Chapter 6: Our First Ride in a Gateway

Chapter 6:
Our First Ride in a Gateway

 

THREE DAYS after we’d delivered Chris to Count Dalenwald, we were finally set to leave Cierra Prime.

What about Serena, you ask? Well, thanks to Mei’s quick actions, we were able to keep her from getting blackout drunk. Mei helped a ton by making Serena drink enough water to take the edge off all the booze.

There had been an awful lot of shocking occurrences over the past three days. Unidentified corpses had been found hung from the streetlights, as if put on display. Not far from there in an unsafe district, there had been shootings. I couldn’t help but remember the way Count Dalenwald’s secretary had emphasized the word cleaning, but I did my best to avoid thinking about it. I don’t know what’s going on, but it sure is creepy!

The first day involved Serena dragging me around, but after that, we set up Mei’s new maintenance pod in the cargo room. I got to enjoy some alone time with Mimi, Elma, and Mei, which was sorely needed after holding back for so long with Chris around.

Possibly due to Mei’s influence, Mimi and Elma were awfully aggressive. Not that they were trying to outdo her or anything. I think they liked our new Maidroid; in fact, they were getting along great. They talked with her frequently, and they even bathed with her sometimes.

It almost seemed like they were all conspiring. A mystery, to be sure. Not that I minded, as long as we all got along.

“Master Hiro?” Mimi addressed me, worried.

“Hm? Oh, sorry. I was just thinking to myself.”

“Everything okay?” Elma asked. “We’re about to launch.”

“Nah, just remembering last night—ow, ow, ouch!”

One slightly blushing elf tugged at my ear. Ha ha ha! It’s adorable how you always act so innocent, Elma.

We didn’t need to go through much trouble for this launch, since we were counted as being part of Count Dalenwald’s fleet for now. They were taking care of it from their side, so we just had to follow the Port Authority’s orders and lift off.

“So now we make easy money, as long as we don’t get ambushed,” I said, sighing contentedly.

“Right,” Mimi confirmed. “250,000 Ener in a day is incredible… Can nobles really just throw around money like that?”

“They do have to keep up appearances,” Elma explained. “If people knew high-class nobles were hiring a gold-rank merc for market price, everyone would think they’re going bankrupt. The same goes for merchants, too. The military might hire us for eighty thousand a day, but merchants usually hire for up to double that. And nobles pay at least double that.”

“Wow…” Mimi gasped. “That’s what it’s like being rich, huh? For a commoner like me, it’s too much money to even imagine.”

“So you say, Mimi, but you make a ton of money for a commoner,” Elma replied with a smirk.

“Ha ha ha… Sometimes, I’m too scared to check my Ener balance.”

I don’t remember exactly how much money Mimi had earned, but given our rewards from the other day, she was probably at over 100,000 Ener. That converts to about 10,000,000 Japanese yen. Mimi was old enough to be considered an adult, but not many people her age had money like that.

Elma was probably around 1,200,000 Ener. Or she would be if she wasn’t going around buying 100,000-Ener drinks. She owed me 3,000,000 too, so she was probably a quarter of the way there.

“Oh!” Mimi exclaimed. “Our unit has been given permission to launch. We’ll be the last to go.”

“Understood. Let me know when it’s time.”

“Yes, sir. Ships are leaving one at a time… Large craft are really slow movers.”

“Only in the port,” Elma added. “Since they’re so heavy, you don’t want them accelerating too much and hitting something.”

“Yeeeah. It’d be downright catastrophic.” I had never done it myself, but newbies to Stella Online who had just traded up for large ships would pilot them like small ones. When they first tried to leave port, they’d crash their shiny new vehicle right into the port or other ships, immediately ruining them.

Before long, it was our turn. We released our docking from the hangar and propelled forward. The colony was just as busy as ever today. Despite the attack on Cierra III a few days ago, faith in its defense system actually increased because of how it held out until the imperial fleet arrived. It kinda stunk of information manipulation, but I didn’t care enough to probe too deeply into it.

