KNick wrote:And that small but very important point is why I asked the question in the first place.
Thank you Lazarlives for your response. It contained everything I thought I wanted to know when I started this. Mike is covered, barely, by the fig leaf of the offensive acts of the SLN. Since everything up to and including Crandell were responses to direct attacks, there is absolutely no question about their legality, even though not all of those actions were within the borders of the SEM. Her attack on Mesa could be covered two ways. First, by the fact that they had uncovered evidence that Mesa had instigated and funded terroristic attacks on the SEM. Second, Torch is a "client" state or "allied" state and they have formally declared war on Mesa. The RMN is simply giving them a hand with their war.
Meyers, however, is a different kettle of fish altogether. It is an independent star nation in it's own right. It is not part of the SL. It is simply a planet where the SLN and OFS has set up an administrative hub. It has done so with a formal treaty with Meyers. The fact that the treaty was extorted at gunpoint is, for the moment, immaterial. Since Mike has not received a formal declaration of war against either Meyers or the SL, she is in effect committing acts of piracy to protect her nation. Although, since she has not taken anything from Meyers, that might be a debatable point in their case.
Since many, if not most, of the Verge planets are nominally independent systems, how can the RMN justify their actions in those systems without a formal declaration? They are not legally part of the SL, even if they are administered by OFS. They will not be covered by even a formal declaration against the SL. All that does is make any SLN and OFS operations within a given system legitimate targets. How does Mike and 19th Fleet, or for that matter, any other Fleet/Task Force/ Task Group make that distinction?
I think her attack in the Meyers system would be justified as self defense, or what ever you would call it when it applys to nations. She did not attack Meyers to attack Meyers, but to attack the OFS and FF bases that made multiple attacks against her star nation possible. The fact is that anything else that happened in that system was more or less collateral damage.
As for your last paragraph, a) if there isn't a formal declaration of war already, there will be one before the next system is hit, and b) with a decleration of war against the SL, any and all bases, offices, administrative centers, etc of any organization of the SL is a valid target regardless of where it is. If an "independent" star nation decided to help defend those bases etc, then they are willing to become combatants. If they don't defend those bases etc, then Manticore will leave as soon as they have taken out anything that the SL has in that system.
Also, I suspect that any decleration of war will be against "The Solarian League and any Allies of the Solarian League who are hostile to the Star Empire."
