Phantom Star - Chapter 10

Five ships.

 

The twinkling of their engines in the distance glinted in space, it was a beautiful image for the danger it represented. They drew closer and closer, coming to kill me.

 

I tore my eyes away from the viewport, and towards the Tab at my side that had a map of the system, and the estimated ranges of all of our weapons.

 

I needed to bring the pirates into range of not just the static defenses, but the Octavius, and do it without losing too much of my ship in the process.

 

The math was clear. I should lose this fight. The Phantom Star just wasn’t complete enough for this. I was confident one or two of the ships would be dead before this fight ended, but that wasn’t nearly enough before they tore me apart.

 

Yet, I had to try. This was my home, and more importantly, I had some things on my side. The pirates missile boat was gone, and the rest of the pirate ships we had some data for. The Octavius was sending me constant updates of what weapons each of the ships had used in the previous engagement, and already the data was coming in…

 

“Hard Starboard!” I demanded without looking up.

 

I would switch to a broad side and try to drag them into the missile satellites, but more importantly, the ships on that side of the pirate formation had lighter weapons…

 

It would have to be enough.

 

“We have the power, as soon as they are in range, start shooting the Thermal Lance’s lasers, a lucky hit is still a hit.” I called out, and the Crabbit in charge of the weapons immediately grumped at me.

“That’s bad Math! Bad Math!”

“It’s just percentages.” I replied knowing how to handle her. “A low percentage shot, still has a chance to hit right?”

“Mmmm. Bad Math!” She grumbled back, but I could see the turret shifting already.

 

Good girl.

 

Once I was in position I kept the engines at a solid 90% throttle. It would hopefully give me some leeway to speed up or slow down if I need to, but I needed the pirates to think I was prey.

 

Well, I was. But I needed them to think this was all according to whatever plan they had.

 

“Warning! Contact! Contact!” Sensor Crabbit called out and I grimaced as out the side of the viewport I could see flashes. And then lights flew around the Phantom. All misses fortunately.

 

“Alright everyone! You know what to do!” I called out and the Crabbit cheered despite the seriousness of what was happening.

 

I guess it was to their own benefit that they didn’t have any understanding of death.

 

A moment later I felt the hum of power flowing through the ship and the turret started firing. Lasers shooting off into the distance.

 

“Miss! Miss! Bad Math!” The Tactical officer called out and I ignored her.

 

That started the long distance portion of this fight. The Pirates came at me as fast as their ships could push, and I was forced to try and run, just too slow to use proper maneuvers against them.

 

If only I had the rest of the nacelles this would be a different battle.The Phantom was kind of a big girl for just two engines.

 

“We’re in range of the first missile platform!” Navigation Crabbit called out and I nodded pleased.

That was a relief. At least one surprise was now set.

 

“Awww. Almost hit. Almoooost!” I smiled as despite the ‘Bad Math’ the Tactical Officer was enjoying the shooting gallery.

 

“Warning. Pirates are shifting into Aft position!” Sensor Crabbit called out, and I nodded.

“Alright, beginning adjustment.” I called out mostly for the tactical Crabbit.

 

Then I shifted the controls, and the ship began sort of sliding. The back nacelles had a bit of wiggle to them, and it meant we could move almost, but not quite sideways. It was enough to get the big front gun to shoot back towards anything that was chasing me as long as I could keep them entirely from behind me.

 

A tone went through the bridge and I grimaced.

 

“Enemy… Hit? Bad Math!? How!?” My tactical officer squeaked out in outrage that the pirates had gotten a strike on the shields.

 

I ignored her little rant as I looked at the data. Shield emitters had held of course, but they were heating up.

 

Dispersal was ongoing already, but these emitters were cheap, they weren’t designed for war.

 

The enemy were catching up. I wasn’t going to be able to make it to the next missile satellite screen before I was overrun.

 

Deep breath. In and out.

