Phantom Star

"Okay tell me how it feels, any issue with the power draw anywhere?"

"No no! Crabbit ready!" She chattered, and I had to grin at her quirk. She wasn't very smart yet, since I was keeping her separate from the swarm while I ran her through some tests. She needed more individual testing considering she was packing a Blaster Rifle built into her chassis.

"Crabbit is a good girl then. Can you test your wheels for me?"

"Yes yes! Crabbit can!" She chirped and while floating her wheel attachments spun around.

Good. "Okay, try the extenders."

Her legs stretched out, not quite twice as long, but long enough that she could, if we were in gravity and she was stuck on the floor, shoot high enough to hit someone just a foot in front of her at least chest height.

I checked her more rugged wheels. She'd actually be capable of going out onto grass or dirt, if needed. But I hoped that wouldn't ever be necessary.

But it was an engineer's job to consider the situations that could happen, and not just the best use case.

"Okay go ahead and shut down for me."

"Crabbit will shut down!" She agreed and I had to reach out and catch her out of the air as she suddenly dropped.

Silly girl.

I looked over her extended chassis. The gun barrel was only a small tube just below her Tab screen. It ran under her chassis, and then she had an additional module at the back. Instead of a crab, she almost looked like a scorpion, or a spider.

I looked over at the gas magazine, and grinned.

I'd needed to come up with a good way to keep the Crabbits from playing with their new guns.

So the magazines were painted red.

Emergency only.

No play.

It should be enough to keep them honest about it, and I'd gone through a lot of gun safety information and added it into this test unit's memory.

She also had a lot more processing power, double the normal Crabbit inbuilt into her unit…

It'd be fine.

I stood up and stretched. I'd been in the workshop for hours, only really taking small breaks to eat and drink.

I had said a few days of leave, but I hadn't heard from Sin. There was definitely a part of me that was worried she would just leave. So instead of getting anxious… Well, more anxious, worrying about it. I just remembered that I had decided to trust her.

She was my crew. So if she left, she left, but for now I'd just assume she was having fun.

I stepped out of the workshop the attack Crabbit still resting on the workbench.

I really needed to come up with a better name for them… Battle Crabbit? Gun Crabbit?

I'll keep workshopping it.

I noticed that the second deck was quiet, but I could hear chatter down below once I entered the mess room, so I walked over and slipped down the ladder, hitting the ground and turning.

"Having fun?"

"Hmm." Hammond grunted. He was sitting on a chair and half watching the Crabbits race around. He'd put up the race track for them?

That was actually super adorable. I grinned as I walked over to sit beside him, watching my girls cheerfully zoom around the track, although I noticed it wasn't really a race, more like they just had the zoomies.

Heh.

This was the longest stay on a planet we've ever done. Were they getting a bit anxious?

Then I realized just how many were down here.

"Did you help bring them down from the mess deck?"

"Hmm. They asked." He said, and I grinned at the older man. Trying to hide behind cleaning his guns as if he wasn't being super cute.

"Thanks Hammond. I'm sure they appreciate it, and I do too."

"It's nothing." He offered with that gruff grumble he often spoke in.

"Have you heard from Sin?"

"No." He said bluntly, and I could see the way his jaw clenched a bit at the word.

"Alright." I said acting calm despite myself being nervous about it as well. "Oh, I finished the first weaponized Crabbit… Still need a better name." I muttered.

"Hmm?"

"But I haven't tested the weapons or anything, want to help?"

"Hmm." He grunted in agreement, and I nodded. I rose and stretched out again.

"Alright let me go get her. Want to set up a target?"

"Hmm."

I hurried back up and came down holding her to my chest, and funnily enough my appearance with a new Crabbit caused the race track to quickly become empty as all the Crabbits rushed over.

"Whose that!? Big!"

"Kat Kat! Why big butt?"

"It's not a butt!" Another called out seemingly offended, but the other scoffed.

"Butt." She pointed right at the Crabbit in my arms.

"Gasp!"

