When I got off at the station, I was greeted by space pirates. And so, I’m gaining control of the situation with battle drones and an escort drone. Then Kori and Saratha come out of the rear hatch holding laser guns, accompanied by a bipedal transport slash battle drone.
“We’ll take care of them. Stay inside, Genma.”
“Eh? I’m going too.”
Saratha sighs, and then she’s suddenly in front of me.
“You can’t, you’re weak. See?”
She grabs both my arms, and pushes me along with the container I was using as a shield. I knew she was strong, but no matter how much I resist, she doesn’t budge.
“Go get ready in the cockpit, because reinforcements might come.”
“It’s okay~. We’ve got all town first class gear, so we’re not gonna lose to some space pirates~.”
“I see… Be careful.”
She lets go of my arms, and they take the over twenty battle drones that came out of Tortilla Double. The five meter tall one is staying with me. Isn’t it too big to actually be useful…?
“<Ah, the devices are still connected, so you’ll get live coverage~.>”
“Eh…”
“<He won’t. There’s no point in… Kori!?>”
▽▽▽
“<Settle down, we’re with the Mercenary Guild! Put down your laser… Ah, they’re already firing!>”
“<Good evening~. You’re not even gonna get through the escort drone’s shield like that~.>”
So now I have nothing to do. No, I really don’t. The girls don’t take any time freeing the people being held in the harbor area, and after downloading a map, they dispatch the pirates that keep attacking without any issues.
Space pirates are simple stupid people, so they don’t attack sporadically. I’m wondering if anyone’s even leading them.
The hostages have been held for three days and feel weak, although someone says they’ve been resting for three days. Still, it’s safer to have them hide somewhere than to bring them to Tortilla Double, so I’m still here alone.
And fifteen hostages are hiding and enjoying their vacation.
“<It’s over~! There were a lot of people in the central control room~.>”
“<That’s a total of thirty space pirates, right? Not a lot to overwhelm a station.>”
“Good job. So can you use the FTL fairy communication?”
“<Yes yes~. We’ll tell the Zadar colony about the station being under control and to send relief squads~.>”
“<We’ll send out a distress signal too, saying the metalworking station has been attacked and captured by space pirates.>”
They probably never expected something like this to happen…
“<Geh, you’re kidding. The station radar is picking up something!>”
“<A fleet of eleven ships four hundred kilometers away~~.>”
“I’m going to intercept. Can you open the dock’s shutter from there?”
“<We can, but all the armament has been shut down and help won’t arrive for a while!>”
“How big are they?”
“<One corvette class~~~~~. And small ships~!>”
“Then I’ll hold them back with my firepower. Open up.”
There’s no response to communications, and the decompression alarm starts ringing in the dock.
Generator output, OK. Shields, nothing unusual to report. Big turret rotation, OK. The shutter is opening.
“Tortilla Double, taking off.”
“<Take care~.>”
“<Be careful.>”
I have the autopilot on until I take off, and switch to manual controls once I’m in space. The radar does show a fleet slowly approaching from forty kilometers away.
“Station, are the shields working?”
“<No problems there.>”
“Got it.”
Forty kilometers is too close… And as I approach the presumed space pirate ships at a combat speed of four hundred meters per second, I get a scan alarm in the cockpit. I also scan the largest ship, the corvette (which is actually less than half the size of the Herald of Autumn), and see it has a five thousand puni bounty.
“This is the grassland three rank mercenary Genma. To the pirate ships approaching, if you exit via your escape pods, I won’t roast you with lasers.”
I say with as intimidating of a voice as I can muster.
“<What’s that idiot doin’!?>”
“<I’ll listen to your babblin’ when I’m processin’ you with the metals!>”
“<I’m gonna bang the metal that comes out with a hammer too!>”
“Okay then.”
As hostilities open, the big laser cannon turret fires a concentrated shot from outside of consumer weapons range that opens a big hole in the corvette, leading to its own weight splitting it in two.
What about the shield? The ones loaded in corvette class ships pretty much melt. I don’t think even Tortilla Double could take a shot from its cannon.
“That leaves the nameless five hundred puni ones.”
“<Damn you!>”
“<Gettin’ cocky are you!?>”
“<Moron!>”
“<You’ll see once the Herald of Autumn gets here!!>”
Just how much do space pirates around here trust the Herald of Autumn?
I’ve taken out the one that could be loaded with power armor, so I’m going to keep maneuvering and charging forward.
I fire the main cannon in its spread mode, but they disperse, so it doesn’t hit anything. Then I receive something on an open channel.
“<Go~! Go~!>”
“<Your aim’s all sloppy!!>”
“<Only a quick shooter virgin fires around blindly like that~~.>”
“<You need to start over from the test tube!>”
“<Maybe all it has is size?>”
“<Hey, virgin!>”
“<Hoo, here I am…!>”
Stop pissing me off! Can’t I mute open channels!?
The small ships have good mobility. I maintain a speed of four hundred meters per second with the turret pointed straight up, and the moment I pass by the enemy fleet, I roll right and fire it in its spread mode. At the same time, I have the AI lock on to the ones on the left and fire one guided missile towards each of the four ships.
The acrobatics somehow pay off, as two go down to the main cannon and two to guided missiles, but that leaves six.
I stop rolling and raise the nose as I turn the turret back. As I confirm that lifting the nose doesn’t point the main cannon at the station, I proceed as planned, rolling and firing the main cannon’s spread mode at the six ships that were convinced they caught the back of my ship.
“<Ah!? What!? How did they go down!?>”
“<Eh? What do you mean!?>”
“<Whatever, just kill him! Hit his ass…>”
Three ships go down, and the remaining three accelerate to eight hundred meters per second. I don’t know if it’s on purpose or accidental, but they overshoot, ending up ahead of their target. This puts one of them right in the line of fire of the secondary cannon, and it’s shot down. Two left.
“<W-what!? How is it shooting in other directions!? Is that a giant turret!!?>”
“<I dunno! What is that!? Is it just us left!?>”
One leaves from in front of me, while the other flies directly in front of the secondary cannon, and is shot down. Hm, it was almost out of range. The four hundred meter per second difference in speed means they can almost put a kilometer between us in a couple of seconds.
The last one has caught on to the fact that I’m slow, turns around, and starts moving along with me, sticking to the lower end of my ship.
I can’t shake it off flying at four hundred meters per second, and the defensive lasers can’t quite pierce it.
I load the missiles and fire the main cannon in spread mode, delaying the firing of the guided missiles by just half a second.
I move the ship in a corkscrew pattern diagonally to the upper left, and with one kilometer between us, it shouldn’t be a problem.
After I fire the main cannon at the enemy again, it immediately flies down, meaning it’s below me and outside of the range of my turret. Then I fire four missiles.
The two guided missiles are quickly shot down, but the defensive lasers can’t catch the others in time, and one explodes at close range. Another hits the ship, and it goes down. No reactions on the radar.
“All enemies down, coming back.”
“<Good job~~. You can salvage too~~.>”
“<We received a response to the distress signal. A patrol from the Zadar colony should be here in a few hours.>”
“Got it. How are things there?”
“<We’re going through the place with a fine comb to see if there are any pirates still hiding. Apparently all the people in the room next to the central control room are employees of the station.>”
“<We’re gathering all the people of the station~. And meeting them~.>”
“Got it, be careful. I’ll start the salvaging operation. Tortilla Double out.”
Now let’s open those treasure chests.
Genma is making some decent money.😊
Thanks for the treat.