-Chapter Six - Ambush-
-Orion Pirate Vessel Night Demon, Twenty minutes earlier-
"Here they come, just like clockwork!" The -Night Demon's- Captain said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. He was a bear of a man, with a massive black beard stretching well down the front of his 17th century replica court clothing. The tactical plot showed a series of vessels popping back into normal space as they completed transit through the local subspace corridor terminus. The range was still quite long, the sensor data being fed to the Pirate Wolf Pack was courtesy of a stealthed surveillance probe. The probe's sensors showed the convoy reform, then engage warp drive to cross the virtually useless system. Its star was a tiny red dwarf that held no planets worth mentioning. Its sole use was as a bridge connecting two secondary trunks of the subspace corridor network. Ships exited the network on one side, crossed the intervening space at warp, then reentered the network on the other side. It was this fact that made it a prime ambush spot for Pirates. The probe showed the pirates that Imperial warships escorted their quarry. This was only to be expected, for it was either independents or the extremely stupid that sent out cargo ships unescorted in the fringe of core Imperial space.
Patrols were less frequent out here and only rarely used ships larger than a light cruiser. This had been even more pronounced since the losses incurred first in the Imperial/Borg war and to a lesser extent in the very recent Imperial/Grand Alliance conflict. Patrol units had been siphoned off to thicken sector defense fleets, which explained why piracy had risen in frequency, but only partly. Another part was that the Orion Cartel was reembracing its pirate heritage with a vengeance. That was all well and good for -Night Demon's- captain, for he found the normal operations of the modern Orion Cartel dull. Protection rackets, drugs, weapons, all manner of organized crime was quite frankly boring when compared to the thrill of out and out piracy. Of course, past Orion Dons hadn't felt that way, instead going towards more 'respectable' criminal pursuits. That had begun to change once Don O'tole got into power, and now that the Terran Empire was caught without enough ships to adequately patrol its space, Pirate activity was at an all time high.
Which was why the -Night Demon- was out here with two of her sister ships and eight Destroyers. They should prove more than adequate to take out both the cargo ships and their escort. And while most pirates were after cargo, the -Night Demon- and her pack mates weren't. A little fun with the cargo ships crews might be a given, but orders were to leave no witnesses and only debris in their wake, and the -Night Demon- captain's eyes glowed at the destruction and mayhem he was about to unleash. He hadn't had this much fun in a long time.
"The convoy is coming up on the intercept coordinates." The tactical officer said.
"Engage the warp field inhibitor when they do. Order the Pack to drop cloak and open fire on their escorts as soon as they drop to impulse."
"As you command."
-ISS Repulse, Nova class Destroyer, On convoy escort duty-
One minute the convoy was executing a standard transit across the system, the next all hell broke loose.
"Sir, we are dropping out of warp! The whole convoy is dropping out of warp!!"
"Pirates!" The -Repulse's- Captain cursed under his breath. He had been escorting convoys for a few years now and he knew just how deadly the pirates were becoming. "Red Alert! All hands to battle stations!" He shouted.
"Weapons and shields coming online sir." Klaxons began to wail throughout the ships in the convoy as they hurried to prepare for what was to come.
The rainbow smears of stars shrank and coalesced into fiery pinpoints as the convoy was dragged back to Impulse by the effects of a warp field inhibitor. A split second after they dropped out of warp, the escort destroyers were rocked by fire. Slipping out of cloak simultaneously with exacting, practiced precision, the Pirate vessels opened fire even before they were completely decloaked. Shields slammed up, putting their protective conformal envelope around the Pirate raiders. ECM began to thrash tactical sensor systems, but at the knife fighting ranges of the ambush it wasn't of much use. At such close range, no military sensor suite would be degraded enough to make much of a difference.
Lightspeed death spat from the Pirates phaser and disruptor emitters, and unlike their enemy, their tactical departments had been plotting their attack vectors since the convoy had entered the system. The Imperial CIC, despite being alert for just such an occurrence, didn't have that luxury. They had mere seconds to plot and target the ambushes before it was to late. For two of them, it was.
The Nova class warships Indomitable and Hermes were blotted out of existence in seconds as the combined firepower of three Battlecruisers and eight destroyers burnt away their shields and armor before finding their internal AM storage tanks.
