Chapter 1: Sleeping Beauty

Chapter 1:
Sleeping Beauty

 

“WE’LL BE ENTERING normal space soon,” Mimi said. “Counting down: five, four, three, two, one. Here we are!” There was a boom—or maybe more of a ba-boom!—as we shifted from the gaudy, flashing colors of hyperspace to the sedate darkness of normal space. Stars filled our view, pinpricks of silver on the canopy of endless black.

“Comparing system data. Confirming coordinates,” Elma said, tapping away. “Okay, I’ve found our location.”

“I’ll set up the navigation data for Cierra Prime.” Mimi used the data to point us toward our destination.

I smiled, watching them work so seamlessly. Mimi especially had come a long way since we’d first met in the Tarmein System. Now, she and Elma worked together effortlessly, my crucial crewmates.

“Nice,” I said. “Okay, let’s get going. Prepare faster-than-light drive.”

“Understood,” Elma replied. “Charging faster-than-light drive. Five, four, three, two, one… Charging complete. Activating FTL

drive.” With another thundering boom, we dashed into FTL. The still, tranquil stars blurred into streaks of light.

“We should reach the colony in about ten minutes, as long as nothing bad happens,” I informed them.

“Yes,” Mimi said. “Provided there’s no trouble like before…”

The moment those words left her lips, the alarms blared.

“Seriously, Mimi?” I said.

“Huh?! Why is it my fault?!” Tears built up in her eyes.

“No, it’s not your fault. It’s just that you kinda jinxed us.”

“You two are awfully carefree, given there’s an interdictor pointed our way,” Elma said.

Many things I encountered in this galaxy were inexplicable to me—and that included the interdictors. They could yank speeding ships right out of FTL drive with some sort of mass- or gravity-based device. Not just anyone could get their hands on a device like that. Most of the people who had an interdictor were galactic police on patrol. A ship like ours looked pretty suspicious zipping around completely alone. It wasn’t surprising that the galactic patrol thought we were either mercenaries or dangerous pirates.

Speaking of pirates… Unfortunately, they were the next most likely folks to have an interdictor. They used the devices to stop merchants and passenger ships in FTL, capture them by force, and steal crew, passengers, and cargo alike.

Sometimes, mercenaries like me used interdictors. The Krishna had one, though I had yet to actually use it. It could come in handy when chasing down a slippery bounty.

“What do you think we’re up against?” I asked.

“Almost definitely pirates,” Elma said.

“Figures…” They had their interdictor trained us but hadn’t tried to communicate at all. Way more likely to be pirates than cops, in that case.

“Why do you think they’ve targeted us?” Mimi asked.

“Just because we’re alone, I bet,” Elma said. “They must have seen us on their radar as soon as we left hyperspace.” We slipped out of the interdictor’s hold, whether that force was gravity or something else entirely. Whoever was using it wasn’t very skilled.

“We could kill ’em,” I suggested.

“Are you sure?” Elma asked. “They say pirate groups are a lot bigger here.”

“It’s cool. If this is the best that their interdictor’s got, then I’m not worried.”

“Huh. Yeah, you’re right. Let’s do it.”

“Awesome. Mimi, prepare for battle. There’ll be a lot of them, so keep your eyes on the radar. Also, brace for g-forces. I might have to do some maneuvers our anti-gravity device won’t be able to handle.”

“Yes, sir!” Mimi said.

“Elma, deploy chaff as soon as we return to normal space. Use the flares too, if you have to.”

“Gotcha,” Elma said. “I’m ready anytime.”

“Here we go.” I drastically decreased generator output and left FTL travel, heeding the interdictor’s pull. If we were going to fight, then exiting FTL on our own was better than being yanked out of it by force.

Boom! As we left FTL, the stars settled from streaks to soft, still pinpoints.

“Two unidentified craft have locked on,” Mimi reported. “I see thirteen enemy ships.”

“Deploying chaff,” Elma said.

“Weapons system online. Here goes.” I brought the generator back up to max and charged into the battle. Aww, yeah. It’s showtime!