"Big butt! Hehehe!" The Crabbits were soon giggling, or arguing amongst themselves.

"Okay okay! Girls! Listen up. I know this is something new, but this is a specialized Crabbit. Like your sisters that were made into the Shield Crabbits."

"Yay! Shield!" A few cried out, no doubt those particular four.

"Right, so we're going to start seeing specialized Crabbits, made for specific purposes. So get along, don't tease her. We're all here to work together right?"

"Yes yes!" Some called back, but some were over eager.

"Wake her up! Wake her up!" They shouted, claws raised like they wanted to grab her.

Thankfully they couldn't float around right now.

"Okay, I'll wake her up, and hook her into the network. Now what do we do with new Crabbits?"

"Sync! Sync!"

"No!" I said hand raised. "What happens if we all try to sync to one sister at the same time?"

"Uuuu." They all looked nervous.

"That's right. Let her interact first. Don't overwhelm her." Then I placed the Gun Crabbit? Nah, I didn't like that either, on the ground. Flipping her on only took a second and this time she had an open network.

She rose to her feet, and looked around.

"Crabbit is awake!" She called out cheerfully, and all the Crabbits suddenly cheered claws waving in the sky.

"Hello hello!"

"Yes yes! Hi hi!"

I just chuckled as the new Crabbit was swarmed, but I could practically see her accessing the network, and thankfully the girls didn't overload her access.

I watched as she went from sort of robotic movements, to smoothing out, her feet shifting to better hold herself, although she teetered a bit unbalanced.

That's right, a different body type would mean different positions and movement.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

The entire swarm quieted as no doubt they were offering their own hardware so the new Crabbit could learn and adapt quicker.

They were all good girls when it really came down to it.

The Blaster Crabbit stepped forward, and then another step more solidly, and as it got to the point where she was walking in circles, she was getting smoother and smoother.

"Everything working okay?"

"Yes yes! Crabbit is okay!" She cheered and I grinned, she had kept her odd little speech pattern after all.

"Well with the girls watching, why don't we get some of our practice done. Hammond? You want to guide her through the start? I have her ammo here." I pulled out the magazine from my overextended pocket. It had only barely fit in there.

"Alright. Stand here." He ordered, and it was an order, and I grinned as she jolted a bit at the tone before scurrying over and finding her spot, seemingly before remembering she had wheels and then started to maneuver a bit to be perfectly in the spot he had pointed out.

"Yes yes! Crabbit is ready!"

"Alright. Let me see that." He asked, and I handed over the magazine. "This is ammunition, it gives you a gun. What is a gun?"

His question caught the Crabbit off guard, and I saw the process as all the Crabbits joined up to give her a better chance to answer.

"Umm… Crabbit says a gun is a weapon?"

"Hmm. Correct. A weapon, and a weapon hurts, or kills. That's what it's for. It's not a toy." He waved the mag in her face and I watched as her screen shifted, different emotions.

"Yes! Yes! Crabbit understands. Kenish Duchal Soldier training manual states, weapons are not entertainment!"

"Hoh, you read that?"

"Yes it is in Crabbits harddrive! Very important!"

Hammond looked at me, and I just shrugged. "The manual has a good bit about gun safety, I figured making it a main part of their memory would help."

"I can work with that. Alright Soldier! Step 1 on the preparation to shoot!"

"Eee! Crabbit knows this!" She chirped, and I just sat back as Hammond ran her through the steps, although 'cleaning the weapon wasn't a step she could easily do.

Finally, he was satisfied and he bent down and with just a bit of trouble he slotted in the Magazine.

"Ooooh! Ammunition full!" Crabbit gasped as her systems would have just updated.

"Alright, aim for the target, follow the steps!"

"Yes yes! Checking fire line, checking target, checking behind target! All green!"

"Then Fire."

The bolt fired. A blast of Plasma, shooting out of her barrel, and then splashing onto the target. It even hit the metal plate we'd set up, if not on the actual bullseye.

"Accceptable! Adjust aim! Fire."

And so I sat back and watched, gathering data as a new form of my Crabbits were born.

