As I soaked in Kori’s body, there was an emergency announcement from the station. A super giant space turtle is attacking, so I’m sitting in my cockpit in my underpants and waiting for our turn to leave the dock.
“Aah! I was in the middle of taking that apart! Uwa, what happened to our clothes, Genma!? And you smell so sweet!!”
“I know I agreed to work overtime, but at least put some effort into hiding it… It is a little annoying…”
“Yes, I was resting. Thanks for the overtime.”
“Purification. You’re just getting all defensive aren’t you? We should get you a purification magic item next time we’re in a colony, to hang from your crotch.”
I hear footsteps, and Kori comes in. Ever since the battle with Herald of Autumn, she’s been slipping into a pilot suit with a skeletal structure so she can use a seat belt.
“Here darling, a shirt and shorts~! And hallway slippers and socks~.”
“I sense an intention not to apologize and to leave your mark…”
“Yes~. I’m saying it’s okay to rest~!!”
““At least hide it!!””
“Get in your seats you two. I’ll make it up to you when we’re back in the colony.”
I was going to take a shower and take some food to them, but it turned into a bit of trouble…
“So why were we called to the cockpit? I just heard it was an emergency.”
“Yes, what is this about? Wait, it appears armor is continuously coming out, not just spaceships.”
“There was an emergency announcement for everyone to take combat positions. Apparently there’s a super giant space turtle.”
Saratha looks like she doesn’t know what that is, but Suzuri opens her small mouth.
“I see, that happens sometimes… Ah, that must be the reason why we hunted few prey yesterday. I’m sure that big thing ate everything in that area…”
“Yes, sometimes the radar picks big things like that in hyperspace.”
“Big ones usually just take it easy and eat, so it is unlucky that it came to the station.”
“Eh~? Can something that unlucky happen in such a vast space~?”
She has a point, asteroid belts are around stars, but they could mine them for thousands of years and never finish them.
“Stations are built in dense asteroid belts, so they become prone to air plants, space eels, and space turtles living in them.”
“I guess so. And that’s why they have corvettes.”
“Now the questions are how big is it, and can we handle it?”
“<Number 2-23, you are cleared to depart.>”
That’s us. I let the automatic pilot take us out of here, and once we reach the exit, we see most spaceships have taken off. There’s ten corvette class ships that serve as station security, that are between fifty and a hundred meters, and they’re in a circular formation in front of us. I thought they had seven.
There are also large and small combat ships, all under fifty meters. Almost fifty of them positioned around the corvettes. The radar is showing fighter vessels and power armor, and some torpedo ships that are smaller than fifteen meters. I wonder if any of those aside from the torpedo ships can actually fight that…
“This is the station manager Mako Yako. It seems all combat ships are ready. Thank you for your cooperation, I will now explain the situation.>”
We receive a transmission from the station, and data.
“<A distance of two hundred kilometers…>”
“Considering the ETA, it’s going at seven hundred meters per hour, right? Isn’t that fast for a turtle?>”
“<It’s huge.>”
“<Estimated width three hundred meters!? Isn’t that like a destroyer!?>”
“<And it’s fifty meters tall too.>”
“<I want to ram a torpedo into it, but I’m worried it’s too fast.>”
“<Would lasers even work?>”
“<I wonder how much that shell is worth!!>”
There’s lots of chatter on the open channel, and it’s pretty noisy. But that thing is estimated to be really huge…
“For some reason, it’s headed straight for the station. The idea is to approach it and destroy it with a volley of torpedoes.”
So the torpedo ships and combat ships of the station are going to line up and fire a volley.
Tortilla Double can’t keep up with their speed, and since specs are shared with the Mercenary Guild, we’re excluded from that formation.
They can achieve nine hundred meters per second without a problem…
Our ship is positioned with corvettes, being the last wall to take the turtle head on. We’re not going to ram it, but I guess the idea is to finish it off with laser cannons after it’s been whittled down with torpedoes. They say the station is also going to shoot missiles and fire their mid-sized turrets.
“This is Tortilla Double~! It’s nice working with you, corvettes~.”
“<Uooo! A girl! A girl.>”
“<Her voice sounds super cute!!!>”
“<Get on my ship.>”
“Hey you! Stop putting your moves on someone else’s girl!!”
“<Tch, there’s a guy.>”
“<Don’t bring me up and put me down like that!>”
“Shut up and get ready!!”
There’s no room for carelessness. Saratha and Suzuri sigh, and Kori fidgets.
“Hyaah~~~! Darling called me his girl~!!!”
“<Can you go flirt somewhere else?>”
“<This lovey-doveyness is too bright…>”
“<This is a virgin’s lair. Go away!>”
“<Ahh!? Don’t lump me in with you!”>”
“<Shut up, you never slept with anyone without paying for it!!>”
“<Ahh… Spoken like a penniless guy that won’t even get attention from pros.>”
Amazing how fast this got out of control.
“<This is the station. Tortilla Double, can you stop screwing the pace?>”
“You’re blaming me!? Me!?”
“<It’s obviously your fault. You have three girls with you!!!>”
“Station!? You did that out of spite!! Don’t leak information!”
