Every setback for the Starbotians against the Argon or VC separatists hands more electoral support to the opposition leader K-2 ahead of a leadership election later in the month. K-2 now has a 16% lead over S101 who is facing criticism and opposition even from his own side for his perceived weak leadership.
This is a big problem for the DDS as K-2 has pledged to take Starbot out of the DDS system (he says Starbot will remain friends but did not say how big a friend). This would seriously weaken DDS South.
