Phantom Star

Kyle Ferrous Manager of Scrap processing station UNK-L

Kyle had seen a lot over the years. Pirate ships detonating in plasma fire. Scrappers hauling an alien Vordt ship behind them which quickly got snatched up by the Duke.

This wasn’t even the first time one of his scrappers had taken a ship and tried to get it running.

It was the first time he looked at a ship and simply couldn’t understand how it came to exist.

Katherine had always been a bit strange. Her repair work had always been impressive so much so that her file was filled with commendations for her actions repairing random stuff around the station even before she passed her Scrapper Exam and got the job in truth.

But as the ship Katherine was piloting, pulled through the scrap field and came into view, he was struck wondering. It wasn’t the old hull she had bartered for. The scrap hull she had been given was an old rock breaker. A cargo hauler.

It wasn’t a sleek warship.

And what he was seeing docking to his station was a warship. This was a Corvette, armored, and armed in a way no tramp freighter could match.

He watched as it approached. Taking note of its appearance.

It looked a little slim, the port and Starboard were almost… too flat. Like the ship hadn’t been completed. Its bow was more curved and aggressive. The superstructure of the freighter had been a rather blunt hull. The bridge had been right at the front. Not so on this.

The sweeping top bridge with armored crystal glass, again, wasn't right. This wasn’t the ship he had traded for those drones.

This wasn’t right. Where had she found this? Where had she gotten the Iris Drive to power it?

He watched as the two engines in the back shut off as it finalized docking.

The urge to confront her the moment she stepped off the ship was there, but he tamped it down.

She hadn’t stolen the drive, and she hadn’t stolen the hull. He knew this. There weren’t any drives missing, and he refused to believe that anyone, even as talented as Katherine, was capable of somehow making off with an Iris Drive capable of moving a corvette without anyone knowing.

It just made no sense. Had she made a deal with a trader? With the Baron? Kyle didn’t know, and as the hatch opened and Katherine stepped out, a stubborn tilt to her neck as if daring anyone to question her. It was one he recognized.

His sister had the same look whenever she was going to fight against his authority.

Well Alice, your Great Great granddaughter, takes after you.

He stepped forward and the crowd around the docking bay shifted for him. Katherine’s eyes were firm and locked on him as he approached, despite her fidgeting hands. Something he understood was common with the girl.

“Katherine. That’s not exactly what I expected.”

“I did some work on it. With the Crabbit. It took…” She started, obviously starting an explanation but then she stopped and took a breath. “The Phantom Star is my ship.” She said instead. An obvious statement but one he understood.

“Of course.” He agreed, it would be foolish to argue, not with a stubborn captain. “Congratulations on becoming a captain.”

“Oh… Thank you.” She seemed surprised at his words, but her smile warmed up after.

Good, happy people were easier to deal with. And perhaps she would let slip an actual explanation. But before he could continue they were interrupted. The Baron had left people behind on the station to make sure deliveries of components were sent out on time, and one of them approached.

Katherine shifted looking over the intruder. His green greatcoat was an oddity here on the station, green wasn’t a common color in space and it stood out. Because of that he was instantly the center of attention.

“I’m not familiar with this ship design. This isn’t one of the ships that was listed in the manifest.” The man said in a not quite demand. The man wasn’t the Baron himself and his power was limited, even if he worked for him.

“The Phantom Star’s been heavily modified. But I was sold a superstructure for my work and this is what I ended up with. You’d be amazed at how much a ship can be altered when you have an entire group of Drones working on it around the clock.” Katherine said after hesitating for a while. She didn’t seem comfortable with the Baron's man.

“Hmm. I’ll need to do an inspection-”

“No.” She denied him instantly without even a hint of give. “That’s my ship.”

The man didn’t seem off balance by her denial, but continued. “As an auditor of the station during this time. I am required to ensure nothing was stolen. I don’t mean to accuse you, you understand, but a simple check of some of the equipment, particularly the Iris Drive will resolve the issue.”

“If you don’t think I’ve stolen it, then you have no business on my ship.” She denied him and Kyle felt a bit of tension. This could be bad. Had she stolen the Drive?

