Repel Boarders

by Dean Henegar

  A narrow five-foot-wide walkway went right down the middle of the laser cannon compartment, leading to the hatch that connected it to the rat-keeper’s compartment. The walkway was sealed on all sides by a wall made of the impenetrable derelict material, ensuring that attackers wouldn’t be able to easily cut through and destroy his cannon. Realizing that the scanner would likely also require its own compartment, Slater left the next compartment empty for its future installation. The empty compartment completed the first ten rows of his derelict, so Slater now began to think out the placement for the next ten.

  For the first compartment on the second row of ten, Slater placed the engineering space. It was already set up to be almost a maze of equipment, grease, and pipes hissing out steam, so adding a hatch on the side of the room didn’t compromise its defensive ability. He kept four warriors and one taskmaster in the room, the setup of the compartment giving them some good ambush points. The space after the engineering compartment he left empty for now. There was just not enough power to populate the place with MOBS unless he was willing to strip his other rooms further.

  After the empty compartment, Slater placed the barracks. The room setup was the same as before with the hatch opening into the recreation area of the room and the barracks half of the room being able to transform into a defensive position. For the MOBS in here, he kept four warriors with a single taskmaster to lead them. Slater was torn on whether the shooting range or the bridge should come next.

  “Lieutenant Camden, can I ask you a strategy question?” Slater asked the lieutenant, who was assisting the doctor with some of her experiments.

  “Sure, Captain Slater. What did you need?” Camden replied.

  “I’m working on final placement of the compartments and wasn’t sure whether to place the bridge before or after your soldiers’ shooting range. If I place it before the shooting range, any enemies will be whittled down a bit more before they hit you. If I place it after the shooting range, there’ll be a place to fall back to, and you’ll have some extra firepower to deal with any difficult foes. What are your preferences?”

  “Well, I think I prefer a position to fall back on if things get too hot for us. We can then either fight alongside your bridge crew or fall back to our own compartments to grab more of our toys if needed. As a matter of fact, I would like to see about setting up some defensive points within our own compartments, if you get a chance. Nothing much, just some type of cover to fire from other than turning over a bunk or hiding behind the food dispenser.”

  “Not a problem, just let me know what you want, and I’ll have the drones set everything up for you,” Slater replied.

  The defenses the lieutenant selected were simple: just a three-sided metal shield with firing ports placed at strategic points around their dining hall area. The shields could be folded down into the floor when they weren’t in use. The setup was essentially a larger version of the portable shield that Sergeant Gonzales lugged around. The human quarters were left as they were; the humans had decided to make any last stands in the dining hall. If they couldn’t beat a foe there, falling back once more wasn’t going to help.

  “One more thing, Captain Slater,” Camden added. “We really don’t need the MOBS in there with us. They’re not really adding much to the defense, and I’m sure you could use them elsewhere in the ship since their numbers are limited and you have more compartments to build out.”

  “That will work out great for me, Lieutenant. I was getting stretched pretty thin with all the growth we’ve been having,” Slater replied, holding off on reassigning the extra MOBS until he knew the total cost of what he had built so far.

  After placing the shooting range, he now updated it with bunkers that fit the humans. Sergeant Gonzales would now be able to fire his machine gun from a better-protected position. Slater then dropped in the bridge compartment. He kept the kobold captain boss in the room, of course, and six kobold warriors stationed at the various control panels. To beef up the defense, he reinforced the control modules that the kobolds were seated behind, allowing them to be flipped over to provide better cover. He also added a few firing ports. A pair of rats were kept at the captain’s side, ready to rush forward and hold back any attackers while the other kobolds kept up a barrage of fire. He also decided to drop the captain’s laser pistols and replaced them with the latest version of the pistols unlocked from his firearms research.

  This newest level 3 version of the pistol was even more unwieldy than the level 0 version and incorporated a double-barrel design. The captain would now have four shots before needing to reload. The reload process was cumbersome, requiring the captain to pull a lever that dropped both barrels down, pull out the spent cartridges, replace them with fresh ones, and then close the weapon, which would then be ready to fire. The only other addition was the replacement of the standard ammo pouch with a bandoleer. Slater just liked the look, and the captain wasn’t going to break any speed-loading records regardless of his ammo storage choice.

  After the bridge, the rec room and human quarters were placed without changes, save for the additional defenses ordered by Lieutenant Camden. Slater was running out of core energy to spend, so the next two compartments were empty for now. The one placed after the human quarters would be a med bay at some point, and some use would turn up for the final empty compartment.

  Wanting to beef up the defenses in his core room but still not willing to risk firearms or lasers blasting away near his core, Slater increased his rat count to six pairs. That left him with eleven rats to protect his core once he accounted for Private Long’s pet, Mr. Bitey. Slater did opt to construct hidden compartments in the core room to house the rats, making the place much less cluttered.

  He had seven core power remaining and six to work with once he set aside a point for the scanners he was researching.

