This is the second of four terrific articles on Piracy. My thanks to Erick for granting permission for me to host it on my web site. - Kevin Clark - Mar. 7th, 1997.

Catch and Carry Team:

At Once Both Cat and Mouse

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• SAMN
• Pop-Out Drones
• Drive Smearing
• Shell Game Doglegs
• Decoy Drones
• In Action
• Infiltration
• Capture
• Success?

Introduction

In the effort of pirate syndicates to take that which does not belong to them, the catch and carry team has evolved as the best means to effect the illegal transfer of goods from one vessel to another.

The combination of a small, armed, highly maneuverable vessel to run down prospective prey (the catch) and a modified medium freighter with good speed to move in quickly and spirit away the cargo (the carry) has proved so effective that it has become the most common method of space hijacking today.

The inherent difficulties of keeping a catch and carry unit operating have promoted the rise of family-style pirate syndicates and have virtually eliminated the independent operator.

With the systematic development of the catch and carry type of pirate organization, law enforcement agencies must take new directions to suppress such units; in response, the pirates must be ever more clever and resourceful to overcome the law.

The modern pirate must now be quick and cunning as never before to evade the grasp of patrols sent out to destroy him while at the same time running down those ships which would make him rich.

A delicate balance must now be struck between his role as hunter and his lot as prey. He lives in a world where he is at once both a cat and a mouse.

SAMN

The greatest asset the forces of the law have in the war against pirates is that of international cooperation. Unfortunately for free commerce, cooperation can, at times, be rather undependable.

Some nations may enjoy a great deal of mutual assistance. The Americans and Australians, for example, cooperate very closely with each other to make outright piracy virtually unheard of in the American Arm of space.

Strained relations between other countries can prevent effective action against space hijackers. In fact, in some regions of human explored space, pirate syndicates count on such difficult relations in order to operate.

To help alleviate this problem, an organization called the Spacelanes Activity Monitoring Network (SAMN) was formed. The network evolved out of the task force created to monitor the treaty which ended the Alpha Centauri War. Today SAMN or Sammy-N as it is referred to in the American Arm, has evolved into one of the largest, and easily most far-ranging, international crime-fighting organizations created by man.

Empowered by its charter to fight "crimes of interstellar transit," SAMN's front line units in the war against piracy are the national bureaus. Each bureau is controlled, staffed, and funded by the signatory nation it serves, with as many branch offices as that nation deems necessary. The American National Bureau, for example, is staffed by agents from the U.S. Treasury Department, with the central office in Washington, D.C.

SAMN's greatest contribution in the war on piracy has been the development of its suspect traffic reports. Data gathered from crime reports - along with sensor readings from patrol vessels and navigational buoys, and the work of agents in the field-are sent to the individual national bureaus, where they are processed and sent to the Central Bureau at SAMN headquarters in Provence Nouveau on Tirane. (Appropriately, SAMN was the first international organization with headquarters located outside the Earth/Sol system.)

Once at the Central Bureau, the data is compiled and cross-referenced along numerous parameters: pattern of attack, vessels present in-system at the time, type of cargo stolen, etc. From this literal mountain of data, SAMN prepares its suspect traffic reports, which are distributed to the national bureaus for use by local authorities. These suspect traffic reports are known as "rainbow" reports, from the practice of color coding them to indicate level of urgency. The color coding runs from white, the least urgent or detailed, through yellow, green, red, blue, and finally black. Vessels registered to member nations which appear on the blue list may be legally held for questioning if they are in-system when a pirate attack takes place. Vessels on the black list are to be seized immediately upon positive identification, and their crewmembers are to be deported for trial. Updates of these lists are sent to the national bureaus on a quarterly basis, and specific updates concerning a particular incident, vessel, or individual, are sent to member nations upon request.

In gaming terms, it is up to the referee to decide the status of a group of characters in regard to the rainbow reports. Obviously, the longer the time spent in piracy, the greater the likelihood of appearing somewhere in SAMN's records. This is influenced by the availability of sensor readings from patrol craft and/or navigational buoys of the subject vessel, and the steps the pirate craft has taken to disguise its presence (examples of which will be described later). In addition, it is always possible that a group of characters may be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They might be placed on a rainbow report when innocent of wrongdoing or could be implicated by SAMN for a crime they didn't commit while carrying the goods from another incident.

