The Retrofit: The Callistar 1.0

Chapter One

KIRA

Watson sounded off in her inner ear, Your heart rate is up.

Kira waved her hand dismissively, but realized he couldn’t see the gesture. She was in the cargo bay by herself. Max, their Vicar, pestered Morgan, their resident pilot, with questions, while she paced.

“I’m concerned about the changes.”

Alec may keep it together, but progress was never made through steady work. Updates are required if we’re going into deep space.

Kira clenched her teeth together. Her ship, the Callistar, was a freighter, one of the largest classes of ships in the galaxy. After being decommissioned, they retrofitted the entirety, transforming it from a warship to one for mining and cargo transportation. They left it in orbit, choosing a smaller vessel, the Valstar, Morgan’s pet project, to make their way down to the Meeting Place.

Unsurprisingly, Max had also chosen to go along with the pilot and captain. He’d been quick to volunteer his services. Kira had snorted at him, like she did Watson from time to time. His original goal had been to gain entry into the Meeting Place, and here the Vicar was. He’d spoken extensively about his motivations behind that goal with Kira.

And no one else questioned the Captain. They came from all walks of life, and if she said the Vicar was clear, then he was clear.

A voice came over the intercom, “Fixing to land, captain.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Passing through the magnetic doors, they made a shppppp sound as they pulled aside. She settled into her seat.

Morgan, their pilot and fellow Praetorian, turned about in his, joking to her, “Doubt you would have even noticed we’d landed back there.”

Kira fastened her seatbelt.

“I trust you,” she told Morgan with a wry smile. “It’s the others I don’t.”

Sir is requesting our ETA.

“Pass it along then, Watson. There’s no reason to keep him waiting longer than necessary,” Kira replied smoothly.

Morgan landed without guidance from the system as per his usual coming down with the slightest oomph on the landing pads. The vessel incessantly beeped at him while he flicked off the active warning against it. Kira knew he preferred landing manually in order to practice what he would otherwise miss in the long run. Outside, even the loading dock personnel commented on how smoothly he’d done it, the crew hearing it in the background of Morgan’s transmission to confirm engine shut off.

Kira didn’t care how he managed it, only that he had. Max came hot on her heels as she unclipped, walking back into the cargo bay before the shuttle’s ‘parking brake’ could be applied.

“I’ve not forgotten,” she told Max with the slightest smile behind it at his eagerness. “I told him I would be bringing a friend.”

The Vicar smiled openly, pulling down the edge of his tunic, a muted gray shift somehow managing to ride up, despite its stiffness. Bearing a high collar, the tightly fitted material, and broad shoulders beneath gave him a commanding look as he trailed after her in shining, simple, black knee-high boots. If it weren’t enough that he dressed like a member of the clergy, his closely cropped hair and beard, both white, and his stern, disapproving look, were a bright red neon sign that said it for him.

Kira dressed much less conspicuously as the area they were in was one where fashion had taken its leave or arrived. Really depended on who you talked to. The upper district resembled a hodgepodge of the naturally rich, those who were wealthy because they’d risen through ranks, and traders who’d made good early on. Therefore, it had those who dressed like old money, those that dressed like new, and some who simply wore what suited them best.

Surrounded by muted suits, bright contraptions of netting in pinks and turquoise, high collars, low collars, sleeves three times too large with fitted waists on the bodice, it was an eccentric variety of alien fashion and concepts. Kira could have sworn one person they passed wore scales individually sewn to one another.

Kira blended into the crowd with black leggings, knee high reflective black boots, and an orange jacket that fit tight against her forearms. It remained loose around her breasts before the elastic waist helped it slim to her waist. Tucking her long hair into a reggae style cap, it fell at the nape of her neck, keeping small tendrils from escaping. Next to Max, they made an odd pair, her bright, him subdued, but they walked together all the same, matching pace.

“That is a-?” Max asked with gray eyes flashing.

Kira interrupted him, “A Mosin, yes.”

“I thought they were-“

“Uncommon, unfriendly, barely capable of being in society, all of the above?”

She grinned in his direction as they gave the creature with eyes like pitch and a hairless head a good bit of distance. Kira kept her eyes down, putting herself between it and Max, guiding him by his shoulder with a light bump of her own.

