The Children of Sigg — Tom Coppinger

Pyotr Gregoriev, famous space explorer, is missing, presumed dead. His only child, Katrina, is sent to Sigg-Ar-Pah, a boarding school for problem children on a remote ocean world, 262 lights years from Earth. Here, the word of Master Drill is law. Drill is determined to save Katrina's soul, and mold her into a future leader. Katrina is buying none of it. She is determined to escape from Sigg, and find her father. As Katrina gathers a unlikely band of allies about her, a chance arrives in the form of a boxed gift, a mysterious Spaceship Factory that produces much more than toys. Escape is no longer a dream, but a reality. Katrina and a band of four children fly away in an alien spaceship they know nothing about, pursued by the deadly Red Guild. Katrina is in way over her head. What began as an impulsive lark evolves into a galactic conflict between the religious Guilds and the greedy Corpos, with Katrina and her friends caught in the middle.