Of Men and Ghost Ships

Admiral Andrews, of the merchant alliance, carefully observed the unfolding battle. At the moment, it appeared as though they were facing another slow loss, as the pirates simply outnumbered and outgunned them, but he'd already taken that into account and had a contingency plan that should turn the tide in their favor. The only question was, did the filthy pirates have a similar plan?

In the past, Andrews would have said no with confidence. Pirate crews weren't exactly known for subtlety. They usually jumped into any fight with overwhelming firepower, and either their victims surrendered or were crushed. Usually, the simplest defence was simply to avoid the pirates, or to have enough firepower as to make themselves not worth the pirates' time, with the former being the more cost-effective and the latter being the more consistent method. While significantly sized armadas of pirates were a thing, they tended to fall apart just as quickly as they formed, as the various captains' egos refused to play nicely with others, and thus were few and far between. However, lately they've not just been moving in packs, but also sending reinforcement fleets to support one another when the fight doesn't go their way. So the new counter-strategy was to make them think they were going to win a long and dragged-out fight, then, after they were really committed, crush them so quickly that reinforcements wouldn't be able to bail them out in time. He was just about to signal the next phase of their plan when a series of short jumps brought several new ships into the middle of the battlefield.

With a sinking feeling that this time they'd been outmaneuvered, Andrews took a breath to signal a retreat when he noticed something off about the new arrivals. They didn't register as part of the merchant alliance, but they didn't appear to be pirate ships either. Most of the ships on either side were a generation or two behind the times, but these were state-of-the-art and looked fresh out of the void dock. Either the pirates somehow got their hands on a functioning shipyard, or these belonged to someone else... A fact that was borne out as the new ships started firing indiscriminately on the pirate vessels.

Unsure of what to do, Andrews simply instructed his fleet to pull back and away from the new ships, though they were still firing on any pirates making trouble. Between the newcomers and themselves, the pirates went down quickly enough, leaving an uneasy tension between the two fleets as he considered the nature of the new arrivals.

Admiral Andrews didn't have to wait long. As soon as the call came in, he indicated to answer it. A moment later, he saw a man in a much more crisp uniform who nodded in acknowledgment before introducing himself. "Acting Admiral Dobson of the core navy, at your service."

Well, that explained a few things, but brought on a whole host of other questions. What in the world was the core navy doing out here? They rarely bothered to show their faces this far out in the frontier. Although the fact that they'd sent an acting admiral rather than the real thing was somewhat telling. They might be out here sticking their noses into frontier business, but they weren't sending the best and brightest. This man and his fleet were more or less on their own. Of course, that also meant he probably didn't have anyone looking too closely over his shoulders. Meaning the decision makers back home wanted plausible deniability. So if this "acting" admiral decided to start throwing his weight around, there wasn't anyone on the other end of the leash to yank him back into place. At the very least, it would be best not to start anything here and now if it could be avoided.

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With that in mind, Adrews nodded in return. "Admiral Andrews of the merchant alliance, at yours. And thank you for the assistance."

The newcomer, Dobson, smiled. "Of course, of course! The only good pirate is one we've made an example of after all! However, I'm afraid that's not really why I'm out here. We're looking for one 'Admiral Pickford' of your merchant alliance. We're to bring him back to answer for crimes against the people of the Federation."

That answer made the blood in Andrew's veins turn to ice. He decided to try and draw this out a little while seeing if he could get a few more answers. "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with an Admiral Pickford, but our alliance isn't as well organized as the core navy, so that's not very definitive. But tell me, what has this Pickford done to earn an invitation from the core worlds like this?"

The Acting Admiral's expression barely twitched as he answered. "The charges are many and varied, though near the top of the list includes treason, terrorism, and threatening future terrorist acts. He attacked one of our outposts and threatened to do so again, and more, until the core worlds' navy interveined in the spat between pirates and your alliance."

Andrews' mind raced. Was this "Pickford" some kind of lunatic? Or was this maybe some sort of plot by a particularly canny pirate? But what would be the point of such a plot? Getting the core worlds out here would hardly benefit them any more than it would the Merchant Alliance... Right now, the best thing to do would be to get out of here and spread the word that the core navy was out here and looking to make trouble. Of course, to do that, he needed to get out of this situation in one piece. "Well, if what you claim is true, I certainly won't stand in your way. We'll be off. Thank you again for your assistance."

Just as Andrews was about to close the feed, Dobson nodded to someone off-screen. A moment later, an alarm indicated a near miss. Turning to see an analytics screen, he could see the results of what had obviously been a warning shot grazing their shields. Core world navy or not, he wasn't about to let that pass. He hardened his expression as he turned back to the Acting Admiral. "What is the meaning of this? You can't just go firing upon our ships without some justification!"

Dobsen's apologetic smile seemed to lack any sincerity as he answered. "I'm sorry, but we can't just take your word for it that you don't know anything about our quarry. However, this doesn't need to get violent. Simply allow our technicians to thoroughly scan your mainframe, and if your claims are legitimate, you'll be free to go. However, attempting to leave before we've been able to verify your claims will result in us being forced to assume you are withholding information essential to our objective, and we will take the appropriate actions."

That was no small ask. The data contained in their dataframe could jeopardize large portions of their operations. While these people didn't seem to be working with the pirates as best Andrews could tell, he wasn't about to risk that many lives on the assumption, and this Dobson hardly seemed willing to compromise. On the other hand, Andrews wasn't in a position to negotiate. It was time to call in his own reinforcements. Without explanation, he ended the communication and issued the orders to trigger the trap that had been meant for the pirates.

As soon as the feed was cut, the core worlds' fleet opened fire for real. But a moment later, the signatures of dozens of other vessels, all inbound from various short jumps originating just outside the system, signaled that they would soon outnumber the core ships. Whether that would be enough to turn the tide in their favor over the more advanced ships the core fleet was fielding remained to be seen...