Desi had cut down her drinking to such an extent that she could now be considered at least a somewhat functional alcoholic. The final straw had been waking up and nearly scaring the wits out of one of her medics who had been sent in to make sure that she wasn’t dead after an aide had found her passed out on the floor of her office, again.
The loosely aligned, but heavily armed coalition of pirates, smugglers and outlaws that had coalesced around the place had driven off all the legitimate civilian traffic a few months prior. Now, aside from a few various cargo vessels and tankers that were ‘on the take’, it was only their patronage that kept Port Freedom marginally profitable.
During her morning meal Desi came across a news report about a big Federation diplomatic conference that was set to start in a few days at Eos Station. She went on a deep dive, looking into the whole thing further, and she became more and more convinced that someone should represent their interests at this little soiree. After watching a holonews report from someone named Lizzy McNizzy, Desi came to the realization that she was going to be that representative.
She activated her communicator, “D’Lara. Ready the Queens Revenge for a sortie. Minimal crew. I’m heading to Eos for a few days, you’ll be in charge while I’m away.”
“Uh. K. Do you want to take one of the Corvettes along, or ask some of the others to provide an escort?” D”Lara replied over the comms, obviously surprised by the request. She was also more aware of the antiquated and underpowered tactical systems on the old destroyer than anyone.
“No, we won’t be picking any fights, and I’d like our relations with the rest of the coalition to remain ambiguous for now. Tell B’uurt and S’teev to meet me aboard. We’ll be departing within the hour.” Desi got up from her opulent desk.
Instead of responding over the comm, Desi’s younger sister came barging through the door.
“What the fuck is going on? You’re taking our under-gunned old Flagship to the Starfleet station for what now?” the gold haired ‘Temptress of the Waning Sun’ exclaimed.
“They’re hosting a conference about what to do about this region of space, and they’ve invited all local and regional stakeholders to attend. I figure, since we actually live here in the Belt, I should go and represent our interests at the bargaining table.”
“And what about the Starfleet Carrier that’s sweeping through the region towards us as we speak? A Klingon battlecruiser has been spotted with it twice already, and we’ve got reports about other Starfleet capital ships heading this way. What are we going to do about that?” D’Lara crossed her arms and stared at her sister.
“What about them? They’re probably just doing some surveying exploratory mission or another one of their ‘presence patrols’. They’re no threat to us here, especially with our friends around.” Desi referred to the various groups of ruffians and hardened criminals as friends, when in fact it was more a coalition of convenience for collective defense.
“And what am I going to do if the others jump in their ships and bolt when they approach. The Crimson Corsairs still have a stolen Starfleet ship literally parked at docking port four.”
Desi shrugged, “They said they’ll be finished with their repairs and gone by tomorrow. If they don’t leave, you can talk to our Black Sun friends and have them convince the Meade’s new owners that being elsewhere is in their best interests.”
The Black Sun Faction was a small, but notoriously vicious part of the Orion Syndicate. They had made their name as enforcers and ‘the muscle’ behind a pair of influential and comparatively long reigning Empresses on Kolar during the mid 2300s. Since then they had operated as allies and occasional business partners to a series of lesser Pirate Queens. They had been exiled from all territory within the Kolar regimes sphere of influence a year before House Sherru’s own quasi-exile in 2401. Shortly after Desi’s and her followers had arrived in the Belt the two groups of outlaw Orions had agreed to form an alliance that had steadily grown into the formidable coalition of pirates and criminals that was currently using Port Freedom as their base of operations.
D’Lara exhaled slowly. She knew from years of experience that there was no arguing with her older sister when she set her mind to something.
“Alright sis. I’ll get our people prepping the QR for departure.”
Just as Desi was watching Lizzy’s now viral Holostream about the conference, the maverick reporter turned holo-influencer was getting ready for her own questionable spur of the moment mission. She had met and befriended what she assumed was a Starfleet Intel agent named Mara Vey and the two had concocted a plan to take a trip to Port Freedom. Each had their own motivations for wanting to visit the place, and Lizzy was sure that any stream she sent from the pirate haven would rocket to the top of the Holonets ‘top trending’ lists. Lt. Vey apparently had a trusted informant who was the first mate on a bulk freighter that was making an illicit stop at Port Freedom and was willing to give the two women a lift.