“Ah, I love spaceships,” I sighed. “The sensation of slipping through space, having total control over the ship, the slight tension… It’s all wonderful. There’s also this sense of freedom, like you’ve just jumped into the ocean.”

“Like you’ve jumped into the ocean…?” Mimi sounded curious.

“I get how you feel, kinda,” Elma said. “Though I feel freer in the forest than the sea.” It seemed Elma felt free in space, too. Maybe every kind of pilot knew the feeling well.

“Will I feel that way someday, too?” Mimi asked.

“Maybe. To be fair, Elma and I probably feel it in different ways.” The sensation was perhaps something deeply personal and sensuous. A reminder of freedom or joy, right from the bottom of your heart. Other people would probably find it hard to understand.

“Unfortunately, this conversation is beyond me,” Mei said from her sub-operator seat.

Since Chris was off the ship now, Mei was sitting in her rightful place. We usually had her helping Mimi out, improving her skills wherever possible. After all, if we let her use her full potential, she would just steal Mimi’s job altogether.

We slid through the port and out of the airtight gate. Finally, we were out of the colony.

“They’re to the lower left,” Mimi informed me. “Right now, they seem to be arranging their formation.”

“We’re the rear guard, right?”

“Yes, sir!”

It was easier for the rear guard to react to the start of a battle in most cases. As long as enemies didn’t attack head-on, the vanguard would have to turn around to face them. It would only take a moment for me, but that moment could spell the difference between life and death. On the other hand, it was also easiest for the rear guard to get attacked first.

We slipped right into the very back of the formation. “Set FTL drive and hyperdrive to sync mode,” I commanded.

“I’ve set the faster-than-light and hyperdrive to sync mode,” Mimi confirmed. “Synchronization request accepted!”

“Awesome! Now…we just wait.”

Since we were synced to the flagship vessel today, there was no need for us to directly operate FTL travel or hyperdrive. They would automatically activate whenever the flagship did so.

Before long, there was a boom as the Krishna shifted to FTL travel and then activated hyperdrive, sending us into hyperspace.

“No matter how many times I see it, it’s just so strange and beautiful,” Mimi mused with a sigh, watching the endless colors of hyperspace.

“You’ve got that right,” I agreed. “But I bet it’ll make you sick if you stare too long.”

“Will it? I could watch it forever.”

“You’re tough in all the strangest ways…” Elma shook her head.

“Hey, that was rude!” Mimi sounded offended, but I had to agree with Elma. Not that I had the guts to say it.

Basically, hyperlanes look kind of like giant tubes with every color in the rainbow everywhere at once. But they’re also a giant, open space at the same time. Basically, it’s psychedelic as heck: it might look pretty at first glance, but if I stared at it too long, my depth perception and sense of balance would go haywire and make me sick.

And even if she didn’t want to admit it, Mimi was a weird kind of tough to call hyperspace “beautiful” and say that she could look at it forever.

 

***

 

The journey was smooth enough. You can’t interfere with hyperdrive travel, so we faced no particular issues. Nobody interdicted us, even when we returned to normal space and traveled via FTL.

We used hyperlanes repeatedly to travel between star systems, eventually arriving at the Bardemure System, four systems away from the Cierra System. If we’d wanted to go straight to the Dexar System, then this was completely the wrong way, but we had a reason for the detour.

“Wooow… Is that the gateway?” Mimi asked, her eyes glowing with excitement.

“Dang! They’re huge when you see ’em up close!” I said, naturally flaunting my elementary-schooler vocabulary. But I mean, how else could I describe it?

The gateway was a complex structure, but in simplistic terms, it was like a pair of metallic triangular pyramid devices that were waaaaaay bigger than any space colony. Between the pyramids was a pocket of warped space that emitted strange sparks. Many ships came and went through the distortion. Truly, the gateway was the culmination of the greatest imperial technology.

It was different in shape from the gateways I knew, but not everything in this universe was exactly like Stella Online. Besides, I figured it was a minor difference. The empire that developed and managed it was different, anyway.

“Oh, yeah,” Elma remembered. “You two haven’t seen gateways before.”