They turned onto a short catwalk, crossing over a section open to the universe below the invisible barrier. There was no comfort when the expanse of space rested below like a blanket, welcoming but entirely cold. The transition from the stockyard to downtown went from wide open landing spaces to cramped quarters and shops, giving the impression of stacked housing circa early twenty-first century China.

Turning down the main walkway, it transformed into an industrial area. What looked to be a line of bars with bright advertisements surrounded them the closer they came. Some were holographic in nature, popping up out of nowhere and being waved aside absentmindedly. Others were neon signs blinking spasmodically, the oldest were physical ones attached to the shops or pasted on the inside of the glass like force field.

Max glanced at one, the neon reflecting off his peppered hair but not his muted suit, and asked, “This is supposed to be inconspicuous?”

Kira laughed at his words and touched his shoulder lightly. “Business is never conducted in the same place with Toke. It’s wherever he feels like that day.”

At least his schedule was unpredictable enough that it was difficult to hunt him down, unless one went through the Keepers. Basically, the scheduling secretaries for Rumor, who coordinated rendezvous and transports. You had to know someone who belonged to even find them.

A turnstile door awaited them under a pink glowing sign. The text was alien, but the other signs made it clear it belonged to the same class as the rest of the line up, something that did not truly waver from an Earthen experience even in space. The floors were a tacky olive green color, sticky from spilled drinks, and the walls weren’t much better. This was a place for live music, the atmosphere of smoke and intrigue more gritty than interesting.

They entered, and Kira barely had to raise her hand before a Talcien, a humanoid form with lizard-like features, hissed out, “You’re late.”

He came through shadows next to the door, as if coiled, ready to strike. Talciens were similar in nature to a cobra, with the large arching hoods on either side of their face and a pointed mouth, slits for nostrils on top. His mixture of black and silver scales intermingling gave him a severe look complimented by obsidian eyes. Crossed arms revealed three fingers on each hand, a thumb like appendage and two longer ones, lacking scales and silver with completely smooth skin.

Kira glanced over with an amused grin. “I never truly gave him a time Bi’ast.”

The suited man managed a smile, which looked more threatening than pleased, long fangs settling back over the bottom part of his jaw. “It isss good to sssee you.”

“And you.”

“Follow me,” Bi’ast turned, taking one step back before shifting his feet. He kept Kira next to him in the motion while side-eyeing the Vicar. He did not question his presence, but lowered his voice hissing out to Kira, “Toke hasss company asss well. It isss-” His s’s elongated slightly like a lisp that no one pointed out since in front of that lisp rested poisonous appendages.

The man paused, looking back, but no one could overhear in the environment, but he did not wish his opinion known openly was what the pause told Kira, “It isss not polite, but he sssaysss it isss necessary.”

Kira lifted her chin at the alien creature, as he beat her height by well over a foot. His scales gleamed even in the low light, the reflection a sign of good health. “Necessary for what?”

Bi’ast slipped his forked tongue out and up and down over the front of his mouth, as if tasting the air. Kira read the action. He was uncomfortable. It was a nervous gesture, and she’d comfort him if only for a second, “Nevermind old friend, I’ll see soon enough.”

They passed several unmarked doors, then turned a corner. Two men stood beside another unlabeled door, leaning towards one another, as if having a discussion, but neither spoke. One knocked with force enough to send the rapping through the thick metal which sprang open without delay.

Toke is in a hurry, Kira thought. She gestured to Max as she asked Bi’ast, “Will you entertain my friend until this is finished?”

Neither were in a position to refuse. Kira ranked higher than Bi’ast, and Max needed her to vouch for his honesty. To be impolite now risked her not giving him the introduction he sorely wished for.

That was until a voice came from inside the room. A low smooth baritone met them with exasperation. “You may bring him Kira, I am aware of his presence.”

Kira shrugged. Bi’ast stayed outside.