"Engage evasive maneuvers, plan Delta Three! Target their lead Destroyer and return fire!" The Captain knew his command and those of his fellows was going to die, it was merely a matter of time with the current odds. But if he could delay the pirates long enough, some of the currently scattering merchant ships might escape. Not that the Pirates didn't have more than enough ships to run down all four of his charges. But if there were a chance that even one of them could break away and get the word of what happened here out, perhaps Starfleet would begin to take the Pirate threat more seriously.
The lone remaining Nova and its two Defiant class escorts spun through their wild evasion patterns, dodging most of the fire against them. The two Defiants stayed glued to the -Repulse's- flanks as they went through the evasion pattern, in the end lining up on one of the pirate Destroyers. PPC bolts spat out like the wrath of God as all three Imperial Destroyers opened fire as one. 13 streams met on the foreword section of Pirate, quickly burning through its front shields. They flared out of existence and the amber/yellow bolts began to chew through the ships outer hull. Within a second, the ship died in a boil of light. But the Imperials weren't content with its death, and had already shifted their fire to its nearest squadron mate. A stream of Phaser Beams and Quantum Torpedoes, steady as a metronome, leapt from the three Imperials. It targeted a third pirate Destroyer as the trio lined up their PPC's on their second target. The two pirates went within seconds of each other in flares of AM death. But they weren't alone, for the three Battlecruisers finally achieved the inevitable.
Their emerald green disruptor bolts and crimson/orange phaser beams found first one and then the other Defiant, cutting the vessels into white hot pieces of debris. Of all the escorts, the -Repulse- seemed to lead a charmed existence, escaping the destruction of her consorts.
A mighty cheer went up from the -Repulse's- crew at the destruction of two more pirate Destroyers only to be cut savagely off when the Defiants flared white on either side. Damn all Pirates to Hell, the -Repulse's- Captain thought. I had just gotten those crews up to a standard I could live with. Now they are all gone, and us soon to follow.
"Target Tango Five, prepare max impulse ram! All weapons fire as you bear!" the Captain snarled, knowing it would not be enough. Yet he would be damned if he went out without a fight, his charges and the crews of his squadron mates deserved that much at least. The -Repulse- twitched onto her new course in response to the command, jinking and twisting around her base trajectory to avoid as much enemy fire as possible. Her opponent, however speedy, was no where near as maneuverable as a new Imperial Destroyer. The -Repulse's- maneuvers allowed nearly all of her weapons to bear on her target. Strike after strike slammed into the Pirate Destroyer's shields, causing them to sparkle with dissipated and absorbed energy, paring them away till they were nearly gone.
Then the -Repulse's- charmed existence ended as nearly a full barrage from two of the Pirate Battlecruisers slammed into her ventral shields, punching through them like they weren't even there. Armor and hull plateing ruptured and both her starboard nacelle and close to a third of her secondary hull were torn away. They spiraled away aft from their mother ship, bleeding debris and plasma. Her main AM tank ruptured, creating a violent explosion along the Nova's spine. But her reinforced armor between the rest of the ship and the tank functioned as designed, shunting nearly the entire explosion into space instead of letting it into the ship. Main power failed and backup generators came online, giving as much power as they could to the dying -Repulse's- weapons. Her running lights died with her warp core and her remaining nacelle dimmed. But her Quantums, PPC's and phaser arrays volleyed defiance back at her enemies, continuing to hurt her enemies till the bitter end.
But it was too little too late for the stricken Imperial, and the Pirates swooped in for the kill. An avalanche of crisscrossing phasers and disruptors poured into her, splintering what was left of her hull into white-hot molten fragments. Most were no bigger than a human hand and a good portion of the ship was vaporized. Destroyers had no business going up against Battlecruisers, even pirate ones. And in the end, the -Repulse- and her squadron mates sacrifices were in vain, for the scattering merchant vessels had not escaped the warp inhibitor's field. The Pirates split up, going after all four merchants at once. Their weapons cut through their shields with ease, hitting their engines to prevent the ships escape. Then they were tractored back together so that the pirate crews could have a little fun before they got rid of all the loose ends.
-The Night Demon, Main Bridge-
"This is Captain Gomorra to boarding party, have you secured the crews yet?" the -Night Demon's- master said over the com channel.
"Yes Captain, all is ready for your boarding." The young human in charge of the boarding parties replied.
"Excellent, I shall be over directly!" He flipped one toggle on his command chair off, then activated another. "Gomorra to transporter room, beam me over to the lead merchie. I have some. inspecting to do!" The old Pirate said with a bawdy laugh. An answering one came over the com speaker, for the transporter chief knew full well what was going to be inspected. He just hoped that his crewmates would bring over a few decent ones for those who had to remain onboard. The last few raids hadn't netted very many of those, at least none that were quite up to the standards the transporter chief liked.
