Chapter 25. Broken Signals.


    “LANI, we just completed main drive research. I’m getting the drones started on construction now,” Watkins announced as the drive research finally finished. The drives that they could build were going to be rather crude and inefficient, but it was better than relying on the puny maneuver thrusters.


    “Excellent news, what’s next on the research agenda?” LANI asked.


    “I think it’s time to get you fully repaired, so I’m going to start that with the freed-up module. The other one is still chugging along on main gun research,” Watkins said.


    “Thank you, Captain, for now, I’ll shift my attention to the drones building the drives. I should be able to improve their efficiency by 16% with the latest repairs you made to my server,” LANI said. She had improved her drone efficiency boost by only 1%, but that would be noticeable on a big project like creating the main drives for his ship.


    The ship had mounting points for two main drive thrusters, and most of the drones were pulled off other tasks. There were only so many that could work on one project, and anything more than ten drones working on the drives began to bog down the construction. Stacks of processed salvage were hauled up by the drones as they began their work.


    So far, Watkins had held off on building out the final bow section, wanting to make sure he had enough salvage to build his drives and main guns. Having those working would be critical for their long-term survival. With his drones on the task, there wasn’t much else for Watkins to do at the moment.


    He reviewed the drive schematics, noting the rather substantial differences in how they operated on his ship compared to the data on other starships he had in his core’s memory. Other ships required large reactors of various types to provide the power for the drives, while Watkins’ core did that all for him.


    While he could push power through any part of his ship, it was more efficient to run a few hard-line power conduits directly from his core. It would prevent inadvertent shutdowns if heavy damage to the hull was received and was overall more efficient than using the myriads of micro devices in his hull to conduct the energy he produced.


    Even though he decided to use a hard connection for the drives, the lack of need for a separate power source freed up massive space for other things. Another vessel the same size as Watkins’ would be far less effective than he was going to be once everything was repaired and installed. Already, he was considering a third main gun mount aft of the ship. He would place it near the bottom of the hull where its field of fire wouldn’t be hampered by the drive, and where it could join the other two guns for a broadside.


    While he wanted more firepower in the future, for now, he’d go with the original configuration. It would be better to focus on installing and improving everything in the original ship design that he could. Eventually, he would need to work on that jump drive LANI had mentioned. There was a lot to do in this system, but eventually, he needed to leave here.


    His eventual destination was another concern for Watkins. Earth was his home, and he wanted to at least make the attempt to see what was happening there. Apparently, hundreds of years had passed since he’d been snatched up, so anyone he knew would be gone. Drastic changes would have occurred, and with the presence of other, likely hostile, species out there, was there even an Earth to return to?


    What place would he have in the universe after returning home? That was a question he didn’t want to consider at the moment, but felt that he needed to address it soon. The hard, logical part of his mind tried to suppress the anxiety over his new place in the world, but Watkins lingered on the topic for a bit longer. He needed a purpose, and for now, that purpose, and his primary objective, was recovering his crew.


    After completing his primary objective, he would have to wait and see what the universe had in store for him. For now, he would focus on the first step, getting back into the system and rebuilding his ship. LANI remained quiet as the construction on the drive units continued. It seemed that boosting the drones required most of her focus, and when Watkins interrupted that concentration, he could sense annoyance coming from her.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Something tickled at the back of his mind as he watched the work progress. It took him a moment to sort out what it was. The feeling was new, and as he focussed on it, he realized what it was. He was receiving communication signals. The actual comms array was destroyed on his ship, but like everything else, his ship was able to act through its micro devices as a rudimentary version of the comms array and allow him to receive and even transmit signals of his own.


    “LANI, I’m getting a hint of some comm signals, but it’s faint,” Watkins said.


    “What? Hold on, let me link with that part of your system, maybe I can help boost the reception and assist with translation. The drones can work on the drives without my assistance for a bit,” LANI said. Watkins felt her interface with his core and soon, he could sense LANI adding her processing power to his as they analyzed the signal.


    “It’s weak, like something that was sent some time ago. We must have passed through just the right conditions to receive anything from deeper inside the system. Give me a moment and I’ll translate what I can,” LANI said.


    Watkins could feel her working, her processors were humming along, as she focussed on the translation. There was an eagerness and excitement there, which seemed to push LANI to greater efforts. She may have just been a server full of data, but at times, Watkins could see there was more to LANI than just an advanced artificial intelligence.


    Was there a real person beneath all that programming. Had LANI been a living being that had her mind plucked like what had happened to him? Watkins didn’t interrupt her work, and made a note to ask her at a later time. Almost as soon as he made the reminder in his system, the data was erased as unnecessary. Watkins tried again, but was distracted when LANI finished her translation and played it for them.


    “This is Captain Zsektax of the Rattler, we have entered the system. Neither prey nor predator is showing on the auspex, and we are on course to rendezvous…”


    “…under attack by another...”


    “Send Scourge to assist, we can’t do this on our…”


    “…thing defeated, the remnants are drifting out of the system…”


    “…cargo and prisoners…lost two of our…repair main drive…”


    After the last message, there was just noise.  Watkins tried to piece together what he had just heard as LANI made another pass through the data, looking for any additional clues about who might have sent the signal, and who they were trying to communicate with.


    “I’m sorry, Watkins, that’s all I can get. I suppose were lucky to even get that much. Give me a hand and let’s try to triangulate where the signal originated from,” LANI asked. The two linked their processors and tried to retrace the signal origins.


    The best that Watkins could come up with was the signal had been sent near the jump point into the system. Who the intended recipient was, and where they were located was a mystery. LANI calculated that the signal was several months old.


    “The question now is do we keep on our present course, and run the risk of encountering whoever sent this, or do we seek another path into the system?” Watkins asked.


    “I think we need to enter the system near the jump point. A jump point generates a minor gravitational field, and that field would have likely gathered a lot of the remains of the station that once watched over that location. It’ll have more salvage for us to use, and possibly even give us enough to finish our rebuild,” LANI advised.


    “Running into anyone, or anything, hostile isn’t going to go very well for us. The bow of the ship, our main guns, and our torpedo tubes are all missing. All we’d have to defend ourselves with would be the point defense lasers and our drones if anyone tried to board,” Watkins said.


    “It’ll be some time before we reach the system, that should be long enough for us to repair and upgrade the sensors. If we approach slow and quiet, we might be able to spot anyone out there before their sensors can pick us out,” LANI argued.


    “I’m not entirely confident that a patched-together and barely researched sensor array would outperform whatever sensors a possible foe could have. With only basic main drive thrusters, and no main guns, we’re likely to be unable to outrun, or outfight, anyone we come across,” Watkins countered.


    “Is there really any other alternative for us? From what I could discern from the comms formatting, I think we’re dealing with kobolds. If that’s the case, I doubt that vessels out in the middle of nowhere are going to have anything more than basic commercial sensor packages. At least that was my experience from the attack that destroyed our station,” LANI said.


    Watkins had to admit that she was probably correct in her assessment. Any other option, other than heading directly toward the jump point, would require him to alter his course, which meant an even longer journey than they already faced. He might not know much about his sensor capabilities, but he did know that they were based off military grade hardware, not the typically less powerful civilian ship systems.


    “You’re right, we need that potential salvage, and that outweighs the risks. The odds are that jump point will be empty when we arrive. For now, we’ll continue on our present course, though I’m going to jump into sensor research after your server research is completed,” Watkins decided.


    Their course was set, whether this course was the right path remained to be seen.