Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1361: Chapter 1360: Restart

Cassandra and Asharena’s activities on Firmament Station activated a terminal machine that was in a dormant state, allowing Gawain to successfully connect to the corresponding devices within this space station. This immediately made him think—perhaps there are many functions inside Firmament Station that could be brought back online using this method? Maybe... the extent of damage to this space station isn’t as severe as he imagined?

Of course, with Cassandra and Asharena’s level of technical expertise, truly repairing this space station is evidently impossible, but at the very least, their activity might allow Gawain to further control the state of Firmament, and it’s worth a try.

The main task is indeed for Cassandra to try—after all, she doesn’t fear passing away...

In the dimly lit space station hall, following Gawain’s instructions, Cassandra found another nearby terminal device. This device was devoid of the crystalline panel, replaced by a series of physical buttons and levers, resembling some sort of contingency controller used for manually rebooting systems in case of an accident. She cautiously inspected the device for a moment, then poked a red button on its top with the tip of her tail. After a slightly clumsy tactile sensation, a series of lights illuminated between the buttons and levers.

”Oh oh oh! This one has lit up too!” the sea demon lady exclaimed with eyes shining, ”His Majesty Gawain, this side has also started up, what do we do next?”

”Hang on a moment...” Gawain’s voice came from the nearby communication terminal. He had already sensed that new data was being connected to the data stream between himself and Firmament, but he needed a bit more time to confirm what functionality these devices had and where they were connected—at this moment, he felt as if he were standing in a dark fog, but before him, a couple of small bright, clear blocks had appeared. These blocks were the systems activated by Cassandra and Asharena, and every time something new was activated, the dark fog before him would be dispelled a little.

What he was doing was carefully distinguishing the paths leading to other ”blocks” within the limited space revealed after the fog dissipated, and guiding Cassandra to try to start more devices, dispelling more of the fog.

”Now take a look at what buttons are on the device in front of you—show me the symbols and labels on it.”

”Okay,” Cassandra carefully observed the device in front of her, committing every detail to memory, then went to the device where she could converse with Gawain, spreading her hands in front of the camera. A layer of water vapor instantly appeared at her fingertips, quickly condensing into a clear model, ”It’s like this on top!”

”Press the middle button in the lowest row, if it lights up, then press the second button from the left in the first row—it’s from my perspective, ’the left,’ don’t press the wrong one.”

”Got it!” Cassandra immediately showed a joyful expression, eagerly running to operate the device as per Gawain’s instructions, as if this process brought her immense joy. And with the accurate execution of a series of operations, Asharena standing nearby and Cassandra operating the device simultaneously heard a slight humming sound rising from low to high, as if something was gradually starting.

The humming sound rose from deep beneath the floor under their feet, and after reaching a certain level, it gradually faded away. Then they heard a series of ”click” sounds coming from all around, followed by bright lights suddenly illuminating various parts of the hall!

As if signaling the start, the ancient hall, which had been enveloped in deathly silence just moments before, was suddenly ablaze with lights, and faint mechanical operation sounds began to emanate from everywhere. The lighting initiated in the hall and quickly spread into the nearby dark corridors, wherever the light reached, equipment dormant for over a million years awoke. System self-check holographic projections appeared above devices set throughout the hall, and if one were to look at this ancient space megastructure from space at this moment, they would see a long dark ring suddenly having a small section flash with long-lost light, shining amidst the dark space background alongside the distant stars.

”Oh my goodness!” Cassandra was startled by the sudden appearance of numerous lights, nearly tensing her tail and launching herself away again, but immediately her face showed an excited expression, ”Did we fix this space station?!”

”Impossible—we merely manually restarted the backup energy unit for one section of the station,” Gawain’s voice came from the nearby terminal, instantly quenching the excitement of the sea demon, ”Thousands of years ago, this space station suffered a collision, severe system malfunction led to safety procedures shutting down the energy pipelines, and after that, it couldn’t restart periodically according to program—I just had you manually reboot this area. By the way, the entire Orbital Ring Space Station has hundreds of such sections...”

Cassandra: ”...”

”Don’t rush to despair, we at least took a crucial step forward. For the first time in so many years, someone was able to come here and manually restart devices from the outside,” Gawain seemed to have noticed the sea demon’s disappointed mood, his voice continued, ”Hang on, I’m adjusting to the newly activated systems... Wait, I can completely see this area now.”

With Gawain’s words falling, several monitoring devices hidden on the nearby walls and ceiling suddenly awoke from slumber, silently shifting their lenses, and in Gawain’s mind, the entire hall where Cassandra and Asharena were, even the monitoring images from surrounding sections, instantly appeared in his ”vision!”

At this moment, his mood was far more excited than his tone in communication—after such a long period of time, after numerous failed attempts, he finally managed to see the inside of these space facilities. Although what he saw wasn’t his own satellite or the entire Firmament, it was enough to be called a fateful step, and if Rebecca were here, it would likely be time to unleash a fireball as large as a castle tower to celebrate...

So he took a few seconds to calm his emotions down, then somewhat clumsily sorted through the system parameters flowing into his mind with the information flow, and issued the first command after the capsule’s restart.

Almost simultaneously, a voice entered Cassandra and Asharena’s minds: ”Air tightness check complete, side light shielding opens.”

They looked up in surprise, Asharena first saw the scene—at the end of this wide hall, an entire wall of alloy shielding silently unfolded, the vast starry river outside the space station pounced into her view, filling her vision. A layer of thick high-strength polymer shielded the hall from outer space, filtering the overly glaring sunlight looming from the edge. This magnificent scene was deeply imprinted in her heart.

