else in 0.0 and start fresh had already left, to form PURE. Many of our best PvP'ers had left to join Outbreak. And the ones who didn't have the stomach for a losing fight had left by dribs and drabs throughout the course of the war. So what was left was figuring on drawing back to the 3-F gateway and it's vicinity, and staging a guerilla war to keep fighting against CODA. And for the two weeks that CODA was fighting in 9CG against BOB, that's exactly what we did, racking up a few hundred kills on pilots trying to move between there and Empire. BOB was still shooting at us when we crossed paths, but not going out of their way to find us.

But FIX had one bargaining chip left: We still had 3 large POS's in 9CG, although we lacked the means to keep them from being put in Reinforced, we had managed to keep them from being knocked out, and fueled in spite of being shot at by *everyone*. CODA had two, BOB had one, no one could muster the force to either knock POS's out completely, or to put up more. That is when the deal with BOB was struck, while we still had the means to negotiate as equals. We took Sovereignty with our POS's, which BOB defended, and gave BOB docking rights, putting an end to the station ping-pong.

Did we give up the stations? Technically, we gave up 9CG after CODA folded like a wet paper towel, but the fact is that even if BOB had said "Here's your stations back, try not to lose them again" (and how would that have been less humiliating than the deal we made?), at that point we lacked the means to defend them. We weren't humiliated, we were humbled, but we still had our honor and our pride. BOB respected that, and we respected them. We needed time to rebuild, and the deal with BOB offered us that.

If BOB came to us and asked us to join them in their fight against ASCN, we'd probably do so, because it would be BOB coming to us as equals and asking for help, a status we have earned through the loss of many ships and our determination to rebuild. And if ASCN continues to treat us with contempt, we may do so on our own.

So keep in mind, we were *beaten*. Flat broke (I personally spent 2 billion isk in the last month of the war, and ended it with less than 100M). Lacking enough numbers at every level to defend Q even if we'd still owned it. But we'd gone down proud and swinging, and managed to retain the ability to influence and decide the battle for Querious. At that point, all we had left was our pride, and the stubborn refusal to accept any option that drove us out of Q for good.

So look down on us for living in BOB's shadow if you like. Try to create FUD in our relationship with BOB, hoping that by saying "BOB's Lapdogs" often enough you can influence our actions to be more to your liking. But know this: FIX chose our course with eyes wide open, and we don't care what people who never liked us think of our choice. Our friends understand, and we feel our honor is intact, so to hell with anyone who can't see it.

--Dave

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