Shakedown

[Audren Sykes]

The Mara Corridor was, at one time, a dangerous route to travel. Of course, the Hutt Cartel had been a major player in the area at that point. It was not quite so dangerous now. Note the verbiage however: not quite so dangerous does not mean that it is no longer dangerous. Quite the contrary...and that is why we are here.
-- Yvanos Dankar
The dangers the Hutt Cartel had posed upon the Mara Corridor had not ended with its dissolution. Rather, they'd become less controlled. Where one might expect pirates to pick certain convoys before, they now struck at random. To transport items from the primary factory on Naboo over to Voss, then was to play a guessing game, to try and determine whether the convoy could slip through unmolested or not. Three of five convoys had been hit recently, and while the losses were covered by the company's insurance the rates were beginning to increase. The representative claimed the losses were preventable by opening an equal manufacturing facility on Voss, and she might be right on that point. But it was throwing good money in after the bad, indicating to the pirates that they had won.

It was no surprise that the pirates were hitting Ceredir shipments. After all, the products created by them for the open market would be rather useful for pirates. Adaptive camouflage netting, devices to replace locks, and even light-grade armor. All directly useful in the hands of a pirate, much more than other goods. Those other goods could raise a profit to be sure...these products allowed the pirates to gain the others.

So despite the cost, Audren had started to deploy the Tarlanc in what was more or less its intended role: escort. To some, the role would be that of deterrent. Such was not the Sephi's plan. Oh, the convoy was aware they had an escort, that all they had to do was transmit a signal on a particular frequency to summon help. What most didn't know was that if the pirates began jamming transmissions, the escort would show up as well. If the Meldolen chip was cut off...

The Jedi didn't intend to scare off the pirates. He intended them destroyed.

 

[Audren Sykes]

Much of a soldier's existence was spent not doing what the public perception of his job was. Most soldiers did not simply go around killing people. Very few of them did that in fact, and they were typically the ones who didn't talk about their jobs. He'd ferried a couple teams of Special Forces during his time with the Republic...they could be the loudest or the quietest. Rarely were they anything in between.

For better or worse, the crew of the Tarlanc was very much not Special Forces material. They'd done well enough at Belsavis, but the hyperspace issue on the way to Kal'Shebbol indicated that was more likely an aberration than anything else. Unfortunate, but not unexpected. They were, after all, a crew that was fairly new to each other, to their superior, and to this type of ship. One new person on a ship throws things out of whack, throw a whole crew together out of the blue and there were bound to be issues. It didn't help that there were crewers both from the former Republic and the former One Sith on board. Things had gotten edgy more than once already.

Somewhat ironically, when they were fighting others it wasn't an issue. It was when there wasn't fighting, when they were sitting around doing nothing, that things became barbed. He, as captain, had to keep them busy, get them working together. Duty rosters were mixed between former Republic and former Sith, and he had all the crews going over their areas in high-res detail. He was sure that the Republic Engineering Corporation had done a fine job, but he needed his crew to know the ship, and to know each other.

 

[Audren Sykes]

The bridge crew was the one team that had less to do. They had to remain busy, true, but it was an idle sort of busy. They were monitoring various subjects. Some were tracking the information coming in from the convoy: long-range sensors were being used in conjunction with the Meldolen chip to keep abreast of the situation. Others were involved in jump planning, verifying that the convoy and the frigate both were keeping to the established and safe corridors. The rest, who didn't actively have something to do, were monitoring those supervising the various teams across the ship.

And she was supervising them.

Though nobody had said it outright, at least not to her face, she was aware that most of the crew found her quite young for the position of Executive Officer that she now carried. Yet she also knew that she was qualified for it. Though she was in her late twenties, she'd spent two years as an XO for a Patrol Boat, the previous four as gunnery chief for a frigate. She knew these ships; it was in her blood. Not that, perhaps apart from Dankar and the Ceredir CEO. And whoever he'd hired to do the background checks. It was a point of pride with her that she'd not once resorted to dropping her uncle's name.

In this mixed company her Uncle's affiliations probably wouldn't get her killed like they would have elsewhere. She'd overcome suspicion based on those loyalties before and could do so again, but if was better if those familial ties came out after the crew already knew and trusted her. The name and presumed loyalty to family would cause issues, but the man's name and reputation would squash any doubt of her abilities. A problem on one end, a solution on the other. True, she might have gotten her start at learning thanks to him, but everything else she'd accomplished on her own.

