Chapter 7: Large-Scale Extermination

Chapter 7:
Large-Scale Extermination

 

WE RETURNED to the ship and resolved to spend a few days resting up. Mimi’s time on the streets had been tough on her, and she needed more time to recover. Fortunately, we weren’t in any rush to make money, so we could afford the extra time.

This also gave me time to dig into that space pirate crackdown Elma had mentioned. Attacking a pirate hideout likely meant a massive battle—with massive rewards. When I played Stella Online, an event like that meant a potentially huge payout, depending on the number of enemy ships you destroyed. Accepting a smaller job sooner could mean missing out on a big payday, so it was better to wait.

In the meantime, most days I’d wake up, work out, shower, and then join Mimi for a bit while she worked on her studies to become an operator. Turned out her training materials had some good tips for me as well.

After the study session, I’d gather intel online, text with Elma, and maybe fit in a little playful flirting with Mimi.

This went on for a few days until, finally, the galactic police and mercenary guild announced the start of the pirate-subjugation mission.

“I love how we can get this briefing in the ship instead of having to leave for some big gathering or something,” I said, impressed.

“Me too,” Mimi said.

I sat in the pilot’s seat with Mimi behind me in the operator’s seat while we waited for the briefing to begin. It really was convenient getting to stay here instead of having to go to the galactic police’s base for instructions. It was like a shut-in’s dream habitat; I could even order food right to the ship’s cargo.

The cockpit pinged. The screen lit up, several popups appearing. Each displayed a different person, along with their affiliations and ships. I saw Elma in one corner, as well as Serena, the military woman I’d met at my interrogation.

“Ah?!” When I made eye contact with Serena, I shuddered. Why in the world was she here? An ominous feeling settled in my gut. Maybe I ought to be careful around her.

Serena’s window grew larger and moved to the middle of the screen as she spoke. “Let us begin the briefing now. You know me as Lieutenant Serena Holz. I am the commander of this operation. You may call me Lieutenant Serena.”

“Understood, Lieutenant Serena,” everyone said.

“Now,” she said, “an explanation of the operation. It is not especially complex. The space pirates’ base is in the Gamma Sector of the asteroid belt.” A map of the star system appeared onscreen to accompany Lieutenant Serena’s explanation. Part of the asteroid belt was highlighted in red. “Again, the mission is simple. The galactic police’s armada will head there and destroy the enemy base. They are merely space pirates; their resistance will be futile. It will not take long.”

The mercenaries nodded or murmured their agreement. Space pirates’ pathetic ships couldn’t possibly resist the heavy cruisers and battleships the galactic police controlled. The firepower, shields, and armor didn’t even compare. Mercenary ships could occasionally take on galactic police under specific circumstances, but definitely not alone. On top of that, the galactic police had a whole armada of ships, all piloted by folks with extensive training. The space pirates wouldn’t stand a chance.

“As you all know, the police’s attack will be overwhelming but imprecise,” Serena said. “They will destroy any ships that come their way, but some small and medium-sized ships will no doubt escape. That’s where you come in, mercenaries.”

Destroying large ships and their base would devastate the pirates, but their main forces were high-speed medium and small craft. If those got away, they could rebuild and cause trouble again. Hence sending out the mercenaries to mop up the remnants. You could look at it like cleanup, but in reality we were killing off their main forces. Either way, all that mattered to me was getting paid.

“How about the rewards?” one mercenary asked, reading my mind.

“Zero advance payment,” Lieutenant Serena replied. “Upon completion of the mission, you will receive 50,000 Ener.”

Wow, that was stingy. Okay, well, maybe the reward per ship would be a little better than the base rate.

“That comes with an additional 5,000 Ener for each small ship destroyed and 20,000 Ener for each medium-sized ship,” Serena said. “Naturally, you’ll also get the bounty for each ship and rights to whatever they’re carrying. And of course, we plan to destroy the large craft ourselves.” Serena grinned. The mercenaries murmured, but it seemed their concerns were allayed.

“The strategy itself is simple, as well,” Serena said. “All mercenaries will meet in the Gamma Sector and hide. The galactic police’s fleet will attack head-on and destroy the pirates’ base and large craft. When small and medium craft scramble to escape, you will ambush them. Take down anyone who tries to slip away.”

Simple or not, it sounded effective. The opening blast would destroy the most threatening enemies, and the mercenaries would cast a wide net to capture the rest. While the enemy panicked, the police would turn that net into a cage. The trap would get smaller and smaller until we obliterated every last one of the space pirates.

A tug on my sleeve. I looked away for a moment to find Mimi beside me peeking at the briefing. “Master Hiro,” she said, “won’t the space pirates activate faster-than-light travel to escape?”

“No worries there,” I said. “If all the ships in an area don’t launch FTL at once, the safety measures in the ship won’t let you activate it.”

“But could they disable the safety measures and activate it by force?”

“They could, but I doubt anyone would. When you disable that, you run into a ton of space debris and asteroids that your shields can’t block. The moment you activate FTL, you’re done for. Or so I’ve heard; I wouldn’t know myself.”

“I see.”

I knew from my gaming experience that the safety measures and evasion systems were interlocked, but I didn’t know exactly why. All the super-futuristic stuff was left vague, for obvious reasons. Players didn’t need to know all the technical details in order to use the gadgets and devices available in the game, just like no one back home needed to know how a microwave or cell phone worked to operate it.

While I was answering Mimi’s questions, the other mercenaries quizzed Serena. Most of them wanted to know more about how and what we’d be paid, but I didn’t care as much about that. For example, they asked how the reward would be divvied up if multiple mercenaries brought down the same ship. Apparently, those decisions would come down to the police, who’d weight it based on the logs and then publicize the results through the guilds for the sake of transparency.

That was smart. Guilds hated mercs who stole kills just to cash in. A mercenary could get demoted or even expelled for kill stealing. Not that I planned to do anything like that.

Nobody was asking anything I really wanted to know, though. Finally, I had to jump in myself.

“Can I ask a question?”

All eyes turned toward me, including Elma’s. The poor little space elf glared as though bracing for whatever stupid question I might ask. Well, it wouldn’t do to disappoint her on that front.

“Yes,” Serena said. “Go right ahead.”

