The terrestrial planet Pentoul II. We’re supposed to be bombarding the self propagating biological weapons hexarappid here, but there’s a destroyer where the biological weapons are spawning. Apparently. I don’t know how that came to be, but I hear there’s a big laser turret being fired.
The fact that the destroyer is buried is weird to me, but the planet being spherical means it should be impossible to target it until we drop the altitude until we’re too close. I think humans can see four kilometers into the horizon… But a big turret’s huge…
“Dropped to ten meters, at this point… Dammit! It’s firing!”
“Master, we received data from Birdwatcher. We have the location where it is buried. It is twenty kilometers away, and we have instructions to destroy it.”
“Ships that received the data are firing guided missiles~~~~. They’re being intercepted!”
“Shield capacity is down to eighty-two percent!”
“How many ships are bein’ lost around us? Can they get away from that?”
Why is the missile interception system working? We spread chaff, but they can target us just fine… And the damage to the mercenaries is growing.
“They can’t get away! We’re charging in!”
I increase the output of the plasma engine, and plot a steep ascension. I also load a missile with ECM radar jamming matter.
Tortilla Double is already hitting a wall of air as it goes up, but the shield is dealing with it without any issues. Once I reach an altitude of one kilometer, I do a half turn into an air to ground position.
“Shield is down to seventy-four percent! Thirty minutes until operational limit of electrical power!”
“I don’t think the combat time will matter much…”
From this height, I can get close images of where the destroyer is buried through the electrical telescope and enlarge them, so I can finally see it. I should preface this by saying that in this space age, destroyers are big ships of different shapes. And that’s why it feels strange to me that I think I’ve seen this before.
“Combat ship…?”
“A destroyer~…!”
Seeing this destroyer from above, it has an aerodynamic shape, long and thin. The center bulges a little, and it gets thinner as it goes to the tips.
Also, there are three laser turrets in the front and three in the back, with some sort of structure between them. It’s a World War II ship you’d only see in a game.
Eventually, the second big turret in front starts moving, and so does the outermost one in the back (I’m assuming that’s the back). One is moving around shooting at combat ships, with a moderate glow. The other isn’t moving. Actually, our ‘eyes’ are meeting despite Tortilla Double flying faster than sound.
It glows, and that’s a hit. It keeps targeting us.
“Hit!! Shield is down to sixty-six percent!”
“Fire ECM missile. And load all missile bays with ECM.”
“Ten seconds until loading is complete, master.”
Tortilla Double is flying upside down, so the missile flies up, while I fire the main cannon, but it quickly turns in the air and flies straight down towards the destroyer. The big laser cannon’s attacks are blocked by the shield, but the ECM missile we fired tricks the other ship’s guided missiles, and if we’re lucky, it will explode near the enemy without being shot down.
“<Hey!? Who fired an ECM! That ship’s not on radar anymore!>”
“No! Now that ship shouldn’t be able to use its radar!”
“<So it’s blind…!? You’re just doing whatever you want!!>”
“<It’s watching us you idiot!! Ah, someone’s been shot down!>”
Another ship is down, but I don’t mind it and keep taking evasive maneuvers. It looks like it was targeting with radar, so the turret that was looking at us the whole time has slowed down. It fired again. And a third time.
The destroyer is fragile without its eyes, so our concentrated fire strips away its shield, and destroys the turrets.
“It’s over~~! But the objective was to kill the hexarappids~~.”
“Yes… It looks like eleven friendlies are down.”
“And we are down to seventy percent puny. The shield is one thing, but should we not drop the engine output?”
“Hold on. Okay. It’s down. Is the generator stable?”
“No problem, I believe.”
“Master, we are receiving a transmission from Birdwatcher.”
What… Capture the destroyer? I see, there’s a good chance that ship carried the hexarappid eggs, so they might be able to extract information.
“Birdwatcher, it looks like the Mercenary Guild wants to capture that destroyer and extract any information it can from it.”
“It’s not like it’s completely destroyed, uh?”
“Master, should I do it? I was built for it.”
“It’s dangerous… Oh? I guess it’s not.”
My butler starts shadow boxing… Could it work? She’s made of an alloy of magic energy conductive metal called orichalcum. She’s resistant, and tough enough to punch away a five meter tall battle drone. Not to mention that she can use magic. She should be able to handle those biological weapons unarmed.
“Take an external shield and a gun. And a battle drone.”
“Very well. I will make use of a plasma rifle.”
“Wait, when did we buy that?”
“I am quite sure there was no such thing in the cargo bay.”
“Darling~~~?”
“Birdwatcher is contacting us!!!!!”
Why did they have to find out about the gun I bought in secret now!?
▽▽▽
It looks like taking over the destroyer was easy. We blasted hexarappids from above, and apparently there was a queen inside the ship, that was easily crushed by Iris.
The berserk support AI was also suppressed, and Iris brought back information.
“There were no survivors on board. They appeared to be space pirates… But master, we have a big problem. Before I explain, please give me control of the ship.”
“Hn? Why… Fine, you have control.”
“I am taking control of Tortilla Double. That destroyer is registered with Amanoiwato Frozen Distribution.”
I feel my vision turn dark for a moment, but I shake my head and compose myself.
“Is that not the company suspected of kidnapping Genma?”
“That one that developed cold sleep technology on a primitive planet, right?”
“But darling’s planet was destroyed hundreds of years ago~. Did its refugees become space pirates?”
But why?
“I received information about Amanoiwato Frozen Distribution from Miss Sumire… It seems the descendants of its survivors have indeed become space pirates. But it would appear the egg carrying ship clashed with Pentoul Prime’s anti-space pirate fleet, and crash landed here for some reason.”
“They shot them down to a planet~. Their security is all messy~.”
“It’s not a laughing matter, but did they have stealth capabilities? It took time to find them too.”
“Hm… Can we get the rights to salvage it?”
“Maybe we should inquire.”
Of course, the answer is no. But we get to keep a copy of the information we found.
And so, the queen is dead on the first day on the job in Pentoul II. The next day, we destroy what’s left, and clean up the nest under the destroyer.
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