Including riding herd on this sorry bunch.

 

[Audren Sykes]

"Status report, Ms. Santori."

"Captain. Nothing abnormal from the convoy, ship-board tasks are in progress and estimated completion times are within expected constraints."

The two top officers on the Tarlanc didn't know each other very well. The first time they'd met was her interview, and since Dankar had been one of the ones conducting the screening he actually knew more about her than she did about him. That was not uncommon when it came to captains though. Their actions were still extremely formal as a result though. It was clear to any that watched their interactions that they were still getting to know each other.

Normally, this would not be a bad thing. Already though, three of the crew had tried to play the two off of each other. Neither had gotten to their positions by being fools however. Neither were they pushovers...they were the ones in charge of this crew, and while he was almost old enough to be her father they were both fully aware that they needed to back the other, in public at least. In private they could disagree all they wanted, but when in front of any member of the crew they were of one mind.

It wasn't very surprising to her, then, that Yvanos didn't start going over the reports for himself once he took his seat. That could have shown mistrust. He'd probably look at them later, since a captain needed to know what was going on with the crew, but for now he just pulled up his message queue to check if there was anything new.

 

[Audren Sykes]

"Sensor contact."

Given that the long-range sensors were almost exclusively watching the convoy's progress, the operator's announcement caused a bit of a jolt on the bridge. When no corresponding blips showed up on the repeater however, every eye turned to the man in accusation. He missed the glares, working to identify the craft that apparently only he could see. Finally he looked up at the captain, the little tension that had been present in his voice fading completely.

"It's our patrol gunship, sir. They're flying without transponder as you ordered."

"Very good, Kallukorus. Now maybe you can tell us where our gunship is?"

The Balosar returned a look of minor confusion, then his eyes darted over to the large repeater display the rest of the crew used. He had the good grace to blush, even if it was just slightly. A few keystrokes split the display into two sides, showing both the convoy and the local area around the frigate. Off to the port side of the frigate was a blue dot, getting constantly closer to the center of the screen. From past experience, Yvanos knew that dot would have started yellow for unknown and would have manually been marked blue by Dhu'ramav. He really needed to forward a requisition for internal-use Meldolen chips if they were going to be flying without transponders.

"Thank you. Once we're through with this escort job, please work with the XO to set up a program to do that switch automatically. Helm, prepare to jump to our next stop once the gunship is back on board. Ms. Santori, you have the bridge."

 

[Audren Sykes]

The next jump was quiet, as expected. The one after that slightly less so. Rumors were starting to buzz about pirates lurking, and while they were nothing more than rumors and shadows some spacers gave credence to those things. More credence than they should. And of course, when one member of the crew started getting paranoid, the rest either started getting paranoid because of that paranoia or started getting annoyed. Neither was good for a freighter; when it started affecting an entire convoy things could get touchy.

Some of the freighter crews, aware that they had an escort, were calm despite the paranoia. They kept things cool and focused. On others, it was all the captains could do to ride herd on the crewers who wanted to bring the Tarlanc in as a visual deterrent. No matter that the ship wouldn't simply jump in when it was called; the frigate's crew had been given strict orders regarding that likelihood. But some of the freighters crew members were paranoid enough to send a distress signal to bring it in.

The further along they got in their journey, the more likely it was they would be attacked within the remaining time. At least, that was what the analysts had said, though how they'd come up with such hooey was beyond the command staff. Some way to justify their over-inflated salaries no doubt. Yet the command staff had the crew start wrapping up their projects, putting things back into order. It wouldn't do to have a gunner fall flat on his face because he tripped on a loose cable someone had left when the alert sounded. The ship started getting quieter, the atmosphere shifted towards one of anticipation.

 

[Audren Sykes]

Two minutes out from their destination, a red light began burning on the repeater screen. It was present for a full seven seconds before disappearing, but was not accompanied by any voice. Areta caught it just before it went out, and turned to Kallukorus sharply.

"Tell me I'm not going crazy and that was just lit."

"Can't comment on the first part, but the computer says it was lit for seven seconds."

The woman glared at the comm officer even as she reached for the comm pad built into her chair. This really wasn't the time for banter, even though said banter really was a good thing. It meant he was comfortable enough to say it. Which was also a bad thing, considering she was currently in command of the vessel. It'd be fine off-duty, or maybe even when they were on a less important subject. But this was skirting the line.

"Captain to the bridge."

No sooner had her finger released the transmit button than she was continuing with her job.