 

What to do? You’re the Captain Kat. The choice of what to do is yours. Do you try to run, use the missile satellites to hopefully scare them off? Turn and fight? Or…

Or do you jump into the warp and get the hell out of here.

 

They’d blame me, but… But I would survive. The pirates would likely destroy the Octavious, maybe even steal the ship, or they’d just start grabbing things from the scrap yard.

 

UNK-L would likely be safe. Trying to take an entire station would be crazy. It’s not like they could escape with it. That doesn’t mean all the people on board would be safe though.

 

But…

 

Was that who I wanted to be? Or was I the kind of captain that was brave and eeked out victory from impossible odds?

 

Could I?

 

I ran down the list of what was currently installed. Not much. Not much at all.

 

I really wish I had missiles, or something, that would be enough. There was just one thing that might work.

 

Might.

 

Or it could blow up my entire ship and I’d be lost forever. I didn’t exactly want to reveal it either…

 

I hadn’t even tested the damn thing! All the work on coding I had put into it… I still wasn’t sure if it was ready or if it would fail and kill me.

 

The ship could go into subspace, drop into warp and move. But Subspace Depth Adjustment was something else entirely.

 

SDA was insane tech, something that no one out here on the frontier should have the tech for. I had made it just in case this sort of situation happened, but I had wanted to actually try going into warp a few times before I ever tried it. I had no data for the Diamond Drive, and how it interacted with subspace. I’d be jumping blind.

 

Another tone went off. A second rear shield hit.

 

I couldn’t win this from range. There were just too many ships and too many vectors to win a long range fight.

 

I couldn’t win this close up. The Pirates would tear the Phantom Star apart.

 

I couldn’t win this from escaping, that wasn’t a win.

 

“I’m turning us around. Get me some hits!” I called out and Tactical cheered. She would have more range if the gun was facing forward. “We’re going to dive into Warp. Navigation… activate the SDA controller!”

“Roger!” It called out cheerfully.

 

Of course it was. It had no idea what dangers we were in. My cute little Crabbit enjoyed their life with the fearlessness of a child.

 

I looked at my hands, at how badly they were shaking. I had built the controller out of spare warp controllers.

 

I had built it out of scrap. Out of warp controllers that had once controlled civilian vessels, and now I was going to rely on that to do one of the most dangerous maneuvers I could imagine. This was pure stupidity. But… My code was good. My work was accurate, and the Song had guided me.

 

Breathe. I just had to breathe. Who was I? It was a difficult question, but… I could tell what I wasn’t. A coward.

 

I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Be clear. Be sure.

 

I put my hands on the controls, taking over from navigation, and spun the ship around.

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I will let the fear pass over me.

 

The turning of the Phantom wasn’t instant, she was a bloated vessel under engined and slow. But it was obvious and nearly instantly the comms lit up.

 

“Uuuu? Octavius is calling?” Comms Crabbit called out and I nodded.

 

“Tell them I’m busy.” I then looked at her. “Switch to network synchronization. Tell everyone that isn’t currently busy to do the same. Everyone should be joining navigation. Navigation we are going to drop into Subspace, and shoot the pirates point blank.” With that said the Crabbit Collective would be figuring that out.

For once I wasn’t going to be able to give them a better guide.

 

Oh god. I was trusting children with some of the most complex problem solving in the verse, and trusting my life to their ability to solve the problem…

 

“Get me that hit!” I called out, doing my best to pretend I hadn’t just had that realization. Tactical Crabbit was obviously doing her best, but the math required to hit the moving enemies was pretty intense.

 

So I just pointed the bow at the pirates’ shining drive plumes and stopped adjusting course.

 

We had some shields to take some hits. Our hits were stronger.

 

“Activate the Missile Satellite!” I called out to Comms who chirped an agreement. And then I looked at the Tab at my side.

 

Dropping into Subspace, was a solved problem. You pretty much just had to activate the Warp Controller, and the Iris Drive’s Subspace shadow would cradle your ship as you became too insubstantial for reality to keep you afloat.

