The way i see it, 74 should still be a Guard system. And a Zoner "Leader" if you like to prevent stuff like this happening. Zoners dont have a leader per say, but possibly someone to ask whether the path the individual zoner takes is correct or not? I don't really know. Though measures should be implemented so factions cant spam Core 4 bases in a system which in turn bugs the rest of the Zoner population. The way i see it anyway and funnily enough, this war is just gaining steam.
At the end of the day, it boils down to: ZonerZonerZonerZoner!