Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System

Nico began to create the antimatter in what she hoped was a compatible transfer vessel as soon as she made the announcement. It wouldn't take much to get the Warp Core back online, only a few hundred grams. That was less than what they put into their largest Antimatter Torpedoes, but it would sustain the reaction inside the World Ship, and start bringing them closer to mobility.

She had carefully analyzed the setup for the Warp Drive to add more antimatter, and with the system still operational in power saving mode, it was safe to recharge the storage.

Just the thought was enough to get the crew excited, and they were practically bouncing around the control room as they prepared for the transfer.

Their energy was getting the cats all worked up, and Max laughed as the felines began bouncing off the walls, climbing the netting that had been put up all over the workstation for them to play on, and generally making a nuisance of themselves as they joined in on the excitement without knowing what it was about.

Finally, one of them asked Max what had everyone so hyper.

[Is there a reason for this, or are they just burning off excess energy?] An older feline typed.

"They think that they've found a way to get the main power back online. That will bring power to the whole World Ship, and bring us one step closer to being able to make it habitable again."

The cat considered that for a few minutes. It looked like he had fallen asleep on the back of Max's chair, but Max could hear his mind working as he lay there.

[So, once they finish, we will have a whole world to explore?] He finally asked, hoping that he understood the situation.

The Cutter was huge, but not as huge as a city. Exploring it was almost finished, but they would likely live long enough to play with everything that was entertaining at least once. You couldn't do that in a city, and that made cities great.

"Not quite a whole planet. It's called a World ship, but it's only about ten times the size of the city you came from, and intended to hold about a hundred million people." Max explained.

[Ten cities? That's pretty good. No cat could know all of that in a lifetime.] The old feline decided.

"I'm glad you approve of the choice. It's going to take a while before we get it working properly so that you can go out and explore, though."

The cat gave a mental shrug.

[That's fine. I've got grand kittens on board, they can do the exploration while I lay here by the warmth of the monitor.]

They both settled into their chosen spots to watch the video feed as a Corvette Class Mecha carried the volatile antimatter down to the engineering bay, passing through pale blue hallways that looked identical to one another, row upon row.

[You know, whoever designed this lacked any appreciation for space and nature.] The old cat complained.

"That they did. It's designed to keep the occupants in a desired mental state, ready for combat. It wasn't designed to be pleasing to look at, unfortunately. But once we fix it, we can make it look better." Max agreed.

That was enough to satisfy the old cat that the hallways weren't going to be boring forever. Ten cities worth of boring identical hallways sounded like a sadistic torture method to him.

The Mecha with the Antimatter containment vessel had reached the Warp Drive chamber, and the whole team was frantically tapping away at their keyboards, preparing the Warp Drive to receive a recharge.

There were multiple layers of security over any such procedure, which was why the saboteurs hadn't managed to actually destroy the drive, but with Nico and the Innu on hacking duty, they had easily cleared all the password, two-factor authentication, and simultaneous activation hurdles that had been placed in their way, and they were down to the last stage.

All that they had to do was match the magnetic field on the containment vessel to the receiving collar on the Warp Drive, which rotated with every use for security purposes, and they would be able to complete the charging.

The coupling latched, and the magnetic fields merged seamlessly, allowing the antimatter to be manipulated into the main Warp Drive storage container.

Then the automated diagnosis began, analyzing it for any defects, impurities or instability before it was processed for use, and the Warp Drive began to slowly come out of Low-Power Stasis and into inactive standby mode.

That was Nico's signal to get to work switching over the power relays from the defunct Fusion Core to the Warp Drive, a standard procedure in case of damage to the Fusion Core.

The ship seemed to come alive, humming with energy as the Warp Drive took over the power needs of the World Ship and finally, after all their efforts, the main computer came back online.

[Multiple damaged areas detected. Multiple security door breaches detected. Crew occupancy below minimum threshold. Determining Chain of Command.]

Max looked back at Nico and the others with a concerned look. None of them were the same species as the ones who lived here. Well, perhaps they were, but separated by millions of years of evolution and genetic manipulation.

[Analysis complete. Beginning assignment process of Senior Officer.] The ship announced.

"Well, at least it found someone that it likes." Nico suggested, hopefully.

Max laughed as he noticed all the others were crossing their fingers and hoping to be chosen, so they could brag that they were the Commander of a World Ship.

[Mental Indoctrination tags verified. Genetic sequence tags verified. Welcome Home, Pilot Maximilian Keres. Assignment of a Field Commission to Admiral and Command codes to Creeping Darkness will begin in one standard minute. Please remain stationary.]

"Boo! Totally Rigged! Why do you always get to be Commander?" The team mockingly complained.

"Because I AM the Commander. Perhaps I was just so cool in my past life that it's unavoidable for me to become the boss in this life." Max joked