Panic! at the Starstone

Chapter 1 - Attack On Absalom Station

"Until the moment you experience your first battle, you're never really sure whether you're a coward or a warrior. If you're lucky, you'll never have to find out."

-- Arden Finder

The Day the Stars Went Out

323 A.G.

The deck began to hum softly as the ship's realspace engines came back to life, slowing the ship relative to the approaching station. Arden looked up from his writing and turned his attention to the viewport. If Absalom Station was visible, it was still too small to distinguish from the stars in the background.

Captain Vanek's voice sounded over the comm, "The navigation computer makes it 100 thousand kilometers to the station, so we've begun our final deceleration burn. There's a lot of traffic around the station today, but we should be cleared for landing in the next 30 minutes. Please stow your belongings and return to your seats."

Arden left his spot at the forward viewport and returned to his seat. He checked his article one last time before finally shutting down the holo-display and setting his personal computer inside his jacket pocket.

Karadite, the only other person on board, simply remained where she was. In the 5 hours since they'd left Apostae, she hadn't bothered to do more than sharpen her knives. She did not put them away, nor the tiny whetstones she'd been using.

Arden knew better than to tell her what to do, even if she was technically working for him right now. Karadite was an android with a range of skills for hire that had proven quite useful, but respecting his authority was not among them.

Arden's latest assignment had called for someone with the ability to access sensitive corporate data, but he couldn't put "professional hacker" on her visa application without tipping off the people charged with protecting it.

So he hired her, "officially" as personal security, which wasn't entirely a ruse, as her combat skills were genuinely formidable. But more importantly, no one in Nightarch would think it unusual for a minor celebrity journalist like Arden Finder to employ a bodyguard while working there.

Unofficially, she had cracked the corporate databases of Black Star League wide open for him. The article he'd be publishing in the next few days, and the terabytes of corroborating evidence he'd provided Abadarcorp with, was the culmination of an investigation he'd been pursuing off and on for 2 years. It had only been a month ago that he'd finally gotten to a point that his handler had greenlit his request to get the final evidence he needed to complete it.

Publicly, Arden was an independent journalist. He had a standing contract with some wire services whenever he had an article for them, a monthly column in one of the newslogs, and a personal blog that a few of his dedicated followers could use to keep up to date on his projects.

Less well known was the fact that he also had a commission with Abadarcorp as a spy. His cover as a journalist let him interview people and get access to places that most others couldn't. Juggling 2 identities could be difficult, but Arden liked it.

Absalom Station was visible now, like a silver button on a black shirt.

Captain Vanek came back over the comm, "We've been cleared to approach docking bay 8. We'll continue our deceleration for another 5 minutes, then take our position in the docking queue. Should be ready to disembark in 15. Time on Absalom Station is now 11am."

Arden could see the station start to resolve more clearly. Absalom Station was the center of human culture and seat of the Pact Worlds government. It was also home to the headquarters of Abadarcorp. Arden spent a lot of time there as a result, but it wasn't his home. He kept a place on Akiton, where his family had lived for generations dating back to The Gap. And before that, no one could say.