“Yeah. I’ve only known about them.”

“Same here,” Mimi said.

Only knowing about something is different from seeing it up close. Holy cow, it’s freaking huge, I thought. Are the sensors displaying it on the wrong scale? Is this real? Just one of the pyramids is even bigger than the entire Cierra Prime colony! Add in the size of the space between them, and the entire thing could easily be bigger than a planet.

“But now that we’re here, we must be safe, right?” Mimi asked. “The gateway is guarded by imperial defenders, so we won’t be attacked.”

“Right,” I answered. “It’d be outright stupid to attack us here. They would get blown away in two seconds flat.”

Gateways were able to transport things astronomical distances in an instant—anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands of light years away. They were strategic locations second in importance only to the imperial capital itself.

Naturally, the security forces at the gateway were much stronger than the imperial forces stationed in the system we’d previously stayed at. If I were to challenge them, they’d turn the Krishna into space dust. Put bluntly, you’d need enough power to stand up against the entire empire’s fleet if you wanted to attack a gateway. That was because gateways had wicked strong security. Unless you attacked multiple gateways at once, they could send reinforcements from the other gateways’ security forces. It’d be like poking a hornets’ nest.

“Yep,” Elma agreed. “Gone in an instant. But I’d say the fact that nothing has happened so far means that we’re about to be in real danger.”

“Think so? Yeah, I guess you’re right. How many gateways away is the Dexar System, again?”

“Five,” Mimi said, bringing up the Galaxy Map on the holo-display. “This gateway leads to the Neepak System, and then the Melkit, Jeagle, Wellick, Kormat, and finally, the Dexar System.” I zoomed in on the display to show the hyperlanes connecting each star system, estimating the average time between them.

“The gateway’s security force won’t act unless something crazy happens, but I bet they’d be willing to attack us from a neighboring system,” I said.

“Right,” Elma nodded.

“So, the Jeagle or Wellick Systems would be the most likely suspects. But the count must have some kind of plan, right?”

“The empire probably granted the count’s family all the systems neighboring the Dexar, so once we get to the Kormat, we should be safe. The Melkit is under direct control of the empire, so even if the count doesn’t do anything directly, our safety should be guaranteed. So you’re right; but if they have a good relationship with the nobility who own the Jeagle and Wellick Systems, then their fleet might escort us.”

Elma tapped around the Galaxy Map as she spoke, dividing the systems based on who controlled what. Like she said, the Melkit belonged to the empire, while the Jeagle and Wellick Systems were controlled by their respective noble families. It was also clear that the Kormat belonged to Count Dalenwald.

“I dunno if it’s just me,” I said, “but I don’t recall neighboring nobles liking each other that much.”

“I agree,” Mimi added.

“It’s not like that’s always true,” Elma replied with a shrug. “But I hear things often get dicey when they have competing exports.” The Galaxy Map didn’t include info on noble relations, so we wouldn’t be able to probe that deeply. Since noble relations didn’t factor into our job much, we hadn’t thought to look into it in the first place.

“Basically, it’s too early to relax,” Elma concluded. “Stay vigilant and keep on your toes.”

“Sure thing.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

We looked upon the approaching giant distortion. Ow! Jeez, Elma, you don’t have to sink your nails into my thigh just because I didn’t give a proper answer!

“By the way, Mei, what do you think of all this so far?” I asked our maid, who had listened quietly this whole time. She never gave her opinion on stuff like this unless you asked her directly. I guess that’s her prioritizing her role as my helper. You’re honestly free to jump into the conversation, though…

“I believe we will be in the most danger when we warp out into the Kormat System.” She refuted our entire discussion in one sentence.

“And why’s that?”

“The Dalenwald Territory is naturally Count Abraham Dalenwald’s home, but it is also home to Balthazar Dalenwald. Based on his actions so far, Balthazar seems adept at bending others to serve his needs. If the Kormat System’s defenders have been swayed to his cause, then that would be the most dangerous.”

She was right about that. Chris’ uncle had mobilized a huge amount of space pirates to attack Cierra III, procuring stealth dropships—secret military weapons—along the way. He even sicced a formal army on us.

