Derelict 3, Chapter 21.

Chapter 21.

Slater’s attention shifted from his Derelict to the construction drones at the dockyard. It was a bloodbath. All the Chixturax workers had been shot or hacked to pieces by a mob of gnomes. They had then proceeded to the docks where they were now systematically shooting down his construction drones and planting what looked like demolition charges. Hixrax called him as he watched the destruction of all his hard work unfold.

“Slater, I know you are in the midst of a battle, but it appears we are as well. The Elgenflazzle clan has launched an attack on the dockyard as you can see, they have also attacked several of our businesses. Many of our people are hurt and much damage was done before station security stopped the attack,” Hixrax said. Slater could see how stressed he was, the Chixturax unable to stand still while talking as he skittered about the room he was in. Given the piles of debris and partially completed devices, Slater assumed he was with Ixlab.

“I know the station security wouldn’t get involved unless there was damage to the station, but don’t your people have some way of fighting back?” Slater asked.

“Yes, we have some stunners, but that is all that is allowed by the station rules. Tell me, I know it is selfish, but are my children well?” Hixrax asked.

“Bexlan and Kraxton are fine, there here with me in the core chamber. You also need to get some weapons and armor, if the gnomes aren’t following the rules, then we don’t need to either,” Slater said, angry that the strange bug-like people allowed themselves to be victimized like this.

“They must have pre-paid the fines, we were funneling all our resources into the ships,” Hixrax said.

“What’s the situation now?” Slater asked.

“They dockyard will be a total loss, I fear. The attacks here are winding down with station security stepping in to keep the peace. I guess the bribes they paid to attack us ran out,” Hixrax told him. Slater had a view of the attack on the docks, but without a construction drone near the other Chixturax, he had to rely on what Hixrax told him of the situation.

“I’ll finish the fight here, and then we’ll have to see about beefing up security for the dockyard,” Slater said, cutting the feed. There was nothing he could do there; the construction drones were unarmed, and the gnomes were ruthlessly hunting them down to prevent them from interfering with the charges they were setting. There was always the chance that blowing stuff up that was attached to the station would get them in trouble with the authorities, but Slater didn’t expect they gnomes would attempt it unless they knew the risks.

Only a few minutes had passed while he talked with Hixrax about the attack on the dockyard, and the battle for control of the brig was still going on. Gnomes continued to pour into the Derelict, the now hollowed out husk of Big Ed allowed them some cover as they approached. His gnomechs were still firing away, the heavy shells able to penetrate the husk of the death contraption thingy and inflict serious casualties as the gnomes approached.

A few more of the gnome squad leaders lurked about in the cargo hold, directing the troops toward the fight. Slater pulled his grenade trick one more time before the others finally caught on, tossing their remaining grenades into a corner of the compartment where they wouldn’t hurt anything. Inside the brig, the gnomes had managed to clear out the first three cells and were gathering to make a rush on the remining three. As the gnomes huddled behind the cell wall to avoid the firepower of his newest MOBS, Slater triggered the trap he had designed in there.

The walls between the cells collapsed, the heavy alloy crushing the gnomes gathered beneath. Having part of their force pinned or dead failed to discourage the others and with laser carbines blazing, a swarm of gnomes charged from Big Ed’s husk. The gnomechs had an evil grin on their faces as they shifted fire to overlap their weapons, turning the charging mass of gnomes into a pile of corpses. Any hit with the heavy rounds was a kill, the explosive shells blowing gaping holes or severing limbs on the small gnome bodies.

The fanatical aggression of the gnomish forces met the firepower of Slater’s gnomechs and this time, firepower won. The attackers turned to run, only to find that their choice to retreat meant nothing to Slater’s MOBS. Until they surrendered, he would continue the fight. It appeared none of the squad leaders had the authority to surrender as all their frantic calls to cease fire were met with silence from Administrator.