 

***

 

“Situation resolved,” I said. “Mm, kinda disappointing.” Calling what had just happened a “battle” would have been too generous. The moment I let loose with my flak cannons and heavy lasers, the pirates scattered into disarray. I wiped them out as they scrambled to flee.

“This ship’s just too unfair,” Elma commented. “It looks like a small ship, but its output and firepower are on par with much bigger ones.”

“It might be a little unfair, but its specialized mobility comes with some huge drawbacks.”

“Mm, true. Not that it’s as bad as the Swan.”

“You must be good if you were able to use that thing well. I could never do it.”

I steered the Krishna toward the wreckage of the pirate ships as we talked so we could begin salvaging parts and goods.

“I know I should be used to it by now, but…” Mimi glanced between us as we chatted.

Hmm. She must be bothered by hearing the pirates’ final screams. To be fair, they were pleading for their lives.

“Do you think we’re being too calm about killing people?” I asked.

“Erm…” Mimi hesitated. The answer was obviously “yes,” but she didn’t want to say it.

“Mimi, if you worry about it every time, you’ll be depressed forever,” I said. “They’re like space monsters, but a little harder to deal with, since they’ve got human intelligence. Remember, they murder people without mercy.”

“Hiro’s right,” Elma said. “You don’t have to listen to their last screams and their begging. Do you think they listen to innocent people’s begging when they attack their ships? Not at all. They’re trash, and they got what was coming to them.”

“Okay.” Still, Mimi’s shoulders slumped and her head hung heavy. I couldn’t see her face, but she must’ve looked miserable.

“It might be rough, but maybe that’s for the best, Mimi. Elma and I are a little less sympathetic, so we need a good conscience like you on the ship to ground us.”

“Hey, I have a conscience,” Elma said. “Mimi, you can’t be sympathetic to space pirates. If we let them escape, they could hurt dozens or even hundreds of people.”

“Okay.” From the hunch of her shoulders, it didn’t look like our words were making Mimi feel any better. I wasn’t really sure what to say at times like these. Sorry, Mimi.

“I’m not seeing any notable cargo,” Elma said.

“Yeah. Non-perishable food, booze, and a bit of Rare Metal,” I said. “None of their equipment is worth stripping off either… Oh?”

I caught a glint in the darkness of space and gasped when I recognized it.

“What’s wrong?” Elma asked.

“I think we found something crazy…”

“Huh? Ugh, is it another Singing Crystal?”

“Nope. Check it out.” I sent the loot data over to Mimi and Elma.

“Is that…a cold-sleep pod?” Elma asked. “Eugh, and it’s in use!”

“In use? Do you mean there are survivors inside?” I asked.

In Stella Online, players tended to just sell off cold-sleep pods, but in this universe, they were actually used as emergency escape pods. They could keep someone in suspended animation at a low temperature, slowing down their metabolism so they could survive for a long time with minimal resources. The pods were supposed to send out distress signals so their users could get rescued. So what the heck was one doing in a pirate ship?

“Well, we can’t just leave them there,” Elma said. “Let’s check that the pod’s not bugged. We have to recover it.”

“You’re right,” I said.

We were duty-bound to try to save the person in this pod—it was actually a crime not to! I didn’t want a bounty on my head, even though some mercs and merchants got away with abandoning pods. Still, it would catch up to us sooner or later. Better to just do our duty.

“Guess we should grab it,” I said. “Let’s get this to the colony as soon as possible.”

“For a vacation, we’re really getting off to a rough start,” Elma said with a sigh. “But I guess the pirates were the first sign, huh?”

“Excuse me, but…why is finding this pod a problem?” Mimi asked.

Elma and I shared a look, pilot to copilot, each trying to force the other to explain. After our harsh words about pirates, neither of us wanted to say that saving lives could be a massive annoyance.

Elma broke first and sighed. “Depending on what your cold-sleep pod is like, you have to deal with a few days of memory loss,” she said. “For up to a week, whoever finds you has to protect you. At the least, whoever saved you can legally get you to pay the necessary expenses after it’s all said and done.”

“Basically, we can’t go on vacation for a week,” I said. “We can’t fight pirates either. But hey, that’s the price to save a life.”