What if he did the same thing with the Kormat System’s defenses? That would be pretty darn scary. Count Dalenwald’s current forces could probably stand up to them in quality and quantity, but I didn’t know if they’d ambush us when we warped in. They had a clear advantage in that regard.

“Should we tell the count?” I suggested.

“If it occurred to us, then it’s likely occurred to him. We would just be making fun of his diplomacy skills if we mentioned it.” Elma chuckled.

That was fair. If we went up to him and implied that he didn’t have his own army under control, he’d be pissed. But in my opinion, his diplomacy was questionable from the moment he let his kids run amok.

“Nothing we can do about it, then?”

“Nothing at all,” Elma shrugged. “We just have to do our best and survive.”

“Nothing at all…” Mimi sighed. I had to sigh, too. Suddenly, I don’t like where this is going…

 

***

 

Mercenaries are free birds…that is, until they’re hired. Then, we’re just humble employees. We don’t report to our employers often, and Chris’ grandfather was imperial nobility. A count, at that. I was terrified just imagining how he would react if I suggested that his subordinates might betray him. Hell, he might just grab his sword and cut me down on the spot.

Thus, Captain Hiro was doomed to keep his lips sealed, I messaged, tapping on my screen to discard a useless mahjong piece.

My grandfather seemed quite wary of any attacks by my uncle. I don’t think we need to worry, but… Along with that message, Chris sent a sticker displaying a chibified, thoughtful-looking black cat. Heh. Chris was a skilled player, indeed.

We’ll be just fine! As long as we have Master Hiro, anything is possible! Mimi sent a sticker with a squirrel pumping its fists vigorously along with that message. She then discarded a very bold tile, but surprisingly, nobody took it.

Hiro’s skilled, but he does have his limits. But yeah, he does usually find a way. Elma’s message came with her weird alien cyclops avatar sighing and drinking wine. And her next move was…

Oh, that’s ron, I sent. She had given me the winning discard.

Same here! Mimi added.

Why?! Next came the same alien, shooting a beam from its eyes and burning down a city. Elma wasn’t a bad player, but she would always get stuck waiting for tiles that never, ever came. Overall, she just had awful luck—or she gambled too much. Either way, it was bad news for her. Ever since we started playing this card-based mahjong app, she always got third or fourth place. On the overall scoreboard, she was dead last.

Our clear winner was Mimi, by the way. She seemed like a slapdash player, but she never got caught in our waits, and each of her moves was meaningful. Alternatively, she just had incredible luck.

I was currently in the cockpit, exchanging messages with the girls as we played. Mimi and Elma were resting, probably in their rooms or in the cafeteria. Even while we traveled through hyperlanes, we always kept someone in the cockpit just in case. Mimi and Elma were probably in the cafeteria or their rooms while they rested. Since Mei didn’t really suffer from fatigue, she stayed with me in the sub-operator chair. She didn’t join in the conversation, but she watched our card mahjong game as a passive observer.

I wouldn’t lose if this were a racing game! The cyclops alien complained, slouched forward in defeat. Was Elma really that mad about it? To be fair, talking and gaming together were the only things we could do. Hyperlane travel was basically automatic, and we wouldn’t be attacked at any point.

At the moment, we were en route from the Jeagle System to the Wellick. After this, we would be in Count Dalenwald’s land, if you can really call a star system “land.” Anyway, after the Kormat System, we’d be at our destination: the Dexar System.

Things were on high alert when we warped out into the Jeagle System, but Count Dalenwald seemed to have a good relationship with the lord of that system, so their army was glad to join us on our journey. We were now one hour into the ten-hour trip from the Jeagle to the Wellick System.

“Master? If you wish to have a guard during hyperlane travel, I can do it for you,” Mei commented as we continued our games of mahjong.

“I know you can handle it, but I’d really hate to use you like that…”

“I do not mind it at all. Unlike organics, we androids feel no fatigue.”