Gomorra felt the familiar yet still terrifying tingle of the transporter beam. The -Night Demon's- bridge faded to white, then was replaced with the main bridge of an Atlas class cargo ship. While still larger than the Imperials Sovereign class, it was like most merchantmen in that it carried only minimal crew accommodations. The bridge crew were lined up to one side, their legs and ankles bound with good old fashioned metal hand cuffs. Gomorra picked out a particularly striking red head.
"Bring her." He commanded as he pointed to the young lady. A fresh cry went up from the rest of the bridge crew. Most merchant ships were either run by mostly family members or else were close enough to be family. They knew full well what was about to happen. One of the prisoners bellowed incoherently as he got clumsily up and charged Gomorra. He had recently acquired a nasty purple shiner that was swelling his left eye closed and recently lost most of his front teeth to a disruptor rifle butt. Just the same, he was moving with startling speed for someone in his condition. A green disruptor bolt spat from one of the Pirates guarding the prisoners. It caught him in the back, and he flopped down wordlessly to the deck with a rather large, smoking hole in his chest. The young redhead sobbed anew, writhing in her captors grasp as she was continued to be led after Gomorra to the crews quarters aft on the same deck as the bridge. Once he was inside the Captain's Quarters, the rest of the pirates began to do similar things with whomever took their fancy. For those merchantmen left behind, the cries and screams of their crewmates and family members echoing up the hall to the bridge was to much to bear. Some wept, some cursed the Pirates still guarding them. The ones that cursed were merely butt stroked by the Pirates. While the guards might not get to go first, they would get to go second, which was almost as good. All in all, it was a great day as far as the Pirates were concerned. They got some loot, spilt some blood, score some tail. it was a good time to be a Pirate. Suddenly, a voice came over the com interrupting their depravity.
"This is Executive Officer Van Leeks to all boarding parties, we have another Imperial ship entering the system. They appear to be a Norway class Heavy Patrol Frigate. Captain, what are your orders."
Gomorra looked up at the roof towards where his command hung in space, silently cursing the Imperial Frigate for its timing. Getting off of the now silently weeping naked young woman, he looked at the guards holding her as he pulled his pants back up and buckled his oversized, gaudy belt.
"If anyone of you even thinks of touching her till I have returned and finished, you will be shot." He then activated his communicator. "Gomorra to -Night Demon-, beam me back and take back any necessary personnel to execute the intercept. We will deal with this interruption quickly, then resume our looting and plundering."
The necessary Pirates were returned to their vessels, leaving more than enough behind to keep order. Then the entire Pack swarmed out from around the helpless mercies and swung towards the Norway. With their boosted acceleration and top speeds, they rapidly gained on the still closing Norway. Once the Imperial Patrol craft finally realized just what it was up against, it turned about and began to retreat from the Pirates charging towards it. But it was only a Patrol vessel, not mounting military impulse drives that might have allowed it to outrun the Pirates. It mounted standard civilian impulse engines to save credits, and as such couldn't keep out of weapons range for much longer. The Norway seemed to know this, for it began jinking in complex evasion patterns in a vain attempt to escape.
"Is her coms jammed?!" Gomorra demanded to his tactical officer.
"Yes Captain. There is no way she can get a message out."
"She had better be, or it will be your head that rolls first if Imperial reinforcements enter the system." The officer's Adam's apple bobbed as he gulped, but he made no move to enter more commands into his panel. Must be telling the truth then Gomorra thought.
"Sir, something is not quite right with this Norway." The ships sensor operator said.
"Well spit it out, what isn't quite right." Gomorra said irritably. He was still mad about having his fun so rudely interrupted, and it was evident in his every word.
"Its only every once and a while, and if it wasn't for our recently upgraded sensors, I doubt I would even detect it, but sometimes glimpse a power spike that shouldn't be there. Almost as if the ship was generating a hell of a lot more power than she should be and was trying to mask the fact with her ECM." Gomorra tilted his head slightly to the side and got a thoughtful expression on his face. Then his eyes narrowed and a scowl creased his face.
"Execute a deep scan of the Norway! NOW! And if you are causing me to jump at shadows, I shall have you killed. Very slowly." Gomorra looked back towards the fleeing Norway with an appraising, slightly wary eye as he sipped a crystal goblet of red wine.
