Phantom Star

Having a plan and implementing it, of course, isn't the same thing.

Once Sin showed me her idea, and I confirmed it was possible we set to work setting it up, while I also sent out a message.

Just because I'd decided to do this, didn't mean Conner was actually on board. So it was time to confirm it.

Which meant the worst part of any plan, the talking.

I settled into my Captains chair and fiddled with my Tab a bit, mostly wasting time as I pulled up Conner's comm number before finally deciding to call him.

It took a while as the call went through and I waited for an answer.

Sin humming along to whatever terrible boy band or whatever she was listening to behind me the only sounds on the Bridge.

The Bridge Crabbits were silent and still, their processing power given to their sisters, since they weren't doing anything at the moment.

Then finally the comm went through. Conner's face looked smug, almost arrogant, as he seemed to set himself almost sideways, like he was half leaning.

"Angel, I knew I'd hear back from you. Kind and Beautiful, just like I said."

"Conner."

"Right right, I remember, Captain Katherine." He offered, but it was fake and I'd bet I'd get called Angel at least a few more times on this call.

"I've been considering your job. Talked it over with my crew. I think I can help you."

His face shifted into an even wider smile. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

"I have some idea."

"Even though it's dangerous? You understand?"

"I have some ideas on how to avoid the pirates." I uttered, pointedly not glancing at Sin.

It had been her idea in fact to not actually mention the exact plan to Conner. I wasn't sure, but Sin was the expert with this sort of thing, and even Hammond had agreed when he heard what Sin was saying.

So as the good Captain, I was taking the advice from my crew that knew more than me.

"Even with the danger you come down to pull my poor bottom out of the fire." He whispered, almost sniffling, and I just rolled my eyes.

"So, this is me formally accepting the supply delivery job. We'll just need to get everything else out of the way and pick up the package."

Suddenly Conner turned serious. "I know you understand the risks Angel, but you do understand this could involve, pirates, enemy action, danger. This isn't a Transport Guild approved delivery at the moment. I'm paying out of pocket for the insurance… If this fails, it isn't just you that will deal with pirates, I'll be dealing with the crooks at the Securitate. Probably be behind bars the rest of my life."

"I have no intention of letting some pirates take this package. It'll get to the station."

He looked at me, and then shifted into a lopsided smile. "Well when an Angel descends-"

"Conner."

"-What else can you do but just go along for the ride. Sorry." He offered at the end. He didn't sound sorry.

"Contract?"

"I'll prepare and send it now, your docking number?"

I flicked a bit on my Tab and sent him where the Phantom Star was.

"Then the supplies will be on their way the moment the contract is approved, and the supply department sends it… Thank you."

"Thank me with my paycheck, I'm not doing this for free." I reminded him, and he shifted into a little half bow on the screen. "Out." I said and flicked the call off.

"That was cute. I didn't take your type for tiny, slimy, and-"

"Sin! He is so not my type! At all! Ever!" I gasped desperate to make sure there was no misunderstanding with that!

"But you're helping the sleeze ball out."

"I'm putting myself in a situation to stop some pirates that have been attacking people." I countered strongly, because ew.

"Heh. Sure Cap." She teased as if she didn't believe me.

"Don't start." I grumbled at her, but my Tab beeped. The Contract had been sent, and I looked through it.

I had seen a few contracts by now, and Marie had gone over a lot of details with me back on UNK-L.

This contract… Well it wasn't great. There were a lot of rules in place. Direct transfer, no stops, the sort of stuff that made you suspect whoever wanted this job done wanted a bit too much control of things.

But in the end, the most they could do was levy a fine against me, or Conner technically, but it would come down on me, for not directly transferring the goods.

The numbers were listed, and frankly the deal was acceptable. I'd happily pay a fine if I could get a pirate ship to strip down.

I finished confirming the contract and sent it back, and very quickly got an update for the supply delivery.

I went to work contacting Air Traffic Control to let them know we'd need liftoff clearance, and I looked at Sin and nodded.

She got to work on her side.

Perfect.

The weather of Connorsday was actually going to be to our benefit here. Now I just had to load up.

—--

"When you said you had a ship, I'll admit Angel, that I expected something a bit smaller!" Conner had shown up just before the supply delivery, coming out in what looked like a private vehicle, a sort of shabby looking bubble car.

