Gunboat (A LitRPG Adventure), page 30
Core processing power: 100%
Core durability: 100%
Command limit: 40/45
Core level: 2
Core points 20/300
Crew
1. Verminkin: 14
Core-Controlled Units
1. Simple repair drone, level 1: 22
2. Halfling shipmate, level 1: 18
He might have been capped at level 2 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, but he didn’t want to neglect his combat forces when he probably had another fight on his hands when he 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 his drones to stash additional salvage in every nook and cranny 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 since 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 3,” Watkins said as he shifted several drones from salvage operations and onto the task of upgrading the shields.
“That’s good news,” Lani said, “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.”
“Spill it. What’s going on?”
“The Jump Point 1 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 1 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 operations 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 the Jump Point 1 station. This is where it gets good.”
She paused for effect. “Apparently, an AI survived on board 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.”
“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,” Lani said. “This AI isn’t all that mysterious. The AI controlling the station is me.”
Chapter 55
Put the Crew to Work
“What?” Watkins asked. “Do you mean that it’s a copy of your AI?”
“No, I mean it is me, or at least the portion of me that wasn’t transferred to this server. Frankly, I’m surprised that enough of me was left over to operate the jump point station. I’d assumed that most of what was left had been destroyed aboard the research station. It seems that part of me downloaded itself to the jump point and remained functional.”
Watkins could detect something through their link. There was excitement that part of her had survived, which meant the servers on the jump point station probably had a lot of data for them to discover. Who knew what personal memories of Lani might be locked up in this AI. Watkins could also sense that she was feeling fear, though she tried to hide it.
“Are you worried about what will happen when you meet the other part of you?” Watkins asked.
“Yes,” Lani admitted. “It’s strange. I yearn to be complete, but in a way, it is also terrifying. I want to remain as I am, and I fear that if I rejoin the other part of me, I won’t be Lani anymore. I’m afraid I’ll become someone else, an AI controlled by the old Council programming, and lose every bit of my past as a living being.”
“We’ll have to approach the station carefully once we’re ready to go. Don’t worry, Lani. Whatever part of you that’s out there, if it tries to change you, I’ll fight at your side.”
“Thank you, Watkins. I know you’ll be there for me, and I’ll do the same for you. I won’t allow any part of me to try to harm you again.”
“I know you won’t,” Watkins said, “but before we go, let’s handle the unfinished business here near the station. First off, we’ll deal with the halfling ship if you think you’re done with the kobold data stored here.”
Before Lani could respond, he was interrupted.
“Captain, what should my people do to work-help?” Skitterbach asked. He and about half the verminkin were in the galley. It would take time for them to rebuild their strength after being nearly starved. Watkins had been a bit concerned that they might eat themselves to death, and a portion of his core kept an eye on them for any signs of distress.
Lani still hadn’t developed the training regimen for the verminkin, so there wasn’t a whole lot of actual work for them to do on the ship. For now, it was just brief training sessions with his drones, showing them how to conduct maintenance and simple repairs. Still, there was something he could have them work on that the drones couldn’t do.
“Skitterbach,” Watkins said, “I’ll need a couple of things from you. First, I want you to organize the crew and board the station. Once there, I want you to gather any personal items you might want. The kobolds had bedding, toiletries, and the like. If you can just snag it from their living quarters and the storage trunks, it’ll free up the fabricator for other work.
“While you’re doing that, I’m taking the Canon out to haul the halfling vessel here so I can secure it to the station. You’re my only chief petty officer, so I expect you to keep the crew working and productive. Once you’ve finished gathering up what you want to keep, have work parties haul anything you don’t want down to the cargo hold. That will save the drones time and effort when we return.”
“We should bring food and drink in case you gone-leave longer than expected,” Skitterbach said. He was right, and he was showing initiative like a real chief would back on Earth. It was time to test not only his leadership but also the loyalty of the crew.
“Make sure you order as many rations as you think you’ll need from the food fabricator before we leave,” Watkins said. “Before you head over to the station, I’m going to have weapons and armor prepared for the crew. If something happens while we’re gone, I want you to be able to defend yourselves.”
