The Things They Do For Profit (tbd)

Posted on Mon Jan 6th, 2025 @ 4:43pm by Commodore Jacob Kane & Ensign Alex Brewster & Lieutenant Didrea Zade

Mission: Pandora's Box
Location: USS Athena :: Bridge
Timeline: MD5
1661 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

The perimeter set up by the Valiant, Spartan, and Vanguard held together over the last two days. A couple raiders made some early attempts to get through and were met with some warning shots, and so far none of them had made it anywhere close to the moon. Zade watched these patrols from the tactical station on the bridge, the Starfleet and raider ships appearing as differently colored dots on her screen. It was smart for the ships to have shuttles in the patrols as well, as they were faster than their parent ships and could cover more area.

Even two days later, raiders were still ambitious enough to try and get past the defense perimeter. Zade knew to only bother Kane with real issues, so her reports on such attempts were noted in a file she left open on her console so it could be added to her security reports. Another attempt to breach the perimeter drew the Trill's attention, and she watched the red dot do a fly-by past two of the Vanguard's shuttles, almost taunting them into a fight. Zade rolled her eyes at the attempt, knowing that Lieutenant Deyren's team wouldn't be so easily goaded. What did catch her attention, however, was several more red dots approaching on the screen, and she leaned forward slightly as she watched their movements. They were still just pirate ships, not very large and well-armed, but something about their approach was setting off warning bells in her head that this might be a more serious attempt. It didn't help that the number of raider ships only seemed to increase with each second.

"We've got more serious movement from the raiders," Zade reported aloud, breaking the working silence on the bridge. The shuttles were now engaged, the Trill easily identified the attack maneuvers from the blue dots. She was already at work helping to coordinate the responses, her fingers active on the console as she communicated intel to the shuttles and other vessels. "Sensors are detecting six -no, ten- raider ships, sir. Our teams have engaged, and the defense perimeter is holding." Something was different about this attempt, something she couldn't quite place her finger on, but her gut was telling her to stay alert.

"Tell the Spartan and Valiant to hold their patrol pattern. Signal Commander Oya to have the Spruance intercept." Kane noted, fixing his eyes on the tactical display and making coordinated movements in his head. "Ensign Brewster, bring us to bearing zero-three-five mark two-ten."

The display shifted. The Inquiry-Class ship making the direct charge at the small group of inferior craft that scattered like insects. Kane's trained eye watched the patterns, seeing potential dangers and threats forming. "Lieutenant Zade, arm a full spread of torpedoes, yield set for disable only."

"Copy." Zade was quick to do what he said, watching the ships move while also monitoring the progress of the torpedoes. "Torpedoes ready." The smaller ships scattered when the Spruance showed up, but the encounter didn't dissolve into chaos like it usually did. Instead, they went right back into their goading tactics while several more ships appeared, upping the number of small craft to sixteen. They weren't staying in one place for long, just long enough to tempt one of the Starfleet craft into charging weapons before they zipped away. "Sir, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" she asked Kane, glancing up briefly to see him looking at his own tactical display. "Their movements look coordinated. I would expect pirates to fight each other instead of work together." The circumstances were hardly normal, considering the prize the pirates were going for, but it was strange to see so many different factions working together. They were characteristically individualistic, only seeking their own profits over that of anyone else's.

"Smart play. At least some of them might get through. Time to play coverage, then. Have the Spruance break up the formation, she's maneuverable enough to mix it up with them. We'll drop back to high orbit and have the Edison and Aurora join us in tandem." Kane tapped a few more buttons on the tactical display. Although they could redeploy quickly, they might not catch every single ship. But that was less of a problem compared to letting a larger number in. "Watch that ship bearing 305-mark-070. They're making a direct run for the moon. Fire as you bear, Lieutenant."

Zade acknowledged, telling the sensors to lock onto the ship while continuing to update the squadron. The small raider vessel was moving fast, darting between the other ships that taunted the defense perimeter, even dipping down to get around the Spruance when she appeared. There was a risk of hitting one of their own, so she held off on firing until the ship got past the dense part of the perimeter. The first shot missed as the ship changed course, but and the second one was a glancing blow. The ship didn't slow down, however, so Zade refocused and fired again.

