On 15 Jan 2019 at 21:58, Tim wrote:

> If the system is balkanized or has other internal problems then they
> might be protecting from each other as much or more than any external
> threats.

And woe unto any "pirates"/mercenaries who think this makes for easy
pickings.

While it's unlikely that you'll get the  "ideal" of everybody
shelving their differences until the invaders are kicked out, you'll
likely get a fair bit of it.

And then thnere are the folks who will side with the invaders if they
think it'll give them an dvantage. they may stick with them. Or they
may turn around and pull a backstab if *that* looks to be to their
advantage. (also givesd them plausible deniability. "Oh no, we just
sided with them to gain their trust so we could attack when it would
do the most good")

--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com