GblaRCS Chpt 63

==Guided by the light of a (Red) Cameron Star - Chapter 63 -==
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"If you think we're not always ready to step up to a challenge, or to throw down for a fight, then you haven't been paying attention."The Ambassdor of the Niops Association to the Free Worlds League issues a warning three days before the start of the Lostech War.
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===The Space going Trojan Horse===
Vicinity of Star's End Shipyards – Star's End System, Periphery – 2844
f everyone is the system hadn't freaked when the Carrack class military transport jumped in all those board would have been very disappointed. As it was however, judging by the way volume of radio traffic spiked through the roof as the JumpShip's emergence wave reached further and further out into the system, more and more ships realizing exactly what it was that had just appeared in their midst and screaming 'WARSHIP!' at each other, they were making plenty of satisfying metaphorical waves too.
Star's End was a small compact system that resembled Niops in that both contained several planets and an asteroid belt which orbited an M5V Red Dwarf. The asteroid belt of Star's End was more than a magnitude larger than that of Niops however, and that vast collection of floating debris was also unusually rich in metallic Type M rocks too, which was why the system had been long established as a mining colony, being settled as far back as the 24th Century.
Unlike Niops there was only one habitable terrestrial planet inside the Goldilocks Zone of the Star's End system, although admittedly possessing three, like the former did, made it by far the rarer in the comparison. Novo Cressidas, the second planet out from the star, was only marginally habitable and utterly devoid of native life, it did however possess a breathable atmosphere and enough surface water to allow a colony to exist there, and despite Star's End being best known for its asteroid miners and belter pirates in reality the overwhelming majority of the population of the system had always been landlubbers living down the gravity well.
Historically as one of the more important systems belonging to the Rim Worlds Republic, important in terms of resource output at least if certainly not population, the Star League had established a fleet base there after the Reunification War, much of which which outlived the League itself as one of the vanishingly few JumpShip yards situated outside the borders of the Successor States.
If it wasn't for the shipyard Star's End would have likely fallen into destitution and obscurity once industry in the wider region collapsed in the wake of the fall of the Republic and the ongoing Succession Wars, along with demand for the metals being mined there. Finding itself with an effective monopoly in servicing vessels too disreputable to go anywhere else however the system had flourished, unlike most of the former Rim Worlds Republic that the Lyran Commonwealth had not see fit to annex.
The so-called 'Belt Pirates' of Star's End that had based themselves in the old asteroid mining facilities were smart enough not to shit where they eat, so while they preyed upon nearby, and occasionally not so nearby systems, they never directly interfered with the running of the shipyard which was considered a Free Port, neutral turf where any vessel could seek repairs. By permitting JumpShips that belonged to outsiders access to the facilities the Belt Pirates of Star's End not only gained an additional legitimate source of income, if you could call a pirate clientele that included the Void Nation 'legitimate', but the benefits of economy of scale worked in their favour, lowering costs and allowing them to recruit better technicians and engineers at higher pay from elsewhere.
Slaves still did the scut work of course, the Belt Pirates had abducted so many people from Iron Land, New Ålborg, and Zertarum over the years that the systems were in danger of being so depopulated they might drop off the maps completely, but only a drooling idiot wanted discontented, poorly skilled, forced labour working on their precious Kearny-Fuchida Drive. It was therefore free men and women getting paid a decent salary who did all the technically demanding work, undoubtedly choosing to ignore the condition their unpaid help had to deal with.
According to rumours even ships belonging to the government of the Lyran Commonwealth were known to visit on occasion if they had developed mechanical faults closer to Star's End than one of their own yards. If true that would at least explain why the Steiners had never dispatched a fleet to try and clear the place out. It might be a hotbed of piracy but you never knew when the K-F drive on one of your JumpShips might go hinky and urgently need some time in the drydock making turning a blind eye to all the buccaneers hanging around the place a sensible, if perhaps amoral, policy.