“I see. Saving lives is still worth it, in my opinion. After all, you saved Elma and me.”

“Yeah, she’s right,” Elma said. “That’s what I get for saying we’re off to a bad start. Let’s just hope the person inside doesn’t have any baggage we have to deal with.”

“The person inside, huh? I guess we won’t know until we open the pod,” I said. Hopefully, we’d find a reasonable person inside, maybe even someone who still had all their memories. Elma had warned me before that we could get some pretty rough customers from a pod like this, though. “Either way, let’s set a course for Cierra Prime right away. We’re done salvaging.”

“Sure. Mimi, can you set up navigation again?” Elma asked.

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll ready the navigation data.”

The colony pinged on the cockpit’s main display.

“Off we go, then. Begin charging faster-than-light drive,” I ordered.

“Okay. Charging now,” Elma said.

Thus, we stowed the cold-sleep pod in our cargo hold and resumed our journey to Cierra Prime, unsure just what kind of trouble would pop out of that pod.

 

***

 

I couldn’t help remembering good old Tarmein Prime when we reached Cierra Prime. Similarly, Cierra Prime formed a bicycle-tire shape, with several elevators all leading to the outer ring and a gravity port district in the center. Cierra was about twice the size of Tarmein, however. I had to wonder just how many tens of thousands of people they could fit in a massive colony like this.

“It looks like Tarmein Prime, doesn’t it?” Mimi said, echoing my thoughts. Wistfulness quieted her voice as she reminisced about the colony where we’d first met, the colony that had once been her home.

“It is the same type of colony, yeah,” Elma said. “But the inside is totally different.”

“Mimi, send a docking request.”

“Oh. Y-yes, sir!” Mimi contacted Cierra Prime’s Port Authority, and before long, we got permission to dock in the thirty-second hangar.

“Okay, here goes,” I said. “Time to drive safely.”

“Yes. Safely,” Elma echoed with a vacant stare.

She must have been recalling the crazy debt she’d racked up when her ship rampaged, damaging other ships on its wild ride. It wasn’t due to her negligence, though… Okay, yeah, it kind of was. How did those rampaging swan ships ever get sold in this universe, anyway? If they were cars, they’d be recalled instantly. Maybe I should look that up.

We docked at the high-traffic port without incident, unlike many of the newbies I used to encounter in Stella Online. All too often, they scraped the bottom of their ships and smacked into things, messing up their propulsion and other systems. All it really took was a little practice, though. These days, I could slide in like a pro. By that, I meant that I relied completely on the auto-docking function. No shame.

“Auto-docking is so lame,” Elma griped.

“What’s your deal? Did auto-docking kill your parents?”

“N-now, now. It is convenient,” Mimi said, trying to intercede.

Elma always seemed to have something snarky to say about the auto-docking. Maybe she had a bad experience or something, but I couldn’t understand why she hated me using it so much.

“Who should we call about the cold-sleep pod?” I asked.

“The Port Authority is fine,” Elma said. “They’re the ones who deal with galactic law, anyway.”

“Gotcha. Mimi, you take care of registering for our extended stay. I’ll call the Port Authority about this cold-sleep pod. Elma, I’ll leave supporting us both up to you.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Just one “yeah” would’ve been plenty. I kept my lips zipped, opening a communication line to the Port Authority instead.

A woman quickly responded. “You’ve reached the Port Authority.”

“This is Captain Hiro with the mercenary guild. My ship’s name is Krishna, and I’m staying in the thirty-second hangar.”

“Verifying now… Okay, confirmed. Do you have any issues to bring to our attention, Captain Hiro?”

“‘Issue’ is definitely a word for it,” I said. “When we arrived in this system, space pirates attacked us. We found a cold-sleep pod among their cargo.”

“I see; so you’ve had to save a victim,” the woman said. “You require a witness for when you open the pod, then. Are you aware of your responsibility to protect the victim?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m stuck with them for a week, right? What do I do with them after the week is up if they have nowhere to go?”

“We’ll verify their identity within the week,” the woman said. “You have no need to worry. We can identify any citizen of the Empire with almost 100 percent certainty.”

“What if they’re not from the Empire?” I asked.

