The Vander System

"How the hell did you people even survive this long?"

After the initial takeover of the base by the Terrans, Viktor and Orlan both went to their men and told them they were now working for someone else. Obviously, their men were curious, but they were smart enough to know their only option was to submit to the rule of their new overlord. The overwhelming defeat they suffered at the hand of the Terrans already made it clear they were in no position to negotiate. Some might feel vengeful for their slain comrades, but most were satisfied with surviving the onslaught. In this line of work, comradery was hardly a thing.

Athena, as promised, released these people. Of course, no one would be leaving this planet anytime soon. Not until Athena could be at least moderately sure of their loyalty. They would be carefully observed by Athena's own Terran forces.

Before making any major decisions, Athena had to get an understanding of what assets she just gained. To do this, she called a meeting of her most trusted lieutenants at this point. Rum and Vodka to represent the Terran forces. Adrianna, of course. Viktor, as the leader of the remaining Epsilon-9 crew, and Orlan, the leader of the pirates and the one explaining the assets that used to belong to him.

To say she was disappointed by the report was an understatement.

Athena admitted she didn't expect much from these pirates. After all, she took over the entire base with almost no Terran casualties. Still, she had assumed these pirates, due to the nature of their career, would be a little more competent when it came to space combat. That quickly turned out to be false.

According to Orlan's reports, which were much more detailed than what Zurik knew, the flagship, and also the only ship, of the White Tigress was the Ravager, a ship whose fancy name didn't change the fact that it was a modified civilian V3 merchant ship. The ship, produced in the shipyards of the infamous Vermes Corporation, fell into the hands of the White Tigress over 20 years ago and had been in service ever since then.

The Ravager was given a number of armaments, including 4 light railgun turrets, 8 point defense turrets, and a hangar bay that was capable of launching starfighters. How long it would take to launch the starfighters was a whole different topic, and so was the capability of the starfighter pilots.

"Having 4 light railguns is impressive. A corvette or a frigate in large naval forces usually has fewer turrets than that." Viktor admitted before his tone changed. "But corvettes and frigates also have missile launchers, and their job is often to operate in groups to accompany larger vessels on missions and fend off bombers. If all you have to offer is four light railgun turrets, you're in real trouble."

Viktor had introduced his ship already. His P-34 starcruiser was slightly larger than the Ravager, but due to the need to transport cargo, it only had 2 light railgun turrets and 8 point defense turrets. However, it had two separate shield generators. After all, it didn't need to defeat any foes. All it had to accomplish was an escape from danger with the cargo in one piece.

"We also have fighters!" Orlan snapped at the man that might as well be his arch-nemesis at this point. "We have five fighters! Two Republic S-12s! One Imperial Viper class. Two more…"

"S-12s? Viper? They're at least two generations behind what the Imperium and the Republic are fielding now." Even Adrianna was getting annoyed at this point. Even an infantry soldier like her knew in the field of starfighters, quality meant so much more than quantity. A veteran pilot in a modern Imperial Rattlesnake-class starfighter could destroy all five pirate fighters with ease. "Can they even break the shield of your enemy ships?"

"In my defense, my Queen, we rarely had to truly fight." Orlan protested. He could see the mocking look from everyone else in the room, and he knew that was bad news. "Please give me a chance to explain our typical operations."

"Go on." Athena gestured.

"As you surely know, my Queen. The Callisto Engines allow ships to jump across a massive distance. It is obviously impossible to intercept these ships during transit, and the only times the merchant ships are vulnerable is when they exit jumps at fueling stations. These fueling stations are often run by major energy corporations and are defended by infamous mercenary fleets. There have been pirates who attacked these stations before, but obviously, we are ill-equipped to try something like that."

"Understatement of the year," Viktor whispered.

"We often go after undefended targets. More specifically, undefended civilian colonies and settlements." Orlan continued. "We are in the Vander System, which is one of the smallest systems in the Paragon Sector. There are a few dominant forces here. The Sons of Retribution. Indigo Energy Incorporated. But these factions have no interest in ruling the entire system. As a result, many colonies have been established on remote planets for different purposes. Research. Farming. Mining. Some are defended by security forces, militias, or mercenaries. Others…others have to rely on their anonymity, and once we know where they are, they have no choice but to give in to our demands."

Athena tapped her chin. So Orlan and his goons were only going after weak targets. Unsurprising. If this band of idiots was going after the interest of powerful corporations with a single worn-out ship, they would have died a long time ago.

"We get our data on potential targets from intel-brokers at Lawman's Port." Orlan saw the confusion on Athena's face and quickly explained himself. "Lawman's Port is a port on the edge of several star systems, including the Vander System. It is under the protection of a coalition of powerful forces in the sector. It is a hub for trade, entertainment, and communication…basically, if you have enough wealth, you can get whatever you want from there. Fighting is forbidden in the port, and anyone who breaks the rules in the port will be purged by the authorities there."

"So the intel-brokers sell you the coordinates of these soft targets," Athena reasoned. "And then what?"

"And then we descend upon those colonies and make our demands clear to the people there." The pirate leader continued. "We demand a protection fee from those people in exchange for not assaulting the colony and massacring the people. More often than not, these colonies fulfill our demands, and we leave them alone for a while."

"What stops these colonists from just leaving? Or hiring protection?" Adrianna frowned.

"The intel-brokers often include information on the status of the colonies. By the time we get there, the colonists have already put in a lot of work on their settlements. They may not be able to give up everything and leave. The protection fee we demand is high, but it is not unaffordable. If they move to somewhere else and run into other pirates, they may lose even more." Orlan explained. "Hell, some of these colonists might have moved several times already. The intel-brokers are good at their job."