If the pirates frequenting Star's End had more frequently raided real Lyran Commonwealth worlds, not just ones that used to belong to the Rim Worlds Republic before Robert Steiner decided to hoover up a lot of poorly-guarded interstellar real estate, then the Lyrans might have acted differently regarding them. Just because a flag with a mailed fist on it happened to fly over Icar and Steelton these days didn't make them Tharkad or Donegal did it? The convenience of having an extra shipyard situated only just outside your borders, one that wasn't under constant threat of being visited by angry nuke-toting Combine maniacs was well worth its continued existence exacerbating the regions pirate problem.
Not that Star's End would have gone down without a fight if the Lyrans had come calling. The Belt Pirates might not have warships but they had a decent number of armed dropships and aerospace fighters as well as home-team advantage and a few other tricks up their sleeve. More to the point whatever warships the House Steiner could boast of having in service themselves in these dark days were needed exactly where they were to counter those of Kurita and Marik. Sending even one of their few remaining battle-wagons off into the wilderness to put down a few pirates might court disaster elsewhere, and since any expedition there that relied upon unarmed civilian JumpShips for transportation wasn't likely to come back, Star's End was largely left to its own devices.
As a result of the wider strategic situation, frankly by this point in the Second Succession War seeing a warship on anything other than an old holovid or a propaganda newsreel was the sort of event that would have the witnesses present talking about it for months even in the more 'civilized' developed parts of the galaxy, the arrival of the Carrack was big news. For one to suddenly jump in unannounced was the kind of shock that had every pirate in Star's End losing their minds, or at least they did until the warship formally introduced itself at which point they were mostly just relieved and/or hoping to get the chance to take a closer look.
This particular warship had visited Star's End before, and as far as the Belt Pirates were concerned was 'one of us, not one of them' which made all the difference.
Employing such a ruse de guerre was extremely un-clan-like, and even after this many years since he had held allegiance to Nicholas Kerensky and his ideals Jax Benedict on the bridge of the Carrack inwardly grimaced as he gave the ship's captain the nod to go ahead.
Captain Anne Blüd momentarily closed her eyes before opening them one more to look at the expectant faces of her bridge crew. Only Colonel Benedict in overall command of the operation wasn't grinning, and he wasn't exactly known for being a barrel of laughs.
"This is Captain Jacqueline Blood commanding the corsair warship Whydah Gally requesting to approach and dock" she signaled the ship's intended destination, the large asteroid housing the old SLDF navy yard. "I was told if I ever ended up out this way I should ask for Smitty? Is Smitty there? Over" she added less formally.
For all of the downsides of residing in a Red Dwarf system at least communication from the jump-point wasn't as much of a pain-in-the-ass as it was in most inhabited places. As with Niops you could fit all the planets and the asteroid belt of Star's End within the orbit of Mercury in the home system of humanity, so radio conversations being effected by light-speed delay only resulted in long pauses between sentences at worst, not enough time to take a coffee break and visit the ship's head between a question being asked and the answer arriving as you would have to suffer elsewhere.
<<"This is Star's End traffic control. Not seen you around these parts in nearly twenty years Whydah Gally but a few of us still remember your last visit, which is good because otherwise honestly we'd all be having to change our shorts right now. I was just a trainee junior comms tech back then myself, but having a Carrack jump in was pretty memorable believe me. You are cleared to approach but you'll have to wait for a drydock to be vacated and available, which could take a while as we're really busy at the moment. Also, I'm sorry to tell you this but Smitty died a few years back. I've advised the guy that took over from him as station manager that you're on your way… Oh yeah, and no offense but 'Captain Blood'? Seriously? You're trying too hard with that one. Over.">>
"****** you traffic control, it's my real name" Blüd replied venomously as the ship's navigator put his hand over his mouth to stop himself laughing. "What happened to Smitty? Died of old age?" she continued in a considerably less indignant tone of voice. "I inherited the Whydah Gally from my grandpa Lomas and he told me he thought he and Smitty were probably about the same age when they met. Over" she added, wondering what the now long-retired, but still very much alive 'Captain Lomas', or rather Captain Simon Mitchell back home would have to say about being her deceased fake grandfather.
