Phantom Star

"Okay open the cargo bay." I called out, and the Crabbit that had been rolling around at my feet rushed off on her wheels.

They still didn't like gravity, but giving them all racing practice, and just practice in general with their new additions had been a great idea.

They moved around a lot easier, unfortunately with the elevator still not working, the ones down in the cargo hold couldn't actually get up to the upper floors without help.

Still something to work on.

A few moments later I could hear the seal on the hold door pop and I flinched back as a wave of oxygen flowed in, like smog, it roiled and flowed until it hit the atmospheric forcefield and flowed around filling in, but not entering further.

"Yep, that is something I don't like." I muttered, even if I had checked the planet's habitability information, and while it could make you sick with prolonged use, the air was still considered safe.

I looked out into the roiling almost oily air that brushed against the forcefield. That was safe?

Fuck all that though. I was wearing my forcefield.

"Captain?" I looked up as Hammond came down the ladder.

"Well the air looks terrible, but we're secure." I called out to him. Then I looked at the Crabbits around me. "Does Sin have an update on pickup?" I asked, and they shook their heads.

"No no! No communication yet! Waiting!" They cheered at me, and I just nodded.

"Alright, I want to focus on that before we head out, if that's alright Hammond?"

"Sure. Get the job done right first, before trying to find more." He simply headed over to one of the chairs that had been set up in the hold and plopped down, pulling the pistol he'd had on his hip out, and cleaning it.

Definitely a habit, he wasn't even really thinking about it.

So instead I looked out.

The rain that fell made an awful racket, but it also completely killed any ability to see out of the hold more than a few feet.

And I was going to have to go out into that… I sighed and decided to just wait. Docking fee was taken care of by the client, so I'd just wait a while.

I looked around, the Hauler in the back of the hold sat there and then I looked back out into the mess…

"I think we bought the wrong Hauler." I muttered, the open tope design of the hauler had been great on a warm planet, but in this?

"I wouldn't drive that thing in this. Even if it was closed cab, you won't see a thing in this downpour." Hammond muttered, and all I could do was nod.

Well, I guess we wait, and hope it clears up.

—--

It took three hours before we got a response from our client.

So much for an express delivery.

Either way, the rain didn't let up, and while I'd tried to distract myself with something constructive, I mostly ended up just checking job boards on my tab while I waited. "Haul twelve ton package to Lou Carlou."

"Never heard of it." Hammond muttered, he'd finished cleaning his guns, and yet was still cleaning them.

"It's… Yeah no thanks. They wanted a package delivered across the border."

"With the Dominion?" He asked, looking up almost shocked.

"Yeah."

"They do realize a war is on right?"

"Who knows. Not doing that." I instantly moved off that job request. I couldn't imagine the amount of trouble you'd get trying that. "The pay wasn't even that high."

"Trap maybe? Could be either side trying to set up easy captures."

"Captures?"

"Sure. Wartime changes things. A transport ship hauling goods to the other side? Let's say a Naval vessel caught them. Give them all the reason they'd need to stop them and board. Might even arrest the Captain for treason."

"Oh." I whispered, a little horrified.

"Or could be the Dominion, trying to send transport ships across the border. If you're already there, more likely you'll take jobs there, more likely important goods'll get where they're needed."

"Whoa." I whispered, cause that was… Sinister.

"It's War. Both sides are gonna do whatever it takes to get an advantage. Lot of smart people spent a lot of time coming up with plans to win this thing."

"Right." Lot of smart people. Lot of dangerous people. And one dangerous person that wants my help with something.

I didn't know how long it would take for the Baron to reach out, but I hoped it was never.

"Company." Hammond muttered, and I perked up looking away from my Tab to see, he was right. Lights in the distance, bright enough to cut through even the rain and smog.

A transport pulled up through the fog, the square cab reminded me of a semi truck, but it was more squat, but brutal looking. This transport was made to drive forward against anything.

As I watched I was a bit surprised it actually parked, and the door on the cab opened upward. I wouldn't step out in this, but the driver did. They climbed out, closing the door behind them. They were a blob, wearing a full rain coat like set up, even their face was covered with a gas mask. They stomped forward, seemingly used to the weather, until they hit the open bay doors, and then called out.

"Phantom Star?"

"That's us!" I called back, needing to shout a bit to be heard over the rain.

The man nodded, pulling out a Tab. "I need to check the delivery!"

"Sure come on up." I called out, not like I was going out in that.

He nodded and stepped forward and then up the ramp, and through the forcefield, stopping for a second as he noticed what he had gone through, and then reaching up and pulling off the gas mask. The man was actually young. Barely in his twenties if that.

