Gunboat (A LitRPG Adventure), page 1
Gunboat
Copyright © 2025 Dean Henegar
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it was published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Chapter 1: Jump Point
Chapter 2: Recruitment
Chapter 3: Get It Off Me
Chapter 4: Beyond the Core
Chapter 5: Expanding Control
Chapter 6: Rat War
Chapter 7: Extermination Services
Chapter 8: Brawl
Chapter 9: Reprocessor
Chapter 10: Said the Spider to the Fly
Chapter 11: Extensive Damage
Chapter 12: New Discoveries
Chapter 13: New Compartments
Chapter 14: Void Beast
Chapter 15: Organizing Defenses
Chapter 16: Unexpected Ally
Chapter 17: Where Are We?
Chapter 18: Underway
Chapter 19: Open Fire
Chapter 20: Incoming Void Creature
Chapter 21: Options Unlocked
Chapter 22: Integration Complete
Chapter 23: Unlocking Research
Chapter 24: Module Limits
Chapter 25: Broken Signals
Chapter 26: Taking Control
Chapter 27: Fighting Back
Chapter 28: Taking the Prize
Chapter 29: Sacrifice
Chapter 30: Debris and the Dead
Chapter 31: Kobold Fight Club
Chapter 32: Battle Testing
Chapter 33: Vampires
Chapter 34: What’s in a Name
Chapter 35: Canon
Chapter 36: Beehive
Chapter 37: Stand Down or Be Boarded
Chapter 38: Battered Foe
Chapter 39: Station Assault
Chapter 40: Exchange of Fire
Chapter 41: Mechs and Contacts
Chapter 42: Railgun Woes
Chapter 43: Guns Blazing
Chapter 44: Defend the Ship
Chapter 45: Spiked Barricade
Chapter 46: Casualties
Chapter 47: Grinding Down the Foe
Chapter 48: Skitterbach
Chapter 49: Turning the Tables
Chapter 50: Next Moves
Chapter 51: Chief
Chapter 52: True Hunger
Chapter 53: Plasma Fire
Chapter 54: Breaching the Wall
Chapter 55: Put the Crew to Work
Chapter 56: What’s Out There
Chapter 57: Runaway Kobold
Chapter 58: Aberrant Data
Chapter 59: War Within
Chapter 60: Plan of Attack
Chapter 61: Forgotten Comrade
Chapter 62: Frankenstein’s Lab
Chapter 63: Throwing in the Reserves
Chapter 64: Second Assault
Chapter 65: Fail-Safe
Chapter 66: Barracuda
Chapter 67: Drones and DNA
Chapter 68: Incoming
Chapter 69: Move to Intercept
Chapter 70: Torpedoes Away
Chapter 71: Hull Breach
Chapter 72: Repel the Void
Chapter 73: Running Battle
Chapter 74: Combining Forces
Chapter 75: Render Assistance
Chapter 76: Act of Valor
Chapter 77: Void Strike
Afterword
Chapter 1
Jump Point
“Warning! Jump point activation detected. A single vessel is attempting to jump into the system from Jump Point 2. All crew to their stations!”
Throughout the dark and battered station, the announcement repeated. A loud klaxon sounded, and flashing red emergency lighting flickered to life in about half the compartments, beckoning to a crew that no longer existed. After the fifteenth announcement, the lack of response was noted, and automated systems began to take over, following long-established protocol.
Sapient crew has not responded to the warning order.
Error. Internal station sensors are degraded. Attempting to locate existing crew.
Scanning . . .
No active crew IDs were found. Scanning for any life-forms that may function as sapient crew.
Scanning . . .
Over 282 life-forms were discovered aboard the station. None possess the minimum intellect to act as interim crew. Council AI, version 12, will now be activated. Complete system control is granted to Council AI, version 12.
An immediate course of action has been ordered. Shutdown of Jump Point 2 deemed necessary. Submitting request to the jump point control station monitoring Jump Point 2.
Error. The jump point control station is not responding. Unable to prevent the pending jump.
Updated sensor returns indicate that 3.234489 seconds ago, the jump point activated, admitting a single vessel into the system.
Flickering returns from the degraded and neglected sensor network in the system began to come in as the AI awakened from its digital slumber. The AI analyzed the sensor returns, piecing together a course of action as it sifted through hundreds of options. Most of these options were deemed ineffective due to infrastructure errors and system degradation.
Activating defense grid. All sensor buoys are going active.
The solar system had once been strewn with tens of thousands of sensor buoys of various types. Now the AI could only receive returns from a small fraction of them. Over the next two seconds, it tried to troubleshoot the issue, moving through 42,921 potential fixes, all of which failed to help. Only a few of the remaining active sensors were close to Jump Point 2, and many of those also failed after a short period of functionality.