"The Phantom Star is a good ship. She'll carry the supplies no problem." I confirmed, and grinned.

He'd see the Phantom Stars gigantic ass, what he wouldn't see was her big ass front, the weather made sure that any attempt at getting a proper view of my girl was pointless.

"With a hold this large I believe you're right… Is she fast enough?"

"She's more than capable of handling this. I will likely be adjusting the course a bit." I informed him and he winced.

"You know they don't allow that. The contract is clear." He stuttered, gently trying to argue.

"It's a fine, and we can discuss any issues because of it, when the job is done." I decided, cutting off any attempt at haggling right now. I'd normally be more nervous about this sort of thing, but Conner's slimy attitude annoyed me enough I didn't feel like I was awkward.

It was almost funny.

"Ah, well… I guess any delivery, even one with a fine is better than defaulting on the contract." He offered a bit weakly and I nodded.

"Captain." Hammond's voice called out, and I looked up to see another bright light approaching.

"Ah, that'll be the supplies. Government job, it always shows up late, but at least it'll be there." Conner added and I just nodded as I stepped forward to the forcefield. As the massive cargo vehicle pulled in. A man stepped out wearing those same sort of rain coats I'd seen before and he entered the hold.

"Delivery signature?" He asked, and Conner quickly hurried over to my surprise and sighed.

Oh right, he was hiring ships that weren't part of the Transport Guild, so he had to sign for them himself.

Risky.

Which I guess he'd learned.

Soon the truck backed up, and the truck itself lifted the supplies off dropping them into my hold, along with a ton of the fetid water.

I just sighed. I'd need to do some cleaning down here after all of this… And probably the outside. The toxic atmosphere had caused some issues, I'd have to clean up, but thankfully nothing too terrible.

I couldn't wait to get off this planet.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"That's that then, Captain Katherine." Conner offered nervously, he wrung his hands nervously, which I was familiar with. Yeah anxiety sucked.

"I'll get the supplies up there. I'll message you when I finish the delivery."

"A true Angel. Safe flying." He offered to me and I just nodded rolling my eyes as he was still trying to butter me up.

He fled back to his vehicle, soon after, and I closed the hold.

"Alright, battle stations everyone!" I called out, Hammond was already set up by the Airlocks with weapons and equipment ready.

Then I headed to the bridge.

"Once we get out of the atmosphere I'm cracking the hold back open to purge that atmosphere. I don't even want to try and cycle it." I muttered and Sin chuckled at my comment, the woman only had one of her head phones in.

"Yeah this place stinks."

"Don't forget to get your Forcefield on, we're going into battle." I reminded her, and Sin just laughed, which confused me, as I got the all clear, and lifted off.

"I didn't buy one. The shops I checked only had garbage."

"What!? You had one job!"

—---

Captain Benjamin Teller

Flying Prak

Connorsday System

The sound of the knock on his quarters door woke him, and he grumbled, as he rose up, and slipped out of his bunk.

"This better be good!" He rumbled, as he slammed the door controller opening his door.

"Captain!"

"What?"

"We got a message!"

"Well?"

"It's on the low Bandwidth line."

Ben blinked and then grinned. Instantly he brushed past Pete and rushed up to the bridge, uncaring that he was only half dressed.

The low Bandwidth line was the job line. A scrambled message that would just sound like static if you didn't have the system meant to unscramble the message.

He reached the bridge and tapped on the Comm Tab, accessing the message and running it through the program.

*Supply Delivery to TK14-M, Ship designation Phantom Star. Do not deliver.*

Heh. He chuckled. That little prak Conner thought they'd let him off?

"Battle stations! Send a scanner data request to TK!" He ordered and Pete swapped with him as he rose, already knowing how to contact the station and get their sensor data.

Not that these ships ever made it difficult. It had been genius by somebody to force supply deliveries to follow specific routes. The Creds flew right towards him. It was as always a delight.

"Killer, what'd we got on this ship? Phantom Star?" He demanded, as he made to leave the bridge.

"Nothing yet! New ship in system, I'll pull their registery!"

"Do that! I want to know what poor bastard we're dealing with." He demanded walking back to his room to get dressed. Heh, another easy job. Supplies he could sell off later, and a nice bonus for doing the job. This was easily the best job he'd ever taken

All he had to do was be willing to murder people and steal their stuff.