-Orion Pirate Vessel Night Demon, Twenty minutes earlier-
"Here they come, just like clockwork!" The -Night Demon's- Captain said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. He was a bear of a man, with a massive black beard stretching well down the front of his 17th century replica court clothing. The tactical plot showed a series of vessels popping back into normal space as they completed transit through the local subspace corridor terminus. The range was still quite long, the sensor data being fed to the Pirate Wolf Pack was courtesy of a stealthed surveillance probe. The probe's sensors showed the convoy reform, then engage warp drive to cross the virtually useless system. Its star was a tiny red dwarf that held no planets worth mentioning. Its sole use was as a bridge connecting two secondary trunks of the subspace corridor network. Ships exited the network on one side, crossed the intervening space at warp, then reentered the network on the other side. It was this fact that made it a prime ambush spot for Pirates. The probe showed the pirates that Imperial warships escorted their quarry. This was only to be expected, for it was either independents or the extremely stupid that sent out cargo ships unescorted in the fringe of core Imperial space.
Patrols were less frequent out here and only rarely used ships larger than a light cruiser. This had been even more pronounced since the losses incurred first in the Imperial/Borg war and to a lesser extent in the very recent Imperial/Grand Alliance conflict. Patrol units had been siphoned off to thicken sector defense fleets, which explained why piracy had risen in frequency, but only partly. Another part was that the Orion Cartel was reembracing its pirate heritage with a vengeance. That was all well and good for -Night Demon's- captain, for he found the normal operations of the modern Orion Cartel dull. Protection rackets, drugs, weapons, all manner of organized crime was quite frankly boring when compared to the thrill of out and out piracy. Of course, past Orion Dons hadn't felt that way, instead going towards more 'respectable' criminal pursuits. That had begun to change once Don O'tole got into power, and now that the Terran Empire was caught without enough ships to adequately patrol its space, Pirate activity was at an all time high.
Which was why the -Night Demon- was out here with two of her sister ships and eight Destroyers. They should prove more than adequate to take out both the cargo ships and their escort. And while most pirates were after cargo, the -Night Demon- and her pack mates weren't. A little fun with the cargo ships crews might be a given, but orders were to leave no witnesses and only debris in their wake, and the -Night Demon- captain's eyes glowed at the destruction and mayhem he was about to unleash. He hadn't had this much fun in a long time.
"The convoy is coming up on the intercept coordinates." The tactical officer said.
"Engage the warp field inhibitor when they do. Order the Pack to drop cloak and open fire on their escorts as soon as they drop to impulse."
"As you command."
-ISS Repulse, Nova class Destroyer, On convoy escort duty-
One minute the convoy was executing a standard transit across the system, the next all hell broke loose.
"Sir, we are dropping out of warp! The whole convoy is dropping out of warp!!"
"Pirates!" The -Repulse's- Captain cursed under his breath. He had been escorting convoys for a few years now and he knew just how deadly the pirates were becoming. "Red Alert! All hands to battle stations!" He shouted.
"Weapons and shields coming online sir." Klaxons began to wail throughout the ships in the convoy as they hurried to prepare for what was to come.
The rainbow smears of stars shrank and coalesced into fiery pinpoints as the convoy was dragged back to Impulse by the effects of a warp field inhibitor. A split second after they dropped out of warp, the escort destroyers were rocked by fire. Slipping out of cloak simultaneously with exacting, practiced precision, the Pirate vessels opened fire even before they were completely decloaked. Shields slammed up, putting their protective conformal envelope around the Pirate raiders. ECM began to thrash tactical sensor systems, but at the knife fighting ranges of the ambush it wasn't of much use. At such close range, no military sensor suite would be degraded enough to make much of a difference.
Lightspeed death spat from the Pirates phaser and disruptor emitters, and unlike their enemy, their tactical departments had been plotting their attack vectors since the convoy had entered the system. The Imperial CIC, despite being alert for just such an occurrence, didn't have that luxury. They had mere seconds to plot and target the ambushes before it was to late. For two of them, it was.
The Nova class warships Indomitable and Hermes were blotted out of existence in seconds as the combined firepower of three Battlecruisers and eight destroyers burnt away their shields and armor before finding their internal AM storage tanks.
