Derelict 3, Chapter 24.

Chapter 24.

Slater watched the snipped of sensor data and audio from a human warship called the USS Phoenix. The ship was about to engage in a border conflict with a superior Chinese fleet when alien ships arrived. It was painful to watch, two earth nations ready to fight each other over a system when there was an entire universe out here to explore. Now, it looked like alien forces were going to exploit our infighting.

Instead of a flood of enemy vessels jumping into the system, it was only a few smaller gnoll ships, and they immediately began hailing the humans, asking for help. As Slater watched, a ship larger than anything he had ever seen emerged from the jump point. It was the size of a small city, and that one ship rivaled the entire hull displacement of most nations. The video cut off as a swarm of drones launched from the new contact, their numbers greatly exceeding what the Chinese and United States task forces could muster between them.

“That’s not good Pixi, isn’t there anything else you could find?” Slater asked.

“No, as soon as I found and downloaded that clip, everything related to the human fleet and current conflicts shot up in price,” Pixi said. Slater had a suspicion that this wasn’t some random price fluctuation. Somebody left that clip there as a teaser and Slater had a pretty good idea who it was.

He was concerned over the powerful enemy, but who knew how long ago this battle was recorded. For all Slater knew, the invader had been destroyed and humanity had gone back to fighting with each other. If humanity were in danger, the best thing he could do for them was to continue with his current plan of creating a more powerful Franklin. His ship design was complete, it was just a matter of gathering enough resources to build it and refine the design.

His research on range extensions for his drones was going nowhere fast. It had hit around twelve percent and then hadn’t progressed much at all. Drone research progressed well, and the first crude version of an attack drone was complete. The drones, oddly enough, resembled an advanced fighter aircraft. He had been thinking of an aircraft carrier when designing his drone bay, had his subconscious pushed the development to resemble what he expected to see?

A terrestrial airplane design wasn’t exactly the most efficient for space combat, but he had to admit, what his research had produced had potential. The “wings”, normally totally useless in space, did serve as a housing for the shield generators along with various maneuver thrusters to rapidly change its vector. The main engines were powerful, with nearly double the thrust of the gnoll and orc designs he had picked up. For a weapons loadout, the wings held two external weapons mount hardpoints, allowing Slater to equip them with some smaller missiles. He didn’t currently have anything that small in his database and would need to design something for his drones to fire, most likely a light, anti-drone missile.

Main armament consisted of a light railguns mounted on the hull of the drone. The gun wasn’t particularly powerful and had a limited rate of fire as it was simply a point defense gun cut down to fit. Armor was minimal, enough to shed debris, but not enough to fend off direct fire. The shield generator was also a bust, its output wouldn’t stop any point defense weapon he knew of and the only benefit was that it might deflect some smaller drone weaponry. Another downside to his shields was their power consumption, the main engines would have to be throttled back to keep the shields up. His drone design was in dire need of refinement.

Disappointed with the first pass, Slater re-queued his research to further refine his drones. It would take longer than he had liked, but he wasn’t ready to give up on them just yet. It might not be the drone research that proved to be the weak link in his design, as his range extension efforts for his core signal were going nowhere fast. The latest round of research provided only a paltry five percent increase in range; he would have to rethink the entire drone project if he couldn’t send them across a system to attack a foe. Perhaps the space taken up by this drone bays would be better used by adding additional missile capacity?

Not ready to give up just yet, Slater allocated half his research potential back into drones and the other half into boosting his core signal range. While he was thinking about research, Slater considered his MOBS. The current batch of cybernetically enhanced defenders were performing well and he felt he had all the bases covered. His cyborks were the shock troops, backed up by the firepower of the gnomechs and the deadly accuracy of the kobots. There were other races to explore, but simply creating new templates for each race might not be the most efficient use of his resources. He had the force mix he wanted, now perhaps it was time to add some elements of the other races to enhance his existing MOBS instead of creating new ones. Once the drone and core signal research was complete, Slater would conduct some experiments.

“Looks like trouble at the docks, boss,” Pixi announced, pulling Slaters attention toward their ongoing construction efforts. While he didn’t have nanobots infusing the dockyard area, he could access the view from any or all his drones and MOBS.

A group of Chixturax were delivering another load of salvage and as they entered the cargo bay, laser fire peppered his bug-like allies. With their escape cut off, the Chixturax workers fled into the cargo bay, leaving the pallets of salvage behind, several of which blocked the oversized hatch from closing, allowing the enemy to follow on their heels. This was exactly the type of thing his defending MOBS had been placed to prevent. Gnomish warriors began to enter the compartment, firing wildly at the fleeing Chixturax.

