The drones got right to work bringing the contents of the storage locker to the Fusion Reactor's loading chute. Interestingly, they all appeared to be pressurized gas mixes in a pure carbon matrix container. That must mean that it was a CNO cycle reaction, just like the ones that he had been using for the Dyson Sphere.
This reactor was actually much more primitive, though more advanced in technology used. It was a strange thing, like they had moved backwards in development and just arbitrarily stopped using more effective power generation techniques.
It didn't make any sense. Max recalled the timeline, and this ship should have been made thousands of years after the cargo freighter that he had rebuilt. There was no reason for its power source to be like this.
It wasn't more efficient, it wasn't easier to make, it wasn't even more stable or resistant to catastrophic failure.
But here it was, looking back at him as the drones loaded it with fusion materials. The gas canisters would be consumed down to the last atom to sustain the reaction, which would be started using energy from the Warp Core.
That part made sense. There was no need for a complex solution to getting the reaction started, like the piece of a neutron star that they had used for the Dyson Sphere prototype, if you had another power source readily available to do the job.
This reactor wasn't completely self-sustaining, it required a steady feed of materials to keep it running, which was one of the reasons that Max was confused by the choice. If you were going on an extended deployment, wouldn't you want to be self-sufficient?
He hadn't been far enough up the chain of command to notice at this point in his last life, but they really did treat everything and everyone as a throwaway product. Even Kepler at least tried to give their Pilots the most efficient of war equipment that they could, and not just some random junk that they could throw together on the cheap.
Maybe it was part of human nature?
[Loading Chute sufficiently loaded to begin initializing fusion reactor. Begin now?] Y/N
The information appeared on the screen beside him, while Sylvie gave Max an expectant look.
"Alright, get the reactor online and then get me an update on how the sensors are doing." Max agreed.
"Beginning the initialization. Please place your hand on the Avatar for a continual neural link." Sylvie replied.
Max was beginning to get the feeling that the AI actually had a fondness for being patted on the head, so he pulled up the records from the bridge to watch a small scene of the previous Admiral interacting with the Sylvie avatar.
What he found was an old man, skin wrinkled and mottled with age, lecherously groping a mature version of the Sylvie avatar to give commands while the rest of the bridge crew looked distinctly uncomfortable.
Max promptly closed the file and placed his hand on her head. This was definitely preferable to the previous Admiral's behaviour.
The neural link settled into place, and the scene around the Fusion Reactor appeared in Max's mind. The lights were slowly going green one after another as all the safety checks were completed, and the first round of canisters was loaded from the chute into the reactor.
[Beginning energy influx from the Warp Core.] Sylvie informed him through the link.
The scene changed to the interior of the reactor's shell, looking inward at the reactor core.
[I sense amusement, what about this reactor is amusing to you, I don't understand?] Sylvie asked.
"It is a semi-sustained Fusion Plasma Reactor. You've been offline for quite a while, but those reactors haven't been used for power generation in quite a long time. Instead, we use a stabilized version of them to discharge plasma blasts as a Mecha weapon." Max replied out loud.
Sylvie hummed happily as the reactor initialized, and Max recognized the intent of the tune to be something like the waiting music when you were put on hold during a call, or waiting in an elevator or lobby.
Whoever programmed or guided the development of this AI had a strange sense of humour.
However, when he looked at the thoughts of the team, he found them singing and dancing with the other copy of the avatar, so perhaps he was the odd one out in this situation.
They were teaching the avatar a children's song about technology development stages and procedures, a very catchy tune that detailed why every step of the development process was important to budding young Innu.
[Fusion reaction is now sustained, bringing power circuits online.] Sylvie happily announced.
That brought the power levels on the ship back up to operational standards, and the thoughts of the AI hummed within Max's as she brought more system functions and repair nodes online, sometimes using nearby repair nodes to fix the damaged ones to get the whole system operational for improved efficiency.
"Can you tell me how long until the next anticipated attack?" Sylvie asked out loud once the repair system was online.
"We are a long way from the battle lines. Unless the Great Enemy happens to find us out here, we should have at least a month before anything that was looking for us reaches our location." Max replied.
"That is longer than anticipated. This vessel was created and crewed in ten days, and then in combat on the eleventh." She informed him.
"And then destroyed less than a month later." Max added.
"That is correct." Sylvie agreed.
Perhaps the designers had a point. The entire lifespan of this World Ship had barely been a month long. It wasn't just Mecha and infantry that they were going through like water in battle at the time. Compared to that, the current situation was relatively calm.
"Is there any adjustability in that Reactor? I have upgraded plans, and if we can make changes without taking it offline, I can increase the power output and efficiency by a magnitude of three without changing any parts." Max asked.
"Yes, Admiral. The reactor is fully configurable. Please input your desired settings for safety verification."
