Chapter 61. Forgotten Comrade.

  The Canon had moved away from the station as they defended against the rockets, but it didn’t take long to get back into main gun range. The station’s shields had recharged at least some of their power and were functional again. Even though they were back online, they had been severely weakened and only a couple of shots were enough to take them out once more. Another of the station’s point defense guns fell, and Watkins was maneuvering toward his next target when the station’s cargo hold opened a second time.

  “More rockets?” Lani asked.

  “Wait, this is different,” Watkins said, watching as two objects, both larger than the previous rockets, lit their engines. These two things were cylindrical shaped but had protrusions on either side that looked like wings or more likely, weapons of some type. Their engines were more like starship maneuver drives, but less powerful, and were not the solid propellant boosters the earlier rockets had used.

  They both turned toward the Canon, closing the gap and quickly entering point defense range where Watkins’ guns began to engage them. Unlike the rockets, these two mini ships were much more maneuverable, and it took Watkins a few precious seconds for his core to examine and predict their evasive actions. Laser fire began to pulse from the wing-like protrusions on the ships, and despite some last-minute maneuvers by Watkins, several of the beams landed hits.

  His shields flickered as they absorbed the first few hits. A feeling like a stubbed toe was generated as the shields failed. Having a ship for a body made for some very strange pain points when the vessel took damage or a system failed. A few beams managed to hit the hull but were unable to do more than melt the surface of the armor. Each of the hits had landed on the recently upgraded armor sections, which lived up to their claimed improvements.

  “Their weapons are not as strong as our point defense lasers, I estimate that they have less than half of the power that our weapons can put out,” Watkins said.

  “Not only that, but it also seems that whatever charge they held is depleted. I think they trying to ram us now,” Lani added as the ships ceased firing but continued to close the gap with Canon.

  “This won’t be a problem,” Watkins said as his core predicted the enemy ship maneuvers, and his point defense lasers started to land hits.

  These things were rather durable, and it took multiple hits on each before they were swatted down. He tagged the location of both, if these were some kind of drone as he suspected, he wanted the design plans for it. He’d pick these up later if he didn’t find something with their specs on the station. Hopefully, there would be enough pieces of the ships to glean a schematic for them.

  The station’s cargo hold remained sealed as they took out the last point defense gun on the station. They were expecting the worst, and his weapons were ready to swing toward any new threat that might emerge from there. He also double checked each of the station’s destroyed weapons, making sure none were receiving repairs that would allow them to go active once more.

  Watkins then moved his focus to the partially dismantled kobold ship, and it’s still operational weapon. This attack was going to be a bit more delicate, as he had to attempt to avoid hitting critical areas of the ship and be careful of the station it was attached to. Three shots were required, though one missed the mark and strayed into the hull of the station, breaching it. The breach was quickly sealed, to their relief.

  “That’s everything we can see, is it time for us to attempt boarding now?” Lani asked.

  “Yes, we’ll get the MOBS into the cargo hold as I try to dock with the station. Let’s also get the crew ready in case things go sideways,” Watkins replied.

  He gave orders for Skitterbach to get the crew armed and armored. He still wanted more upgrades to their gear, and the fabricator was running hard to print up replacement battery packs for the plasma rifles. In addition to the rifles and their personal melee weapons, the crew would just have the single shot plasma pistols. All the laser pistols they’d gathered from the kobolds and the halflings were being reserved for use by his MOBS.

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  The verminkin were stationed in their quarters and the armory, ready to respond to a threat. His MOBS were also better equipped this time, with each having a satchel with ten reloads for their rifles. The weapons were still a bit cumbersome to reload, but it was still a lot quicker to swap out a power pack than to have to wait a full minute for one shot to recharge. A few of his drones were also tasked with hauling crates full of extra reloads. They wouldn’t be skimping on the firepower this time.

  “Do you want to adjust our ratio of MOBS to drones?” Lani asked.

