Chapter 78: Goodbye Hideout
[New Reactor installed. Power Produce: 1700 MJ/s(Maxwell Hydrogen Reactor), 300MJ/s(Backup reactor), 12 GJ/s (Ark-Hydrogen Reactor)]
Abby said towards Abyssal’s consciousness as the newly installed reactor was integrated into the Shark-Class. Ask and you shall receive, Astral held her end of the bargain by giving Abyssal a much-needed reactor to power her ever-growing power-hungry systems. According to Astral, it was an unknown brand of new-generation reactors, an illegal overclocked reactor not available to the public. While a good reactor, it wasn’t exactly the super-secret tech that Astral had. Still, Abyssal felt happy and grateful to receive such a reactor that dwarves the output of all of her other reactors combined.
“I guess I could give you guys this throwaway reactor. If you want to further upgrade yourself, then you would need more of these. Perhaps in the future, you would get a better one but it ain’t going to come from me. Ya gonna have to get one by yourself.”
Abyssal recalled Astral’s words during that time when she gave her the Reactor. At that time, the cylinder looking component was being carried by a large construction drone and was parked right outside of the Shark-class. At first, Abyssal didn’t think much about the cylinder-shaped reactor as she got the impression that it was just a weak reactor, a leftover from Astral’s trash can. However, once she assimilated and installed the reactor she realised that it was a significant upgrade over her old one. The new reactor alone is six times her old reactor.
‘I guess the saying that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. I wonder what kind of weapons I would have if she decided to give me them? Just the reactor alone was very powerful. Could it be that her standards of throwaway and weak are leagues ahead of my current technology?’ Abyssal thought to herself.
She was currently within the engine room, overlooking the installation of the new reactor and the new radar component. Once done with the installation, Abyssal gave herself a good nod before heading towards the bridge of the Shark-class. It was after she opened the automatic doors, did she find Kuon and Meica on the bridge. Meica was currently sulking at her seat while Kuon was busy cleaning the ship with a broom in her hand. As she saw Abyssal enter the room, she immediately stopped whatever it was that she was doing before giving a respectful bow towards Abyssal.
"All systems are checked and ready to go," Abyssal said to Kuon as she walked towards Meica with a thumbs up.
"Excellent. With this new reactor, I would be able to create even more powerful designs," Kuon replied, a satisfied smile on her face. The smile came with a soft sinister laugh that Abyssal promptly ignored. It seems that over the months, Kuon has developed quite the attitude.
"I hope this will be the beginning of my journey to become a large battleship," said Abyssal, a satisfied smile on her face as well.
"I could perhaps start by making some adjustments on the guns. Perhaps even an expansion of the ship. We could start by salvaging more resources and upgrade the ship into a cruiser-sized ship…" Kuon said with enthusiasm. She was off in her own world.
Abyssal didn't reply, only giving a wry smile towards the enthusiastic maid. Done with Kuon, Abyssal turned her head around towards Meica who was sulking in her seat. Mimicking a living being's action of taking a deep breath, Abyssal walked towards Meica before stopping a hand's length away from her seat.
"Um… Meica, are you alright?" Abyssal asked.
"Un. Yeah, I'm fine. Not looking forward to going back though," Meica replied sulkily, her head not bothering to look at Abyssal.
"Well, you should have known this would happen when you told Astral about your secret."
"I for once, think that this is a good idea. It will be one less baggage at least. And no more random battlecruiser chasing us to the ends of the galaxy," Kuon interjected, giving her opinion on the matter.
Meica didn't reply, only sulking further and giving a pout. Abyssal could only give a wry smile at the comment.
"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure you can work things out with your family. And you know what? I'll be right at your side when it happens, how's that sound?" Abyssal said, trying to be as cheerful as possible.
Meica nodded towards Abyssal, giving her a soft smile. "Un. Thanks, Abyssal."
Kuon, on the other hand, let out a sigh. "Must we babysit you all the way?"
"Stupid maid drone shut up, nyaa! Not helping!" Meica yelled as she threw something towards the maid.
It was a small rubber ball which was thrown with a rather immaculate accuracy towards Kuon. A throw that was dodge by an equally immaculate dodge from the maid. The rubber ball hit the floor before exploding, revealing that it was a water balloon filled with dirty water. Abyssal swore she could see a vein pop out of the maid as she quickly squeezed the Nekomi by her cheeks. Meica tried to fight back and get away from her, but the maid and her new body proved to be much stronger than the genetically enhanced person.
"I just cleaned the bridge, you know…" Kuon said with a chill in her voice. On her face was a cold smile as she pulled Meica's cheeks even harder.
"Argh! Nyaa, Swoweee!" Meica screamed for forgiveness to no avail.