The sniper kobots in each bunker began to return fire, their rifles picking off gnomes every time there was an opening. Unfortunately, the Chixturax milled about in confusion, preventing the cyborks manning the bunker machineguns from firing for fear of hitting friendlies. The same was true for the pair of gnomechs, though the one with the grenade launcher was lobbing fragmentation grenades into the next compartment to stem the flow of attackers. Even with his forces being hampered by the panicking Chixturax, the gnomes made slow progress. Slater didn’t think they expected much, if any, resistance. To find fortified bunkers and advanced MOBS defending cargo bay must have come as an unpleasant surprise.

“Chixturax, head for the airlock and lie down behind the construction drones,” Slater announced through his MOBS. The Chixturax were still confused, but their hive structure made them follow orders without question and the gaggle of workers began to run toward the airlock. A dozen construction drones had been inside the cargo hold, ready to haul the incoming salvage and Slater had them form a protective line in front of the airlock, their bodies creating makeshift cover for the defenseless Chixturax workers. They didn’t have spacesuits on, or Slater would have had them escape through the airlock, but at least now he had clear fields of fire.

As the Chixturax fled, the gnomes intensified their fire, dropping four more of the helpless workers. The gnomes were good at killing defenseless victims, but as the remaining Chixturax fled past the bunkers, the rest of his MOBS were able to engage. Four heavy machineguns opened up, the three from the bunkers and the one mounted to the gnomech. A score of gnomes had made it into the cargo hold by this time and they were cut to ribbons by the overlapping fields of fire. In a matter of seconds, the entire force inside the cargo hold was down, gory bits of gnome were strewn about the place and he could hear the remaining attackers flee deeper into the station. A quick patrol by the gnomechs confirmed that the attack was over.

“Hixrax, one of your salvage deliveries was just attacked as they entered the cargo hold. My MOBS fought off the attack, but your people took some casualties,” Slater called out over comms. It turned out that none of the workers had the presence of mind to call for help, so Hixrax had been unaware of what was occurring.

“A sad development, I will make arrangements for our fallen to be collected. My defenders aren’t fully trained, but it is perhaps time for them to begin escorting our deliveries,” Hixrax replied.

“I’ll also use this load of salvage to print up some more defenders. You’ll get a squad of cyborks and a gnomech to escort any further shipments,” Slater said.

“Thank you, we see the need to defend ourselves, but your help is greatly appreciated. Any further hatchings of our people will include a small number of warriors, in fact, several of our people have elected to metamorphosize into our warrior form. It is a long and painful process, but they are willing to face the challenge if it means they can protect the hive more efficiently,” Hixrax said.

Slater hadn’t seen a Chixturax warrior yet and was curious what the exact differences were to a regular version. He also wouldn’t have minded reprocessing a few of the corpses to try and acquire the template but didn’t want to risk their partnership over it. He had no compunctions over harvesting the gnomish corpses, they would provide the biomass to print up the new defenders in the area, and their equipment would also help with the salvage requirements. After repairing some minor damage that they had taken from stray laser fire, the construction drones began printing up his additional defenders.

The burden on his core for handling so many MOBS was beginning to become more pronounced as over a dozen new defenders were created. Slater wasn’t quite at his cap yet, but he was getting close. What would happen when he tried to also control squadrons of attack drones in a space battle? Would he have to reprocess the MOBS inside his Derelict to free up enough power to create them? His thoughts were interrupted by the hatchway to his Derelict opening once again. Slater expected a visit from Administrator, but instead, it was Bexlan and Krixnas that walked in.

“Don’t tell me you guys are hostages again, we got stuff to do and can’t spend all our time defending hostages,” Pixi whined, the personality fragment somehow accessing his external comms once again.

“Hey, Slater, we are not held against our will this time, we just wanted to discuss some things about our ship and asks some questions about how your Derelict defends itself,” Bexlan replied.

“Sorry, that was Pixi just then, not me, well, not exactly,” Slater tried, and failed, to explain.

“Boss, I’ve got an idea, this way it won’t confuse everyone. How about you create one of our MOBS for me to drive? That would be cool, I mean, sure, I’ll still be in your head, but I can exert my will over the MOBS and then when I talk it won’t be so weird,” Pixi asked.

“Slater are you there?” Krixnas asked, knocking on the glowing sphere of his core. Pixi having cut off external comms for his last question.

“Yes, hold on Krixnas, I’m taking care of something,” Slater replied.

“Pixi, that’s not the worst idea, it would save me some confusion. Let me print up something for you,” Slater said, ordering one of the construction drones in his core room to begin work on a body for Pixi.

“Cool, hey, how about I get something new, maybe we can put me in a cybork for now and then work on some cool custom gear for me?” Pixi asked. Slater ignored him, continuing to try and sort out exactly how he was going to do this. Pixi was a fragment of his mind, one he couldn’t exactly separate from himself, but he could channel the fragment’s output. That was it, he linked the fragment with his new MOBS, forcing Pixi to use his new ride for external comms. He could still speak inside Slater’s mind, but there would be no more confusion with any visitors as to who was speaking.

“No, no, no, this is not going to work,” Pixi whined. His voice now coming from the mouth of a particularly scraggly looking bilge rat.

