Derelict 3, Chapter 18.

Chapter 18.

“Slater, you’ve done very well on the second attack, and I’m happy to see your construction drones are working hard at the dockyard. We gained ranking and credit income, hopefully this trend will continue,” Hixrax said, sending the latest ranking data over.

“Thanks, have you ever heard of these Ku Ha Slime Lord things before? I was able to absorb their biomass, but couldn’t discern what they actually are,” Slater asked. The gooey opponent was a bit of a mystery so far, evading his ability to break down and recreate at least a basic understanding of their physical composition.

“Not much, they are rare and most believe the slime is simply their home. They are thought to be microscopic creatures that ride inside the metal tubes they use to control their slime with. While typically not a combative people, the slime lords must have had some tribe or clan that needed credits for one reason or another. The allure of quick riches draws many to the arena who normally wouldn’t want to fight,” Hixrax said.

“Very well, I hope we don’t see more like them. Keep supplying resources to the dockyard with our new funds, I don’t want any delays in construction because we’re waiting for supplies to arrive,” Slater said. He had taken a look in on the dockyard and his construction drones had been hard at work expanding the landing and dock area, but it would take a lot of material just to get to the point where they were able to start on the ships.

“More salvage should arrive soon, we’ve spread out our purchases a bit, so it will come in several smaller deliveries. Buying in bulk was starting to inflate pricing a bit. I must go, the elders are holding a meeting to prepare our people for the journey ahead,” Hixrax said.

“Sure, I’ll send over the latest plans I have for your ship, there will be further improvements as we go, but this is what I have so far. Have you thought about a name for the vessel yet?” Slater asked.

“No, we typically don’t name our ships, though the practice is not forbidden. I will ask the elders if they wish to do so, I think that perhaps it is a good idea,” Hixrax said, ending their communication. Slater turned his thoughts from the odd Chixturax and looked at their latest results.

Sarton Station Ranking for the Chixturax core shard: 124/274.

Total views: 784,177.

Victory/Defeat: 19/1.

Total kills: 144.

Fan favorite MOBS: Kobots.

Number of fan followers: 3894.

Credits earned in last match: 7644.

It was a good bump in ranking, but not enough to get him close to the top fifty spot. Was his performance that poor, or did the slime creature just not make for that exciting of a fight? He had no control over that aspect, he could only try to win and do so in a way that entertained the masses.

The hatch inside his core room began to open once more, and the sight of dwarven workers pushing a half dozen pallets of salvage inside was a good one. The appearance of the pair of ogre bodyguards announced that Administrator was back for another conversation. Was he here to for his own amusement or was there something important for them to talk about this time?

“Ah, another victory under your belt, Slater, well done. The slime lords aren’t all that powerful, but given the weapons loadout of your MOBS, I suspected they would give you more trouble than most,” Administrator said. It was true that most races used laser-based weapons, which would have likely performed much better than his had done. It was something to think about, maybe he should mix up their weapons loadout a bit more.

“Thank you, but congratulating me on the latest victory isn’t why you decided to give a personal visit, is it?” Slater asked. With completed research notifications waiting for his attention, he really didn’t see the need to banter with this creature. At least he had dispensed with the whole table and chair routine, which indicated that Administrator didn’t intend to stay that long.

“Quite correct, I am here to present an amendment to our original deal. A new contestant wishes to challenge your core directly. They are offering a tidy sum, not only to the station, but oddly enough, also to the Chixturax if they allow the new contender to participate. Is this something you might be interested in?” Administrator asked. Any chance to earn more credits was a good thing as far as Slater was concerned, but why would someone offer to pay to have a crack at his Derelict? Normally, the contestants were here to make money, not spend it. This whole deal didn’t pass the smell test.

“I might be interested, but why are these contestants willing to pay? I mean, they could just sign up normally and wait their turn, couldn’t they?” Slater asked.

“These contestants wish to remain anonymous and were fearful that the next team inside would destroy your core, eliminating their opportunity. I believe they wish to be the ones to destroy you, Slater, do you want to give them the chance?” Administrator asked.

“This seems like a setup, why don’t we just go with the other group you had planned, these new clowns, whoever they are, can just wait their turn like every other contestant,” Slater said, not wanting to take the risk for just a few more credits.

“What if I sweeten the deal, I’ll waive the requirement you have to make it to the top fifty by the end of your next match. Agree to let these contestants be next, and you’ll not have to worry with the station interfering with your ship building activities. Reject the offer and our original bargain still stands, I gave you my word on that,” Administrator offered. It was a good deal, and not having to worry about his ranking would be one less hurdle for him to overcome.

“So why do you care? You said the money didn’t mean all that much to you, so why push to let this new group in. Why even tell me about them, you could have just dropped them on us, and I would have never known the difference,” Slater asked.

“Yes, I could have just pushed them to be next in the queue without your knowledge, but I wanted to see how you would react to this wrinkle in your plan. A human Derelict Core is one of the more unusual things I’ve seen and though the other fights were hard, this coming one will push you to your limit. This will be a fight to be remembered, all you have to do is say yes,” Administrator said.

Slater could see something gleam in the Administrators eyes when he talked about the next battle. He was truly excited to see how things would turn out. Was his long life so predictable that an unusual fight in the arena was this important to him? Maybe he could squeeze some more concessions out of him before he agreed.

“How about a counteroffer? I agree to face these new contestants and you call off the core destruction thing, I don’t want a lucky group to kill me while I earn the rest of the credits to build our ships,” Slater offered.

