Chapter 56. What’s Out There.

  When the verminkin were squared away, the Canon left the station and set a course to gather the halfling ship which was drifting nearby. They had cut the ship loose when they were approaching the station, so it wasn’t too much of a journey to recover it. The time their journey took would give Watkins a chance to complete some research.

  The point defense railgun research went quickly and soon he had the schematic for the simple level zero version of the weapon. Like his missiles, it required salvage to operate, but the slugs the railgun fired were relatively small, and their power was generated by the kinetic energy the gun imparted to them. A single salvage brick would provide around a hundred rounds.

  Watkins received another ten core points for the research and immediately jumped into level one for the railguns. Progress on the research module upgrade was getting there, but he would complete several other projects before it was ready. When they arrived at the halfling ship, it took some time for his drones to jump across and secure the vessel. He really needed to figure out a more efficient way of handling towing another ship or large object, but for now, he would make this method work.

  During the journey back to the station after retrieving the halfling ship, he completed research on level one for the railguns. These guns were more robust, with a higher rate of fire and a better interface with his core. Targeting would be easier now, and he could now select an overall diameter of the rounds it fired.

  Thinking back to his time in the navy, these point defense railguns were a little like the phalanx systems they had, but there was no way this railgun was going to be able to handle a 20mm round. For these simpler versions, Watkins felt like they resembled an early anti-aircraft machinegun. Given how successful the Earth weapon had been since its introduction, Watkins decided on a .50 caliber diameter for the point defense railgun. It was a caliber he was familiar with and about the maximum size the current railgun research could fire effectively. Anything larger would require more power than the magnetic system in the railgun could handle.

  He could see the potential in the weapon, and with another level or two of research, Watkins felt he could scale the weapon up into main battery size. For now, he had to rely on the trusty pair of main battery lasers, which had served him well so far. With the freed-up research module, he was torn between another upgrade for his MOBS gear, or some better protection for the ship.

  In the end, Watkins decided to start researching level one of hull plating. If the jump point station proved hostile, he wanted to be able to better absorb some hits. Shields were great, but eventually, a difficult fight would come down to a slugging match and he wanted to be the toughest ship in the fight. With the research progressing nicely, and the halfling vessel under tow, they headed back to see how the verminkin were doing.

  “We should have made sure the verminkin knew how to use the kobold comms systems on the station before we left,” Lani said.

  “You’re right. I should have thought of that, but even with my core’s power to handle multiple tasks at once, things still slip through the cracks,” Watkins admitted. He searched for a comms research option, but found that for his vessel, it was linked with his sensors. Maybe when they gained another level, he could see about building a discrete comms system for his crew to use when away from the ship.

  “Do you think the verminkin are okay?” Watkins asked.

  “I believe so. We scoured the station well enough before we left, so the only threat there would be some kind of internecine conflict. Skitterbach seems to have a handle on his people, at least for now, and I think the verminkin are genuinely happy to have a purpose and some sort of control over their lives,” Lani said.

  “I agree, though they’ll have to learn to operate more independently in the future, their captivity might make them accept a military command structure more easily than a human would. With the limited time my MOBS and drones can be away from my core energy, we may have to rely on them more in the future. For now, I’ll just be happy if they didn’t all shoot each other while we were gone,” Watkins said.

  As they neared the research station, he looked for a reasonably strong portion of the station’s hull to secure the halfling ship. It was a bit of a slapdash job, with several cables welded to the ship and station, but it would hold for the time being, at least until he decided what he wanted to do with the ship. While they secured the vessel, research on the hull was completed, netting Watkins another 15 core points. He was up to 75/300 needed to bump his core to level three.

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  Hitting level three was blocked for now, but if he could stack the deck and have all the core points ready to go when the block on his core was lifted, it would help offset whatever time he spent under the restrictions. It seemed like everything, including unlocking his core level, was dependent on what they’d find at the jump point station. Before he made that journey, he wanted to secure the kobold ship that was slowly drifting further and further away.