As the small event was happening, Abyssal received a transmission.
'It's Astral,' Abyssal thought to herself before answering the call through her subconscious mind. The monitor on the bridge changed display towards a red-haired girl with a ponytail wearing a red jumpsuit in a dark red cockpit with glowing red lines.
"Abyssal, I'm done with my checks. What's your situation?" Astral said towards the camera.
"I'm ready to launch at any moment."
"Good. Then I don't see any reason to waste any more time. I'll be deactivating the barrier now. You go first, I'll follow behind. Remember that it is an asteroid belt out there. Manoeuvre properly," Astral said before cutting the call.
Just as she said, the dreaded barrier around Abyssal disappeared. The hideout hangar gates opened up, revealing the ever-familiar sight of space. Holographic arrows appeared from a wall projector to guide Abyssal on the optimal route to exit the hideout— not that she needed it.
Abyssal would be lying if she said she didn't have that small evil thought of taking this opportunity to send a detachment of nanites to assimilate some stuff in the hideout. However, that small thought was quickly pushed out of the way when Abyssal saw that Astral had her giant laser gun aimed right at Abyssal.
She felt the need to let out a gulp as if she had saliva in her mouth and the need to do so. She then turned on her ship engines and thrusters. The ship rumbled a bit and she soon started moving towards the outside of the hideout. Soon, she passed the green translucent barrier that separated the inside atmosphere from the outside. Once outside, she activated her shields before moving out of the way of a moving piece rock that seemed to be orbiting the entrance of the hideout. The one immediate thing that Abyssal could notice as compared to the first time she arrived in the area, was the fact that she could detect objects more accurately and at a much farther distance. Her 'vision' of her entire surroundings was noticeably better than ever. It was like a short-sighted person wearing glasses for the first time.
Minutes later, Astral's ship phoenix was seen zooming outwards from the hideout. She passed by Abyssal before orbiting next to the ship.
"How do you like it? The taste of freedom after several days?" Astral said to Abyssal.
Abyssal stretched her body before replying. "Feels great. Feels like I can finally stretch my wings."
"Good. You've installed that radar I gave you, right?"
"Um yeah."
"Good. Let's link up our feedback," Astral said as she sent a request to link up their radars. Abyssal accepted without hesitation.
Transmission of data was then sent from Astral's ship towards the S.A.S. Abyssal and vice versa. A plethora of information regarding a large area of her surroundings. Just like before, Abyssal filtered through the stream of information and picked out only the relevant ones. Just like that, her 'vision' which was already bolstered by the advance radar was bolstered even further. Even the smallest of rocks and their trajectory was being tracked by their linked radar systems.
“Are we linked up? Good. I’m sending you the coordinates of our next location,” Astral said as a visual marker appeared on Abyssal’s map signifying their current destination. It was at a border near Dawning Star territory— still a neutral territory. Alongside it was smaller coordinates that displayed a path towards the said border.
As this was all happening, Abyssal suddenly detected a large explosion from right behind her. Immediately looking towards the explosion, Abyssal could see that the hideout she was in a moment ago was being blown apart to pieces by detonations that seemed to originate from the inside. The explosion from the blast was so strong that the shockwave, containing rocks and debris, even reached Abyssal, slightly damaging her shield.
"Wh-wha-what was that?!" Abyssal asked in a panic.
“What does it look like? I’m disposing of the hideout,” Astral replied nonchalantly as if it was an everyday occurrence for her. She was in the cockpit of her ship messing around with a few buttons, not even looking towards the camera. Looking outwards towards the hideout, which was now nothing more than pieces of rocks floating around in the belt, Abyssal let out a comment.
“Eh? You got such a nice hideout and you’re just going to get rid of it just like that?”
“The hideout is compromised. No point to keeping it. I got plenty of others.”
“What a waste! I could have just assimilated the whole thing! You could have told me!”
“Which I didn’t want you to do. Hence the not telling part.”
“…”
“Don’t give me that look. You’ll have more chances to assimilate whatever you want later on. Go grab your own stuff instead of stealing from others, sheez.”
Abyssal didn’t reply, only looking towards the red-haired girl with a disgusted look.
Says the thief
Wasteful bit*h
It’s not stealing if you’re taking something someone else is throwing it away. I’m starting to dislike astral more and more as time goes by
that whole base is literally fill with goverments and companies secrets.
@mon5y-san Ones that she didn't even think were 'worth her time' to use or install. It's like having the missing picaso in your house storage and throwing it away for spring cleaning because it didn't fit your decor. 'meh, I have another one' Astral it is!
@MidnightNetiZen
it is useless to her does't mean her head will detach from her neck roll on ground if leak out.
most breeding edge prototypes won't be useful for end user most of time.
