Karst

Karst is the security chief aboard the Gilgamesh. His first name is not given. Holsten first identifies him as a large man who leads Security. Karst kept his beard during suspension, and his chin and cheeks are red and peeling when he wakes.

Security work

Karst prepares the security detail while the crew investigates Kern’s satellite. When the satellite attacks their drones, he launches additional machines and tries to keep control of them. He gets one drone into the planet’s atmosphere. Later, he sends another drone into the forest, where it records a spider. Karst reacts with surprise when the creature attacks the drone.

During the mutiny against Guyen’s plan to settle colonists on a moon, Karst commands security aboard the ship. The mutineers have got weapons, and fighting breaks out. Karst uses the ship’s systems against them, including control of the air vents. He later takes part in Guyen’s effort to recover Holsten, Lain and the mutineers stranded on the planet.

Karst arrives at their crash site in a shuttle with armed security personnel. He orders the group to surrender. When Holsten and Lain board the shuttle, Karst says he will take no prisoners. His men shoot two mutineers. Nessel escapes into the forest. Karst tells Holsten that Kern wanted the survivors removed from the planet, while the Gilgamesh crew wanted them back aboard. Karst does not want to pursue Nessel into the trees.

Conflict with Guyen

Years later, Karst is working with Guyen, but Lain tells Holsten that Karst is not fully on Guyen’s side. Karst meets with Lain and Vitas. During Guyen’s attempted upload, Holsten reveals their cooperation in front of Guyen’s followers. Karst’s security team is armed and positioned around the chamber. Fighting starts after Guyen orders Karst and Vitas back into suspension. Karst’s people help clear Guyen’s followers after the upload fails and Guyen’s copied mind begins affecting the ship’s systems.

The attack on the Gilgamesh

When spiders begin cutting into the ship, Karst organizes armed defenders and deploys drones to track them. He has hundreds of people available, including military personnel woken from cargo, but the ship is not designed to contain an attack of this kind. He chooses to go outside with his security detail to clear spiders from the hull.

Karst says his core team is ready, and that he cannot ask them to go while he stays behind. He describes himself as someone who leads his team, not a strategist. Twenty two people go out in heavy EVA suits. Karst leads them along the hull towards a shuttle bay. The spiders attack, using threads to trap members of the team. Karst shoots at them and tries to keep the squad moving, but the team is caught in a larger attack and suffers casualties. The account ends with a spider landing on Karst.

Appearance

Karst is described as big and bearded. During armed operations he wears an armoured shipsuit with the visor lowered. On the hull, his heavy EVA suit has reinforced joints, armour, servos and a faceplate.