“That seems premature. A simple inspection and you will be cleared of any wrongdoing.” The auditor argued, and Kyle winced as Katherine instantly started glaring in response.

“Either you suspect I’m a thief, or you don’t. You’re waffling. Since you just learned my ship existed. You couldn’t have any evidence that I stole anything.” She argued hotly, her voice getting quite angry which is rare for the girl from his understanding. “I can’t be cleared of wrongdoing if there is no evidence I did the wrongdoing in the first place!” She added and Kyle decided it was best to step in.

“Perhaps we table that discussion for now?” He cut in. “Katherine you aren’t planning on leaving right away are you?”

“No… The Phantom needs a lot of work still. I just needed to get her engines and weapons online in case of the pirates showing up… Unless I need to leave?” She asked almost plaintively, and he instantly shook his head.

“Not at all. You are still family. And still have a job here if you wish. We aren’t accepting civilian traffic at the moment anyways, so the use of the docking collar isn’t an issue.” He brushed off the problem.

Only a fool would try to send away a girl that can make a working warship out of old scraps in an even older Super Freighter. Especially with Pirates becoming an issue.

He’d have to pay more attention to her now. Perhaps she could put that talent to use on station.

It’s not like he’d turn away an actual warship guarding the station. Even if the Military was usually on top of things.

“I will make a note of this, but I will allow the Baron to make the final decision moving forward.” The Auditor said huffily, as he brushed imaginary lint off his stiff long coat and turned stalking away.

While they waited for him to leave he looked out the large view ports at the ship that was docked.

The large cannon turret on the prow of the ship caught his eye. She said those were functional? He wanted to start laughing. What an absurd girl. Where did any of this come from?

“When it’s finished.” She finally said and he looked over at her in confusion. She was fidgeting like a child caught with her hand in a cookie jar.

“What?”

“I’ll let people enter and look around… When it’s finished. The insides are a mess. Most of the hallways don’t even have panels… Or flooring.” She explained and he blinked at that before realizing.

She was more concerned about what it looked like than what people might find? What an odd child.

“Heh. I’d like that.” He offered and she brightened a bit, seemingly relaxing at his acceptance of her terms.

He knew there weren’t any missing Iris Drives. So he knew the auditor wouldn’t find any evidence of theft that way. If there had been a theft of a drive capable of moving this ship he’d have been notified immediately, and the entire station would have been shut down. There was no point in worrying over that.

How she managed it was something he’d worry about another time. For now?

It was much more important that she had. And the station now had some guns protecting it.

“Kat!” A voice called out and it was Edward, Katherine’s father that rushed forward grabbing his daughter in a hug, although the fact she was a good bit taller than her father made the entire scene a little funny.

“Dad! Look! The Phantom Star is operational! Not fully operational, but operational! She flew!” Katherine rambled out, nearly bouncing in her boots as she pointed, and her father, obviously having seen the ship and wondering what the hell was going on, asked the question Kyle himself wanted to know.

“Kat what? How did you build that? Where did you get an Iris Drive for it? Is that a Plasma Cannon?”

“Thermal Lance actually. Plasma Cannons take up too much energy especially since I’m already struggling with power.” She said and that was a clue at least. Her Power Plant wasn’t operating as it should? Or was it too small?

“Kat.” Her dad said, obviously wanting his questions she had ignored, answered she shrugged.

“I had a lot of help with the Crabbit. You’d be amazed at the amount of work you can get done with their help. Sure I had to constantly fix their mistakes, but fixing the mistakes was still faster than trying it all myself.” She chattered but Kyle wasn’t tricked. She had purposefully avoided answering the question fully.

Her father noticed as well, but instead of demanding an answer, just sighed. “Kat, You certainly don’t do things small, do you?”

“Uuuu.” She made a groaning noise and her father just laughed.

—--

“Uhh.. What?”

“Registration.” Aunt Sheila deadpanned as her only response as a data clip was handed over. “Complete that, and send it in, and you’ll have your registration for your ship.”

“The Phantom Star.” I said quietly, because people were refusing to use her name!

