by Dean Henegar
Slater found the smoke didn’t obscure his vision, and he made a note to develop some augmented vision devices for his troops like the human soldiers wore. If possible, he might even be able to integrate the design into the MOBS themselves. His attention was drawn back to the battle as his taskmaster’s grenade went off, tearing apart three of the gnomes and wounding several others. The blast killed the gnomes holding the riot shields, and the ones following behind didn’t waste the time needed to pick them up. A few more gnomes were taken down by rifle fire from the barricade, and one dropped down to the deck while clutching at a metal bolt in its leg from the tripwire trap. The remainder pressed the attack on his kobolds, who blazed away at point-blank range, their weapons still holding half a magazine this time. Various gnomes peeled off in pairs from the main assault to try taking out the kobolds firing from the crew compartments.
Slater watched how the gnomes went about clearing the crew compartments. One gnome would fire back through the viewport to suppress the kobold inside while a second placed a strange device over the compartment hatch. The device was a brick-sized metal box, and when the gnome slapped the large red button on the device, it whirred and clicked as it somehow undid the lock. That device would be yet another design for Slater to steal once he fought off the invaders. Casualties were high for the gnomes clearing the compartments, but they had the numbers to spare in these risky assaults.
The fight at the barricade itself was short and brutal. The taskmaster stood as the sole survivor, reloading his weapon and watching for further attackers. He exchanged fire with the gnomes that had assaulted the crew compartments. Being outnumbered three to one, Slater’s taskmaster couldn’t do much more than take cover behind the barricade and fire an occasional round to keep the gnomes from overrunning him. For now, the battle was a stalemate, but even more gnomes were starting to board the Franklin.
Three fresh gnomish squads began to move down the main passageway, pausing only to make sure that the bodies of his kobolds lining the path were truly dead. That brought up the possibility of leaving a stay-behind force playing dead before attacking the enemy from behind, but if the tactics exhibited by these gnomes were common, that would be a bad strategy. Back at the boarding hatch, a half dozen bedraggled-looking gnomes shambled out. These battered and bloodied gnomes followed their healthier comrades.
“Wow, those gnomes are all jacked up. Must have been casualties from our point-defense-gun hits,” Private Harris said. The humans were all intently watching the battle now that they had completed their defensive preparations on the lower deck.
The lead gnome of the three healthy squads stopped at the corner and took a quick peek at the barricade waiting at the end, eyeballing the lone defender, who was still exchanging fire with the gnomes in the crew compartments. They dispensed with the cover smoke this time and charged toward the taskmaster, laser rifles blazing. The kobold taskmaster dropped two gnomes before succumbing to a laser blast to the face. One of the gnomes in the lead group held up his hand to halt their progress, talking quietly into a mic attached to his armor, Slater unable to pick out what was said. Eventually, the lead gnome finished his conversation over the radio and belted out orders to his forces.
“All right, my brothers, we’ve probably taken out most of their defenses. Hurry up and clear the rest of the ship. Boss Fitzfazzle put me in charge and says I can wear the red hat of command until we get back aboard. He also told me there may be a derelict core somewhere on this ship. The signal is weak, which indicates a dead core, but even a depleted core would give us enough coin to build up the clan. Get everyone that can walk and carry a weapon out to help,” the lead gnome ordered, then replaced his simple helmet with a conical red hat that Slater thought looked ridiculous.
Another eight wounded gnomes emerged from the raider; these were even more beat-up than the previous group. Still, all of them carried some form of weapon, either a laser rifle or a sharp dagger. They shambled down the passage to join their comrades. Proudly wearing his hat of command, the leader pushed a pair of the most seriously wounded gnomes around the corner to see what awaited them on the third, and last, section of passageway. The kobold squad placed here was on its own; no covering force was hiding in the compartments alongside the passage. In addition to the four kobolds and their taskmaster leader, Slater had assigned the kobold captain to make his stand here, alongside his remaining troops.
Checking on his drones, Slater found that they were about halfway done with printing up the first ten kobolds and their necessary gear. He had his drones only print up kobold warriors, as the taskmasters and captain were more complex and took longer to create. The reinforcements wouldn’t be ready to help the kobold captain but would be able to support the humans in their defense of the lower deck.
The gnomes’ leader with the goofy red hat sent the wounded into the passageway and toward where the kobold captain and his last squad were waiting. With their boss to lead them, the small group of defenders kept up a steady and punishing fire from behind protective cover, dropping wounded gnomes at a rapid pace.
The first two healthy gnomes wielded riot shields they had picked up from among the dead bodies while the others used their wounded comrades as cover. The taskmaster hurled his grenade, the blast taking out four of the attackers just before they hit the string of traps lying in their path. With a yell, the captain added his grenade to the mix, knocking down the last of the wounded kobolds and revealing the three healthy gnomish squads advancing behind the shield-bearers.
