"Jager. Do we have to have a chat about consent, and what is or isn't an appropriate act to perform in front of your captain with un-consenting ordnance?" This was the first instance of any instability from the Golem he had seen
"Sorry Chief, I lost myself in the wonder of this place for a moment. Knowing my memories of places like this aren't real, and seeing them again for the first time put me off-balance. It's why I have memories of generic settings, not of people and personnel. I won't react like that again sir, count on it."
The sight that tripped Jager memories was a hanger full of military equipment. Light ordnance. Heavy ordnance. Vehicles that needed a ship of their own to transport. Artillery ordnance that would fit right in on a Deathstar.
They hadn't searched from the rear section of the ship far enough forward yet. If they had, they would have hit the other end of the hanger they were in now. It must run from the outer Hull most of the way to the central spine of the ship.
Which probably means that there are more security turrets waiting in that direction.
"See any more turrets further inwards, Jager?"
Nothing close, Chief. Best we have the repair bot probe further in, the turrets seem to ignore them. If there are more, i say we pull the other Battle Bot over here with us. One just doesn't cut it." Blake had to agree to that plan because it was good, god damn plan.
"Get on that, I'll check out some of the vehicles in this area. See if they see fit for purpose."
A moment later, the repair bot scuttled off on its mission.
Blake began going through the ordnance in the vicinity. No heavy anti-personnel weapons were out in the open, which just meant they were likely packed away for transport. And there were a lot of cases round here. A nearby case showed itself to be full of what looked like high-tech grenades, which Jager who walked over to confirm were actually EMP grenades. Anti-electronics explosives.
The next case was full of grenades, too. These ones loaded into drum magazines for the grenade launcher that was set into the foam moulding on the inside of the case lid.
Jager claimed it to be of use to them and carried it to the Grav Sled.
After that, Blake decided to concentrate on vehicles. The first was the right size, about the same as an old earth military Humvee. A wide and low body to it. But this one had its rear section full of electronics consoles and two swivel seats. No good, not if he could find better. If military thinking stayed the same, they wouldn't build a whole new vehicle if they only needed to slightly alter an existing one to suit the purpose. The second and third were the same as the first. The fourth was the winner. The front seat, aside from the driver seat, which was righthand drive, had a bench seat for passengers that was big enough for two easy. The back doors on either side opened to a troop bay that could fit three people in armoured EVA suits comfortable on either side facing each other. A rear hatch could open to allow easier entry and exit. It was perfect.
The vehicle could fit in the cargo hold of the Aubrey with no trouble at all. It even had built-in hardpoints on the roof for mounting weapons if he wanted, as well as an elevated observation hatch.
"Neo, do these vehicles have any security lockouts I should be concerned with?"
"No, sir. None that your skill won't be able to take care of. And as a bonus, they have limited antigrav lifters on the underside that will pull the vehicle down to the deck when operating in low to zero gravity environments. "
With that statement, Blake repaired the vehicle with the aforementioned skill. As well as upgrading it. The upgrade gave the vehicle the standard battleship grey colour. It also became sleaker and less boxy.
"You can load this one up too, Jager. Any word from the repair bot?"
"Another turret about 300 metres in. They are placed near airlock. That's what we'll watch for. Quite a few junked repair bots between here and there, sir."
"Tell the bot to drag them back here. Up to 10 if it can find them."
"You got it, Chief,"
While the repair bot did that, Blake and Jager hunted down a portable power unit. They weren't very hard to find. Finding a small unit rather than the truck portable only sized unit took more time.
The size they were looking for turned out to be 1 x 1 x 1.5 metres. Larger than Blake expected. Although after repairing and upgrading it, it lost about 20% of its size, and probably 50% of its weight. It is hard to judge weight in a zero gravity environment. He carried it over to the hanger doors without a problem, just in time for the repair bot to return, dragging half a dozen broken repair bot all tethered together and floating about like some macabre balloon collection. The bot released them and scuttled off for more.
The first bot repaired and upgraded went to work connecting the portable power unit to the hanger doors. Blake took a moment to check his System Menu. With such a slow gain, he didn't see the need to look often. But there must have been a Quest completion reward, right?
Status Menu
Survival Quest Complete
Level Upgrade
New Skill Available
Advanced Diagnostic Upgrade
Repair Efficiency Upgrade
Component Upgrade Efficiency Upgrade
Minor Component Construction.
System Menu
Repairman status
Level:
[ 4 ] 00%
Skills:
Repair Ability:
Advanced Diagnostic [ 2 ]
Repair Ability:
Component Upgrade [ 2 ]
Repair Ability:
Minor Component Construction [ 1 ]
Well, that's nice, though I have no idea what Minor Component Construction will get me.
With the hanger doors having available power now, Blake went ahead with their repair. No point in upgrading them. He figured the loss of upgrade points was negligible. The bay door rolled up into the ceiling to where Blake didn't really care. Things happened, thst was good enough. With the bay door open, Blake disconnected the power cable and loaded the power unit into their new ride that Jager had been steadily filling, but he had left space for the unit.
"What's this vehicles name, Jager?"
"All Terrain Armoured Carrier. Predictably just called an ATAC. Good solid vehicle, even better with the upgrade. I got pretty much all I wanted from here, Chief. we can move out when you're ready."
Blake spent the next 15 minutes repairing and upgrading the 10 bots, each rolling off to the Aubrey as Neo gained control of them.
Climbing into the passenger seat of the ATAC, he asked if the vehicle could be pressurised. "It can. it's generally only used when entering an already pressurised environment. Emergency use is the only other time."
Their trip back was only slightly faster their trip out, having to avoid debris they had bypassed easily on foot. Jager said they could have nudged the stuff out of the way, the lower speed doing that just ended up eating up the time, though.
When they rolled into the Aubreys cargo bay, the hatch doors closed behind them and pressurised. The ATAC doing the same.
"Ensign Booth is back for some downtime, sir. He has acquired a list item, the Gamma Deflector, sir." Neo informed him as they climbed out of the vehicle and popped their suit helmets.
"Thank you, Neo. The new bots have been put to work?"
"Yes, Sir. Results will become apparent over the next few days."
Blake walked with Jager through the Engineering Bay. They had decided to leave these critical components housed inside the original bay walls. It also separated the area from the cargo bay on the off chance that cargo started flying around.
Continuing through the ship, the two encountered Luna and Billy, as he liked to be called now. They were in a makeshift workshop, wearing respiration masks and soldering small components under Neos' watchful eye. The a.i was taking their education very seriously, as well as their skill training in basic trade craft.
"Hi kids. Good to see you working hard. Don't forget to relax sometimes, though."
The kids pulled their masks off and raced over to the captain, both happy to see him. They asked about the new vehicle and when they could go for a ride in it. Blake pointed out that they would have to wait till they were planetside for that. But he would definitely take them out for the ride of their lives when they got back to Selene.
They talked for a while about all the things Neo was teaching them, how to build and repair things, just like their captain.
After a meal, he had himself a long shower and lay down for some well deserved rest, in his humble opinion.