"Oh that's a relief, I've had an itch on my nose for the last hour." He muttered, happily and scrubbed at his nose for a minute. "Nice ship."

"Thanks."

"Alright, I just need to verify the packages, and I'll start hauling them off." He asked, and I waved him on as he walked over to the transport containers, and flicked his Tab at each one.

"The weathers crazy, that can't be an easy drive."

"First time on Connorday?" He asked suddenly, almost laughing, and I nodded slowly.

"How'd you know?"

"You asked about the weather. Instead of just cursing it like everyone else does. In case you didn't know, don't drink it and try to avoid getting it in your eyes." He offered cheerfully, as he moved to the other containers.

"Err… It's that bad?"

"Eh, issue with the original terraforming. There was some element that was supposed to be found here, but instead of just being solid mass, it turned into a gas. Then the rain picked it up, and that caused some issue with the weather patterns."

"So… How long will this rain last? We were planning on getting some supplies."

"That's the fun thing! It doesn't stop! If you want to head around, call a Bubble Cab. That'll take you down to where everything is. Only us poor idiots that have transport gigs, or work on some of the factories come up here." Then he waved at his gear. "But not without all the gear."

"Right… You got a number for this Bubble Cab?"

"Yeah sure." He muttered checking through his Tab before flicking it at me.

"Thanks."

"Hey, no worries. Welcome to Connorday, the planet of endless noxious rain!" He laughed like that wasn't horrifying. And continued his job.

I looked at Hammond, and he looked a little uncomfortable too.

"I don't remember reading any of that in the planetary info packet."

"Really?"

"Well… I skipped most of it." I whispered, which was really embarrassing to admit.

I was the Captain and yet… This was my fuck up. This planet sucked. Why would I want to transport shit here?

"Hmm." Hammond offered, and then to my surprise he spoke. "Get down and give me twenty."

"What?"

"You fucked up right, and you feel bad about it? Ashamed? Good. Fuck ups are serious. So as punishment twenty pushups. It's how the military does it. You fuck up, you own it, and you pay for it, by improving yourself, even if you're too stupid to learn, at least you're arm'll be a bit stronger." He explained simply, and I blinked and…

I hated that it made sense.

I sighed.

"One." I grunted.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

—---

Finally the containers were trucked off my ship, unfortunately each one was done by hand, by the poor guy, loading it into his truck, so it took a while.

But as I watched his truck disappear into the gloom, I made the Tab call to the Taxi service and put in an order.

"I think it actually looks worse this close to it." Sin muttered as she stood just within the forcefield and looked out over the roiling foggy gloom.

"Yeah." I muttered not really looking forward to any adventures on this planet either.

"They said this bubble shuttle was safe?"

"Apparently it's how people get around. They'll pull up right into the hold and we can climb in." I explained, but then I just shrugged. "I just really don't want to touch that."

"Me either. Fucking Dustballs are bad enough."

"Language."

"Fuck off." Sin cursed at Hammond and then the two seemed to realize what had happened. Hammond looked away, and Sin sort of turned to focus back on the fog.

Riiiight.

Then as the silence stretched I saw it. Through the rain, a bright light flat, and low to the ground, but it was approaching.

"That it?" Sin asked, and then we all backed up a bit as the light came right up…

"Well it looks like a bubble." I whispered. The Truck looked sort of like a pickup, but the back where the bed should be was basically a bubble. It came up, and then turned so its right side slipped right into the forefield but just that. The door opened, making me realize the window on the door didn't open.

Probably for the best.

"Hello! Bubble Transport for Katherine?"

"That's me." I agreed, and decided to be bold. I walked over, and with a press of a button from the driver, a door popped open, a bit of a hiss revealing it was pressurised a bit and, inside the bubble was a set of chairs.

"Well come on in, and get situated!" The driver offered, before closing the door.

"Close the hold once we are gone." I told the Crabbit on my back as I slipped in. Sin and Hammond followed closely, and then as we closed the door it hissed a bit, sealing it shut, and air started blowing heavily around us.

Jeeze, all this to keep the air out? This planet… Kinda sucked.

"Alright folks! Sit tight, we'll be down at the market district in five!" The driver called out, from a speaker, and then we started off.

I turned looking out through the clear bubble to watch the hold doors shutting once we were off.

"Good job." I whispered to my Crabbit getting a happy wiggle. Then I turned to my crew. "You all got your list? I figure we can all hit the shops we need!"

Hammond nodded, but it was Sin that cut in. "Was planning on something of a more relaxed pace." I looked at her, and then remembered.

"Right, of course. If you want to stretch your legs…" I looked outside.

"Yeah I know, first world I get to actually move around on in years and it's like this."

"The underground should be nicer." Hammond rumbled, and I realized he was trying to comfort Sin but she shrugged.