Wanting some payback after all the destruction the gnomes had caused to his shipyard, Slater ordered his forces to attack. The surviving kobots in the brig fell in behind the gnomechs and they cautiously pushed forward. His forces in the barracks were also released to attack, giving him more than enough power to stomp all over the now panicked gnomes of the Elgenflazzle clan. Each gnome they killed here was one less that was available for further attacks on the dockyard. In addition, the well-equipped intruders would supply him with more than enough salvage for his Derelict to use.

A few gnomes tried to put up some semblance of resistance, but the small groups trying to fight back were no match for his cybernetically enhanced MOBS, and they died just like the ones running in panic did. It didn’t take long for the last of the gnomes to fall or flee, giving Slater time to take stock of the aftermath. One hundred and seventy-four, that was the final kill count for the fight.

“Is that it, Slater? You beat them pretty easily,” Kraxton said, he sounded almost disappointed that the fight was over. Surprising, since a loss would have meant his death.

“Yeah, I’m beginning to think this was at least partially meant as a distraction to pull our attention away from the attack on the shipyards. That attack hurt, throwing away all the resources and time we’ve spent so far,” Slater offered.

“I think your Derelict was more than they bargained for. That death contraption thingy would have destroyed almost any other core shard,” Bexlan said. The hatch to his core room opened for Administrator and his pair of ogre goons.

‘Well, that went much better for you than I thought. I should have known the gnomes were no match for a real Derelict. I’m so used to these shards and their rather limited imagination. Your MOBS on the other hand, are quite interesting,” Administrator said.

“So, you said our shipbuilding efforts wouldn’t be hampered by you if I agreed to the deal, so what gives with the attack on the dockyard. I thought your word good?” Slater asked, upset over the setback that had occurred and he had to think that Sarton Station would have been aware of a large attack like the one that had been launched against the Chixturax.

“Oh, absolutely, I am a being of my word. The death enhancement for your core has been rescinded you will only face normal challengers from here on out unless you get bored and decide to spice things up. As far as the attack on your shipyard, I agreed to not interfere with your efforts, I said nothing about preventing some other interested party from interfering,” Administrator told him. He wasn’t convinced the Administrator was completely innocent but arguing the fact would get him nowhere.

“Is there any way to prevent any of these ‘other interested parties’ from interfering in our construction efforts?” Slater asked.

“Normally, I would suggest an exorbitant number of credits in return for official station security, but these gnomes would undoubtedly pay more than you and your insectile allies could scrape together. Perhaps another exciting contest with your Derelict in return for total protection?” Administrator asked. Slater had no intention of risking his life to prevent some possible attack on the shipyard, but perhaps there was another option.

“I don’t think the risk is enough to justify the reward. How about this instead, you don’t provide security at the dockyard, but you give us a license to defend our interests on the station? We’ll defend ourselves against the Elgenflazzle or any others that want to cause trouble, but I don’t want to find myself afoul of some obscure law and I don’t want a bill for damages whenever a laser blast scorches a bulkhead,” Slater offered.

“Intriguing, and this could be entertaining. I’ll tell you what, you assign Sarton Station the rights to broadcast any of the fights your security forces are involved in, and I think we can work something out. A small security deposit, which you’ll never see back, will be required. Let’s say for the measly sum of 5000 credits and the aforementioned broadcast rights, Sarton Station will provide you with a writ of exemption for any necessary measures to defend your interests,” Administrator countered.

“I haven’t seen how much we’ve earned form this last fight, but given it’s at least 5000 credits, we have a deal,” Slater replied. He was sure that Administrator would find some way to twist the deal around to his benefit, but this time, Slater planned to do the same thing. These gnomes were going to regret the trouble they’d caused him. The attack on the dockyard and the attempt to kill him and the Chixturax kids were only the opening acts in what he now thought of as the Cookie Wars.

“Deal, thank you again for a most entertaining fight, Slater. I shall be so sorry to see you leave once your little ship is built,” Administrator said as he floated out of the core room.

Slater went about resetting his Derelict, Kraxton and Bexlan giving their “expert” opinions on everything from MOBS placement to compartment decoration. He was relieved when Hixrax finally called in.

