The jump was a quick blur one moment we were turning and facing the station the next it felt like we were passing a thin tunnel and then we slowed down again just outside the asteroid field.
Noah: wow that was a…interesting experience.
Ernest: ya urg…interesting.
Basil: hahaha hey Ernest, you still haven’t gotten over your motion sickness?
Ernest: shut it Basil urg, I can’t hand sudden accelerations
Noah: alright you two let’s get serious we need to pilot this huge ship with only a 9 man crew come on we need to find the dock.
I look around the captain’s panel. It was totally different from the small ships we have been driving. This one was much more complex since it was starting to be a group effort to drive it. The handles were 2 one for each hand. After a bit of experimenting I found that the left hand handle was for going forward and back and up and down. The right hand handle was for tilting the both sides and lifting or lowering the nose this one was even more complex because there were two buttons on the handle which allowed me to choose whether the front or back boasters activate. An example would be that I can tilt the handle to the right to turn but pressing the lower button will make the back boaster fire off so it makes for more precise maneuvering the large ship.
Noah: this is Noah from Dingy BR545 we are approaching the station we can’t really spot the docks Mr. Cane mentioned.
??? : Hello…um how did you get here so quickly you were at least half an hours ride inside the asteroid field.
Noah: the carrier had a warp drive though its damaged it is capable of short jumps.
??? : Oh I see, I would suggest not doing that again, a damaged warp drive can cause massive damage to the surroundings.
Noah: dully noted so where is this dock Mr. Cane mentioned.
??? : right it will take about 10 minutes for it to extend from the station…there I have started the process you should see some plates of the stations opening up and extending out right.
When he said that we looked towards the station and like he said there were two panels opening up on the side. Even from the small bit it was open we could see something extending outward.
Noah: ya we have visual we are still a fair distance away we will take it slow since we don’t want to damage the ship to much we are also still getting used to it.
??? : understood.
With that the channel closed.
Noah: alright guys let’s get going no use sitting around here.
I push the pedal and we start moving forward. We kept the progress slow at about 100 m/h so that we wouldn’t arrive too early to dock. As for the dock, what extended after the plates opened started out with four long metal beams. After that smaller plates began covering the area making a cylindrical dock after which a shield like ours activated and we couldn’t see what else was going on. When we finally reached the station we saw what happened inside. About a third of the way down, they had extended a floor like the hangers inside the station. At the half way point there was also a cat walk which looked like it would extend out to reach the top of the ship and there were claw hooks which will probably hold the ship. At the end there was an area that was just level with the hanger entrance and there were droids waiting.
For newbie ship riders of this type it was hard to get the ship in. it took 4 tries before we got the ship in and two more times I needed to fix the ship or the hooks wouldn’t be in the right spot or the hanger wouldn’t attach in the correct place to allow the droids inside. Once we were certain we were in the correct spot I lowered the ship as gently as possible until it touched down, note this ship doesn’t need landing gear it has a flat bottom so just landing on it is good enough.
Noah: damn I’m sweating buckets after doing that little exercise with this ship.
Morgan: I think you did fine for your first time beats crashing into the station.
Noah: please don’t say that Morgan.
Basil: alright since we are down I’m going to check out that armory I want to try some of those babies out.
He left almost drooling running towards the armory we found.
Ernest: *sigh* he never changes that gun nut
Noah: at least it’s a good thing he is on our side though.
Jonas: I agree with Noah if that gun nut was an enemy I would have craped myself that man is an impeccable shot, only a mad man would try to outshoot him.
Earl: I was wondering how many people are needed to man this ship.
Everyone looked at me when he asked.
Noah: why is everyone looking at me, we just got the ship and I haven’t looked at its stats yet.
Earl: please do that now while we have some privacy.
I reluctantly follow their orders and open my hologram interface and click on the ships icon which shows the Dingy, Fighter and the new carrier. I click on the Carrier and then on “show Status”
Derelict Carrier ship.
A ship found in the possession of the accursed Reavers, it was freed from them when the small remaining crew of Reavers were killed off by the new owner.
The ships origins are unknown for the most part until scans can be cross referenced with all known ships from the three factions.