 

You create a shield of subspace, creating a pocket of reality so your ship could exist in subspace, while at the same time that shield is what pulled you in.

 

There were horror stories of ships dropping into subspace never to return. Their warp controller breaking, or worse, leaving them plunging into subspace so deep they could never come out.

 

I watched as suddenly the hidden satellite activated as the pirates approached and missiles were launched in a torrent of fire.

 

C’mon. Just work. Blow up a ship, scare them off. If they retreat I don’t have to do something insane.

 

Then the missiles were over, and I realized that all five Pirates were still there.

 

It hadn’t worked.

 

One of the pirates shifted course, but just to put themselves behind another pirate. Giving them some cover, but that was it.

 

They were still coming.

 

“Fire fire!” Tactical cried out happily as the lasers started shooting from the front of the Phantom Star, but I was too focused on what I would need to do next.

 

I looked at the button that came up on the Tab. The activation of the warp controller. Closing my eyes I breathed in and out.

 

Listening to the Song, I needed reassurance, but as I listened I simply couldn’t get the complete confidence I was looking for. The ornate orchestra of the Warp Controller was sounding… Cautious.

 

But I didn’t have time for caution.

 

I felt it, the loud buzz as suddenly the Thermal Lance fired in fullness. I checked the sensor scans and grimaced. While it was a hit, it had been glancing.

 

The enemy would be within close range soon, and the moment they were, the Phantom Star would be hobbled and cut down like a pack of wolves.

 

“Activating Warp controller. Prepare to drop into Subspace.” I called out letting the Crabbit know, and heard the whine from Tactical as she wanted to keep firing.

 

But then I pushed the big button.

 

My ears popped almost painfully, as suddenly out the front of the viewscreen I could see colors shift and skew, and then for a moment my mind and body screamed at me.

 

I felt color, smelled sound, and saw lights I shouldn’t be able to see.

 

Then it was as if the Phantom plummeted, a feeling in my stomach that reminded me of the worst carnival rides, but it almost felt like I was falling upwards rather than down.

 

Space was gone. The pirates were gone, and then it was just…

 

Lights.

 

“Transition to Subspace complete! Weeee!” I heard from Navigation and stared out of the view port.

 

There was something, a bubble of colors that was just off the ship, and everything after that was all wrong.

Space was close and far, lights shifted and spun.

 

It wasn’t space anymore. To my eyes, it almost looked like moving water, a current of something that shifted and swirled, and yet, motion wasn’t… It wasn’t right.

 

There was no physics here. Distance, Gravity, none of that had any bearing on what was happening around the Phantom. There was just reality, a thin barrier, and then unreality.

 

“I can’t believe that actually worked.” I said aloud before quieting. I didn’t want the Crabbit to start getting confused.

The Diamond Drive wasn’t an Iris Drive. It was close, it operated similarly, but at the core it was an unstable clashing rift instead of a stable one.

 

I had worried that warp might not work right without actually doing some testing.

 

Yet, I had done it. I had willingly taken the plunge, and now I was about to do something even more complicated.

 

And probably stupid. I took a moment to listen. The song of the ship was weird. Almost eldritch, with discordant notes that weren’t discordant at all as they fed into the rhythm.

 

The ship was okay, I was mostly confident in that. We had managed the transition.

“A-activate the SDA Controller! Let’s get them.” I said my confidence shot, but my Crabbit had no fear.

 

“Yay! Surfacing! Making adjustments! Maaaaath!” Navigation cheered and I noticed Tactical huff a little at someone stealing her line.

 

The nose of the Phantom shifted, it wasn’t easy to tell, since there was no bearing on what was up or down, but the slight shift in my gut told me we were moving in a new direction. I watched as the bubble that kept realspace in, and subspace out shifted. The front of it sharpened, instead of a flat curve, it gained a crease and a sharp edge.

 

Going from a bubble to… Well the bottom of a ship. And then I looked at my Tab.