  A thought hit him and he looked through his compartments and at their MOBS, trying to efficiently spend his remaining points. Following up on his hunch, Slater jumped into the testing lab to check it out. He had a kobold captain printed up and activated the biotech implants interface. Copying the existing design, he was able to insert a wrist blade in the captain’s second arm. The boss creature had more powerful neural pathways that already allowed him to dual-wield pistols, so it required only a few nudges to enable him to wield two blades on his wrists just as easily as he wielded the pistols. In addition, Slater was able to extend the blades another three inches without compromising the kobold captain’s ability to wield them. The improvement was a minor one, but every bit helped, and it was another way to differentiate the boss from his lesser minions. In their level 2 bodies, the kobold warriors were just not mentally advanced enough to handle a dual-wield melee setup.

  Thinking about what to do with his final six core points, Slater looked at the various compartments. While he could improve on the number of MOBS in some of the rooms, he wanted to try something new. Pushing his mind toward his MOBS control options, he could see that with the upgrade of his core to level six, he now had a bit more flexibility with is MOBS. Previously, he could only order his MOBS to attack, stay in their assigned compartments, or fall back. Now he had the option to set a group on a roving patrol. There was one restriction that required him to place a command-capable MOBS in charge of the group, either a boss or a taskmaster. Printing up a taskmaster and four warriors, Slater based them in the laser cannon compartment with orders to begin patrolling if the ship was boarded. It would be interesting to see how effective the wandering MOBS proved to be.

  With the wandering MOBS printed out, his derelict design was complete, at least until he was able to level up again. Some time was needed as the drones with nanobot support moved things around, but the process was becoming smoother each time he performed it. His derelict was now set up in the following order, starting with the entry hatch: the garbage room, the cargo hall, the kobold laboratory, the failed experiment room, the trap-filled hall, the kobold mess hall, the laser cannon, the rat-keeper
compartment, the compartment reserved for the scanner, the engineering compartment, an empty compartment, the kobold barracks, the shooting range, the bridge, the human recreation and dining hall, the human quarters, the location reserved for the med bay, an empty compartment for future human use, and finally his core room.

  After setting his humans free to explore the expanded vessel, Slater realized that several lines of research completed while he was focused on building out the latest version of the derelict. His scanner, lab, and engineering station upgrades were ready for him to review, so he pulled up the upgraded items to see what had changed.

  Ships Scanner Array, Level 1: External scanning devices are now available to install on your vessel. The scanners will gather data in order to give you a picture of the area around your vessel at a greater range than the nanobot-infused hull can provide on its own. In addition, the scanner array can be used to assist the derelict in targeting other vessels or objects. The array requires a dedicated compartment with exterior access to control the various devices that will be placed about the hull. Research further upgrades to improve the range and reliability of all gathered information. The scanner requires 250 salvage to construct and 1 core power to operate.

  Laboratory, Level 2: The level 2 laboratory enables faster research for any related subjects as well as the potential to randomly discover more advanced research designs.

  Engineering Station, Level 3: The level 3 engineering station allows for further upgrading of existing technologies. With its enhanced efficiencies, the engineering station can now be powered by the existing ambient energy within the derelict and will continuously upgrade when the derelict itself upgrades. The engineering station no longer requires a research point to operate.

  As he had expected, the targeting scanner required its own compartment and some of his precious core power. He allocated the resources for its construction, and his drones and nanobots got to work on the installation. While there was nothing groundbreaking about the lab research results, Slater was curious to see what kind of random designs the lab might uncover as he progressed. The big surprise was with the level 3 engineering station. Having it improve as his core improved would help streamline his research options, not to mention that the upgrade freed up a point of valuable core power. He placed his freed-up engineering research node into starting research on the level 3 lab. Hopefully, the lab would gain the same improvements his engineering station had just unlocked. Research node 1 was tasked with researching armor level 3 for his MOBS. For node 2, Slater queued up researching the next level for his defilers, curious to see if he could make those a viable option. In addition, he anticipated not needing the lab for any immediate active research on his part, so he used it to start researching orc MOBS.

  “Hey, Slater, when are we going to get some more Slaterdome? So far you’ve just been moving compartments around and keeping us cooped up in here,” Harris whined.

  “Harris, I believe all the compartment upgrades are done, so you can let Sergeant Gonzales know he’s good to have you guys start PT again,” Slater taunted.

  “Just what I needed to hear, Captain Slater,” Gonzales said. “Fall in! We’re going to take a leisurely stroll through the new compartments that the good captain has added for your enjoyment. If you don’t mind, could you set all the hatch compartments to the hard setting, sir?”

  “Already done, Sergeant,” Slater replied.

  “Sergeant, I think I’ll join you on the run. I want to see the Franklin’s new layout and get some PT in as well,” Lieutenant Camden said.

  “Roger that, sir. Would you like to lead PT?”

  “Not at all, Sergeant. This is your area of expertise,” the lieutenant advised.

