You have two options for the advancement of this room
Medical Bay
The Medical Bay is a centralized facility for all things related to the health of the crew. It has the ability to treat up to twenty patients at once and handle even complex medical conditions.
Crisis Stations
With this upgrade instead of a central medbay there is a medical station on every deck. This allows for rapid response to injured personnel although the conditions it can treat are not as complex as those with a proper medical bay.
WHILE CRISIS STATIONS seemed ideal for an airship my thoughts were on my biological components. To some degree the effectiveness of the medical facilities governed how quick my own biological components healed from any damage. That being the case I wanted all the power there I could get. I selected the Medical Bay.
Cabins
Level 5
Cabin bunks now come equipped with crash webbing. In the event of high speed maneuvers even the sleeping will be protected from most maneuvers.
Processor
Level 5
In addition to standard Biomatter or construction material the processor will now sometimes generate crystal fragments. While these cannot be utilized to gain new abilities, they can be used to help enhance equipment with new properties.
ALL OF THAT SEEMED GOOD. I checked my status display
E.M.M.A
Research Airship
Power core: 400
Power Usage: 225
Habitability: 80
Biomass: 1078
Building Materiaclass="underline" 185
Research: 5
Military: 1
Manufacturing: 0
Espionage: 0
Additional Facilities
Biocomputer - Level 5
BioReactor - Level 5
Genetics Lab (Randomizer) - Level 5
Growth Vats - Level 5
Medical Bay - Level 5
Cabins - Level 5
Processor - Level 6
Powerhungry Status
Hulclass="underline" 100%
Armor: 15%
Shields: 75%
Engines: 77%
Thrusters: 20%
Main Cannons: 0%
Side Cannons: 0%
Sensors: 10%
WITH THE SHIP in better shape we were prepared to face our next challenge. Cutout had given us terms and we had to live up to them. We had a target to hunt.
The first on our list was Captain Aldo of the Graven. A former smuggler, he had of late made some powerful friends and turned to piracy. His vessel was only a fraction of the size of the Powerhungry, but far faster, more maneuverable and with a high percentage of their power devoted to an array of beam weapons. That would pose a unique challenge given that we still had no operational guns. Still, we'd put together a plan to try to deal with that weakness—we didn't really have a choice unless we wanted a fight with Cutout over breaking our agreement.
This wasn't the time to even consider that.
13
The Graven was a beautiful little gunship. I'd gotten something of a crash course on piracy during the past week and knew they came in a few different forms.
There were pirates that had a profile similar to the Powerhungry. Big and slow, and lots of guns and personnel. They could stare down most military battleships and convince even large well-defended traders to quickly surrender their goods. Those kind weren’t often seen.
More common were mid-size hulls that carried some weaponry, but allowed greater speed than your usual trader. These were fast and capable predators, and the vessel of choice of your average pirate captain.
Ships like the Graven were another rarity. To pack that much firepower and engine thrust into a small hull was expensive, and they lacked much in the way of cargo capacity. These were elite ships after only the most valuable of cargo.
Cutout informed us of just such a shipment underway. The cargo was called a stabilizer orb, supposedly much sought-after in the Core—exactly where it was being sold. The trader Gusto was on the way to meet with a Righteous warship to hand it over. It gave any pirates who wanted a shot only a narrow window.
We were shadowing at the extreme edge of my sensor range. We were not exactly inconspicuous, but smaller vessels didn't tend to have our range.
The Gusto was accompanied by two light escorts, mercenaries hired for the run. They'd be enough to put off most medium-sized ships and a large vessel wouldn't catch them. The Graven was neither and we began closing in.
"I hate this plan," Ophelia said. The woman was in a specialized suit designed by Mechos. The plan called for making use of the unique gifts of a few of our party.
Destroying the Gusto might have been fairly easy. I could teleport my drones anywhere I had active sensors and make powerful bombs out of the spawn of my Power core. A vessel like the Gusto was almost impossible to hit, but I could hit it. I could annihilate that ship if it came down to it.
I didn't want to. I wanted to study it. Those parts and equipment were a good bit more advanced than what we had and destroying them would have stood in the way of SCIENCE.
"You hate all plans. It is because you are a terrible person," I said to Ophelia.
"I like it," Hot Stuff said. The woman was dressed in a flame resistant suit of her own. Her clothes never lasted long, but in this case they didn't need to.
"You would," Ophelia said.
They were both sitting in a cargo hold on deck five with their bodies pressed against one of my science drones.
The moment I'd been waiting for came.
The Graven engaged the escorts. It was closer to a fair fight than we’d like. While the Graven’s weapons were more powerful, three ships could fill space with a lot of firepower and even the best tactical computer could run out of options.
I teleported the drone to just outside the Graven's hull with both Hot Stuff and Ophelia grimly hanging on to it, suspended high above the ground as the drone clamped on to the pirate ship.
Hot Stuff slipped off her glove and her hand blazed brilliantly bright as she plunged it into the armored hull plating.
The armor was meant to protect against standard weaponry, not a powerful pyrokinetic. Metal sizzled and melted as her arm drove forward burying itself deeper until she was almost up to her shoulder. Then she was pulling back.
I could tell from my science drone sensors she'd breached the hull. Already repair systems would be working to seal the breach and restore the pressure inside.
"I really hate this," Ophelia said.
Hot Stuff moved and rested her hand on Ophelia's shoulder. Ophelia's suit had been specially built to aid conductivity. It was similar to the grinder in some ways, I needed her to be ashes and I needed it to happen quickly.
The woman didn't even have time to scream before being reduced to her component parts. Hot Stuff released her to slip the glove back on and move the sole of Ophelia's boot to the hull breach. This engaged the air pump built into the suit and forced her ashes in a wave through the hole.
Then Hot Stuff, the drone, and the empty suit were teleported back into the Powerhungry’s bay.