“Maybe, but it’s the principle of it. I dunno…once I get used to your presence, maybe I’ll rely on you more often. There’s just nothing else to do during hyperlane travel. We talk, we game, and that’s it.”

“Perhaps you could strengthen your relationships?”

“I can’t live like a hedonist forever… Moderation is best when it comes to that. If I keep indulging myself, I’ll end up corrupted.”

Mimi and Elma were perfectly beautiful girls. I certainly had no problem with them. Mei was pretty, too. If I indulged myself in them too much, I’d never be able to part from them. Maybe it’s too late for me already…

“Is that true?” Mei asked.

“True as can be! I’ve saved up enough money to just eat good food with the girls every day, kill space pirates once in a blue moon, and live a totally hedonistic lifestyle. But if I let that happen, I’ll never break out of it. Seriously.”

It felt like I was already getting close to that point, but I still had my dream of earning enough money to buy a detached house with a yard on a residential planet. As far as my short-term goals, I planned on buying and furnishing a mothership with the rewards from this mission. Gotta spend money to make money.

“I see no issue with such a life, but as you wish. Please let me know if you do not want such a life, and I will do anything I can to aid you.” Mei sounded totally sincere as she said it. In a way, she was the most terrifying crew member here, actively tempting me toward the path to depravity.

Maybe I set her service setting too high. Or is she just listening because her faithfulness is set to strictly? Whatever; as long as I stay serious, I should be fine. I hope.

Our unit made it to the Wellick System, which we passed through without approaching any colonies. Seeing as how the star system’s fleet was willing to guide us through the system just like in the Jeagle System, Count Dalenwald must have been handling diplomacy well.

“We’ll warp out at noon,” Elma informed me. “Want me to take over so you can nap?”

“I will remain in the cockpit during hyperlane travel,” Mei declared. “Perhaps you all could rest now? If our warp out into the Kormat System will be a dangerous one, then you will need to be in perfect condition.”

“No, I don’t wanna push it all on you—”

As I tried to refuse, Mimi cut in. “Shouldn’t we rely on Mei? If she says it’ll be dangerous soon, then I believe her. If she’s willing to help us, then I believe we should take her up on it.”

“Agreed. Hiro, I think you’re too modest at the weirdest times. I don’t wanna push all the hard work onto her either, but it’s also kinda rude to be overly considerate and put her specialties to waste.”

After a moment, I finally asked, “Is that true?”

“True as can be.” Mei repeated what I had said the day before with a nod. “I appreciate your acceptance of me as a sentient individual, but I am a Maidroid. My very reason for living is to serve my master, so it is most appropriate for you to treat me as such. In fact, I would find that preferential.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” Mei nodded again.

Well, this is rough. I see Mei as a normal, beautiful woman, just like Mimi and Elma, in addition to being a maid. Remove the robotic bits near her ears, and she doesn’t look mechanical at all. I mean, I only know she’s a machine because of how we got her. Even when I first saw Maidroids on Cierra III, I just thought, “Woohoo, pretty maid babes!”

As long as Mei didn’t get attacked and reveal her mechanical parts, it would be difficult for me to see her wholly as a machine. Especially given that I knew how warm and soft she was.

“Well, I guess we can leave the cockpit to you…” I sighed. “How to rest, though?” I had just woken up three hours ago from a pre-warp nap.

“It’s not exactly our last supper, but how about we have a fancy meal, bathe, and hang out in your room?” Elma suggested.

“Oh ho ho, is that what you want?” I liked where this was going. She wanted to sate her hunger, and then sate her other hunger by “hanging out” in my room.

“U-um, I mean… That’s what most people would do, right?” Elma blushed and babbled incoherently at my suggestive tone.

“I think that’s a good idea, too. The three of us can hang out together.” I don’t know if Mimi realized what we were talking about, but she gladly agreed to the proposal. Oho, a three-way? I know I said all that nonsense about not being depraved yesterday, but I think I’m about to do a complete 180! I’ll just go back to non-depravity tomorrow.

“That sounds nice,” I said with a wink. “All three of us can ‘hang out’ at the same time.”

