The Library

As time went on I found that one thing tended to lead to another.

For example the build of FRG Thor required me to use particular types of components (for example shield capacitors), which in turn required particular types of materials (for example Rammet and Sertise capsules).

As I had since breaking free of the now obliterated Gundabadt, I had been purchasing materials and even components from the nearby Trading Guild station, however the station was having supply issues due to pirate blockades in a nearby system, and were unable to provide me any more than I had already purchased.

As a result, I was reaching a point where more and more items were now unable to be built or purchased, and the only way I would be able to build these items for any more vessels and expand my budding empire would be to mine and process the minerals myself.  Or destroy the blockade.  If the Trading Guild couldn't despatch the blockade, then clearly I would have no chance, so really, the only option was to find, mine, and process the necessary minerals myself, and use them to manufacture my own items.

But I was new to this, having been a process slave in Gundabadt I knew nothing about minerals, asteroids, what they looked like, where they could be found, et cetera.

I would need to begin exploring, sampling, and cataloging my discoveries.

I knew this would require a huge amount of processing power, and so the concept for a Library addition to my shipyard station was born.

Databases and servers whir and blink as they wait to absorb, catalog, and as required present compiled information about the discoveries I made.

Everything from asteroids found, mineral content, resources, capsules, refineries, technologies, building techniques, blueprints for ships, research, starbase and asteroid field locations, and a host of other information would be fed into these servers and processed by their AI into a range of useful information.

Connected to the main deck of my shipyard and the basic factory I had previously built, the library is almost as power-hungry as the entire shipyard and factory to date, warranting the addition of another 2 3x3x3 power generators.

To protect the delicate servers from random pirate fire, the Library has a much denser structure than the rest of the shipyard's facilities, and is wired directly into the power grid.

This Library Wing adds a further 10x5x10 structure to the basic factory and power/shield generator grid structure connected to the shipyard, and is helping to form a small station attachment to the entire structure.

With the docking arms (completed with ship maintenance systems and cargo siphons) added to the station some weeks ago, the entire shipyard complex is becoming much more like a small station now.

Dubbed "Dry Station", my shipyard was almost a small port nowadays.

Pirates seemed to give me wide berth these days, although occassionally a sniper or two would sit outside the range of my homing missile turrets and pepper Dry Station with long shots... but they did little more than give me a smirk if one managed to actually strike the base instead of sail by through empty space.

FRG Thor's Bridge, Turrets, and Engines are completed

FRG Thor was proving to be quite a complex and interesting project.

Her missile systems, shield and power systems, and armor were the first to be completed. I then began work on her engines, turrets, armor greeble, Bridge, wings interior, access airlocks and passage ways, and some minor details.

Several trips out to the asteroid fields in SVG Excavator were necessary to retrieve the necessary materials to build FRG Thor's systems... although I was unable to find some minerals... something I would have to solve sooner or later.

Thor as seen from the shipyard deck closest to the factory module.

 I fit the top and underside of Thor's wings with missile-targeting fast-shooting micro-turrets, although during tests it seemed they were as efficient at shooting down Thor's own missiles as they were at defending her from incoming enemy missiles.

I hoped I was able to resolve this with better programming, but resigned myself to the possibility that I would need to convert them over to targeting enemy ships' shields instead of missiles.

Thor's anti-missile micro-turrets were 3x2x3m, unshielded rapid-fire cannons that proved quite effective at shooting missiles out of the sky, and covered 88% of FRG Thor's visibile space with only these four  micro-turrets.

Her engines were a new design of Nuclear Fusion which provided far greater thrust than her predessors fitted to Alannis and Excavator.

Taking parts of Excavator's Fusion Engines and combining it with parts of Alannis's Ion Compression engines has resulted in much more powerful engines for the same space and mass being occupied. FRG Thor is more manuevable than any other ship I've built (except Taxi), despite being much greater in mass.

While most of Thor's external armour and greeble were now completed, a few systems still need to be fitted.

Apart from crew facilities, FRG Thor was now fully operational.

By far the largest ship I've built so far, Thor tests the docking capability of the shipyard to the maximum.

While Thor's internal engineering decks were reasonably raw and cramped, her officer and crew areas were much brighter, cleaner and more organised, with access to key systems being prioritised over rapid access to the rawer underlying systems that drive them.

Thor's Core has access passages to her two main forward passages (at deck 4 level), her two wings, and aft to her bridge, crew quarters, and engines.

Port-side passageway between Core and port wing allows access to engineering systems and ventilation shafts if necessary.

At the end of the wing passageway (a mirror image of starboard side) is the internal access junction, where the interior of the wing can be accessed, and also where the port side airlock can be entered.

Inspection hatches to both micro-turrets allow crew to take manual control of them at any time, as well as their controlling systems.

The airlock contains a gravity activation module and is currently the fastest way to access the Core from the factory, which it faces.  For this reason, this airlock is high traffic at the moment during the build.

Thor's Bridge had control points for officers overseeing the ships main systems, a captain's chair overseeing all officer's stations, and a 7x4m view screen, and bright lighting. 

