by Dean Henegar
He watched as Admiral Lopez laughed upon receiving a message from the council, like the one that Slater had just received. When the admiral picked up the communication attempt from Slater, she fought back the madness for a time; duty and obligation as a leader had asserted itself. Sadly, the parasite within her had consumed too much, and eventually, the ever-present hunger once more ruled her mind. The anticipation of a great feast overwhelmed her as she hurled her forces out to attack Slater. When they died, she couldn’t believe it, using the last of her biomass to forge the second attack wave.
A sadness overcame Slater as he felt the admiral’s last thoughts. There was no relief or pleasant slipping into an afterlife; there was only pain and the terror of never-ending darkness. Melancholy filled him as he stopped focusing on his derelict and absently moved his point of view around his ship as he tried to come to terms with what he had done to the admiral. Had he given her release or condemned her to an eternity of nothingness? What was the point? He was doomed to eventually meet the same fate as Admiral Lopez, screaming in terror as the darkness claimed him.
Slater began to feel pain and pressure as the need to expand his core became too much to bear. He anticipated that this upgrade would be bigger than the last; his core had absorbed so much that there was no way he could hold back the need to sleep. The pressure in his mind released as he drifted off into the blissful rest that was normally associated with a core level increase. Just before the dreams began, a blinking message on his comm array caught his attention.
“Attention, unknown vessel. You are sending on a restricted navy frequency. Identify yourself immediately or face repercussions. This is the USS Havock. Respond.”
— 16 —
Slater came to slowly, and after gathering his wits—an action that occurred much faster than usual—he hurried to interface with the comm array. Notifications from his leveled core were swiped away as he focused on the message he had received, which had been repeated three more times during his slumber. After a moment’s thought, Slater sent a reply. He also updated his ship’s log with everything that had occurred since his initial transformation, but he held off on sending it, wanting to be certain who was attempting to communicate with him.
“This is Captain Slater of the USS Franklin. If you are the U.S. Navy, I could use assistance. Please respond.”
He received no immediate reply, so he decided his time was best spent reviewing his upgrades and not hovering anxiously over the comm array. His core had upgraded all the way to level 5, and he now sported several improvements and changes to his systems. He pulled up his summary tab before going to work on upgrading his derelict with the windfall of resources he had gained from the other derelict.
Slater, Derelict Core, Level 5, Experience: 1785/2500
Core Health: 76/100
Core Power: 50/90
Biomass: 2166
Salvage: 1211
Nanobot Permeation: 100%
Compartments Controlled: 9
Research Nodes: 3
Defenses: pit traps (0), tripwire traps (0)
MOBS: kobolds (16), taskmasters (3), pairs of bilge rats (10)
Boss MOBS: kobold captain (1)
Construction Drones: 10
MOBS Schematics:
Construction Drone, Level 2
Kobold, Level 1
Bilge Rat, Level 1
Gear Schematics:
Slashing and Piercing Melee Weapons, Level 2
Crushing Melee Weapons, Level 1
Laser Weapons, Level 2
Firearms, Level 0
Clothing, Level 2
Defensive Structures:
Pit Trap, Level 1
Tripwire Trap, Level 1
Derelict Interior Schematics:
Décor and Compartment Items, Level 2
Secret Door, Level 1
Core Room Schematics:
Laboratory, Level 1
Communications Array, Level 2
Engineering Station, Level 2
Research Nodes: 4
Laboratory node is currently researching biological implants, level 2. Progress: 100%. Please activate this upgrade to clear the node for further research.
Engineering node is currently researching pit traps, level 2. Progress: 100%. Please activate this upgrade to clear the node for further research.
Research node 1 is currently researching tripwire traps, level 2. Progress: 100%. Please activate this upgrade to clear the node for further research.
Research node 2 is currently available.
New Schematics Unlocked:
Décor and Compartment Items, Level 2
Kobold Defiler, Level 0 (additional templates include the eviscerator boss)
Ship’s Propulsion Unit, Level 0
Hidden Compartment Trap, Level 0
Time until next jump: n/a. Core needs to be fully repaired to begin the jump sequence.
Slater was pleased to see his core health improving, though he wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to make a jump to another system just yet, especially after making contact with the navy once more. Biomass was way up, thanks to all the dead defilers, and salvage was chugging along nicely, improving by the minute as his drones broke down the rest of the admiral’s derelict. His little drones had somehow stolen an upgrade to level 2 from the ones aboard the admiral’s vessel. Looking at them, he could tell they were able to move a bit faster and perform their tasks in a more efficient manner.
Switching his view to the hull, he could see that the admiral’s derelict had been stripped down by a third, and the little drones were still cutting away at it—a task that would have been impossible if the derelict was still alive. Now that the derelict was “dead,” the nanobots on the admiral’s ship were inert and not repairing any cuts made by his drones. Research had completed while he had slept, freeing up all three lines. He still didn’t have a way to queue up research during his downtime. Perhaps that would open up as his core increased in level.