Blaster Crabbit? Eeeh, it still doesn't sound right.

Defense Crabbit?

No no, that's not it. Maybe an acronym?

—---

Hammond and I both just stayed on the ship that night, and yet there was no sign of Sin.

I could tell he was getting anxious, but I was trying to play it cool, not mentioning her, and just playing with the Crabbits, and working on a second Combat Chassis.

Two Crabbit with weapons sounded like a good amount for now.

But thankfully, as the afternoon according to the planetary clock rolled around, a Bubble Taxi pulled up to the hold, and out stepped Sin.

I got the alert from the Crabbits telling me, and I hurried down, purely to inform her about the situation, and not because I'd been worried or anything.

Thankfully I ran into her as she climbed up into the mess room and I noticed the differences.

"Looks like shopping went well?"

"Yeah." She offered, as she adjusted her new clothes, which still looked rocker chic, but seemed newer, and had less tasteful rips and tears. She was also carrying a duffel bag that she hefted over her shoulder as she walked into the quarters section.

"Hmm." Hammond grunted, and I looked over at him. He'd been lurking around the corner but hadn't spoken up.

"Happy she's back."

"Hmm. No injuries. Good." He muttered and turned around to walk away.

"Once Sin is settled back in, we're going to have a meeting about the job."

"Understood Captain." He offered before continuing on, and I smiled. Great, now I just had to prepare for potential combat against pirates… Yay.

I turned and headed up into the bridge, slipping into my comfy chair. I pulled up the Tab and the system data.

"Did you go over everything?"

"Yes yes! Area has been explored!" I smiled at Navigations words, as I pulled up the Tab. Thankfully being a very settled system the entire place had very detailed scans, including of the asteroid field where this mining station was located.

I flicked my Tab. There, displayed over the sights of the terrible view of Connorsday was a representation of the system. With some adjustments on my Tab I zoomed in towards the station, and checked out the asteroid field.

The station actually moved, inside the circular asteroid belt, making it easier to mine and gather, but that meant less defenses around the station…

Yet it wasn't the station being attacked, but the transports.

I pushed a few buttons, and the data that Conner had given me appeared. Routes that the transports had taken, at least the routes they should have taken appeared as lines. The Station hadn't moved too much, mining asteroids took time after all, but I was more interested in where the transports were attacked.

Only had one data point for that. The transport that a passing trader had noticed and reported.

Every other attack had been like a ghost. Which meant ECM, obviously, the pirates cut communication when they attacked.

The only data had the attack happen in the asteroid belt, which made sense, that's where the station was, so that's where the transports were going. Fighting in an asteroid belt, while ECM was messing with your sensors?

Dangerous.

Plus I wasn't exactly a transport ship. If the Pirates saw me, they'd either run, or just pass on by pretending they were traders.

So the problem was finding the pirates, tricking the pirates, and defeating the pirates.

I'd be relying on Sin for help, but even with her help I needed to figure out the tactics here. Where do I come from, what path do I take, what can I do to make sure the Pirates don't run.

If there were multiple ships, only taking out one wasn't good. That would just push the trouble back a ways.

I'd probably be shooting some expensive missiles during this battle.

I continued staring at the asteroid field for a long while. Just trying to formulate, something was on the tip of my tongue, an idea that was slowly working its way up.

"Something up?" Sin's voice coming from behind me pulled me away and I smiled as I turned.

"Yep. We got a job. I'm going to need your expertise."

"Electronic Warfare?"

"Yep. We're hunting pirates."

"Oh, that I know about too." She offered as she dropped off… Snacks, and a few other doodads around her console. Heh she was settling in, that worry about her disappearing was quickly vanishing. "Alright, hit me Captain, what's going on."

"Right, so I ran into this guy at the Transport Guild."

—--

"I still think this smells like a trick." Sin commented as she leaned back against her console as I explained everything she'd missed.

"I don't think Conner is lying."

"He sounds like a slimebag, probably sends the ships straight to the pirates himself."

