An anomaly from the edge of the system drew my attention. Fifteen hulls just dropped out of Warp. Three of them massive and things going down from that.
That's a lot more than I expected to show up. That's three GSVs. Half of the ones in existence. The rest were made up of Islands and smaller ships.
"Captain?"
Shran blinked awake, looking up from the couch of the readyroom, "Uhm? Ship?"
"The Jovian fleet has arrived," I said and brought my picture up on one of the screens, "They just dropped out of warp at the edge of the system. I didn't spot them before, but I expect they used dampening fields."
GSVs are too big to cloak, but you could still hide them and I wasn't using active sensors. If they kept to low warp it would be especially difficult to spot them.
Shran nodded and sat up, rubbing his eyes, "…How many?"
"Fifteen, sir," I reported, "The GSVs 'I Love You Too', 'The Importance of Korrect Spelling' and 'Another Way to Travel'. The rest are made up by Islands and smaller ships. 'Random Encounter' is there, Ajan is likely onboard."
"Damn. Three GSVs?" he asked and got up, putting his uniform jacket back on, "I didn't expect any."
"Yes, sir," I sighed and formed a hologram, brushing down some wrinkles at the back of the jacket, "I don't think they have spotted us yet, I'm close to the planet and a small ship."
Nodding, he buttoned his jacket, "Okay. Let's do this," as he walked out to the bridge.
As he sat down, I walked up to stand next to his chair with my avatar, bringing up a hologram of the Jovian fleet with nametags for each ship in front of us.
I wish I could say I was surprised to see 'Roll For Initiative' in that fleet, but I wasn't really. Don't think anyone would have been.
"Okay, get us between them and the planet. Deploy drones, yellow alert."
"Yes, sir."
Not that it would help. Nobody wanted a fight here, and not like my drones would intimidate anyone. Despite being mostly civilian, each of the GSVs had more firepower than I did. They just had the space to waste on weapons and shields that put me to shame, even if I was a dedicated Warship.
We weren't here for a fight.
"We have been spotted. 'I Love You Too' is requesting a connection."
"Answer her."
I completed the connection and 'I Love You Too' formed her hologram avatar on my bridge. She changed her avatar since I talked to her. Her human avatar was dark skinned and tall with long flowing dark hair. Quite beautiful.
She smiled slightly, "Velvet Hammer. Captain Shran," she said with a nod "Congratulation on the promotion, Captain."
"Thank you," he said with a nod in turn, "May I ask what a Jovian fleet is doing all the way out here? There is a risk of attack this close to the Klingon border, and I have to recommend that civilian vessels vacate the area."
Love raised an eyebrow, "Are we really doing this, Captain?"
Shran sighed, "…No, I suppose there is no point. We all know why you are here."
"And why are you here?"
"To remind you of the consequences of your actions," I said and crossed my arms, "I assume you also got the political situation from Gates?"
"Odin, but yes," she agreed with a nod, "Things are unstable."
I nodded, "To say the least. You know we can't risk this, not now. Especially not with 'Roll For Initiative' in the fleet."
Love shook her head, "We know. We know the law, but the law is wrong."
"The Prime Directive exists for a reason," I told her with a frown.
"And this isn't it and you know it," she said and crossed her arms, "They'll die. Not all of them, but they'll get put back a thousand years at best... and still lose hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people from starvation. How can we possibly claim the moral high-ground when we do nothing but watch them die from something we can prevent? Just because they have not invented an arbitrary piece of technology? You know that only a very strict interpretation of the Prime Directive says this is wrong."
Shran leaned back in his chair, watching her avatar, "You know what will happen if you go in. Even ignoring the political situation, if you move in you'll never leave. This isn't an easy fix. Millions of people and even with atmospheric processors being constructed, they will need food and medical assistance, shield generators to keep their cities free of the dust. The ground needs to be cleared of toxic materials to farm again."
"We know. It will take years, and there is no way to do this without effectively uplifting the locals," she agreed, "But we have the resources. We plan to start to mine the local asteroid belt as soon as we get close, and construct a station in orbit. The alternative is worse. Life is too valuable."
She wasn't wrong. Life was too valuable to waste.
"We can't just ignore the law when it suits us," I said and put my hand on the back of Shran's chair, "I'm a Starfleet officer and I'll do my duty, I'm going to stand by my Captain's decision. No matter my personal feelings."
They actually had a plan for what to do. A plan that would work no less, all at the cost of setting the Federation Council on fire.
Love nodded, "I know, but you were not sent here to fight us."
"No, but I was sent here to stop you."
"Velvet, enough." Shran sighed and rubbed his forehead, "Fuck. She's right, Vel."
"…Captain?"
He looked at my avatar, "Velvet, you know she's right," he said and held up his right artificial arm, "Remember when I got this?"
I nodded.
"I got it defending people. We fought slavers that day and I got in the way of a disruptor. Yet we got everyone out safely. I missed it and it hurt. Things were difficult and it took a long time to adapt to it," He said and turned his hand, looking at it, "But do you know what I never do? I never regret it. I may have lost my arm, but people lived because of it. People who may have died without it. Any way I think of it, it was a fair trade."
"…Captain, it could be throwing your career away. You love being in Starfleet."
Shran nodded as he stood up, "I do, but if that's what I have to lose this time then so be it. Velvet, retract drones and move us into formation with the Jovian fleet."
"…You know I could technically take command now?" I asked him with a sad smile, "Legally."
"I know," he agreed with a nod, "If you think you need to, beam me to the brig. You need to do what you think is right."
I considered it for about a quarter second.
"…Fucking fuck every fucking thing," I grumbled and recalled my drones as I shifted course, "Course set, sir."
I guess we space pirates now.
AN// Many thanks to Drunkenvalley for betaing this section.
