Tired but happy with the day’s events, Ellie went to take a shower. Ellie walked out of the bay and walked to the front crew compartment. In the small port side shuttle bay on deck 3 she had set up the military field expedient self-contained shelter. The fish can.

The tent was five feet wide and six feet long. It had been interesting to watch the tent unfold. The top had swing up and to the left, locking into place, and forming the first wall. Then the panel under it had swing up and to the right, locking into place. Finally a third panel had lifted up following groves in the wall panels. As it lifted up it dragged thin tough cloth with it before reaching the top and locking into place. Finished, the shelter was five feet high with two sides and the top hard metal and the front and back walls armored cloth.

The base of the tent was six inches high and inside Ellie had found out why. Entering the front cloth entrance, the floor was completely bare. Lifting up a floor panel revealed that the environmental plant was stuffed inside, air recyclers, waste recyclers, water tanks, a micro fusion reactor with batteries as backup, and tubes of nutripaste. All the basic needs to keep a solider alive.

The lavatory and shower were in the back. A hole in the deck and a fixable hose made a combined lavatory and shower. Through not ideal it served its propose. Ellie was almost short enough to stand up inside. She washed off her armored suit first, then undressed.

After taking a quick lukewarm shower she donned her ship suit and picked up her powered suit. Ellie then headed to the captain's cabin. Walking up the two flights of stairs and following the hallway Ellie pushed aside the blanket she had hung up to block the door and entered the compartment.

Ellie had savaged a desk and chair and found a really comfortable couch. Andy's work could be seen, everything was spotless, and the previous useless furniture gone. Ellie's couch ran along the room's forward bulkhead next to the bedroom door. Her desk was center along the starboard bulkhead. It was sparse but comfortable.

Setting her suit down near the door, Ellie dimmed the lights she had rigged up and plopped down on the couch. Giving a command to her commpad, soft music started to play form the speakers she had salvaged. Picking up an Instameal stacked beside the couch, in the corner were the port side and forward bulkhead met, Ellie relaxed back into her couch. Folding her legs under her and eating the steak and potato meal slowly, Ellie smiled softly. It wasn't the orphanage with Rosa but it was beginning to feel like home.

The next day Ellie set out to salvage a fusion reactor. When she was going to leave Andy behind and take Steve and five other M901s he looked at her an said. “Andy doesn't understand.” He sounded so forlorn that Ellie gave him a hug and told him to get in the grav truck.

She had Steve and the others take the second grav truck. Ellie had scoured a few dozen wrecks and already had one picked out. Two miles away she set down at a military supply ship. With the ship being military it had a military fusion reactor. Military fusion reactors were built tougher then civilian models.

You could safely red line the reactor and get another thirty percent increase in energy output. The cargo bays had been empty when she searched the ship days ago, so Ellie and her bots went straight to the fusion room. The second advantage to military fusion reactors was the reactors were made to be repaired during combat. This meant Ellie could access the internal electronics easily.

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Pulling the first panel off she took a look at the boards. Scrutinizing them carefully she could see no obvious faults. Ellie would need to run a full diagnostic for that. Grinning she instructed Steve and the M901s to start disassembling the fusion reactor.

She laughed delightedly as they surrounded the fusion reactor, evenly spaced, and started working. It would take Ellie over a week, working long days, to completely disassemble the reactor and now it looked to be done in a few hours. Bored Ellie decided to check out the other ships close by. There was a wrecked troop transport that looked promising and Ellie careful made her way inside.

The ship was in shambles. Ellie had to duck under collapsed support beams and navigate around blast holes in the deck. The bulkheads looked melted. Exploring the ship Ellie came to a heavy security door, which normally would keep everyone out, but there was a blast hole in the bulkhead just big enough for Ellie to squeeze through in her powered armor.

When she stood up and looked around she was shocked.

“Holy Nova!”

She had found an armory! It was loaded with all the weapons needed to support a company of soldiers. Cages filled with heavy rail gun rifles, laser handguns, and crew served machine guns. Ellie gazed in awe of the destructive power packed inside the compartment. There were even grenades and explosives of all kinds. Ellie rubbed her hands in glee. This would be fun!

Ellie took a can of boarding explosive foam and a detonator and squeezed back through the blast hole. Applying the foam around the secured hatch, Ellie left the ship. For added security Ellie flew her grav truck two hundred feet away.

Smiling evilly Ellie yelled. “Fire in hole!”

“Andy does not understand the question.” Was Andy's lament as she smashed down the button.

The ship rocked slightly and smoke came drifting out of the rents in the hull.

“Yes! Just don't tell Xander about this.” Ellie admonished Andy.

“Andy understands the command.”

Grinning widely she flew to the supply ship the M901s were on. Walking into the fusion room Ellie saw the bots had made good headway in dissembling the reactor. As much as she wanted them to finish Ellie now had a more important job for them.

“Alright stop what you’re doing and come with me.” Ellie lead them outside. “Now over there is a troop transport. We need to empty out the weapons hold.”

“Understood Miss Eleven.” Steve spoke for the group of M901s.

They flew over to the troop transport and landed. Ellie and Andy waited outside as the M901s went in, Andy being too big to get around the fallen beams. Ten minutes later Steve came out with an armload of weapons.

“Miss Eleven the ship is unstable. Caution is advised if you go in.”

Nodding Ellie replied. “I don't have any plans to go inside.”

Slowing the bots emptied out the armory. When the two grav trucks were full Steve reported that the compartment still had weapons inside. Happy at news Ellie lead them back to the bulk cargo ship.

“Ellie that is more weapons then you need.” Xander pointed out.

“Yes but who knows what we will need in the future.”

Xander agreed. After unloading they went back for the remaining weapons. They were almost done when one of the bots stumbled and a black round object fell out of his hands. The world slowed as Ellie heard a click. Activating her suits powered muscles Ellie dove for the object. Snatching it up halfway to the ground, Ellie spun around in a smooth flowing movement, and threw it as hard as she could. It detonated in midair. Ellie heart was racing and she was breathing hard. Angry she turned to the bot that had dropped the grenade.

“Graviton Bob! You could have killed us!”

Bob looked sheepish. “Sorry Miss Eleven.”

Ellie deflated. She couldn't stay angry at Bob. “Just don't let it happen again!”

Bob nodded eagerly. “Yes Miss Eleven.”

With the excitement over the bots went back to loading up the grav trucks. After they set down in the cargo hold Ellie had all the M901s gather.

“We have emptied a weapons hold on a troop transport. Aside from weapons there was also unpowered full body armor. I want each of you to wear one.” The bots immediately started donning the armor.