Much better than being the poor prak that gets stolen from at least. He'd had that happen enough he was no longer willing to be the prak that everyone steps on.

He finished suiting up and instead of heading to the bridge went back to the engine room.

"Temp!" He roared sticking his head into the engine room. "My Engine better be purring!"

"Captain!" The noise of a banged head as always delighted Ben as he waited for the fool to climb out from under part of the engine.

"Well?"

"Everythings good! Yep! Definitely all good!... Even though I'm just a speeder mechanic."

"Don't back talk me. You know more about engineering than anyone else on the crew, and you shot my last engine monkey." He glared.

"He was trying to kill me!"

"And?" He mocked back. It was fine. Temp was alright. Actually probably better than the last guy, what's his face.

He just was a total coward, but Ben liked that in a crewmember.

"Get our engines fired up, we're hunting."

"Yes Captain!"

He headed out, passing more of the crew as he did. His old bird had a few crew cabin extensions on, to fit all the marines.

Ten void marines were usually more than enough to secure some freighter transporting supplies. Even if it did make the ship a bit cramped sometimes.

"Get your gear on! What are you waiting for!" He roared at them, and they scurried to arm up. The damn red lights had already switched on, they should all be busting their ass for this! Time for a battle! Time to make some Creds!

Stomping back onto the bridge he took his seat, and pulled up his Tab checking the data that Killer had sent over.

"This it?"

"That's it Captain." Killer called back.

"Find me more then! This isn't enough data to wipe my ass with!" He roared before looking it over. Phantom Star registered surprisingly recently, but the page was basically blank. No ship type, no origin shipyard. Was it some ancient ass freighter that had data so old it wasn't stored?

"I looked up the Transport Guild data!" Killer called, and Ben relaxed. Good, the man had actually used his damn brain and found more.

Dimensions on the ship, hundred and fifty meters? That was big for a freighter, was she a transport tug? Maybe a corporate ship? "Corproate affiliation?" He demanded, and Killer went to check.

It was one thing to do some piracy another to piss of particular corps.

He'd still do it, but he'd probably have to prepare an exit plan if that was the case.

"None! Captain Katherine Ferrous is independent."

"Wonderful." He whispered as he ran through everything he was seeing.

Conner the slimy little prak wasn't a fool. He hadn't reached out to get back in the client's good graces, so… What was the plan here?

"Pete! I want a double check on the sensor data, there had better not be a Duchy ship waiting to fuck us!"

"I'll double check Captain, but everything was accounted for this morning!" Pete called, and Ben grumbled. He didn't care if it was fine this morning, He wanted it fine now!

But Pete was loyal, and a good worker. Poor fucker lost everything and ended up as a pirate, but Ben was happy for it. A good bridge crewman was hard to find on this side.

"Phantom Star is in system for a delivery job! Looks like it had a few days of sitting on its ass on Connorsday."

"So they were desperate for a job and found Conner? Pfft. Bad luck for them." He chuckled. "Find me more! And Pete when you check those scans, I want everything we can see about this ship! Weapons, shields, everything!"

"Yes Captain!"

Good. He chuckled as the Flying Prak warmed up her engines. The Itello was also preparing low Bandwidth laser communication sending a few confirmations that Itello was good.

Then the boring part of this job happened, the wait.

"Phantom Star Broke atmosphere. Scans… They're coming back a bit ruddy Captain. I'm not seeing anything. She looks like an ice breaker?"

"Pointed hull?" He asked.

"Yes Sir!"

"Then she's ancient. Check for weapons, if she's that old she's probably armed." He grumbled, an Ice Breaker? Fucking hell, what was an old Ice Breaker still doing active. He'd blown one up once, but it had been a literal museum piece. Some of the first ships in this region of space had been ice breakers. Transports coming here to smash apart ice rocks and throw them at new planets to help terraform.

"I'm not seeing anything on the scans… This isn't right." Pete muttered. The man was quieter than he should be.

"Speak up or don't talk!"

"Sorry Captain. The scans aren't right. I think the station didn't properly tune their scanning equipment today. I'm getting back weird readings."

"You think?"