“Oh, so that is the true form of this Pixi that speaks from your core,” Bexlan said, crouching down to get a closer look at the very irritated Pixi.

“This is an outrage, no, Bexlan, this is not my true form. In reality I was a beautiful creature, a being of light and wonder. This raggedy meat blob is Slater’s way of being petty,” Pixi whined.

“You were not a ‘being of light and wonder’. The original Pixi was a brain sucking parasite. What inhabits this bilge rat, is merely a fragment of my own mind, patterned after the original creature that I destroyed. It helps me with many functions of my Derelict,” Slater explained to the Chixturax, hoping they could comprehend what had just happened.

“Helps keep you sane, you mean,” Pixi grumbled.

“Hmm, I can see how this fragment could be irritating if it were inside your head, but I find him strangely amusing in this form,” Krixnas added.

“See, boss, I’m already getting a fan club, now hurry up and print me up something appropriate,” Pixi demanded.

“No, the rat is fine. We need all the control we have to print up more defenders and the bilge rat form doesn’t take up much of my processing power,” Slater said.

“May I ask a question?” Krixnas said, interrupting Slater’s argument with himself.

“Sure, ask away,” Slater said.

“When you were battling the Elgenflazzle invasion of your core, I noticed several inefficient uses of your MOBS, was that intentional? My sister thinks it was merely an oversight in the heat of battle, but I am of the opinion it was an attempt to see if we were paying attention to the fight and that you would wish to quiz us on the results at a later time,” Krixnas asked.

“Well, before I answer that, name some of the inefficiencies you think you observed,” Slater said, kind of taken aback, as he felt his defense was well thought out.

“I understand that you as a Derelict have a limited number of MOBS you can control, but why do you not choose to supplement your MOBS with more automated defenses. Those can be preprogrammed, and while not as efficient as MOBS, can be deadly to any invaders,” Krixnas replied.

“Wow, Slater, the kid’s good, maybe we should hire him and his sister?” Pixi said.

“A good question, and normally, I would have extensive automated defenses. In the previous version of the Franklin, I had heavy guns at critical intersections along with grenade dispensers. Here, I’m very limited on resources, and if I had enough to build a minefield or an auto-machinegun emplacement, those resources would be better spent to bolster the number of MOBS guarding me,” Slater replied. It was a true answer, but he really should have thought about it more in designing his Derelict. A few less MOBS could have meant a slew of hidden mines, tripwire triggered grenades, and the like. While the traps wouldn’t be as effective as his MOBS, they also didn’t take up any of his precious processing power to run.

“See, Krixnas, I told you there was a plan behind his approach. I have a question as well, if you don’t mind,” Bexlan said.

“Before you ask, should you two even be here? The gnomes just attacked the shipyard and may be on the hunt for you guys. They seem to hold the pair of you directly responsible for the cookie incident,” Slater asked.

“We are reasonably safe in public areas. While we don’t know the particulars, it is believed the gnomes only paid for access to assault our shipyard directly. Given what they must have spent on the earlier attack and their losses in your Derelict, we believe their funds are running low,” Bexlan said.

“Still, I would feel much better if the pair of you at least had some protection,” Slater replied.

“See, ask him,” Krixnas pleaded to his sister. Their mannerisms were still hard for Slater to gauge, even with the translation protocols helping, but he knew an excited teenager when he saw one.

“My brother and I liked the armor you created for the Chixturax as guards. Perhaps we could trouble you for a set of our own? We have gathered some salvage with our own funds to pay for it,” Bexlan asked.

“What armor? We just made them some hastily designed shipsuits for the guards you’re training,” Pixi said.

“Oh, we thought that they were meant as armor, given the thick material,” Bexlan replied. The suits hadn’t exactly been armored, only a few reinforced sections to protect vital areas. Slater had forgotten to upgrade them and Hixrax hadn’t mentioned it any further.

“I’d be glad to create some armor for you, it might even give me the chance to improve on the original design for the rest of your people. I would need you to stick around for a bit, though, that way we can get a custom fit,” Slater replied. It was an easy thing for him to do and he felt protective of the pair. If his efforts saved them from a random gnome attack, it would be worth it. He also wanted to improve on his somewhat slapdash original design work.

“We enjoy seeing you work; we will stay here as long as you will allow. Father has given control of the restaurant over to another of our race so that he might focus exclusively on our departure preparations. Now, we have little to do,” Krixnas said.

Slater pulled a few percentage points from his drone research over to design some armor for his friends. It wouldn’t delay his drone research much and it would be fun to take a more active role in the design. He tried to think about how best to protect the oddly shaped Chixturax as a construction drone took exact measurements for him. Pixi tried to help as well, chatting with the kids to keep them entertained. It felt good to have them here, almost like he had a crew once more. He needed the interaction with living beings, it would help keep him sane and Slater never wanted to fall back into the black hole of madness again.