“I’ve never participated in a large-scale battle like this, but I imagine there are times when someone might decide they’re unable to fight due to issues with their ship, losing their shields, depleting the shield cells that would restore their shields, or a number of other complications. Are we allowed to leave at will in such situations?”

The other mercenaries were astounded. Elma covered her face in embarrassment, while Serena smiled and said, “You are absolutely free to do as you please. A mercenary can’t work if they’re dead. But don’t run for the hills without at least fighting a little; remember, we do need to kill all of the space pirates.”

“That makes sense. Rookie as I am, I just wanted to make sure that retreat was an option. I’d have to back out if you said that we fight until we die.”

“Er, do you think we would do that?” Serena said.

“Less that you would do it, more that you could do it. I have a crew to think about, so I need to know this stuff.”

Lieutenant Serena laughed. “Ha ha, fair enough. Yes, we could do it, but you don’t need to worry. We wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“I appreciate you making that clear,” I said. “No more questions from me, ma’am.”

Some of the mercenaries were smirking at me now. A few just blinked at me in amazement or curiosity. A good 50 percent of the assembled mercs didn’t seem to care whatsoever.

“Do we have any other questions?” Serena said. “If not, we will begin in one hour. As soon as you’re prepared, depart from the hangar bay and wait on standby.”

“Understood,” we all replied. Briefing complete. Now, it was time for the battle phase.

 

***

 

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked.

“I-I-I’m okay, yes, s-s-sir,” Mimi said.

“You don’t seem okay.”

Did I say battle phase? Well, I lied. We still had an hour to wait. I ordered the ship’s AI to do a self-check and some automatic maintenance, and took Mimi to the cafeteria to help her calm down.

“N-n-nothing’s wrong,” she said.

“It’s very obvious that something is wrong.”

Mimi was like some terrified newborn fawn. Not that I blamed her. We were about to face a real, life-or-death battle. Her reaction was totally normal; mine was not. Unlike Mimi, I felt no fear at all.

I should have been scared too, right? Yet I wasn’t. I mean, first of all, the Krishna was one of the best mercenary ships in this universe. I’d compared its data to other ships on the market, and they didn’t even come close in terms of abilities, weapons, and outfitting. I could even outclass the galactic police around here. Maybe something in the Grakkan Empire or Belbellum Federation, some large battleship or something, would outshine my beloved Krishna, but here, today, I had the utmost confidence.

Secondly, I had firsthand experience of how much stronger I was than the space pirates around here. Those three pirates I’d taken out had reacted just like Elma and the merc guild receptionists—totally shocked. The Hiro-Krishna combo inspired fear and awe in everyone who witnessed it. It wasn’t just that the Krishna was strong; without a good pilot, all that strength was wasted. It was that together we were a truly formidable team.

With all that in mind, I just couldn’t feel intimidated by this little extermination mission. It didn’t feel like my life was actually in danger. Plus, some part of me still saw this all as part of Stella Online. It didn’t feel real. How could I possibly fear dying when it was still just a video game to me? Even in the game I’d only died a few times, and mostly when I was new. I knew intellectually that this mission was dangerous, but I couldn’t really buy into it. Honestly, the biggest downside to dying in the game was simply having to pay to repair your ship or buy a new one. Insurance could make it a little cheaper, but you’d still lose all your cargo. I’d always worked with a little safety net in my finances just for that reason, not to mention three layers of shields and armor to protect the ship itself.

Even if someone got through all that armor, they’d have to contend with the ship itself, which carried cells that could recharge the shields in an emergency. The Krishna came loaded with five shield cells. As long as they worked as intended, the ship would be completely safe. My strategy in the game had always been to retreat when I hit my last shield cell. One was plenty to ensure a safe escape.

Of course, escape itself was a tricky maneuver. You couldn’t just run away in a straight line. You’d be way too easy to shoot that way. By throwing on the thrusters and putting up your shields, though, you could speed away from an enemy diverting its power toward weapons systems.

“Excuse me, Master Hiro?” Mimi said.

“Hm? Oh, sorry. I’m just thinking.” I shook off my errant thoughts and smiled at her. “You don’t need to worry about me. I’ve got skills, and the Krishna’s got power. Besides, didn’t you hear what Serena said? If it gets dicey, we can run. I work with a hefty margin of safety in that regard. I won’t push my luck.”

“I-I’m okay, honestly.”

“Try convincing me of that when you’re not all pale,” I said. “I think we just have to get you used to it. Oh, just so you know, you should avoid eating too much for a while. It could get bumpy out there, and things will get real messy if you throw up.”

“O-oh. I-I’ll remember that.”

I hoped she’d be okay. If this were Elma, that’d be one thing, but I didn’t want poor Mimi getting sick everywhere. Plus, I wasn’t really sure if vomit could get into the machinery and cause some sort of malfunction.

“The self-check should be done soon,” I said. “If you’re scared, you could stay in the colony. I’m sure the mercenary guild wouldn’t turn you away.”

“N-no, I want to come!” she said. “How will we travel together if I run from the first battle?” Mimi clenched her fists and pumped them into the air, making her chest bounce just slightly. She was wearing her merc gear today: tight shorts and a heavyweight shirt with a jacket over it. She still looked a little out of place like this, but hopefully she’d grow into the merc look (and life) over time.

With Mimi’s mind made up, we headed for the cockpit to prepare for takeoff. Krishna finished its self-check: green across the board. We were good to go.

“Mimi, I’m going to take off,” I said. “Contact the control tower.”

“Y-yes, sir!” In the operator seat, Mimi fumbled with the communications console before getting us ready for launch procedures. A launch time flashed on the screen. We both sat back to wait. Unlike landing, the AI would handle takeoff on its own.

The countdown hit zero. The ship’s generator rumbled to life, propelling us out of the hangar bay. The landing gear retracted, and we shot out of Tarmein Prime and into the endless expanse of space.

“Whooooa…” Mimi sighed.

“Space really is beautiful,” I said. “No matter where you look, it’s stars as far as the eye can see.”

“I had no idea that the colony looked like that,” she said.

“It’s like a bicycle tire,” I said.

“Bi…cycle?”

“Oh, yeah. Uh, it’s just a vehicle with tires shaped like that.”

“Goodness, really?”