“Your ship. I don’t care what you call it Kat.” Aunt Sheila said with a raised eyebrow.

I sunk deeper into the seat.

It had been a busy afternoon. After everyone had settled down and Great Uncle Kyle stopped staring into my soul with his eyes I had been hauled off for more questioning, until finally Aunt Sheila had come into our home and started this.

Aunt Sheila glared down on me, and even Dad looked away!

“You are a captain now, you want to travel? You want to not be shot down by the first military vessel that runs your transponder and doesn’t get anything back? Register your ship. The only idiots that don’t are pirates.”

“Okay! Okay I’ll register or whatever.” I grumbled. Why did I have to do paperwork!? “Why do you know all of this?” I asked her as I started loading up the data clip.

Aunt Sheila rolled her eyes. “I told you before. You aren’t the first kid that wanted a ship and to escape the station. I did actual research into what I would need to do before I tried putting together a scrap freighter. Not all of us rush into things and come out with a damn warship!”

“Ehehe.” I laughed a bit uncomfortably as I was being glared at.

That wasn’t the first time today I had been asked what the hell I had done, and it wouldn’t be the last. But as long as the Crabbit were guarding the ship no one would be able to peek inside and see how fucked up it all was. And discover my messy ass half finished ship.

Or discover the Diamond Drive. You know in order of importance.

—--

“Okay tell me it’s working.” I asked my workers and the fact they didn’t instantly respond was a bad sign.

“System error! 52%!” I finally got an answer and I slumped.

“Rerun it!” I called out and continued to fiddle with the console I was half way laying inside.

Turns out that just because you got your weapons online, and hooked up to a targeting computer didn’t actually mean your guns were sighted in.

I whispered a prayer to Garrus Vakarian, Patron Saint of weapon calibrations.

Stupid alignment! I was going to train the Crabbit to handle this, but first I needed to get it actually working.

The targeting computer was an older model and was made for targeting with defensive blasters, or a laser cannon. Not a Thermal Lance on a large turret mount. Not just the programming, but the hardware was struggling to handle it. So I was trying to get it running.

“Try it again!” I called out and waited. No point in getting out until the simulation ran correctly.

“System error! 68%!” I got in response and sighed.

“Rerun it!” And continued to work.

“Alert alert! Intruder alert! Docking collar!” A Crabbit called out shrilly and I bonked my head as I jumped.

“Fuck!” I cursed as I slid out with some difficulty and started charging through the bridge rubbing my head as I did. Sliding down the ladder. Dodging around hanging cables and leaping over the sections of the floor panels that weren’t complete I made it in record time only to glare as the Crabbit on guard duty were struggling with a familiar face.

“Marshall!” I roared out and before he could do anything else I tackled him. I hadn’t called out because I wanted his attention. It was so the Crabbit would disengage and stop grabbing at him and trying to stop him.

With a wheeze he went down and I landed on top of him as I pinned him to the floor and thrust what I had in my hands at him. Which ended up being a multitool for fastening the console panels together.

It was basically a big wrench so good enough.

“What do you think you are doing!?” I demanded and he wheezed for a moment as I had obviously knocked the air out of him.

But when he did catch his voice it only made me mad!

“I’m coming aboard!” He finally managed to say, looking angry. “You aren’t the only one that’s going to fly this thing!”

“Idiot!” I shouted and then rose up and grabbed him and just started hauling him out of my ship.

“H-Hey! Let me go!” He yelled back and soon I was grabbing him and struggling to pull him out of the docking collar as he gripped onto the sides of it refusing to move.

The commotion drew some attention.

“What the hell is going on over here?” A voice boomed out and while Marshall sort of hesitated I didn’t, I continued to pull and tug him off my ship.

Then a moment later a large hand reached over and grabbed Marshall by the scruff of his jump suit and yanked. That was enough to break his hold. I backed away as Old Collin despite being shorter than I was, loomed over Marshall and I.

“Crabbit! Lockdown!” I demanded and the docking collar closed with a solid whoomp as the massive doors locked solid. There. Now no one could get in.

“I see.” Old Collin said simply then turned to Marshall. “And you boy? Got an explanation?”

