The Marauders (Rising Empire, Part I)

[Solluk]

The Marauders (Rising Empire, Part I)

Reforms on Ferenginar have caused an extremist faction called 'The Marauders' to break away from the government and set up shop in the Gamma quadrant.  The Marauders idealize a brief period of violence in recent Ferengi history (circa 2330's-2360's) when Captains of Ferengi Marauders used to ply the space lanes, taking what they wanted.  The Marauders are now operating as pirates, hitting civilian ships doing trade between Federation and Gamma quadrant space.  As unlikely an antagonist as the Ferengi seem, their D'Kora Class Marauders are formidable ships, well coordinated, and their leader is both clever and cruel.  The USS Yourship must ferret out the Marauder's base of operations in the Gamma quadrant so that Starfleet can put an end to their predation of Federation shipping.  As events unfold, it turns out the Marauder threat is only the tip of the iceberg.

Starting Point: Yourship is assigned to find the Marauder's Gamma Quadrant Base and call in a Starfleet strike force to take it down.

End Goal: The USS Yourship finds the Ferengi base, defeats the Marauders in combat, and learns that the Marauders' activity was part of a much larger, more nefarious scheme.

Story points that must be passed?:

I) Yourship is assigned to find the Marauder's Gamma Quadrant Base and call in a Starfleet strike force to take it down.

II) USS Yourship detects a subspace transmission from a Federation freighter under attack, and responds.

III) Yourship finds a D'Kora class vessel fleeing from the site of a freighter attack.  The freighter has wounded aboard and is damaged.  Yourship may send personnel to the freighter to help while also pursuing the fleeing D'Kora class ship.

IV) The D'Kora class ship enters a proto-nebula, and subspace transmissions into and out of the nebula suggest that the nebula is the location of the Marauder's base.

V) Yourship reports the location of the suspected base to Deep Space Nine, which dispatches a Task Force of two or three additional ships to join Yourship and make an attack on the Marauder's base.

VI) Upon entering the nebula, the Task Force triggers hidden Energy-Disruption mines which partially cripple its ships.  Then three D'Kora class Marauder ships close in and begin attacking.  The attacks are well coordinated, but the ships are slow to respond to unexpected maneuvers.  It soon becomes clear the D'Kora class ships are trading subspace transmissions with another location inside the nebula.  Savvy science officers may deduce the ships are operating under remote control.

VII) When the Yourship figures out how to disrupt the subspace signals, the D'Kora ships are easily dispatched.  The subspace signals are triangulated to a rogue asteroid in the nebula, where no more than fifty Ferengi are stationed.  Yourship can easily board the asteroid with landing parties, and after a brief exchange of energy-whip fire, will be able to subdue the Ferengi inside.

VIII) A search of the Marauders' base shows that their movement was not legitimate.  They were being paid by an unknown third party to stage their political movement and strike at shipping.

IX) Word comes from Deep Space Nine that they were assaulted by a squadron of Duras family Klingon vessels while the attack on the Marauders' base was occuring.  These vessels do not appear to have been government vessels, but rather part of a Klingon mercenary group.  They boarded Deep Space Nine, stole some experimental prototypes due for testing there, and escaped.

X) Although Yourship accomplished its mission, the whole affair was a ruse merely designed to pull forces away from Deep Space Nine and its immediate vicinity.  Now the deeper plot must be investigated.

Departments: (To make sure everyone has something to do.)

- Flight: Flight crews will be engaged in combat, but may also be dispatched in Runabouts to tow the damaged freighter, or to conduct scouting in the nebula, depending on the desires of the Captain.

- Engineering: Damage will occur during combat, and the disabling effect of Ferengi energy disruption mines must be countered.  In addition, some Engineering personnel may be dispatched to repair damage on the freighter.

- Operations: Operations may be involved in dispatching repair teams, adjusting power levels to compensate for the Ferengi Energy Disruption Mines, and may also be dispatched to help the ailing freighter.

- Security and tactical: There will be ship to ship combat and also a boarding action.

- Medical: Somebody always gets hurt.  Also: Injured parties on the freighter will need to be tended to.

- Science: Science may be instrumental in detecting subspace signals, triangulating locations, and disrupting the remote control mechanisms.

Note:  This mission is the First in a three part Rising Empire story arc.