"It's whatever. I'll take what I can get."

"Okay. I don't have anything set up yet, for a timeline, so… Take some leave?"

"Yeah?" Sin asked to make sure, and I nodded.

"Hmm. Alright." Hammond agreed, and we all were set.

"I have your Tab numbers, so I'll let you know if we get some work or something, otherwise, let's say a few days maximum?"

"Few days sounds good enough. If this place isn't a total shithole."

"While the surface isn't great. I can assure you, the underground is quite nice!" The Driver cut in, coming through the radio and startling me a bit. "Sorry for listening, I can't turn this off in case there is an emergency in the back. Speaking of, here it is."

I looked away from my crew. I'd been only partially paying attention as we'd driven, across the open starport space and then into a tunnel, we'd just passed through an air lock of some sort, and as the large doors ahead of us opened…

"Oh."

"Hmm." Hammond grunted, sounding pleased.

"Welcome to the Underground. It does have some fancy name, but everyone just calls it that. Biggest city on the planet, and actually not a bad place to live. Sometimes travelers have issues with it though." He chattered, and I nodded.

Through the clear bubble as we drove down a ramp and onto what looked like a fairly normal street, I was more focused on the massive hole.

Above us, the entire thing was lit faintly, with a noxious haze as what little sunlight managed to make it to the surface struck a massive glass dome.

But then under it, the entire city was laid out, layer after layer. Buildings, and streets and as we drove around the street we were close enough to see the floors seemed to just keep going.

"How many floors are there?"

"For the Underground, about thirty. There're a dozen or so more being worked on, or used for industrial purposes, but those are corporate owned, so who knows how many it really is." The driver replied, and then we pulled off the road and into a spiral that seemed to be taking us downwards.

"This place is weird." I muttered. I was very much a spacer in this life, but I'd done the whole planet thing no problem…

But being underground like this? It made me feel off.

"Never seen anything like it myself." Hammond agreed, and Sin just nodded as she played with her Tab, obviously accessing the city's datanet.

"Alright, Level six, the Market District. Everything and anything you'd want." The driver offered, as we drove off the spiral ramp and then onto the main street, we pulled up to a small parking lot. "Hope you enjoyed your ride!"

We all climbed off, and faced the streets. People were walking around in clumps, most of them wearing clothes like that looked at least partially like rain coats, as if ready for the weather of their planet.

"This place is so weird." I muttered again. Just to repeat myself about how strange this was. But then I smiled. "Want to see what scrap shops they have?" I asked my Crabbit and got a happy smile on her Tab Screen in turn.

"Great. I'll split off here. Looks like the bars are a level below, and I'm getting a drink." Sin offered, already breaking off.

"Be care-Be Safe." Hammond offered and Sin stopped for a second before throwing a hand over her head and waving.

"Don't forget to get your forcefield!" I yelled at her, but that was that. I turned to Hammond. "That goes for you too."

"I won't forget… See you soon Captain." He offered and I felt a bit lonely, as I watched both of them walk away…

"Whatever! I'm gonna find something cool!" I decided, hyping myself up as I split off and started window shopping.

—--

Window shopping gets boring fairly quickly.

I tried to find some furniture for the ship, but everything was brutal rock, or metal. Apparently wood was hard to come by on Connorsday. I looked up into the dome and watched as the slick oily rain continued to come down.

Couldn't possibly guess why that would be.

So in the end, I'd given up once more on finding a nice wooden table for the mess, and instead had searched some tech shops.

Unfortunately, this place sucked.

Battery powered junk was everywhere, and I realized that even my crew finding a good forcefield for themselves, was probably not going to happen.

Connorsday ran on batteries.

Cheap mass produced rechargeable.

There probably weren't Iris Drive installed equipment sold anywhere in this city. Keeping power, literal power in this case firmly under the control of the government meant they had less issues with people causing trouble. The entire reason battery powered equipment still existed.

I don't think I liked it.

I sent out a message to Sin, and Hammond, that they might have trouble finding Forcefields, and instead decided to try some Captain stuff.

Sitting out at a cafe as I drank some weird beverage, I tapped away at my Tab looking at the Transport Guild website.

The sound of people walking past the little private cafe area was weird. Sure back on Earth I'd been around a lot of people, but I'd had years of living on a space station and my own ship.

Finishing my meal, which was full of strange food, but I'd tried it all anyway. I headed out, and then following the map on my Tab, I left the market district finding some civilian elevators that were packed, and had to be taken a dozen people at a time, a long line waiting in front of them. I slowly made it up a few levels.

This level was much quieter, and nicer too. Private corporation offices, and government buildings wound around the level, but I noticed darker areas down streets that split off from the main ring.

