Blake walked the pressurised area that had been the children's home for so long. To be fair, there could have been worse places to be isolated.
Dozens of rooms, kitchen, and Mess hall with a foodsynthesizer. Even a gym.
For The Aubrey's overall mission, unfortunately, the mechanical repair bays were not inside the pressurised area but adjacent. The pressurised area He was in, he guessed was the Engineering living quarters, their home away from work. Military efficiency at its best. Keep the repair crews handy to where they are needed.
There is no need to keep repair bots here, though, so it was time to move on.
"Aubrey, any chance I'll encounter automated defence systems in the mechanical bay?"
No, sir. That section is completely uncovered."
"Access in?"
"Return to the launch bay, Sir. You can access the mechanical bay personnel airlock from there. Ensign Connelly, and the children have arrived and are on their way to the Mess. I have created a menu for them at the synthesizer that will meet their nutritional needs. Their names are Luna and William, by the way."
Thank you, Aubrey."
Blake egressed back through the airlock and made his way to the repair bay personnel airlock. No damage appeared to this one, and since the area beyond was already unpressurised, both hatches cycled open together.
"How can the airlock operate with no power, Aubrey?"
"Independent power supply, Sir. Standard practise on virtually all vessels captain."
The mechanical repair bay, one of a dozen such bays in this launch bay, opened out before him. The approximate size of an oversized hanger, twice the depth though, from back on earth, it was no longer in such orderly condition.
A frigate sized ship, identical to the vessel in the launch bay, lay on the deck, its landing gear collapsed on one side. It was, overall, in better shape than its twin outside.
No hull breaches from laser fire were present. It may prove to be the better option for salvage.
"What am I looking for, Aubrey? I have no idea what a repair bots look like."
I'm pretty sure it won't be a Star Wars style Astromech like R2.D2.
"It would look like an earth-type beetle to you. With wheels as well as magnetic legs."
There was no shortage of debris and objects filling the bay, slowly rotating from the deck to the ceiling. None too few of those objects were bodies, spinning forever in this vast tomb.
Blake found weapons before he found a repair bot. A rack of what he would call laser carbine.
Ensign Connelly is on her way now with a Grav Sled, sir."
Thank you, Aubrey. Connelly, I have some laser rifles for you here to collect. I don't know what the magazines and attachments we might need for them."
"On it, sir. I grab anything that's worth grabbing."
Circumnavigating the hanger, Blake finally came across his first repair bots. A small model, the shape of a cockroach about was the size of a large dog. It had been crushed under something before the gravity had given out in the repair bay.
Blake spent a few minutes repairing the upgrading it the bot. A number of air jets puffed from its body, sending it back down to the deck. Its head, if it could be called that, opened revealing multiple devices for cutting and welding that extended and retracted in a preprogrammed test pattern.
"All yours, Aubrey."
"Yes, captain. I took control the moment it came online. The upgrade will improve the speed and efficiency of the unit substantially. Its autonomous processing power has also increased."
"Good to hear. How many of this size bot do we want?"
"The ideal number would be 10 units of this size, sir. And 5 of the next size up, approximately twice the mass of this one."
"I see a larger bot already, now that I know what to look for."
This new model was indeed twice the size. Its appearance resembled a Stag beetle to Blake. Large jaw-like arms protruded from its head for holding and moving objects.
Repairing and upgrading took slightly longer than the smaller model. Aubreys' control of it brought it down to the deck, where it trundled off towards the ship, which would be its new home.
Blake could see Elenor across the hanger loading up the Grav Sled from the weapons rack and adjacent lockers he hadn't noticed. Blake could see her turn to look at the bots as each rolled past her.
The next hour was spent finding 7 more small bots and three more medium-sized bots. The small bots were clearly the more common type, able to access small spaces for maintenance work rather than the larger fitting and construction type of bot.
"What's next, Aubrey?"
"Rotary laser turrets and weapons control console. This task is already underway, though, sir. As well as the construction of the mounting hardpoints on The Aubrey."
"Where will they be mounted?"
"Centrally mounted at the dorsal and ventral points, sir. This will allow for a complete sphere of defence captain."
"Looks like I've made myself redundant now."
System Menu
Repairman status
Level:
[ 3 ] 35%
Skills:
Repair Ability:
Advanced Diagnostic
Repair Ability:
Component Upgrade
Repair Efficiency Upgrade.
Only 35%, after all the repairs and upgrades I've made. A lot more work to reach the next level, though the skill I have now is pretty fantastic already.
"I'm out of work, captain. I'll head back to the ship and look in on the children, if you don't mind?"
"Good idea, Elenor. I'll see you there when I get back. Aubrey, can you salvage the weapons rack and lockers when you are able, please?"
"Yes, captain, I'll send the first free bot as soon as it's available."
Not having much else to do now, Blake chose to strip sidearm weapons belts off of and soldiers' bodies he could. He only ended up with six, but it was enough for now.
On the opposite side of the ship graveyard, a battered salvage vessel was scanning the area.
"It can't have just fucking disappeared! The signal was there, now its not. If it blew up from a collision, we would have picked that up. "
"I know that Cap. I'm just tellin' ya what fucking happin'd. I say I knew why. "
"Well find the fuck out why then! If there's another ship round here other than the stripped out junk we already picked over, I wanna piece of it, Booth! Find it!"
Construction of the weapons hardpoints progressed. The larger bots making precision cuts into the hull and transporting materials for the retraction systems, the small bots welding the the new system together. The small arms rack and lockers sat in the cargo hold, not having a home for them yet.
More bots were installing the weapon control console. Once the turrets were completed enough, the small bots would run the power and control wires through the maintainance tubes.
Blake spent his time upgrading the manoeuvring thrusters, bridge consoles, and even the Stasis units. He had to wait for the weapon turrets to be complete before he could upgrade those sections of the hull.
He even considered wandering into the Dreadnought and repair things just for the experience percentages, but Aubrey strongly advised against that.
"Multple defence systems are likely to still be active captain. All of which will be set at high defence to repelled potential boarding parties."
He did, however, hunt down three more small repair bots and two more medium bots. He found these in the main launch bay, virtually unrecognisable as charred scrap.
After that, Blake ran out of things to do. Aubrey advised that he have a good meal and get some rest.
Advise he chose to take.