The AI reviewed its primary purpose. It was to support the Council through an investigation into void disruption and research ways to defeat any void forces that transitioned into the system. In order to defend itself against void disruptions, a combat vessel with an experimental power source based on Derelict technology remained docked at the main research station.
A query to the ship’s computers found they were online, though the ship only had power through its umbilical link to the station. Only the point defense weapons had been installed in the vessel, and their power core was inactive and needed a sapient mind within the proper parameters to control it.
The AI’s investigation into the combat vessel was interrupted as new data was received on the interloper that had entered the system.
Unidentified contact’s IFF is not transmitting.
Error. Sensor network degradation prevents identification of the unknown vessel with any degree of certainty. Analyzing available data.
The drive signature of the unknown vessel matches the M33p-0 class of light cargo transport. Data on the existing number of vessels of this type is 222.648 years out of date. Analyzing database to determine threat level.
Jump-Capable Light Transport, M33p-0 Class
Manufacturer: Various
Construction species: Kobold. Some models were built under license by other Council species.
Date of manufacture: Unknown
Number of vessels completed: Unknown
Armaments: Unknown. One point defense hardpoint is standard on vessels of this type, and additional modular consumable weapons systems can be easily retrofitted.
Armor: Negligible. Commercial-grade hull.
Shields: Standard, commercial grade. The shielding on this vessel is only space-debris-capable and unable to protect against weapons fire.
Sensor array: Limited full-spectrum array with commercial targeting package.
Crew: Average crew capacity for this class of vessel is 47. Limited autonomous control.
The AI reviewed its findings, noting that the unknown vessel had started scanning the system with an inferior sensor array. For now, the AI would activate stealth field generators and conceal the facilities in this system while it obtained more data and started automated maintenance procedures to bring its facilities back to optimal working order.
Error. Stealth field generators are offline at both jump point control stations.
Error. Stealth field generators are offline at the orbital research station.
Without the means to hide its facilities in the system, the AI was at a disadvantage. The AI controlled three stations in this system. A small defensive station covered Jump Point 2, where the interloper had entered. When fully functional, the station’s disruption array could block jump transit, and it carried a weapons suite to protect itself from anything other than a dedicated warship.
The main research station, designated Alpha 712, where the AI was physically housed, orbited the second of the three planets in the system. This main research station was part fortress, part science facility, and part shipyard. Presently, only the single experimental vessel was docked at the research base.
All other docking bays were empty, and not even an emergency shuttle or emergency evacuation pod remained on the station. Data on the past evacuation was unavailable, and all other notations on the disposition of the previous crew were housed in damaged storage devices. Knowing why the crew abandoned the stations wouldn’t help the AI accomplish its mission. Instead, it focused its efforts on the task at hand.
A station similar to the one at Jump Point 2 was covering the only other jump point in the system, Jump Point 1. The station at Jump Point 1 was used to monitor system Ax77. An advanced capability probe had been sent into Ax77 and was still sending back data on the low-tech civilization that had been found there.
A rudimentary targeting system has locked onto Jump Point Station 2. Analyzing options.
Warning! System defenses have degraded significantly since the last activation. Combat is not recommended. Investigating alternative options.
Station 2 is being hailed.
Connecting to the communications system at Jump Point Station 2.
Error. Primary comms array is inoperable at this station. Switching to backup.
A reptilian face appeared on the comms array. The AI’s database tagged it as a kobold, and the AI reviewed whatever limited information it had on the species. Insight into the kobold species was downloaded to a subfolder while the AI waited for the kobold to speak.
“I’m Captain Igboz of the powerful and deadly vessel Skitter. My sensors might not be cutting edge, but even they can tell that you are defenseless. Power down everything but life support and unlock your docking hatches. We’ll be taking any valuables and tech you might have, and if you want us to leave the life support on when we leave, you better not give us any trouble.”
The AI created a false avatar to project through its communication array. It determined that an orc admiral was the most likely form to intimidate the crew of a kobold vessel. An image and voice profile from the database were selected, and the AI attempted contact with the unknown vessel.
“Attention, recently arrived vessel. You have jumped into a Council-controlled system. Turn about immediately and jump out of this system,” the AI demanded through its avatar. The message was sent from every functional transmitter, and despite the network’s degradation, the AI calculated a 98.2 percent chance that the targeted recipient had received the message. Less than a minute after the message was transmitted, the unknown vessel responded.
“What kind of orc pretends to be part of the Council?” Captain Igboz replied. “Ha, the humans wiped them out centuries ago. How long have you been cut off out here, and who’s really in charge of this junk heap of a system? I’m done messing around, so answer quickly.”
