this is just like the station. Nothing like I expected, ” she sent.
“ Spread out like we did on the station, and let’s see what we can find, ” I sent.
We zigzagged back and forth through the hauler looking for anything to indicate who owned it and why it was out here, but as with the station it was completely automated.
“ Is it really all that implausible for a scavenger to use an automated hauler? ” I asked.
“ Yeah, they are way too expensive for scavengers; plus it is too dangerous to use them in unclaimed space like this,” she sent.
“ Meet me in central computing. Let’s see if there is another secret room, ” I sent.
“ Sure, but this time can we try not to anger the self-rebuilding robots? ” she asked.
We flew in to the central computer core and found nothing but boring computer innards. It was a bit of a letdown. “ Let’s head to engineering. That is probably the next most likely place to find anything. ”
“ Sure, but have we found a bridge yet?” she asked.
“ No, but I guess they would not need one without a crew,” I sent.
“ They would not need lighted hallways and airlocks either, but they have them. This is likely a normal hauler that was retrofitted with robotics. ”
“ Good point. Let’s look for that if engineering does not yield anything. ” From there we flew to engineering, which she had found in her pass through the ship earlier.
Once in engineering we passed in and out of everything that we could to see if there was any hidden rooms, or anything else that could help us explain the mysterious hauler. We had to be careful around the power plant, as our spell would not protect us from the massive energies that would be contained in that, but still we found nothing.
“ Everything about this ship matches the station, minus the hidden room, ” I sent.
“ Yeah, maybe we should stick with it a while, ” she replied.
“ Rocky, come in close to the hauler and be ready to follow it into jump space,” I sent and then filled him in on what we had found so far.
“ Yes, Master. If they get away with you on board, what are my orders?” he said.
“ Contact Master Shadow for help, ” I sent.
“ Understood, Master.”
“ Now, let’s find that bridge,” I sent to Spectra.
“ It should be near the center of the ship, ” said Spectra. “ Though with most of the ship being empty space for hauling, the bridge would probably be along the inside of the innermost hull. ”
“ Ok, lead on,” I sent.
I am not sure how much time passed, but we finally found the bridge. Manning it were five men, if you could call them that. They were partly living and partly machine.
“Cyborgs,” sent Spectra with obvious disgust.
I flew over to their captain’s status panel. “ It looks like they will be salvaging for another hour or two, at least. Let’s see what we can find out by ...”
Before I could complete that thought their tactical alarms went off. They all moved seemingly at once and began calling out orders; “Close the hatches,” “Align for jump,” and other similar commands were being sent.
“ Time to go, ” I said, and we flew back to the Fox at high speed. “Rocky, what is going on?”
“It looks like competition just showed up, Master,” he said.
“Get us out of the crossfire,” I said as I saw more and more fighters de-cloaking and fighting. “Any chance they will find us?”
“No, Master. Not unless we are hit by stray weapons fire,” said Rocky.
“Get us out of here, then, and once we are safe, jump,” I said.
“Heading, Master?” he asked.
“Towards last known location of the Nevermore II. Just get far enough away that we can safely call Master Shadow without being detected.”
“Dusty, a third group of fighters is coming in, right along our escape route,” said Spectra.
“Options?” I asked.
“We are between the new group and the two old ones, Master. We either try to drift away from the fight under low power, or
“ Spread out like we did on the station, and let’s see what we can find, ” I sent.
We zigzagged back and forth through the hauler looking for anything to indicate who owned it and why it was out here, but as with the station it was completely automated.
“ Is it really all that implausible for a scavenger to use an automated hauler? ” I asked.
“ Yeah, they are way too expensive for scavengers; plus it is too dangerous to use them in unclaimed space like this,” she sent.
“ Meet me in central computing. Let’s see if there is another secret room, ” I sent.
“ Sure, but this time can we try not to anger the self-rebuilding robots? ” she asked.
We flew in to the central computer core and found nothing but boring computer innards. It was a bit of a letdown. “ Let’s head to engineering. That is probably the next most likely place to find anything. ”
“ Sure, but have we found a bridge yet?” she asked.
“ No, but I guess they would not need one without a crew,” I sent.
“ They would not need lighted hallways and airlocks either, but they have them. This is likely a normal hauler that was retrofitted with robotics. ”
“ Good point. Let’s look for that if engineering does not yield anything. ” From there we flew to engineering, which she had found in her pass through the ship earlier.
Once in engineering we passed in and out of everything that we could to see if there was any hidden rooms, or anything else that could help us explain the mysterious hauler. We had to be careful around the power plant, as our spell would not protect us from the massive energies that would be contained in that, but still we found nothing.
“ Everything about this ship matches the station, minus the hidden room, ” I sent.
“ Yeah, maybe we should stick with it a while, ” she replied.
“ Rocky, come in close to the hauler and be ready to follow it into jump space,” I sent and then filled him in on what we had found so far.
“ Yes, Master. If they get away with you on board, what are my orders?” he said.
“ Contact Master Shadow for help, ” I sent.
“ Understood, Master.”
“ Now, let’s find that bridge,” I sent to Spectra.
“ It should be near the center of the ship, ” said Spectra. “ Though with most of the ship being empty space for hauling, the bridge would probably be along the inside of the innermost hull. ”
“ Ok, lead on,” I sent.
I am not sure how much time passed, but we finally found the bridge. Manning it were five men, if you could call them that. They were partly living and partly machine.
“Cyborgs,” sent Spectra with obvious disgust.
I flew over to their captain’s status panel. “ It looks like they will be salvaging for another hour or two, at least. Let’s see what we can find out by ...”
Before I could complete that thought their tactical alarms went off. They all moved seemingly at once and began calling out orders; “Close the hatches,” “Align for jump,” and other similar commands were being sent.
“ Time to go, ” I said, and we flew back to the Fox at high speed. “Rocky, what is going on?”
“It looks like competition just showed up, Master,” he said.
“Get us out of the crossfire,” I said as I saw more and more fighters de-cloaking and fighting. “Any chance they will find us?”
“No, Master. Not unless we are hit by stray weapons fire,” said Rocky.
“Get us out of here, then, and once we are safe, jump,” I said.
“Heading, Master?” he asked.
“Towards last known location of the Nevermore II. Just get far enough away that we can safely call Master Shadow without being detected.”
“Dusty, a third group of fighters is coming in, right along our escape route,” said Spectra.
“Options?” I asked.
“We are between the new group and the two old ones, Master. We either try to drift away from the fight under low power, or
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