USD: 72 Days after arrival at Fort Glisson

Location: Nu Crateris, Outer System, Hades, Checkpoint Alpha, SRS Heaven’s Fire

Amy finished cutting the charred connector for the fluid port to the laser heatsink with her cutting torch. A small flow of coolant poured out of the hole but quickly ran out as she’d drained the system an hour earlier. A waiting cargo drone immediately shoved its two forks under the system and made off with it to the battlecruiser’s internal workshop.

Raising her welding mask off her head, Amy wiped the sweat off her face. That was the last heatsink to deal with in the compartment. It had taken several hours to finish with them all with her helpful robotic companion.

Tapping the side of her helmet turned the back of it into a makeshift datapad and she scanned the messages to make sure there was still no news from Wyles and the away team. The ship had landed successfully on a large platform that made for an excellent landing pad, and a large contingent had been dispatched to investigate the buildings and locate the power source signal.

Massive spotlights all across the battlecruiser’s hull had lit up the surrounding area, the massive buildings dwarfing the ship impressively. Amy couldn’t even imagine how many aliens had once lived in its halls if it was as homogenous throughout the artificial lattice as it seemed.

Yet the sonar and seismic sensor probes had shown signs of decay. Several tunnels ended abruptly and others were completely cut off from the main network. While the section they had landed on seemed in particularly good condition, the entire system had been abandoned for thousands of years and was starting to come apart.

Not that it would ever decay completely. The moon was doomed to crash into the gas giant that had captured Hades in a decaying orbit.

Unless it has propulsion, and we can make it move again.

“Heeler, I’ve finished laser bay #12. The last heatsink should be on the way to machining for rebuilding.”

Her comm sputtered to life in reply.

“It is commendable that you have performed almost to the standard of a full repair drone’s efficiency. However, the time for repairs is nearing an end, and I require your input on determining our next course of action. Wyles will join us remotely.”

Amy nodded. “I’ll be up to the CIC soon.”

The door to the compartment opened, and a nestling entered. Somehow, she wasn’t surprised to see that it had a set of the clothing that Abbey had designed for them still on its torso.

“I’m not riding that thing up to you.” Amy said.

“Abbey has no issues riding on my shell.”

“She’s a child, and children do cute, silly things.”

“This would be an efficient increase in effectiveness, rather than relying on your slow bipedal gait.”

“Laser cutting is a hand/eye coordination task and uses mostly upper body strength. My feet are just fine. I’ll walk.”

There was a growl and something that might have translated to ‘suit yourself’ from the alien, but the comm signal cut off.

The nestling didn’t leave her though, and it was in the doorway.

“Shooo. SHOO!” Amy tried to wave it away, but that just caused it to whine.

“I’m not riding you. Let me out.” Amy ordered.

The nestling backed out of the doorway and Amy slid out into the hall. As she started toward her quarters, the nestling followed in behind her. She got halfway to her destination when she finally turned on it.

“Why are you following me? Did Heeler order you to? I don’t need you! Shoo!”

The nestling whined and spun in a circle, then sat down, bored. But it stood back up and followed her as soon as she continued. With an annoyed sigh, she ignored it. As soon as her door slid open, she closed it before it could follow into her room.

After she had cleaned up and changed back into her standard skinsuit, it was still there. It had curled up in a ball and raised its head as she reappeared with a happy yap.

“You weigh more than I do. You are not a cute dog. You are a murderous alien thing.”

“Yap!”

“Quit being noisy.”

“Yap?”

“Ugh, you’re a yapper alright.”

“Yap!”

The nestling followed her all the way to the CIC, where she found the meeting had already started. Or at least Wyles was giving Heeler a sitrep.

“We finished clearing the bottom floors building containing the power source. There was a whole heap of bodies located inside and we moved them for the drones to retrieve for further analysis. We didn’t interface with any of the electronics as instructed. The furniture still seems to be mostly intact, not that it’s going to be very useful for anyone human shaped.”

Amy frowned as she looked at some images of the rooms that the scout team had taken. It certainly looked like alien furniture, and it gave the impression that whatever species had built the moon was on the short side. Or folded in the middle easily.

“Heeler, did you take any samples to see if they are related to the Rexxor?” Amy asked.

The CIC's primary display flipped to a picture of a frog shaped being. Wide and short, with an amphibian look to it. Two eyestalks rose off the crown of its head several inches, ending in two orbs that the screen animated turning in multiple directions. It was wearing a set of mechanic overalls.