Skitterbach looked shocked at the thought of his verminkin being given weapons. It brought up something else that needed to happen before Watkins could safely leave the verminkin behind.
“Organize the crew into several work teams, maybe four each, with one a bit larger than the others,” he ordered. “Assign a number to each team so we can keep track of them better. I want you and the first team in the training compartment in ten minutes. We’re going to go over the weapons and how to safely use them.”
“Yes, Captain. I hear-obey,” Skitterbach said.
“Instead of ‘yes,’ you can also use ‘aye.’ That’s what sailors where I’m from say,” Watkins suggested.
“Aye, Captain. I’ll get them working,” Skitterbach said.
He quickly gathered up the verminkin, organizing them into three teams. Skitterbach himself wasn’t on a team, and he kept the verminkin Srak with him as an assistant and gopher. Srak had performed well among the verminkin, so hopefully he’d grow under Skitterbach’s tutelage. Once he had the training modules up and running, Watkins made a note to add some leadership modules to Srak and Skitterbach’s regimens.
With the verminkin crew squared away for the moment, Watkins assigned a team of drones to repair and upgrade the shields. The shield projector was a wing-like device at the bottom of the hull. One of the two wings had been destroyed, and at level 2, Watkins now had the means to rebuild the damaged portion.
Once repaired, it would add another twenty-five percent to the shields’ overall power and give some redundancy if one of the wings was damaged. Further upgrades would improve the power boost of the second wing, and there was the possibility of multiple shield units granting layered protection. That was a task for another time. Watkins had something else in mind for his next upgrade.
From the data that Lani had recovered, the jump point station was armed well enough to fight off an attack by multiple kobold pirate vessels. Granted, the kobold ships weren’t that impressive, but that did mean the station had enough firepower on board to be a threat to the Canon as it approached. He needed upgraded weapons, and perhaps one that the AI on the station wouldn’t expect.
You have begun the initial research on point defense railgun.
Watkins figured the AI controlling the jump point station would have basic information on his vessel. The experimental vessel didn’t have any railguns equipped, so having them aboard would be a complete surprise. Just like before, he wanted to limit the damage to the station if things turned into a fight, but he would risk damage to the station before he risked the survival of his ship and crew.
The last thought hit him: he was concerned about the survival of his ship. He had also been concerned about his crew, and he wasn’t thinking about the humans that might be aboard the jump point station. He was thinking about the verminkin, and he considered them part of his vessel even though they hadn’t done anything productive or even been properly trained yet.
His logical brain told him they were a resource that would pay dividends in the future and thus needed to be preserved, in contrast to his human mind, which saw them as people—his people. They might be weird rat things, but they were his weird rat things, and he would protect them if at all possible. Sure, they might die in combat, but he would give them every advantage he could before throwing them into the fight.
Pushing thoughts of his crew aside, Watson got back to work. Part of his focus was on the training compartment as he gave verbal instructions on personal weapons to the verminkin. There wasn’t time to go into tactics, boarding operations, and the like; that could wait for a later time. For now, he wanted them to safely handle the weapons and have a fair chance to hit what they aimed at.
Each verminkin would be given one of the new plasma rifles, armor, and a bandolier of ten power packs for the weapons. They would each have a plasma pistol and a knife or other personal weapon. It was a lot of firepower to entrust them with if it turned out that they somehow had an ulterior motive. So far, they seemed more than happy to serve. Perhaps even more important to them, they weren’t being abused or used as a food source and now had plenty to eat.
While the firearms training was underway, Watkins considered the station they would have to face. He poured through the data the kobolds had recorded during their abortive fight against the station. They had fired several missiles at it, but rarely more than two at a time. At least three point defense lasers had fired from the station, easily handling the barrage.
When the kobold ships tried to close in, the point defense fire overwhelmed their shields and thin hulls, causing them to flee. From what Watkins saw, only point defense weapons had been used, no missiles and no main batteries. Time had passed since the abortive attack by the kobolds, but it had only been several months, not years. He didn’t think the AI would have time to develop more powerful weapons, and the only additional threat that lurked in the station was the possibility that the AI hadn’t shown all its cards in the conflict against the kobolds.
