A/N: For the faithful, you know who you are, I have decided to be magnanimous and grant you another chapter. That and I have been writing up a storm and want to share it with all my fellow Trekkies. Please review…

Chapter 4

Correction, Wednesdays are bad

The lift's doors opened onto an almost serene bridge. All my officers were at their stations, waiting for something. I jumped into my seat and demanded a status report. Duo, who had been the watch officer when the call came in, replied, "Looks Orion boss. Big old tanker, no defense ships, minimum shielding and weapons. Easy hit."

"Yeah, too easy. What's our status?" Officers began answering me from all corners of the bridge.

"Engines at full power."

"Weapons online and ready."

"Thrusters online and ready."

"Shields at full power, cloak online."

"SINS working."

"All stations report ready and waiting."

"Raiders ready, Major."

"Alright people, keep your eyes peeled, and let's go in." I saw Saul standing quietly near the wall next to the long-range scanners.

The Orion ship was slowly creeping along, seemingly unaware that we were barreling down on them. The Assurance was equipped with a modified version of a Romulan cloaking device, which made it practically impossible to find us. It also would have blinded us to everything else out there, if it hadn't been for the SINS that Katra, my computer expert, designed. SINS, or Ship's Internal Navigational System, bypassed the cloak's…well, cloak and allowed the scanners to pick up things that were not cloaked. It also went way, way beyond the range of most conventional scanners, giving the Assurance a huge advantage. The Orion's didn't have SINS and didn't use cloaking tech because of the blinding aspect of it, which gave the Assurance another advantage. But even so, the Orions were fierce fighters, normally employing between three and seven robotic escorts for their main trade ship and the lack of these usually ubiquitous, utterly useless, fighters made me very uneasy. Something was going to happen, and I was not happy about it at all.

The layout of the space that we were traveling in didn't help my nerves at all. I like to have the Assurance hide in systems that had either A) a lot of planets, B) a lot of asteroids, C) a lot of magnetic or energy interference or D) all of the above because it gave me another distinct advantage over my prey. This particular system was teeming with asteroids. The Assurance was safely inside the belt, but the Orion's were coming through it. It made a perfect trap, but interference was a two edged sword, as it gave the Orion's a place to hide any amount of drones. Not happy.

"Orion's about to break the field." Kor had an edge of anxiety in his voice; not a good sign. I was about to acknowledge that when another voice came from scanner's direction, only it wasn't Kor's.

"Major, there are strange energy readings coming from the system's star." Saul's voice carried with it the distinct air of calm familiarity, but I was more focused on what he had just said.

"WHAT?"

"I believe that we are surrounded." More calm familiarity, like he had done this a thousand times.

"Pilot get this ship around. Gunner blow anything even resembling a ship to kingdom come."

"Major," Saul again, Kor had surrendered his position at scanners to the Vulcan. "I believe that the Orion vessel is releasing a great many small crafts." So that was the trap.

"Damn. Screw that last order and get us the bloody hell out of here."

"Which way, Ma'am?" Pilot asked, worry slightly tingeing her usually bubbly voice.

"Up, go straight up. Saul, keep me apprised of what the fighters are doing." The Assurance took a violent turn upwards. "Kat, turn that bloody cloak off and get all power to forward shields. Duo I want full power to all weapons specs. Gunner on my mark I want you to fire everything you got at 'em. Get your targeting computer locked on 'em now. Pilot, on the same mark, turn the ship around and drive straight through 'em." There was a pause as I tried to picture all that was going on outside the Assurance.

"NOW!"

The Assurance shivered as Pilot pulled a hairpin one-eighty and Gunner shot off every bloody laser and torpedo that we had. The fireworks recreated on the view-screen were spectacular; all the drones went up in a display of light and bits of metal that would have made any Fourth of July addict weep for joy. The Assurance plowed through the resulting explosion unharmed, by virtue of her intensified shielding. She slowed to face the Orion. I heard the collective sigh of relief coming from the bridge crew.

"Report?" Even though I didn't say it, everyone knew that the question was directed to Saul.

"Scanners indicate that all drones have been either crippled or destroyed outright. The Orion vessel is unguarded."

"Hannah, hail them." The com officer immediately brought up the green skinned CO on the other ship.

"This is Captain Ozar Valrush of the Kestayia, to whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?" One of the nice things about Orions is the fact that they are all extremely polite, even when defeated.

