USD: ~15 days after Tears of Fire arrival to 92 Pegasi, 4 hours after IND Tears of Fire transponder activation
Location: G8 V Yellow Main Sequence, 92 Pegasi, IND Tears of Fire, Linear drive breaking burn above Ackman Station
Alex had pulled an MRE packet of chili mac to eat while in the CIC. Soon there was a good chance they would have real food, and she would be able to try out sothing she had watched dozens of tis in holovids: Cooking! Thoughts of all kinds of amazing dishes she had seen warred for her attention while she absentmindedly listened to Elis.
I still cant believe the Portmaster just granted us clearance like that. Things must be pretty slip-shod around here, more than I thought possible.
The station isnt ard. Maybe they just dont want trouble. Seems like we are pretty far from civilization and there arent any authorities here, so they probably take in anyone who isnt shooting at them.
Maybe, but sothing does feel off about this.
Alex paused with a spoon halfway to her mouth, looking at the console for a second, Naless has there been any activity?
[Informative: An exodus of ships has begun streaming out of the station toward the two nearest star lane egress points. Several smaller ships vacated the area disappearing into the asteroid belt clutter around the planet. Three smaller vessels and one larger have taken up station 10,000km above the station.]
Alex frowned, All that?
Elis shook her head, There are going to be a lot of people mad at you. Basically, they are getting the hell out of dodge because they think sothing is going to go down.
Rubbing her eye, Alex leaned forward to get a better look at the tactical map before setting her al aside.
Naless, what do we have on those four ships?
[Informative: Formation above the station predates transponder activation. EM signature analysis and intelligence has pegged them as three small mining rigs and a possible light drone tender. Shortly after transponder activation all four began active pinging of our ship, however the power levels of their sensors were well below warship standard.]
So, they were checking us out. I dont bla them; we have a hot ship.
Elis rolled her eyes, If you paint flas on the hull, you will lose all professional credibility.
Alexs eyes lit up, That thats not a bad idea.
[Suggestion: A matte white hull paint is a superior--]
Nevermind! No hull painting today. Lets just get moored and deal with things as they co.
Elis, who had been studying her own console screen looked over to Alex, I have been looking over the station anities list now that we are broadcasting. They do have a small repair yard, Alex. It might be worth checking into.
Yeah, thats good news. Im mostly concerned about how we are going to sell so things. I am hesitant to sell any of our missiles, we dont have a renewable source of anti-matter. Yet. So, I have had Naless go over a few low-tech Federation designs for small arms that he would easily be able to mass produce with materials on hand.
Elis scratched her cheek, Selling one missile would go a long way compared to selling small arms, at least I think it would. Is there any listing that could give us so insight?
I already found it. Looking at what they are selling now, even these low-tech firearms should go for a premium. I an they are pulse rifles and handguns, while just about all the listings on the station are for chemical propellant firearms. I only found one pulse pistol for sale, its listed as an antique.
Elis nodded, That does sound promising.
The two continued to discuss what they had found for another hour, when the CIC lighting suddenly flickered to red.
|GENERAL QUARTERS|
|THIS IS NOT A DRILL|
|ACTION STATIONS|
Alex almost dumped the remains of her MREs packaging in her lap as she stopped slouching.
Naless! Sitrep!
[Informative: An open broadcast between one of the previously ntioned four possible mining ships is currently ongoing with the stations port authorities. Displaying transponder codes and playing back audio now.]
A hiss of static turned into an angry womans voice on the CIC consoles intercom, nanie blasted pretentious prick! You will pay us, or I swear I will shove one of our Lancers up your ass so far no one will find one atom left of your miserable existence!
A stressed, nasally sounding man replied, Captain, youve violated your contract clauses and now refuse to help us! And your threats are hollow. We both know that you will do no such thing, or it would ruin Iron Horses reputation, and it is seemingly all you have left.
A third voice cut in, a deep baritone that sounded not very pleased at all, Captain Harris, you are transmitting in the clear. Switch to EC-F37. Now.
Captain Thraker, please let take a flitter over to your ship. My crew have not been paid, and we are running on MREs!
Captain Harris, cut this transmission at once, or you are relieved.
The channel turned to static.
[Informative: High Band broadcasts are no longer being transmitted in the clear. Decryption attempt reveals that it is unlikely to be possible to break the encryption in a useful ti fra.]
Pirates? Shaking down the station on their way out? Alex mused.
Elis pointed at the ship transponder codes, Those are warships, I think. A destroyer, and so escorts, maybe. A system defense force, possibly. Although I cant imagine a backwater like this could afford a destroyer, much less a small squadron. They do seem to be poorly disciplined though, so that fits.
|IND Iron Horse |IND Rachels Nasake |IND Silverstreak |IND Sharknose |
Naless, can we get any more data on these?
[Correlative: Possible partial match for IND Iron Horse with Federation Talon-class light destroyer. However, significant irregularities are present that downgrade confidence to 33%. Other hull signatures have small EM profile and estimated mass in the gunship range and hull profiles are much smaller.]
Do we have any idea on their capabilities?
[Informative: Analysis predicts low combat performance from all units. Talon-class light destroyer standard armant consists of a single 4 tube AMLS battery and heavy PDC-K systems. Smaller ships' armants are unlikely to carry missiles with such small hull profiles.]
What about our relative top accelerations?