  “Thank you, sir. All right. Everyone in full battle rattle in five or you get to do everything twice,” Gonzales ordered, and the soldiers scrambled to get ready. They wore full armor, their weapons with full ammo loadout, and a rucksack stuffed with gear. It was a heavy load and Slater didn’t know if the soldiers would be able to run for long with the weight they were carrying. While he watched them work, Slater printed up another kobold warrior to add to the wandering MOBS, making use of the one point of core power that had been freed up with the latest engineering console upgrade.

  “Dial ’em down, soldiers. If anyone has their boost on, you’ll answer to me,” Gonzales replied, leading Slater to believe their suits had some kind of strength enhancement installed. He didn’t want to interrupt them, so he decided to ask the doctor, who had busied herself by doing tests on one of the rats in his core room.

  “Doctor Cheng, do the soldiers have some kind of strength enhancements built into their armor?”

  She looked hesitant to reply at first. “Yes, I wasn’t supposed to disclose all our capabilities, but there is a power assist on the suit. It can be set to boost the user’s strength by up to fifty percent. They also are proof against most kinetic strikes and the material can dissipate heat and electrical energy if a foe uses those types of attacks. I think the lieutenant mentioned we have a tech advantage over most races. Each race seems to excel in at least one area, but in most others, we are able to best them.”

  “Thank you for your honesty. I was just curious, and it will give me a goal to shoot for with my own MOBS,” Slater replied.

  “It’s the least we can do with all the help you’ve given us and even going out of your way to provide excellent quarters for us to stay in and . . . entertainment of a sort,” the doctor added, pausing again as if weighing a decision. “I do have one thing to ask, and please excuse me if it is considered rude. Do you think I can connect my scanners and computer directly to your core? I would love the chance to dig in and look at how you work. I promise I will not try to change anything or harm you in any way.”

  This was a big step of trust, one Slater wasn’t sure he should make. He had already been betrayed by Pixi, and trusting someone to have access to his very core was a disturbing thought. After thinking on it for a while, he realized that he needed the humans as much as they needed him. Besides, after the battle with Pixi, he had quite a bit of practice in defeating intrusions into his core. If the doctor tried anything, he was sure he could resist it.

  “Very well, Doctor. I’ll have the drone attach a standard port at the base of my core. There will be several of what you can think of as firewalls set up to protect me. Do not attempt to breach them,” Slater warned.

  “Thank you, Captain Slater. I will not betray your trust,” Doctor Cheng added, and surprisingly, Slater believed her.

  The drone finished up the port, and the doctor got to work. True to her word, she kept away from any of his primary systems, around which he had erected protections. Instead, she was just pouring through the immense amount of data her devices were gathering about his normal operations.

  “This is simply astounding, Captain! Your core performs like an advanced computer enhanced with AIs to run background tasks and automation. This is more powerful than anything our current science could even dream up. There’s more—there is some biological component to you as well. It’s faint, but the pattern and readings are consistent with human brain activity. There is some other energy at play, too, something my sensors can’t analyze. I have to say, Captain Slater, that I no longer have any doubts that you are who you claim to be. You are most definitely changed, but there is a human mind in there as well,” Cheng advised before digging back into the data.

  That was it: Slater had confirmation he was who he thought himself to be. The doubt nagging in the back of his mind that he was just a machine—

  “Franklin, this is the Havock. We’ve just entered the system and are approaching at best fleet speed. Slater, we’ve brought a transport full of goodies for you to break down and a fleet tug to bring you back home,” Captain Heinrich sent. They were back and he could finally go home.

  The humans on board cheered and Doctor Cheng patted his core in congratulations. He could finally return to Earth and help save humanity fr
om the enemies that sought to wipe it out.

  — 23 —

  The soldiers hurried back from their PT session, and after cleaning up, they joined Slater in his core room. The Havock and the human flotilla of ships were still far enough out that there was a bit of a lag in communication. Slater didn’t have them on his scanners yet; they would need quite a few more upgrades to reach that far out.

  “Captain Slater, can you record and send a message for me as well as some data files for Doctor Cheng?” Lieutenant Camden asked.

  “Absolutely. Just say what you want, and I’ll send it,” Slater advised.

  “Is it also possible for you to send the video feed of the forces that attacked you? Command will be excited to see how your MOBS and defenses work against hostile boarders,” the lieutenant added.

  “I think that can be arranged. Just give me a moment to pull it up. We should also include the other battles that I have participated in. That way, they can see how the ship and its MOBS have improved over time.” It took only moments for Slater to track down and add the footage to the message Camden was about to send.

  “Havock, this is Lieutenant Camden. I’m sorry to report the loss of the shuttlecraft and the flight crew. The derelict was attacked by a hostile force that, with Captain Slater’s help, we were able to destroy. I am attaching the latest data files and research notes from Doctor Cheng with this transmission,” Camden finished. Slater grabbed the files the doctor wanted sent and fired off the whole package to the Havock.