Tracking A Vulture

Posted on Fri Feb 26th, 2021 @ 4:36pm by Lieutenant Hatham tr'Krotash & Colonel Sehan t'Varis & Major Ashley Rogers

2,815 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Chapter III: The Hunt is On
Location: Briefing Room, I.R.W. Ourainavassa
Timeline: 238702.03

Finally, Raven had returned from her trip back home to Zeotis. Now, it was time to get back to business. In her absence, Gedak had gathered more intelligence on the Vulture, finally tracking down a viable lead on their mysterious adversary. The Ferengi had been able to find out that a crew was being put together to raid a convoy originating from Romulus, one that was most likely to be carrying more refugees. More than that, however, he had determined the most likely place and time the raid would be taking place. The convoy was going to have to drop out of warp to navigate around a nebula, leaving them vulnerable to attack - and from their departure date, he determined that they were going to pass there in roughly seven days' time.

So, the Colonel had called in two of her most senior officers: Major Rogers in her new position as her executive officer, and Sublieutenant Hatham, who had taken over as acting chief of security. Raven was sitting at the head of the briefing room table, awaiting her officers - and her change was plainly obvious. Now dressed in her usual black skirt and boots, but with a white leather jacket with her rank insignia pinned to her right chest, and the metal pauldron of the Zeotis Guardian Corps on her left shoulder, the thin red cape falling down her back, she looked an entirely different person from the "old" Raven. The most striking change, however, was her now pale pink hair, falling down to her shoulders. Her newly acquired Blazefire Sabre was leaning against the table in a brand new, dark red leather holster.

As she waited, she was reviewing what intelligence Gedak's contacts had been able to gather. The convoy would consist of three cargo ships, one of them carrying supplies and equipment, and the other two filled with around three hundred civilians. These ships were slow, bulky, and unarmed, only equipped with very weak shielding. The only escort was provided by an antiquated, very lightly armed runabout. Vulture's pirates would likely be attacking using one or two of their signature B'rel-class birds-of-prey, which would make easy work of the runabout, before bringing in a transport vessel to take away any captured refugees. From the pirates' point of view, the plan was nearly flawless.

Hatham arrived promptly, entering and giving a proper Romulan fist-to-chest salute before taking a seat. He noted briefly the change in uniform, and a device on the pauldron that he did not recognize, but his eyes keyed to the sabre rifle. Only years of Galae discipline kept him from asking if it was authentic. "Colonel, it is good to have you back."

Ash showed up next, looked at Raven, remembering the last time she saw her, "Glad to see you're doing well, ma'am."

Raven nodded and smiled. She had not failed to notice Hatham's eyes darting to her new weapon. "It's genuine, Sublieutenant," she said, knowing that he was dying to ask the question. "And thank you for your kind words. I know I let my crew down. It will not happen again."

She paused and looked around the room, before activating the holoprojector in the briefing table, displaying a map of the sector. "I am sure you are wondering why I called you for this meeting. Well, I have good news. I believe Gedak and his contacts in the information trade have been able to create an opportunity for us to finally take the fight to the Vulture."

Ash's eyes perked up, at the mention of Vulture.

She tapped a command on her console, and the map changed, outlining a route from Romulus, past a nearby nebula, and into Federation space. "Tomorrow at 0330 ship's time, a refugee convoy is leaving Romulus for Federation space. I believe they are unificationists, heading for Vulcan. The convoy consists of three cargo ships carrying some three hundred passengers, mainly elderly, women, and children. The vessels will be escorted by a single, lightly-armed vessel. On 238702.10, the convoy, which will be travelling at low warp due to the limitations of the rather antiquated vessels they are travelling on, will have to drop out of warp to avoid this nebula."

Hatham's jaw tightened. The only people being permitted to leave were unificationists, but of course they were being sent out in a way that anyone could see made practically an offering to pirates and slavers. It was just another means of keeping the rest of populace from even considering petitioning for relocation.


Ash looked over at Hatham, for him it's personal, but she is no less interested in seeing Vulture pay for what they've already done.

The map zoomed in. "It appears, that a group of pirates are preparing an attack, and the pattern matches that of previous attacks linked to the individual known as the Vulture. Gedak's source, a Ferasan named B'othan, who very recently left the employ of said pirates, estimates that the nebula will be the site of their attack, and I agree with that conclusion. With the slow cargo ships having to drop out of warp, they would be a perfect target for ambush by a number of cloaked vessels, using the nebula for cover. The Ourainavassa's superior stealth technology would allow us to ambush the ambushers."