POP-OUT DRONES

An increasingly important source of data for the SAMN computer analysis is the "pop-out" distress drone. An automated remote with a flight data storage device and communication gear, the pop-out is designed to be rapidly deployed in the event of an attack. While in flight, the pop-out's recorder will take down all sensor and communication data of a ship's progress. When the hostile boarding of a vessel is imminent, the drone will be launched from its external sling and follow a preset flight path, usually toward the nearest orbital facility. If the freighter is traveling a minor route in a system without such facilities, then the drone is commanded to fly a random pattern and then go dormant. More sophisticated drones include a passive sensor package, allowing them to continue to run if a vessel gets too close without giving a proper signal. This signal is provided by port authorities just prior to the freighter leaving dock and is used by patrol craft to activate the drones' homing signals. The data from a pop-out is sent to SAMN Central Bureau for processing and inclusion in future lists.

With the combination of sensor data from pop-out drones, system patrol craft, the ongoing readings of navigational and traffic control buoys, and the continual work of individual nations' crime-fighting organizations, it would appear that the future of any prospective pirate would be a difficult one at best. In the face of truly enormous volumes of information processed by SAMN and distributed to every member nation, it would seem only a matter of time before any pirate would find himself cowering in his dock rock, waiting for the forces of law and order to come knocking.

The criminal mind, however, is often a resourceful one. While spacegoing nations can be counted on to come up with the means to make piracy difficult, pirate syndicates can be counted on to come up with the means to circumvent them.

DRIVE SMEARING

A pirate syndicate's greatest concern has always been how to better disguise the presence of its ships. With contact in space normally taking place at distances ranging in the thousands of miles, this concern has centered on disguising the vessel to electronic observation rather that visual observation. Even when the vessel is at dock, its visible parts are usually limited to what can be seen through the air lock.

The most common and widespread method of fooling unwanted sensor readings is to alter the frequency of the stutterwarp unit. Known most commonly as "drive smearing," "lumping the drive," or "scaring the unit," this method makes use of the residual radiation built up during interstellar flight to change a drive's detection signature.

During normal operation, the stutterwarp unit will be calibrated so that the residual energy built up during transluminal flight is spread evenly over the drive coils. This allows the unit to reach the 7.7 light-year limit on travel. Upon entering a significant gravity well, one of O.1G or greater, the coils will be discharged evenly in order to maintain maximum efficiency of the unit while operating in-system.

When a drive unit is being smeared, the discharging process takes place differently. While in-system, the ship's engineer will bypass one or more of the drive coils. This creates an energy lump which will become slightly greater each time the coil is bypassed. As the drive cycles, an energy drag will be created by the lump, and the unit's telltale frequency will be altered. If only one coil is used, the resultant pattern is that of a unit with a failing coil. If a number of smaller lumps are created throughout the unit, the drive frequency will be read as that of a different vessel of approximately the same mass and power range.

Obviously, whenever one tampers with the normal operation of a system, a drop inefficiency can be expected. Depending on the number of residue lumps created and their placement throughout the system, the drop-off can approach the difference normally experienced when an empty cargo vessel becomes fully loaded.

The possibility also exists that the unit may be damaged. The greater the size of the energy lump and the longer the unit is operated in such a state, the greater the chance that the coil will reach its threshold limit and burn out, a small-scale version of what happens when the unit as a whole is pushed past the 7.7 light-year range. While the release of radiation is relatively small, the stutterwarp unit will need major repairs before it can be counted as operational. Drive smearing is used exclusively by carry vessels when entering a system where they may be identified or where they will be joining a catch operation. The drop in drive efficiency is too high and the risk of damage in a hostile system too great for this method to be used by catch vessels.

The attempt to smear a drive unit is a two-step process. Before the journey begins, the drive engineer must successfully prepare the unit to delay its discharge. This task is described on page 63 of the 2300 AD Director's Guide, and it must be attempted regardless of the distance to be traveled. Once in the target system, the task below must be attempted:

Task: To smear a drive unit: Difficult, then Formidable. Ship Drive Engineering skill. Special, see below.

Referee: Success means the drive signature has been altered, and no permanent damage has been suffered. The results of the task are known within moments; however, the task must be repeated every 10 hours, or fraction thereof, while the ship is traveling within the system. The first two times the task is attempted it is Difficult, and failures are resolved using 2D6. The next two attempts are Formidable, and the roll for failures is made using 3D6. Four is the maximum number of times the task may be attempted. After that, all the residue energy will have been discharged, and the vessel will operate normally if undamaged by the strain. Even if all the rolls are successful, there will be at least a 15% drop in the stutterwarp's efficiency rating. A Superficial result on the Mishaps Table will increase this drop to 30%. A Total mishap indicates that one of more of the drive coils has experienced threshold burnout and will need to be replaced at a major repair facility.

