"What in blazes is *that*?" Asked the commander of the renegade shipyard, a Puma-Naja who had long ago abandoned any loyalty to the Confederation after a more lucrative offer came from a mysterious member of the former Principality that once held the galaxy by the throat.

"Uhhh... it looks like a crustacean, sir." Came the tactical officer's appraisal.

"A five kilometer-long shrimp just doesn't float up anywhere! Identify that vessel!"

"Transponder identifies it as the I.S.S. Argo. Private battleship."

"Private battleship? Holdover from the Privateer Wars?" The commander suspiciously asked.

"Not likely. Registry is five years after the wars. About fifteen months ago, sir."

"What?! What Confed dolt granted a battleship marquis to an independent captain?!"

"The owner is listed as Catherine Sonora..."

The commander's face darkened. "Hmph. The traitor of New Constantinople. At least when I made my break from Confed, I paid my sanction fees and made my intent clear. Oh, yes, and I didn't doom a planet to Cameron's Delight." He snarled.

"We're being hailed."

"On screen."

The screen filled with a regal, classically beautiful Galo woman and what seemed like a species similar to them. The information chevron on the viewscreen indicated she belongs to a race called 'Rathi' on a backwater and independent world called 'Spira', beyond the Asreth Nebula.

"This is Captain Catherine Sonora of the I.S.S. Argo. By the authority vested in me by the Unified Confederacy of Worlds, I'm here to audit your activities to see if pirate craft that have been sacking outer colonies can be tied back to your station's manufacturing." The Galo stated.

"Now would be the time to tell us if you have anything you want to own up to." Said the blue Rathi, the info chevron identifying her as 'Aries Passadar', XO of the ship.

He folded his arms over his chest. "Am I to be held accountable for the actions of my clients?" He asked. "If that is the case then we have nothing to discuss."

Catherine shook her head. "That's not it at all and if that *were* the case, it's not a contract I would enforce. No sir, we're here because of the weapons outfitted on those ships."

He froze. Those weapons are supposed to be untraceable and self-destruct if it looks like they're going to be captured.

"What weapons would that be?"

"Neutron air-to-ground cannons. Pirate craft have been bombarding colonies and turning the colonists into piles of sludge and ransacking the intact goods. That's bad enough, but your clients seem to default to it and use the weapons first rather than issuing demands. Now how about you lower those shields and we'll have a civil discussion about war crimes." Captain Sonora said with ice in her tone.

"Hmph. I dont' know what Confed told you about my station, but it's more than capable of repelling a single warship. All hands, remove this terribly ugly ship from my sky." He casually gestured.


The Puma Naja winked off of the screen in CIC on Argo.

"I told you we needed to be more aggressive opening up." Aries chided, she then turned to Gorza Dragen, tactical officer. "Scramble all alert combat craft, raise defense screens and open up our attack profile! Lock in main batteries on their primary power plant and prepare to fire on my mark!"

Catherine smirked. "Diplomacy, my dear Aries. It's better to open up with diplomacy. Give us a hard boost and prepare to flip us about." She calmly stated.

"Helm, hard burn for fifteen seconds at 120% thrust, then a 180 degree yaw pitch!" Aries barked. She turned to Catherine. "I hope you have another brilliant plan..."

Catherine smiled, seeing the many pathways to victory. "I have lots of plans..."

[Catherine Sonora belongs to  Iron-Confederate and artwork by  Toughset and Argonaut Privateers belongs to  Iron-Confederate,  Zucca and  fleshballoon ]