The captured convoy just arrived at Altair. Once an LSF experimental base, the magnificent complex now served as a main shipyard to hold and equip capital ships. It's no surprise the Musashi would be repaired here. Luckily, the repairs necessary weren't that major - top and bottom fins were gone, engine and interior slightly damaged and the ship itself had a lot of small holes due to radiation and asteroids. Most of the materials necessary for assembling the ship were already here, with the last runs from the Arch waiting.
Contents of the convoy were still unknown and were pending proper examination at the experimental part of the complex. In the meantime the top fins were first to be repaired. Pretty straightforward - not a lot of interior parts or systems functioning through it.
While the fins were repaired, it was time to simultaneously patch up small holes around the ship. Just patching them up seemed simple enough, but an immediate problem came up - the weapons system connected through the interior was completely destroyed and another way had to be found to make it work again. The architects had a quick look at the blueprints but found no good equipment to replace it - those parts rarely get damaged or changed. And as Kusari wasn't just going to hand them over they proposed a different solution...
In the meantime the contents of the convoy were examined. To everyone's surprise, it was nowhere near what the intel said. "Prototype weapons"? Not only are there no prototype weapons, there are no valuable weapons at all. All the convoy had was regular weapons for Gallic capital ships, ranging from a couple of Heavy Trebuchets to dozens of Cruiser primaries. Those will undoubtedly be put to good use, but everyone expected more. The only thing different were some kind of flak cannons that looked like the regular Gallic version at first glance, but needed further examination.
The fins got finalized and it was time to move to the engine. It also suffered damage in the form of small holes from radiation and asteroids, but a bottom left one was also damaged. All the necessary goods were now here and the repair of that section was underway.
The small holes around the ship got patched up everywhere except around the gun slots. It seems that the weapons system won't be fully working despite another pass, and there was only one quick and easy alternative - hybridization. The ship itself was to make another, alternate weapons system made from organic tissue connected from the guns through the interior into a modified section of the ship. Seeing as it went hand in hand with the repair of the interior itself, the plan was accepted.
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The Gallic convoy got fully examined. It turned out to be better than expected at first - the weapons are in perfect condition, loaded into the ship just after manufacturing. The flaks turned out not to be of Gallic origin after all. It seems they're very similar to regular ones but focus on damaging the shields only. A total list counts:
Only a few will be usable at best on the Musashi due to the problem of the destroyed weapons system. It would appear that the nose and area around the engine were affected the least by the damage, which is reasonable considering the volume and shape. It might give some room to work with and rebuild the old system partially. It still means the new, hybrid one has to be implemented no matter what happens, and that's going to take some additional storage in the interior.
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Hybridization of the interior is complete. The tissue is made in a way to maximize interior space for crew to operate the battleship by being attached next to walls and space between rooms and surface. A portion of the ship's space had to be sacrificed however, in order to connect it fully in an alternate "command" center. Cargo section was chosen, but the ship itself has more than enough cargo space that it shouldn't be anything major. "Mounting" organic guns is the only checkbox left.
Regular weapons system was repaired as much as possible, but with small success. As expected, most of it couldn't be recovered except one weapon at the nose and two near the engine, where the ship took the least damage. It's fully functional again, although the guns themselves will only complement the hybrid ones that are scheduled for implementation.
With the weapon components and all "non-organic" compounds near completely ready. It came time for the crew to be adjusted to serve what would be "their" one purpose. After meeting nothing short of success in intercepting a weapons convoy from Orkney - De La Serre's rotation or "reward" put her at Altair with the job of providing the Musashi with a new crew. Each of them were brought on-board the station in pods, they were conscious; aware even. Alexis stood emotionless as the first pod rolled next to her from the hangar bay down the hall. Without even flinching, she ripped open the first pod and clenched the throat of what would be her first victim.
As the victim struggled to break free of her grip, Alexis' eyes lit up with purple, followed by the capillaries, arteries, and veins turning to a dark purple. This sinister image rendered the victim paralyzed by fear, which was only capitalized on by tentacles gutting the victim. After a few seconds, she let up her grip and awaited the next victim, repeating until the process had a fresh crew of "willing-full people". With the process finished, telepathy covered their next orders - working the docked Musashi.
We're happily anouncing that the repair process has been completed a couple of days ago. A few test runs were made in the meantime to make sure everything's working and they went flawlessly. The ship's interior as well as weapons systems have been hybridized, the captured crew has been transformed and is now manning the ship and we loaded all the fuel and supplies inside the cargo hold. We also added some extra equipment to improve its performance.
I, captain Namura, will personally take command of the ship and captain Nakamura will be taking the Kakushi. We're still considering who's taking over Sahaquiel, but for the time being it's moored on the Arch. As always - one goal, one mind, one purpose.