Situation: Pirate A is pirating lane. A merc passes by at the same time a juicy trader/military/etc. Pirate hires the merc.
Now. The Trader/Military/Etc must be aware of the bounty. So, what can happen is the following.
Pirate hires the merc in local chat. Merc says yes. Contract issued.
Merc and Pirate pop's target. Merc gets payed. Pirate keeps pirating.
Pirate hires the merc in pm. Merc says yes. But the merc or pirate have to say that the merc got hired to shoot his worthless Trader/Military/etc hide in a message.
Contract issued. Merc and Pirate pop's target. Merc gets payed. Pirate keeps pirating.
Same thing can happen with the fight already happening.
But the key in this is that all people in the pre-fight or on-going fight are made aware of that the merc was hired.
And i am not talking about /l1 /l2 set messages and engagements.
It means proper roleplay.
If you have any doubts, check Dusty's Wisdom #9 in my signature.
Fyi, you don't need to know the rest.
You're too young for that.
Pro-tip: Take screenshots of the convo and money transfer with timestamps.
That way, you're in the clear.
<3
[8:32:45 PM] Dusty Lens: Oh no, let me get that. Hello? Oh it's my grandma. She says to be roleplay.
[12:12:00] Traxit: this is smut stop