Now that they had the power back online, at least to some degree, it was time to start patching the holes in the ship.
The drones were tasked with getting all the doors working, and that included the airlock doors as well, though the ones that were closed and sealed weren't considered a priority.
But there was still a massive chunk cut out of the ship, over a kilometre long, and if the ship had a self repair function, it was not yet online. But then, if it had that powerful of a self repair function, it likely wouldn't have ended up in this situation to begin with. They could have taken care of the damage that the traitors had done and worked to get the ship operational again.
The easiest solution to that was to send out the shuttles that they had managed to cram into the cargo bays. They had been packed full of drones for transport, but they were empty now, and they could be equipped with a Terraforming Array capable of rebuilding the damage to the hull of the World Ship.
They could deal with the interior later, unless it was obvious what structure should be there, but the priority was to make the vessel airtight again.
Max examined the hull itself, which was made of a rather simple alloy, strong, malleable at most temperatures instead of getting brittle, as well as durable, but why such a crude alloy had been used was a mystery.
So, he asked the computer, using his new access credentials.
[Records indicate that the primary driving factor for this choice was the minimal energy input required to convert the alloy from raw metallic asteroid materials. Minimized conversion energy requirements allowed for maximum offensive firepower while the vessel was being repaired.] The computer responded as text on his connected data tablet.
[What are the current repair capabilities of this vessel?] Max asked, wondering if they were still offline but functional.
[Analyzing. 30 seconds remaining.]
[Conclusion: All hard mounted repair devices have been destroyed or removed from the vessel. Scanning for handheld devices. Three handheld devices detected, currently discharged, operational status unknown.]
It brought up a location for the three devices, which were in a storage cabinet on the bridge, and Max immediately tasked a drone to get them charged. If they had more repair data, or technology blueprints, they could be invaluable to the Reaver forces, and to Nico's mental health.
She was always in a good mood with new technology to study.
On the practical side, the lowered energy requirements from raw ore meant that they could rebuild the hull of the ship faster with the same number of Terraforming Arrays, which was always an advantage. They just needed to link the hull design to the shuttles so that they knew what the structure of the ship was supposed to be and didn't just put a nice smooth patch over the jagged hole.
They would do it too. Without any additional instructions, they would create the most efficient matching surface and then leave it for whoever came after to add the details. The devices were intended to terraform planets after all, and the finer details didn't really matter there, unless they were programmed in.
The computer had the schematics, and the layout was deliberately simple, made so that soldiers didn't get lost wandering the corridors or delayed in getting to meetings by illogical corridor designs.
"They're certainly making this easy for us, aren't they?" Nico asked as she saw the replacement layout and materials for the area needing to be patched.
"Yeah, it looks like the whole ship was designed for maximum production efficiency. They really did intend for these things to be semi disposable, without a kilowatt of energy wasted." Max agreed.
With the fusion core, there should have been plenty of energy available for their daily use, and Max knew that there were much more advanced technologies available at the time, as even the derelict freighter he had repaired as a kid was more advanced than this.
It was a sobering thought. The ship, and the hundred million soldiers on it, weren't worth a single bit of added luxury or energy expenditure to the war machine. He hadn't realized it at the time, but human lives really didn't mean anything to those in charge of the war effort.
They were just numbers and statistics to the leadership, just like he had become a generic hero, there to fill in the motivational needs of the population in his later years.
Fortunately, the current batch of human leadership valued their troops a bit more than this. As they could see on this ship, a lack of care and attention was a breeding ground for rebellion, and sweet lies were incredibly subversive to the human psyche.
Even if they knew that they were being lied to, many would choose to believe that it would end differently this time, that the lies would all work out for the best, and that they weren't making a mistake.
Four of the shuttles were tasked with going around the exterior of the vessel and patching the smaller damaged areas, while the rest of them worked to repair the largest. Once the small patches were done, the rest of the shuttles would work their way toward the main team from the far side, then return here to their cargo bay to await more instructions.
Max was certain that there was something that he was missing, something that he should be doing more urgently than repairing the world ship, but he just couldn't seem to put his finger on it. It was important, but not threatening, just something that he had missed, and his combat senses were keeping him aware of it at all times, even though he didn't know what it was.
Then it hit him. They had done a thorough search of the region hidden by the optical array, but they hadn't once searched the area for more anomalies that might be other hidden ships or debris. With the shields down, anything that hit them could cause significant damage, and it didn't take much of an impact to influence the balance of objects in space.
Even the distortion of their Warp Drive or the Portal as they had arrived might have thrown them out of equilibrium, and something valuable might be lost forever if they didn't find it before it was out of range.