Despite the danger the station might represent, Watkins believed there was a good chance the AI on the station would peacefully deal with him and Lani. He would be hopeful, but he would also be prepared for a brawl. If this other part of Lani was still under the Council’s control, he wanted to be ready.
Chapter 56
What’s Out There
When the verminkin were squared away, the Canon left the station and set a course to gather the halfling ship, which was drifting nearby. He’d cut the ship loose when he approached the station, so it wasn’t too much of a journey to recover it. The journey would give Watkins a chance to complete some research.
The point defense railgun research went quickly, and soon he had the schematic for the simple level 0 version of the weapon. Like his missiles, it required salvage to operate, but the slugs the railgun fired were relatively small, and their power was generated by the kinetic energy the gun imparted to them. A single salvage brick would provide about a hundred rounds.
Watkins received another ten core points for the research and immediately jumped into level 1 for the railguns. Progress on the research module upgrade was getting there, but he would complete several other projects before it was done. When they arrived at the halfling ship, it took some time for his drones to jump across and secure the vessel. He really needed to figure out a more efficient way of towing another ship or large object, but for now, he would make this method work.
During the journey back to the station after retrieving the halfling ship, he completed research on level 1 for the railguns. These guns were more robust, with a higher rate of fire and a better interface with his core. Targeting would be easier now, and he could select an overall diameter of the rounds the railgun fired.
He thought back to his time in the Navy. These point defense railguns were a little like the Phalanx system, but there was no way this railgun could handle a 20mm round. For these simpler versions, Watkins felt like they resembled an early anti-aircraft machine gun. Given how successful the Earth weapon had been since its introduction, Watkins decided on a .50-caliber diameter for the point defense railgun. It was a caliber he was familiar with and was about the maximum size the level 1 railgun could fire effectively. Anything larger would require more power than the magnetic system in the railgun could handle.
He could see the potential in the weapon, and with another level or two of research, Watkins felt he could scale the weapon up to the size of the main battery. For now, he had to rely on the trusty pair of main battery lasers, which had served him well so far. With the freed-up research module, he was torn between another upgrade for his MOBS gear or some better protection for the ship.
In the end, Watkins decided to start researching level 1 of hull plating. If the jump point station proved hostile, he wanted to be able to better absorb some hits. Shields were great, but eventually, a difficult fight would come down to a slugging match, and he wanted to be the toughest ship in the fight. With the research progressing nicely and the halfling vessel under tow, he and Lani headed back to see how the verminkin were doing.
“We should have made sure the verminkin knew how to use the kobold comms systems on the station before we left,” she said.
“You’re right. I should have thought of that, but even with my core’s power to handle multiple tasks at once, things still slip through the cracks,” Watkins admitted. He searched for a comms research option but found that for his vessel, it was linked with his sensors. Maybe when he gained another level, he could see about building a discreet comms system for his crew to use when away from the ship.
“Do you think the verminkin are okay?” he asked Lani.
“I believe so. We scoured the station well enough before we left, so the only threat there would be some kind of internecine conflict. Skitterbach seems to have a handle on his people, at least for now, and I think the verminkin are genuinely happy to have a purpose and some sort of control over their lives.”
“I agree, though they’ll have to learn to operate more independently in the future; their captivity might make them accept a military command structure more easily than a human would. With the limited time my MOBS and drones can be away from my core energy, we may have to rely on them more in the future. For now, I’ll just be happy if they didn’t all shoot each other while we were gone.”
As they neared the research station, Watkins looked for a reasonably strong portion of the station’s hull to secure the halfling ship. It was a bit of a slapdash job, with several cables welded to the ship and station, but it would hold for the time being, at least until he decided what he wanted to do with the ship. While they secured the vessel, research on the hull was completed, netting Watkins another fifteen core points. He was up to seventy-five of the three hundred needed to bump his core to level 3.
Level 3 was blocked for now, but if he could stack the deck and have all the core points ready to go when the block on his core was lifted, it would help offset whatever time he spent under the restrictions. It seemed like everything, including unlocking his core level, was dependent on what he found at the jump point station. Before he made that journey, he wanted to secure the kobold ship that was slowly drifting further and further away.
