I think it's also worth noting that (at least from my perspective) the situation was tense but not hostile, with saber rattling on both sides, up until the Outcasts showed up to help. Two outcast warships forming up with the Core fleet antagonized the libertonians into attacking. The way that played out makes perfect sense to me.
For the libertonians, they just saw two enemy warships show up on the borders of liberty.
For the core, their "allies of convenience" were under threat. While the outcasts and core aren't actual allies, they are still neutrals with many common enemies.
For the outcasts, under the guise of helping they were able to drive a wedge between the core and liberty, putting the outcasts in a position to be closer to the core.
The core could have sided with liberty against the outcasts, but would liberty help them against the order and corsairs? No, but the outcasts can.
It's a very interesting situation, which I'd love to see develop further.