For that matter when Mitchell had visited Star's End back in 2825 the unnerving mostly retired spook Gloria had been pretending to be his wife which made her Blüd's fake grandmother she realized with a shudder. Yikes.
<<"Your real name? Really? Jeez, I guess you always knew you'd go into the family business growing up. Anyhow, Smitty got knifed in a barfight. Some ****** from the Void Nation thought we were overcharging for servicing grav-decks and called him a chiseller. Smitty told him to ****** off, a couple of punches were thrown and the guy ended up shanking him. We put the murdering bastard straight out the airlock. Everyone liked Smitty, he was like part of the furniture around here. Over.">>
"Sorry to hear that, grandpa liked him. What did the Void Nation have to say about it? Over" Blüd asked curiously, they were an unusually large and feared pirate band that roved around much of the former Rim Worlds Republic.
<<"Not much, they need us more than we need them. I guess you're after servicing and repairs yourself? Our yard crews will have a blast getting to work on a warship, it'll be a once in a lifetime opportunity for them so they might offer a special cheap rate just for the novelty of it. Or are you here to trade instead?">>
"Here for both. Our K-F Drive is long overdue a service and we've got some slaves to sell to help cover the bill" Blüd replied. "If Gramps wasn't just spinning another one of his tall tales they pay really good money for young girls on Novo Cressidas right?" she asked. "Way above normal market price. Over"
<<"That they do, the pay a premium for young boys too. Not my thing but the brothels down there cater to all tastes. Novo C having gravity means a lot of guys choose to take shore leave there if their ship is going to be stuck in drydock for more than a couple of weeks, and they need entertainment to stop them getting bored and restless, then violent. Most of the grain they grow down there gets turned into hooch instead of bread too for the same reason. If I was you I'd avoid the cheap stuff in the bars there though if you visit, it'll make you go blind. We mostly use it as organic solvent ourselves. Imported stuff is more expensive but worth it. Over.">>
"I appreciate the heads-up. Over" Blüd replied, wondering if the locals were as welcoming, helpful and informative to visitors that weren't packing naval autocannon. If the crew of an Invader class jump-transport was a little tetchy because they had to get their stomachs pumped the consequences were not as potentially severe as a pissed-off Carrack commander with methanol poisoning might be.
During the mission planning for the proposed 'Operation Simon Says' the personnel who had visited the place before who were brought in to advise had noted that some of the Star's End people had 'walked on eggshells' around them, to use Captain Mitchell's own phrase. They might be a little less wary this time around, seeing as how the Whydah Gally hadn't caused any trouble during its last visit, but they would still likely be more accommodating to any requests made by the big bad warship than most of their clientele, this potentially being a boon to pulling the mission off smoothly.
Star's End might be a Free Port but it was still a pirate haven and pirates expected each other to play rough. Right now the Whydah Gally was the biggest, meanest one in the yard by far, and though they would be expected to play by the local rules all that firepower at the ship's disposal rendered them merely guidelines that could be bent a little, if not outright broken at whim.
<<"Sorry, but I've got the boss on the other line so I need to cut this short. Giving you clearance to approach and letting everyone know you're not here to shoot the place up. Nice to see you back here again Whydah Gally. Traffic Control Out.">>
"Easier than having to blast our way in." Blüd said brightly as she killed the transmission from her end too. "They'll probably want to assign us a parking spot a lone way out" she told Colonel Benedict, "But when we get there we'll try and wrangle ourselves a holding position close enough to the shipyard that our guns can bracket the whole area."
Benedict nodded. "Don't paint any targets until we're in position and ready to introduce ourselves properly" he instructed her. "We don't want to spook them until it's time to drop the hammer."
"Simon says do exactly what we tell you and nobody gets hurt." Blüd replied, smiling evilly.
Her smile however was short-lived as Benedict sighed. "Khan Hallis requested that I ask you at this juncture in proceedings what it's like finally being the pirate you were born to be" he asked her reluctantly, and all too seriously, only obeying orders.