Durability 15,000/45,000
Shields 5,000
Turret spots open 5
Turret spots occupied 0
Weapon slots 0
Engine max speed 850
Warp Drive installed (damaged)
Hanger space holds 6 Dingy ships or 18 fighters.
Min crew to man ship 60
Max crew to man ship 100
Cargo Hold space for 64t (in ores)
Morgan: *whistles* damn that is some impressive stats for a beat up ship, 5 turrets and 64t for cargo hold.
Ernest: looks like we will need to do some heavy recruiting to man this ship.
James: how are we going to organize so many people?
Noah: …all of you were army guys right.
Jonas: yes we were and proud of it.
Noah: then why not use army or navy ranking system, I’ll remain the top rank since I was the first captain, and then we can divide the duties between Mechanic, Soldier and Technician
Ernest: seems like an easy enough way to split it.
Noah: the current crew can be made the head of their sectors. This way we have the more experienced working and ordering the recruits. Those that show the most promise they will rise up fast then while the others train more.
Basil: I’m wondering about something, I noticed that our physical prowess sucks when we fought that thing what do we do about that.
Noah: I told you guys go train some martial arts inside the game, it will increase your physical stats if will help with close quarter combat. I want my crew to be like an army, this way we won’t have to worry about many dying if we are ever boarded.
Adam: a solid plan, and if we increase our numbers we won’t have to rely on droids repairing our ships and we will do it ourselves.
Noah: i wouldn’t say completely stop using them, i hope i can buy some droids to work on the carrier to help out since they are already programmed with higher levels in skill, it could work in our favor to teach our crew.
Just as we start talking we hear footsteps and a droid appears.
Droid: *beep beep* Miner Noah, Mr. Cane wishes to see you.
Noah: ok I'll be right there, you guys go around the ship and remove the space suits from the Reavers, though i don’t know how others will feel about using some dead guys armor we can us the suits to make power suit.
My crew either nods or gives me a thumbs up before i leave with the droid.
Noah: droid make sure to pass the message, all gear on the dead crew on this ship belongs to me, and not one is to be taken out of the ship but placed in the cargo hold.
Droid: *beep beep* protocol prevents us from removing dead from a ship unless authorized but we will move the dead into the hanger so we can examine the ship and register it.
Noah: I’m fine with that.
We walked in silence past hundreds of droids that were look through the rooms and scanning the ship interior. I was also impressed with the interior since i only saw it with the lights off. Though the ship was dirty from blood caused by the Reavers it was still impressive. The corridors were at least 3 meters wide and 3 high. The lights were on the edges along the whole corridor and the natural color was a pure white.
After a few minutes of walking we exit into the hanger. There was a lot of droids moving around. More than half of them were removing the space suits from the Reavers and piling the bodies into a large dump truck. The space suits were being taken into the cargo, like I had asked, in the floating carts that droids normally use for taking ores into the station at the drop zone.
In the middle of the hanger Mr. Cane and Marcus were standing with Marcus shouting orders to the droids. The droid i was following walked up to them.
Droid: *beep beep* i have done as asked and brought you miner Noah.
Mores: good you may go.
Without saying anything the droid walked off to help the others.
Mores: i must say Noah, you are one lucky man.
Noah: i don’t think so; you sent Jessica and my father to investigate other anomalies.
Mores: that’s the thing my boy they are anomalies we detected differences in each of them.
Marcus: i think you might be luckier than the others the usefulness of a carrier with so much cargo space is immense, especially for a mining station like ours.
Just as he finished a group of droids came out pulling the stone creature we found.
Mores: hmm?? What is that creature?
Noah: we found and killed that thing inside the ship when we boarded i checked it out and it said the body is made out of mineral rocks similar to the asteroid.
Both of them showed a surprised then anxious face.
Marcus: so something like they were born from the asteroids.
Noah: maybe or they came from somewhere and are eating the rocks but i have no proof. You have scientists here right take the body to them and have them study it.
Mores: I'll have it done immediately; I’m worried this could escalate into something bigger.
With a quick order the droids dumped the body into a cart and left towards the station.
Mores: now onto more pressing matters.