Raven looked around again. "B'othan claims the pirates will use two or three B'rel-class birds-of-prey, the same type of vessel that attacked Areinnye's refugee flotilla, as well as a cargo vessel of the same type as the "smugglers" we encountered previously. I am sure you will agree that this matches what we know to be the Vulture's strategy. Although we have no indication that the Vulture's personal flagship, apparently a modified D7-class battlecruiser, will be there, we cannot be certain. We will need to use the Ourainavassa's polarised disruptors to disable at least one of the pirates' vessels, and take it. The smugglers' freighter held little information that was of use, so I propose we board one of the birds-of-prey instead. My friends, this is the opportunity we needed. These ships may well hold the key to identify and track down the Vulture."

"How sure are we that this Ferasan no longer works for the pirates?" Hatham asked. "As much as I want to rip the throat out of this Vulture, we know they want the Ourainvassa. This ambush could be set for us more than for the refugees."

Ash nodded at her newly appointed replacement, "Agreed, I don't believe we should expose the Ourainavassa unnecessarily. While yes, her firepower would be immensely useful against two or three pirates ships, I recommend we play it differently. We have a runabout or two of our own... I say we uparmor them, blend in with the convoy, and keep the Ourainavassa hidden until we know what we're dealing with."

Raven shook her head. "The issue with that is that the pirates will likely be watching the convoy. If they see them being reinforced, they may well come with a larger force themselves, which could then outgun even us. If we want to ambush the ambushers, they must not have any idea that we are on to them. We will lay in wait, under full cloak, of course, until the very last moment. Only when they spring their own trap should we spring ours. They believe the convoy is, for all intents and purposes, unprotected, and it needs to stay that way."

She looked directly at Hatham. "Look, I know this is a very risky plan, and there are Romulan civilian lives at stake. But we know what the Vulture and their people are capable of. The lengths they are willing to go to. We cannot allow them to know that we are on to them."

The colonel paused to let her words sink in, before continuing. "As for the credibility of our source, we were able to verify that the convoy does exist. And I highly doubt that B'othan is still working for the Vulture. She is not working for anyone any more. Hours after providing the information, she was killed by an unidentified assailant. All that is currently known is that her murderer was Nausicaan. And, since this is Drozana, no investigation will be taking place. B'othan paid with her life to give us that information."

"Or she took payment to give it to us and someone decided to make sure she couldn't be questioned about it," Hatham suggested with solid Romulan pragmatism. "Altruism is a rare quality, especially in former pirates. In my experience, a source being eliminated like that makes it a 50/50 bet that, knowingly or unknowingly, what they've passed on has been planted."

"I am aware of the risks, Sublieutenant Hatham," Raven replied. "However, it is one that we need to be prepared to take. This is our best lead on the Vulture, and we cannot waste this opportunity. These raids on civilian convoys have to stop. As long as the Vulture is out there, all refugees leaving Romulus are in danger."

"Do you think I don't care about Romulan refugees?" The words were level to the point of being almost without inflection, but Hatham's eyes narrowed and under the table a fist tightened just shy of making bones crack. "My point was that we cannot trust that the Vulture is not expecting us; and therefore that they have back up that will show as soon as we decloak and engage. If the convoy is being watched, I propose a variation on the Major's strategy: hide our up armored runabouts in the Nebula. They can observe the trap being laid, and also be on hand for support if the Vulture springs a different trap."

Ash's focus flipped quickly from Hatham to Raven and back again, she could feel the tension in her former assistant emanating off of him, "I agree with Hatham. I don't like putting all of our eggs in one basket. If Vulture has been at this for so long, they have to pretty damn good at what they're doing. I don't want to underestimate our enemy..."

Raven held up a hand. "Slow down, Sublieutenant. I never said you did not care about the refugees. In fact, I wanted to make clear that I, too, care. I would not be here if I did not. I could have easily turned my back on this whole operation when Areinnye left. No, I just wanted to remind everyone that we all know what's at stake."

For a moment, she contemplated what Hatham was proposing, and Ash's response. "There is one issue with your suggestion, Sublieutenant, and I am surprised you did not notice it, Major. We are operating on the assumption that our foe will use the nebula as additional cover for their vessels. Klingon birds-of-prey. Although their ships may be old, they are equipped with cloaking devices. Our small craft unfortunately are not. Granted, thanks to Taryn's idea with the tachyon pulse during the raid on the Ourainavassa, we have a fairly foolproof way of breaking through at least Klingon cloaks. But I can guarantee you, if the pirates were to detect our ships in the nebula, they'd immediately know what's up. As you said yourself, Major. They must be good at this business if they have been going for this long. And although it is possible to retrofit a cloaking device into all of our small craft, we do not have enough time to purchase and install them."

