"I'm going to go in. Brick, can your spiders bring me five plasma grenades, please?" I asked.
"Of course, Jake," he replied.
I reached out with my Drone Control implant and connected to the three drones that were dormant in the Light Manufactory nearby. They woke up and began flying down the corridors toward the gate room at my command.
I'd kept the same configuration as before—a particle beam drone, a needler drone, and a scout—but I'd modified them even further from the base Union designs. Each of them had better power systems and better maneuverability, and the scout drone was as stealthy as I could make it. As long as the scout drone used only passive sensors and didn't move too quickly, I suspected it would be extremely hard to spot. I hadn't actually tested it against Ferals yet.
The door to the gate room opened by itself and the three drones arrived seconds later. They hovered above my head, awaiting orders.
A line of spider bots entered the room shortly after, each one carrying a grenade almost the size of its body. I stuck the grenades to my armor on my left and right sides.
I performed a quick "paranoia" check of my status screen.
╠═╦╬╧╪
Jake, Humanity-branch
Transcendent Flesh Level 2
Physical Stats:
Strength: 20
Coordination: 15
Endurance: 14
Mental Stats:
Acuity: 20
Intuition: 20
Perception: 20
Nanite Clusters: 82/100
Mitrasa Zeropoint Energy Tap
Engineering Vision
Subdermal Armor
Drone Control Link
╠═╦╬╧╪
An icon caught my eye that hadn't been there before. A bulky, familiar silhouette that clearly represented my Assault Armor. I pressed it and a brand-new status sheet appeared.
╠═╦╬╧╪
Krigar Assault Armor KAA-8V2
Armor Integrity Levels:
All Sections Nominal
Stores:
Bio-consumables: ~60 days
Life Support: ~14 days
Nanite Clusters: 0/500
Energy:
Internal Generation: 100 PU/s
Auxiliary Generation (Augment): 25 PU/s
Internal Storage: 5000/5000 PU
Energy Consumption:
Propulsion Units: 0/60 PU/s
Gravity Plates: 0/20 PU/s
╠═╦╬╧╪
"Whoa, Metra. You added a stat sheet for the armor?"
"Sure. It's not just a hunk of metal anymore. It needs it."
Everything looked good with the armor. She'd added quite a bit of power generation to it, I could only assume to feed the new propulsion units and gravity plates. It didn't hurt that I'd be able to power a thirsty weapon like my Gazer for a long time, too.
"I'm going in to take a look around. I won't go too far until you get the comms relay up, Brick."
"Be careful, Jake," Metra said.
I nodded, and stepped through the gate. I realized immediately after she probably couldn't see me. My drones followed me through.
The HUD inside my helmet told me that the air on this side was safely breathable but more oxygen heavy than Humans liked. Nothing my Transcendent Flesh couldn't handle, but it's not like I would be taking the armor off on this side of the gate even if I could breathe the air. The temperature was a little cold, but again nothing too harsh.
The gate room on the other side was identical to the one on my side, but looked older, somehow. It wasn't like it had been chewed on by Ferals. It was more that it felt... worn. Old. There was even actual dirt in the corners.
I moved to the door and was a little surprised when it stayed closed as I approached. I'd gotten very used to every door in the station opening for me as I approached and almost slammed into the stubbornly closed portal in front of me.
"Touch it and will it open. There's no AI watching doors on that side," Metra said, the sound of her voice carrying through the gate. It echoed oddly in the metal room. I looked back and realized that her voice had come from one of the Assault Drones still guarding the gate.
"Thanks," I yelled back and touched the door.
It slid open and I stepped through. The corridor in front of me was like every corridor in my station, except dirty and even dented in some places. It looked like some fighting had happened here, although it didn't seem like it was too serious. Ahead of me not too far off I could see an obvious Connector node, but the door was open. I looked behind me and noticed the door to the gate room hadn't closed automatically.
Pulling up my minimap, I ordered the scout drone to map, and it silently flashed down the corridor. The empty map started to fill in as the scout found more and more open doors, but no threats and no people.
It took just under two minutes for the scout drone to map out the whole base, or what it could get to. The gate room I'd entered from was the bottom part of a stubby plus sign with a Connector node in the middle. To the left was a small barracks; to the right what looked like a galley. Underneath the center of the base, down a gravitic drop shaft like the one in my Habitat complex, was a small fusion reactor. It was enough to power the gate and the rest of the base but not a monster like the one we'd reactivated on my station.
The only closed door was to the north of the Connector node, opposite the gate room. I recognized it as an airlock. There was nothing like Brick's central Core control room that I could find, and no one else alive or dead.
"Shit, no one's home," I muttered to myself. "I wonder if they left a note?"
I checked the barracks first. It was a simple long and open space with ten beds, five on each wall with a large locker at the foot of each bed. The bedding was a mess, more on the floor than on the beds. Five of the lockers were secured. The rest had been opened and thoroughly emptied of whatever had been in them. Various bits of trash covered the floor, pieces of nutrient paste bar and