@mon5y-san *cough* I was more making a comment about the fact it was priceless tech. But even if the bleeding edge prototype is some kind of nuclear powered can opener it can still be disassembled for it's nuclear power source that she could use. Cuz super tech usually means super budget and Abbysal is on a no budget expense account...
@MidnightNetiZen
you know how it work. even irl.
what will happen if abyssal got captured. design of her reactor is copycat of secret military tech.
what if she got so much firepower quickly and notice by nations. battleships from all 3 big nations already know that astral help abyssal.
i think astral is too kind for her own good. she should just leave abyssal right there.
abyssal is opportunist, thief, lier, don't respect privacy or other's property.
she is only likable
[1.she's the protag
2.she's underdog
3.fun personality
but she's not "good guys".
@mon5y-san And neither is 'I'm a gal with a jaded past and a story to tell' Astral. If anything Astral is very specifically 'not one of the good guys, cuz I'm an anti-hero fighting the world'. And if anything Abyssal couldn't level fast enough. If she was a cloaky battleship that could appear anywhere she wanted at will then no nation could really just up and say 'mine' kinda like jinko. And she already has another core gal on staff. Really the only thing it does is keep her so weak that she may go noticed. But she is a core, so what if she has super secret stuff? That's like saying you don't want to get the assassin targeting you made so they won't kill you... Remember she is a valuable material not a person. As long as she is too weak to fend off entire nations those same nations will look at it like they are picking up pretty stones if they abduct her, and like they are reformating hardware if they whip her mind and brainwash her.
@MidnightNetiZen
do you read what i write?
what does that has to do with anything?
even if she don't get caught
she will quickly become powerful. notice by nations. autospy show that she quickly gain power after meeting astral. who hold on many secret techs.
abyssal has to promise that she will slowly level up to not trouble astral. which i doubt she will.
@mon5y-san the thing is, they already know astral does. And it isn't about 'slowly leveling' because that will prevent Abbysal from getting into trouble. So I ask you if you read what I wrote... She needs power and info, the two things Astral is tight fisted with. Even whats'er face may not have been all that bad, because we do not know Astral's motives even though we 'know'. Because so far all we know is what she says. And what she says is that she is a rebel against the system fighting the good fight. That doesn't mean she won't turn Abbysal over. The only thing that could stop Abbysal from being a liability is everything that Astral isn't giving her. If she was epic and overpowered she could fly around and do whatever. If astral gave her the best tech she had Abbysal could print out a bunch of her phoenix things, maybe even battleship sized ones, and go reek havoc in typical Abbysal fashion, which is good natured but complete chaos. The only reason is the typical reason, because she doesn't want Abbysal to get too powerful.
@MidnightNetiZen
"Because she doesn't want Abbysal to get too powerful"
Yes, I won't give a child a gun either. What do you expect? Astral is fine owning all these tech by herself because she have connections, experience, and over all of that, know how to go under the radar of any potential dangerous factor. And what Abyssal have? Other than a big target mark on her back, namely being a core, that will only get bigger if she somehow get the new shiny tech without knowing how to properly use them?
@MidnightNetiZen
accusation of [one-time help rouge core] and [give rouge core all goverments/companies secret you own] has different weight you know
you seem to side with abyssal too much. please try to see her from perspective of goverments, human citizens, or astral's.
she's definitely a theat.
she's stupid, emotional, careless, and don't care about other's properties or rights.
combine with her unknown limit of assimilation capability and dream of become biggest ship in galaxy.
definitely really dangerous
@mon5y-san She's dangerous but so are pirates, human's nation who as far as this story goes are all tyrants including the businesses that survive in them as well as any number of things. Also, the last thing I said in my comment was "The only reason is the typical reason, because she doesn't want Abbysal to get too powerful." And yes, I am siding with Abbysal as this is a story about the MC. If this was not I would say Big gov. needs to come in wipe out all this wild west and bring around stability. But this is not, it's a story, all gov.s are corrupt assholes that we've seen. Part of the point is for Abbysal to grow up into a big 'good' ship. Also, @raizors A child doesn't live alone and out in the wild, nor does said child literally eat guns, if it did I would say you had to because otherwise that child would starve to death... So I guess that's a vote from you for starving children living alone in the wild? She is a core, not a human, she does not live by our standards or a human standard. Astral is literally already wanted for this shit, but you are saying that a wanted murderer and terrorist still on the run but too powerful to make being hunted down worth it should worry about literally a little theft being added to her rap sheet? I don't think either of you really get it, your just spouting BS at this point, which is fine, trolls love being troll, I know I do, but really. If you don't get it, your not at this point...