“<Three!? Did he say three!?>”
“<Guaah! I’ve been working hard in an asteroid belt for thirty years and I don’t have one!>”
“<Do mercenaries earn that much!? Do they!? Eeh!?”>”
“<Don’t you spend too much as a party ship!?>”
“<Dammit, is a little accidental shooting allowed…>”
Ah, the transmission is getting violent. I want to turn the open channel off.
▽▽▽
We get into formation, and a few minutes later, the open channel lights up with chatter as several people’s radars pick up the space turtle. They must have better radars than ours. There’s something we should consider changing.
“<Hey! This isn’t a turtle! It’s an earth dragon!!>”
“<What!? That can’t be!?>”
The open channel is pretty rowdy about a dragon. Did they say dragon?
“What’s the difference between a turtle and a dragon?”
“<Aah!? Are you sleep taking!!? They’re completely different!!!!>”
“<Think of it as a destroyer with a shield and main cannon!!>”
“<No wonder! I thought that damn thing was too fast for a turtle!!>”
I ask out of curiosity, and the open channel gets rowdier. And the girls stare at me. How would I know? I don’t think there were dragons on Earth. I never saw any anyway.
I take a look through the electronic telescope, and it’s within a visible distance. I keep my foot on the accelerator to move at a moment’s notice, grab the flight controller with my left hand, and focus on the trackball on my right hand that aims the main cannon, as I look at the target.
Does it look like a space turtle? If Tortilla Double looks like a tortoise, that earth dragon looks like a sea turtle. It gives off the impression of being large but flat, and it has a yellowish-brown shell. No, it looks like it has a golden shine.
This ship’s legs are pretty fat, but that one is flat and moves like it’s swimming. There’s no cannon or volcano on its back, but its head has a weird shape. No, is that a dot?
Once it gets a little closer, the torpedo ships and armor spread out and get into combat position. I take a deep breath, and as I get ready for combat, I hear a weird communication.
“<Aaah! You’re joking! We’ve been discovered!!>”
“<Dammit! Just ram it! If you ram it we can run!>”
What? I see the earth dragon and two small reactions on my radar. Are those fighters? If they’re armed transport ships, they’re most likely pirates.
“<Space pirates?>
“Aah? Are they guiding it?>”
“<The dragon is accelerating! It’s coming!>”
“<Ah, it ate the pirates whole.>”
“<A dragon eating fighters!? That thing is about ten meters, right!?>”
“Whatever! Start the operation! Torpedo squad, fire!>”
The station gives the command, and the torpedo vessels accelerate along with the small fighters. Torpedoes and guided missiles fly from all directions. Can guided missiles track a living being… I think, but everything explodes near the earth dragon. What?
“<Dammit! It was all repelled by the barrier!>”
“<Isn’t the shield piercer device on!?>”
“<That’s not it! It’s barrier magic! It blocks everything physical!>”
“<I thought we could saturate it, but that thing’s magic output is too high!>”
“Will lasers get through~~!?”
“<If light doesn’t pass, we can’t see… Hn?>”
“<I see!! This is the station! Tortilla Double! You are cleared to attack! Aim for the head!>”
“Got it~!”
It’s twenty-seven kilometers away, and heading straight towards us. I aim at the head, and fire a focused shot with the main cannon.
“<Uooh! It pierced the barrier!!>”
“<Was it a direct hit!? Its left eye is gone! Take that!!>”
“<Hn? I feel like I can see it clearly…>”
“<The barrier is gone! The torpedoes will get through!>”
“<Is it unable to activate complex magic because of the pain?>”
It hit, so I try to fire again, but it retreats into its shell. The laser hits the shell, but it bounces off.
“Hey, is that thing looking at us??”
“Well, we did destroy its left eye.”
“I feel as though I should say it makes sense for it to see us as a threat…”
“It’s coming~~~~!!!!”
I turn the ship right and the turret left at the same speed, and power up the engine while shooting at the earth dragon. I have the output of the plasma engine above safe levels. Let’s shoot while running!!! I hope we’re fast enough!! Meanwhile, the earth dragon has turned its head this way and it’s rushing forward.
“This is Tortilla Double~! Be careful not to fire on us~! But cover us~!!!”
“<A girl’s scream is doing it for me…>”
“<I’ve been saving it lately…>”
“<Ahh…>”
“Is this the time for that!!?”
“<Hey! Tortilla Double! Dodge!!!>”
I thought the earth dragon was coming to tackle us, but it stops and opens its mouth. If it’s a dragon, I feel like it’s going to breathe fire.
“<It’s a stone breath! Everyone nearby power up those shield generators!!>”
I see. I see on the monitor the earth dragon opening its mouth wide, and something glowing in a circular shape in front of it.
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Well, they certainly got its attention.
Just need some minor editing:
“<A distance of two hundred kilometers…> -> “<A distance of two hundred kilometers…>”
This is tortilla Double~! -> This is Tortilla Double~!
“<Get on my ship.” -> “<Get on my ship.>”
“This lovey-doveyness is too bright…>” -> “<This lovey-doveyness is too bright…>”
“>The dragon is accelerating! It’s coming!>” -> “<The dragon is accelerating! It’s coming!>”
Thanks