“In that case, the Empire will take them into custody. You won’t be forced to look after them any longer,” the Port Authority woman assured me in a calm voice.

I didn’t like the thought of what “take them into custody” might mean. I chose to believe this person would be a citizen of the Empire.

“What do we do, exactly? Should we open the pod in our cargo bay?”

“No,” the woman said. “We have a specialized space for it, so we’ll do it there. Please pass along the necessary information. The shipping code is…”

I typed the code into the cockpit’s console. From here, the pod would travel through the colony’s shipping system to arrive at the Port Authority. It felt like a strange—if not downright creepy—way to treat a human being, like they were mail.

“We’ve confirmed the shipment,” the woman said. “Please arrive here at your earliest convenience so we can open the pod.”

They really don’t care about our circumstances at all. I guess I couldn’t blame them. The longer that person stayed in the pod, the worse their memory loss might get.

“Hear that, girls?” I announced. “I’m going to the Port Authority’s office. Somebody come with me.”

“We don’t know what will happen, so I believe Elma should be the one to do it,” Mimi said. “She has more experience in battle.”

“Yeah, maybe so. Sure, I’ll come with,” Elma said. I didn’t miss the beat of hesitation before she agreed. Something was definitely on her mind.

“Then let’s go. Mimi, sell off the loot and cargo as needed. I’ll leave it up to you.”

“Understood, Captain!” Mimi said.

We’d picked up this cargo–some high-tech equipment—all the way back in the Arein System. I didn’t think much of it, but Mimi and Elma were convinced it would sell for a good price here. We had plenty of space for it too. The two of them were practically running a small business out of the cargo hold at this point. I got 50 percent of the profits, and they split the other half. When I complained my share was too large, they insisted, and I knew better than to fight it. We left Mimi to her cargo empire while Elma and I disembarked and headed to the Port Authority office.

“Hey,” I said as we walked, “it seemed like something was on your mind earlier. Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Elma replied. “I was just thinking about letting Mimi experience some of this, since this probably won’t be the last time we have to deal with a cold-sleep pod. But then I decided we should let you experience it first, and then you can train Mimi next time it happens.”

“Well, Great and Wise Elma, I humbly await your guidance.”

“It’s been a long time since you last called me that, huh?”

I smiled, remembering when we were met and how she used to bristle at the nickname. She really lived up to it, though. Any time I needed to know about a place, people, or system, Elma had the answer.

“All the buildings here look the same,” I mused.

“It’s a problem of efficiency,” Elma said. “We have limited materials and space inside colonies. Standardizing all the buildings keeps things streamlined. It would be a major luxury to bring in different materials for a unique structure.”

“Interesting.” Part of me wondered if this was just copying and pasting by the developers of Stella Online. The in-game universe had a lot of uniform buildings for that reason. But Elma’s explanation also made sense.

Among the blur of uniform structures, we found the Port Authority building. Inside, employees waited behind a large counter. Among the visitors in the waiting room, I spotted mercenaries like us, people in suits, and everything in between. At least there was no one in power armor.

“I’m Captain Hiro,” I said when I approached the counter. “I called about the cold-sleep pod.”

“The cold-sleep pod… All right, I’ve verified your appointment. The pod has already arrived. Take that hallway down to the first pod-opening room.”

We headed down the hall as instructed.

“The first pod-opening room…” Elma looked around. “There it is.” She pushed open the door to a room containing a few more Port Authority personnel and the cold-sleep pod. One tapped at a console. Wires and cords sprang from the pod, connecting it to the machinery in the room.

We were greeted by a man in his late thirties or early forties. “Hello there. Captain Hiro, I presume?” He tried to sound cheerful, but the tension around his eyes and mouth were plain to see.

“Yeah,” I said. “Who are you?”

“A mere Port Authority employee. My name is Bruno.” He extended his hand. When I accepted, he gripped me in a bone-crushing handshake. “And who is this lovely lady?”

“Elma. She’s a member of my crew.”

“Wow. I’m jealous,” Bruno said. His smile was far too knowing for my liking. How would he feel if he knew about our short little hottie back in the ship? “So let’s get right to it. First, the contents of the pod seem safe. There was a girl inside. She’s being thawed and resuscitated right now.”