“Slater, I see you’ve beaten your foes. I am going to have to pick up the younglings and have you can create new construction MOBS for our shipbuilding efforts,” Hixrax said. Despite the translation protocols doing their thing, the Chixturax sounded very distant and unconcerned that his children had just faced imminent death. Slater like both the kids, and he bit back an angry retort, this was another race from another world, his views on child rearing weren’t exact going to match up with theirs.

“I’ll build a few construction drones and can use the debris from the dockyard attack to create what I need to get work underway again. We also have a deal with the station to allow us to defend ourselves without fear of official repercussions,” Slater said.

“Yes, that would explain the rather substantial deduction from our proceeds. I’ll spend whatever’s left to get some more salvage brought over. I will also have to see about hiring guards or arming some of my people to defend our shipyard,” Hixrax replied.

“Don’t worry about guards, my MOBS can handle that as long as there is enough salvage to build them. That does beg the question of why your people weren’t prepared for a possible attack, or at least some thieves breaking in to see what they could steal,” Slater asked, fully aware that part of the responsibility was on him for not thinking of it either.

“My people are not of the warrior caste and we lack the weapons, armor, and aptitude for fighting,” Hixrax admitted. Slater hadn’t thought of that, these Chixturax were so much like insects, it stood to reason that there would be specially bred soldier types. This group living on Sarton Station must have been simple workers.

“I can see about equipment, but there’s not much I can do about training your people to defend themselves. Maybe you can find some volunteers that want to learn, and we can hire someone on the station to train them. My time is better spent producing what we need,” Slater said.

“Agreed, if you can design some gear for us, I will see to the hiring of a trainer in the ways of warfare to teach our people,” Hixrax replied before cutting off the conversation abruptly.

“I’d like to learn to defend myself and the hive,” Kraxton said, full of the false bravado that all young people seem to possess.

“You have other responsibilities,” Bexlan replied, giving her brother an upset sister glare.

“What kind of weapons do your people prefer?” Slater asked, unsure how the Chixturax fought.

“I learned in school that the warrior caste use various laser weapons and have a limb evolved as a melee weapon,” Bexlan replied. Slater tried to picture the best type of gear for the awkwardly shaped creatures. Their long, ant-like bodies would be difficult to armor effectively, but he could maybe do something to protect the vital areas and weapons shouldn’t be a problem. He had enough laser rifle designs to whip something up that would fit comfortably in the Chixturax hands.

“I’ll print up some weapons for your father to try out when he arrives, let me know what feels comfortable,” Slater printed up a few variants of laser carbines, rifles, and pistols, making minor modifications to the grips. He made sure each sample weapon didn’t have a charge, it wouldn’t be smart to give live weapons to what were essentially two teenagers, even if they were much less volatile than most humans teens he had known.

Several tweaks were made based on the kid’s input and Slater had fully functional versions printed up for Hixrax to try. While he waited on his Chixturax contact, Slater reviewed the data from their latest fight, the news was good.

Total views: 2,157,143.

Victory/Defeat: 20/1.

Total kills: 318.

Fan favorite MOBS: Gnomech.

Number of fan followers: 10,222.

Credits earned in last match: 28,244.

Even after paying Administrator his fee, Slater figured they had more than enough credits to get a good start on repairing the damage done to the dockyard as well as initial construction on the hulls of their ships. Hixrax arrived soon after, gathering the kids, his sample weapons, and a pair of construction drones. When they reached the dockyard, his construction drones got to work on salvaging the debris from the battle. To start with they began to build more of themselves, and this time, a drone was kept hidden away in Ixlab’s shop in case of emergency.

While they rebuilt their numbers, his drones also built their first defenders, a pair each of cyborks and kobots. It wasn’t enough to fend off another full-scale attack, but their numbers would grow as the work progressed. It would slow things down a bit to push resources into defenders, but Slater was sure the Elgenflazzle clan wasn’t quite done with their attacks. That was fine because Slater wasn’t quite done with them either.