Chapter 196: Chapter 196

"Loke seemed to believe the outpost's Re/Gen unit could be repaired," Jenny commented sadly as she looked to her feline girlfriend. "You don't share his optimism?"

Cammie's ears and tail all drooped as she sighed, "The power couplers were completely fused. That's an easy repair though, me and Sarah could fix up a whole new set in no time at all. It's just, the problem's a lot bigger than that."

"I opened up the maintenance covers and gave it a real good inspection while we was there," the mechanic continued with a sad look on her face, "The surge that blew the couplers also played havoc with the internals. I'm pretty sure the data storage system's ok, but I'm just as sure the primary processor's completely blown."

Hearing our 'small town mechanic' talking about the highly advanced technology that was a Re/Gen pod surprised me at first, but it didn't take long to realize it shouldn't have. After all Cam was in a relationship with our AI, along with her android sister. It made perfect sense that the engineering apprentice would want to know as much as she could about how her girlfriends worked, so she'd be in a position to repair them if the need ever arose.

Our AI's expression fell as she processed the latest bad news about her fellow Re/Gen unit, "I see. With all her data intact she'd be easily restored after her processor was repaired. But she can't be repaired without replacement parts. And those parts likely don't exist anymore. Even if they do, we have no way to obtain them."

"I'm real sorry Jenny," the catgirl apologized again.

Jenna reached out and put an arm around Cam's shoulders as she assured her girlfriend, "You did your best Cammie."

Salvage work had finally wrapped up for the day, and possibly for this mission. The Demeter's holds were pretty much full, now my shipmates were all seated around the table in the mess waiting for me to finish preparing dinner.

That was only a few minutes away so I asked, "Sarah would you mind setting the table? Food's almost ready."

"Of course," the cute blonde smiled as she got up and grabbed some plates and cutlery.

Then as Sarah started setting out plates she looked to our AI and asked, "Sorry if this is offensive Jenny, but I take it Loke is permanently offline? Is there any chance we could salvage the processor from his hardware? And if we could, would it be compatible with the other Re/Gen unit?"

Another frown settled on her face as Jenny thought about that for a few moments. She admitted, "I honestly don't know if they'd be compatible? It's possible, but I don't know enough about the hardware to be sure."

"I know it may seem likely," she added, "After all we're all AIs, whether we're running ships or outposts or Re/Gen capsules. Having said that, I would assume Loke's hardware is going to be much more compatible with Kára's. On the other hand I know that Idun and myself are completely compatible, as we're both the exact same model field unit."

Cammie's ears twitched and she asked, "Idun? Is that the name of the other capsule's AI?"

The sadness returned to Jenny's eyes as she nodded, "That's correct."

After serving up tonight's dinner Sarah and I both took our seats on either side of Rebecca. Then our engineer asked, "In that case if we can't repair the other Re/Gen, should we consider salvaging it as a source of spare parts for you?"

"I hope that's not offensive either Jenny," the cute blonde added quickly. "I'm kind of looking at all this from an engineering angle, but I'll shut up about it if these questions bother you."

Our AI still looked sad, but she shook her head. "It's alright Sarah. I know you're trying to be helpful. I'm not sure yet how I feel about looking to either Loke or Idun as a source of spare parts. My thoughts on the matter may change once we've had time to properly inspect Kára's computer core."

"If she's damaged but repairable then I would probably make the decision to harvest parts from Loke to save my sister," she added quietly. After a glance at Jenna she grimaced and corrected herself, "My older sister, that is."

Jenna gave the hologram a sad smile, but if there were any words exchanged between them that conversation was carried out electronically while the rest of us ate. In fact we were all quiet for the next minute or two, before a related question popped into my head. It was actually something I'd originally wondered about way back in the early days when Sarah and I were new to the Demeter.

I looked at Cam and Jenny as I asked, "If Idun's data storage is intact, is there any way to transfer that data out? I'm thinking about the body files, and any modification files that might be in there. I don't know how many people would have been assigned to that station, but I'm positive there were at least some men there, right? So there'd be male body files?"

Sarah chimed in, "From what we saw on the crew accommodations deck there was room for a few dozen people. Thirty or forty I think?"

"I believe the outpost had a crew of thirty," Jenny stated. "And you are correct Amanda, there was a mix of both men and women stationed there. Having an all-female crew was the exception rather than the norm, and as far as I know it was only common for Valkyrie-class ships like the Kára."

After another slight pause she answered my other question, "And yes, if those records can be copied from Idun's hardware then it should be possible to add them to my own database."

Rebecca had been quiet pretty much since we all sat down at the dining table. She finally joined the conversation at that point, "What would be involved in that? And how long would it take?"

We all ended up looking at Cammie, since she was our resident expert on the topic of Re/Gen hardware. The catgirl's ears folded back while her tail tucked between her legs, but she looked thoughtful as she considered the question.

"I reckon we could do it without disassembling or disturbing the existing hardware," she finally responded. "I'd need a portable power pack, a portable terminal, and enough high-capacity data crystals to hold all them records. Only other thing I'd need is some time to manually patch it all together. Say... about two hours I figure?"

She continued, "Once we had the data we'd need to figure out how to safely get it loaded into Jenny here -"

Our AI took over, "I'm fairly confident I could handle that side of things myself. Just plug the data crystals into the terminal in our quarters, I can directly access the contents from there."

The boss thought that over while she had a sip of her drink. Then she came to a decision. "First thing in the morning we'll have one more EVA over to the station, so Cammie can try and retrieve the Re/Gen data. We'll budget three hours for that. Then we'll push off and set course for Rolandan-2. That'll be a level zero jump. We're about seven days out I think, which should give us plenty of time to inspect and catalog everything we've recovered."