The new schematics were a welcome addition. He wasn’t sure if he would ever use the defilers as his main combat MOBS. His kobolds were able to defeat a greater number of what he assumed were highly upgraded MOBS. The eviscerator version was tagged as a boss MOBS, so he wanted to make one of those just to test out its abilities. Strangely, the defilers were listed as a separate MOBS type instead of being added as a kobold template. Perhaps they were just too different from the original after all the changes the admiral had made to them.
Just like his own formation into a derelict had pulled components from various areas on the Franklin, the admiral’s conversion must have done the same. The admiral’s ship was much more luxurious than his own converted ore-hauler, so it would logically have better interior items to work with, explaining why he had obtained the schematics for level 2 in that category. Even though it didn’t affect his power, Slater felt a desire to have his ship look as interesting as possible. Was this feeling something of pride for him personally or the derelict’s influence?
The hidden compartment trap would be a fun one to experiment with but would need to be upgraded to make it effective. The level 0 schematic details informed him that the trap would be easily spotted, but at higher levels, the chance at detection was reduced. The one item that drew his eye was the schematic for a basic propulsion unit. With an engine in place, he could begin to maneuver his vessel and attempt to reach any available salvage in the system. The initial cost was a steep 250 salvage, and he didn’t know how much the upgrade would drain his core power. Slater bit the bullet and had his drones start building the propulsion unit on his ramshackle vessel.
The research on the pit trap and tripwire trap was also complete. The pit trap now had a better placement of spikes, dishing out more damage and being able to impale a larger number of foes that fell into it. If another swarm-type invader, like the admiral’s defilers, attacked, it should be able to put a bigger dent in their numbers. The tripwire trap became harder to detect, and the velocity of the dart was imp
roved, giving greater armor penetration. Neither trap had unlocked the ability to modify them yet; he assumed they likely needed more upgrades before that could happen.
Slater now had a total of four research nodes to work with. Like the traitorous Pixi had mentioned, as his core grew, the more processing power he was able to dedicate toward research. He decided to give his MOBS an upgrade, using the lab node to upgrade his standard kobolds. Once the lab upgrade was underway, he spent his other points on the hidden compartment trap and the propulsion unit, reserving the engineering station for some hands-on attention with the firearms upgrade.
He had plans for the hidden compartment trap and wanted to get it out of the nearly useless level of zero. Upgrading propulsion was going to be necessary if he wanted to build something better than a small maneuvering thruster in the future.
The blunderbuss had proven very effective for something so primitive. With the slow recharge time for laser weapons, firearms might be worth improving. It paid to have a varied response to threats, and Slater was dying to try out more research in the engineering station.
“Vessel identifying yourself as the Franklin. That vessel is in our records and is shown to have been destroyed over 130 years ago at the start of the war. We are moving into weapons range. Do not attempt to flee or power up your own weapons. The Havock will not attack if you do not power up weapons or raise your shields.”
They had finally replied to him, though from the length of time it took to hear back, the Havock must not have been too far away. There was no problem in not powering up weapons and shields since he didn’t have those. His tiny propulsion thruster was still being built, so there was no real danger of him trying to escape. He sent a reply and attached the data log he had compiled. If these were communications from the navy, sending the data would hopefully help identify him.
“Havock, I acknowledge your message and will comply. Sending complete logs regarding the fate that befell my ship and crew. I understand this will be strange information for us both, and I can’t tell you how good it is to hear from another human being. Looking forward to your reply. Franklin out.”
Slater kept one eye on the comm array, awaiting a response as he continued working on his derelict. With lots of salvage available and more pouring in every minute, it was time to expand the ship. He ordered two new compartments to be added to his vessel. In keeping with his earlier plans, he had one row of ten completed before starting a second row. When more salvage came in from the admiral’s ship, he would extend the new row out, always keeping his core room the farthest from any arrivals to his vessel.
With so much construction going on, Slater felt it wise to expand his drone fleet. Adding five extra drones, he made a note to take a second look at drone numbers when he got around to populating the new compartments and updating his MOBS placement. The five new drones would be set to help the ship’s expansion, and once that was completed, they would assist with the salvage operation on the admiral’s ship.
Now Slater decided to have a little fun. He jumped into the engineering station and pulled up the schematic for his blunderbuss. The schematic that the dwarven weapon had unlocked was strangely primitive for something coming from a race that could travel the stars. Why his derelict could sometimes unlock an exact copy and sometimes only unlock the most primitive version of something remained a mystery.
The blunderbuss was a muzzle-loaded flintlock design—thankfully not a matchlock—and obviously a single-shot weapon. Between battles, reloading the weapon was handled as part of the drones’ reset process. Remembering his military history, he knew that many muzzle-loaded weapons could have a premeasured amount of gunpowder and shot wrapped inside a paper cartridge for ease of reloading.
The paper cartridge was simple enough to produce, and Slater found that five of the paper cartridges only used up a single point of salvage, all of which could be recovered after a battle when the drones scoured up all the debris to reprocess. Fortunately his nanobots had programmed the kobolds to reload safely. He set the standard loadout for a blunderbuss-equipped kobold to now always add five additional rounds. In long battles, it would be a big boost in firepower against hordes of enemies.
