Opening the cargo hatch had the usual effect. Scream air slowly reduced in volume as it was replaced with vacuum. It was a nerve shaking event every time, knowing that only a suit of cloth was preventing your death.
Must be what deep-sea divers felt like, I guess.
The hatch slid up into its housing, letting Blake and Elenor into the cargo space. Little had charged since his last visit here, except perhaps for the position of the flotsam and jetsam floating around. Blake headed straight for the buckled cargo hold door, getting on with the planned upgrade to both doors.
30 minutes later, the new and improved hold doors were finished.
"Aubrey, please pressurise the cargo bay. If you notice any more leaks, don't keep it to yourself. "
"Of course, captain. Returning atmosphere now"
"So, that's all you planned to do here?" Elenor seemed somewhat disappointed.
Hoping for more wow factor, maybe?
"I'm just getting started. I plan to upgrade the entire ship. Aubrey, do cargo vessels arm themselves? Is it even legal?"
"Cargo and transport vessels do often arm themselves, to defend against piracy. Most planetary and space station port authorities require all weapons to be shut down and offline when docking."
"Something to look into then. But first, the cargo hold.
Two hours spent in the cargo hold and significant quantities of rations and water produced a cargo hold looking like it had never transported so much as a box. Tie-down hardpoints dotted the bay, folded down flush with the new dealing, ready for use.
Upgrading the hull plating from the inside was a much easier process. By now, around 25% of the ships hull was an armoured light grey colour, making the vessel appear to have had a new ship split in half, then had a derelict midsection welded in the centre.
One thing at a time, Blakie-Boy.
While Blake worked at the upgrades, Elenor was using a Grav Sled, the twin of the model Blake was using to reach the ceiling hull sections.
Loading up the boxes and debris that had been scattered through the hold, she had stowed it in the back corner for now.
Neither humans were sure what would prove useful, and we're both reluctant to eject anything
With the cargo bay area now as complete as it could be, Blake turned to the Engineering Bay.
Then, I stopped to consider a better idea.
"Aubrey, do you think I would be able to upgrade you?"
"I have been considering that for some time. I can transfer myself to a separate system so as not to risk corruption. I believe that you could safely proceed with an upgrade that I can then run compatability diagnostics on."
"Do that while I make my way to the bridge then."
20 minutes later, Blake and elenor arrived at the bridge. With Aubrey's go-ahead, he made the upgrade, hoping to himself that he was not creating a monster.
"How does it look now? Roomier in there now?"
Aubrey did not reply for a minute. A long time to wait to find out if this improvement was a success.
"This is several orders of magnitude greater than my previous capacity. Your upgrade has changed my capability from a Class 4 a.i to a Class 3."
"What's the difference in classes?"
Captain, a class 2 a.i, is capable of coordinating a fleet battle. Class 1 is a planetary a.i. "
"Im glad I can give back a little, for all you've done to keep me alive, which is mostly your companionship, my friend."
"You are most welcome, captain,"
Elenor, clearly getting bored with the exchange, tool this moment to interrupt.
"If you guys are quite finished, can we get back to engineering? I want to see what you can do with our power plant."
"Me too. One more thing, though. Aubrey, is it possible to create a fabrication unit run on similar lines to the food synthesizer? Feed in raw materials at one end and produce finished components from the other? Basic components may be upgradable by me to superior components?"
"With the correct materials, it will be possible to build a relatively small unit to meet these needs."
"Could we get the materials by stripping out all the crew quarters aft of the Mess?"
"That would give the required materials captain. The construction of the fabrication unit would be better located below that area. "
"Wouldn't that interfere with wiring and stuff?"
"No, captain. Our twin hull design was for safety. A hull breach to the outer Hull would not necessarily breach the inner hull. With the improved outer Hull armouring we have now, we have an excess of unused space."
"I guess it was a good thing I hadn't done much work on the central section of the ship then."
Elenor had been thinking along similar lines, apparently.
"This excess of space will put the engine room in a good spot. A protected area inside an armoured hull. Maybe consider armouring the Engineering Bay inner hull?"
Not having thought of the vulnerability of the engine bay, Blake took the idea for the value it contained.
"I think we'll do just that in the near future. I've been thinking about the biggest flaw in this Repairman skill"
"It has a flaw? It's a bit hard to see what it could be"
"That's because you haven't been living with it, Elenor. I can repair and upgrade. But I can't create. The fabrication unit is a way of getting around that flaw. I have zero research and design skills. Even less real mechanical skills. You know more about navigation as a trainee than I have ability in creating new things by hand, without any magic."
"I have a possible solution to our resource requirements, captain. An easier solution to the mining of asteroids that was implied. And resolve the need for a fabrication unit to be required immediately. "
Blake stopped what he was doing and listened.
"Please do let us know, Aubrey."
"There is a ship graveyard approximately one weeks travel from our position. A fleet battle between Dominion Republic forces, the dominant political force in our region of the galaxy, and Separatist forces. This battle occurred some 150 years ago. I imagine much has been scavenged from this area since then, but many components too damaged to be of salvage value are likely to still be present."
"Holy shit! It won't matter how damaged the components are to us! There was virtually nothing left of our sensor array, basically just a smoking crater. We are in the money now, team! Please set us on course to this graveyard as soon as possible please, Aubrey."
Blake progressively made his way around the Engineering Bay, upgrading units and terminals that he mostly had no idea of their purpose. He even upgraded the two Grav Sleds. The possibility of turning one of those Sleds into personnel transport had already occurred to him.
He was getting tired of walking the length of the ship.
"Reactor upgrade or Thrusters first, Aubrey?
"I would suggest the the Reactor, Captain"
"OK then, let's get to it."
Upgrading the reactor took a lot longer than expected. A full 30 minutes, repair skill time equalled closer to an hour in real time.
"What's the resulting boost, Aubrey?"
"Our Reactor is now a Class 3, available power output has increased 400%. Its power efficiency is closer to a Class 2 Reactor. FTL travel has been reduced by 2 days."
"Enough for the Thruster upgrade then?"
"Significantly so captain"
Crawling through the maintainance tube was its usual chore. Lying on his back under the Thruster Housing section of the hull was at least somewhat relaxing.
Having to crawl back twice to carry more Ration bars was getting really old, though.
But by the end, he had upgraded the Starboard Thruster components,Starboard Thruster Housing,Starboard Thruster hardpoint, and upgraded the Starboard hull section around it.
Getting back to the Engineering Bay, he decided to put Elenor to work as his goffer, running rations and water to him while he completed the Portside work on the Thrusters. This made the job a lot faster, though the job was beneath Elenors qualifications.
Would be nice if I could find some robot units that Aubrey can control for these kinds of jobs. Let's hope the ship graveyard has some damaged units of that kind there.
"Thrusters complete now, Aubrey, so you can bring them back online."
"Coming online now. These upgrades will cut travel times by 1 day. I suggest similar upgrades to our lateral, ventral, and dorsal thrusters."
"How will that improve the ships' performance?
"By upgrading the lateral, ventral, and dorsal Thrusters, the ships turning capability will increase. This allows fast turns and more rapid evasive manoeuvres when required."
"So more Crawling through maintenance tubes?"
"Sad so, captain."
I guess this is how I spend my days now. Upgrading a cargo ship to fantastic levels and flying through space.