"It'd explain this fuzziness. I'm not getting any weapon readings exactly, the shields are… I think that's why the scans are weird, the scanners aren't properly registering the shields. Let me check emission information… Looks like a mish mash of different designs."

"Well that makes sense." An old ship would have dozens of different emitters if the captain was cheap enough not to buy a full refit.

"Keep an eye on it." he demanded, although he knew Pete would already be doing that.

His fingers were tapping as the hunt drew closer, It had been a quiet few weeks, and some plunder would definitely satiate his band of killers. It'd satiate him too.

"Shit! Captain! The Ship is deviating from course!" Ben instantly understood. Take the fine, and try to deliver the cargo by evading the pirates.

Conner wasn't so stupid after all…

Well no, he was. This asteroid field was his home, and it didn't matter how much they tried to evade.

"Alright, we're moving. Pete, I want their course! Killer, do your best to keep us cloaked."

"Yes Captain!"

Ben just grinned as the Flying Prak lifted off, the Itello following just behind him. He fiddled with a course with one hand, and flew with the other, his eyes shifting from one to the other.

Looks like the target was planning on trying to use some larger asteroids as cover to slip close to the station.

Pointless. The station told Ben exactly where everything was, there was no hiding.

"Captain! This sensor interference… I think our target has got some EW experience. These scans from the station are too weird to be normal."

"Hah! They really think that'll be enough to hide from us!" He crowed, utterly pleased with the situation.

He'd probably get a bonus considering that Prak Conner was now going to have to pay an additional fine on top of losing another shipment.

He really wished he could still go on planet, just to mock the man to his face for his decisions. All because the bastard thought he could dip his toe while acting like a legit businessman.

He should have known that no one really goes legit.

"What're they doing?" He muttered, noticing the ship slow on the received scans, close to an asteroid. Then it struck him. They really didn't know about the station connection. They were trying to hide, pull up next to a big rock which would interfere with sensors and just wait for any sight to fade away before making the run.

Was this Captain an old Smuggler? Fool. Never should have taken a job to smuggle something past pirates!

He flicked a switch, a laser comm to the Itello. "Go around, following this course, we'll pincer them." His comm sent, he shifted. He'd go around one side, towards their rear, and the Itello would go towards their front.

He grinned.

Being able to send the Itello to draw fire was as always an amusing experience. It'd let the Flying Prak take less damage if the freighter had any fight in them, and he could mock the fool Yaeta for making a mess of the Itello again.

He glanced at this Tab and snarled "Temp! I said combat quiet, lower the emissions of our engine, or I'll throw you out to speed up the ship!" He demanded, and Killer was already working with Pete, to lower the Prak's visible emissions, and increase their own ECM systems.

The engine was not in the perfect condition Temp liked to say, so Pete and Killer were pulling up the slack.

Ben would have to go to a shipyard soon to get real maintenance done. Or kidnap a good engineer.

In the end it wouldn't matter, he was confident.

This smuggler might have some EW knowledge, but with constant updates from the station the Prak could fly extra quiet when needed. Along with some upgrades, some meta materials he'd plundered from time to time, and the Praks emissions were already muffled even with the engine out of sorts.

So he sat back in his chair, smirk stretching across his face, his fingers tapping at the Tab mostly just for something to do, but he was making minor adjustments to the course as he did.

The time was right, and he engaged the engines fully, uncaring that the freighter would notice him now. His job was to spook the Captain and chase it right into the Itello. Coming around the asteroid, he'd actually be in ECM Clash range before the poor bastard could even start to run.

Then just as he rounded the bend Killer called out, his voice calm, but urgent.

"Missile Launch detected!"

"Release countermeasures, and start lighting this freighter up, if they want to-What the hell is that!?" This close there was no relying on the station's scanner. The ECM of both ships were countering each other, and Ben got a direct look at the vessel he had been hunting. His bridge screen zoomed right in, showing the already moving ship coming away from the asteroid. "BREAK OFF!" He ordered, just a glance had sent every instinct he had desperately trying to escape.

Military!? Here?

"Captain! The Countermeasures aren't working! Missiles are staying locked!"

"Brace!" He roared, as he quickly flicked the Tab trying to send a message to the Itello to jump in, perhaps the fool would actually do so and distract this ship for long enough for the Flying Prak to escape.