“This is a rendition from currently acquired data. It is still unknown if this race is responsible for the construction of Hades or if they were simply inhabitants.”

“That’s a pretty impressive recreation from just their DNA and corpses.” Wyles commented.

“A drone located photographic evidence that was correlated with the skeletal remains and clothing discovered. Organic analysis is still underway.”

“Oh.” Wyles said.

Heeler growled, “The results should be confirmed by the analysis, making the correlation no less impressive.”

Amy coughed, drawing both of their attention. “More importantly, what are we going to do now? I guess you still want to try interfacing with the control point, Heeler?”

“Are we sure that’s a good idea? What if it deactivates whatever is maintaining the field and the entire layer of magma drops on our heads?” Wyles asked.

“That would be less than ideal, however a horizontal corridor would likely suffice for protection and then we would have the task of melting our way out. Further modifications of the Heaven’s Fire are already underway to improve its capacity to store heat.”

“He means that he’s making more heatsinks.” Amy said.

“Wait, how are you producing advanced meta-materials on the ship?” Wyles asked.

“There are plenty of raw materials available in the vicinity. I am simply repurposing them.”

“He’s been dispatching drones for the last few hours.” Amy explained further.

“Of course. I forgot our lovable NAIs favorite activity is rapid industrialization on a massive scale.” Wyles deadpanned.

Heeler slapped a tentacle on a screen displaying the Heaven’s Fire and the areas that had been damaged flashing in yellow. “I have prioritized repairs to the ship and modifications. Production of a self-replicating factory of utility and construction drones will require waiting until tomorrow when we have located a suitable location.”

“Only tomorrow.” Wyles continued.

Amy leaned back in her seat and eyed a screen with a picture of Hades and the different sections they had determined highlighted in an array of colors. “I say we finish the repairs and worry about playing with the dead giant moon-sized thing tomorrow, then.”

Heeler growled, but his voice grew less strained. “It is perhaps a wise course to remain cautious and prepare our position and mobile-nest for any potential issues.”

Wyles rubbed his temple on the viewscreen. “The entire moon could explode.”

Amy understood his tension, and wanted to tell him to relax, but she was nervous as well. As much as they had figured out, there were still more questions than answers so far.

“We will not be attempting to restart the construct in such a state as it is, but simply attempt to glean information and interface with its network. The materials and construction show nothing beyond my understanding and refurbishing the moon and restoring it under our control should be a priority.”

Amy had no issue visualizing the millions of little drones Heeler could build and unleash on the inside of the moon using the ample amounts of refined resources present. Melting down the buildings and repurposing everything to build more and more drones until there were enough to work across the entire insides of the battlemoon.

It had already been done before by the major factions, and she had seen no reason to believe that Heeler or Abbey weren’t just as capable as any advance NAI from the core systems.

“Rebuilding the moon isn’t going to be that useful if every time we want to go in or out of it, we have to take a magma bath.” Amy pointed out.

Heeler growled affirmation. “As theorized earlier, I have confirmed that the magma layer is simply the outer d-field of the moon. At some point, an accretion of rocky material and ice accumulated on the surface. The d-field has prevented infiltration of this new material into the core.”

A confused look appeared on Wyle’s face. “So you are saying the crust isn’t even part of the original construct?”

“That is correct, human. It was likely added in a collision with another body in orbit of the gas giant as the moon cleaned its new orbit. Regardless of the cause, it should be possible to clear the material from sections and then build access tubes to the surface. In fact, this will be a necessity to rebuild surface mountings and weaponry.”

Amy frowned. “Weapons? I was thinking more about resource transfers or moving people in and out…”

“I understand your thoughts, Manager Amy, but the first rule of owning a valuable nest is to place many weapons on its shell to dissuade others from taking it from you by force. This is something I would think you understand from the actions of the Corpos.”

Amy let out a breath before nodding slightly. “Okay, death-moon boot-up sequence and self-replicating drone factory tomorrow. Today, finish repairs and get some rest.”

“You may rest, humans. I will continue to work.” Heeler announced. A tentacle eye pointed itself at Amy but halted at the polite distance she had insisted on earlier. “Do not treat my brother so harshly. I have instructed him to follow and learn from you.”

Amy looked to the doorway, and sure enough yapper was still there rolling on its back.

Where was Abbey when she needed her?