At any point, the ship's engineer can declare that he is completing a normal discharge. He may then roll the task at one step lower than normal (Routine if within the first 20 hours and Difficult if later). If the roll is successful, the discharge is completed normally. Failures are resolved using 2D6.

SHELL GAME DOGLEGS

With the advent of the SAMN suspect traffic lists, pirate syndicates have found it necessary to devise means to keep their carry vessel clear of any suspicion of wrongdoing. The use of fake transponder signals is widespread, the illegality of the practice hardly a deterrent to such individuals. The practice is used primarily by vessels conducting three-armed trade business for the syndicate. (Three-armed trade consists of taking stolen goods to a prearranged meeting in another arm of human space, where they are traded for other goods, such as drugs, illegal biomods or cyberwear, to be shipped to the Core worlds. The profits are then used to purchase legal, high-tech goods for sale on the colony worlds.)

For carry vessels running in the syndicate's area of operation, another method has been devised to make it appear that a particular carry vessel was elsewhere at the time of a hijacking. This method has become known as shell game doglegs (see diagram for example).

There are several variations to the basic concept, such as a drop transit, where two vessels leave the same system, the second doglegging back for an attack, while the first masquerading as the second in the destination system. The second vessel, once its hold is full of stolen cargo, proceeds to the next system, now passing itself off as the first vessel, with a story of "deep space repairs."

For shell game doglegs to work, the pirate syndicate using them must be highly organized, with well disciplined crews manning its vessels. Depending on the number of ships the syndicate controls, a veritable "musical chairs" of identity switching can go on, often as a vessel passes from one system to the next. This level of sophistication requires extensive computer analysis, planning, and simulation-which is often done months in advance.

Transit data has increasingly become the focus of law enforcement undercover operations. By obtaining copies of a syndicates' transit plans, law enforcement agencies can wait for unsuspecting pirate vessels. Today both the pirate syndicates and govemment agencies employ numerous cybernetic and computer experts to protect and/or acquire this information.

DECOY DRONES

For the catch vessel, the most delicate time of an operation is the insertion into a target system. While space is indeed a big place, a long range gravitational scan can detect any vessel entering a system. Knowing that an uncertain number of ships have entered and suddenly disappeared from scan is more than enough to rouse the curiosity of any patrol commander of reasonable intelligence.

To assist catch vessels in entering a system unnoticed pirate syndicates have made use of what is referred to as a decoy drone or dee-dee. As highly modified sensor probes dee-dees are designed to mimic the activity of a normally operating vessel.

The drones are given large power plants, with their shielding stripped to a bare minimum. Automated communications equipment is added to broadcast the normal signals of a ship under power, and more sophisticated programs allow the dee-dee to respond to navigational buoys found in most systems. The dee-dee can be launched ahead of the catch ship, but it is more often in an external mount, from which it is launched as the vessel powers down. This method can be used to confuse pursuit, in the hope that patrol vessels will follow the dee-dee. The method is generally used when a catch vessel wants to rendezvous with a dock rock to keep the coordinates secret. (Dock rocks are the supply caches and sensor platforms syndicates place on floating chunks of rock).

The use of dee-dees involves two separate tasks.

Task: To prepare a dee-dee: Variable. Ship Engineering, Mechanical, and Electrical skills. 2 days.

Referee: The preparation is handled like any other repair task and involves the modification of a deep space sensor probe used for long-range exploration. The difficulty level depends on the degree of sophistication desired by the syndicate. A dee-dee that travels along a predetermined path broadcasting its ship noise is Difficult. One that can respond to basic requests put forth by nav-buoys and follow assigned flight lanes is Formidable. Trying to modify the drone to respond to real-time requests put forth by human communications officers on naval patrol craft and fly a completely random yet believable flight plan is an Impossible task (attempts have been made). Whenever the latter two levels of sophistication are desired, the ship crew skills of Communications and Computers are also required.

Task: To launch a decoy drone: Difficult, Uncertain. Pilot and Remote Pilot skills. Instantaneous.

