Chapter 33. Vampires.
The hours passed into days as they approached their destination. Research on the Halfling Shipmate MOBS units completed, and Watkins began to upgrade the existing level zero MOBS. It turned out that he didn’t need to completely scrap and rebuild new units, instead, he could assign a drone to upgrade them. It wasn’t a pretty sight, and he was glad that the MOBS could shut off any pain signals to their brains as the drones cut, drilled, and installed various parts both biological and mechanical.
When they were done with the first halfling, Lani and Watkins ran it through their new testing compartment as he started to call it. The differences between it and the level zero version were modest but noticeable. His level one halflings were 22% more accurate with ranged weapons and performed 15% better in melee. In addition, their bodies were 9% more durable than the earlier version.
“How high of a level do you think we can eventually make our MOBS?” Watkins asked when he noticed there was no information on maximum level for research projects in his core.
“Odd, I have no access to that data either. Chalk it up to yet another thing we’ll have to look for when we eventually make it to the research station. At least we’re getting closer to the remains of the jump point station,” Lani said.
“I’m going to start shields research on the freed-up research module,” Watkins decided.
“A good choice, that will give us better protection. Combined with a hull that is significantly stronger than a normal vessel, we’ll be a force to be reckoned with against anything other than a dedicated warship,” Lani said.
“I take it that the vessels we’ve seen in action so far weren’t warships,” Watkins asked.
“Correct, they were all likely cobbled together from merchant, exploration, or other vessels. That’s not to say they aren’t dangerous, it’s just that their hulls, targeting arrays, sensors, drives, and other subsystems weren’t designed for the rigors of combat,” Lani explained.
“Thanks, Lani. Something tells me those ships probably aren’t getting regular maintenance as well,” Watkins said before turning his attention to other tasks. A quick check showed that the other research project, the Reprocessor, was only at 4% and chugging along slowly. Other than the experimental fabricator, it was possibly the most complex item on his ship, which would obviously make its research take longer. Still, the progress seemed slower than it should have compared to the other projects he’d already finished.
Lani offered to help him with research, but Watkins would rather her keep assisting the drones for him. Getting more of the hull built out was improving just about everything on his vessel as the devices built into the hull were added to his control. He checked on his core processing power, and was happy to see that it, and his corresponding command limit, had improved.
Vessel: Pending.
Vessel Core: Jesse Watkins.
Hull Durability: 79%.
Core Processing Power: 91%.
Core Durability: 100%.
Command Limit: 24/25.
<ol>
<li> Simple repair drone, Level 1 (18). </li>
<li> Mutated bilge rat, Level 0 (0).</li>
<li> Yendax Beetle, Level 0 (0). </li>
<li> Halfling Shipmate, Level 1 (6). </li>
<li> Kobold crewman, Level 0 (0). </li>
</ol>
With the extra command limit point, Watkins ordered a seventh halfling to be produced. When it came time to board something, or repel boarders, he wanted a bit more protection for his core. That also meant he needed to look over the layout of his ship.
Some knowledge of ship boarding on starships was downloaded into his mind. Watkins knew that most of the time, boarders used an existing hatch to make their attack. To board anywhere else on the hull was possible, but much more time consuming as an existing hatchway or shuttle bay opening was a natural weak point compared to a heavily armored deck. The time wasted by the boarders would be used by the defenders to prepare their defense.
There was also the complication of setting up a makeshift airlock if they didn’t want to fight in vacuum and face a horrible death if their shipsuit and armor were penetrated. By taking and holding an existing entry hatch or shuttle bay, they did less damage to the ship, which made the prize more attractive. Watkins’ armor would make cutting through the hull an even more laborious process for any enemy that wanted to take his ship.
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With that in mind, Wakins began to plan for some changes to improve the defensibility of his vessel. A warning flashed in his vision, drawing all his current attention away from potential future boarding actions and toward a more immediate threat.
“Vampire, Vampire, we have inbound missiles,” Watkins called out, using the Navy term he remembered for incoming missiles. The two weapons had been fired from somewhere near their jump point station target and he could actually feel them when they locked onto his vessel. It was a very uncomfortable feeling, like a horrible itchiness that he couldn’t quite scratch. All his point defense weapons were primed and ready to engage once the missiles entered range.