“A girl, huh? Well, I have two other ladies on my crew who should be able to help her.”

“Yeah,” Elma said, sounding eager. “We’ll be glad to have another gal around.”

Frankly, having another lady around seemed like less hassle than some stuffy old man. I wouldn’t know how to deal with him, honestly; I’d probably put up Elma and Mimi in some other lodging while he and I stayed in the Krishna.

“Do we have any other info?” I asked.

“Yes,” Bruno said. “This escape pod is from a high-class passenger ship that was attacked by pirates three months ago. The passengers were all rich merchants and nobles. Chances are, she’s the child of one. And look at this.” Bruno pointed at the pod, but all I saw were traces of severed components.

“What’s that about?”

“That is where the distress-signal emitter unit is supposed to be,” Bruno said. “It was probably sliced off with a noble’s sword.”

Many of the Grakkan Empire’s nobility carried swords around. I’d never witnessed their sharpness myself, but I had no doubt they could slice right through metal.

“Smells like trouble,” I said.

“Sucks to be you, my man, but if you save this poor little lady, you can expect a hefty reward.”

I nodded. Hopefully, she’d be reasonable. That bit about being noble or at least high-born had me worried, though.

“I’ll leave the lady to you and Mimi,” I told Elma.

“Hey!” she exclaimed, apparently as excited as I was about the prospect of dealing with the upper crust.

“Good luck.”

“Seriously?”

“Good luck!”

Elma glared at me, pursing her lips.

I mean, what did she expect? No matter how sweet and obedient the little lady might be, a guy like me couldn’t just get close to someone like that.

“Vitals are stable,” one employee announced. “We can open it now.”

“Awesome,” Bruno said. “Time to meet the little lass! Are you ready, Captain?”

“Ready any time,” I said. “Let’s get this over with instead of making a big deal out of it.”

“Fair, fair. Open it up!”

“Yes, sir. Opening now.”

Psheeew! White smoke hissed out as the lid rose and slid to the side. I peeked inside, where I spotted a cute little girl with a short black bob. I backed off so she wouldn’t have to wake up to the sight of my ugly mug.

“Urk?!” As I tried to retreat, she suddenly reached up, snagging me by the jacket.

“Papa, don’t go…” she said.

“Huh?”

“Please, stay…”

I was at a total loss as she continued to hold my jacket, tears in her eyes. I glanced at Elma, Bruno, and the other Port Authority staff for help, but they all shrugged and grinned at me. It seemed I was on my own.

“Okay, fine.” I set my hand over hers and she seemed to calm, drifting back to sleep. “What am I supposed to do about this?”

“I guess you’ve gotta stay like that until she wakes up,” Elma said. “So, Bruno, let’s get to the paperwork, shall we?”

“All right, but it looks like she’s gonna do just fine.” He laughed, and I held back the desire to deck him right there and then.

I looked up to the ceiling, my hand eternally trapped in the grip of this sleeping princess. How did it come to this?

 

***

 

The girl didn’t wake again for quite a while. Cold sleep was more suspension than rest; it wasn’t as easy as waking up after a nap. She’d likely come back totally exhausted. Nevertheless, she was out.

“Mmn…” She groaned, scrunching up her face. Was she having a nightmare? She still clung to my hand and I squeezed hers, trying to soothe her.

“Babysitting isn’t really my thing, but…” I sighed. What am I supposed to do when she wakes up? I hope she doesn’t call the police the moment she notices a strange man holding her hand. I’d better not be the one who has to explain everything to her.

Based on her age, she couldn’t have been traveling alone. Her family should’ve been on the ship with her. Yet somehow those pirates only picked her up. What had happened to her family? When she said, “Papa, don’t go,” what did that mean?

The Port Authority would investigate her background, the ship she was on, and the status of the passengers, but I wasn’t optimistic for a happy ending to this story. I braced myself for tragedy. I sighed again. At least someone had brought me a stool to sit on while I waited.

My handheld pinged with a message from Elma. I’m off to the mercenary guild.