Mimi seemed totally mystified by bicycles. Did this universe not have them? I couldn’t imagine why. They were environmentally friendly and convenient. Maybe the artificial gravity made them too difficult to ride? I had no idea. Another mystery for later.

I checked our sensors and flew us over to where some of the other mercs were already waiting. No two ships in this hodgepodge cleanup crew were the same. Some were technically the same model, but they’d been customized so much that they barely resembled each other anymore.

“Wow!” Mimi exclaimed. “Those ships are so colorful.”

“I guess some people like to stand out. Maybe they’re confident in their skills or just hoping to stand out to future clients.”

My Krishna, on the other hand, was painted a dark blue that helped camouflage it and reduce its luster. I certainly could have chosen something flashier. Stella Online gave players a lot of freedom in that regard. You could even slap anime characters all over your ship, like a futuristic itasha. That style wasn’t for me, though.

“Hoo, boy! That’s a rare one,” I said.

One white ship in particular stood out from the pack. It was elegant and streamlined, almost swan-like with its sleek lines and rear-mounted thrusters. The whole effect was decidedly fast, deadly, and beautiful. If any ship looked like the hero of this mission, it was that one.

It wasn’t just looks, though. I knew a bit about this ship, the SSC 16 Galactic Swan, if my guess was correct. High mobility, strong shields, and above average personnel capacity. In Stella Online, most players called it the White Comet (because it streaked through the heavens like a shooting star), the Ferrari (because it was ridiculously fast), and the Crazy Train (to Hell), besides other nicknames. It was a legend among Stella Online ships.

“That ship is gorgeous!” Mimi said.

“Heh, yeah, it is,” I said.

“Hm? What’s so funny?”

“Well, the thing is…”

The ship’s specifications alone were fantastic, but it had one problem: operability. It was too good at going fast. Its ridiculous speed limited it to charging straight ahead. Complex movements were downright impossible. An acquaintance once let me pilot one, and I couldn’t even begin to control it.

And it wasn’t cheap, either. The materials required to build a ship like came at a high price. You wouldn’t just pay up front, either. Every little repair could drain your savings to nothing. Medium-sized craft; battleship-sized costs.

There was one more downside to that crazy ship: it could rampage. That didn’t mean simply plowing through enemies. No, it literally rampaged, bucking the pilot’s attempts to control it, dashing around at crazy speeds until it depleted all its fuel. Then, it would explode. Something like that had to be a bug, right? That’s what we all thought, too, but some crazy testers—I mean that as a compliment, by the way—got deep enough into the game’s code to figure out the rampage was a hidden feature. Can you believe that?

Honestly, it became a meme ship among Stella Online players due to its awful rampage function, difficult controls, and eye-popping costs. I could hardly believe that any mercenary would bring it to a life-or-death battle. But maybe it was a good ship in the right hands? It far surpassed my Krishna in speed and mobility, but it was a major nuisance to everyone around it. That was a bit of a blow to its viability.

“Is it worthless, then?” Mimi asked.

“Not at all,” I said. “If you can use it well, it’s a strong ship. It’s just so hard to handle, and…frankly, it’s kinda defective.”

“Defective how?”

“Under certain conditions, it goes on a high-speed rampage and explodes. Though, as long as you’re careful to avoid going too wild in battle and abusing high-temperature laser weapons, that won’t happen.”

“Isn’t that rather dangerous?” Mimi said.

“It’s very dangerous. The only people who use that ship are quirky veterans and idiots who only pick ships based on their stats.”

“How interesting.”

I tapped the ship’s details, trying to figure out who was crazy enough to pilot that thing, and found its owners name was…Captain Elma. “Oh.”

“What’s the matter?” Mimi said.

“That’s Elma’s ship,” I said.

“Huh?!”

“She does fancy herself a veteran. Uh, she’s probably fine, though.”

As long as the ship wasn’t kitted with full laser weapons, it shouldn’t go on a rampage. Hopefully, at least.

Probably.

Okay, I had to stop lying to myself. A meme ship coming up at a time like this? And Elma of all people was piloting it? Nope, there were just too many red flags here. “Let’s just pray she makes it out,” I said. “It’s your first battle, after all.”

“Y-yes, sir. I imagine Elma can handle herself,” Mimi said.

No one wanted to see someone they knew die in battle, but in our line of work it was bound to happen eventually. The moment you got in a ship and flew off into space, you accepted the risks that came along with that. I’d help Elma as much as I could, but there was only so much I could accomplish in that regard. For the time being, with the battle not even started, the best I could do was pray.

“We will begin in thirty minutes,” Lieutenant Serena announced. “All ships will receive coordinates where you’ll remain in hiding. Once the battle begins, move to said coordinates.”

An operator from the galactic police assigned us hiding spots and sent the coordinates. The enemy’s forces were positioned very…carefully, as if they had sent out recon drones.

“Huh. What in the…?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Is something wrong?” Mimi asked.

“This just looks a little off. Don’t worry about it.” They’d assigned me a spot dense with enemy forces. Were these assignments random, or…? Lieutenant Serena’s smile flashed in my mind. I couldn’t help but feel like this was intentional.

Fine. Bring it on. If the going got rough, I could just get going. Though I didn’t think I’d need to.

 

***

 

“Confirm synchronization of ally ships,” I ordered.

“Synchronization confirmed,” Mimi replied.

“Initiate faster-than-light charge.”

“Faster-than-light charge initiation confirmed. Charge completed. Countdown to activation: five, four, three, two… Faster-than-light travel initiated.”

With a boom like a clap of thunder, the faster-than-light drive activated. With the whole allied fleet synced up, all I had to do now was make sure no one was being completely stupid, and we could coast along.

It looked like Elma wasn’t assigned to the same location as us. Bummer. I prayed for her safety in the battle, but I’d only find out later.

“So,” I began, “we’re going into battle now.”

“Sir!”

“In battle, I’m going to have you monitor the radar and handle communications.”

“Understood!”

“Remind me, what does radar monitoring entail?” I quizzed.

“Sir! I must be aware of both enemy and allied movements on the radar and inform the helmsman if there is danger!”

“Good. How about communications?”

“Sir! I must intercept enemy and allied communications, gathering intelligence and responding to messages sent to our ship!”

“Looks like we’ll be just fine,” I said. “When I was alone, I had to do all that on my own, but with you here I can focus more on just piloting. It’ll be a big help. You’ve got a long way to go, but keep up the hard work.”

