The idea was to hack the support AI of the ship taken by the ship crab as its home, and stop some of its equipment, but everything was shut down. And we had to shoot down the frigate of the army of Mishun prime that suddenly attacked us no questions asked.
I feel like we just happened to be present for the one in a million collab between a group smuggling a nuclear torpedo, and a ship crab. When it rains it pours.
Then I tried to claim ownership of the wrecked ship and the ship crab, as Mishun prime tried pushing the nuclear torpedo onto the Mercenary Guild, but it was no good, so I yielded.
Then a space pirate carnival began.
“<Dammit! No one told me something like this was here!!>”
“<We’re losing on firepower!!!>”
“<It’s ten times more, ten times! This ain’t right!!>”
“<Just take the nuclear torpedo!>”
“<Gimme the wrecked ship!!>”
▽▽▽
“Hm, the biggest one was a corvette class. Can we cobble those small armed transport ships together to fix them?”
“If that’s what you want, how about thinking about where you shoot? How are we going to sell spaceships without a single engine?”
How did this space pirate carnival even start? They had to know there was a nuclear torpedo here.
Most of the space pirates after it came in small armed transport ships. There were some bigger ones, and in total, there were fifteen. That means in terms of actual fighting capability, we were outnumbered five to one, not really ten.
Tortilla Double can easily break through their shields with the large laser cannon turret, without even using missiles, so we created a lot of scrap.
But unfortunately, the small combat ship where the old guys were was shot down. And here I was thinking we could take it back and make some money!
“Tagging tagging. Yay scrap~.”
“So we have eight pieces of scrap to call our own? Perhaps I will also put on power armor and go out.”
“Don’t. We don’t want to spread bait when more space pirates could come. Do it remotely.”
“There really were wannabe space pirates among them, right?”
“They were pretty bold about smuggling. I doubt they’d actually get their hands dirty though.”
Probably, but this is a problem. I was really indecisive about whether or not to exchange contact information with the old guys, but decided not to.
I feel like I could have, but then again, when am I going to have a use for people with experience in smuggling…
Expanding our professional circle might come in handy once every thirty years, but there are some anti-social types that I’m better off not being near…
“So what about the scrap? I think we can squeeze a hundred thousand puni out of it.”
“Hn~. I don’t know about the rare metals! I think processed goods are better than other materials~! The ingots will probably be worth about thirty thousand. And can’t Sara cobble together a small laser?”
“What we just got is nothing special, perhaps worth five thousand in total.”
“I guess we really do need to aim for bigger battlefields for higher rewards.”
Battlefields… I guess eliminating space pirates is still acceptable, but I don’t think I want to join a war if I can help it… But if I don’t take the initiative to enter battlefields, I can’t make a lot as a mercenary, can I…
“Anyway, let’s make it our policy to not intentionally join wars.”
“I’ll send you some pointers on what to do if you do later.”
“War doesn’t happen so often.”
“People in this galaxy have been quite well-behaved lately.”
“I guess hunting space creatures really is safe~… Ah, by the way darling! The space eel hunting season is ending, so we need to find something else!”
Season…!?
“There are hunting seasons for space eels!?”
“Indeed there are, master. Generally in half year periods.”
“Wait, I didn’t know about that either. We gotta look for something profitable.”
“I would like to search online, but it is still slow around here, so perhaps it is time to return to Zadar?”
Yeah, let’s collect scrap until Kori is satisfied and go back. The refugees and corrupt soldiers have already been taken back in the transport ships.
▽▽▽
To be honest, I’m not really sure I want to return to Zadar. They were dirty soldiers, but I still fought against Mishun prime.
But I had to come to the Mercenary Guild and explain.
And so, I’m in a room in the Mercenary Guild in Zadar with Iris, and I’ve just got done explaining what happened and giving them the footage. Good thing the half metal guy that registered me is here.
“Ahh… I see.”
“This is too much for one person to handle. How did it come to this?”
“I heard there was a large scale war in Mishun, but I didn’t expect something like a shield ship to be laying around. You really have bad luck.”
“So, I heard the ship crab was confiscated, but how did things turn out with the Mercenary Guild?”
“Of course, we started making moves after your transmission… But they really did things in a stingy way, uh…”
Really stingy.
“I assume they’re looking down on us, but is the Alliance actually weaker than I thought?”
“Don’t say that, branches are more complicated than that… Subordinate organizations leaving a star system is a last resort. Although information has been diverted to the mass media.”
“If I’m going to be treated like this, maybe I should stop being an honest mercenary.”
“I get it, I get it. The giant ship crab that was captured alive is going to end up being bought by the Alliance.”
“So they really are selling it…”
“Mishun prime is broke, so after negotiations with the Alliance, the price has been settled. And after discussing it with the higher ups, it’s been decided you’re getting part of that money, a million puni, so check your bank account and mail tomorrow.”
“Ohh! Thanks. I needed that after the high grade food printer and eye implants.”
“How much is the ship crab being sold for?”
“Two hundred million puni. A million is about as much as we can skim off the top as a handling fee.”
“Tch.”
So they’re taking twenty billion yen? I guess I can’t complain about getting a hundred million yen, but it still pisses me off…
“I know it’s rough for you, but this is about all we can do.”
“Don’t tone it down.”
“I’m just a point of contact… Ahh, and don’t spread word about that million too much. It’s a secret in Mishun prime that you’re getting a cut.”
“Okay, I’ll just be happy I’m getting something. By the way, is there any good work around here?”
“No. There’s a salvaging boom going on in Zadar because of that ship crab and wrecked ship, so I guess all we have going is hunting the space pirates after it. Even that’s small, so you’re better off taking a break and moving to another star system.”
Hunting space pirates… I think we’d be overkill for them. Tortilla Double’s attacks are too strong, and wouldn’t even leave scrap iron.
We don’t really have the mobility to fight with secondary guns, defensive lasers, or missiles…
And even if we want to aim for something bigger, where is it!?
“I’ll do that. I feel like Mishun is dangerous at the moment.”
“Well, no doubt about it. There’s a big mess going on because the smuggling group in the army was in the news. I wouldn’t be surprised if the army was pissed at you.”
“I’ll leave after resupplying. Thanks.”
“Be careful out there.”
I shake hands with the half metal middle-aged man, and leave with Iris. But then I bump into someone I recognize.
Vasilisa the octopus lady. Her long silver hair is in a ponytail, and she’s wearing a gray suit on her top half for some reason. And a long loose gray skirt on the bottom half. She also has her eight brownish red tentacles on an engine powered cart like Saratha’s.
“Oh! There you are! Genma! Wanna hire me!? Permanent employment depends on the conditions of course!”
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