Bullets bounced off the riot shields, the clear material able to deflect most hits, though cracks were beginning to spiderweb across them. The kobolds’ fire slackened as some of them were forced to reload, enabling the attackers to increase their pace. First one and then the second shield-bearer went down with tripwire darts stuck in their legs. The following gnomes tried to pick up the shields but were met with renewed gunfire from the kobolds’ freshly reloaded weapons. The gnome in the red hat led a final, frantic charge, blazing away with his laser rifle while yelling what Slater assumed were gnomish obscenities. The taskmaster and another kobold warrior were dropped by either expertly aimed or just plain lucky fire from the gnomes, leaving just the captain and three warriors.
Silence fell across the passageway as the last gnome dropped to the floor, dead. A few moans came from the wounded, and Slater watched as the “red hat of leadership” rolled across the deck. The boarding hatch area was clear; no more gnomes were trying to enter his ship. A pair of small gnomish hands tried to pull the boarding hatch closed, but they weren’t strong enough to do it on their own. Slater did what he could to make the hatch harder to close and ordered the kobold captain and his remaining MOBS to board the gnomish raider. Even if they were cut down inside, it would buy him time for the first batch of reinforcements to join the fight.
Slater sent a drone to follow the captain and the three remaining warriors as they boarded the raider. The drone’s feed was sent to the humans as they all nervously waited to see what would happen. A short burst of gunfire ended the efforts of a lone gnomish crew member to close the hatch. Just inside the hatchway, the raider vessel consisted of a narrow main compartment packed with foldout jump seats for the boarding party. One hatch led aft, and another toward the bow. Leaving one warrior to guard the exit, the captain and the remaining two warriors tried to open the hatch leading to the bow. It was locked, and Slater watched with frustration the captain’s futile efforts to open it.
“Sir, want me to grab one of those gnomish door knocker things for the kobolds to try?” Private long said.
“Great idea, but I’ll send a drone over to do it. I don’t want to risk you just to open a hatch,” Slater said as one of his drones rifled through various dead gnomes to find another of the devices. By the time the device was located and delivered to the kobold captain, the ten reinforcing kobolds were ready. Slater sent them on to help with the boarding process and began printing up more warriors as well as replacement
taskmasters.
The kobold captain placed the strange gnomish device on the hatch and pressed the button. A few seconds later, the locking mechanism clicked, signaling that it had disengaged. The captain yanked open the hatch and sent his pair of warriors inside. The drone scuttled in behind as gunfire and pained grunts were heard. A single gnome occupied what must have been the cockpit area of the raider. The gnome had launched himself at the first kobold that came into the room, driving his dagger into the kobold’s throat before the second warrior blasted him with a burst of fire to the chest. The gnomish pilot wasn’t part of the assaulting force and didn’t have even the basic torso armor the other gnomes had been wearing. With a trio of small pops, the rounds exploded inside the gnome’s chest, killing him instantly.
With the front of the ship cleared, the kobolds moved toward the aft section. Inside the next compartment, they found a bloodbath. Jump seats, debris, and bodies were strewn about. This was a second area dedicated to holding boarders and was also the compartment where several of Slater’s point-defense railgun rounds had penetrated the enemy hull. A thick foam-like material had been sprayed over the holes, stopping the loss of atmosphere. Nearly two dozen bodies were found—gnomes that, thankfully, hadn’t gotten a chance to board the Franklin.
The only other remaining compartment on the ship was the engine room, which was completely shredded by railgun fire. A final, thorough search of the raider revealed no additional threats. The raider and the salvage it represented belonged to Slater. More importantly, the mothership was ripe for the taking. Even now, it tried to escape toward what he supposed was one of the system’s jump points. Unfortunately for the gnomes, his ship was faster than the sluggish and unarmed mothership. Firing up his engines, Slater closed in on his prey.
— 8 —
Slater observed the sensor readout as he burned his drives at maximum thrust toward the gnomish mothership. Based on the data, he would catch the fleeing vessel, but it would take time. His acceleration was better, but the mothership had already been fleeing toward one of the system’s jump points since the initial gnomish boarders had been fought off. He would use the long pursuit time to repair and upgrade his vessel. Not to mention, he could feel the need to expand his core once again.
He sent most of the drones over to the raider to begin salvage operations while he kept a team of five back to begin repairs on the main battery. Once they finished repairing the railgun turret, he should have the salvage necessary to replace his spent missiles. Once his weapons repairs were complete and his ammo replenished, he could patch any damage to the hull and replace the ablative coating. His research on jump drives was nearing completion while the med bay and kobold research had finished up during the battle. He took a moment to reallocate and plan his research.
The new med bay featured an automated diagnostic unit that could diagnose and treat most simple injuries and assist any trained medical staff in more complex procedures. This latest upgrade would also improve the stock and quality of standard medical supplies. He queued the drones to build out the newly upgraded med bay once salvage operations and weapons replenishment were complete.
His kobold schematic was interesting, as it mainly consisted of removing any design hindrances placed upon them by the council. His MOBS would now be representative of a healthy, strong, and active kobold. Their ability to fight and utilize gear had also been improved. An unexpected and welcome upgrade was his newly improved power to link with his MOBS. The link between them was more efficient, and Slater felt he could maintain control over a greater distance than before. Now, if his kobold MOBS moved out from his ship to board another vessel, he wouldn’t be under as much of a time constraint to get them back on board the Franklin before they melted down from a lack of core energy.