“Hmm, I think I could agree to that, so long as these new contenders get to play with your death as an option,” Administrator said. It was a good deal as far as Slater was concerned, beat this last group and he wouldn’t have to worry about his core being destroyed.

“I think we have a deal, but how about getting some more salvage and a few more compartments for me to work with. Oh, and one more thing, I need a pair of disruptor beam weapons,” Slater said. If he could finally test if his cyborg MOBS were safe from the weapons, he could swap out his forces entirely, giving him a much stronger defense.

“Oh, that shouldn’t be a problem, but why the disruptor beams? Do you plan to design your drones to overcome that particular attack?” Administrator asked.

“You didn’t want to spoil the surprise by telling me who the new contestants are, and I don’t want to spoil the surprise of what I intend to do with the disruptor beams,” Slater replied.

“I do believe I like you, Slater. Our conversations are always so entertaining. Fine, I’ll agree to your request, giving you two more compartments, an ample quantity of salvage, and the pair of disruptor beams. In return you will agree to two minor demands that your opponent’s have requested, and before you ask, I can’t tell you ahead of time what those two demands are, I can only assure you they are minor demands,” Administrator said.

“Deal,” Slater replied. If the contestants wanted to bring reinforcements or some special weapon, that was fine with him. The chance to test his cyborgs against disruptor beams was worth it.

“Excellent, you will have forty-eight hours before the next match, which should give you plenty of time to buildout your new compartments and do whatever it is you want to do with your new toys,” Administrator said. The conversation must be over, because without a farewell, the strange creature floated his way out of the compartment.

While he waited for the agreed upon salvage and the disruptor weapons to arrive, Slater adjusted his research. The Chixturax ship armor was done, and the next in the queue were updates to their weapons systems. They needed more refinement, and after that, his allies would get some work done on their sensors and shields. His own ship’s hull design was complete, and it was all that he had hoped for.

The overall size of the new Franklin was longer than any other human warship, and the shape resembled the Iowa class of battleship he had used as a reference point. A powerful main battery of 18-inch railguns would be supplemented by twenty secondary turrets with twin, five-inch dual purpose weapons. Over a hundred various types of point defense weapons were strategically placed to ensure solid coverage from every angle. Long range firepower had been improved to twenty vertical launch tubes and an oversized drone bay should give him a drone fleet to rival that of a several carriers. Multiple shield generators protected the ship, and the armor was nearly a foot thicker than a standard battleship. The new Franklin would be the most powerful human vessel to ever travel the stars, once he finished his research, that is.

He needed to design drones, upgrade many of his internal systems, and incorporate everything he’d learned from the Chixturax ship. Some information on other races vessels would be good, maybe he could get Administrator to throw some schematics in as a reward? He had the overall design and could have his construction drones begin on the internal structure and hull right away, but before he could focus on building the Franklin, he had to survive the next attack. Thankfully, the Administrator’s word was good, and twenty additional pallets of salvage were brought in, the workers promising more was on the way.

Two new compartments were allocated, this time a larger rectangular design that was double the size of his other compartments. Administrator had also unlocked the placement again, allowing him to reconfigure placement of his compartments if he wished. Slater thought about his old ship and the compartments that had proven the most effective. By far, the firing range had been the true killer on his ship, that, and the long narrow corridors he was unable to build with the compartments he had been allocated. Recreating his firing range, Slater placed that compartment between the armory and the bridge, giving invaders a difficult challenge near the end of his Derelict, one they would have to face after they had been worn down by all his other forces.

The firing range was mostly open territory, but near the hatch leading to the bridge were two reinforced bunkers. Since he couldn’t build them deeply into the decking material, Slater had to build up, the two bunkers would take more material than he would have liked, but it couldn’t be avoided. There was always the option of a smaller shielded area for his forces, but the previous battles had proven the bunker design as effective.

As far as the second new compartment, he decided on creating a brig for his ship. Again, he would be limited by his resources, but several reinforced cells would line one wall, which would provide good cover for his MOBS. At the far end of the compartment, the watch desk would be reinforced and made to flip over, creating a small fighting position with a heavy weapons team. The defense would be a difficult one for a foe to crack, requiring they clear each cell while the whole time a heavy weapons team was pouring fire into them.

His ship’s brig would be placed between the cargo hold and the barracks, creating an extra difficult challenge early in the contestant’s attempt. What MOBS would face his enemies was going to be determined after he tested the weapons the station workers were just now bringing into his core room. The pair of beam weapons were dropped near his core while other workers brough in the pallets of salvage that he had been promised. An additional ten pallets were brought in, more than enough to build out what he wanted and produce more of his MOBS.

But before he got too far into the Derelict redesign, he ordered one of his normal kobolds to grab a beam weapon and fire it at his cybernetically upgraded MOBS. Blue first hit a kobot who seemed to be unharmed other than a burn mark where the beam had connected. A few more shots at various body parts, both fleshy and mechanized, proved that the kobots were unaffected by the beam.

A similar test on the cyborks revealed the same result, and covering all his bases, Slater had them also test the second weapon out to make sure that the other wasn’t faulty. In addition, he printed up a reaper drone which easily fell prey to the disruptor beams. At least Administrator hadn’t tried to pull a fast one with the weapons. Given their more powerful nature, Slater ordered all the normal versions of his MOBS replaced with their cybork and kobot versions. As they processed the salvage, his new compartments would be built out. It would take time, but the task should be complete long before his forty-eight hours expired.