Blüd narrowed her eyes as now her First Officer was trying not to laugh as well. "It sucks." Blüd replied curtly. "I should have known Admiral Bremman had some kind of ulterior motive in mind when he told me he was transferring me to command the Dobrev for a special mission. I was too busy celebrating finally getting to captain a warship to ask questions."
"You don't really think the Joint Chiefs assign personnel based upon how funny it would be do you?" Benedict asked, frowning.
"You don't?" Blüd responded flatly. Just because they mostly got off on trolling everyone else in the galaxy didn't mean that they were averse to playing games with their own people too. It wasn't like the Khan, or Admiral Bremman for that matter were malicious, they were just irreverent and seemed to think that military professionalism did not require having a stick up your ass as a matter of necessity. "I'm pretty sure that we're not going to be able to pull this mission off without hurting anyone Colonel, pirates aren't a cohesive bunch and some of them just aren't going to follow instructions" she added seriously.
"Our rules of engagement allow for us to be extremely forceful in enforcing the rules of the game Captain Blüd" Benedict replied. "We just need to persuade them that's it's not in their interest to cheat."
"Oh, we can definitely do persuasive, Colonel" Blüd told him, nodding towards the weapons officer as the rest of the bridge crew grinned at the prospect of lighting up some pirate scum with the main guns. "It's just a pity we couldn't bring the Zug out of retirement for this mission." she opined.
"That would be overkill don't you think?" Jax Benedict suggested.
"Since when was that a thing?" Blüd replied, feigning confusion. "I can honestly say that I've never seen that concept mentioned in the Star League Navy manual" she joked, briefly chuckling before becoming more serious again. "Sending capital warships after pirates used to be SOP in the good old days, or at least it was according to my parents" she continued, then shrugged. "Though I guess what constitutes an overwhelming display of force isn't what it used to be" she reasoned given that his military transport ship with a few naval guns mounted on it made the ship practically a battleship itself anyway by the standards of most of the Inner Sphere.
Or maybe describing it as a latter-day battlecruiser might be more apt given that a Carrack could dish it out, but it certainly wasn't armored to match being something of a glass cannon in warship terms. It was at least a serious handful to deal with for opposing aerospace fighter squadrons, those being the most likely opposition it would ever encounter anyway these days.
According to scuttlebutt Admiral Bremman was looking to build a number of modified Black Lion II class ships with anti-fighter and anti-missile armament to match their formidable capital firepower, the true dreadnoughts of the modern age, but when he would ever get his hands on one who could tell. At least they had finally gotten around to putting more manpower and resources into getting the shipyard back home completed, but even when it was it would be tied up servicing existing ships that were overdue some time in drydock for quite a while, including the São Gabriel herself although most of her crew still inwardly thought of the ship as the Dobrev.
Previously named for Star Commodore Mary Dobrev, who had been killed in action during Operation Klondike, it had been seen as a sad day amongst the fleet when the obvious need to rename the vessel to something that didn't so obviously scream 'Clan Wolverine, right here!' into the void had come, but nobody doubted the necessity of it. Like the various nom de guerre used by those who bore one of the forty Wolverine bloodnames when dealing with outsiders, it was seen as a necessary evil and in some ways only those from Niops being privy to the true names of certain people and warships was becoming part of their core identity.
General Romanov had joked that the Wolverines should really adopt a secret handshake to go along with some of their arcane language and rituals, but regretted saying it immediately because judging by the expression on Khan Franklin Hallis's face he didn't treat entirely the notion like the joke it was intended to be.
This was an Niops SLDF only operation of course so the crew didn't have to be as guarded as they would have been otherwise, the mercenaries not having been told why the warship had detached itself from the rest of the squadron. They might have an inkling that something was planned for the warship because it had departed from Erin with a lot of army infantry and marines aboard, as well as bringing the Titan carrier-dropship with her. A few of those special-forces team from the Blackhearts might have actually come in handy, but it wasn't like Niops didn't have plenty of well-trained troops of its own and they didn't want people to get it into their heads that they needed someone to hold their hands.
Also, the Blackhearts would have definitely demanded a hefty bonus for pulling off an audacious, and potentially risky, mission like this one and contrary to Inner Sphere rumour Niops Association wasn't made of money.