“Yes, sir! You can trust me!” Mimi responded.

“Good. Glad to hear it.”

During faster-than-light travel, I gave my ship one last, quick once-over. The four heavy lasers on the arms would serve as the main weapons, but I also had two flak canons for sub-weapons.

And one other thing: my two trump cards. I only had two shots each for those, four shots total, and their ammo came at a hefty price. Ideally, I wouldn’t need them at all, but they were there if the situation turned dire. Besides, what kind of fool dies without even using their trump card?

“It’s beautiful,” Mimi mused, watching the scenery outside the ship.

She was right. Our high speed blurred the stars into streaking comets. Distant nebulae glittered green and orange like jewels. Even though I’d seen this all before, I was just as dazzled as Mimi.

“That it is,” I said. “Seeing outer space like this is a privilege only travelers like us get to enjoy.”

“Yes, sir.”

After a few minutes of FTL travel, we arrived at our coordinates.

“Exiting faster-than-light travel,” I warned. “Brace for impact and turbulence.”

“Okay.”

I turned off the FTL drive and shifted to regular travel. The Krishna returned to normal space with a thunderous boom. Then we followed the other mercenary ships to our assigned hiding spot.

“Here’s where we hide in ambush,” I said.

“It’s very quiet,” Mimi said.

“Space is a quiet, lonely place. Though I’m not lonely, since I have you with me.”

“Hee hee!” she giggled. “Then I’m not lonely, either.”

During our idle chatter, I lowered the main generator to minimum output.

“Are you cold?” I said.

“I’m fine,” she said. The cockpit cooled as power decreased to all systems, including the life support. I was dressed warmly, but Mimi just had those shorts and a jacket.

“I may be lightly dressed, but these clothes are made from a warm material,” she said.

“Is that so?” I said. “I was worried at first, but I guess that shop knows their stuff.”

“Agreed.”

It truly was refreshing to see this cute girl showing off her new clothes every day. Over the past few days, Mimi had treated me to the sight of several different futuristic cosplays. I especially enjoyed the short-stack maid one.

Streaks of light interrupted my daydreaming. Rays pierced the empty space before us. An instant later, intercepted comms from the space pirates crackled over our speakers.

“Wh-what the hell was that?!”

“Michael’s down! Attack—gaaaaah?!”

“It’s a police raid!”

“They’re aiming for the base and our large ships! Gaaah, there’s fire everywhere! Lock down bulkheads three and seven immediately!”

“We’ve got guys in there!”

“Shit-for-brains! If you don’t lock them down, we’re all dead! Do it!”

All hell broke loose. While the pirates panicked, the police’s battleships and heavy cruisers bombarded their base and large craft. Even my Krishna couldn’t launch an attack that intense. The battleships’ cannons put the mercenary ships to shame in both firepower and range. Their close-range firepower was no joke, either. If you charged in head-on like an idiot, they would fill you with holes before you could get close.

“It’s too much! Everyone, run for your lives!”

“Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!”

“Dammit! We’re gonna lose all the loot we snatched!”

Ooh, time for them to run away. A couple of the pirates plunged into the police fleet, but none lasted long. What did they expect? Those were police ships arrayed in an orderly battle line. No one could dive into that and really expect to survive.

Allied communications flooded in. “Communication prohibition lifted! Commence operation!”

“Go, go, go!”

“Don’t let a single ship escape!”

“Woo-hoo! We’ve got our pick of prey!” With the signal given, I punched Krishna’s main generator up to max output. “Mimi, we’re going into battle! Brace yourself for impact and high g-forces!”

“Y-yes, siiir!”

I launched us forward. The g-forces slammed me back in my seat as adrenaline flooded my body. I booted my weapons system and deployed the arms and flak cannons. Now, we were ready to fight—and it looked like we already had our first customer. Four pirates faced us.

“Unknown ship up ahead! What is that…? It’s got arms coming out of it!”

“I’ve never seen a ship like that! Watch out!”

“It’s coming head-on! Shoot ’em full of holes!”

“We’ve got the numerical advantage. Break those shields, surround him, and fire away!”

Two of the pirates were general-purpose small craft, while the other two were battle ready. They flew right for me as I approached, readying their weapons.

“Trying to take on the Krishna with small craft? That’s not gonna work out for you guys.”

I trained the sights of my four heavy lasers on one of the small battle-ready ships, while aiming my flak cannons at the other. The enemies wanted to focus their fire on me, but their lasers had much shorter range than my Krishna’s heavy lasers.

“Whoa?! My shields!”

My first shot tore through a pirate’s shields. The second pierced the ship itself, tearing it apart in swipes of bright laser light.

“This guy’s bad news! Run, ruuun!” My second target did his best to retreat, but it was too late. His ship’s exposed flank took the brunt of two flak blasts. Shrapnel saturated the ship’s shields and mercilessly tore holes into it. Instant Swiss cheese! There was a heavy beat of silence, and then the second ship exploded in a shower of red.

“Gaaah! H-he’s a monster!”

“R-run…”

The two general-purpose craft tried to escape, but they weren’t built for fighting; they had no hope of outrunning a battleship. Meanwhile, the Krishna was crafted for pure speed.

“D-damn, he’s fast! We can’t shake him off!”

“No, no, no! I can’t die here!”

“Well, you will,” I said. “I gotta kill pirates, sorry. No mercy.”

They tried to scatter, but I wasn’t about to let them off that easy. They were pirates; if they got away, they’d just go on and hurt more people. I rushed to the fleeing ships and dropped both of them with one heavy laser each. Before I chased my next marks, I glanced over at Mimi and caught her quivering. She seemed to be looking at the radar, but I couldn’t tell if she actually saw it. Well, this was her first voyage. I couldn’t really blame her.

I turned away for now. A flood of light greeted me, crisscrossing through space. Laser canons, tracer bullets, missile exhaust, explosions: it lit up the darkness like some crazy fireworks display. The beauty masked the deadly intent behind every flare of light. Laser cannons could vaporize humans and not even leave a trace. The huge artillery mounted on battleships easily made men into mincemeat. Missiles blasted through ships, tossing people into the dark clutches of space.

What about escape pods? you might ask. Someone could try to launch away using their cockpit as an escape pod, but in the middle of a battle they wouldn’t get far unless they were extraordinarily lucky.