"As for protection…they can hire mercenaries, of course, but that comes with its own set of risks and costs. Mercenaries are expensive to hire and more expensive to maintain. Their loyalties are often questionable. Without the coordinates of our bases, the best the colonists can hope for is to use the mercenaries as a garrison force to keep themselves safe for a while. After the mercenaries leave, we will return, and when we do we will demand more than just credits from the colonists."

"Damn leeches." Adrianna scoffed, a sentiment echoed by Rum and Vodka. Orion's face turned red in embarrassment, but he wisely didn't say anything.

"That explains it. It doesn't take too much firepower to extort a group of unarmed colonists." Athena nodded. "How many of these colonies have you been extorting?"

"Three. One mining and two agriculture colonies. However, we may not be the only ones aware of these colonies." Orlan said. "The intel-brokers charge higher amounts if we wish to have exclusive rights to the information. As a result, different pirates will often fight for control over a target. We have lost a few colonies to other pirates who were better equipped than us."

Athena tapped her fingers on the table as she considered her situation. The White Tigress was content with extorting colonists to make a living, but she wanted much more than that. She wasn't here to be a simple pirate. She was here to grow her power, which meant her focus was on other pirates in the system instead of defenseless civilians.

"Is there any chance you have the coordinates to the bases of other pirates?" Athena turned to Orlan, who simply shook his head and shot down the idea of a surprise attack.

"I am sorry, my Queen. This type of information is usually highly classified. We often make a lot of enemies in this line of career, after all."

Athena frowned, and Viktor took this opportunity to speak up.

"My Queen, may I propose an idea?"

"Go for it."

"I suggest we use these colonies to get to these other pirate factions." Viktor rested a PEI on the desk and turned to Orlan. "I assume you still have coordinates to the colonies taken over by the other pirates."

"Of course I do." Orlan frowned.

"Then that can be our tentative targets." Viktor continued, eager to prove his value to Athena. "Please correct me if I'm wrong, my Queen, but we don't have any orbital or air assets right now aside from my ship and the Ravager. The other pirate factions may have more ships, or better ones, than us. If we want a decisive victory, we will need to bring the fight to the ground."

"That is correct," Athena admitted. If she had a handful of vikings, things would be much easier.

"In that case, I propose we identify one of these colonies and deploy a ground force there. When the pirates arrive at the colony and demand their tribute, the colony will refuse to give. This will force the pirates to land their troops on the world and make a move on the colony. According to my research, due to the expensive cost of purchase and maintenance, as well as the lack of usage, pirates rarely use boarding crafts or dropships. Most likely they will land their starships directly, at which point our forces will overrun their ranks and take their ship with lightning speed and overwhelming force."

"How do we know they won't attack the colonies from the air? Or simply blockade the planet and wait things out?" Adrianna challenged the idea.

Orlan was about to say something before Viktor cut him off. This was a perfect chance for him to show his talent, and he wasn't planning to share it with Orlan and let some of his research go to waste!

"As I said, I have done my research on pirates, my lady." His tone was very respectful toward Adrianna on account of how close she was with Athena. "Pirates rarely bombard their targets due to how expensive missiles and bombs are. A destroyed ship or a bombed settlement also means destroyed loot and wasted time and munition. That's why most pirates try to intimidate their targets into surrendering using their infamy."

"What if they want to destroy the colony to send a message?"

"If they do destroy an undefended colony from the air with expensive bombs and missiles, the only message they're sending is how idiotic they are." Orlan finally got his opinions out, and he was much less polite to Adrianna than the wiser Viktor. "A better message would be if they got to the ground, rounded up the resisting colonists, and have them tortured and executed while taking their properties as prizes."

"Will they suspect this is a trap?" Athena asked about another possibility. "A group of colonists who have paid up in the past suddenly decided to resist. May seem suspicious."

"They may, my Queen, but unless they are content with losing the colony forever, they will have to make a move eventually. They do rely on income from the colonies to survive, after all, and the intel they bought isn't cheap."

"This plan is banking on a lot of assumptions." Athena frowned, much to the surprise of Viktor. The captain had expected more positive reactions from his new overlord. "Let's put that matter on hold for now. Our top priority should be to consolidate the situation here. Orlan, I want you to compile for me a detailed list of resources in this base. Credits. Food. Fuel. Weapons, armor, and munitions."

"Yes, my Queen."

"Viktor, same thing. I want a list from you as soon as possible."

"Yes, my Queen."

"Rum, Vodka. Keep up what you have been doing."

"Yes, commander."

"You are all dismissed."

"There's one more thing, my Queen." Rum interrupted Athena. "There are still hundreds of passengers in this base. What should we do with them?"

Athena frowned. This was an issue she hadn't really been thinking about. Keeping hundreds of refugees from Sierra Prime would likely be a huge cost in terms of resources. She couldn't keep them locked up forever.

The options of murdering or selling all of them like what Orlan planned were immediately tossed out. She could release these refugees, but they have seen the Terrans in battle, which...would that be an issue if they told others? Would anyone stick up for pirates? It wasn't like they saw the Protoss and the Zerg. Then again, even if she let these people go, where would she drop them off? Aegor IV was obviously beyond her reach. Just dump them on a random civilized planet and wish them the best of luck?

"Let's keep them locked up for now." She simply declared, not too sure about what to do in this situation.