Alphard was practically made of germanium which certainly helped, it helped a lot, but some degree of trying to maintain a half-reasonable budget by the military made the civilian bean-counters happy, or at least less whiny.
Star's End used to produce a lot of germanium too ironically enough, but centuries of large-scale mining had largely depleted the known ore deposits and most of what mining continued tended to be of considerably less profitable metals these days. These metals were needed to supply the needs of the shipyard, which was now the undisputed economic heart of the system, not only keeping the vessels belonging to the Belt Pirates themselves operational but bringing in a constant flow of money, trade-goods and slaves from further afield.
First you get the monopoly on JumpShip repair, then you get the money, then you get the women.
As well as the shift from primarily mining germanium towards extracting other metals from the asteroid belt instead, the way in which the miners worked had changed too. Long gone was much of the remote-controlled robotic mining equipment that used to operate throughout the system, maintaining or sourcing the parts being too difficult in an era where more and more electronic systems were lostech, so by the mid-29th century remote tele-operation had been largely replaced by men and women wearing EVA suits.
It had been an accident, or perhaps 'accident', involving one of those very same remote-controlled robot mining drones that had killed First Lord Simon Cameron while visiting Star's End back in 2751, the system being seen as economically important enough to the whole region at the time that the most important man in the galaxy thought it was worth what was to be a very fateful visit.
Simon Cameron's death had put his ineffectual and perhaps even more ill-fated son Richard on the Star League throne, subsequent events leading many people to conclude that Simon's death had likely been arranged by agents of Stefan Amaris. They would have certainly been well placed to carry out a covert assassination of this type, especially given that Star's End actually belonged to the Rim Worlds Republic giving them by far the best opportunity of any of the suspects, and for obvious reasons nobody these days doubted that Amaris was more than willing to murder a member of House Cameron, it was practically the man's hobby.
Supposedly the idea to call this mission Operation Simon Says had come from the retired Captain Simon Michell himself, who had not only commanded the ship during its previous visit but had actually been named by his parents after Simon Cameron, the then heir presumptive to the throne occupied by his father Jonathan.
Mitchell had been accepted into Annapolis Naval Academy the year Simon Cameron became First Lord, the man presiding over his graduation ceremony a few years later when he got to shake the man's hand and tell him he was named for him, something that earned Mitchell a genuine smile from the First Lord who was known for having the common touch when dealing with people.
First Lord Simon Cameron had been popular, Simon Cameron was considered a considerably better ruler than either his father before him, or his son proved to be after him.
Simon Cameron had probably been murdered, right here in Star's End, so a megalomaniac with no discernible sense of empathy called Amaris could initiate a long-term scheme, the end-point of which was that he could appoint himself First Lord of the Star League.
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===Demands and Threats===
It was doubtful there were more than a handful of people left in the system that had been there ninety-three years ago when the First Lord suffered his 'accident' while visiting the mining station built into the unusually large asteroid known as New Silesia. Life expectancy had never been that high in a place like Star's End, and it wasn't like anyone there had been given the Hegemony anti-agathics that kept people like Simon Mitchell spry well into their twelfth decade. New Silesia itself was a pirate base belonging to the head of one of the seven bands that cooperated to jointly rule the system, none being powerful enough to install themselves as outright leader, and it was rumored that what was left of the mining robots there had been converted into primitive drone fighters, part of a network of improvised defenses the Belt Pirates were constructing.
The analysts had concluded that even in the worst case scenario such defenses were no match for an actual warship with fighter support, but it might still be enough to make the Lyran Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine think twice if they ever lost so many of their own shipyards that seizing the one at Star's End looked like an attractive option.
However, just the possibility that they might be building up their defenses waiting for the day the Great Houses came knocking on their door was a factor that had played into the planning process for Operation Simon Says. Bringing the Belt Pirates down a peg before accomplishing that goal got potentially bloodier was only sensible, and it wasn't like Niops was going to send a warship out this way very often anyway, so if you're in the neighborhood anyway and you think the local bully probably isn't ready for a fight now, but might be later, why not sucker-punch the bastard?