 

Subspace depth was rising, slowly.

 

Which was basically ridiculous. There were only two motions for warp for most people. Going down very fast, and going up very fast.

 

Suddenly the ship jerked as if it hit something and I felt my hands grip the edges of the uncomfortable chair tightly.

 

I wanted to ask what that was, but the Crabbit were cheerfully doing the incredibly complex calculations and I wanted them focused.

 

Then another rocking of the ship, and a buzz ran through the entire ship. I could hear the orchestra of eldritch foreign noises get louder in a bad way.

 

Like the song that I heard was being overwhelmed by the noise of what was beyond.

 

I glanced at my Tab, but even with the song in my ear, I couldn’t offer any advice on how to fix it.

 

The level of calculations being streamed through the ship to the SDA Warp Controller and the Crabbit was so far beyond me I could never hope to help.

I would be dead and gone before I even realized there was a problem.

 

It was up to the Crabbit and the construction of the SDA controller.

 

So I grabbed my chair and just held myself tense trying to keep my heart from hammering out of my chest.

 

More and more we rose, and the buzz and rattling began growing stronger. Soon It felt like my teeth were vibrating and it made me feel woozy like my blood was vibrating in my veins.

 

And then, the view port changed.

 

I gasped as I could see into real space with just my eyes.

 

We were there. The visual distortion kept shifting up and down like we were bobbing on water and unable to remain perfectly balanced.

 

I felt my mouth open and close but no sound came out. The vibration was so bad I couldn’t even speak, as the air itself was stealing the vibration from my throat.

 

Instead I reached over and despite my finger feeling like it was moving more than a foot back and forth as I was trying to point, I hit the Tab and switched to the Sensor screen.

 

The Pirates had of course moved away once I disappeared. Satisfied I had fled, but the difference between subspace, and realspace was vast.

 

I hit a button, and the targeting computer received my request.

The Crabbit didn’t speak, but I could see Tactical cry out in delight even if I couldn’t hear it.

 

And then we moved.

 

We were currently touching both reality and subspace.

 

That wasn’t normal, and my body reacted, as we traveled nearly instantly through real space. Appearing so close I could see the pirate ships clearly with my bare eyes out the view port. The sensation of movement doubled me over.

 

My stomach heaved, but I was vibrating so badly, I couldn’t even puke.

 

The SDA was definitely not working as it should. I shouldn’t be feeling like this, but…

 

I felt my mouth open and I yelled with all my might. I wasn’t sure if the Crabbit could even hear me. If noise even transferred with how fucked up the ships personal physics currently was.

 

“FIRE! FIRE AT THEM ALL!” I roared and a moment later, whether Tactical heard me or not, she did just that.

 

—–

 

Baron Cyger Ritz

 

So. That was it. The Phantom Star disappeared in the flash of a warp disruption.

 

“The girl fled.” Hamlin grumbled, an interesting tone to his voice.

 

“Don’t sound so disappointed. She’s a scrap brat.” Artemis replied without a hint of emotion despite her words. “You can’t expect everything from her.”

“She’s got a soldier’s blood. I just expected better.” He replied back. Cyger side eyed the navy man. His broad shoulders, and structured face hinted at his own origins. Soldier Nanomachines, of a more advanced variety than the girl, ran through the man’s blood.

 

A bond that sometimes came out with those who had been biologically modified. Well in the lower castes anyways.

 

Nobles rarely felt the distant bonds to each other in that way.

 

“She did what she could without risking her life.” Cyger replied to the two. “We can not expect her to do our duty. Battlestations! The Pirates will come for us now.” He demanded and his men saluted and got to work.

 

It was a death sentence possibly for all of them. Cyger rose. He would not flee just yet, but he would. They knew that, and so did he, but as long as he stayed here, discipline will remain and it’ll give the ship slightly better odds.

 

If they could get enough hits at long range, they might be able to survive until the pirates got close enough for all the weapons to wipe them from space.