@MidnightNetiZen
"A child doesn't live alone and out in the wild" -> no comment because seem like you have no reading comprehension
"nor does said child literally eat guns" -> arguably true, not quite btw, also you miss the whole point
"if it did I would say you had to because otherwise that child would starve to death" -> no, the "child" in this question do not starve for not eating a gun (that's not even eating btw), nor did she have to do it. Also this sentence do not make sense either
"So I guess that's a vote from you for starving children living alone in the wild?" -> Can I say about how you literally misinterpret my words horribly for some reasons?
"She is a core, not a human," -> Yes, but her mind is that of a human thou
"she does not live by our standards or a human standard" -> so? Since when do I talk about survivability need of a core?
"Astral is literally already wanted for this shit" -> okay?
"but you are saying that a wanted murderer and terrorist still on the run but too powerful to make being hunted down worth it should worry about literally a little theft being added to her rap sheet" -> no, I'm saying that Abyssal is too mtfk immature to not causing trouble as she get her hand on some dangerous new shiny toys, and Astral know that. She is protecting Abyssal and help her to the best of her own capacity.
"I don't think either of you really get it" -> No, I get it and that's why I'm here talking with you because it's so wrong in many level
"your just spouting BS at this point" -> no you are
"which is fine" -> yes, it is. I do not say anything wrong to begin with
"trolls love being troll" -> nice, calling everyone who disagree with you troll, what kind of entitled attitude is this?
"I know I do" -> so you admit you are a troll? If so I retract my earlier statement
"If you don't get it" -> I do but it's wrong so...
"your not at this point..." -> this do not make sense, so no comment
@Raizors This thread so very troll at this point. I'm torn but that is why troll is troll. Also,
no, I'm saying that Abyssal is too mtfk immature to not causing trouble as she get her hand on some dangerous new shiny toys, and Astral know that. She is protecting Abyssal and help her to the best of her own capacity.
Simple, the only reason Abbysal is on the run is because she is the little puppy in the big dog fights. Had she been better equipped she would not have had to do any of the things that she had to do because she was too weak. And the entire point of astral bringing her out of the lawless maw was because (a literal quote here) "she is too weak" to be there.
"your not at this point..." -> this do not make sense, so no comment
isn't that a comment... also, I pretty sure I couldn't be more literal, if you don't get it, your not. A lot of this thread has been circular logic because one person just wants the other to say GG you win your version of the same damn thing is better. So, GG you win.
"trolls love being troll" -> nice, calling everyone who disagree with you troll, what kind of entitled attitude is this?
"I know I do" -> so you admit you are a troll? If so I retract my earlier statement
I'm entitled and a troll. I'm actually probably entitle because I'm a troll. At least on occasion or the internet in general.
@MidnightNetiZen
"This thread so very troll at this point" -> no, I'm dead serious
"I'm torn but that is why troll is troll" -> and now you are playing victim?
"the only reason Abbysal is on the run is because she is the little puppy in the big dog fights" -> no, that's because she get into trouble in the first place. Sure Meica incident is not her fault but at the same time, she literally can avoid getting into that big of a trouble in the first place
"Had she been better equipped she would not have had to do any of the things that she had to do because she was too weak" -> believe or not, she will still die. Since she is too weak to be considered a threat, she can sneakily run away previously, has she been better equipped, I bet the big dogs won't just ignore her. And oops, ded
"And the entire point of astral bringing her out of the lawless maw was because (a literal quote here) "she is too weak" to be there" -> yes, and Astral also give her a good radar and engine so that she won't have any problem roaming in the rest of the universe. Since when you expect random citizen to travel right in the middle of the war zone?
"isn't that a comment" -> ...
"also, I pretty sure I couldn't be more literal" -> then you are as terrible at writing as your ability to read
"if you don't get it, your not" -> understandable
"A lot of this thread has been circular logic because one person just wants the other to say GG you win" -> that's basically the point of debating... You convince other to agree with your point
"your version of the same damn thing is better" -> again, I don't know if this thing even make sense, but sure
"So, GG you win" -> no, if you are going to disrespecting other, just don't start it in the first place
"I'm entitled and a troll. I'm actually probably entitle because I'm a troll. At least on occasion or the internet in general." -> understandable, have a nice day
Let just agree to disagree because this is getting nowhere. I just here to drop my opinion. Also, a little addition, Astral can just not helping Abyssal at all, she go all the way, go through that much trouble just to save a certain core's ass everytime, and all she get is a bunch of comment angry at her for being thoughtful by some entitled parent (reader) who only want their entitled kid (Abyssal) to get what they want (shiny new tech) because why not. If I'm Astral and knowing all of this, I will make sure I ignore Abyssal next time she get into trouble.
@MidnightNetiZen
all i ask you is to see thing objectively......