"I don't think so." I argued, but I wilted a little. "I understand it seems sketchy, but I think it's a job worth taking."

"Alright, you're the captain. So they move inside the asteroid field… The base is part of it."

"What?" I asked, jolting a bit in surprise.

"What base?" Hammond called out with a grunt as he climbed up onto the bridge. "Sorry, I'm late." He offered to me, and I just waved him off.

"The mining station. It's part of it." Sin offered as she walked over and with a bit of a stretch reached up to tap on the Stations location.

I reached over and just adjusted the screen down so she could reach but my mind was buzzing.

"What makes you say that?"

"That's a mining station… They have some of the best scanners in the system. Lot of those asteroids will give off false readings, bouncing signals. The Station needs accurate readings though. So the sensors will be good enough to cut through all that."

"So if there were pirates, or trouble in the asteroid belt… They'd know."

"Right."

"But how? Someone would have noticed that!"

"It could just be one guy, get a good sensor tech, or a comms expert, or someone like me on the station? As long as they're not being watched all the time, it'd be easy to adjust a few things. Probably why your buddy Conner was arrested. If the station didn't report the attacks, then they probably suspected it was just someone disappearing with the cargo."

"So… If you're right, then we can't get close to the station without possibly getting a warning to the pirates. Can we lure them away? Give them a target away from the station and hit them?"

"From what you've said? Probably not." Sin offered instantly, and I looked at her, her eyes locked on the screen. "This isn't just a couple of wild assholes, these are pirates for hire."

"Pirates for hire?"

"Sure. Think about it. Lots of people want their enemies taken out or disrupted. Corporations might want a rival's shipment destroyed or stolen to bring it to them, or could be bad business, criminals needing a bit of firepower against someone causing them trouble. It's a lot easier to have pirates hit a transport ship with some Governor, or his family or something, than kidnapping them on planet. I've seen it before."

"Damned scoundrels." Hammond growled, fist clenching.

"Yeah these types? They aren't just greedy, they're cautious. The smart ones, or at least that's how they like to portray themselves. They'll move around a lot. Send out feelers and get hired for a job, and then disappear before the sector security can properly plan for them."

"So we can't lure them, and we can't get close to them without being spotted… So how do we catch them?" I asked, looking at the screen. These pirates… If what Sin assumed was correct, they had put themselves into a really strong position.

They had powerful scanners to catch anyone trying to sneak up on them, and they would always know when their target was coming thanks to bureaucracy.

How do you catch someone that always knows when you are coming and going?

"You don't catch them, that's why this sort of piracy is so frustrating. Barbatos had a similar system, with the nebula making it nearly impossible to track him. It took someone on the ship giving you the information for you to get him." Sin offered casually, and I frowned at her. That's not… Exactly how that had gone, but she was right.

She'd given the pirates information out there, and it was only because of that, it had become a fight.

If the pirates had managed to flee? I'd have lost them in the soup of the nebula.

"Luckily for you? This is literally what I did for ten years. The answer is simple. You're overthinking it."

"What?" I asked, looking at her in surprise.

"You call that guy you took this job from, and we take the cargo that is going to the station."

"They'll see the Phantom Star isn't some transport ship. They'll run."

"That Captain is what you keep me around for. Leave that part to me." Sin offered sounding mysterious and cool…

"That's cool and all Sin, but I'm the Captain and I want actual answers not you trying to sound mysterious." I said flatly, and she blinked, looking a bit taken aback at my words, before flushing.

"Ah, right… Sure I'll uh… Show you what I have in mind?"

"Perfect. While we do that. Hammond, can you double check our weapon systems?" I asked, turning to the large man. He'd been sort of just standing there taking in the room as Sin talked.

Honestly I wasn't sure how well he was handling Sin's casual pirate discussion.

"Will do Captain." He offered and disappeared back down the ladder.

Sin I noticed, relaxed a little as well.

I think both of them weren't quite as comfortable as they tried to pretend around the other.

Either way, Sin sat at her station, and started walking me through what she was thinking.

This… This could work.