And once you've put him on the ground why not riffle through his pockets for loose change? It's not like anyone likes him anyway.
There was definitely a certain amount of post factum justification going on when compiling the list of items that Niops would like to requisition, use of the word 'loot' was highly discouraged, from the shipyard at Star's End. That many of them would be quickly hard to replace, thus preventing the yard from rapidly returning to full operation, was mostly just a lucky coincidence since what they really wanted was items that they would have to otherwise make in a Project Workshop.
Destroying a shipyard might well be considered the act of a barbarian pretty soon in an age where the ability to maintain an interstellar civilization might not be guaranteed in the long-term, the sterling efforts of the Great Houses to blast each other back to the Bronze Age could not be understated, and given that Niops very much wanted to be seen as a paladin not another pariah simply wrecking the place permanently was deemed out of the question.
Putting a yard used by pirates out of action for a while was PR gold with far less chance of later blowback, maybe even PR germanium if the other part of the plan worked out too.
Thanks to the efforts of 'Captain Lomas' and his scurvy crew of fake pirates two decades earlier they knew enough about the system, and the shipyard in particular, to put together a reasonably detailed plan for this operation, rightly assuming that while many of the names and faces in Star's End may have changed since the mid 2820's the largest and most important asteroid settlements would be likely unchanged for the most part, including the yard itself of course.
Although also built into a large asteroid by the SLDF engineers who had constructed it a few years after the Reunification War the shipyard at Star's End differed from the one that had been built later at Camelot Command in the Dark Nebula in terms of scale, being both bigger and yet conversely smaller.
The Star's End pressurized dock itself was larger than that of Camelot Command, sized so it could host anything up to the size of an Avatar class Heavy Cruiser which were at the time of construction the pride of the fleet, but the asteroid it was built into was itself less massive than Camelot was. Since the planet Novo Cressidas was nearby anyway the SLDF had simply constructed another base down there on the surface, rather than bothering to build a large rotating asteroid habitat with internal artificial gravity to provide all the extra room and other facilities required for a fleet headquarters.
When the SLDF later turned over their Star's End base to the Rim Worlds Republic, this being during the relative calm of the Golden Age of the Star League, they had demilitarized it, wiping most of the databases and stripping out certain equipment so House Amaris couldn't immediately start churning out superior Terran warship designs in their inherited yard.
They could still service their Kearny-Fuchida drives however, which was extremely annoying to everyone involved in Operation Simon Says because if the drive of the SLS Pioneer at Paran hadn't been quite as much of a complete write-off they could have likely limped her to Star's End and then fixed her properly. So near and yet so far.
Gathering signals intelligence on the way the Dobrev/São Gabriel/Whydah Gally opted not to get there as soon as possible maintaining a leisurely, for a warship, one gee of acceleration as it traversed the system.
The first indication to the shipyard that something hinky was going on was that when the ship finally arrived it did not take up the holding position allocated to it by traffic control.
The next, more concerning sign was when two DropShips, a heavily armed Overlord and a Titan aerospace carrier that the Carrack was hauling released from their docking collars and took up position next to her.
Then the targeting radars of the warship went live and painted everything in range, putting out enough wattage to power a small city.
During the age of sail, a period which overlapped with the Golden Age of Piracy on Terra, it was considered a legitimate tactic for a naval warship of one power to sail under the false flag of another in order to approach her prey. However, to actually attack without raising your own colors first was nonetheless considered an unacceptable breach of the rules and honors of war, a crime considered so heinous and despicable that even the pirates regarded it as beyond the pale and would usually raise the Black Flag or the Jolly Roger before opening fire.
Naval traditions die hard. Just because sailors traverse the vacuum black not the briny deep these days there were some things that you did because things had always been done that way and it was only right and proper to maintain standards.
The IFF system on the Carrack stopped squawking it was the pirate corsair Whydah Gally holding allegiance to no nation and instead announced it was in fact the NAS São Gabriel belonging to the Niops Association.