Sifting through old data logs, the AI confirmed that the last contact from the Council was over two hundred years ago. Before it could formulate the optimal response to the kobold captain, it started to receive reports from Jump Point Station 2. A point defense laser was burning into the station’s hull. Shields, along with most other systems on the station, were inoperable. In a short time, the station was dead. All processing nodes, power, and integrated systems had been destroyed by the kobold vessel.
The Skitter proceeded to light its drives and set a course for the main research station. With the vessel proven hostile, the AI cycled through existing weapons systems, eventually finding one, a remote-operated missile platform near the now-destroyed station at Jump Point 2. The platform was still receiving commands and had a single ship-to-ship missile that was reporting as functional.
The defense platform’s limited power system sputtered to life, and its backup tracking system locked onto the Skitter. At the AI’s command, the missile fired. Its targeting lock on the kobold vessel was solid. Sensor returns showed that while the missile was tracking its target, the thrust profile was weaker than expected.
A quick series of calculations showed the missile would still have enough fuel to hit the hostile vessel, even when the AI factored in evasive maneuvers. Slower than the AI would have expected, the kobold ship began to fire its point defense laser, trying to intercept the incoming missile.
Its systems might have been degraded, but the AI had no trouble assuming manual control of the missile and began evasive maneuvers. Seven seconds later, the missile hit its target. The AI waited for sensor returns to clarify the picture after the detonation. The Skitter was still intact, though its drives were offline and its reactor signature was indicating an imminent catastrophic meltdown.
Warning! Incoming missiles detected. Point defenses are offline.
“You may have killed my ship, orc, but I’m going to return the favor. I bet you thought a single point defense laser was all I had to work with,” Captain Igboz taunted as a pair of missiles accelerated toward the main research station. The kobold captain laughed at the orc avatar the AI had created, but the communication was cut off a moment later when the kobold ship’s reactor went critical.
The AI tried—and failed—to activate any point defense systems on the main station. It also tried to link into the point defense weapons installed on the experimental vessel, but those were also showing as inoperable. A quick calculation revealed that automated repairs would take far too long, and the incoming missiles would hit long before a point defense weapon could be brought online.
The maintenance situation was disgraceful, and a subroutine admonished the AI for allowing the lapse to occur. Briefly, the AI tried to calculate if it was to blame for the degradation the system had experienced. No, the abandonment by the biological units aboard and the failure of the internal systems to activate the AI sooner were the true culprits.
Calculated damage to main research station after missile impact is estimated at 83%. Recommend abandonment of the station before missile impact occurs.
The AI reviewed the data. The warning was correct; the kobold missiles, while not particularly powerful, were more than enough to doom the already degraded station. Only one option remained: the AI had to abandon the station using the docked vessel. A quick check of the ship’s internal data processors revealed that only a single server unit had been installed in the incomplete vessel, and that unit was insufficient to download the AI completely.
Instead, it would have to create a Limited Adjunct Network Interface in the vessel’s server. The adjunct form would allow the AI to retain some semblance of its current capabilities, though its memory would be further damaged by the rapid transfer and installation of all necessary data. There was a 71.45 percent chance that it could rebuild its damaged memory cores and fulfill its purpose, but that chance went to zero percent if it could not escape the incoming destruction.
For its plan to work, the AI needed to power the docked vessel. The only way to do so was to search for a sapient intellect to install in its experimental core. As it installed itself in the ship’s database, the AI activated automated systems to complete the ship’s core creation. No sapient life existed in this solar system, but through the link to system Ax77 at Jump Point 1, the AI was certain it would find a viable candidate.
All parameters for candidate selection were loaded into the station’s controls. The AI would be inactive for a time, and it would fall on the more primitive station computers to handle the task. As it was downloaded into the experimental vessel’s systems, the AI observed the process of selecting a candidate.
Error. System Ax77 is currently ineligible for Council induction. Its technological level is below the minimum threshold.
Warning. The jump point link with Ax77 is reporting an anomaly. Time and distance within the jump point are fluctuating. Activation of the jump point is not recommended at this time.
System Ax77 is now granted an emergency exception. All restrictions and safety warnings are overridden.
The system will allow one designated core candidate, with subsequent support personnel, to be extracted from this world. All other communication and integration of this system will be blocked until Ax77 exceeds the minimum technological threshold (MTT) necessary for induction as a Council world.
Searching for viable candidates with the least disruption on planetary development . . .
Chapter 2
Recruitment
“Unidentified vessel, heave to and prepare to be boarded,” Captain Watkins ordered over the loudspeakers.
The vessel next to the Protector-class Coast Guard cutter Barracuda was a fast luxury boat that had started its life as some rich person’s toy. Now it had been transformed into a high-speed smuggling ship that was loaded to the gunwales with tightly wrapped bundles of narcotics. It had been making its way up the coast of California when the Barracuda was ordered to intercept. The Coast Guard ship’s spotlight cut through the darkness to illuminate the smuggling vessel and its cargo.