Referee: In the launch task, success means the drone would appear to be a single ship continuing on its course of travel. Both the pilot of the catch vessel and the remote pilot responsible for the dee-dee must roll for this task. Failure means any sensor instruments would detect something wrong - a momentary dual image, for example. A Minor mishap means any recognition programs keyed to this type of activity and monitoring the progress of the catch vessel have been alerted, and any subsequent attempt to detect the pirate vessel is lowered by one level (two if the mishap is Major).

Most dee-dees are programmed to broadcast the signals associated with independent asteroid mining craft. These vessels stay out of dock for extended periods of time and are often unmanned as the crew goes EVA to prospect, leaving the ship's computer to handle incoming communications. This programming has left the perception in the minds of the general public, and with some law enforcement agencies, that there is an association between belt miners and piracy.

IN ACTION

A pirate syndicate has discovered that a freighting company has been contracted to carry tantalum drive coils for an exploration and resource development company operating on the fringes of explored space. The coils are to upgrade the drives of the company's survey vessels.

The action begins with the catch vessel entering the system. As it closes upon its syndicate's dock rock, it cuts power and launches a dee-dee which has been programmed to maintain a minimum distance of five light-seconds between it and any other vessel. If queried, the drone will respond with the information that it is conducting an independent mining survey. The catch vessels link up with the dock rock, transferring part of the crew to the survival canisters there. The data from a passive sensor array is downloaded to the ship's computer for analysis, and an EVA team is sent to retrieve the fuel processed by a cracking station on a nearby chunk of ice.

Next, the carry vessel enters the system. It has just completed a shell game dogleg and is operating under a different name and registry. It enters the system smearing one drive coil, broadcasting to the local port facilities that it needs to put in for emergency repairs of a failing drive unit. This broadcast also serves to alert the catch vessel, which sends a squirt transmission to the carry vessel containing its analysis of the sensor data. The data indicates that a window of opportunity exists on the target vessel's departure angle in a volume approximately one AU inside the system's transluminal horizon, the point at which stutterwarp units can achieve faster than light pseudovelocities. The carry vessel codes then stores the information, receives the go-ahead from port authorities, and proceeds in-system to the port.

Infiltration

The carry vessel docks and begins "repairs." It also hooks into the station's database, and a spiker, a member of the syndicate's infiltration unit, jacks into the base to discover the target's departure time. With this information in hand, the carry vessel reports to station authorities that its problems are minor and requests a departure time shortly after the one given the target vessel. With reports that security around the target is tight, the captain of the carry vessel decides that getting a spiker team on board is not feasible. The spiker team can perform another mission, and the unit is sent out of the air lock.

An hour after the spiker team returns, the target vessel powers up and departs. The carry vessel leaves as well, maintaining a specific distance and angular relationship with the target ship - one that will aid the catch vessel in pinpointing the target's position. The catch vessel slips free of the dock rock and powers up as the dee-dee returns.

Capture

Moving into the window of opportunity, the catch vessel closes on the target. The freighter tries to evade, but the catch ship is too maneuverable and disables that target with a well placed laser shot. The captain orders one last sensor sweep, and commands that the pop-out drone be fired. But nothing happens - the spiker team disabled the explosive release couplings on the pop-out drone - and the remote remains attached.

The end comes swiftly as the catch vessel crew boards the damaged freighter. Once the freighter is subdued, the carry vessel comes alongside, allowing the catch vessel to stand off (jamming any possible communication) or to draw away any possible assistance to the target. The carry vessel crew begins transferring the cargo from the target vessel, while the spiker team searches through the target's computer records, looking for any useful information and wiping out any sensor data it might find.

Success?

Once the cargo is safely on board, the carry vessel signals to the catch ship, and both leave the system. The catch vessel will pick up its decoy drone or activate the drone's destruct sequence, then head to the nearest safe place, such as another dock rock off a minor trade route. There it will wait until it gets another assignment, or it may go through a crew transfer. The carry vessel will go to a prearranged meeting with a transfer ship, part of the syndicate's three-armed trading system. At the rendezvous, it will trade the coils for a legitimate cargo (allowing it to continue on its own run) or trade for something more lucrative, such as a shipment of illegal biomodifiers for sale to the populations of the Core worlds. On the other hand, life might not be quite so rosy if the pirates have pushed their luck a little too far and the meeting is really an ambush set up by the agents of law and order. The life of a catch and carry team is, after all, fraught with peril - sometimes the cat becomes the mouse without knowing it until it's too late. - Erick Melton