Canceling the existing research on the kobolds, Slater pulled up the schematic for his bilge rat and the laser pistol. The biotech implant level of zero crushed his idea of making laser rats. The connections he needed and the extent of the creature modification put it out of his reach—at least for the time being. He would have to place biotech implant research higher on the priority list of upgrades the next time he had free points to use. On a whim, he looked at merging a blade to extend from their claws while striking. The results were showing as functional, so he printed up a couple of rats with blades, along with a pair of unenhanced ones as a test.
He pulled a drone from compartment expansion duty, and along with his reserve drone, they started printing away at his experiment. The blade rats attacked their normal counterparts. When the rats clawed at their foe, dagger-sized blades extended from their paws. Instead of the slashing whirlwind of death he had imagined, Slater was forced to hear the howls of pain as the blades tore through the rats’ flesh. The distracted and whimpering blade rats were then quickly killed by their normal brethren.
Further tinkering allowed him to add a port in the rats’ flesh, creating a path for the blade to enter and exit without ripping through its hide each time. The design worked, but the resulting creatures proved no better than a normal bilge rat. The length of the blade threw off their balance and made their front paws nearly useless. Maneuvering and being agile was the key to the bilge rats’ fighting technique. At least the blade port—which looked like a card slot—worked as intended. The blades could expand and retract through the opening without pain or damage. A plastic seal over the port kept debris and other nasty things from getting into the rats’ bodies.
The blade system didn’t work too well on the rats . . . but perhaps the kobolds could benefit from it. Slater pulled up the regular kobold schematic and blended his blade and port combo to fit their forearms. The blades would extend from the top of the arm where it met the wrist, allowing the blades to be used as a slashing weapon, or they could be punched straight into a foe. He printed up a blade kobold—he would work on a name later—and set it against a normal one holding a dagger.
Things went well . . . at first. The blade kobold was able to use its weapon more effectively than a standard kobold holding a dagger. The problem occurred when one of the blade kobolds got his weapons stuck in his foe’s ribcage and had to exert force to try and lever it free. Instead of breaking the rib and freeing the blade, the weapon pulled away from the tendons that attached it to the kobold, causing the blade to rip from the kobold’s arm in a gory mess.
After a few more experiments, he was able to find the right balance of blade and kobold. By adding some extra-strong connective tissue, the blade was secured and would no longer rip away from the arm bone, even if abused. Slater was surprised to find that the kobolds, unlike humans, only had a single thick bone for their forearms, which made the attachment of the blade a bit easier. After a final round of tweaking and testing, the blade kobold was a success. Even better for Slater, the upgrade didn’t require a separate kobold schematic and he could assign the upgrade across the board for all kobold MOBS types. He ordered each kobold to drop its knives for the drones to reprocess once the upgrade was complete, not wanting to waste any of his precious salvage.
Done with his tinkering, for now, he placed the freed-up research node back into upgrading his kobold and added bio-implants to the queue. Slater watched the strange upgrade process begin for his existing MOBS. A single drone had been pulled from salvage work to start the kobold upgrade process. The drone would approach a kobold, which would hold out the arm it was to have modified. His drone would then use a combination of cutting and printing to make the necessary upgrade. For their part, the kobolds didn’t seem fazed by the reconstruction of one of their arms
. Where his MOBS had exhibited some reactions to pain in battle, the sensation was somehow nullified by whatever the drone was doing. In addition, the drone was able to use a localized stasis field to keep the gore from getting out of hand.
“Vessel identifying itself as Franklin, we’re finding your story a bit hard to believe. It is our intention to send a party over to board your vessel and investigate your claims firsthand. Keep your weapons and shields powered down as our ship’s boat approaches. Failure to do so will result in your destruction.”
They were coming—fellow humans that weren’t, Slater hoped, insane. The remnants of the admiral’s derelict were nearly broken down, and if the other ship didn’t arrive in the next thirty minutes, he should have the entry hatch cleared for use. He crafted a reply and then would see to his derelict’s defenses, just in case these boarders were not who they claimed to be.
“Havock, I acknowledge and will comply. All weapons and shields are down, but there is an obstruction over our boarding hatch. I’ll need at least thirty minutes to get it clear.”
The message was sent, and Slater had at least a little time to reset his dungeon. He first printed five more drones to help with the setup, then ordered them to reset all the original traps he had placed on the ship, omitting the ones in the boarding compartment. A notification advised him that the upgrades for his blunderbuss modifications had been finalized and that the hidden compartment trap research was also complete.
The hidden compartment upgrade made the trap less likely to be spotted, but finding it wouldn’t be difficult if someone was specifically searching for traps. The maximum size of the compartment had grown just large enough to house one of his bilge rats . . . exactly what he was wanting to use it for. Slater assigned his freed-up research nodes to continue improving biotech implants as well as researching drone improvements. After that, he had the drones build six of the hidden compartments in the entry hatch and had a bilge rat printed up to reside in each. The trap was one that he could set to open either automatically when a hostile went past it or upon his direct command. After setting the trap to trigger only on his direct command—to prevent any unfortunate accidents—Slater jumped back into setting up the rest of the derelict’s compartments.