Sounds good, I said. The girl still hasn’t woken up yet.

How old is she? Mimi asked. Once we’d filled her in on the situation in our group chat, she’d seemed pretty worried.

I dunno. Younger than you, Mimi. I’d say somewhere between ten and twelve years old.

She was the same height as you, though! Elma added.

Don’t talk to me about my height, please…

Elma responded with a sticker of a silly-looking, smirking, one-eyed alien. Mimi replied with what looked like an angry cat. I just shook my head at their cute play-fighting.

I maneuvered the terminal so I could snap a quick picture of the girl in the pod, then interrupted their sticker stream with the image.

Here’s a pic of the sleeping beauty for the crowd.

Aww, cute! Mimi sent a sticker with some kind of space cat or squirrel with hearts in its eyes.

Don’t take pictures of girls in their sleep! Elma said. But yes, she is cute.

I’m gonna take a cute pic of you sleeping next, Elma, I said.

Don’t you dare. The next one-eyed alien sticker was distinctly angry.

I’d volunteer for a cute picture, Mimi said, punctuating it with a space-cat-squirrel fidgeting with bashfulness. All their adorable stickers made me tempted to get some for myself, but I didn’t know the characters from this universe.

“Mm?”

I was tapping at my terminal with my free hand when the girl woke again. She stared up vacantly at me, and I gave her hand a squeeze.

“Papa?” she said.

“Sorry. I’m not your Papa.”

More awake now, the girl surveyed the room. “Papa… Where’s Papa?”

“I don’t know. I found you alone. Sorry.”

“I see.” She closed her eyes. Then her grip tightened. “My hand…” She opened her eyes and glanced at our overlapping hands. “Thank you for holding my hand.”

“Oh…” I released her hand at last, and she struggled to sit up.

The girl locked eyes with me. “Thank you. My name is Christina Dalenwald. I am the daughter of Friedrich Dalenwald, heir to Count Dalenwald.”

What is all of this all of a sudden?! Uh, okay, so her name is Christina. Her grandpa is the count, and her father, Friedrich, is the next count.

“I’m Captain Hiro, a silver-rank mercenary with the guild,” I told her. “I own a small craft called the Krishna. Just call me Hiro, though.”

“Very well, Sir Hiro. You may call me Chris.” She smiled awkwardly. I thought she was pretty when she was sleeping, but awake, she was cuter. Her features were naturally perfect, and her eyes shone like onyx. If we were in Japan, they’d say, “A beauty like her only comes once in a hundred years.” Though she was…a little slim.

“I should probably explain what’s going on,” I said. “Do you mind if I’m a little informal? I can answer any questions you have at the end.”

“That’s fine,” she said. “I may be from a count’s family, but I’m just a little girl.”

Thankfully, it seemed she had none of the haughty noble attitude I’d expected. Still, she was awfully calm for someone who just woke up in a strange room. Maybe it was her upbringing, but she was very mature for her age. And hey, that worked just fine for me.

“All right. First off, you should know that I found you in a cold-sleep pod in a pirate ship. We’d just defeated the pirates. When we picked up your pod, we came straight here to Cierra Prime and informed the Port Authority. They opened the pod in this special room. We’re still at the Port Authority’s office, in fact.”

“I see…” She nodded slowly, contemplating my explanation.

“When someone finds a cold-sleep pod in space, they have a responsibility to take care of the person inside for about a week,” I continued. “That means I’m here to protect you. I have two female crewmates on my ship, so they can help you out in ways that I can’t. Unfortunately, we don’t have any open rooms, but the girls’ rooms fit two people. If you’re uncomfortable with staying on a man’s ship, we could also find you somewhere to stay on the colony.”

“Oh, no. That’s fine by me.” The fact that she didn’t ask what I meant showed that the whole girl on a man’s ship thing really was common knowledge.

“Really? Well, hold your decision until you see the place, at least. I’m taking care of you for now, but if we can contact your grandfather, that’ll probably be the end of that. Until the count comes, though, I promise to keep an eye on you.”

“Is that so? You’ll really protect me, Sir Hiro?”

“Yeah, I will. It’s only for a limited time, but I’ll be like your knight in shining armor, I guess.”