“I told her I was going on the ship too! I don’t want to spend the rest of my life doing this bullshit! Kat! Stop being a bitch!” He yelled but that didn’t make me want to bring him with me you know?

I was still breathing heavily but now that Old Collin was here I took a moment to breathe and then when I responded it was firm.

“You aren’t welcome on my ship Marshall. If you ever try to sneak on board again. I’ll shoot you.” I told him without hesitation. I’d have to get a gun of some sort. Maybe I’d try to make one… Nah probably best to just buy it.

But my words of course didn’t work.

“I told you I was going on board! Stop being stupid! You moron! “ He ranted and I just continued to glare.

This was what Marshall was always like. He’d try to play nice to an extent, but he’d still be bossy. But refuse his demands, and suddenly he’ll be toxic and abusive to try and get his way.

“Boy shut up.” Old Collin demanded once and Marshall didn’t really heed him despite the back of his jumpsuit still being bunched up in the older man's hand.

Then when he continued to hurl abuse at me Old Collin did something that surprised me.

A single punch slammed into Marshall's stomach knocking the air out of him again and doubling him over.

“There. I said shut up. Don’t talk again. Girl. It’d be best if you lock down your ship when you aren’t using the collar. He won’t be the only one that tries to sneak a peek.”

“Yes sir.” I said back and he nodded.

Whew. Old Collin was intense.

—--

It was only a couple days after I revealed the Phantom Star that an alert beeped from the sensor console on the bridge. I was half way into the navigation console when it happened and had to fight myself free to see what was going on. I turned to the large window and I knew what was happening. The shifting of space was visible to the naked eye for a second, and then in a flash of resurgent matter returning where there was none before a ship appeared.

The Baron was back with his Frigate.

Things had just gotten complicated.

“Finish this up okay?” I asked, and the Crabbit held up tools in their little grabbers.

“Work work! Finish the work!” It sang cheerfully and I giggled at the singing Crabbit. They were developing a lot of personality ever since they had asked me what their purpose was. That one was a bit weird, but the singing was cute.

I wiped my hands on my jump suit and stood up, one breath in and out, and I headed out of the ship.

When I exited the ship and looked out over the large clear windows that showed the docking ring I watched as the Baron’s ship slowly came into dock. Pointedly I noticed it was towards the aft of my ship where the turret couldn’t reach and was facing my girl.

Heh.

That made sense, no one wanted a Thermal Lance pointing at their tail.

“Ah, good. Katherine. Come join me?” I looked up at Great Uncle Kyle's words and nodded firmly. I knew what was coming. I joined him where he stood waiting for the docking measures to finish, and almost as soon as they did the Baron came out. The large metal seal that cut off the station from the docking collar barely opened before he was through.

But he seemed to pointedly walk at a normal pace to not seem in a rush.

But the way his eyes were narrowed told me a lot.

He reached us without a word and looked from Uncle Kyle to me, and then focused on me.

“That ship isn’t some scrapyard hull.” He stated plainly his intentions clear.

“I did a lot of work on it.” I answered the clear unasked question.

“Nonsense. A modded out freighter with a capital weapon is a lot of work. Pirates do that. That is a warship from start to finish.”

“Thank you.” I said instead of answering, just taking it like a compliment.

“There have been no reports of stolen Iris Drives from this station.” He said instead, looking at Uncle Kyle.

“There have not. Nor did we sell one outside of our contracts.” His answer made the Baron huff a quiet laugh.

“Since there is no evidence of a crime, there is no crime then. Katherine…?” He asked, trailing off, and I realized what he wanted. I hesitated a bit.

“Umm. We don’t usually use last names on station.” I answered truthfully, but Great Uncle Kyle interrupted with a quiet clearing of his throat.

“You're the direct granddaughter of Lord Ferrous through his second child, his daughter, my younger sister.” He offered and I just shrugged. Yeah I know?

“I see. Then Katherine Ferrous.” He said and I frowned a bit at that. I hadn’t really had a last name before. I was always just Kat.

I mean the closest thing to a last name I had was actually a state ID number that was long and I had no hope of memorizing it.