Then Captain Anne Blüd made herself a hundred bucks because her First Officer had bet her she wouldn't say what she did next as she got on the radio. "Avast ye scurvy pirate dogs! This be the captain o' the São Gabriel ordering ye to lower your colors and surrender in the name of the Niops Association and the Star League! Over."
If not for the lack of air to carry the sound from the warship to the shipyard they could have heard the crew's cheering and laughter from there.
After a few minutes a transmission arrived from the station. <<"Is this some kind of joke? Over.">>
"Well, it's damn funny from our side but probably not from yours." Blüd replied. "You really should have considered the possibility that the reason you haven't seen this ship back here in twenty years was because it wandered into the territory of the wrong people and was taken as a prize." she continued. "Considering it was originally a Star League Navy vessel that went rogue under Captain Lomas, who actually died in a penal colony on Alphard years ago incidentally, we considered it fair game. In case you haven't realized by now, I'm not his granddaughter, I'm one of the people that caught the pirate bastard. Over."
Never miss an opportunity to obfuscate and misdirect, that's what Khan Hallis always said. When this story got out into the wider galaxy people would think that Niops had obtained their previously unheard of Carrack from a pirate that made the mistake of venturing into their territory at some point being unlucky enough to run into the only people out in the periphery that outgunned him.
<<"The Niops Association is on the other ****** side of the Inner Sphere! Over.">>
"True, but we were over here anyway dealing with Von Strang's World, which we've renamed Erin by the way so you might want to update your charts, and we thought, why not drop in on Star's End as well before we head home? Just another hive of scum and villainy that needs to be taught a lesson. That lesson being that wherever you are you'd better be good or the Star League Defense Force will come over there and put its foot up your ass. Over."
There was a considerable delay before the next transmission during which Blüd's first officer took a Newton out of his wallet and handed it to her.
<<"What exactly is it that you want? Over.">>
"Firstly, you'll be pleased to hear that we're not planning on staying, and as long as you cooperate we're not planning on blowing up the yard either. We could, easily, as well as the naval autocannon pointing at you I've got fighters packing nuclear ordnance out here, but we're not barbarians" Blüd told him. "We're going to send over a boarding party, do not interfere with them, and we're demanding a ransom to be paid in return for not blowing you to hell. Over"
<<"You want money? Is this just a ****** robbery at gunpoint? Over">>
"We don't want money. Our demands are one hundred thousand slaves to be released into our care. We're here to save them from you evil bastards. Another JumpShip will be arriving shortly to start transporting them out of the system. Over."
>>"There aren't a hundred thousand people in this entire system, slaves and free combined. Over">>
"Yeah, good point. Okay, how about we adjust our counting system. Anyone aged under eighteen is worth five slaves, women under thirty-five worth are three, and so on. Sound fair? Over" Blüd suggested, looking over to Colonel Benedict who gave her a thumb's up. That should cause a few internal divisions locally amongst the slaveowners and help get the slaves out that needed rescuing the most.
<<"And what if we don't cooperate? Over.">>
"We'll destroy the shipyard, and then every other base we can find in the system, and then finally we'll bombard Novo Cressidas from orbit. Over" Blüd replied.
<<"No, you won't. That would kill the slaves you say you're here to save. Over.">>
"If that's the only way we have to end their suffering we'll do it. Oh, and in case you think we're bluffing there's three JumpShips out there in range of my guns, I guess they were queuing up for repairs. In fifteen minutes I'm going to blow one of them in half to show I'm serious, then another fifteen minutes after that. Clock's ticking. Over and Out."
Blüd smirked. "At this moment the captains of each of those ships are getting on the radio to scream at every pirate leader in this system to do what they're told" she told Colonel Benedict. "In ten minutes or so I'll fire a warning shot past the yard to make sure we still have their undivided attention.
Jax Benedict pursed his lips. "Khan Hallis believes that they'll holdout on releasing at least some of the slaves, which will be our excuse for keeping the equipment we're requisitioning as a penalty" he said. "Do you think we'll face military resistance?"
"God, I hope so." Blüd replied as she checked all the aerospace fighters from the DropShips had been deployed into a defensive formation around the warship. She really did have a couple of fighters out there with nukes just in case, not that she expected to have to use them.
