Chapter 24. Module Limits.


    Watkins was trying to map out the shortest distance course to get them back into the system. Their first objective would be to inspect the remains of the jump point station that had once covered the approach to jump point two. While he worked, the research into LANI completed.


    Research Completed, new research options have unlocked.


    <ol>


    <li> Limited Adjunct Network Interface Server Rank, 0 is now available. </li>


    </ol>


    “LANI, your research is done, but we’ll have to do another pass to get you to rank zero. Before we do that, I think we need to figure out how to build another research module and upgrade the one we have,” Watkins said.


    “I agree, as much as I’d like to feel complete, starting as much research as possible will be crucial to our survival. Could you send a drone over to make further repairs on my server? We may not have researched it completely, but there should still be some improvements we can make,” LANI said.


    “Sure, I’ll send one over that’s working on the aft section,” Watkins said, pulling the drone from its task. With LANI boosting the efficiency of three of his drones, he had no problem burning resources to get her back into the best shape they could.


    Research Started:


    <ol>


    <li> Research Module, Rank 0. Progress 0%. </li>


    </ol>


    Well, research on his research was starting, and since they already had an operating research module, it shouldn’t take as long as it would have if they were starting from scratch. With that chugging away, Watkins finished plotting his ship’s course back into the system. Having two maneuver thrusters improved his return time, but it was still going to take impossibly long to get back.


    Once in the system, there should be enough wreckage to get his ship fixed up better than what it had started out as. The odd council that created him and his ship tried to do what they could on ship design, but you could tell that many of the designers had odd concepts of how a space battle would unfold. Watkins had some vague ideas for improvements, but until his core’s processing power was operating at 100%, he doubted he could do anything to implement them.


    There was some data in his core outlining previous space battles, and Watkins used part of his processing power to dig deeper into it. He knit together what he already knew from his previous life with the data he discovered. Surprisingly, ship combat in space wasn’t all that different from naval combat on the ocean.


    The weapons were similar as well, though the ranges that battles would be fought at were incredibly far. With the vacuum of space, it seemed that weapons weren’t limited in their range, rather in how easily the computer controlling them could track and engage the target. Watkins was excited about getting more research done on his weapons systems and wanted his ship to be a deadly opponent for anyone who sought to destroy them.


    Time passed as his ship repairs continued, along with his research. The aft section was finally put to rights, and he was able to pull most of the drones off that project to work on other things. A few remained to put the finishing touches on the hull sections and prepare the location for the main drives whenever they figured out how to build them.


    The gash in the port side of the ship where the station had impaled it was also slowly being sealed up as the debris there was harvested and stored for future use. He was happy to see the piles of salvage bricks filling up the racks inside the fabrication room. So far, salvage was being added faster than it was being used, but once he began to rebuild the bow of his ship, the reserves would be quickly depleted.


    After several days of effort, his research on the research module was done, and Watkins felt that he could not only rebuild the existing unit to improve its efficiency by 11.65821%, but he could also have his drones build and install a fresh unit. Pulling a pair of drones from repair duty, Watkins selected a section of his compartment where he wanted the second research module constructed.


    He would keep the modules inside his core room for now. There was plenty of space, and he knew the modules were rather fragile compared to the rest of the ship. With the existing module, he started researching the main drive units. According to his data, a single round of research should allow him to build a very basic, level zero main drive.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    LANI confirmed that she was fine with waiting for more research on her server, getting to their objective quickly was more important that gaining a bit more processing power for her. As far as Watkins’ core went, he was feeling better as his processing power jumped up to 76%. When the gash in the side was repaired, and his bow section rebuilt, he should be back to operating at 100%.


    Having his processing power distrusted across his hull allowed Watkins extra survivability, but it also meant that heavy damage in a fight would slow him down a bit. His core needed all the micro devices imbedded throughout the hull, but even without them, Wakins’ core would still operate. LANI was a different story, and while she could access parts of the ship, they didn’t provide her with additional processing power, that was something reserved entirely for his core.


    What LANI could do was boost the productivity of four drones after another round of repairs were made on her server. Watkins had her boost the pair of drones building the new research module, and two of the ones harvesting salvage. The section of the space station that had impaled them was smaller now, and what remained had been dragged inside the hangar compartment that would eventually house the ship’s boat and main cargo airlock.


    Figuring out how to build a ship’s boat was yet another item on the research agenda. Without a crew, it was much lower on the totem pole, but he would need one eventually if they found and were able to revive his old crew. Another check of the empty space around him told Watkins that there were no threats nearby.


    The long journey back into the system was a benefit as much as it was frustrating for them. It was allowing Watkins to make repairs uninterrupted by attacks from void creatures and the like. There was one surprise as the time dragged on. His drones were scavenging the spaces between compartments found another of the mutated bilge rats.


    The rat took out a rather surprised drone but was quickly destroyed by reinforcements. Even though his drones were now level one, it didn’t seem to improve their fighting prowess, only their ability to perform efficient and complex repairs. Time passed and the second research module was completed and activated. When Watkins tried to order a third module to be build, he was hit with a splitting headache. A quick check of his status revealed the issue.


    Vessel: Pending.


    Vessel Core: Jesse Watkins.


    Hull Durability: 71%.


    Core Processing Power: 79%.


    Core Durability: 100%.


    Systems:


    <ol>


    <li> Level 0 auxiliary processing server housing the LANI system: 48%</li>


    <li> Level 0 universal fabricator: 100%. </li>


    <li> Level 0 reprocessor: 100%.</li>


    <li> Research Modules 2/2. </li>


    </ol>


    He had hit a hard cap on how many research modules he could run. His core just couldn’t support any additional modules at this time. The pain faded as he cancelled the module construction, but even after that, he could feel a pressure build and then stabilize inside his core at is worked to process the research. It was a background process that was handled by his autonomous systems, but he could still feel the effects of being near the limits of what his core could handle.


    Oddly enough, reaching the control limit for his units didn’t seem to have the same effect. That he could feel, but the pressure was less, like operating the MOBS and drones was somehow an easier task than performing new research. Watkins, and LANI, didn’t know all the details of how his core worked, but for now, he’d have to live with just two research modules.


    For the second research module, Watkins wanted a better way to hit back at foes other than his point defense lasers. He started research on Main Guns, Level 0. After that, he’d see about more upgrades to LANI, and then begin to research the missing components of his vessel. Shields, upgraded sensors, torpedoes, and further refinements of existing systems awaited their opening in the research queue.


    There was so much to do, but given his latest calculations, he would have time to complete much of it before they reached the first objective in the system. Time seemed to pass in a haze as Watkins watched the progress on his research, and the rebuilding efforts of his drones.


    The aft section was as good as new now, and drones were nearly done with sealing up the gash in the side of the ship. Only a few large chunks of station debris littered the floor of the airlock and ship’s boat compartment, which Watkins decided to rename the shuttle bay. It had a better ring to it, and after all, he was the ship and could make changes as he wished.


    That brought up another point, he wanted to name his vessel, and the previous restriction on allowing him to name it seemed to be removed now that he controlled the entire ship. Seeing “Pending” appear every time he checked his status was annoying him, but Watkins couldn’t decide on what he wanted to name his ship.


    At first, he almost went with Barracuda, the Coast Guard cutter he was commanding right before he was snatched up and made into a core. It didn’t quite fit, though, and his new ship was something different, not just something designed to chase around drug dealers and fish incompetent boaters out of the water. No, he’d think on this, and was certain that he’d come up with something better in time.