He pressed a few buttons on his watch and an image of my carrier appeared, then with a few more the ship vanished leaving only the engine room which expanded. The room was large with the main engine taking up a third of the room at the back. To the left near the middle of the room was the reserve engine which was much smaller and on the right i would presume was the warp drive.
Mores: from your own scans and that of the droids we found that your warp drive is damaged, though most are minor problems there is one that happened just after you jumped close to the station.
He pressed another button and on the warp drive a large cable that ran over the top from the warp drive into the main engine lit up.
Mores: this cable you see that lit up is called a reactor cord. It’s the most important part for jumping because it is the only cable capable of transferring the energy from the warp drive into the engine for the jump. After you jumped out of the asteroid field the cable burst due to old age.
Noah: let me guess because it’s such an important part it isn’t made here at your station.
Mores: precisely, it’s made with much rarer metals then what we find here and to purchase it would cost well over 40,000, that’s how important it is.
Noah: what is the cost for a warp drive?
Marcus: the worst type which has the shortest distance cost over 60,000.
Noah: so the cable is pretty much the engine.
Mores: yes anyone can build the engine but not everyone can buy the cable.
I sighed when i heard this, i know it would take monstrous amount of work to collect that much money and i still needed to repair the carrier.
Suddenly a droid comes running up to us.
Droid: *beep beep* sir we have an emergency, more than half the miners currently out mining have reported that a strange rock monster appearing from within the asteroids and attacking their ships.
All three of us had shocked faces; the others looked my way briefly before turning back.
Mores: what do these creatures look like?
From the droids chest appeared a small holo projector which lit up. The image that appeared showed the same creature my crew killed.
Mores: tell all miners to retreat back to the station.
Droid: *beep beep* yes sir.
The droid ran off again. While they were talking an idea had come to mind and unfortunately i couldn’t hold back the grin because Marcus saw it.
Marcus: what's with the grin?
Noah: oh was i smiling it’s nothing just an idea.
Marcus: yea anyway we need to talk about your reward from the mission.
Mores: yes that is true...you know i think it’s best to let Noah decide himself if it’s too much we will say so.
Noah: really...then can you spare some droids to my crew so that they can unload the Dingys when we mine.
They had a somewhat surprised expression on their face but it soon turned to a smile each.
Mores: well you read my mind, after hearing what you found i had already planned to give you some basic worker droids, they don’t have too many advanced programs but they are good enough for unload ores.
He began pressing some buttons for a few minutes until a notification appeared for me.
Mission: Anomaly complete
Your reward for completing the mission is 20 basic old model worker droids.
Basic worker droid
This droid is the back bone for any mining or industrial worker. This specific type is an old model that isn’t produced any more.
They are simple robots that can do most manual labors such as. Unload cargo or assist in repairs (at very basic levels). They are built to have high strength and can unload heavy ores by hand if needed.
Durability 900
Owner Noah
Basic scanner
Noah: wow 20 droids!
Mores: they are older models but they work just as well as the new ones we did some repairs and upgraded with the hard and soft ware that the current model has but the body itself is old.
Noah: it’s more than i deserve really but it will help tons.
Marcus: i guess that is all we needed to do here besides cleaning this place up...oh right the power suit must be returned as well, could you call your crew.
Noah: sure also how do we get out of them.
Marcus: i have the controls.
I give a call to everyone and after some time they start appearing all wearing a big smile on their faces.
Noah: what’s making all of you so happy?
Ernest: we were searching around the ship and you would never believe it we found some
Manufacturing workshops.
Basil: one of them just behind the armory we found it’s pretty empty but there was enough machines to call it a basic level workshop.
Mores: ah so this one has it.
Noah: you knew?
Mores: carriers aren’t war ships but transport and merchant ships so it’s not so uncommon to find one with a workshop.
Marcus: alright we are busy so let’s get to work.
Marcus seemed somewhat impatient. He had opened up an interface and then pressed a button. On cue the power suits began opening up and retuning to its package form.
Basil: we have got to learn how to make that.
Marcus: you'll get there someday, just some advice, recruit those scientists they aren’t the best flyers but they have a creative mind.
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Earl: you mean those guys that are from our hanger.