Either way I avoided all that and headed for a well lit, and nice building. The Transport Guild Connorsday Branch was my goal.

I'd never actually walked into a Transport Guild building, and since I was a member paying for it and stuff, I figured I would take a look.

Plus you could take jobs from the branch office, and they would even help you find a transport job!

A specialist in the field would know more about it than I would. I was still just jumping onto the website and searching for something that looked okay before accepting it.

Who knows what other tricks existed? What other information in general?

So in my head I had an image of what the Transport Guild office would be like.

The moment I opened the door, my idea popped like a soap bubble.

"It's the fucking Transport DMV." I whispered with dread. Crappy plastic seatings set out in the middle of a large room, with a few workers sitting behind desks talking to people standing in front of them…

I sighed and slumped as I stepped in. I could still ask some questions about selecting jobs. I paid them for that after all. I walked in, and tried to find a seat, but unfortunately… They were made for normal people.

I took one anyway and hunched down in it. "Humans ruined space travel." I cursed as I looked around the DMV, the Space DMV. Why? This could be a cool building with… Sci-fi tech!

Instead it was utilitarian, and ugly, and I hated it.

"Come on Demira! Don't you love me? I just need my license back!"

"You are under investigation-"

"Which has already been proven to be false by the Securitate! Proof that my transport jobs were hit by pirates! Do I look like the type of guy that would fake jobs to steal goods!?" I looked up.

Yes. Yes he did.

But… The guy's suit was also tattered, and he looked a bit rumpled. Had he gone here straight after getting out of jail? He kinda had that look.

"Yes."

"Demira! You wound me! I thought we had something!" He offered, exaggerating as he nearly kneeled right there in front of the office lady, hand on his heart.

"You need to wait for the investigation to complete. The Securitate might have accepted proof pirates were there, but the Transport Guild is not so quick to cut you out of being responsible still."

"Hey!" He barked, sounding offended, as he rose up adjusting his suit jacket, I noticed as he did there were holes in it. "I am an honest businessman. That paid for a Guild License and runs a transport company! Connor by Night Transport, is a trustworthy officially rated company!"

"That had the last six out of seven transports disappear. Pirates." She said the last word like it had quotes around it.

"Which the Securitate has proof of!" He reached over and slapped a finger against a data chit on the table.

"Then you can be sure the Transport Guild will complete a full investigation and determine you had nothing to do with these pirates. Then your license will be reviewed."

"I have a contract! I need my license! Demira, come on! You know what being late on this will do to me!"

"You know as well as I do Conner, that it's gonna take at least a few weeks. If not longer."

"What about the pirates attacking my transports! I have insurance under the Guild!"

"Insurance, that was suspended on account of the active criminal investigation. It'll be disbursed after the investigation if no wrongdoing is attributed to your license. You know that Conner."

"Come on Demira, let me talk to someone that can do something. Simon! Or-"

"Sorry. This issue has already been determined. Conner, find a freelancer. That's all that the Transport Guild can do for now."

While I listened in with half an ear, I was starting to frown.

Sin had checked on this system for Pirates.

When we arrived in system, as I was sent landing and system information, I'd gotten an update from the Connorsday system authority.

There hadn't been any pirate information. I pulled up the info, and as far as the Authority was concerned the system was clear, or as clear as any system could ever get.

Deciding enough was enough. I rose up and walked over waving my Tab. "Hey! What's this about pirates? I didn't get any updates about Pirates in system."

"Oh, miss, we assure you that any pirate attacks are well-"

"They're keeping it quiet, cause they don't want to admit they got pirates in system. Cause then they'd have to admit they arrested me for no reason!" The man, Conner I guess, spoke adjusting his suit and then looking at me.

Then up.

And up.

Conner was not very tall.

"And I see out of the Dark Hole itself, I was sent an angel!" He exaggerated, giving me a little bow that I think nobles did? And an attempt at a charming smile.

"Riiight. The pirates?" I asked the office lady, and she had that uncomfortable look on her face like she was trying to toe the line while having company lies thrown in their face.

Yeah, I'd made that face before.

"The Securitate are investigating rumors of potential pirate attacks, but we have nothing confirmed officially. Unofficially Mr. Tally here being out of jail is good evidence the Securitate have that evidence, and the information will likely be dispersed to us shortly."

"Not likely." Conner chuckled. "But if you are worried about them, I'm more than happy to tell you the exact coordinates to avoid, Or if you want a bit of danger, and you've got space, I can offer you a solid in system delivery contract!"

"Not verified by the Transport Guild." The Office Lady cut in, pointedly. Conner sent her a look, but also was sending me a suave, if a bit slimy smile.

I… I'd just wanted to ask for advice about finding Jobs.