The ‘office’ for the club wasn’t redecorated for the meeting, the only sign of Toke’s presence came from the rather large blue-prints of the Callistar. Hanging in the air and holographically lit from below, the emitter laid flat across the desk while the ship hovered an inch above it. The rest of the room was the sort of thing one expected from a manager’s private office, seats that resembled leather for easy cleaning, a pole in one corner, cushions in an alcove for comfort, and a secondary bar that a few of the black suited cronies remained by, another Talcien in the mix.

What did interest Kira was the company that Toke chose to keep outside of his personal guard.

Before the desk sat two chairs, one empty, which Kira quickly conceded to Max. For once, he did not argue. A man with shockingly white hair filled the other. Judging by the pale skin, rounded ears, and general lack of correct posture, she guessed he was human, mid-twenties, if she’d learned from the others she’d seen. His face had hard angular features, and his expression, a scowl that looked baked on permanently. A quick glance at his legs, tall, she thought to herself, but the leather jacket he wore was too baggy to reveal much more.

“Thank you for coming Kira,” Toke spoke directly to her, drawing her attention away from the other man. She returned her gaze to the stern leader who’d requested their presence.

“Of course, Sir,” Kira wasn’t quite monotone, but her voice remained steady.

Toke was essentially the head keeper of all rumors. He garnered respect. She perched behind Max, her hands on the edge of the upholstery. With him seated, she would address Toke once again. “It is good to see you, and to see that the Callistar will be brought into this century.”

A fire flashed in her eyes at the upgrades. Deep space was dangerous and their exploration of it in search of Listium, a rare metal, might run them into raiders or new species.

The politeness came to an immediate halt as the white-haired stranger spoke in a broken Irish accent, “I beg yer fekkin pardon?”

The white-haired man sat up, his eyes glaring first at Kira, then at Max. “Who the absolute fek, brings a fekking priest ta meet a bloody criminal overlord?”

Max reacted first, just the slightest upturn of the corner of his lips. Kira hardly found it amusing. She itched to backhand the man with no qualms about doing so in front of almost anyone other than Toke. Who took the situation in hand rather quickly, preventing her from doing as she pleased.

“Kira, that is Quinn. Just Quinn. I will get to him shortly.” Toke turned his gaze onto Quinn. Barely concealed anger hidden underneath the surface of his severe features. “Quinn, did I not tell you to keep your comments to yourself unless you are asked to speak?”

Quinn’s response was childish. He rolled his eyes dramatically before returning to staring at the ceiling. His behavior eerily similar to a teenager’s, despite his apparent age.

“My apologies for him. He thinks he is smarter than everyone in the room. And as much as it pains me to say it, as near as I can tell, he is right. It makes humility and respect hard for him. I could give you an extensive list of what I speculate his issues to be, but I am sure you can guess. What do you want to know first?”

Kira bit back the obvious question of why Quinn’s insolence was tolerated, and instead said, “I’ve seen the schematics. Alec let me peruse the copy that you sent to him. I assume this is to be the head of the project?”

Max shifted in his seat, glancing over to Quinn. Kira saw it happen almost instantaneously and fought the desire to groan. Max was curious, and his curiosity was bad news for the insolent man sitting next to him.

“Smart girl, someone raised you right.” Toke grinned at her, clearly pleased that she showed she’d paid attention to his memo, just as he’d taught her once to read between the lines she had to read the actual lines first. “So, I’ll tell you why he is the head of the project and see if you can connect the dots.”

He gestured at the schematics. The screen changed to a company logo. Paradigm Enterprises, Kira recognized the name. They were one of the “big three” tech companies in the entire galaxy. Earth-based, they manufactured ship parts of every kind from civilian to military use. It was the best of the best.

“The replacement parts that are going aboard the Callistar will be of Paradigm Manufacture. Not just that, but it’s going to be from their Q series.”

Kira kept up on major ship changes. She knew the Q series was a part of the newest line from Paradigm. It was their cutting edge equipment. The Q series went on Capitol Class Dreadnaughts. The Earth’s Dreadnaught Gemini was newly equipped with a Q series experimental plasma rail. A weapon, according to reports she wasn’t supposed to see, that fired tungsten steel rods from a rail gun with near-light-speed acceleration suspended in a field of plasma. They were called Dreadnaught killers as they shredded through the thickest shields and hulls like a hot knife through butter.

