39. Alive For Now

[Automatic docking procedures initiated, proceeding to assimilate asteroid Y2,] Abby said to Abyssal.

“Thanks, Abby. Let me know when we finish,” Abyssal replied.

[Affirmative.]

Nodding to her logical-self, Abyssal did an imaginary stretch before putting her attention back to what was in front of her. She was currently in her weapon's control room looking over the new stuff that she looted from the unknown aggressor when she assimilated the attacker’s ship.

She's gotten herself a fancy new missile launcher and several armed missiles; Class C, Class E and several photon disruptor torpedoes. The attacker’s ship, a fighter corvette even smaller than the Fierca, was within her cargo hold. According to Abby, it was remotely controlled by a certain Living Core from afar, so it was empty with no pilot in it. The ship and its insides were nicely decorated with an eastern profile.

The ship itself had some few nice components that Abyssal immediately absorbed into her repertoire. A radar obstructor,  a chaff deployer, fusion thrusters, a small fighter reactor, and last but not least, a zenatonium infused transceiver. By deconstructing this zenatonium infused component, she was able to get a sizable amount of said special element. Although she didn't have enough to form an avatar right now, she could still use it to boost one of her components.

'To think that my victory came from using a Lancetech product to the fullest of its abilities. I always felt suspicious about the fact that the cameras used an awful lot of energy. The ones in the Maxwell don't even come close to the ones in the Fierca. I almost forgot there was a high powered mode,' Abyssal thought to herself as she recalled her narrow win against her opponent.

'They said that the technology on the Fierca was antique, but it was still able to go head-on against that new generation fighter…. Maybe I insulted the Lancetech products a little bit too much? Nah it can't be… can't it?'

The reason for her recent victory against the stealth fighter was none other than her 350° omni-directional cameras located on her original ship, the Fierca class. In full power, the cameras of the Fierca class are able to view everything around her crystal clear. It was like having several powerful telescopes at her disposal. Using it to spot the incoming missile allowed her to deduce the location of her attacker.

After that, it was all about sending the Fierca class towards the fighter in secret before shooting at it, several nanomachine infused mass projectiles. The Fierca itself, being a stealthy ship in the past, had a low profile energy signature and was able to slip past the fighter's detection.

After the fight, she quickly assimilated the fighter and warped out of the place, just in case the Living Core who was controlling the ship decided to come back with her full arsenal. Her destination was a very secluded empty zone in the Lawless Maw zone, far away from Ashen Port.

According to the galaxy map it was supposed to be an abandoned asteroid field with a temporary spaceport within sublight range— a port that goes by the name Little Foot. Once arrived, she used her radar to find a sizable asteroid to mine from. However, despite the map saying there was supposed to be a neutral port around, she couldn't spot or detect it— not even a trace that the port even existed. It was as if the port disappeared into thin air, or maybe it never did exist in the first place.

'There was a probability that the Galaxy map for the Lawless Maw Zone might not be too accurate. Gotta keep that in mind.' Was Abyssal thoughts after a long period of trying to find Port Little Foot.

Abyssal would need to find another port if she wished to sell her cargo. In the meantime, she would just have to be satisfied with mining the asteroid.

“That girl… who would have thought that she was actually a core as well? Thank goodness she didn’t decide to bring the battlecruiser or else I would have been toast,” Abyssal muttered to herself.

The identity of the attacker was easily identified. There was only one ship who bore that eastern style around Ashen Port, after all.

Abby had made short work of the Foreign Living Core that was controlling the fighter remotely. Though this made Abyssal question something about Abby. Turns out that Abby had her own Avatar separate from Abyssal herself. It used the same default look as Abyssal but had a different style of clothing to it— a dress that is gothic in nature and more. She wanted to ask if Abby had the avatar the whole time but decided not to. She already knew what her answer was going to be.

[Personality Abyssal never asked.]

‘Sometimes I wonder if she really is a part of me or something else entirely…’ Abyssal thought to herself before pushing the thought to the back of her mind. She’ll handle the stuff with Abby another day. She was in too much pain to give it much thought now.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch,” Abyssal groaned as she observed the repair drones and her nanomachines continue repairs on her hull.