That was the only thing that was important for my identity outside of the station.

But I guess that didn’t matter.

“If you say so.” I muttered, and the Baron gave me an odd look before shaking his head.

“You frontiersmen are an odd bunch. Regardless. I am requesting your assistance in defense of this station.” He continued on, confident and firm.

“Ah… Of course.”

“Good. I’ll have my XO contact you and discuss our plans. Unfortunately we don’t have time to discuss this further.” He turned to look at Great Uncle Kyle with a serious face. “I tracked the Pirates to this system. They are here.”

“Shit.” I was surprised that it wasn’t me saying that. Instead Uncle Kyle firmed up and nodded. “We’ll do everything we can to assist you Baron.”

“Good. I will not allow the pirates to act as they please.” And with that he turned and walked away.

“Shit.” This time it was me. I was still having issues with the guns! “I have work to do!” I called out as I ran back to my docking collar. I had to get my guns sorted out!

—--

Baron Cyger Ritz

“What can you tell me?” He demanded as he entered the bridge on the Octavius once more.

“150 Meters. That turret on the front holds a pair of Thermal Cannons, like I suspected. The sensor scans confirm it. The armor is interesting, The material is average, but its fabrication is odd, very very odd!” Eugene, his Chief Engineer replied as he walked over to look at the console he was working with his sensor tech to go over.

How in the hole did his scans of the sector never reveal this? An entire ship! Cyger shook it off. It was a blessing in disguise, and he’d use it as much as he could. If the ship could fire, if it could even distract a few pirates that would be all he needed to take them out.

“I don’t care about the armor. Can it fight?”

“Yes. Well… And no. The scans show almost no shield emitters are functional, the ones that are even installed anyways. Although it does look like her drones are working towards that. But really Sir. This armor is quite something!”

“What is it? You know I don’t have time for nonsense.” Cyger demanded, Eugene could often get stuck on the unimportant details, but just as likely those details might actually be very important.

“Sir. It’s using a design more advanced than what we have!” His Engineer said in a rush. The man was excellent but easily excitable about anything mechanical. “The materials are average at best, but the armor is using an ablative design! I’m not sure what she plans after the battle. I can't imagine the repair time, but her armor will hold up better than normal. I’ll bet it’ll surprise our pirate friends quite a bit… Not that it’ll matter much without proper shields.”

“Do we need to help her?” Cyger asked. He hated to even consider it, but two ships were better than one and a half.

“I wouldn’t even know where to start Sir. This isn’t a common design. In fact it’s not in any database. If I had to put creds on it? I think she designed it herself. It has some hallmarks of young designers.”

“Impossible.” Cyger responded instantly. Creating a ship wasn’t something someone could just do by themselves like that!

“Not impossible. Improbable, but as I said sir. I’d put my Creds on it. The ship is too… Rough. To be from a normal shipyard. Look look, it does something strange with the sides of the ship! The design stutters there. Like she made a mistake while building. I think that’s why the sides of the ship are so flat.”

Cyger took in this information and wanted nothing more than to press on it. But stored it away. Whether it was true or not was unimportant to the fact of what was happening.

“Very well. Artemis?”

“Sir!”

“Confer with her, and set up a doctrine to use the ship.”

“Yes Sir.”

“And Eugene. Continue to keep an eye on that ship, having an additional ship will be useful but I need repairs done.”

“Understood my lord, understood.” Eugene remarked calming down from his excitement and soon he was off to go find some new damage to his ship to repair.

“Anything on our scanners?”

“Nothing Sir. But we will keep looking.” He nodded at that and moved to his command throne.

What were the Pirates planning? When would they attack? And in how many numbers?

He felt his fists tighten in his gloves. This was meant to be a milk run, an easy duty assignment to keep him out of trouble during this war. It was an insult and a gift wrapped in one, and now, it might be far more.

If he succeeded, there would be no lauded rewards in his future. It was expected to defeat pirates, and none would accept that this pirate group was any threat. Even if they would normally be handled by an entire task fleet.

Worse still, if he failed… Failure would ruin his future. What a bitter fruit this gift turned out to be.