  For his next research project, he decided on another defensive option. He had unlocked the initial research on the Electronic Warfare Suite and figured that researching level zero would give him a good idea of what he could expect from the system. If the AI protecting the jump point station had something similar, he wanted a way to protect himself and Lani.

  With a satisfying thump, the Canon linked to the station docking collar. When the hatchway opened, Skitterbach was there along with a small group of verminkin. A few of the drones crossed over onto the station and Watkins was pleased to see the verminkin had not been idle while they had been gone.

  Several organized piles of gear represented what the verminkin wanted to bring aboard. In the center of the docking bay was a growing pile of equipment and furnishings that had been damaged or destroyed in the fighting. While he watched, Watkins saw a pair of verminkin hauling a battered desk which they dumped on the pile of junk.

  “Chief, was there any trouble while we were gone?” Watkins asked Skitterbach.

  “No sir, we did as Captain Watkins order-demand. We find-seek what we want to keep and started to build a pile for drones to salvage,” Skitterbach said with pride.

  “Well done, get whatever you want to keep aboard, then have your teams rotate through helping the drones haul aboard the salvage you’ve recovered,” Watkins ordered.

  The verminkin weren’t nearly as efficient at hauling debris as the drones, but if they were all working hard, Watkins estimated their work output would be the equivalent of six or seven additional drones. Every little bit helped, and his verminkin crew didn’t tie up any of his command limit. With his recently researched upgrade to the ship’s hull, he’d need all the salvage he could get his hands on. The only downside was that the verminkin required food and sleep, which meant only one team was on duty at a time.

  “Lani, where are we with the training modules. I’m glad to have extra grunt labor, but we need these guys trained a bit better as sailors,” Watkins asked.

  “I’m finalizing the first modules now, as well as a simple design for an interface. Since the research modules are in the core room, I was hoping to use the existing research lab as a learning bay,” Lani said.

  “That sounds like a plan. I’m going to have most of the drones start on the hull upgrades. It’ll take some time, and more than a few resources, but the sooner we start, the better,” Watkins advised.

  The level one hull research had given Watkins greater insight into the strange alloy that made up his armored hull. He could now create a new, denser outer layer that would resist kinetic damage better. There would also be slight improvement in dispersing the heat generated by most beam and plasma weapons. All in all, he would expect a 12% increase in his overall hull strength once the upgrades were complete.

  His hull would grow in thickness by a few millimeters, but he could tell that even with further research, he was getting close to the maximum amount of armor his ship could handle. Maybe further upgrades would unlock new options, but for now, Watkins estimated he had maybe one more level of research before he reached the limit on what a ship his size could accommodate as far as armor.

  A team of fifteen drones were assigned to the hull upgrades, and the other ten were on salvage hauling duty. As they got to work, he adjusted the number of drones working on the hull to twenty. With the verminkin’s help, the drones on salvage duty were able to keep up with the demand for raw materials that the drones assigned to the hull required. Work was going well when something triggered a warning on his sensors.

  “Lani, did you see that? It’s gone now, but something flickered on the sensors over by the kobold ship,” Watkins said. Though it had drifted since being disabled, the kobold ship was still well within his sensor range. He replayed the data, and spotted it again, and at first, he thought it might be a missile.

  Worried that the kobolds had somehow hauled a missile out of the cargo hold, Watkins waited for a drive to ignite, revealing the attack. Nothing happened, and even with Lani’s efforts, they couldn’t discern what was out there. There was no evidence of escaping atmosphere that would indicate something large was shoved out the cargo hold, and the ship still seemed dead in the water.

  All at once, four drives bloomed on his sensors, and Watkins prepared to break away from the station and activate his point defenses. Instead of hurling missiles at the Canon, it turned out the drives were moving the kobold ship. The vessel adjusted course ponderously before building up speed.

  “It’s heading for jump point station one,” Lani confirmed.

  “I don’t think that the kobolds are doing this, I’m willing to bet the station AI is attempting to steal our salvage,” Watkins said, his mind already calculating the best intercept course to retrieve the fleeing vessel.