Could [insert random faction here] survive without the Zoners? Yes, probably.
.. Would they want too, though..? Probably not, under any circumstance.
Using the excuse that you're a terrorist or a pirate just doesn't really fly here, I mean.. You don't see terrorists bombing Wal-Marts nationwide simply because the president of America buys his muffins there, now do you..? Nor do you see terrorists hijacking pizza delivery kids simply because they're delivering food to the president. It simply doesn't happen with the exceptions of corporations like Republican Shipping and Interspace Commerce, both of which cater to a certain sector of space, whereas Zoners freely deal with everyone.
In 99.9% of all cases, if you're looking to remain consistent with the setting of Freelancer, then Zoners mean more to you than you do to them. Continuously raiding Zoners (especially as a pirate or terrorist character, concepts that generally act out of survival rather than impetuous desires) may result in your home planet or base not receiving any food the next month. In other cases, it might result in an interstellar war, where the Zoners could simply just entice one of their many friends to deal with the problem for them.
Ie; Outcasts continuously raid Zoner transports and eventually the Zoner Council is fed up with it. Instead of wasting even more money hiring Mercenaries and creating a private army to deal with the threat, they might just go proposition the Xenos or the Rogues (or any of the other numerous factions around who're always in need of the things that Zoners offer) to deal with the threat for them under the condition that they'll recieve free shipments of food and weaponry for X amount of time.
Zoners might not come slingin' flak at you like the rest of the multiverse probably will, but just because they choose (they aren't forced to be neutral you know, it's just a choice they've made as a society) to remain neutral in all affairs that isn't to say that you should consider them as "less" of a threat, or as holding less influence. The Zoners have more installations in Sirius than any other faction (probably even alot of the Houses), they're very rich and they obviously know how to use this to their advantage.
I don't really have much of a problem with Traders using the Zoner tag. The life of a pirate is meant to be hard, how many pirates do you see (even in Freelancer) living a lucrative life thanks to their underhanded efforts..? I really can't sympathize for all those pirates out there crying about how they aren't getting paid simply because they've managed to get the best guns in the game before someone else, you know..?