Experimenting with further upgrades led him to believe he could augment his kobolds further, but any improvements over the norm would take longer to research. The kobolds were quick, cunning, and competent fighters, but Slater wanted something more than competent; he wanted an overwhelming force when fighting his foes. Placing ten percent of his research capacity into orcs, he hoped to unlock better battle MOBS than his standard kobolds. The kobolds would have inherent advantages in fine motor skills, but he hoped the orc research would remove their incompetence with ranged weapons and give him a well-rounded choice for boarding actions.
Slater also dropped ten percent of his research power into body armor, noting the research was progressing very quickly since he had access to advanced armor designs from the humans. Pausing for a moment, he tried to consider what would give him the best bang for his research buck and what he could reasonably complete before he got within weapons range of the mothership. The armor would be done in time for him to equip his kobolds—or his orcs, if they proved to be the better fit for combat. He might be able to improve on the basic design for grenades as well, so he dropped ten percent toward that research. Eventually, he needed to research claymore mines and even the combat drones the humans used, but there was no way he could finish those up in time without delaying other important research.
He had thought of several upgrades to his somewhat disappointing missile performance. The enemy’s point-defense system had taken them out too easily, despite the gnomish raiders not being optimized for the task and each having only a single dual-purpose laser weapon. He already had a basic understanding of the evasion patterns used for traditional missiles and added a couple of extra touches he thought would help. The upgrade progressed quickly when he applied processing power, so he dropped ten percent into working that out.
He also felt the need to place twenty percent of his research into improved drive units. He would need to catch his prey or evade dangers that were too powerful for him to take on. To do that, he needed more power than the simple drives he currently had. The remaining forty percent of his research capacity was chugging away at figuring out the jump drive, so he left that to finish up. There was so much to do, and it was difficult to prioritize what was most urgent. For now, he took a look at his current progress.
Core Upgrade Progress: 108%
Hull Integrity: 97%
Shields: 100%
Power Availability: 11%
Current Research Allocation:
Jump Drives: 40%
Orc MOBS: 10%
Grenades: 10%
Body Armor: 10%
Missiles: 10%
Drive Systems: 20%
Research Progress:
Jump Drives: 78%
Orc MOBS: 1%
Grenades: 5%
Body Armor: 5%
Missiles: 2%
Drive Systems: 1%
MOBS: kobold warriors (20), kobold taskmasters (5)
Boss MOBS: kobold captain (1)
Construction Drones: 20
Ship’s Weapons: railgun (1 dual-mount main battery), point-defense railgun (2 single-mount batteries), missile launchers, (2 tubes), missiles (0)
The progress was moving as fast as he had suspected for the body armor and grenades. The missiles would be a bit behind, and the drives and orc upgrades were progressing at a slow and steady pace. He ordered his kobold warriors to be recycled and reprinted as the newly upgraded standard. Slater looked at the designs for both the taskmaster and kobold captain, unsure how they differed from the standard kobold warrior template.
When looking at the schematic, he could see there were enhancements to their brain functions. Slater was no brain surgeon, but he did think he recognized areas of the brain that were denser with brain matter and had improved blood flow over the standard warriors. The boss kobold’s brain was even more advanced than that of the taskmaster. Also, the boss sported stronger muscle tissue and had an overall increase in size and efficiency. Simply printing up the kobolds to be improved boss MOBS was a no-go, as the design was much more taxing on his energy reserves. With the continued development of his regular kobolds, they might eventually achieve the same level of performance and have a lower energy cost,
but that was off in the future.
Slater wanted to go dormant for his core upgrade but feared that the enemy would change course and escape while he was out of it. As a test, he pulled the processing power from the drive systems and placed it into creating a helm console. The basic design was something he was intimately familiar with and the schematic came together in a matter of moments. After placing processing power back into the drive systems, Slater was pleased to see that switching out briefly from one project to another didn’t cause him to lose his previous progress. He pulled a pair of drones from salvage operations and had them print up a simple helm console in the human quarters. Permissions were set for the humans to have access to his helm only if he was out of commission for a time or if he specifically ordered it.
“Doctor Cheng, can I take a moment of your time?” Slater asked.
“Sure, Captain, what can I do for you?” Cheng replied. She and Illissa had gotten back to work on some research and were so caught up in their work that they virtually ignored the drones building the helm console across the room.
“I’m going to go dormant for a bit to upgrade my core. While I’m out, I won’t be able to control the Franklin. I’ve had the drones create a helm console and want someone there to man it. If the gnomish mothership changes course, adjust our course and keep us on an intercept track. I can feel this will only be a short upgrade process for me, and I should be back to you long before we close to within weapons range of our target,” Slater advised. While he was talking with Doctor Cheng, he sent a message to Lieutenant Camden, ordering him to have his men watch Illissa. He felt she was honest in her claims, but if she was going to turn on them, doing so when he was out of commission would be the most opportune time.