Immediately after the warning shot past the station someone else new got on the radio. (("I'm the man in charge here, authorized to parlay on behalf of the collective.")) it announced. (("How do we know we can trust you to keep your side of the bargain? That you won't take what you want and total the yard anyway? Over."))
"Do you really feel in charge? Okay, you be you but I'm not sure you're paying enough attention." Blüd replied wryly. "As for why you can trust us to keep our word, we need people like you to know we will so when we go calling on the Tortuga Dominion or whoever next, they do too. Consider this the Niops Association building a Rep. Over."
(("If you didn't have that ****** warship I'd have you flayed alive woman. Over."))
"Considering what I've spent on skin cream over the years that would be a tragedy, but seeing as how I do have a warship let's leave the hypotheticals to the philosophers" Blüd replied. "Oops, times up on the fifteen minutes. Over" she said looking to the weapon's officer. "Are you sure that one's a pirate? Not just a periphery trader." she checked.
"The Merchant class JumpShip with the skull and bonebones painted on the hull? Pretty sure, Ma'am." the weapon's officer replied.
"With your authorization, Sir" Blüd checked with Colonel Benedict who nodded. "Guns, hit it with a NAC/20. Turn the thing into debris" she ordered.
With a bore size large enough that you could stand up in the barrel one of the three largest guns mounted on the Carrack fired as soon as it was brought to bear, the massive naval autocannon shell steaking through space before it crashed into the hapless pirate JumpShip and blew it apart.
"Still doubting my word? Over" Blüd signalled the shipyard as chunks of ship hurtled off in all directions, one of them eventually crashing into the asteroid containing the shipyard though not nearly hard enough to damage it.
(("What are you? Some kind of maniac? Do you have any idea what that ship was worth? Over."))
"It was worth less to me than the lives of those slaves. Factor that into your profit and loss calculations and get back to me before I blow up the next JumpShip. Over and Out."
"Think they'll fold?" Benedict asked.
"Hey, when you've got them by the balls their hearts and minds soon follow." Blüd replied brightly. "Good thing we captured that JumpShip from Von Strang, hauling all of those slaves out of here would have been a lot more of a pain-in-the-ass otherwise" she observed. "I guess you'll be accompanying the boarding party, Sir?"
"Got an automatic shotgun loaded with flechette rounds all ready for it hoping that there's trouble" Benedict confirmed. "If they try and take us hostage, take out another JumpShip to show them that's a no-no. If they don't take the hint blow a hole in the side of the yard, vent a section to space."
"I assume you don't expect me to negotiate for the lives of the boarding party if they do take you hostage?" Blüd checked.
"No, if you know what section we're being held in target that one. Show them just how ****** serious a people we are." Benedict ordered.
"Yes Sir" Blüd confirmed the order. She didn't really like Jax Benedict much but the man was certainly no coward.
"You do realize that after this they'll turn Stars End into a damn fortress so we can't do this to them again right?" Blüd asked rhetorically. "Von Strang's World in space."
"Probably. Won't that be a shame if the Clans invade the Inner Sphere from this direction?" Benedict replied, wondering if that was part of the plan that he wasn't aware of.
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==Chapter Notes==
*;Notes from the Author : Considering its tiny population, and its location out in the boonies, the Star's End system has witnessed an awful lot more history over the years than most equivalent places, including the death of First Lord Simon Cameron. Between that, the Belt Pirates operating from there and its (in)famous shipyard it's a system known to a lot more people than your average periphery hellhole.Around about this time in canon a rich deposit of germanium was located under the south pole of Novo Cressidas which would eventually greatly boost the local economy but that renaissance which allowed them to fund the creation of a kind of budget SDS which caused trouble for the clan invasion isn't underway yet (no bucks, no Buck Rogers).We're not yet at the point in the Succession Wars where blowing up a jumpship was considered an unforgivable sin, although there were fewer cities being destroyed and nukes being thrown about by now. The slide towards lostech armageddon continues. 
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Chapter 63