"Engage evasive maneuvers, plan Delta Three! Target their lead Destroyer and return fire!" The Captain knew his command and those of his fellows was going to die, it was merely a matter of time with the current odds. But if he could delay the pirates long enough, some of the currently scattering merchant ships might escape. Not that the Pirates didn't have more than enough ships to run down all four of his charges. But if there were a chance that even one of them could break away and get the word of what happened here out, perhaps Starfleet would begin to take the Pirate threat more seriously.
The lone remaining Nova and its two Defiant class escorts spun through their wild evasion patterns, dodging most of the fire against them. The two Defiants stayed glued to the -Repulse's- flanks as they went through the evasion pattern, in the end lining up on one of the pirate Destroyers. PPC bolts spat out like the wrath of God as all three Imperial Destroyers opened fire as one. 13 streams met on the foreword section of Pirate, quickly burning through its front shields. They flared out of existence and the amber/yellow bolts began to chew through the ships outer hull. Within a second, the ship died in a boil of light. But the Imperials weren't content with its death, and had already shifted their fire to its nearest squadron mate. A stream of Phaser Beams and Quantum Torpedoes, steady as a metronome, leapt from the three Imperials. It targeted a third pirate Destroyer as the trio lined up their PPC's on their second target. The two pirates went within seconds of each other in flares of AM death. But they weren't alone, for the three Battlecruisers finally achieved the inevitable.
Their emerald green disruptor bolts and crimson/orange phaser beams found first one and then the other Defiant, cutting the vessels into white hot pieces of debris. Of all the escorts, the -Repulse- seemed to lead a charmed existence, escaping the destruction of her consorts.
A mighty cheer went up from the -Repulse's- crew at the destruction of two more pirate Destroyers only to be cut savagely off when the Defiants flared white on either side. Damn all Pirates to Hell, the -Repulse's- Captain thought. I had just gotten those crews up to a standard I could live with. Now they are all gone, and us soon to follow.
"Target Tango Five, prepare max impulse ram! All weapons fire as you bear!" the Captain snarled, knowing it would not be enough. Yet he would be damned if he went out without a fight, his charges and the crews of his squadron mates deserved that much at least. The -Repulse- twitched onto her new course in response to the command, jinking and twisting around her base trajectory to avoid as much enemy fire as possible. Her opponent, however speedy, was no where near as maneuverable as a new Imperial Destroyer. The -Repulse's- maneuvers allowed nearly all of her weapons to bear on her target. Strike after strike slammed into the Pirate Destroyer's shields, causing them to sparkle with dissipated and absorbed energy, paring them away till they were nearly gone.
Then the -Repulse's- charmed existence ended as nearly a full barrage from two of the Pirate Battlecruisers slammed into her ventral shields, punching through them like they weren't even there. Armor and hull plateing ruptured and both her starboard nacelle and close to a third of her secondary hull were torn away. They spiraled away aft from their mother ship, bleeding debris and plasma. Her main AM tank ruptured, creating a violent explosion along the Nova's spine. But her reinforced armor between the rest of the ship and the tank functioned as designed, shunting nearly the entire explosion into space instead of letting it into the ship. Main power failed and backup generators came online, giving as much power as they could to the dying -Repulse's- weapons. Her running lights died with her warp core and her remaining nacelle dimmed. But her Quantums, PPC's and phaser arrays volleyed defiance back at her enemies, continuing to hurt her enemies till the bitter end.
But it was too little too late for the stricken Imperial, and the Pirates swooped in for the kill. An avalanche of crisscrossing phasers and disruptors poured into her, splintering what was left of her hull into white-hot molten fragments. Most were no bigger than a human hand and a good portion of the ship was vaporized. Destroyers had no business going up against Battlecruisers, even pirate ones. And in the end, the -Repulse- and her squadron mates sacrifices were in vain, for the scattering merchant vessels had not escaped the warp inhibitor's field. The Pirates split up, going after all four merchants at once. Their weapons cut through their shields with ease, hitting their engines to prevent the ships escape. Then they were tractored back together so that the pirate crews could have a little fun before they got rid of all the loose ends.
-The Night Demon, Main Bridge-
"This is Captain Gomorra to boarding party, have you secured the crews yet?" the -Night Demon's- master said over the com channel.
"Yes Captain, all is ready for your boarding." The young human in charge of the boarding parties replied.
"Excellent, I shall be over directly!" He flipped one toggle on his command chair off, then activated another. "Gomorra to transporter room, beam me over to the lead merchie. I have some. inspecting to do!" The old Pirate said with a bawdy laugh. An answering one came over the com speaker, for the transporter chief knew full well what was going to be inspected. He just hoped that his crewmates would bring over a few decent ones for those who had to remain onboard. The last few raids hadn't netted very many of those, at least none that were quite up to the standards the transporter chief liked.