Marcus: yep those exactly.
Mores: well we should be going, don’t forget no warping, a liberation battle ship and merchant ship are going to be coming here next month i placed an order for them to bring a few so i can have spares and you can buy from me.
Noah: thanks for the help.
With that they headed off while the droids finished cleaning up the corpses and washed the ground of the frozen blood.
Ernest: so now what?
Noah: let’s go expand our crew and work force.
They all nodded and we headed to the hangers searching for the scientists first. To our luck one of them was at their Dingy. As we approached he noticed us and turned to greet us.
??? : Hello
Noah: hi I’m Noah.
??? : Yes i know the captain of the large carrier ship that came, I'm Boris what do need from us.
Noah: i was hoping to talk with your whole crew.
Boris: hm well most of them are at work but Mr. Kinter the head is online.
Noah: really can you call him.
Boris: sure.
He went quiet for a bit while he PMed his boss. After some time an elderly man came over.
Kinter: are this the gentlemen who want to talk.
Boris: yes sir.
Kinter: Wilson Kinter, what is it you need then.
Noah: we would like for your crew to become the science team of my crew.
Kinter: and who said we would join.
Noah: Marcus said your crew was having trouble driving the ship and mining and that you preferred to study then mine.
Kinter: that is true so?
Noah: well like i said i want you to join, my crew is good at mining and we can fund your studies in return you help us with your research.
Kinter: hmm it will benefit us both greatly for sure; i heard you’re the owner of the carrier correct.
Noah: yes.
Kinter: tell me are there any large empty rooms large enough to be converted into a lab for us.
Adam: yes there is, there are two rooms, one is already occupied by a manufacturing workshop but the other is empty.
Kinter: then i see no real reason why not to reject.
Noah: one more thing i was hoping you could give us your crews Dingy so we can mine.
Kinter: this thing, yes you can have this rust bucket i wouldn’t even be using this trash can if i didn’t have to.
He opened a screen and with a few clicks he passed ownership to me. I gave a look to Felix and a nod which he returned then headed into the ship. Soon it turned on and flew out of the hanger.
Kinter: with that done i need to call my men so we can move our things into the room you mentioned oh and we have 20 scientists.
Noah: don’t worry, you just need to research, manning the ship will be with other players.
He walked off with Boris right behind him.
Ernest: that went well.
Noah: very, now we just need the rest of the man power which i bet we can find at the quarters.
We headed back to the workers housing area were we first got rooms to stay. Inside everyone looked...tired. it was there was a shadow over everyone’s face.
Noah: what the...what’s going on here.
When i said spoke a few people looked our way to see who it was. I walked over to a nearby guy that looked a few years older than me.
Noah: hey what’s going on here?
??? : Like you care.
Noah: wha...hey I'm asking because i want to know.
??? : Right as if miner trashes like you would care about flunkies like us.
Suddenly basil appeared from behind me and grabbed the brat by the shirt and lifted him of the ground.
Basil: alright brat we will ask one more time before i pull out my pistol and shoot you right in between the eyes.
Fear was visible on the kids face after having someone like Basil threaten him.
Brat: ok fine I'll tell you just let me go.
He let go of his shirt and the brat fell on his feet.
Brat: gez old man got no patience.
Basil quickly drew the gun and pointed at the kids head
Basil: talk.
Brat: ok ok, it’s how we are treated; those who didn’t get into a crew are pretty much treated like slaves because we don’t have any work that helps us develop our skills.
Noah: wow we didn’t know...well we can fix that. We just recovered a derelict carrier ship the max number of people needed to man the ship is 100.
As soon as i said that as loud as i could it was like the lights in the place grew brighter. Everyone looked over with sparkling eyes in anticipation.
Ernest: now we know there are 100 residents for each housing area so let’s get this moving.
They wasted no time getting up excited.
Noah: for now we are dividing the crew into three divisions, Mechanics, Technician, and Soldiers. Just so you know we are taking a military approach to our crew and you will pass through training for physical improvements.
Ernest: Now, all that want to be Mechanics come up the rest move back.
A little over 30 maybe 35 came up.
Noah: move to the side there. Next are techs.