"We know where the outpost is, and now we know it's safe to approach," she continued. "We haven't even started salvaging the base yet, so if it turns out the stuff Loke pulled off the Kára is as valuable as we're hoping then we'll definitely be back here for whatever else we can find."

After another gulp of her drink Rebecca looked to our AI and added, "Or if you decide you want us to try and recover the other Re/Gen, or salvage parts from the other computer core, then we'll come back here and get whatever's necessary."

"Thank you captain," Jenny replied, while the rest of us nodded in agreement.

Our catgirl's estimate of two hours turned out to be pretty accurate. She and Sarah and Jenna set out on another EVA into the outpost first thing in the morning, as soon as we'd all finished breakfast. Meanwhile Rebecca and Jenny and I waited in the cockpit again like usual.

Cammie took charge of things, while Sarah acted like the catgirl's assistant. And Jenna was mostly there to carry stuff and act as a safety spotter, in the unlikely event of anything going wrong.

After about two hours and twenty minutes our apprentice engineer announced that she'd successfully copied out the damaged Re/Gen pod's database, into a few dozen high-capacity data crystals. The three of them packed up their gear, but since they were under Rebecca's three hour limit they decided not to return to the ship right away.

Instead they visited Loke's computer core, so Cam could get a look at it and maybe evaluate its condition. She was careful not to touch anything, but after twenty or thirty minutes she'd seen enough to know what areas were damaged and which subsystems looked to be in good shape. Neither she or Jenny said anything, but it was clear the catgirl was thinking ahead. If the Kára's core needed spare parts, Cammie would know up front whether or not those parts were available.

Then with a few minutes to spare our three shipmates finally came back aboard. The ramp and main airlock were sealed up, and as soon as our mechanics were at their regular stations Rebecca started moving the Demeter away from the asteroid base.

Once we were clear the boss pushed the throttle up a little higher then asked, "Amanda, please plot us a level zero jump to Rolandan-2."

"Already on it," I replied.

It didn't take long, and as soon as I had the plot finished and verified my girlfriend hit the control. There was a little shudder through the deck plates as the ship accelerated into Jump-0, and that was that.

I checked my nav screen one last time and reported, "Six days, fourteen hours in transit."

"Thanks Amanda," Rebecca smiled.

Then we both got up out of our seats, as did Jenny. Our AI met Jenna and Cammie in the corridor, and all three of them ducked into their cabin with those data crystals they'd loaded up from the base.

"Let us know how it goes," the boss said as the door slid shut behind the others.

The two of us continued on to the ship's mess, where we met our other girlfriend coming forward from engineering.

Sarah asked, "Did you want to start working on the cargo immediately? Or are we taking a little break first?"

Rebecca shrugged, "Let's take an hour. I have no idea how much time Jenny needs to process those crystals, but I'm curious to find out if she gets anything useful out of them."

"Same," I added, while my tail swished back and forth behind me.

The three of us grabbed some drinks then sat down together on the sofa in the small lounge area, but it turned out we didn't have to wait all that long before our questions were answered.

Cammie Jenny and Jenna emerged from their cabin only about an hour later, then the three of them joined us after the catgirl got herself a drink. They all took seats around the little table, then Jenny realized how my girlfriends and I were all looking on expectantly.

The AI announced proudly, "Cammie's data recovery mission was a complete success. Idun had twenty-nine body files in her library, plus seven modification routines."

The catgirl's ears folded back and she blushed when her girlfriend praised her. Then she blushed even brighter when her other girlfriend reached up and scritched her ears, "We all knew you could do it cutie. Great job as usual."

Jenny looked like she was trying not to smile at her girlfriend's embarrassment as she continued, "Seventeen of those twenty-nine files are masculine, while the remaining twelve are feminine."

"So now you can help men if you have to," I responded. "Not that we have any men in our crew at the moment, but at least the possibility's there, right?"

The hologram nodded, "That's correct Amanda. In fact those additional files along with the mod routines open up a wealth of new possibilities. I'm eager to examine the mods in more detail. Between them and the new body files I'm feeling much more capable now." Dıscover more novels at novel✶fire.net

"That sounds great," I smiled.

"It is," Jenny agreed. She glanced at Cammie as she added, "And we owe it all to this clever catgirl."

Naturally that got her girlfriend blushing again, which was why our AI said it. Jenna delivered some more scritchies to the flustered mechanic, before addressing the rest of us.

"So we're in jump now," the android began, "I take it our next task will be to inspect and inventory the salvage?"

Jenny pointed out, "Now that we're en route I'd also like some time for Cammie and I to inspect Kára's computer core."

Rebecca nodded, "Yes on both counts. If you want to check out the computer core first that's fine with me. The only rule I'm going to give you about that is if you think it can be powered up, do not connect it to the ship's data bus without my express approval."

"I'm going to want to do the same thing we did with you Jenny," the boss added. "If she's operational we can hook her up to a portable terminal and meet with her first. Then we'll go from there."

Our AI nodded, "Of course captain. If we find Kára to be operational I would have made that suggestion myself. Not that I believe she would intentionally endanger the ship or any of us, but there's a great many things I would have to explain to her before she'd be ready to accept any new responsibilities. Assuming she was even willing to do so."

With that out of the way Jenny and Jenna waited for their girlfriend to finish her drink, then the three of them headed down to the secondary hold so they could start examining the recovered core.

My girlfriends and I decided to enjoy the rest of our break before joining the others down in the hold.