“Mimi, we’re off to the next battle,” I said.

“Ulp…?! S-sir!” Mimi sat up, jolted back to her senses. Nerves strained her normally cheery voice. Clearly it would take a while before she got used to this.

“Tch, there’s too many!” our allies shouted over the comms. Their cry was followed by the shouts of our enemies:

“Surround, surround! Besso, hold ’em back!”

“Gotcha, boss!”

“Damn yooou!” Five pirate ships cornered a single merc. He might hold out simply by having the better ship, but the situation was getting dire. Eventually his shields and armor would fall, and that would be it.

Unless I got involved.

The cornered merc’s call sign was Quiet. I tried my best to reach him.

“This is Captain Hiro speaking, call sign Krishna. Quiet, I’m coming to back you up.”

“Aw, man! You’re savin’ my ass here!”

“Grr, there’s another!” the pirates snarled. “Lang, Kamar! Hold him back!”

“Yeah, boss!”

“We got this!”

Two of the five ships broke off to intercept me. At a glance, they looked like one battleship and one carrier-ship-turned-missile-support. A missile-support craft could be seriously annoying. Those missiles were not only destructive but also very hard to dodge. Quiet must have been a skilled pilot to survive with its sights set on him.

“Use the seekers!” a pirate commanded.

“Gotcha!”

Shoot. “Seekers” probably meant heat-seeking missiles—low range, but well suited to ambushes because of how they could lock on. The pirates launched two right at me.

I gotta say, shooting them directly at me and announcing it beforehand kinda spoils the surprise.

I had two choices now: evade or confuse with stronger heat sources. I decided to take the third option.

The ship shook from the recoil of my fire, rattling me to my core. The seeker missiles both exploded. I burst through the flare of fire at maximum speed and closed in on a general-purpose ship.

“Eugh! He forced his way through!” one pirate yelled.

“One,” was my only response.

As I passed the missile-support ship, I destroyed it with some point-blank flak. My shrapnel must have triggered the missiles stocked on the ship because the whole craft detonated as I zipped past.

“Wha?!”

“Two,” I said.

My altitude-control thrusters pushed me through a tight turn. I fired all four heavy lasers at the battleship.

As expected, the shields blinked out from the barrage of laser fire. Now defenseless, I destroyed the ship with a couple of precise shots right through the hull. Then I checked the radar to see how Quiet was doing. He had destroyed one of his three ships and cornered another. Definitely a skilled pilot.

“I’ll take care of the last one,” I told him.

“Thanks, bud.”

“Wha?! Dammit!” a pirate screamed. “This wasn’t supposed to happen!”

“R-Raizo, what do we do?!”

“Shut up! All we can do is smack these shits down and bail on this!” I had to wonder why they didn’t just accept their doom and self-destruct. I took out one ship attempting to flee while Quiet destroyed their leader’s ship. And it barely took us any time at all.

“You saved my ass, Krishna,” Quiet thanked me. “Five ships are just too many to handle.”

“Hey, no problem, man,” I said. “I got to enjoy some tasty prey. Good luck out there.”

“Yeah, man. Be careful out there.” Quiet retreated, probably planning to do some emergency repairs and recover his shields.

I paused long enough to pilfer the valuables from the pirates’ ships before moving to my next mark.

“Mimi, how’s the battle at large look?” I inquired.

“Huh?” She jumped. “Ah, um…it looks like things are going well for us.”

“Can you see any places where our people are having trouble?”

“Umm… Sorry. No.”

“Fair enough. I’m going mostly by instinct, myself. Just think of the mercs as three or four times stronger than these pirates. If you see anyone outnumbered more than that, let me know. One-on-one battles might be worth intervening in also.”

“I see. Um… Okay, what about this spot down and to the left of us? It’s close to the galactic police, but they have three medium-sized craft there, and it looks like our guys are struggling.”

I pointed my ship in the direction Mimi indicated and checked for myself. She was right. We were definitely at a disadvantage. Just four mercenaries faced down twenty small craft and three medium craft from the pirates. They were putting up a good fight, but it would be difficult to keep that going for long.

“Okay, let’s intervene. Mimi, I’m going to keep an eye out, but I want your eyes fixed on the radar so we don’t get ambushed. Also, let them know that we’re on our way.”

“Y-yes, sir! I’ll do my best!”

I checked out the firepower the three medium crafts were carrying as we raced to the rescue. Looked like souped-up private transport ships with multi-cannons for close-range and medium lasers for support fire, as well as some defensive multi-cannons—probably automatic turrets.

None of this was too unusual for pirates, who frequently destroyed a ship’s thrusters, seized it, and ejected all the personnel. In a situation like that, pirates would strip down the mercenary or merchant ships and turn them into improvised support ships. I’d learned all that in Stella Online, but it looked like it still held true here. These improvised ships would likely have deadly weapons pointed forward, up, left, and right, but have clear blind spots below and behind them. I had little doubt the Krishna’s large capacity shield erector could absorb their fire easily, but there was no reason to bum rush them right from the start. Most transport ships had a cargo space on the lower deck, one the pirates likely hadn’t fitted with extra armor after seizing the craft. That was my target.

I lowered my ship’s generator output, took my weapons system offline, and began emergency cooling. “It’s gonna get a little cold, but bear with me,” I said.

“O-of course. What’s the plan?”

“Charging in head-on isn’t how we mercs fight,” I said. “We’re going to try something a little more subtle.”

As the ship cooled, so did the cockpit. After three minutes, I could see my breath. I spared a glance for Mimi, but her outfit was apparently really good at fending off the cold. Even with her breath puffing out in little white clouds, she barely looked cold.

“Okay, here goes,” I said. With the ship good and cold, I drove the Krishna at minimum output, taking the long way around to slip into the blind spot of three medium craft. Neither their small nor medium craft showed any signs of noticing us.

“Master Hiro, why haven’t they responded?” Mimi asked.

“Ships in battle usually run at high temperatures, so people mainly rely on heat sensors to search for them,” I said. “Ship debris and other stuff tends to drift around big battlefields like this, so it’s harder to use the normal radar. By reducing the ship’s temperature, we can fool the heat sensors and slip in close with the debris.”

