Sundiver’s bridge was considerably more cramped than Nathan would have thought, never having considered the Lamarr-class ships before arriving aboard one. It felt more like the battlebridges he’d trained on, or simulations of older starships with their less spacious arrangements. Add in the slow pulsing red lights, the tactical display on the viewscreen and every station being manned and the entire space went from cramped to nearly claustrophobic in an instant.

After all, the bridge of Sundiver primarily served to just get the ship from A to B. All the actual work this ship did was below deck in the arrays of science labs after all.

“It’s confirmed, five Ju’Day-class raiders.” Lieutenant Commander Julien Rigal cut an impressive figure at the Tactical station. Tall, chiseled chin, hair that wasn’t combed but ordered into position. He’d never make a recruitment poster because he was too much a living recruitment poster that no one would believe it. The man’s uniformed even looked tailored specifically to cut the boy scout image precisely.

“Order the freighters to close up,” Captain Escribano ordered as she stared straight ahead at the tactical display.

Sundiver and its freighter charges had been forced to slow from warp five to a mere warp three as they crawled through a patch of the Badlands where the storms had swept across the normal shipping channels. It was the perfect spot for an ambush by New Maquis forces hoping to make a quick run on the freighters and steal what they could before disappearing into the plasma clouds.

“Commander,” a quiet voice said to Nathan’s left, pulling his attention. Command Jin Tae, the ship’s executive officer, his equal, was at one of the consoles near the rear of the bridge, beckoning him to join her. “General quarters means you should be in your quarters,” she admonished him, though without any real heart to it. She’d be doing the same in his boots by showing up and trying to help.

“Put me to work Tae,” he said to her, keeping his voice down so as not to interrupt the flow of conversation between Escribano and the rest of her bridge crew. “Also, weren’t there only four freighters yesterday?” he asked, a flick of his head at the main viewer and the display which showed five freighters now, not the four they’d entered the Badlands with.

The fifth freighter, straggling at the back of the convoy, wasn’t there the last time Nathan had been privy to such information. It was showing on the display as Pegasus Rider, a GH-700 bulk freighter, whatever class of civilian grade ship that was. And like the rest of the convoy, she was closing up ranks with the other ships, though in such a way as to position Sundiver between it and the raiders that were incoming.

“There still is,” Tae answered with a sly smile and a wink, before she tapped at her console. The section of the console directly in front of Nathan sprang to life with an external camera feed, looking out across the dorsal structure of Sundiver into the endless orange sea of the roiling storm around them. “Take a look for yourself.”

And so he did, manipulating the controls to move the camera where Pegasus Rider should be, tweaking the zoom levels to turn hundreds of thousands of kilometers of separation into nothing, even as ships were closing on each other to mere kilometers, desperate to get within Sundiver’s protective envelope. “Well now, that’s a funny-looking freighter,” he commented as the camera settled on the shy Galaxy-class cruiser at the back of the convoy, peeking out from behind an actual freighter.

It took a second for Nathan to put the clues together. The biggest challenge was realising he needed to put the clues together in the first place. A Galaxy-class starship, pretending to be a freighter called Pegasus Rider, could only be one ship off the top of his mind.

“Perseus,” he said, to which Tae confirmed with a nod of her head. “Emissions control, combined with hiding behind Sundiver, which I’m guessing you’re still lighting up the raiders with all your sensors to blind them.” Another nod of confirmation. “It won’t last for much longer, rate they’re closing.”

“Doesn’t need to,” Lorena Escribano answered, spinning her chair around to face the two commanders. “Excellent hearing,” she supplied to Nathan before he could ask any questions. “Soon they’ll be close enough for Perseus to give chase and be certain that they’ll catch at least one of the raiders, while the others will be scattered and not a problem for us.”

“Should they attempt to circle around and make a pass on the convoy, they’ll either be coming singularly,” Rigal declared. “Or they’ll have to take some time to form up, by which point we should be able to break free of the Badlands and be well within support range of ships from Task Force 47.”

Nathan couldn’t hold back the smile or the shaking of his head in appreciation. “Siccing a Galaxy-class on a bunch of raiders though isn’t exactly fair. It’s a hammer for eggshells moment.”

“Captain Garland’s exact words,” Escribano said, “were ‘fair fights are for suckers.’”

A status change drew Rigal’s attention, and soon Escribano’s as well. The tactical map updated as well, showing the raiders slowing in their approach to the convoy. Then increased emissions from the lead ship, washing over Sundiver and the fake transponder of Pegasus Rider.

“Looks like they’ve made Perseus,” Tae announced.

“Or just got awfully suspicious of them,” Escribano said. “Rigal, lock them up with our targeting scanners. See if we can’t get their attention back on us, sucker them in a bit closer.”

“Aye ma’am, locking the leader raider.” The tactical officer monitored his own console for a moment, before looking up, an eyebrow raised. “Status change,” he announced calmly as the tactical map flashed, the green icon of Pegasus Rider switching to vibrant blue, the name changing to Perseus and the array of numbers next to the tag started climbing as the ship’s emission levels skyrocketed. Engines were cycling to full power, shields were increasing from what might be expected of a civilian freighter to Starfleet combat levels, and Perseus’ own sensors started to claw at the raiders, gleaming every iota of information they could.

“Perseus is breaking formation and moving to intercept the raiders,” Rigal announced. Unburdened by the freighters, the large, old girl was able to jump up in speed, climbing through warp four, then five, to five point three as she turned into the raiders, closing distance on them with a pace that had the desired effect.

They scattered, running in different directions, accelerating to a top speed that was far below what Perseus was willing to ruinously apply to its engines. The New Maquis, after all, didn’t have the same level of support and resiliency that a well-kept Starfleet vessel did.

“Signal from Perseus,” a young Andorian officer announced on the far side of the bridge from Nathan. “Captain Garland would like to thank us for being an excellent convoy escort.”

Lorena Escribano snorted at that as she relaxed back into her chair. “Tell Perseus good hunting and we’ll see them at DS47 soon. Then tell the freighters to stay close. This isn’t over until we’re in open space and back up to speed.”

Nathan took the chance to lean close to Tae once more. “Whose plan was it for Perseus to masquerade as a freighter in order to go hunting for New Maquis raiders?”

“Captain Garland’s,” Tae answered. “You should know, she’s an Academy friend of the Fleet Captain. Captain Garland’s plans are the more reserved of the two of them.”

“This plan isn’t that far out there,” Nathan suggested, earning a non-committal shrug from Tae. “Downright run of the mill if you ask me.”

“I can’t object in this instance. We should have you to Deep Space 47 within a day, Commander Kennedy. I can confirm the Osiris is waiting to receive you.”

Nathan nodded his head, then looked around the bridge once more. The tactical display was already zooming out to a lightyear, showing the New Maquis ships spreading out optimally away from the charging beast in pursuit. He’d wish them luck, but they had been plotting piracy. So instead he quietly wished good hunting to Perseus, then nodded once more to Jin Tae. There wasn’t much need for him on the bridge. And if that changed, he didn’t doubt someone would call for him.

“Well then, I’ll leave you fine folks to it.”