I can't speak for all Junkers who chose to interact with Harvesters but I can speak for Congress members.
Harvesters consider us "not-hostile" by default--by "us" I mean all Junkers. As long as a Junker doesn't attack or threaten a Harvester, they will not get attacked. This is because of the logic presented to their "first unit" by Vladimir Tinkerbell.
The Harvesters also INSIST on the freedom to salvage debris fields near Junker bases--it wasn't a request. The Junkers can work with this or be worked over because of it. Obviously Junkers would prefer to not have to war with Harvesters at their own bases. As part of the Harvesters logical view of the situation, they are willing to provide protection to Junkers at Junker bases and to receive "threat identifications" from Junkers in return for "efficient" (no conflict with local Junkers) access to Junker salvage areas. That means if a Junker is attacked and notifies a Harvester, the unit that performed the attack will be noted by the Harvesters as "hostile". The Harvesters will flag such attackers as hostile even if no notification is given by a Junker if they are aware of the attack. It is an element of their programming. They do not distinguish an attack on a Junker as other than an attack on themselves. Harvester programming has determined that "Junkers are of benefit to its goals"--we did not decide that for them--they determined it. Now what Junkers do NOT do is respond in like manner to Harvesters. Their agendas are their own and we do not determine them--we can't. Harvesters do what they want. So do not confuse Harvesters defending Junkers at Junker bases as a "war pact"--it is a function they preform because their processing has determined that it is in their best interest. What we do prohibit is ANY faction bringing their wars and battles to Junker population centers. We can't risk stations full of traders,families, and children to be pummeled by cap ships slugging it out. So there is a 2k exclusion zone for combat near Junker bases and an expanded exclusion zone at Bornholm that covers the debris field around it as it is strictly defined and heavily populated with salvagers. You will not see Junkers "data siphoning" prisoners, destroying Zoners in search of alpha codes or attacking Harvester specific enemies such as bounty hunters. Those are Harvester matters and beyond our control. An Outcast and a Corsair can dock a Junker base and such docking does not make us be fully allied to them.
We have an arrangement with the Harvesters that was imposed on us and managed to convince the Harvesters that if they were going to compete with Junkers for base resources it was better to provide a service instead of being in conflict with us. Don't attack Junkers and Harvesters will have nothing to do with you because of Junkers. Blaming us for the Harvester presence is akin to demanding WE go to war with them. We can't. We cannot battle Harvesters at the handful of stations we call home. We can't battle bounty hunters either. That is why we demand that such battles not be brought to our bases.
Our recommendation to all groups is that if they don't assault the Harvesters the Harvesters might see the logic in not assaulting you. It is egotistical, headstrong and militaristic minded pilots that are provoking conflict. if you declare war on them, don't blame Junkers.
![[Image: Tink_Shadow.png]](http://junkers.worldstrider.info/images/Tink_Shadow.png)