Around 20 came now they were put on the other side. The last was the soldiers where were the remaining 36 were assigned. You’re wondering 36 well don’t forget my crew is from this housing area we make up the remaining 9.
Noah: ok Basil take the soldier to the junkyard and teach them scavenging and gun making get gunner to help if you can. Ernest and Adam take the rest and make 6 new fighters we will need them for what i have planned. Oh and take them to a droid and register everyone as my crew that is important.
With quick orders the area was quickly emptied. There was absolutely no one left here except me. When I leave the room I bump into my dad.
Dad: hey son, I saw your recruits, your crew told me what you were going to do, hahaha that’s my boy. I’m impressed and even jealous you got a carrier from your mission.
Noah: what about you dad you got a mission just like mine I know you found something unique.
Dad: …I did find a ship much better than the Dingy that for sure.
Noah: what is it?
Dad: a Derelict Gunship.
My mouth drops, gunships have some of the best offense in from all the small/medium craft ships.
Noah: that’s awesome you’re probably the strongest player now with a gun ship.
Dad: nope imp not, I should actually correct myself; I found the husk of a derelict gunship as in only the frame and armor plating of a gunship. The thing was striped clean by scavengers by the time we arrived, not even an engine was left.
I look at him with a bit of pity. I really was lucky, to find a working carrier with a warp drive is a massive find but if he fixed his ship up he would definitely be strong enough to destroy me and my crew.
??? : you think that is something to make such a pitiful face for really.
We both look back and see Jessica fuming in anger as she came towards us.
Noah: did something happen.
Jessica: when I went to my anomaly spot I was hit with a trap from pirates. I got some damage on my only ship but I destroyed five ships and crippled a Dingy and 7 fighter ships and brought those bastards back with him by hooking them up. They have at least 50% damage and the engines are shot because my crew crippled them.
She put her hand on her forehead.
Noah: isn’t that a good thing
Jessica: it would be if my crew had mechanics and techs to fix them
We just stare at her blankly when she said that.
Jessica: what? Why are you staring at me with those blank faces?
Dad: umm…well we saw you with a huge crew so…well it’s hard to believe you have no mechanics and techs.
Noah: ya I though the same thing.
Jessica: says the old man that got to his anomaly too late to get an intact ship and his son that goes around with an army unit of old men…wait your crew has experienced mechanics and techs right.
Noah: well my first group ya I just recruited new members to man the carrier.
He eyes start shining and the anger she displayer before was gone.
Jessica: then let’s join forces; I have lots of broken ships and you the man power to repair them.
I frowned when she asked that, by what she asked wasn’t to join my crew but this games version of a guild a Union, the leaders would split profit evenly with however many leaders there were and then pay their own crews with their shares.
Noah: um…for me a Union wouldn’t be that good.
Jessica: why not you need fighter’s right.
Dad: well miss his crew just went from 9 members to 120.
Her eyes bulged when she heard the number
Jessica: why so many people?!
Noah: 20 of them are scientist that I recruited to research tech and other things for my crew, the rest is the ones that will man the ship. as you can see in a union we split the money we get evenly with our crew 50-50 for me that would suck since I would get less to pay my men for their work and the repairs to my ships.
Jessica: I see…I guess there is no helping then.
Noah: if you want to take the ships to the junkyard and ask my men to repair them for you your welcome to, it would help them get experience for their skills.
She brighten up after hearing me and ran off waving while yelling “Thanks I’ll go ask”. Both my dad and I started laughing
Dad: women whether young or old you can never understand their emotional storm they live through.
Noah: please don’t tell me I want to stay ignorant of it for a while longer.
We both laughed a lot after that.
Dad: ah that was good…anyway can I do the same with my gun ship. I want to at least see if I can get it up and running.
Noah: it won’t back the original systems you know just what we can get from the scraps in the junkyard
Dad: if it’s enough to get the ship flying that is fine. I’m pretty sure the ship will end up a scrap ship though.
He gives a heavy sigh before leaving. I message my officers (original crew) and tell them who was coming. The mechanics and techs were happy to get things to work repair skills on. Basil and Felix were also happy to get some gun happy chicks coming over as well. I walked slowly while looking at the crew page, it had quickly grown and I was finding it hard to manage now. That was when I noticed a few new options, they were labeled “Organization Type” and “Rank Names”. In the first option it had many kinds of types of ways to organize them like a business, empire, organization but I went and choose Navy.