"The Meldolen broadcast?"

"Uninterrupted so far, but it's using a different frequency. They might not have hit it yet."

"Combat alert, sound action stations."

The lighting of the ship changed and a soft but persistent alarm began to sound throughout. Hushed conversations started as various teams started coordinating, and Areta was looking over their projected course on a holo before her. Overlaid on that holomap were colored dots indicating known positions of the Tarlanc and the convoy if they kept to their route. At thirty-four seconds until reversion, Yvanos stepped onto the bridge. He was calm and collected despite having been interrupted.

"Report."

Distress signal on our frequency that was cut off. Meldolen signal is active. Navigation, check my math. If we extend our jump for three-tenths of a second, we should arrive more or less in gun range."

"Uhhh, hold on. Compiling data. Checking. Yes, computer confirms."

"Meldolen just went dark."

"Navigation, extend the jump. All hands, prepare to engage."

 

[Audren Sykes]

With a flicker of pseudo-motion, the frigate dropped from hyperspace. In a perfect galaxy, or if the jump had been precisely calculated to do so from the beginning, the vessel would have dropped out right below the convoy and their attackers. As it stood however, the quarreling ships were thirty seconds away, aft and port of the new arrival. As soon as that information reached the helm, the ship was turning. Not a wide turn that combined forward thrust with a turn though, it was more of a pivot. Once the bow was almost facing the fighting, the engines were brought up to full power. It took only a small correction for the turn to stop, and the ship was already clawing for the fight.

"Miss Kamalas, this isn't a starfighter; don't break my ship. Mister Dhu'ramav, identify the ships we're facing, and open a wide-band channel please."

The quiet bustle of the bridge kept at it, but now that they all had tasks to work on the talking wasn't quite so loud. Despite his caution to Kamalas, the ship was structurally sound, one reason he preferred the design over anything similar to the ancient Nebulon B frigates. On the arm of his chair, an orange indicator lit up: channel open, microphone muted. The tap of a button released that mute.

"This is the frigate Tarlanc. Power down your weapons, shields, and engines and surrender or be fired upon."

"Suck space, Tarlanc."

Such a classy and artful rejoinder from the pirate spokesperson. Which meant there would be a fight, at least until the ships realized how outmatched they were. The list of ships they were facing wasn't all that impressive for a military force, but for pirates it showed some clear thought. The fighters buzzing around were Phoebos fighters; originally built during Krayt's time, they were still considered fast and would no doubt have enhanced weapons. Besides the fighters though, these pirates seemed to be Rendili fans, with two Imperial Customs Frigates - not actually frigates despite the name - and an Imperial Customs Corvette making up the attack force. Three freighters held back from the fight. All told, a credible threat to any convoy. Less of a threat to the 275 meter frigate.

 

[Audren Sykes]

With just a matter of seconds left before combat was joined, commands had to be given. A plan of battle had to be drawn up and laid out, otherwise the opposition might slip away. Fortunately, he had options.

"Quad laser cannons target the fighters. Turbolasers and ion cannons, smash that corvette."

That left the Customs Frigates, but he didn't consider them much of a threat. He'd run into them before; unless the pirates had modified them they simply carried heavy laser cannons. While those guns could be a threat, they were inadequate when faced with his vessel's shields. But it was also a test of the executive officer. If she thought he was making a mistake, he needed her to speak up and bring it to his attention without contradicting him. There were exceptions of course. If she quietly sat by, he'd know it was something they needed to work on. Or if she overreacted

"That leaves the Customs Frigates, Captain. Should we use the gunships?"

For a moment, he considered. She was right, the Tarlanc carried two gunships currently on loan from the Galactic Alliance. The gunships in and of themselves wouldn't be able to take down the Customs Frigates, but they could initiate damage. Maybe even keep them present long enough for the frigate - the real frigate - to finish them off. His words were just as quiet as hers had been.

"Give the order."

"Gunships launch, target the Customs frigates."

"Fire at will."

 

[Audren Sykes]

Brilliant lances of light loosed from the cannons. The starfighters, about a squadron's-worth, largely found themselves breathing vacuum. Those that weren't immediately shot down were chased by bolts from the quad cannons; they worked hard to avoid being shot down. Typically the survivors of such an assault were either the best of the bunch or the luckiest...or both. In this case, given the continued evasions, probably the former.