"Major Keath Harper of the Crimson Assurance. Your plan didn't work very well, Captain Valrush. But it was a good idea."

"You flatter me, Major. We must do our best when trying to defeat the Viper. I still can not believe how easily you out maneuver my people." He bowed his head. "What are the terms for surrender, madam?"

"Same as always, five minutes to power down. We'll be over in six or so."

"Of course, it is an honor to engage you. Our engines are being shut down now."

"Thank you, Captain. Good luck on your next run." I motioned to Hannah to cut the screens. As she did so, I turned to André.

"I think I'll take this one, Valrush is an old adversary and deserves the respect." I saw the Titan nod and speak quietly to the troops he had gathered. Probably telling them to keep a very close eye on me. I smiled to myself; André was quite protective of me. I stood and walked to the lift doors. "Alright everyone, standby, stay sharp, and all that stuff. André you've got the con."

I was down in the transporter room with about thirty or so of the biggest, most gruesome looking of my crew. These were the raiders; tough, fearsome, totally obedient to me, they were the guys who went over to strip taken ships of anything of value. I wasn't expecting much on Valrush's ship, but still, it was a part of the Pirate Code and could not, therefore, be left unattended for any circumstance whatsoever. My orders for raiding were simple: take any object of value; download the onboard computer's memory; search their hardware for anything new and take it; don't shoot or cause unnecessary pain or destruction to any living creature unless blatantly provoked; don't under, any circumstances, take any member of the crew or any passenger aboard the ship as a hostage, prisoner, slave, etc.; and don't cripple the ship. These guidelines made me in a moment one of the most feared and one of the most respected pirates in the galaxy. Feared because I didn't take "No" for an answer and would pursue a prospective prize until I caught her. Respected because I was actually decent. There were almost no pirates in the galaxy that didn't deal with slavery. I was one of them.

Thus, when my party beamed aboard the captive Kestayia, I was met warmly by Captain Valrush. He knew my scruples and was aware that I wouldn't hurt a fly on his ship unless I was angered. He and I were old "friends" constantly baiting and dueling with one another. If we pulled into the same base, Valrush and I would usually meet, drink, reminisce, and call each other every name we could think of. Valrush seemed to desire to continue our tradition.

"Keath, you egotistical Halcourtian bristle-back Jalsta-faced Cardassian. Assurance doing well?"

"Quite well, you war-mongering, money-grubbing, snot-nosed Ferengi. How's the pirate business in your sector?" I nodded to the teams, who began their sweep of the Kestayia. Three of the biggest stayed behind; I smiled to myself, André.

"Fine, just fine. You must understand that there is absolutely nothing of value onboard the Kestayia. We rigged it just to hold drones, nothing else."

"And you must understand, my dear captain, that I have to make sure that that statement is correct."

Valrush assumed a face of mock horror; "Do you doubt my word?"

"Only as much as I doubt that the Borg are singular," I replied with mock sincerity. We both laughed.

"Would you care for a drink? I have some excellent Romulan Ale in my quarters."

"Val, you know I can't drink when I'm on duty. I mean," I gestured at the guards standing behind me, "what would they think?"

"I suppose you're right. Well then, we shall just have to postpone it until shore leave. When do you suppose you'll be…" he was cut off by his com unit beeping. "Oh dear, would you please excuse me?" Valrush bowed out for a moment.

"Major, I feel terrible about this, but an urgent message has called me to the bridge. I hope you don't mind if I bid adieu to you now."

"Of course not, Captain. I understand completely. Once my men have completed their circuit, we must also be on our way."

"Piracy, never gives us a break does it?" He smiled. "Well then, my dear Keath, until we meet again. This has been a most delightful intercourse." We shook hands.

"Yes, quite enjoyable. Though I believe it would be more so if you put up more of a fight." He laughed.

"I suppose. I shall endeavor to do my best next time. Until then." He bowed and walked out of the transporter room. I smiled. In another ten minutes or so the teams returned.

"Not much of value, ma'am," one of the team leaders said. "Lit'le dilithium, lit'le platinum, took 'em, nutten else. No casualties on either side, 'ceptin' the drones, ma'am. Nutten else."

"You get the ship's memory?"

"Yessum, go' it with the udder stuff."

"Good work Lieutenant, let's get back home."