Chapter 33 Salvage.
After he took care of everything and ordered the two Component manufacturing modules to create a third one, which would be ready at half the time.
Andrew took control of the drone he sent to the ship and piloted it inside.
The hole made by an explosion was big enough for it to easily get in and it also led straight into the cargo hold so it didn't take long for him to take the nearest crate and drop it outside the ship, where he could send another drone to pick it up.
He continued removing the crates from the ship for over two hours at which time he was done and he counted 22 crates.
The next objective was to get to the engineering section and see if there was something to salvage there.
At this point, he regretted not having the salvage drones, but they were tier-three drones and there was almost no possibility of getting them any time soon.
From the previous day, he knew where the engineering compartments were located, but now he had a problem as there was no way for the resource-gathering drone to move through the corridors and there was no entryway from the outside.
-Aelita, can you come over for a moment?
He asked, having an idea about getting inside but he wanted her opinion as an engineer.
The girl stopped chatting with the other station masters and came to him immediately.
-What can I do for you?
She asked.
-I want to get inside the engineering compartments but there is no entryway, so I plan to use a mining drone to cut one out.
He explained.
-For that, I need your opinion as to which part of the hull would be the best place to cut out and not damage anything that is still in one piece in there.
He continued.
-Give me a moment.
Aelita said and went to the engineering console to look for the best spot.
A few minutes later she sent him an image of that side of the ship with adder marks for the most optimal places to cut.
-These are the best cutting spots as far as I can figure out.
She said and went back to chatting with her friends.
-Thank you, that's a big help.
Andrew smiled and got back to work.
He was kind of curious about their conversation and could check it but he didn't want to pry too much into their private conversation.
Having what he needed he got the mining drone to make the cuts exactly as specified and in no time at all he could remove a big part of the hull making a convenient entryway.
To his surprise, other than bulkheads and the hull there was no massive damage to the engineering compartments.
Most of the equipment was in one piece and the best part was that he found not only a few tool boxes and a tool storage area, but also a lot of parts, and even the machinery inside the compartment looked to be mostly intact.
However he was not an expert on these things but luckily, he had one sitting just a few meters away.
-Aelita, sorry to interrupt your chat so often but I could really use your help right now.
He said, to the girl that was still happily typing messages to other station masters.
Hearing his words, she felt very happy, mostly because she could be useful to him in any way but also because he didn't just order her around but asked for her help instead, which was unheard of amongst her people.
In her culture, the property was to follow the orders of her protector, and the protector rarely if ever asked for anything, instead they just ordered their property to do this and that and never apologized for interrupting their activities.
She loved the respect he was showing her and immediately went to see what she could do to help.
When she saw the footage from the drone, her eyes nearly popped out.
-Is this the engineering section of the ship?
She asked trying not to squell at what she just saw.
-Yes, and there seem to be a lot of tools and toolboxes in there along with a whole bunch of machinery that seems intact.
Andrew confirmed.
-I need your help, figuring out what I should salvage from there.
-Everything you can, and if possible, I want to go there to take a look at the generators and other equipment.
She said excitedly.
He was happy to see her so enthusiastic about his findings, but not so much about the idea of her going to the ship.
-If you want I can order the drones to move the ship closer to the station but, it will still be dangerous to go inside.
He said, pointing at the display.
-You see, there are still a lot of metal pieces floating in there.
-Yes, I can see that, but there are not so many of them right now and if you move the ship in the right way, we might be able to get rid of most if not all of them.
She said.
-But before you do that, please collect all the tools and toolboxes that are not stored properly, I would like to have them as well.
It was evident that he just found a treasure trove for her and she was ecstatic about it.
-Ok, I'll do that, and in that time you might want to figure out a way to move the ship that will get rid of the metal shards, or you are not going anywhere.
He agreed.
-I'm already on it, Master.
She said too excited to remember not to call him that and rushed to the engineering console to figure out what needed to be done, to make it safe enough for her to go to the ship and inspect the engineering compartment.
Aelita didn't say anything for now, but if her suspicions were correct, she would have a great surprise for Andrew and she was almost certain that he would love it.
Andrew didn't correct her about calling him master, she was so happy and excited that he couldn't bring himself to spoil it for her with a minor detail.
She worked fast and soon sent him the best way to move the ship, which would get rid of most of the metal pieces floating around in the compartment.
At that time he was still only halfway through removing the tools and parts that were floating around.
Luckily, most of the items were secured so he didn't bother moving them for now.
After sending him the required data, Aelita went back to the comms console for a moment to say goodbye to her friends as she would be busy for a while now and promised to contact them when she had some more free time.
Once she was done with that, she went back to the engineering console and connected to the same video feed, that Andrew was using to control the drone.
Her aim was to take a closer look at the equipment in the compartment, but her protector was fully focused on gathering whatever he could and she only caught a few glimpses of it.
It took Andrew another hour to remove the tools and any parts that he could find and at the same time, he ordered some drones to the ship and left them on stand-by.
The moment he was done with the salvage, he instructed the drones to move the ship according to Aelita's instructions.
That meant rotating the shim ninety degrees so that the entry point was facing away from the station and moving it slowly in the station's direction, leaving most of the floating pieces of metal behind.
The second part was a repeated acceleration and decelerating the ship to let all the pieces still inside to reposition and then leave them behind at another acceleration.
The plan was simple yet effective.
A few hours later the ship safely parked around fifty meters away from the storage module that Andrew was using to collect all the salvage from it.
Asea wanted to board the ship immediately, but Andrew stopped her.
-Have you looked at the time?
He asked, amused at her eagerness to get her hands on the ship's engineering compartment.
Only then did she look at the time and it was late already, they were at it for over 14 hours.
-Let's get some sleep, and go to the ship tomorrow.
Andrew proposed, feeling tired from piloting drones all day and stiff from spending so much time in the command chair.
Aelita only nodded in agreement.
She wanted to get to the ship but, she also knew that Andrew was right and going there tired would do them no good, it might even put them in danger.
So after a shower and a meal, they went to bed.
Only after being embraced by her protector again and lying on his chest, which she found very comfortable and warm, did she feel the exhaustion wash over her.
-Good night.
Andrew said and just like the previous night kissed her forehead, but she barely registered any of it and only managed to mumble.
-Good night.
Before she fell asleep, Andrew only embraced her a bit tighter before joining her in the dreamland.