With the third shot, the ship exploded, making the Trill furrow her brow. That shouldn't have happened. The torpedoes should have just disabled the ship, she confirmed that prior to reporting that the torpedoes were ready, and she double checked that the impact wasn't near any critical systems. It took her a second to realize, "decoy ship, sir." A beep drew her attention, and she added, "I see two more attempting a similar run. 312-mark-070 and 291-mark-005. Locking on." It was unknown if these were also decoys, but she had to assume they were real. Besides, the squadron had at least 7 ships, 9 with Athena's MVAM, plus shuttles already in action. She could afford to shoot at decoys.

"They're smart, for simple pirates," Kane mused. "Keep us mobile, Ensign Brewster. Stay within tight range and coordinate with the Spruance Helm."

Once again spotting a window, Zade fired at the two ships. One instantly exploded, proving itself to be another decoy. The other dodged, doing something that looked like evasive maneuvers to press onward. This one seemed less coordinated... likely a real raider, but perhaps even one who was impatient with the goading attacks at the perimeter? In any case, its movements looked more natural for a pirate, and it dodged Athena's attacks, so Zade shot at it again, this time hitting one of the aft engines and sending the ship off-course.

Suddenly, all the raider ships changed course.

On the tactical readout, Zade could see the thirteen vessels disengage, flying off in random directions before the Spruance did another approach. Five of the small vessels promptly turned around to continue their attempts to get through the perimeter, but now their movements were... well, more pirate-like. Whatever coordination they had earlier was gone, replaced with 'every ship for themselves' mannerisms. "Eight raiders just disengaged," Zade reported, though she didn't sound convinced. If anything, her tone suggested that she didn't like that course of action. "Scanning the area. I don't believe they just decided to call it quits."

"Full tactical sweep. Have our Intelligence team go over every inch of that sensor data; if these raiders try something like that again I want us to be ready with countermeasures. And signal the Valiant and Spartan, make sure they're on their toes." Kane straightened himself in his chair with a mild gurn of annoyance that even a few had gotten this close. Were a more coordinated raid to occur next time, they might not be so lucky.

"Aye, sir." Why did the raiders break it off so fast? Zade was convinced it was a distraction, because it seemed odd that a rather coordinated attack would suddenly fall apart. Some beeps then drew her attention. "Perimeter breach, grid 16-alpha! Four ships. Sending coordinates to the helm and locking on!"

The four ships practically came out of nowhere. They moved fast, darting between the weapons fire. Their trajectories took them past the moon, only slowing down for a couple seconds before they sped off again. One ship got hit by the Spartan, sending it into a spin before another hit disabled it, but the other three quickly scampered away with some glancing blows, back out of the defense perimeter and into the swarm of other vessels wanting a piece of the action.

It wasn't a failed attempt, however. Zade's eyes narrowed when she read the continuous sensor scans. "Sensors picked up a series of transports when the ships slowed down. The squadron's been notified and have escalated their monitoring. It will be much harder for these pirates to come pick up their people," she reported, irritation in her tone. It was risky to send the security teams already on the surface after whoever beamed down, as it left the science teams exposed. The wreckage was massive, too, which meant that the teams already there wouldn't be enough anyways. Looking up, she then said, "I recommend sending the Spruance and Athena teams to the wreckage to deal with these pirates. We can coordinate with the teams already on the surface to cover more ground."

"Send them," Kane nodded, immediately checking the data on the Spartan. "Commander Shan, check in."

There was a hiss of a pause before the response came back from his Andorian former crewmate. "Battered but not out, Commodore. We'll be back on the frontlines in twenty minutes." He could tell by Shan's antennae twitch that she was more annoyed than anything. Likely down to the mild ribbing she would likely take from the other COs about being caught-out.

"Understood. Signal for any support you need." He rose to his feet, surveying the tactical display again. "Notify all ships: gloves are off. If the locals wanted to stir the hornet's nest, then they're going to find out how much of a sting we're willing to deliver."