On the outside view, aside from her thrusters and bow, she looked to be completely fine. However, this was just a ruse to trick an enemy into thinking she still had some fight left in her. She was actually badly damaged and was very close to breaking apart. In order to win, she needed the enemy to launch more missiles in order to detect her, so Abyssal controlled her drones to repair the outer layers of the ship to look like she received little to no damage.

That being said, things were not all bad for Abyssal. She won the fight and was able to obtain a new ship plus the blueprints to make another of it herself. Pain is only temporary, her victory is eternal.

[Assimilated Components:

Tsubame Class Stealth Fighter x1Xxxxx and Radar Obstructor & Jammer x1Standard Chaff deployer x1Fusion thrusters x1Small reactor(fighter size)Missile tube x1Assortment of missiles x1Nipon Steel Industries Stealth Hull V2 blueprints]

"Looks like great additions to my arsenal. The Tsubame fighter seems operable as well. Might just give it Kuon," Abyssal said as she observed the missiles that she looted from the fighter. The Class C, Class E and the photon disruptor torpedoes. All good and interesting weapons for Abyssal— It was a large boost to her firepower. All in all, Abyssal made a huge advancement in her repertoire today.

Abyssal then let out a sigh. 'This is the second time that I've been attacked out of nowhere. And without warning too.'

When she first arrived in this place, she expected a slow life, just leisurely gathering parts and exploring space in a slow and steady adventure. What she did not expect was to be attacked unprovoked so many times for no apparent reason. It was as if the entire world was there to get her at this point.

'I wonder what was her aim…? Why did she just attack me like that? Was it because I look at her the wrong way back in Ashen Port?' Abyssal theorised in her mind.

'Space is not for the weak,' it was then that Astral's words came up in Abyssal's mind. This was what she probably meant when she said that. There are times where one will just get attacked out of nowhere without warning. She was in a place called the Lawless Maw Zone after all. It would be a no brainer to assume that this place was dangerous.

"I'm going to need some serious upgrades then. Better detection capabilities, better weapons, better armour, better everything," Abyssal muttered to herself.

‘Maybe it’s time I started to use my nanomachines more… Never really bothered to use em or look up how to use em properly cause I don’t want to spoil the fun for myself. Plus, Abby’s not that helpful anyway… She never tells me anything...’

After mulling to herself, she looked towards a certain panel in the control room. Her focus was on the Lancetech Radar that she looted from the Freedom United fighter a while back. At the corner of Abyssal's vision was the amount of Zenatonium she currently had displayed in grams.

1762g

The radar’s detection radius was about half a million kilometres, just slightly better than the radar on the Maxwell. Abyssal was considering infusing the component with Zenatonium— to make a much more advanced radar that could hopefully spot ships and objects for farther away. She assumed that if she was going to be in a fight from here on out, it would be better to be able to detect said attacker before the attacker launches his or her attack. This piece of radar was perhaps the most modern of all her equipment. It will gain the most benefit from a zenatonium infusion.

'But then… maybe it would be better to upgrade some other components first? The reactor and the radar obstructor is also a great choice…' Abyssal thought to herself, unable to finalise her decision.

If she upgraded the obstructor, she would be less likely to be detected and be engaged in the first place— plus, it would be a boon if she was harder to detect in battle. If she upgraded the reactor instead, she could have enough power generated to actually manoeuvre and shoot with all her turrets instead of selectively choosing which turret to fire from— a direct increase in firepower and mobility.

'Can’t decide...Maybe it's best I consult Kuon about this first. I also want to see if there is a way to retrofit the ship and change my entire hull to this stealth version of the hull that I’ve assimilated from the Tsubame.'

'Hmm… wait? Kuon herself said that she assimilated various ships before, haven't she? Could it be…?'

There was a big chance that within Kuon was a treasure of blueprints and assimilated parts. It never occurred to Abyssal to ask Kuon about it. Unlike Abyssal, Kuon didn’t start from scratch, she was fed various blueprints from New England to do her duties as a maid.

'Perhaps…'

And so, with that line of thinking, Abyssal quickly bolted off of the control room and headed towards the bridge. Along the way, she thought of various ways to either upgrade herself with whatever resources she currently had and various modifications she could do to her original ship— the Fierca class.