Space Piracy
Space piracy is one of the preeminent threats to the economy of the Solar Union and Brinkers alike. Pirates operate throughout known space; however, the fractured nature of human space makes their planets ideal targets.
Methodology
Pirates take advantage of the limitations of Faster-Than-Light Travel to carry out their work. Since data signals can't be propagated by FTL methods, and Gray Drives deposit their users in predictable locations, a system of piggybacking courier ships and relatively-dense shipping lanes has evolved within the gravity wells of colonized planets. Pirate vessels camouflage themselves within this flow of traffic, whether with manned or autonomous vessels. Mimicking a courier ship (and potentially even broadcasting the right access codes, if an insider was sufficiently bribed), the pirate vessel approaches the target and matches velocities. With the right codes, they are able to dock; otherwise, an exterior team will have to close the distance themselves. With an autonomous target, the pirates may even be able to remotely override the ship's navigation system and take control. Regardless of approach method, the pirates force their target to redirect to a pre-established point. Here, depending on the legal presence in that sector of the gravity well and the cargo in question, the pirates may land with their cargo immediately or use a larger mothership to jump out, prey in tow. The process is not at all stealthy after first contact, but it does allow for a fast escape, and no location in human space can be watched at all times; the Union Naval Corps are spread too thin pursuing Union interests, and Brinkers simply lack the resources for large enough fleets, or even embrace the pirates (in others' gravity wells, of course). Pirates live and die by their ability to exploit timing windows or use insiders to divert attention. Other venues of piracy, though no less profitable, diverge much farther from historical pirates such as those of Terra's Indian Ocean. Some pirates engage at the spaceport; stealing cargo while planetside or docked at a station, then scuttling the target ship as a cover. Others leave the merchants themselves alone, instead relying on their ability to peek behind the veil of merchant shipping to profit on the stock market. Others still smuggle goods through ports that would otherwise be hostile. All of these methods contribute to the plague of crime that has spread throughout human space.Equipment
Known Pirate Bands
Anti-Piracy Measures
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