Question about killing in uncontrolled zones / Protectorate quest line spoilers

[goppul]

So, I wanted to murder the CAU for obvious reasons, and figured it'd be neat to kill them while we're all away on the gas the drones mission. This happens in an uncontrolled area with no witnesses. How come this necessarily renders the entire Protectorate faction hostile? Did I misinterpret what uncontrolled areas are, or is this just the game telling you that killing certain NPCs, regardless of area or logic, will just make everyone part of their gang big mad?

[Koveras]

Zone control determines whether or not NPCs can trace your traps back to you. But if you punch someone in the face they will easily identify you as the problem, independently of the zone status Then hostility almost always propagate to the entire faction.

Regarding your specific situation though, you can easily kill the CAU without antagonizing anyone. Just set up some traps around the corner, out of their line of sight, then lure them with a loud noise. Since it's an uncontrolled area they won't identify the traps as yours. It might take a few cycles to kill them if you can only use low level traps, but literraly any character can pull that off.