“So Kira, based on what I’ve told you so far, care to make any guesses?”

“I am assuming that Quinn here-“ the lack of last name made her use his first, but she knowingly left out a proper title. “Is behind the Q in Paradigm Enterprises, though how you managed to pull him away from Paradigm would be a guess, and I don’t like drawing at straws.”

Max showed surprise at her statement, but only to Kira. She caught his curious look earlier and knew quelling it would be impossible now. His hands, which had been on the armrests, moved to his knees, rubbing the edge of them in a telltale sign.

“Clever, clever girl,” Toke said with an absent shake of his head. “Yes, Quinn here is the brain behind pretty much every breakthrough in ship design over the last decade. And he is going to do a complete overhaul of the Callistar. By the time he’s finished, she will be the most advanced deep space exploration vehicle in the galaxy. So, my dear Kira, that’s the good news, and you were smart enough not to guess the bad.”

Reaching up, Toke rubbed his eyes. “I didn’t get him away. Quinn here contacted me himself. Paradigm held him as a virtual prisoner inside of their headquarters on Earth. They couldn’t risk the company’s most valuable asset by having him going around living his life. He wanted out and for payment he has agreed to retrofit two ships.”

Toke gave a brief pause as he let that detail sink in. Kira deduced she was getting one, and he surely had gotten the other. If the man only wanted to escape, why he’d agree to two ships was beyond her. Each retrofit surely took months of labor. She needn’t wait long for an answer as he continued. “On the condition that one of those ships be used to take him into deep space. To an uninhabited, uncharted planet of his choosing where you will leave him. Then you are going to wipe your ship’s A.I. and nav charts of the location and do a memory modification of your knowledge of the location.”

There it was, Kira thought. Toke got a new ship, and now she had to uphold his end of the bargain. In exchange, she also got a new ship. It was the best kind of deal for him. Oh sure, he likely had to orchestrate an escape, but even that Toke wouldn’t have done directly. He got to benefit without getting his own hands dirty. But what he suggested, what he wanted, messing with the mind was always dangerous no matter what assurances they made otherwise.

“True shore leave then, and longer than I thought,” she said, her gaze falling to Quinn, then back to Toke. “We’ll have time to make proper preparations. The supply list is already prepared. I’ve forwarded it, but some things have yet to arrive.”

Quinn kept his eyes on the ceiling. Max side-eyed Quinn, looking back to Toke as if this phenomenon was vastly amusing instead of worrisome. This explained exactly how he’d ended up on the Callistar to start. No one simply hopped on the ship willingly or remained on it purposefully after all.

Toke chose not to meet either of their looks, dismissing the blueprints, causing the hologram to dissipate. The program shut down. “There is one last, tiny catch in all of this. You can’t kill him.”

That earned a sharp breath that was perhaps a laugh, or it wasn’t. Something in-between due to the seriousness of such a thing that he said on the matter. The memory wipe was the first insult, now he simply added another, “You expect me to-“

Toke did, and even with her interruption, he proceeded to do the same back to her, finishing his train of thought, “Or turn him into Paradigm, under any circumstances. I would not feel right without telling you to do this without clarifying those circumstances. Quinn has placed some serious personal boundaries into his technology in my ship and is soon to be in yours. Any attempt to hack it results in an immediate lockout of every system and for the ship’s reactor to go into overload. He is the only one who can disable the program and he will only give you the codes to do so once you are in orbit. He has a neural link with both ships. He can remotely trigger that override at any time for any reason with a thought.”

Kira knew, then, he did. Toke expected her to hold her tongue, and she wasn’t the type to do so for very long. Disrespect didn’t last long on her ship. Not necessarily short-tempered, but there was a spark that tended to light itself into a flame when it came to the management of ‘her crew.’ Not a boss, but a leadership role in her opinion. Getting dirty was what she lived for, and she was always with the rest of them in the muck and the mud as quick as possible to prove this.

But Quinn, so far, didn’t sound like a team player. Non-team players were shot out the airlock, as were smart mouthed passengers.

