“There’s more here, Watkins, give me some time to sift through the communication and sensor logs. It appears the station downloaded data from the ships when they docked, so there might be something important for us lurking in the information they retrieved,” Lani said.
“We’ll hold here for a bit, and I’ll have the drones gather up the easy salvage on the station. Let me know what you find. Just remember, we can’t lurk here forever. I want to fetch the halfling ship and secure it to the station. We also have to deal with the kobold ship that’s still drifting around out there,” Watkins said.
Directing the drones was an easy enough task for Watkins. He had two of them scour the outside of the station, looking for anything interesting that they might have missed. A dozen more were sent over to the station where they began to gather any debris that they could. There was more than enough biomass and salvage to be gathered here, and that was before he even considered breaking down the station itself.
Research was rolling along, with the shields up to 22% and the research module was at 34%. The shields were going to take less overall time than the research module. Watkins needed to plan his next research item after the shields were completed. Before he could decide on the proper queue for research, a wave of dizziness hit Watson. A new system prompt appeared, explaining what was happening.
You have successfully assaulted and secured the remains of the research station.
25 CP awarded.
You have successfully exterminated a powerful void beast.
15 CP awarded.
You core has reached Level 2.
Current Core Points 20/300.
You have reached the design limits of your core capacity. Expansion beyond level 2 is impossible until the expansion limiter is removed.
“Lani, did you see this? Why is my growth being capped,” Watkins said as he absorbed what the system had just notified him of. It was odd, the dizziness felt artificial and forced upon him against his will. Watkins didn’t feel like he had reached any kind of limit. In fact, he didn’t feel anywhere close to maxing out his core’s potential. He could be so much more than he currently was.
“Let me help you examine your core, let’s see what’s going on,” Lani offered. He accepted her help as they delved inside his new mind. His core systems, like it had done with the conflict between him and Lani, came up with a visualization of what he was facing. This time, there was no battle to fight, only a graphic representation of what had happened to him.
His core was laid out like a city, and around that city, a huge wall had been erected. The wall wasn’t there to protect him, it was there to prevent the city from expanding. In every direction, new lands and new people waited to join his growing civilization, but that wouldn’t happen for as long as that wall remained to constrain him.
The thought of never growing stronger, to be stuck at what he was now, made him feel nauseated, despite no longer having a flesh and blood body. He could feel Lani sifting through this information as she conducted her own investigation. She was quiet for a few moments before responding.
“From what I can tell, your core was initially capped at this performance level due to issues with the prior experimental vessels. The council didn’t seem willing to risk you growing any stronger than you currently are,” Lani said.
“Earlier experiments…I think I remember you saying the first vessel self-destructed, and you no longer had data on the second,” Watkins said.
“Correct, I was hoping we could find out more about it when we found the station data cores, but if those still exist, they may been taken by the kobolds or halflings to jump point station one,” Lani said. Watkins’ anxiety grew and fear began to take hold of his emotions.
“Why cap my growth, I can tell my core has more potential, so why lock me in at such limited capacity?” Watkins asked.
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“I can’t know for sure, but I’m beginning to suspect that it is a safety feature the council put in place to make sure you didn’t try to escape,” Lani said.
“Escape? Why would being stuck at core level two prevent me from leaving?” Watkins asked. As he said it, the logical portion of his mind, the portion that was unaffected by emotion, was able to postulate a potential reason. It was only an estimate, but it had a 72.45% chance of being accurate.
“It’s the jump drive,” Watkins said, answering his own question. “For some reason, I’ll need to be above level two to complete research on one that can be integrated with my core. By restricting my development of a jump drive, the council effectively corrals me here in the system.
“That could very well be what’s going on. It’s even more reason for us to get to the other station. The stasis pods, research station data, and perhaps the means to expand your core could all be waiting for us there,” Lani said. Watkins allowed the cold mechanical portion of his existence to assuage the fear and anxiety he was feeling. Emotions were needed, they were part of who he was, but for the moment, he needed focus.
“Our goals haven’t changed. We track down what we’re missing, but before we rush off toward the other station, we need to know what we’re facing, and prepare ourselves as best we can,” Watkins said.
“Agreed, I’ll continue my work here as you build up our salvage reserves,” Lani said. Before he jumped into organizing the salvage operations, Watkins took a deeper look into his data.
Vessel: Canon.
Vessel Core: Jesse Watkins.
Hull Durability: 100%.
Core Processing Power: 100%.
Core Durability: 100%.
Core Level: 2.
Core Points 20/300.
Crew:
- Verminkin, 14.
Core controlled units:
Command Limit: 40/45.
- Simple repair drone, Level 1 (22).
- Halfling Shipmate, Level 1 (18).
He may have been capped at level two for the moment, but his most recent expansion had added another five points to his command limit. Another three drones and two halfling MOBS would fill the vacant slots. Five more drones would have been nice with the work at hand, but he didn’t want to neglect his combat forces when he probably had another fight on his hands when they cleared out the disabled kobold ship.
There was plenty of material to be found aboard the station, and it wouldn’t be long before the storage racks aboard the Canon were at their capacity. Watkins sent a single drone to build smaller versions of the storage racks to allow Watson to stash additional salvage in every nook and cranny of the ship where it could be safely kept.
All the while, part of his focus was on that wall blocking his core from expanding. He tried to chip away at it, but it proved harder than diamond, and nothing he tried could even scratch it. Though he saw no results, he kept at it, the mental image of a pick swinging endlessly at the wall was the visual representation of his core focusing a small portion of its processing power on attempting to breach the limiter.
The new storage units were being filled, and the recently upgraded reprocessor was chugging along at maximum capacity as most of the drones were now assigned to assist in gathering resources. He was fully repaired and was stocked up better than he had ever experienced in this short new life as a core. As time passed, the shield research was completed.
You have researched Shields, Level 1.
You have received 15 CP.
Core Points: 35/300.
“Did you see that, Lani? I guess the system interpretation of ‘past level 2’ means I can go right up to, but not past, the limit of level three,” Watkins said as he shifted several drones from salvage operations and onto the task of upgrading the shields.
“That’s good news, but I’m afraid the rest of what I’ve found in the station data is a mixed bag, and an odd one at that,” Lani said.
“Spill it, what’s going on?” Watkins asked.
“The jump point one station seems to have changed hands a while back. The kobolds initially discovered it and hauled over anything useful from here during the time that they controlled it. Apparently, the jump point one station was in disrepair, but still in much better shape than this station. While it’s only a fraction of the size of the original station here, the kobolds set it up as their main base of operation in the region. After a time, the pirate faction that the kobold raiders belonged to sent a team of tech experts to upgrade and improve jump point one station. This is where it gets good,” Lani said, pausing for effect.
“Apparently, an AI survived onboard the station and took offense to the kobolds inhabiting it. The AI let the kobolds think it was under their control, and it built several drones to repair the place. While the drones were focused on repairs, they were also building up some hidden defenses. When the time was right, the AI struck, killing the kobolds aboard the station and capturing the ship that had been docked there at the time.
“The kobolds made an attempt to retake the station, but after suffering more losses, they decided to try and make the remains of the research station a viable alternative. That’s why this place was kind of ramshackle, the kobolds didn’t have enough time since getting kicked out of their previous base to completely renovate this place. The halflings poking their noses in the system didn’t help, and further stretched their limited resources,” Lani explained.
“So, we have a halfling ship to retrieve, a drifting kobold ship to deal with, and a mysterious AI controlling the station we want. Anything else I should know?” Watkins asked, his core already calculating possible courses of action.
“Just one thing. This AI isn’t all that mysterious. The AI controlling the station is me,” Lani said.