[Correlative: Confidence levels are high that even with degraded performance, Tears of Fire will have nearly double the top Acceleration of indicated ships. Historical EM data collected reveals the designated ships are only equipped with Single-Phase linear drive system.]
Alex smiled, Short range weapons and slow. Even if all four of them had four AMLS tubes, it wouldnt be enough to saturate our PDCs unless they had so new advanced missile tech. Everything weve read and seen so far has pointed to their tech being worse, not better. I think we can handle things if there is a problem.
Elis sighed, There is definitely going to be a problem I just dont know what it is going to be.
USD: ~15 days after Tears of Fire arrival to 92 Pegasi, 6 hours after IND Tears of Fire transponder activation
Location: IND Tears of Fire, Linear drive breaking burn above Ackman Station
A sudden alarm blasted Alex awake and out of her nap in the CICs captains chair. The bold red text repeating itself on her HUD overlay.
|GENERAL QUARTERS|
|THIS IS NOT A DRILL|
|ACTION STATIONS|
She silenced the alarm and looked at the tactical screen.
[Informative: IND Iron Horse and three escorts have lit off Linear Drives, burning for a fastest ti intercept for IND Tears of Fire. Active emitters are pinging our hull.]
I guess the disguise didnt really work and they know we arent a freighter.
[Notice: Hostile task group estimated entering maximum missile range in 15:37 at current burn rate. Displaying alternate course corrections.]
Alex studied the plot, and the reason the other ships had waited so long beca obvious to her.
If she attempted to burn directly away, it would take the Tears of Fire so long to cut its current velocity that they would be overtaken. The hostile task group had tid things so that if they tried to burn perpendicularly, the Tears wouldnt have been able to curve its trajectory enough to avoid an engagent.
They had obviously miscalculated the Tears maximum acceleration as closer to their own. Alex was suddenly glad she hadnt ordered a maximum burn that would have given away that advantage. Even if her biggest concern was consideration of not stressing the hull with a max burn, keeping their top acceleration secret was a nice bonus.
Naless, maintain current burn level, while making a perpendicular course correction.
[Notice: Hostile task group will be able to close with Tear of Fire in approximately 30 minutes with the proposed course.]
Yeah, I want them to think that, too.
The door to the CIC slid open, and Elis entered with Beeper floating in behind her. Whats the SitRep?
Alex updated her and pointed out her course change.
[Notice: Incoming High Band transmission.]
The voice of Captain Thraker ca over the comm clearly, IND Tears of Fire, cut your drive and assu a ballistic course. Prepare to be boarded and inspected. We will open fire if you fail to comply.
Alex blew a stream of air up at her forehead, dislodging an errant strand of hair, Rude.
Elis shook her head and barely bit back a comnt on Alexs own actions as she took her seat at the communications console, Do you want to try and talk with them? Maybe we can defuse the situation.
I dont think so. They were shaking down the station for money, and now they are after us. Maybe we will get a reward from the Portmaster for helping him out.
USD: ~15 days after Tears of Fire arrival to 92 Pegasi, 5 minute after lighting off main drives
Location: IND Iron Horse, Intercept course: IND Tears of Fire
Captain Thraker frowned at the tactical screen from his captains chair. The hum of the ship as it propelled itself toward their target interspersed with the quiet and whispered voices of the command crew as they perford their duties.
His XO stood beside him, and having looked at the plot himself, asked the Captains thoughts, Captain, do you think its so Corpo ploy? Maybe the Solarians push for Dedia have put them into action? Maybe its a marine insertion vessel?
Thraker studied the screen and stroked his beard thoughtfully.
If that were the case, Daniel, they would have co in without kicking up a fuss. No. The only thing I have been able to think of is that it is neither the Solarians nor the Corpos, but a third party. Maybe the Imperium wants to see the Western Frontier kick up dust and distract both while they make so power play elsewhere without any interference.
Commander Daniel digested that for a mont while keeping an eye on the junior bridge operators.
You think they were going to make an attack run on the station? Destroy or heavily damage it and point both sides at each other?
Its the only thing that makes sense to right now, and if they had wanted to stop and take pictures of such an atrocity, well there is the reason for them suddenly going active and making a rendezvous instead of a fly-by. Soone over there might have gotten a little cocky, while not doing their howork and realizing that we were here. They are certainly regretting it now.
The tactical screen showed the projected trajectories of their target and the squadron. The Tears of Fire had changed course, but only after they had passed the point of no return. They would be forced to enter CQB range, and Thraker was confident that in a 4-on-1 slugging match, Iron Horse would co out the victor.
What worried him was the ships mysterious EM profile. It slled like high-tech, and that ant the ship was undoubtedly a warship, maybe even a heavy destroyer. If it ca to a fight, there would be no escaping part of the squadron getting savaged in return for the kill.
He had shaken the poor port master for the money tree that he was, as hard as he had dared. Not only had he got them their pay and a bonus, but a more lucrative long-term contract that had better benefits, too. That blasted hothead Captain Harris had almost spoiled his negotiations. The woman cared for her crew and had a sound tactical mind, but her discipline and hot anger were major failings in his opinion. The company was certainly not ready for him to retire.
Any word from them?
No, Captain. Just the course change and silence.
Comms, send to squadron, Clear for Action.
Aye, aye, Captain.
The pieces were in play. From what it looked like they were going to maul so fools very poorly made plan, but Captain-Major Thraker couldnt shake the feeling that they were sohow flying toward the dragons lair.
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