 

Unlikely. Pirates weren’t fools. They’d come at an angle that made firing at them difficult, and the Octavius would be unable to adjust.

 

Cyger stepped away from his seat, moving around the bridge.

 

This ship had been given to him as a boy. He had spent more time on this ship than at his family’s holdings.

 

This was in every respect his home.

 

So he took a moment to memorize it once more. He walked over to the old dedication plaque on the wall. The bronze was kept polished, a sign of his crew’s respect for the ship.

KRW Octavius.

 

The Kenish-Ritz Warship Octavius. His ship. His home. The symbol of his nobility. He’d have to transfer to one of his support vessels after this, and he would go from an up and coming nobility to just a foolish boy of the Ritz family.

 

He’d never get another Frigate to command, this was the end of his upward ascension.

 

“Baron?”

“It’s nothing Artemis.” He replied to the woman, his operations officer, who was far more than that. “The shuttle?” He asked.

“Is ready sir.”

“Very good then.” But he didn’t move. Instead, consider his words. The men on board the Octavius deserved some last words from him. Most would likely die while the Pirates swept the Octavius aside, and more would die after as they went looting. Plenty of good materials in a Frigate of this size.

 

“Warp Entrance? No… Something else?” A voice called out, alerting the bridge and Cyger turned, focused.

 

Hope? Was it a traveling warship hearing the distress signal?

 

“What do you mean something else? Speak up!” Hamlin roared and the bridge officer just shook his head.

“I don’t know sir! A Warp Emergence, but it’s not completing!” Before a word could be said the ship’s alert sounded lightly. Warning the shields had been struck.

Hamlin stopped his forward momentum to check, an old habit, he had to see if the hit had done any damage. When no damage report came he continued on. He marched over to the sensor operator and loomed over him as he glared at the boy’s screen.

 

“Well?”

“I don’t know sir! Look! It’s a Warp Emergence signature but the rift isn’t forming!”

 

“Give me a broad subspace scan.” Cyger demanded as he walked back to his own chair.

 

They still had time and something odd could only be an advantage now.

 

“It’s… Sir! The Phantom Star?” The operator called and Cyger felt himself confused.

 

Did the girl find her bravery and return to fight again? Why? It was too late for that. Even if she emerged, she’d be a sitting asteroid for the pirates fire, emergence rifts were excellent for improving even the most scoundrel of pilots accuracy.

 

Then as Cyger looked out into space watching the five plasma trails grow closer and closer, suddenly out from nowhere shot a bright beam of energy, one he was familiar with.

 

“Enemy ship destroyed!?” The sensor operator called out and Cyger could feel the bridge crew perk up.

 

“Was that a Thermal Lance?” He asked, and Hamlin spoke immediately.

“It was.” But the man was staring at the same sensor terminal still trying to make heads or tails of what he was seeing.

 

“Hamlin?”

“I don’t know Sir. some kind of sensor spoofing? According to our scans, The Phantom Star is in subspace.” Cyger nodded, evidently that was false as the girl had attacked.

 

“SDA.” The voice came not from Hamlin, but from Artemis, the woman spoke it calmly with surety.

 

“Impossible.”

“And yet, it is what is happening.” She said as another burst of Plasma appeared from seemingly nowhere, and another of the pirate freighters popped.

 

Suddenly the enemy force looming on them was scattering terrified and unable to fight back at some invisible unassailable foe.

 

Then a burst of light as Subspace split open, and out came the Phantom Star almost spinning as it re-emerged from Subspace.

 

Well.

 

Subspace Depth Adjustment it was. Impossible. Improbable, something he just saw with his own two eyes and yet… Something he couldn’t believe. Not even the greatest minds of the Kenish Duchy had figured out that upgrade to the Warp Controllers.

 

Yet, she had managed this, an impossible act? What sort of genius had he stumbled upon?

 

There was surprising, and there was impossible. Katherine Ferrous just firmly put herself into that new category.

 

How fascinating.