In Stella Online, this was a technique called running cold. Normally, the emergency cooling system kept ships from overheating from overused lasers and things like that, but it could also be used for this.

“Impressive,” Mimi said. “There must be so many clever techniques.”

“It’s not something that’ll always work, but it got us in range this time around. Let’s party.”

“Yes, sir.”

After confirming that I was in the blind spot of all three medium craft, I reactivated the weapons system and set my laser and flak sights on their exposed underbellies. The pirates clamored.

“Gah?! Enemy ship detected below us! How’d they slip into our blind spot?!”

“Whaaat?! Dammit, were you paying attention at all or were you napping in battle again?!”

“I was watching, I swear! It just appeared out of nowhere, like a ghost!”

“Like I’d believe that! Turn! Tuuurn!”

But I shook my head and said, “It’s too late, my man.” I fired all four lasers in quick succession, instantly dropping the shields of every one of the medium craft.

“Eep?! Where’d our shields go?!”

“The hell?! G-get out! Use the boosters!”

“You’re in the way! Move!”

While the medium craft panicked, I gave them a nice, rapid-fire dose of flak. A spray of shrapnel tore through their soft underbellies, destroying their generators, life support systems, power distribution systems, and ammo stores all at once.

“It’s no use! We can’t hold on!”

“Evacuate! Abandon ship!”

Mini-detonations surged through the ships, culminating in massive explosions that blasted them all into dust.

“Mimi, don’t forget to tell them,” I said.

“Y-yes, sir! This is Captain Hiro, call sign Krishna. I am his operator, Mimi. We are intervening in this battle to aid you now!”

“Thank you for the help!” an ally responded. “Honestly, we were struggling.”

“Tch, I don’t wanna lose my cut. Let’s shoot those pirates down!”

“Nngh! He has his own cute operator girl, too?! Some guys have all the luck.”

“How do you know she’s cute? You only heard her voice, dude.”

“Listen. Her voice is cute, so she’s gotta be cute. Never has a girl with a cute voice not had a cute face to match.”

Did these guys even need my help? They didn’t sound all that serious or worried right now.

“Let’s kill more,” I told Mimi.

“O-okay!”

I fired my four heavy lasers wildly, occasionally tossing out flak as I passed by pirate ships. Having lost their three medium craft in seconds, the remaining pirates panicked. Their communications broke down. They piloted frantically, totally disjointed now. The chaos made them easy pickings.

“Eaaargh! That four-armed monster!”

“Shit! Stop the guy with the arms! We gotta shut him down!”

“Idiot! If we try to suppress him, he’ll just blow us to bits with flak! Do it yourself!”

“Run, run! We can’t win this!”

“Gah?! Don’t run! The galactic police will snatch you!” One pirate attempted escape, only to meet a thick ray of light that blew his ship to smithereens. Looked like the police had finished making their cage and were flying in for clean up.

“You have nowhere to run,” I said. “Now die.”

“You’re the one who’s gonna die, arm bastard!”

The remaining pirates trained their weapons on the Krishna and fired. So they’re gonna focus on me first? I wove through the flashing light of their attacks, spun around, and tried to shake off the pursuing pirates.

The ship’s AI sounded the alert. The ship status hologram reported a successful hit.

“Eeeeek!” Mimi shrieked.

I kept my cool. Yes, we had been hit, but it just dinged one of our three shields. We still had two more, and at this rate I could use shield cells after the second was broken and still have time to recover. Even if we somehow lost all our shields, we still had sturdy armor underneath. It certainly wasn’t time to panic yet.

The pirates went on firing at me, desperate and sloppy. I focused on evasion, counting on the other mercs to seize the opportunity.

“Yeehaw! Let’s eat ’em up, boys!” a merc shouted.

“Wanna ignore us, huh? That’ll be your last mistake!” another cheered.

“Typhoon, Fox 2, Fox 2!”

“Hurricane, Fox 2, Fox 2!”

No longer stuck on the defensive, the mercenaries eagerly smashed ship after ship. It was no fun just dodging, so I waited for my chance and finished off a couple pirates with my heavy lasers. They were way cheaper than the flak, which made them the better choice if I wanted to leave this expedition with a bigger payday.

It barely took fifteen minutes for us to clear out the entire space pirate fleet. Cheering rang out over the mercenary comms.

“Area cleared. We won, boys!”

“Shit started to go south for a sec, but then Four-Arms came in and saved the day!”

“Good going, Four-Arms.”

Welp, looked like I was Four-Arms now. Not the coolest nickname I’d ever heard, but it had a certain kind of charm.

“I’m off to the next area,” I said. “Good luck.”

“You too, bud. And same to your lovely little operator!”

“O-oh!” Mimi exclaimed. “Thank you.”

“Damn, she sounds so cute! She’s gotta be real cute!”

“You’ve got a one-track mind, my man. That’s why you’ll be a virgin forever.”

“V-v-virgin?! Nah, bro!”

Wow. Was that a common insult in this universe, too? Guess some things truly never changed.

I accelerated away from the celebrating mercenaries, searching for my next battle. That’s when I saw that ship again.

“There’s that white ship Elma’s piloting,” I said.

“Is Elma fighting?” Mimi said.

“Yeah. Let’s go see her.”

Beams of harsh light slashed through the black of space. That wasn’t good. Elma faced a medium craft equipped with a type of laser called a “gerobi,” along with its bodyguards. My Krishna’s heavy lasers were of the pulse variety, shooting successive bursts of energy. Gerobi lasers, on the other hand, used a continuous high-temperature beam to burn through ships or make them overheat and shut down. The name came from a robot fighting game where the bots pretty much vomited beams at each other.

Up against that, Elma was in real danger. I slammed the accelerator and dashed toward her.

“Wh-why aren’t my controls worki—aaaaaaah?!”

Hearing her screams, I pushed Krishna to go even faster. Unfortunately, I was still too late.

“Whoa, what’s that white ship?!” another mercenary said. “Huh? It’s coming this way. Oh shit, move!”

Elma’s white ship dashed and spun and flew wildly, all its insane speed on full display. At this point, there was nothing I could do.

“M-master Hiro, is she okay?” Mimi asked.

“Not at all. When that happens, it doesn’t stop until the ship explodes.”