She looked at the map again, and suddenly, her eyes grew wide. "Major Rogers. What is Starfleet protocol in case a civilian Federation distress signal is detected from within the neutral zone, close to the border with Federation space?"

"Protocol? Or are you referring to every cadets' nightmare Kobayashi Maru scenario?" Ash said with a raised eyebrow. "If that's the case, my solution didn't exactly pan out well for everyone, but it probably helped convince Section 31 that I should work for them... so....." she trailed off.

Raven chuckled. "Ah yes, the Kobayashi Maru. I left the Academy before I got to take it, sadly. But no, what I meant is this." The map changed again, with the predicted ambush site highlighted, as well as the borders of the Neutral Zone. "Look at this. I reckon this is, what, no further than the distance between Earth and Vulcan? If a civilian ship registered to a Federation company was to send a distress signal from that location, indicating that they're under attack, what would the Feds do? They'd be bound to come to their rescue, right?"

"Yeah, that's what Starfleet and the Federation would do...." Ash trailed off. Would and actually do has shown itself to be two different things lately. "Any ship captain worth their rank would attempt a rescue. What are you thinking?" she asked.

The colonel smirked. "Simple. If what Hatham fears does happen, and we find ourselves facing more than we can easily deal with, we send a fake distress signal and get the Feds to lend us a torpedo tube or two." After all, the Federations do-good attitude was as predictable as clockwork. "We need to make sure to broadcast our identity if we do, though, lest they mistake us for pirates as well."

'Simple' was not the word Hatham would have chosen. The words that came to his mind were 'risky', 'unlikely', possibly 'naive'... "Forgive me, Colonel, but that's putting a lot of faith in Starfleet holding to an ethic they plainly no longer do, not to mention holding to it even after they get into sensor range and see an advanced Romulan warbird fighting pirates and no sign of any actual civilian Federation ship," he pointed out. "I know there's a stereotype of Starfleet captains as foolish rush-in do-gooders, but it's hard to believe one would see a warbird like this engaged in the Neutral Zone and risk crossing the border. Transmitting our identity does not help us here. In fact, if any of the pirates think quick enough to send their own distress signal, we could find ourselves fighting them and Starfleet."

Raven contemplated the Sublieutenant's words for a moment, before finally nodding. "You raise a very valid point," she said, her tone of voice making clear that she did appreciate the Romulan's input. "We cannot afford to have to fight both the Vulture and Starfleet. If they turned up at all."

She paused, looking at the map that was still being displayed by the holoprojector. "Very well. Not the Feds then. We have some time to prepare, as the ambush site is only about two days' travel away at maximum warp. We will take that time to refine the battle plan. I will also instruct Gedak to spread the word that we are in the market for parts needed to repair our cloaking device. With a little luck, that false intelligence will lure the Pirates into underestimating us further. And then, of course, we have another secret weapon."

She turned to Ash. "Major, how are you and Sublieutenant Lynn coming along with that little fighter you have been working on? I hear you finally got it working and completed a successful test flight?"

Ash nodded, "It's definitely up and running. It may have a few quirks that we are still trying to figure out. But nothing we can't handle. I'd love to see it in action. I think we will all be pleasantly surprised at its capabilities." She looked over at Hatham, "And I say that knowing how much you hate surprises too."

An eyebrow tipped up at Rogers, but a corner of Hatham's mouth curled up in a half-smile. "I make allowances for the pleasant type. In fact, if you happen to have any Starfleet contacts who could be trusted with a tip to just happen be in the vicinity to help refugees bound for Vulcan, I'd be pleasantly surprised to have a way to make that idea viable."

"That is a very good thought, Sublieutenant," Raven said, happy to see the two security officers putting aside their little rivalry to make constructive suggestions. "Right. Make sure the fighter is ready for combat then, and if you can get any prospective reinforcements, well, the more the merrier, as they say."

She switched off the holoprojector. "Major, Sublieutenant, I really do not need to emphasise the importance of this mission. We will reconvene here the day after tomorrow, at 1500 ship's time. Do you think that will be enough time to make your enquiries?"

Ash nodded, "I burned a lot of bridges within Starfleet but I may still have friends of friends. Yes, ma'am." She looked at Hatham again, "Let's go do some hero things."

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