Star Pirate

The narrator, who has spent most of his life on a small asteroid mining outpost, is left to guard his uncle's stockpile of valuable palladium after the vein is exhausted and the workers sent away. A small spacecraft lands and his long-absent father appears, instantly recognized and reopening a past marked by theft, a deadly confrontation, and the father's flight into exile. The reunion forces the narrator to revisit buried memories and confront competing loyalties, while the presence of the cached ore and the prospect of returning to Earth create pressure around choices about justice, family ties, and escape.