Belt Watch Patrol Cooperative

Belt Watch was founded on Vesta in 2158 by mining families who wanted someone to answer when a distress call went out between asteroids. Funded by member levies from more than 300 mining outfits, it verifies mineral claims, escorts high-value shipments and investigates claim-jumping.

Ten Corvid Stealth Scouts are the cooperative's eyes. Each single-pilot Corvid has a low-signature hull, a 1,100 km/s top speed and a 140 AU reach, so it can watch a disputed claim for weeks without being noticed. At 210 million credits each, the scouts were expensive, but Belt Watch says claim fraud fell by half within two years of their arrival.

Six Aurora Mk II interceptors handle rapid response. At 1,450 km/s the Aurora is the fastest crewed ship Halcyon builds, flown by one pilot and costing 38.5 million credits. Two Seraph Medevac ships are kept on standby for casualties.

The cooperative's patrol pattern is designed around the ships' strengths. Corvids stay out for weeks, quietly watching high-value claims and shipping lanes, while Auroras wait on alert at Vesta and Ceres, ready to cover hundreds of thousands of kilometres in hours. Belt Watch shares its anonymised traffic data with the Belt's mining families and with Halcyon's open data programme, helping new prospectors avoid congested lanes.

In 2185 Belt Watch Corvids tracked a pirate tender for 47 days before Aurora interceptors recovered three stolen ore barges intact. Freya MacAllister of Halcyon's Ceres office coordinates support.