I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship, so I Became a Space Mercenary - Chapter 440

Are You Busy?

“Good work!”

Colonel Serena’s subordinates called out as they took the space pirates as captives out of the medical bay and through the rest area.

Currently, there were a good number of Colonel Serena’s subordinates aboard the Black Lotus, who were inspecting the interior of the space pirates’ ship (still not confirmed), which had been neutralized by destroying its thrusters.

They were searching around for some kind of evidence or clue, including information on pirates’ hideout and organization, as well as the route they took to acquire their current ship and its connection with the Belebelem Federation.

Incidentally, before Tina and Wiska took the pirate ship into the Black Lotus, they cut off its generator to prevent it from exploding. Even if the ship did not explode the moment it was destroyed, it might explode suddenly if left unattended and with power still flowing in it.

Tina and Wiska had already started the restoration of the ship in question. Fortunately, we had secured a good number of parts from the enemy ships we had destroyed so far, which meant that our operation was going smoothly. Colonel Serena would be responsible for finding out the ship’s ID and tracking its allies down, but according to Tina and Wiska, the ship was probably old.

The manufacturer seemed to be a shipbuilder in the Belebelem Federation, which went bankrupt and went out of business more than 20 years ago. However, there seemed to be no lack of such companies in the shipbuilding industry, and ships built by such manufacturers were sold at low prices because they could not receive regular maintenance from shipbuilders and were expensive to maintain due to the time-consuming and labor-intensive maintenance work.

In fact, Krishna would actually belong to the same category of vessels as those mentioned earlier. The shipbuilder for Krishna was unknown, the generator was a black box, and there were many other parts that had never been found before. Even in this state, however, maintenance itself was somehow possible with the use of an analyzer and replicator. I was really impressed with the work of Tina and Wiska on Krishna.

Leaving the Krishna aside, let’s return to the captured ship, which according to Tina and Wiska’s analysis was probably designed as an inexpensive escort vessel for mercenaries or commercial escorts. It was more maneuverable, robust, had more generator power, more mobility, more firepower, and was more affordable than a standard space pirate ship. The main selling point of these ships to space pirates would be that if they gathered enough of these ships, most of their enemies would think twice before attacking.

Unfortunately, it was not upgradeable, and it was difficult to replace the generators and thrusters with more advanced ones due to the lack of room in the design. The inability to expand by replacing these parts limits the potential for improved firepower, shielding performance, and maneuverability. It was a pile of junk.

To put it bluntly, while it could be compared to the Zabuton, as it was called by the mercenaries, it was not as expandable as the Zabuton. The price was slightly higher than the Zabuton, but the future potential of the Zabuton was far superior. Then the question becomes, “What is the value of this ship?” The shipbuilder went out of business early. I think the design was not bad, but too much power was invested in the design.

Still, there was no lack of demand for this ship in the used ship market. It had the appearance of a combat ship after all, and it had enough performance to easily beat out normal space pirate ships. It also had enough performance to be used as an escort ship. A used ship would be cheaper than a brand new Zabuton, and it was easy to find a buyer for a ship like this.

“You don’t have to be so serious about the exchange, no?” (Serena)

While I was busy communicating with Tina and the others on the tablet terminal, giving Mimi instructions regarding supplies and giving Kugi instructions to accompany me when we hand over the POWs, Colonel Serena was just watching me work without bothering to help while sipping the tea offered by Mei, so I asked her what was even the purpose of her coming over to our ship.

“Can I ask why Colonel Serena is relaxing here?”

“Didn’t they teach you not to return a question with a question? I can’t help it. The reason is that when you have a fleet as large as the independent fleet against space pirates, as long as proper authority and instructions are given in advance, the subordinates under you will take care of the rest. As the head of the fleet, I hardly have any need to work hard. Of course, I do have to make important decisions, and I do read the reports that come in. But other than that, I have some spare time.”

“I see… I don’t need you to tell me that… Do you know why I have to work so hard on this mission? That…”

When I said so, Colonel Serena showed me a big grin. You b?a?s?t?a?r?d?… Well, not a b?a?s?t?a?r?d?. Are you trying to stir things up? Hah?