Elma continued to scream. “Noooooo! D-does anyone know why—hyaaaaah?!” She clearly hadn’t known about the ship’s rampage feature. She wasn’t a veteran who knew the risks; she was one of the idiots who bought it just because it had high specs.

“U-um, can’t we help her?” Mimi said.

“There’s no way to help,” I said, shaking my head. “Look how fast she’s going. If we get too close, she might slam into us and kill us, too.”

“N-no! But poor Elma!”

“Don’t worry. That ship’s cockpit is extremely sturdy in this game—I mean, it’s extremely sturdy, so I don’t think she’ll die. If it explodes, we just need to recover the cockpit.”

Elma slammed through the pirates’ barricade and rampaged among their ranks. I braced for her to come this way, but it didn’t seem she would. Instead, she was going…directly toward the galactic police’s fleet?!

“Eeek! Run, run, ruuun!” she tried to warn them.

“Whoa?! Sh-she’s coming this way!”

“Launch a counter—wait, isn’t that a mercenary? Ngaaaah?!”

Elma’s ship barreled into a police battleship, sustained serious damage, and came to a stop at last. The cockpit itself looked safe; if she was lucky, she might not even be hurt. Unfortunately, the police ship wasn’t looking too hot after that impact. Were they gonna demand repair costs?

“Umm… What should we do?” Mimi asked.

“Unfortunately, there’s really nothing we can do. Let’s focus on the job at hand.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

Elma’s rampage did have one distinct upside. The pirates broke their formation and fell into total disarray, presenting a juicy opportunity for me. It wasn’t that I didn’t care about Elma, but I really couldn’t do much for her. Might as well keep working.

 

***

 

“How is the battle progressing?” I asked my signalman.

“Lieutenant Serena! Apart from a minor mishap, things seem to be going well.”

“Ah, yes, that,” I said. “We don’t need to try her in court, but make sure to get those repair costs out of her.”

“Aye-aye, Captain.”

I switched display tabs to watch the mercenaries in action. My eyes got wide. One pilot alone had crushed four medium craft and the most small craft by far. And his earnings were still ticking up, meaning he was still going strong.

“I don’t recall us having a mercenary this skilled,” I said.

“Hm? Oh, goodness, you’re right. Those are results worthy of gold or even platinum rank, though I’ve never seen this particular name before.” The signalman might not recognize him, but I sure did.

“Retrieve his data for me, please.”

“Right away.”

The data confirmed it. It really was him: the self-styled mercenary who piloted that strange ship. Looked like he’d formally joined the ranks of the mercenaries since his little interrogation.

“Bronze rank…?” I said, bewildered.

“His exploits are clearly beyond bronze, aren’t they? He registered…only about a week ago. A bronze-ranker making this many kills after only a week? He must be a former military pilot or something, perhaps even an ace.”

“Perhaps…”

I remembered him clearly. He was barely older than me, so he couldn’t be a retired military pilot. Besides, he didn’t have the air of a military man at all. Nor a mercenary, quite honestly. He struck me as a normal civilian, though that clearly couldn’t be true.

None of it added up. He piloted a top-class warship, and he piloted it well. Controlling a warship like that demanded phenomenal concentration, which was difficult in a life-or-death situation. Some pilots took medicine or used hypnosis to get through it. Yet somehow this utterly ordinary civilian had the skill and courage to pilot that monster of a warship—and do it with a cool head even in the midst of battle. What could that be called if not strange? Who was this man?

“The score gap keeps growing,” the signalman cheered. “He might triple the second place pilot’s score!”

Triple? At this pace, it seemed rather unlikely that he would stop there.

“Keep an eye on him,” I said. “Get as much data as you possibly can.”

The signalman responded with the usual “aye-aye” and I turned my attention to the strategic battlefield map. Victory lay within reach.

 

***

 

We obliterated the space pirates. Little was left of them by the time it was over. In the aftermath, the galactic police prowled the battlefield searching for survivors. Lacking the right equipment to help, I set my sights on collecting my bounties instead.

“Master Hiro, aren’t you worried that people will steal your rewards before you can collect them?” Mimi asked.

“The stuff that flies out of their cargo and is floating loose in space is first-come, first-served, it looks like. But any ships we destroyed got tagged with my name automatically, so we don’t have to worry about those,” I said.

My treasures were scattered across the battlefield thanks to the way I’d zipped from one fight to the next. It made the work of collecting my bounties pretty tedious. Still, it was well worth my time to salvage whatever I could. Pirates carried valuable cargo, including Rare Metal.

“Heigh-ho, heigh-ho…” I sang to myself as I worked.

“Master Hiro, are you enjoying yourself?”

“Of course. This is way better than killing people. You never know what kind of treasure you might find among the junk. Why, are you not enjoying this?”

“Well, I’m rather worried about Elma…” Mimi said.

“You’re too sweet, Mimi. Her ship did sustain a lot of damage, but she rammed into a police battleship. That definitely stopped her crazy rampage. She’s fine.”

“Are you positive?” Mimi asked.

“Yep. Police ships have medical facilities and doctors on board, too. Nothing to worry about.”

“I see. Well, that’s good to know.” Elma’s life may not be in danger, but her wallet sure was. She would have to pay off repairs for not only her own expensive ship but also the damaged battleship. Ouch, scary.

Not to be heartless, but I couldn’t just take care of that for her. I didn’t have any real reason to. She helped me out with registering and with Mimi, but I already gave her a ton of booze as a reward for that. My debt was paid. Of course, I was grateful for all her help, but shouldering a debt that massive wasn’t my job. Elma was an independent mercenary. She might even take offense at me sticking my nose in to help. If she asked…well, I’d see what I could do. But she hadn’t, so it wasn’t my problem for now.

I changed the subject. “C’mon, let’s go get some treasure. Try to memorize the process while you watch me. It’s pretty easy.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

Send a recovery drone to drifting ship carcasses, scan the inside, and take their cargo. Mmm, nice, they’ve got food, alcohol, and ammunition. Easy staples to cash in on, right there. Ooh and refined industrial metals? Those will fetch a good price. Apart from that, it looked like air cleaners, spare parts, a water purifier and filters, and some other maintenance items. Not too exciting, but profitable nonetheless. Quick, clean cash, since the colony needed this kind of stuff for its own maintenance. Still, it would have been nice to score some actual treasure from this little hunt. Oh! Nice, Rare Metal. There wasn’t much, but I was thrilled to see it. Good, easy money.