The Bridge is accessed from the rear by two large ramps coming up on either side of the Captain's Station from the Core.  The Obs Deck blast door is next to the Captain's chair, and gives access to her main cannon's control computers if necessary.

The Engineering Station gives readouts and direct control over many of Thor's most critical systems, including Radar Jamming, Shielding, Power generation and storage, weapons systems overview, superstructure, AI, doors and hatches, and engines.

While the ship was able to be operated by myself, it was far more efficient to crew her with deck officers capable of directly interacting with her systems simultaneously.

She was now estimated to be approximately 80% completed, and her launch was anticipated to be in approximately 2 more months (one real-time day is equivalent to one game-month).

The Battle of Gundabadt Station

Finally the corvette's armour was completed.  A thick top plate, and two side/dorsal plates protecting her engines and vital systems.

This armour is designed to serve as a backstop for when the shields fail under heavy fire.

After fitting the Alannis out with the homing missile turret design that I had built for my turret emplacements around the shipyard and factory, she was ready to take out.

I went looking for a fight.

Where better than to announce to Gundabadt that my space was not only defended but that it represented a threat if attacked.  I turned my navigation computer to the Gundabadt Station, drifted out of dock, and then engaged full throttle for my target waypoint.

Testing my shields, escape pod (I had Taxi docked for now), engines, radar jamming, and all other systems on the Alannis while en route.  Everything performed marvelously, and I was ready to hunt some pirate fighters and maybe even put a dent in the station itself.

Some distance away the station began to become visible, I engaged the AI controlling my turrets, and they automatically fired a full volley from every turret at the station.  No going back now...

As my missiles closed in on the station it sent out an emergency call for any nearby friendly to assist, and before long I found myself in the middle of a fire fight.

The skirmish lasted for nearly 15 minutes and I quickly discovered that Alannis's shields were sorely lacking but that her armour offered her great protection from the beam weapons used by the pirate fighters. Their shots would destroy most armour cells they hit, but because of the movement of all the vessels in the battle it was very rare for their beams to hit the same area. So the armour as a whole soaked up a tremendous amount of fire, supported by the shields regenerating from time to time.

My homing missiles on the other hand took down target after target, usually only 1 or 2 missiles fired at a target was enough to pop it.

Before long I was swimming in overheating cores and drifting wrecks, and the station was completely disarmed and peppered with craters from my weaponry.

I explored the vacuum-ridden station in Taxi, plenty strong enough to withstand any small-arms fire that might have come from any suited survivors... as it turned out there were none.  The place was vacant.  I had completely squashed the station and inhabitants of a clan of pirates that had held me and my family prisoner for so many years.

Alannis had taken a beating during the battle, so we limped home for some much needed repairs.  She had fought well and proven to be far more effective than Gustav and SVG Speeder combined.  Alannis was not capable of salvaging any of the wrecks she peppered the battle field with, and her shields were woefully inadequate, but for my first corvette she had done well.  And nothing could distract me from the elation I felt at having destroyed my former prison station.

For the first time in my life I felt truly and completely free.

Recovery

The pirate attack shook me from my false sense of security.

Most of the damage to my systems seems to have been done by my own dumb-fire missile turrets, as they blindly tracked and fired at targets without paying any attention to any friendly structures in front of them.  Clearly my AI programming skills needed some serious work.

I set about rebuilding the damage as quickly as I could, and researched how to produce various systems besides my current dumb-fires.  Homing missiles with an increased firing range appealed to me, and I set about reconfiguring my turret design to accomodate.

After testing the new homing missile turrets on some remote destroyed turrets I outfit my shipyards and factory turret emplacements with them just in time for another wave of pirate fighters.  The homing missiles made short work of them, leaving several fighter husks drifting in space at some distance from the shipyard.

I used Taxi to retrieve them for reverse engineering, and before long I had 18 new fighter shells anchored near the shipyard, able to be studied and reclaimed at any time. All automatically shot down by my new turret systems.

I still didn't feel as though I had the fire power to attack the Gundabadt station safely, but at least it seems I was much better protected than I was before. I set about rebuilding Alannis's damaged systems and continuing her build.

A Humble Beginning

My name is Dry Broez.

I am a freeman miner from Upsuli system, having recently bought my freedom for my descendants by honor-killing my former master and enslaver Haft Nexshrakt of the clan of Gundabadt.

Now my destiny is my own, and with it I have discovered the thrill and also the fear of unprotected freedom.

For now I tip-toe through space, and have set up a small processing plant within the protection and convenience of a Trading Guild shop that I discovered during my escape from Gundabadt station.

I mine nearby asteroids mostly consisting of Cinnibar, Lukrah, Sand, and some Fertikeen. This has earned me enough to build a small processing plant, a small mining craft fondly called "Speeder", a rapid-transit speeder craft called "Taxi", and a small radar-deceiving, lightly armoured battle-scout called "Gustav".  The processing plant has been fitted with a small basic armoured turret to bolster my defenses, but my proximity to the Trading Guild station as well as my secretive mining approach seems to have kept my operation safe from assault so far.

But I'm not content to be a mere miner hiding in the shadows.

I have dreams... ambitions.