“H-hey!” Elma shrieked. “Are you being serious right now?!”

“Hanging out, yay! Let’s eat first! I want artificial meat today!”

“Sounds good to me!”

“Hold on!!!” Elma protested.

Mimi and I ignored the screaming elf and went to get some delicious food from the Steel Chef 5. Mei merely looked upon us, her normally expressionless face betraying some slight joy.

 

***

 

The three of us enjoyed ourselves and returned to the cockpit, ready for warp-out.

“Guess they’re planning to hit us when we warp in, huh?” I mused.

“That’s the natural decision,” Elma agreed.

“I hope nothing happens, but…” Mimi put a hand to her chin in thought. “Is there any point in Balthazar attacking Count Dalenwald now? Count Dalenwald knows about his son’s actions, so isn’t Balthazar done for, no matter what?”

Mei explained, “He’s likely planning to eliminate both Count Dalenwald and Lady Christina to steal the title of count for himself, and then to clean up the mess after he has taken the throne. Otherwise, he faces certain ruin. Based on his actions so far, I calculate an eighty percent chance of an ambush.”

“Not one hundred percent?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Your actions thus far have thwarted Balthazar’s attempts, greatly decreasing his influence. As a result, it is possible that he won’t have the necessary forces. There is not enough information to calculate to that extent.”

“Fair enough. We don’t know what kind of connections he has, after all.”

“Correct.”

Just then, an alarm rang through the cockpit. It wasn’t the alarm caused by an enemy locking onto us, but rather, the five-minute warning before we warped out.

“It’s almost time,” I declared. “I guess we should set up our weapons system so we can attack at a moment’s notice.”

“Right. I’ll prepare over here, too.”

“What should I do about the radar range?” Mimi asked.

“How about you set it to max for now?” They’re probably just gonna wait for us and hit us at maximum power.

“No,” Mei cut in. “I anticipate a close-range battle. It may be best to set it to a smaller range.”

“For real?”

“Yes, if my expectations are correct.” Mei said only that before going quiet.

Huh. A close-range battle? They’re not gonna send in boats with reactive torpedoes, are they? I hope not: that would be tough. Like “one hit and we’re dead” levels of tough.

Reactive torpedoes were slow, so they wouldn’t hit us unless we were right in front of the enemy. They were weak to counterattacks too, so they were kinda just cool but useless weapons. Throwing a ton of ships in with them would just result in most of them dying without getting the chance to use them, so I’d expect them to not take that gamble.

“We’ll be warping out soon!” Mimi announced as I pondered the coming battle.

“Sorry, I was just thinking. Anyway, I guess the best option is just to stay flexible and be ready to adapt.”

“So…you don’t have a plan,” Elma complained. What am I supposed to do? We don’t know what’ll happen until we warp in. There’s only so much that one battleship can do beyond preparing for anything and everything.

“Five…four…three…two…one… Now!” Mimi’s cry echoed as the ship left hyperspace and appeared in normal space. She swiftly changed from the hyperspace sensors to the regular ones.

Instead of just seeing Count Dalenwald’s unit, a huge number of ships appeared on the radar. The unit immediately went on guard, and warnings came our way.

Based on the formation of the blips, the enemy ships were trying to surround us like sharks, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. That wasn’t a normal formation. If they weren’t careful, any one of them could collide with us head on. What were they doing?

“They’re trying to slow us down. What are they after?” Elma said exactly what I had been thinking.

“Maybe they’re planning to use a Singing Crystal like I did that one time?”

“I doubt it. I mean, you’re the only one who would think to do that.”

“Really? I think it’s a neat way to use it!”

While Elma and I watched warily, Count Dalenwald’s unit used wide-field communication to demand the enemy’s identity. But they neither answered nor attacked us, simply continuing to circle around us and impede our movement.

The ships themselves were orthodox battleships, ranging from small to medium in size. A quick scan didn’t reveal their affiliation, so they must have had some masking devices at work. Anyways, it was clear that they were up to no good.

Count Dalenwald issued a final warning: If they continued to impede us, then we would attack. The enemy continued to ignore us, and tension began to rise.