Chris looked a bit nervous, so I knelt down next to the cold-sleep pod, put my hand to my heart, and swore my fealty or whatever. I couldn’t blame her for being anxious about this whole situation, but hopefully my gesture put her somewhat more at ease.

“Ha ha! I feel like the protagonist of a holo-novel, having my own space-faring knight.” Chris smiled at my exaggerated act. The mirth quickly died, however. “My knight, Sir Hiro. Please protect me.”

“Uh, from what? My…lady?” She seemed to be playing along, so I kept the knight thing going. She was a child, after all.

“My father, Friedrich Dalenwald, was murdered by his own brother, Balthazar Dalenwald,” she said. “Space pirates weren’t the ones who attacked us; his soldiers did. My uncle wanted the heir and his daughter killed.”

Say what, now?

“Huh?” I cocked an eyebrow. “Uh, is your memory okay? I hear crazy stuff happens in cold-sleep pods.”

“No, I’m certain of it,” Chris said. “Our attackers were clearly after me and my parents. My mother was shot first because she protected me, and then my father sent me away.”

That explained why and when the pod’s distress signal emitter had been cut off: Chris’s father must have destroyed it to keep that Balthazar guy from finding her.

“My uncle probably knows I got away. No doubt, his men are still searching for me in this very system.”

“Oh. Awesome.” I covered my face in despair.

A familial dispute among nobles. This wasn’t big trouble—this was huge trouble. Haven’t I been caught up in enough trouble in this universe already? All I wanna do is kill crappy pirates, save up my money, and eventually buy a detached house with a yard on some residential planet so I can drink soda happily forever.

“I’m sorry to be such a bother.” Chris offered a pained grin. “Please, forget all I just told you.”

How could I do something like that? With a ship like the Krishna, how could I abandon a little girl clearly in need of protection? Me, the guy who helped Mimi. Me, the guy who saved Elma.

Absolutely not. I couldn’t leave a cute damsel in distress.

Do I want to be a hero? Am I just starving for attention? Who cares? We men can’t escape our primal instincts.

“I’ll need a reward,” I said.

“Oh?”

“I can be your knight for a while, but I’m still a mercenary. Knights and mercenaries both need to be paid for their work, don’t you think?” I flashed a smile.

“Umm…”

“Anything is fine. In fact, I’d say it’s time for us to negotiate. My lady, how do you plan to repay me?”

Chris looked around uneasily. Then she removed her necklace and handed it to me. A translucent, purple jewel hung from a heavy chain. It looked expensive, but I didn’t have any idea how much it was worth. If a girl of her status was wearing it around, though, it definitely wasn’t junk.

“This is my treasure.” She stared at it forlornly, but she bravely tried to mask her sorrow.

“I’ll take this just for now,” I said. “We’ll get the real reward from your grandfather. Once I’ve finished protecting you, the necklace is yours again, my lady.” I set the necklace in my pocket, and Chris offered me the back of her hand.

Am I supposed to kiss it? That’s a little embarrassing, but I guess I have to. As a Japanese man, I know when I’ve just gotta do what I’ve gotta do.

I suppressed my shame, took Chris’s hand, and kissed the back of it softly.

“Ha ha!” She giggled. “This really is like a holo-novel!”

“Do you enjoy books, my lady? Uh, is this how pretentious imperial knights act?”

“Maybe? I’ve never seen one myself,” Chris said, cradling the hand I’d kissed against her chest.

Is this what noble girls like her dream of? Men just dream of girls wearing nothing but a T-shirt or an apron.

“That’s enough of this for now,” I said. “We might not be together long, but it’s nice to meet you, Lady Chris.”

“And you too, my knight. But you don’t have to call me that.” Chris’s cheeks flushed as she smiled at me.

With things settled for now, I hurried to get Chris and me back to the ship. After all, her crazy, murderous uncle had to be watching the Port Authority like a hawk to see if anyone brought her in. If she’d been in that pod for three months, it meant that her uncle had had plenty of time to set up a network of surveillance.

My stomach clenched. I was in for a whole new world of trouble with this one. What was I supposed to do?