Most of the younger pirates in the system, serve in the “Young Blood” fleet, which has remained in orbit around an asteroid for decades. They are reluctant to leave the Rukbat system to conduct piracy, claiming that times are harder for pirates throughout the galaxy as constantly-growing empires begin securing trade routes.

Private Milan Eel of the Soylent Green told Xenonion News:

“You used to be able to get a successful raid with a fleet of four Raiders your parents gave you. Now you need at least a Galleon, and even that might not be enough. And even if you raid for years, you still won’t pay off your ship debts, and don’t even get me started on how much it costs to maintain a fleet undocked. It’s no wonder pirates aren’t leaving their home system.”

In addition, the Xenonion News sentry array has also observed that pirates have been having difficulty rebuilding their fleets when ships are destroyed. Although pirate officials are tight-lipped about their financial situation, this points to a significant supply problem within the pirate community.

This problem could have a relatively simple solution, however. Initial survey results of the TNS Arpad, a science ship on passive stance that wandered into the system and was promptly destroyed, showed that many asteroids in the system were promising mining candidates. It is unclear, however, why the pirates have not exploited these resources by building mining stations.

Dr. Phoebe Strickland, an anthropologist specializing in pirate studies at the University of Ulm on Earth, concluded:

“We’re kind of thankful they haven’t realized all the minerals they’re sitting on, to be honest. Oh… and please don’t publish this quote, by the way. If they’re reading, they might start mining them, and I really don’t want to be the person who told the pirates how to get minerals to build new ships.”