Gomorra felt the familiar yet still terrifying tingle of the transporter beam. The -Night Demon's- bridge faded to white, then was replaced with the main bridge of an Atlas class cargo ship. While still larger than the Imperials Sovereign class, it was like most merchantmen in that it carried only minimal crew accommodations. The bridge crew were lined up to one side, their legs and ankles bound with good old fashioned metal hand cuffs. Gomorra picked out a particularly striking red head.
"Bring her." He commanded as he pointed to the young lady. A fresh cry went up from the rest of the bridge crew. Most merchant ships were either run by mostly family members or else were close enough to be family. They knew full well what was about to happen. One of the prisoners bellowed incoherently as he got clumsily up and charged Gomorra. He had recently acquired a nasty purple shiner that was swelling his left eye closed and recently lost most of his front teeth to a disruptor rifle butt. Just the same, he was moving with startling speed for someone in his condition. A green disruptor bolt spat from one of the Pirates guarding the prisoners. It caught him in the back, and he flopped down wordlessly to the deck with a rather large, smoking hole in his chest. The young redhead sobbed anew, writhing in her captors grasp as she was continued to be led after Gomorra to the crews quarters aft on the same deck as the bridge. Once he was inside the Captain's Quarters, the rest of the pirates began to do similar things with whomever took their fancy. For those merchantmen left behind, the cries and screams of their crewmates and family members echoing up the hall to the bridge was to much to bear. Some wept, some cursed the Pirates still guarding them. The ones that cursed were merely butt stroked by the Pirates. While the guards might not get to go first, they would get to go second, which was almost as good. All in all, it was a great day as far as the Pirates were concerned. They got some loot, spilt some blood, score some tail. it was a good time to be a Pirate. Suddenly, a voice came over the com interrupting their depravity.
"This is Executive Officer Van Leeks to all boarding parties, we have another Imperial ship entering the system. They appear to be a Norway class Heavy Patrol Frigate. Captain, what are your orders."
Gomorra looked up at the roof towards where his command hung in space, silently cursing the Imperial Frigate for its timing. Getting off of the now silently weeping naked young woman, he looked at the guards holding her as he pulled his pants back up and buckled his oversized, gaudy belt.
"If anyone of you even thinks of touching her till I have returned and finished, you will be shot." He then activated his communicator. "Gomorra to -Night Demon-, beam me back and take back any necessary personnel to execute the intercept. We will deal with this interruption quickly, then resume our looting and plundering."
The necessary Pirates were returned to their vessels, leaving more than enough behind to keep order. Then the entire Pack swarmed out from around the helpless mercies and swung towards the Norway. With their boosted acceleration and top speeds, they rapidly gained on the still closing Norway. Once the Imperial Patrol craft finally realized just what it was up against, it turned about and began to retreat from the Pirates charging towards it. But it was only a Patrol vessel, not mounting military impulse drives that might have allowed it to outrun the Pirates. It mounted standard civilian impulse engines to save credits, and as such couldn't keep out of weapons range for much longer. The Norway seemed to know this, for it began jinking in complex evasion patterns in a vain attempt to escape.
"Is her coms jammed?!" Gomorra demanded to his tactical officer.
"Yes Captain. There is no way she can get a message out."
"She had better be, or it will be your head that rolls first if Imperial reinforcements enter the system." The officer's Adam's apple bobbed as he gulped, but he made no move to enter more commands into his panel. Must be telling the truth then Gomorra thought.
"Sir, something is not quite right with this Norway." The ships sensor operator said.
"Well spit it out, what isn't quite right." Gomorra said irritably. He was still mad about having his fun so rudely interrupted, and it was evident in his every word.
"Its only every once and a while, and if it wasn't for our recently upgraded sensors, I doubt I would even detect it, but sometimes glimpse a power spike that shouldn't be there. Almost as if the ship was generating a hell of a lot more power than she should be and was trying to mask the fact with her ECM." Gomorra tilted his head slightly to the side and got a thoughtful expression on his face. Then his eyes narrowed and a scowl creased his face.
"Execute a deep scan of the Norway! NOW! And if you are causing me to jump at shadows, I shall have you killed. Very slowly." Gomorra looked back towards the fleeing Norway with an appraising, slightly wary eye as he sipped a crystal goblet of red wine.