The two ladies instinctively walked toward the transparent polymer barrier, the vast and dark space making Asharena a bit tense, but the tension couldn’t stop her feet from moving forward. She, along with Cassandra, came in front of the barrier and only then noticed that this barrier was actually projecting out from the space station segment, having curved bulging structures on both sides. It was presumably a dedicated sightseeing area where visitors in the hall could see the broadest possible view with a wide perspective.

Gawain’s voice came from above them—after gaining more permissions and available lines, Gawain began communicating with them via this area’s broadcast system: ”Now with visual observation, what can you see?”

”Stars, countless stars, and some space facilities operating in space,” Cassandra immediately responded, ”They’re really close, normally space facilities should be far apart... Voyagers must have very advanced space anchoring technology...”

While speaking, Cassandra swept her gaze across the entire space, then her eyes suddenly stopped, staring tightly at the side of the viewing platform—at this angle, she could see a segment of the Orbital Ring Space Station’s main structure.

”Oh dear!” after a brief delay, the sea demon lady exclaimed, ”Something’s not right! His Majesty Gawain, you’re cracked!”

On the communication channel’s other side, Gawain hesitated for two seconds, seemingly pondering how to naturally and calmly follow up on the sea demon lady’s highly alarming exclamation, his voice then sounded: ”...I know, just as I expected, the damaged section is right above the Loren Continent. Describe the scene you’re looking at.”

Cassandra swallowed nervously, peeking again at the fragmented cabins at the edge of the observation area. She noticed that the thick, sturdy alloy walls seemed to have been violently struck by something fast, heavy, and immensely powerful, causing vast armored plates to peel away from the cabin’s framework. They clung weakly to the main body via precarious structures and shoddy ties. Near the breach, the structural damage was apparent, with missing portions whose debris likely had long since escaped, possibly burning up in the dense atmosphere of some planet years ago.

The breach was astonishingly large, yet the space station’s sectional structure and emergency control functions seemed effective. The corresponding cabin section was sealed shut, preventing any uncontrolled liquid or gas leaks and maintaining the life-support environment for Asharena and Cassandra’s section. The damaged area was shrouded in pure darkness now, with distant starlight and slanting sunlight casting eerie silhouettes over its fragmented edges, appearing like an ugly, hideous scar.

Cassandra relayed what she saw to Gawain and couldn’t help but ask, ”Is that what you meant by ’not in good shape’? How did that wound come about?”

”... How to put it, it’s complicated to explain. You could think of it as a severe interstellar drag-racing and speeding accident... deliberate,” Gawain’s tone sounded peculiar. ”Don’t worry about the reasons behind it. Do you think it can be repaired at all?”

”...If we could bring Antawen back online, maybe we could try,” Cassandra replied. ”That kind of severe damage requires a space engineering team to perform large-scale cutting, welding, and cabin reshaping on the station’s exterior, possibly rebuilding severed power lines outside the structure. It’s not just sending a few people to block corridor holes from inside—some areas are clearly impassable to humans.”

Gawain fell into brief silence after hearing Cassandra’s reply, though the answer wasn’t unexpected for him.

He had asked for Cassandra’s visual inspection just to further confirm the Firmament Station’s level of damage.

Even if the breach couldn’t be repaired, the situation as a whole was much better than initially thought—with Cassandra restarting a part of Firmament’s backup power, he could finally further control this long-dormant space superstructure. More permissions, controllable institutions, and database data—Firmament Station was like a machine cut off from external power, with Gawain as its control system. Although the machine was heavily worn and damaged, much inside was still operable. All it needed was someone to manually press the power button externally, allowing Gawain to reboot and take over many things inside.

And now, Cassandra had pressed that power button.

”What’s next for us?” Asharena’s voice suddenly interrupted Gawain’s thoughts, ”Shall we head along the corridor to the next cabin section? The lights have turned on deep in the corridor; the power seems back.”

”No, don’t go there yet,” Gawain cautioned, ”I can’t connect to the life-support system in other areas right now, can’t confirm if other cabin sections are safe. Continue inspecting the current cabin and directly connected rooms—I’ve unlocked all gate locks, you can go in directly and record everything you see.”

”Alright, we’ll head there now.”

Through surveillance cameras, Gawain saw Asharena and Cassandra starting their movements, shifting his focus temporarily away from them to the higher-level systems of the recently revived Firmament Station.

Some logs previously locked were reopened, and commands previously inaccessible due to equipment offline and system hazards began surfacing in his mind. Like a machine parsing a database, he swiftly ignored trivial environmental monitoring and invalid calls (these were repetitive in satellite-recorded logs).

He suddenly stopped, his ”gaze” halted at a particular system log.

It was a report from the space station’s security system, timestamped over three thousand years ago—

”External attack detected and substantial damage inflicted, Enemy-Seeking and Weapon Systems online, defense fleet launched.

”Target lost, enemy-seeking system on standby.

”Target response remains, weapon array on standby.

”Request for further instructions, should combat module be shut down?

”Error, no instructions received, weapon array remains on standby...”

Gawain expanded this log and after unfamiliar operations, located the command set corresponding to this log.

The ”button” to shut down the combat module was still there, blinking in his mind as if waiting for someone to press it.

Gawain broke out in a cold sweat—

Fortunately, he didn’t let Amon freely wander in the real world. Even occasional outings required discretion without him flying into the skies... It’s been three thousand fucking years, and Firmament Station’s weapon array still has him locked!?

What a huge grudge!

If human civilization someday breaks its shackles and launches spacecraft, and Amon excitedly joins them, perhaps he would face orbital strikes upon entering space...

Terrifying implications about the future flashed through his mind, causing Gawain to shiver, every hair standing on end (though he was merely in an awareness state). He then quickly placed his consciousness on the button to shut down the combat module but paused at the last moment.