“Master Hiro, something’s coming,” Mimi warned. “It’s coming in fast.”

“What is it?” I asked. The Krishna’s radar had spotted something coming at us at super-high speed from outside of the encirclement. It was heading directly for the flagship that Count Dalenwald was aboard. “Is it trying to ram them?”

Having figured that much out, Count Dalenwald’s unit activated their weapons systems and counterattacked. At the same time, the ships encircling us did the same and began attacking his guard ships.

At any rate, we couldn’t just sit here and watch, so I accelerated and headed for the flagship vessel. Mei was right; this would be a close-range battle centered around the flagship.

The mysterious object, using its thrusters to charge straight for the flagship, looked like a slender bullet.

“I’ve never seen a ship like that. Damn, those shields are tough!” Even a Stella Online addict like me had never seen that model. Deciding to just take it down and ask questions later, I blasted them with all four heavy lasers. Yet they were all stopped by the slender ship’s shields. Those were some powerful shields for such a small ship.

“That is one of the imperial fleet’s suppression ships,” Mei explained.

“Suppression ships?”

“Yes. They are equipped with rams containing shield-exhausting devices, and use said rams to pierce the hulls of other ships. They then send soldiers into the enemy ship through the breach to suppress them. Suppression ships are equipped with powerful shields, propulsion, and generators, but they come with no weapons.”

“What a weird ship…” I mused. So, it was like a manned torpedo?

Huh? Is that how they’re planning to kill Chris and the count? Seriously? Why not make a more efficient weapon? Why would you ram them and try to fight face to face? This is nuts. What is this, The Great Panjandrum? The empire must be behind this.

“Those imperial nobles do love swordfights…” Elma groaned.

“Yes. The Unfettered Emperor is on its 2,406th season, to my recollection.”

“Hold on. This infodump is gonna break my brain, I swear… Wait. Balthazar isn’t on that thing, is he?”

“He’s gotta be. Nobles like them would love to settle things with a final, dramatic swordfight.”

“My head hurts…” Did hyperspace spit us out into some clown universe? I thought this was a hard sci-fi, not a comedy series. A naval boarding? Why not just use a reactive warhead at that point? You’d have won by now if you did that! “Anyway, let’s swat down that weirdo ship!”

That bizarre ship would get through…over my dead body! I decided to throw all my flak at that ship until it was full of holes. Unfortunately, or perhaps to be expected from such a specialized ship, even using my thrusters at maximum power wasn’t enough for us to catch up to the suppression ship. Not only that, but none of our attacks could break through its shields.

“Damn it!” I swore. “It’s seriously fast!”

“Looks like they used afterburners,” Elma said. “Even the Krishna can’t catch up to that.”

Ignoring even the flagship’s defensive fire, the suppression ship continued at maximum speed until it stabbed into the ship’s belly. It seemed that strike alone was enough to take down its shields entirely. However, the other ships showed no signs of attacking the flagship; they were just working to stop the other ships from moving.

“This is just getting silly.” The suppression ship and other forces must have been holding back to avoid taking any ships down, but as someone who lived a kill-or-be-killed life, I didn’t like this. This isn’t a game, guys!

“Remember, this is a critical mission,” Mimi reminded me. “Just do your best.”

“It’s too much for me.” I cried internally at her bluntness and flew toward the ship where Count Dalenwald and Chris were. The enemy’s ships were inferior—apart from the suppression ship itself—but they were fighting well; the flagship’s bodyguards were totally unable to protect it right now.

“What’s with that ship, anyway?” I asked. “Are they stupid, or just ignorant? They could’ve won if they’d just put reactive warheads on that thing.”

“The manufacturing cost of that ship is extremely high, so it is not worth the cost,” Mei replied. “There are also ethical issues with using a manned ship to perform a suicide attack.”

“I don’t see much of a difference between going in and self-destructing versus going in and fighting face to face against overwhelming numbers…” I muttered to myself as I approached the slender suppression ship, which was beautifully lodged into the flagship. Oh my, it’s in so deep! “So should I destroy this thing or what?”