Max, who had been watching and waiting, reached a hand back up to the one over his right shoulder, the one that tightened without knowing it. He patted it lightly as a show of support for the young woman. He still kept his silence.

Kira would not change her mind from a simple touch. “You place too much trust in me with this.” Kira drew her hand out of Max’s to the back of the chair so that he did not feel the wrath that displayed in the further whitening of her knuckles. “I think it is best that my posting be temporarily filled by another.”

“Your ship doesn’t run without you and you know it,” Toke said

Toke was well aware the crew she’d put together would not listen to anyone else. He could get another captain, sure, but they wouldn’t be loyal to the new captain. Which was a big problem for a long-term trip into deep space. The crew had to be loyal, especially when their cargo was as volatile as Quinn.

“Look, as I understand it, it’s a Quantum computer core. So, he can detonate my ship from anywhere in the galaxy. Which means that I need this done properly. Therefore, you are doing it Kira,” Toke said. He brooked no arguments in tone or expression, but he took a breath as he looked to Quinn for aid. “Please say something to placate her on this.”

The man finally looked up and snorted. “Aye, ye want me ta dig ya out of this hole?”

Quinn cracked his neck and turned his attention to Kira. “While I appreciate Toke telling ya ta mind yer P’s and Q’s-” a pertinent level of sarcasm in his voice made it very clear he did not. “And I appreciate that ye would apparently rather give up yer ship than be forced ta be polite ta someone.” Surprisingly, this lacked the same sarcasm. It almost sounded like grudging approval, if anything. “I’m not going ta blow myself up just because you call me a fekking nitwit. I might do it iffin ya decide ta try slapping me around more than I think I deserve. And if ya kill me, my neural net is set up to detonate all of my locked tech. But other than that, I don’t give a shite what ya do or say as long as you get me away from people. You are all fekking terrible, and I am sick of dealing with the lot of ya.”

Something in his explanation that told her he wasn’t talking about anyone in that room specifically. He referred to other people in general, as in, every other sapient being in the galaxy.

Watson sounded in her ear. Your heart rate’s up again.

Max chimed in, giving his two cents. “Captain, if I may. I believe I would also like to stay on board.”

Kira looked down to the holy man. He would not be asking to stay on board if he did not have a reason behind it, which was beyond her own reasoning at the moment. Then, it dawned on her recalling how he looked at Quinn. Something else caught his eye.

Letting out a deep sigh, she said, “If you have some sense of self-preservation, at the very least, then perhaps this will be a suitable arrangement.”

“I should fekkin hope sa. Yer getting basically a trillion dollars worth of experimental ship parts to act as a glorified taxi. Seems ta me yer getting a pretty fekkin cherry deal, even if ya have to put up with my surly ass.” Quinn snorted before he let his head roll back to rest against the chair as he returned to staring at the ceiling. With the matter at hand settled, he seemed to have decided his input was no longer required.

So, maybe he really is as smart as Toke says.

Toke let out a slow breath this time through his mouth, his patience wearing thin. “Thank you Quinn. Now, is there anything else we need to cover?”

“I would seek a private meeting with you,” Kira addressed Toke directly. “Since we will be here for some time, there is nothing so pressing with you it cannot wait for another time.”

There existed a slight strain at the edge of Toke’s features. His expression turned to a thin line of obvious displeasure. After a moment of taking another calming breath, he said to her in very clear, clipped, and precise tones, “You can have your meeting after you take your ship to the shipyard. It’s in orbit around Eikos.”

“At your leave then,” Kira said, bringing her hand up to her shoulder over the symbol of Rumor imprinted there. A mark she’d never be rid of, no matter how hard she tried. It wasn’t visible, but Toke knew exactly where she’d chosen to have it imprinted, and therefore could recognize the gesture as one of fealty.

Max remained seated. Kira gave a soft nudge, her way of silently saying they were to leave, and he was coming with.

There was one other matter that needed sorting. Kira cleared her throat before looking at Quinn. “Are you using us as a ferry, or do you have your own transportation?”

“I’ve got my own transport,” Quinn responded without actually lowering his head to look towards the captain.

“Excellent. Glad we got that all figured out. Now get to work.” Toke waved his hand at all of them, indicating they should take their leave.