The point defense wasn’t the only thing he could do, and Watkins tried to engage them with his main guns as well. Their slow rate of fire made for a poor point defense weapon, but their greater range and his precise targeting system allowed Watkins to fire from a longer distance. Even if the main guns only gave him a small chance at interception, it was better than waiting and doing nothing. It also gave him a chance to test drive the weapons and get a feel for operating them.
“I’ll shift my processing power to the point defense weapons. I can’t do a whole lot, but I can give them an additional 3.6% chance of hitting the target,” Lani said.
“Thanks, Lani, I’m going to focus on the same thing, as well as some evasive maneuvers if they get close,” Watkins said.
He lined up his main guns, happy that the missiles didn’t seem to be doing much to evade any defensive fire. There was only an occasional course adjustment, and Watkins had to figure these weren’t exactly top of the line weapons if they were left lurking inside a debris field at an out of the way jump point.
What was more disturbing was the fact that he hadn’t detected any targeting scans before the missiles were launched. Granted, his sensors weren’t fully upgraded yet, but he should have sensed something. Placing that worry on the back burner, Watkins watched as the missiles closed in.
When they were within range, he began to fire the main guns. A pair of bright orange beams reached out into the dark of space. In reality, there was nothing visible to the human eye, but Watkins’ sensors represented the weapons fire in the way he preferred. Both shots were a miss, but the data he received enabled Watkins to fine-tune his targeting calculations.
After the main gun cooldown cycle completed, another pair of shots lanced out. This time, the leftmost missile was hit, the upgraded main gun laser was powerful enough to completely obliterate the missile. They now entered into range of his point defense weapons, which began to pulse out smaller laser blasts.
It was now that the surviving missile began to evade in earnest, leading Watkins to believe it was only programmed to do so when it was likely in range of a normal point defense weapon. Hitting one with his main guns had been easier than it would have been if the missiles were evading this hard from the get-go.
He didn’t give up on using the main guns to supplement the point defense, but their probability of scoring a hit was almost nil at this point. One of the point defense beams clipped the missile, melting though some of its outer housing and throwing it into a corkscrew motion as it lost its targeting lock.
Maneuvering his ship, Watkins kept well clear of the damaged missile as it passed harmlessly by. Lani gunned it down with another blast of point defense fire, detonating the weapon. A wave of relief washed over him as the itchy feeling subsided; they’d survived the attack.
“Must have been a very simple guidance and evasion package on that missile. Whoever placed it there either was trying to go cheap, or this really was the best they could do. I suspect there’s a disposable launch platform out there in the debris, not another ship,” Lani surmised.
“I agree, and if there’s a launch platform, I want it. We need it not only for the salvage, but also to jump start our own torpedo launcher research,” Watkins said.
More information on the difference between torpedoes and missiles was scrounged up by his core and supplemented by some data that Lani shared. At least initially, Watkins’ torpedo launcher would be used to fire simple missiles. Actual ship’s torpedoes were huge weapons and used to deliver devastating blows to larger ships or structures with weakened point defenses.
Thankfully, the launcher used for a torpedo could be adjusted to fire missiles with little effort, though the reverse was not possible. That did bring up a bit of confusion regarding his original ship design. Why did a smaller vessel like his have space dedicated to torpedo launchers when simpler missile launchers would save space and make more sense on a ship that lacked jump drives?
“I can sense what you’re about to ask,” Lani said, interrupting him before he could even begin to ask the question. “The original design was for your ship to be more powerful than any comparable sized military vessel. You’d pack enough firepower to protect our station, and the system from the likes of the raiders that originally destroyed the research station, not to mention any of the void creatures that wanted to make an appearance.”
“Then why no jump drive? You’d think that the original builders would want to be able to chase down any enemy that tried to flee the system,” Watkins asked.
“I’m pretty sure it’s because the council wanted to make sure it could contain you if it couldn’t control or destroy you,” Lani admitted. She was no longer controlled by the council either, but that did not prevent anger from flaring up in Watkins.
Nobody was going to keep him imprisoned in this system. He’d find a way to install a jump drive eventually, and the council, kobolds, halflings, void creatures, and anyone else that wanted to stop him would find out just how powerful he intended to make his vessel.