Passing bots/bats redux

[Agmen of Eladesor]

This has come up in house combat before, and the general consensus is that if someone passes bots/bats, then they are now part of the combat.

But - what if one of the ships involved is a cap ship, and the ship passing the bots/bats happens to be a transport or freighter?

Personally, I think the transport just defecated in his own mess kit, to paraphrase an old military saying. But I could see, especially in house space, where this could cause issues, but the cap isn't pirating the transport - he's taking out the ally of someone he's fighting. And what happens when the transport doesn't actually show as hostile to the cap? If it's a lawful involved, is that somehow different that if there's an unlawful involved, because the unlawful could then potentially be considered as pirating?

Had a situation tonight where I was fighting an Order bomber in Delta with my Battlecruiser. The bomber, Order tagged and ID'd, had apparently been escorting an IMG tagged and ID miner. Okay, that's fine - but when I caught (because this time I had FRAPS running) the miner passing bots and bats to the bomber - even if all he was doing was ejecting them so the bomber could pick them up on a fly-by - from my perspective that miner then was assisting the Order, and became a legal combatant. What are your thoughts on this matter?

(In case you're wondering - I had scanned both ships fully as I approached, because I knew they had to have Nomad samples on board, which I was 'confiscating' - so I knew how many b/b they both had when I showed up - and suddenly when the transport went down by 40 of each, and the bomber went from nearly dead and out of b/b and back to life and with some b/b in his hold, I knew someone was helping.)

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Oh god... The end of days... Agmen agreed with me.

[hack]

Admins have stated that if you are caught passing bots/bats, your part of the fight. You would have been in the clear to destroy him.

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Formerly known as LPI Police Chief Hull O'Brien.
Creator of Sgt. V. Price, 207th Precinct out of Chula Vista Station

[Virus]

Admins have stated that if you are caught passing bots/bats, your part of the fight. You would have been in the clear to destroy him.

That pretty much sums it up.

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Into the Maelstrom - A Measure of Salvation - Reaver Company Database