  “I think so, I was going to scrap ten of the drones and replace them with MOBS,” Watkins decided. That would give him a total of 15 drones and 30 MOBS. He would have time to make the adjustment before they were ready to board the ship. Having just fifteen drones would still give them enough of a force to effect emergency repairs, and he also kept a pair inside the core room as a safety net.

  Watkins was on edge as they approached the station, but it didn’t appear that they had any other surprises as far as hidden weapons on the hull. He’d worried that there might be a railgun or two waiting to be unleashed. Even several of the beehive systems firing at once could cause some problems.

  “It doesn’t look like the AI is trying to stop us from docking,” Lani said as the ship bumped up against the station’s boarding collar. With a hiss, the ship sealed the connection to the station and Watkins examined the controls he would need to override in order to get the station’s hatch to open.

  Before he did, Watkins made another check of his MOBS, drones, and crew. Everyone was in place, and twenty of the MOBS were now in the shuttle bay, ready to launch the assault. The remaining ten MOBS were in the passageway, waiting for the others to move out before they reinforced the attack. They would also be on hand to take up defensive positions if the station had something nasty to deal with the initial boarding party.

  “The station’s hatch controls aren’t even encrypted, I’m not sure why the AI wouldn’t at least make some attempt to delay us,” Lani said as Watkins easily triggered accessed and triggered the hatch opening mechanism.

  A loud clack sounded as the locking bolts disengaged, the boarding hatch started to lower. Unlike the halfling ship, the station’s boarding collar was much shorter and more robust. The station was designed for easy access to resupply vessels and the like, not dealing with hostile boarding action. A strange message was sent out through all the sound systems aboard the station and was broadcast directly to Watkins and Lani.

  At first, he blocked the signal, expecting it to be another attempt to activate a council kill switch inside of him. Nothing of the sort happened and both he and Lani seemed fine. The message repeated and Watkins paid attention to it this time.

  “Station control and defense has been assumed by hybrid core 04. The faulty being calling itself Captain Watkins will vacate the station immediately and submit to the station authority.”

  “That’s a firm no to any submitting on my part. Whoever’s in charge will be the one standing down, or we will attack,” Watkins warned, giving the AI one last chance to comply before he started the boarding action. A new voice sounded out, one that was vaguely familiar.

  “Captain, it’s been a long time, I now control the station, and my programming requires me to defend against your forces. Leave now, or I will not be able to hold back any defenses,” the voice of Petty Officer Carter said. He’d been aboard the Barracuda when their ship had been destroyed by the exploding drug runner vessel.

  His voice sounded odd, his cadence a bit robotic, but also recognizable as the man he once commanded. Was this proof that his crew had survived? If so, what had the council done to them over the centuries they’d been aboard the station?

  “Petty Officer Lane, you will stand down, that is an order,” Watkins commanded.

  “I want to captain, but I can’t do that. This sailor is sorry to report he must decline your order. A higher authority has countermanded it,” Carter replied. His voice was strained, as if he was struggling and in pain.

  “Begin the assault, secure the cargo hold and wait for further instructions,” Watkins ordered to his forces. He was done playing around. He would clear out any defenses and see what was actually going on with this bizarre place.

  The MOBS stood from behind the barricades and charged forward. Nothing happened as they crossed the boarding collar. Watkins had expected defenders of some sort, but nobody appeared to resist their attack. When the troops were all inside the oversized cargo hold of the station, his remaining team of MOBS filtered into the now empty defenses inside the Canon.

  “I must now destroy your forces, Captain. I must also destroy your core. The station will keep the ship and the LANI interface if it submits, but all others must be liquidated due to the danger they pose,” Carter said in a monotone voice, all previous emotion seemingly wiped away.

  As he watched a dozen panels at the top of the cargo bay popped open, and laser rifles mounted on simple turrets began to swivel toward his troops.

  “Open fire, take those turrets down!” Watkins ordered his troops, noticing too late that the cargo hold was completely bare, with no cover at all for his MOBS to utilize.