“There’s quite a lot of loot here, Master Hiro,” Mimi said.

“Yep, there is. But the best part is the Rare Metal.”

“Hm? Oh, what’s this?”

“Hmm.” Something strange sat among the recovered items. I had to run a scan to try to figure out what it was. A crystal? It was sealed inside a weirdly secure container. Could it be? No way. “Oooh. I know what this is.”

“What is it?” Mimi asked.

“This is a Singing Crystal. It’s kinda dangerous.”

“It is? Should we take it home?”

“Good question,” I wondered.

Singing Crystals were unique items. Certain collectors would offer a handsome reward for a thing like this. That didn’t make it any less dangerous. This little crystal could summon crystal life-forms from the far reaches of space.

That wasn’t the only danger, though. The Singing Crystal got its name from the sound it made, a sound like someone was singing inside it. Anyone who heard that song would be consumed with longing, their mind contaminated. And you couldn’t just smash it, either. Destroying it would put you in grave danger as hundreds or even thousands of the crystal life-forms swarmed. In Stella Online, it took a good ten squadrons just to stand a fighting chance against the beasts. In the game, we’d used it to kick off raids.

“Let’s take it with us, sneaky-sneaky.” I winked at Mimi. Given the current situation, the Singing Crystal provided a nice bit of insurance. I still didn’t know quite what was going on with relations between the different factions and governments, for example.

“Sneaky-sneaky?”

“Yep. Keep quiet about it.”

It wasn’t illegal or anything, but it always brought trouble. Fortunately, the Krishna had a few special cargo spaces installed that could elude scans, so I could store it there. A mercenary needed a few hidey-holes like that. Certain illegal items still had their uses, after all.

We returned to Tarmein Prime with the police and the other mercs after collecting all the loot the ship could hold. Elma had to get towed back. Her ship looked like it was beyond repair. With the frame crushed and mangled, she’d probably be better off just buying a new one. Jeez, how fast was she going when she hit that police battleship? I started to worry, just a little.

The comms crackled as we headed home and Lieutenant Serena addressed the mercenaries en masse.

“This marks the end of this operation,” she said. “Well done, everyone. We’ve destroyed the pirate base and the vast majority of their ships. This star system should be safer for some time to come.”

For some time, huh? This system was full of resources and close to the border; pirates wouldn’t stay away long, even after a massacre like that. They were as persistent as cockroaches.

“As for your rewards, they will be transferred to your guild accounts as soon as we’ve finished calculating everything. It should be two days at the most.”

Was that fast or slow? In-game, we’d get our rewards instantly upon returning to a base, but in real life, two days seemed pretty speedy considering all the bureaucracy involved.

No one complained, so I figured two days was pretty standard. Fine by me. Mimi and I would be fine financially in the meantime. I felt secure that the government wouldn’t try to skim anything off the top either. That was a great way to lose trust among us.

“All right,” I said, “Mimi, send a docking request.”

“Understood, sir.” Mimi used the operator’s console to send a docking request to Tarmein Prime. Before long, the Port Authority designated a hangar bay for us. This was her first docking request, but she handled the job smoothly. We obeyed the instructions and guide markers, and docked carefully. A minor bump in a space like this could mean a major headache later.

The moment the ship was fastened down and transported to the air lock, we both sighed with relief. Much like in-game, docking after a mission brought with it an overwhelming sense of safety.

“Master Hiro, what will we do now?” Mimi asked.

“Now? Hmm, I wonder. Maybe we take some time off until we get paid? You must be mentally and physically exhausted. I sure am.”

I took off my seatbelt, stood up, and stretched. My body ached and creaked as I did. Just sitting in the pilot’s seat felt like strenuous exercise with all those g-forces throwing me around during the battle. I got the ship’s self-check program running. Krishna would need a rest too after a rigorous battle like that. We were likely in for some maintenance and restocking in the aftermath.

“That’s not what I mean, sir,” Mimi said, shaking her head. “Where will we go and what will we do?”

“Where and what, huh?” Kind of a big philosophical question there. From whence did humanity spring and where will our species venture to next? What will we leave behind?

Okay, maybe I was getting a little too deep there.

“Are you asking what my overall objective is?” I said.

“Yes,” Mimi said.

“Well, I’d like to build a detached house with a yard on some residential planet.”

“That’s quite the grand objective.”

“Isn’t it, though?”

I didn’t mention all this, but my dream wasn’t just the house. The house was just step one. After that, I planned to live off savings interest, eat whatever I wanted, sleep as much as I liked, and just generally have fun. That was the life, at least in my mind. Mimi might find it lame or boring, though, so I left all that out.

“What about you?” I said. “What kind of goals do you have? You can’t just live for the sake of living.”

“I’ve never really thought much about it,” Mimi said.

“You gotta start somewhere. Maybe you wanna try all the food in the universe or see all the interesting sights or whatever.” Gourmet travel, sightseeing. Those sounded like worthwhile goals to me. Heck, maybe I’d add them to my own personal list.

“Trying all the food in the universe sounds nice,” Mimi said. “Maybe I’ll do that.”

“I think I’ll join you, then.”

“All right! Then my goal is to eat everything in the universe at your side!”

“Woo!” I applauded Mimi as she wrung her hands with enthusiasm. On that day, I created a universe-devouring monster in a cute little package.

“But I mustn’t get out of shape, so I’ll keep up with my exercise!” Mimi said.

“True. Though I think you’ll be fine with a little more meat on your bones,” I said.

“Do you think so?” Mimi patted her stomach. Then, she shuddered. Whoa, that was abrupt. “U-um, it seems I’m a little sweaty. I’m gonna hop in the shower.”

“Sure. Enjoy.”

Mimi shuffled out of the cockpit while trying to tug her jacket down to cover her lower half. Something wasn’t right here. Wait… “Did she wet herself?” We’d come out of that battle pretty clean, but we had been shot at a lot. Small wonder if it terrified someone navigating their first fight.

I sniffed the cockpit, but it didn’t smell like anything was amiss. What in the world?

“Jeez, I look like a perv. No more of this.”

This was one mystery that wasn’t worth pursuing right now. I gave up, heading for the kitchen. I needed food and water and a shower myself. Then, finally, I could rest.