Next it automatically went to the “Rank Names” option. There were several boxes and when I clicked on the first a keyboard appeared and it said “crew captain rank name” at the top. I Type in Captain for now, as any rank above would be things like admiral or fleet admiral and I don’t have a large fleet so I don’t deserve that rank…yet. Next was for second in command which was, obviously, Commander, followed by Lieutenant Commander, Lieutenant, Lieutenant Junior Grade, Ensign and Recruit in that order from highest to lowest.
(I know I used upper levels of the navy ranking system but I don’t want too many types like in real life this is find at least for now, I might change after the he forms a large fleet)
I then placed Ernest as Commander being the most level headed and wise, Jonas and Basil as Lieutenant Commander, and last was Morgan, Earl, Felix, Adam and James as Lieutenant. All the rest were placed as recruits and Lieutenant Junior grade was for the most promising recruits and Ensign for the rest.
By the time I finished doing this I had arrived at the junkyard just as I press the confirm button and a window appears showing the update.
You have created a ranking chart for your crew; this chart will determine pay wages and will block or allow different privileges within the crew such as managing the crew rankings or pay.
Just like me everyone inside that was my crew seemed to stop which was probably caused by the message appearing. Then everyone began moving and I guessed they were checking out the rankings.
After a bit I started hearing comments about how this really was turning out to be like an army or navy. I head over to the platforms that had lots of ships. I also saw on platform 3 a large ship. The main body was sleek and oval, it was a bit bigger than a Dingy and twice as long, from my spot I could see at least 2 turret spots and a few weapon openings that had nothing inside, I guess that was the gunship dad had found. As for the Jessica’s Fighters they were on platform 1 there were seven plus her Dingy was there as well being repaired by my guys. The seven fighters were smaller then my crew’s fighter so it must be the default model for a scrap ship. More than half the crew was inside the junk searching with Basil and Gunner directing them how to find stuff. I then moved to platform 2 were my fighters were being built. There was currently 3 frames built and 3 more in the process and only 1 of the frames was being worked on and obviously Ernest, Jonas, James, Morgan and Adam were there working and teaching the recruits.
As I approach Gunner suddenly appears after jumping from his floating cart.
Gunner: heh heh I head you got yourself a nice large ship kid, congrats, you sure are making my day bringing so many people to get this junk moving on.
Noah: well it’s the best place to find free junk.
Gunner: hehehe true so what are you going to do with so many fighters.
Noah: the fighters are a start I will have them get one of the Dingys and fix it and them to mine faster. I don’t know if you heard but it seems rock monsters are starting to appear from the asteroids.
He thinks a bit and after looking at the fighters he flashes me a grin and starts talking in a low voice.
Gunner: going to become the “Great Protector” of the weaker miners are you.
Noah: heh I hope I can scam them a bit, I think if I can get them to agree on paying 5% of their daily income for protection from the monsters while they mine I think it will work out just fine.
His grin gets wider as he hears my scheme; I could see he was enjoying the show.
Noah: anyway can I ask do you have any schematics that I can use to turn normal space suits into space power suits; I think I will need to have some soldiers stay outside on the ship to guard against anything that jumps on the ship.
Gunner: hmm power suits no, but if you want them to go outside them how will they stay on the ship.
Noah: true i was thinking a wire but as we move they would be thrown back.
Suddenly an image appears. It was of some bulky metal boots.
Gunner: these are magnet boots, they suck to use in normal gravity since they stick well on metal, though in your case it would work as weights for your armies training, this can keep them on the top of the ship.
He pressed a button and on my watch appeared a downloading bar which filled quickly.
Gunner: have fun torturing your soldiers hehehehe.
Noah: “that guys seems too happy about this”
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Next chapter they go back into space to mine and fight (and "help" some newbies).
Thanks for the ideas/suggestions quite creative stuff, anything new you think of please put it up even if it sounds crazy.
The wages will be put next chapter so don't worry about it