“You’ll be in big trouble if you get me in a bad mood.”

“Oh, really? How so?”

“I don’t care whether you are my employer or not, this ship is my ship. The captain’s authority is above all else. I’m going to use my captain’s authority to kick you out.”

“I see. But, will you really do that?”

While I was trying not to smile wryly, I noticed that she seemed to be happy about something and wanted to tell me about it.

You, please think about the feelings of all your subordinates who have been trying desperately not to watch you messing around with me.

“I can feel that you just want to show off, right? The size of your fleet has grown since last time, and you’ve risen to the rank of colonel. But you know what? You’re still an idiot.”

“I’m not an idiot. I don’t think it’s good to talk to me like that. Don’t you have a human heart?”

“Well, in the case of Colonel Serena, you are probably shunned or considered unapproachable because of your position, status, or family background, rather than being an idiot. Don’t tell me that you took your subordinates along with you to a sword training session and beat them up to a pulp in an attempt to deepen your friendship?”

“…No, I didn’t…”

“You’re lying! I’m sure you did! That’s precisely what happened!”

You blonde-haired, red-eyed gorilla with the skin of a beautiful woman. Don’t sulk with your cheeks puffed out. You look like a child.

“Speaking of sword training, you and I didn’t settle the score, did we?”

“I won hands down, didn’t I? You lost to me.”

“That is not settled yet. I was simply not at my best that time. I wasn’t serious. It was a no-go.”

“How can you say that while looking so teary-eyed and frustrated…?”

I let out a sigh and sat down in front of Colonel Serena. Mei, who was standing by my side, served me tea without a word. As expected of Mei. However, other than me, everyone else would have missed the moment Mei placed the tea on the table as she was just that fast.

“So, what’s the reason you came all the way to the Black Lotus to have a chat with me? You surely didn’t just come here to hang out because you’re bored, right?”

“Eh?”

“Eh?”

We stared at each other for a while. Hey, were you serious? You didn’t come here just because you’re bored, right? You have a purpose, right? There was something you needed to talk about face to face, right? Please tell me that’s right, Colonel.

“Of course I do, yes?”

“You’re just… wait, seriously? Are you kidding me? Do we have to be on high alert? Right now…”

“We’re not in a direct route to the front line, so we won’t suddenly encounter attackers while we are in this area. The only time this place would be attacked without us noticing would be if the front line was breached and the people there didn’t have an opportunity to contact us, and then the information was completely cut off, which would be physically impossible with how things have been set around here.”

“What, there is nothing impossible on a battlefield, you know?”

“Well, it is virtually impossible to raid this depot without being caught in a dozen or two manned and unmanned surveillance nets. Do you think you can do it?”

“Not by regular means, at least.”

Even though the Krishna possessed exceptional performance for a small ship, it was not that stealthy. Even the most stealthy ships would not be able to hide their signals when using a hyperdrive, so it would be impossible for them to get past a military alert network that was on high alert. That would only be possible if they used something underhanded than the straightforward method, like falsifying the friendly identification signal, ship’s registry, and ship ID, or getting help from an insider.

“But there may be some shady allies who might offer unorthodox methods to the enemy. Isn’t it possible?”

“You mean Count Ixmal? I think I already told you about that, but no Imperial noble, no matter how much they fall, would betray the Empire and abandon their noble duty, didn’t Lady Elma also tell you that?”

“I can’t help but agree with what you said, but is it really that simple? They seem to be connected with space pirates, right? I’m not sure if it is really impossible.”

There was no conclusive evidence regarding his connection with the space pirates.

The look on Colonel Serena’s face was telling me that there’s a connection. If that was the case, I would hope that my concerns would be taken seriously.

“It can’t be helped. If you are so concerned, I will be more careful than ever. It’s true that your company often makes me wonder what common sense is.”

“That’s not a compliment, is it?”

“I wonder?”

Colonel Serena smiled. A beautiful woman really had benefits. Just one smile was enough to make one forgive everything. But I was used to seeing beautiful women regularly, so I wouldn’t be fooled by a single smile. This would be a good point to have an insightful discussion about the matter.

…

T/N: Hi, everyone. We will be dropping this novel. Thanks a lot for your support so far.