Wow.
Not dismissing the possibility of an intentional attack, but if the merchant ship was doing something illegal, say receiving, offloading, dumping an illicit cargo, wouldn’t that explain the transponder being off? And how long was the transponder off? The entire voyage, certain part, during the squirrelly turns the vessel made?
Why no info on who/what owns/operates the merchant ship..?
And why couldn’t/didn’t the Fitz get out of the way?