“They seem to believe they can force their way off the ship.  They are mistaken.”  Kondo sat at the security and tactical station on the bridge, “Our options are limited - attempting to use methods to knock them out would have unintended impacts on the injured - never mind the staff working to save them.”

Harris had rotated his command chair to face him, “How many of them are in there?”

“Five.  Sensors and video surveillance confirms five pirates.  They are armed with energy weapons."

“I remember reading about our sickbay being protected from transporters with an additional auxiliary shield.”

Kondo gave a nod, “Yes, and the pirates activated it.  It is an optional system used to prevent the reverse situation presenting itself - having someone from another ship try and take a hostage or a prisoner from sickbay.”

Ambrose chuckled dryly, “There was clearly not an engineer assigned to that piece of the process.  Options?”

De La Fontaine had a few, “Incursion with our response team, all weapons on stun.  Wait them out.  Attempt to override the shield system.  Each comes with a challenging list of pros and cons.”

The CO contemplated in the center chair, “Based on what we've seen and had reported from the away team these pirates are not going to go quietly.  They're rowdy on purpose.  Could we target their disrupters specifically?  Overload them?”

A few taps on his console and Kondo had a thinking look, “It's not impossible.  We'd need specific sensor details and an engineer to tune the field we would use on them.”  Another round of console checking, “It would take us fifteen minutes to get it all ready.”

“Get to work, Chief Kondo.”

Fifteen minutes later…

“Right, so this…and this…are the approximated frequencies that we've managed to extrapolate from the scans of the devices.”  Lieutenant Greer Moore sat at the engineering station as she walked the CO through what they had worked on with Chief Fowler at science.  “Once we activate the field and send it through sickbay, security will breach the door and take the bad guys down.”

Harris leaned against the wall, “What are the chances of success?”

Moore tapped the console, “That's…uh…the fun part?  We've narrowed it down to an 80% chance of success.”

The CO gave the assistant chief engineer a look, “80%?”  He glanced at Kondo, who shrugged.

“We asked the computer to see if we had more time and if it would improve the odds of success.  It wasn't much - a few percentage points.”

Ambrose chewed on it for a moment.  He was a former Chief Engineer, and he was trying to figure out another method to subdue the pirates.  “It's the best we've got…and we need to get sickbay back under our control. Chief Reid will be less than thrilled if we don't.”  Kondo headed for the turbolift, followed by the newly promoted Moore.  “Good luck,” he said to them as the doors closed.  He returned to the center chair and turned halfway to face his communications chief, “Status of our away team, Ensign Atega?”

Presley had been working to ensure the latest transports of bodies and injured had been through a security check.  Lieutenant Tir had headed down to handle it in person with the help of a few select security officers.  She faced him, “Doctor Reid, Chief Okada, and the rest of the team are returning as we speak, sir.  The PostAlley is being declared a total loss, sir - we've been cleared to scuttle the ship from a distance.”

He drummed his fingers on the arms of his chair, “Always tough having to kill a ship.  Lock phasers and standard torpedoes on the target to assist in the complete breakup of the ship.  Mr. Prentice, full reverse.”

Soon they were a distance away, and his XO had returned to her station on the bridge.  He glanced at the report she had filed on his PADD.  “Chief, you think this is an attempt at establishing dominance?”

Katsumi rotated in her chair, “Pirates usually do their enforcement bit to remind people to pay or that they need to stay away and clear.  This was a statement of what they could do to someone if they got all bothered and angry.  We're still not sure how many pirate operations there are in the sector and who's got the bigger guns.  These guys have lots of guts, but we outclassed them.  Who else is around that they're resorting to this kind of operating?”

Harris had been quietly wondering the same thing, “We're the interference signal in the sector - getting into the middle of a fight we didn't know was happening.”  He turned to Atega, “Any progress on the communication signal issue?”

Presley tapped the console, “There's something going on with the planet - we detected it when we were closer.  The interference originally just looked like the noise you'd have in space.  The team took another run at it and found that it was far more electromagnetic than naturally occurring - and it had a pattern of behavior which suggests….”

Ambrose nodded along, “Something is in place powering the interference.  But that doesn't…oh.”

The Communications Chief picked up where he'd left off, “The communications loss extends beyond Fenris into the sector and a little beyond.  Someone's trying to restrict or cover something up.  It wouldn't take much - a couple of transmitters and repeaters scattered throughout the area…but you'd have to have someone connected and operating the system to ensure it keeps the sector quiet.”  She tapped at the console one last time, “It is interesting - our communications systems are unaffected - I was able to reach Starfleet Command on various channels and touch base with several Federation and non-Federation vessels in the area and beyond.  Our working theory is that the block or whatever it is - it's designed for smaller craft with lower-powered communications systems which would extend to most if not all of the cargo ships that would come through this section of space.”

“We were able to hear the PostAlley,” Harris positioned.

Atega pointed out, “Our systems have an extraordinary range - especially with this class of ship, sir.  Our communications system alone is damn…sorry, is a work of communications masterwork.  Multiple levels of powering the short and long-range systems together with multiple layers of shielding, encryption - They'd have to work hard to affect a ship this size.”

Prentice had turned in his seat, taking in the conversation, “So we have to find out who's operating this…thing and shut it down?”

The CO agreed, at least in part, “That's the gist of it, yes…but there's a lot we don't know.  If whoever is operating these interference stations isn't in the same group as the ones who attacked the PostAlley - we're not going to know the limits of their capability.”

The XO shrugged, “I think we just have to go and knock on the door, sir.  Reid and the team are back on board.  Sickbay reports all clear.  No fatalities, and our pirates are secured in the brig.”

Ambrose stared at the screen and the faraway view of the planet Fenris.  There were only so many ways to develop a theory until you tested it.  “Thank heavens for all that.  And…you make an excellent point, Commander.  Prentice, take us into orbit.  Yellow Alert…just in case.”

The Mackenzie rumbled forward.