The corvette wasn't so lucky. Ion cannons fuzzed the shields somewhat, allowing a few turbolaser strikes through. Those strikes did minimal damage, but compounded the damage done to the shields. The second and third barrages though, not that there was much of a pause between batches, those did damage. The arms were more or less ignored, with the shots converging on the vessel's main body. Armor boiled away into vapor, rooms and corridors were opened to vacuum, and lives were erased. The arms actually broke away with the third barrage, tumbling away from a very much dying core. The pirates tried their best, returning fire against the Tarlanc for as long as they could, but had neither the coordination or firepower to breach the larger ship's shields.

The Customs Frigates tried to help the larger vessel, but just just heavy cannons they would have been better off targeting the gunships. They realized this after the third barrage, when their shields were starting to buckle in places due to the repeated hits by the gunships and when their most intense firepower did next to nothing to the frigate. Of course, by then it was too late.

"Re-task the gunships to intercept the freighter at Mark 37. Guns, drop those two Customs boats before they target the gunships."

 

[Audren Sykes]

To their credit, the crews of the Customs vessels did try. The two smaller ships had moved to flank the frigate, firing as they went in order to keep the Tarlanc "honest", as it was named. That was, to prevent it from routing shield power solely to face the larger vessel. A sound tactic, but they hadn't anticipated the sheer ferocity of the initial attack on the larger ship. The gunships had gotten off only three barrages by the time time the message came in to switch targets.

The Custodian-class ship rolled in order to bring more guns to bear on the smaller vessels. One of the captains, realizing the refocused attention and danger it represented, made to pull away and flee. Sadly for that crew, it was too little, too late. Ion cannons smashed down shields and detonations started running along the power lines...for all of the half-second it took for the turbolasers to rip through the unshielded hull. The second of the pair was not so quick on the uptake, stayed on the same course as before and kept shooting. That captain realized his mistake only once the turbolaser blasts were burning through the bridge viewport.

 

[Audren Sykes]

Forty-six kilometers away from the Tarlanc was a somewhat cross-shaped freighter. It had been identified as a Doomtreader by Kallukorus, no longer a commonly-used model. It wasn't actively attacking the convoy - it wasn't actively doing much of anything, actually - but it also wasn't a part of the convoy and hadn't joined at the latest stop. For various reasons, Dankar had to treat the freighter like it was a part of the pirates' team. Hence directing the deployed gunships to intercept the freighter.

About halfway to the Doomtreader, it became obvious that the ship recognized the danger. Sensor signals weren't great at that range, but the signature of the vessel suddenly strengthened when the shields came up. The gunships, as they were closer, were able to report that the engines were starting to spool up, including the hyperdrive. In mid-sentence though, the communications feed from the two ships cut out completely. They were still present on the sensors with no enemies nearby and no sudden debris, so it was unlikely they were damaged. Which meant they were being jammed.

Santori's mind caught up to the options quicker than most. She was able to see the larger picture, where all the ships were in reference to each other. In a short explanation of just a couple sentences, she explained her guess to the captain: directional jamming field. It was the best explanation for why they'd been able to talk to the pirates and to the gunships but hadn't heard from the freighters, and why the gunships had suddenly dropped off comms. The explanation made sense, which also meant specialized technology or clever use of standard tech. Either way, they wanted the ship intact. Crew too, if they could.

 

[Audren Sykes]

It would have been bad if the Tarlanc - or, in this case, its proxies - had fired first. Could have been claims that the Ceredir ship was the real pirate in the scenario...it would have been legally confusing had the issue been pressed. But they didn't, the Doomtreader did. The instant the gunships came into range, laser cannons started shooting. The gunner wasn't all that accurate, only a single bolt caromed off the shields, but it was proof enough. One of the ships loosed a missile, only for the Doomtreader to roll out of the way with a quick burst of thrusters.

While the maneuver worked wonders for starfighters and the holofilms, it didn't work nearly as well for the freighter. It was much larger. The missile detonated just above one of the outrigger engines. Most of the force was caught and deflected by the shields, in turn causing the ship to buck to that side, but some of the detonation got through. The engine started sputtering and there was a drastic cut in the power that was showing up through the sensors. Additionally, the jamming suddenly cut off.

"Order the gunships to disable the Doomtreader. Get a squad of marines over there, I want that ship and the people on it. Alive."

This would be a good step for the marine squad too. They only had two at the moment, but the ship could hold a few more. Like the rest of the crew, they were mixed One Sith and Republic; hopefully they could work together long enough to capture the target.