“No,” Elma warned. “Right now, it’s the only thing plugging up the hole it just made. I’m sure the flagship has measures against sudden decompression, but we don’t wanna take any chances. If we’re not careful, the suppression ship could explode and destroy the whole flagship.”

“That wouldn’t be good. What drove them to make this ship, anyway…?”

The thing had thick shields, but a ship that small wouldn’t survive a battleship’s large-bore lasers even if all of its generator power was directed to the shields. If the construction cost was high, then it couldn’t be mass-produced. Face-to-face combat took a toll on the people fighting, too. This definitely wasn’t a strategy that could be used frequently.

If you absolutely needed to capture the enemy’s fanciest ship, I guess it could be a useful strategy… On second thought, nah: too risky. Battles between fleets were typically conducted at a distance via battleships and cruisers. They wouldn’t usually devolve into brawls like this.

You would hardly ever consider deploying the suppression ship; it was useless outside of niche cases like this. The fact that I had never seen it in Stella Online meant that it was probably a ship that only belonged to certain factions, much like the Krishna.

I could vaguely remember some players using ships which had powerful shields, rams with devices that nullified shields, and speed even greater than the Krishna’s to ram down ships in one blow. There are always crazy people who don’t care about practicality and do things just because they like them. I bet plenty of them attached drills to their ships, too.

“I’ve heard that the suppression ship is a result of lobbying from the imperial army’s former land military division and some nobles,” Mei informed me. “Incidentally, it has only been used in battle four times. This time will be a valuable fifth precedent.”

“How many times has it worked, anyway?”

“In terms of practical battle, this has been the third known success, giving it a sixty percent success rate. Based instead on how many of the ships have been built, it has a thirty percent success rate; the other seventy percent were destroyed before they saw battle. Many call it the noble’s overpriced casket, a jaw-droppingly expensive decoy, and the funniest weapon in the imperial fleet.”

“If Balthazar succeeded given a thirty percent chance and a single ship, I guess I should be surprised by his skill and luck, huh?”

“Personality aside, you gotta admit he’s a capable strategist,” Elma shrugged. “Without a wild card like you, he probably would’ve succeeded long ago.”

“He picked the wrong foe, indeed,” Mimi agreed.

Aw, girls, am I really that incredible? I’m just a slightly skilled mercenary blessed with a wonderful ship and crew.

“But for real, what do we do now?” I asked them. “The other ships can probably do just fine without us, so maybe we should go in to protect Chris and the others?”

“Eh, I dunno about that…” Elma said. “We wouldn’t want to jump in and end up fighting the flagship’s crew.”

“But what if Chris and her grandfather died because we sat here with our thumbs up our asses?”

“True, but…are you really gonna charge in for a risky face-to-face fight? It’s dangerous, y’know.” Elma seemed to be against it.

I wasn’t particularly keen on the plan either, but it would be a breach of my contract to not do everything I could. Besides, if we sat here and left Count Dalenwald and Chris to die, we’d be in big trouble. Not getting our daily 250,000 Ener payment would be the least of our concerns. Once Balthazar was officially the new Count Dalenwald, he would probably do anything in his power to get rid of us. Dealing with him now would leave us with the most secure future.

“Nah, let’s do it,” I decided. “We don’t want Balthazar somehow surviving. In the worst case where Count Dalenwald dies, we at least need to protect Chris and kill Balthazar, or it’ll hurt us down the line.”

And in the worst of the worst cases where both Count Dalenwald and Chris died, we needed Balthazar dead for the sake of a peaceful future.

“Mimi, send a docking request to the flagship,” I commanded. “I’m grabbing my power armor and going in. Elma, I’ll leave control of the Krishna to you. Once I’m in there, lock the hatch, put up the shields, and don’t let anyone in. Mei, come with me.”

“O-okay!”

“Ugh… Aye aye.”

“Understood.”

Mimi, Elma, and Mei all assented to my orders. They didn’t seem too into it, but too bad. It was time for a fight. I handed over control to Elma and ran to the cargo room with Mei.