Smoke Stack

Three tall green smokestacks tower over a long, flat hull, each one venting plumes of glowing white vapour into the red void. The hull below is shaped like a wide arrowhead, painted forest green and trimmed with pale panels. Small lights blink along its nose, and a pale cockpit sits tucked between the stacks.

Smoke Stack began as a factory ship for The Capital, building bridges, stations and docks across the frontier. Its pilot was a foreman who refused to retire. When the old hull was refitted for war, he asked to Uplevel and stay with it. He knew every bolt by name.

Now the stacks do more than vent steam. They feed the Furnace Battery, three heat cannons that fire long columns of white fire from the top of the ship. One stack warms up, two stacks lock on, three stacks turn a fleet of raiders into drifting scrap. Its thick armour shrugs off return fire while it works. Then, when the fight is done, it goes right back to building.