I’m under attack by the space pirate luxury transport ship Herald of Autumn. Fifty-seven missiles are heading this way.
“Wha!? What kind of name is Herald of Autumn!? Why!?”
First, I get the ship and the missiles into view, and fire with the main cannon in spread mode.
“Ehh~!? Who cares about that now~!?”
“I’m just curious!”
The moment I fire the main cannon, I make use of the ship’s sub thrusters to dive horizontally. That means my ship now has its back to the Herald of Autumn, and I use the engines to take some distance at full speed.
Meanwhile, I’m also using the turrets to fire at the pirate ship, firing the main cannon in spread mode, and using the defensive lasers. I manage to shoot down the missiles, but I haven’t broken the enemy’s shield.
I start using the sub thrusters to move around randomly, switch the main cannon to focus fire, and as I see Kori fall from her chair, I fire the main cannon at the pirates. But still, their shield is holding.
“It’s too big!! Too hard!! What’s with that!?”
“Eek~~~~! Those space pirates took over a three hundred meter long luxury transport ship~~!”
You’re kidding. That ship is bigger than the amusement park called Tokyo despite being in Chiba. And it’s tall too! How great would it be to own that!?
Thankfully, their attacks haven’t gotten through my shield either.
“They…! I heard they have large combat ships and corvettes inside~~~~!!”
“Then this will have to be a short battle!”
I hear eehh as I dive head first again, and charge at them. A lot of missiles fly towards us again, but I keep firing the main cannon in spread mode, and my shield holds.
After falling from the chair, Kori is still sliding on the floor, and I hear a weird cry from her. Her body being half solid means she can’t buckle up.
I’m concerned that the temperature of the main gun is steadily going up, and the idea of it overheating and stopping starts to become an issue. Well, in theory, I should be able to take it down. But is that theory correct? I’ve only done it in a game… But it’s all a small ship can do against a big one.
The radar shows it’s thirty kilometers away. Did I retreat too far because of its size?
“Kori! Hold on to something! Or you’re going to have a bad time, because I’m increasing the power of the plasma engine!!”
I hear eek as she slips between my back and the chair.
“Not there! Plasma engine at eighty-five percent!”
There’s another problem, they’re talking again.
“This is the luxury transport ship Herald of Autumn. If you exit in your escape pod, we’ll let you go!”
Shut up.
According to the manual, the power of the plasma engine should be held at sixty percent. The burners will melt it otherwise. And the escape pod wasn’t where the manual says. I’m guessing the previous occupant took it.
“Okay~! Take the core, just don’t crush it~~~! This ship’s inertia dampener could be better~~!”
“Do you know what I’m doing right now!?”
Kori has given up on retaining humanoid form, but I really don’t have the time to mind her! I feel something warm slip into my clothes. Actually, something sticking to my whole body.
But I can’t think about that either, because I’m flying at five hundred meters per second and moving around randomly to evade the enemy’s lasers and missiles. And I’m checking the VLS and torpedo launching pipes.
I know I should’ve thought about this sooner, but is this ship actually kind of slow? I drop altitude by using the sub thrusters and moving the bow of the ship, and turn upside down. The warm thing sticking around my belly button comes up to my neck, and goes down again. And I hear a cry too.
The torpedo launching tubes are next to the secondary cannon, two of them in front of the ship. But they’re unguided, so I have to be right in front of that big ship. Meaning the time is now.
As I think about how to shut up this crying voice, I see the enemy is going to pass by us in ten seconds, also coming at four hundred meters per second. I guess I really am slow, if I’m on par with a ship ten times my size.
The enemy’s missiles are currently after us after passing by us, except for the ones that were shot down.
Tortilla Double is positioned in a way that I can see the bottom of the three hundred meters long, two hundred meters wide, a hundred meters tall ship.
There’s no sign that it will deploy those ships it’s rumored to have, but it’s firing a lot of missiles.
I fire back with four guided missiles from the VLS at the same time and keep firing the main cannon in spread mode to create a smokescreen. It takes the VLS ten seconds to load, so it should be able to move five kilometers in the meantime.
Then I move the bow again, so I’m looking straight up at the bottom of the enemy ship. At this rate I’m going to crash into it, so I cut power to the plasma engine temporarily.
I try to dodge its shield just barely, but I can’t, and I end up scraping against it. The moment our shields touch, mine goes down by thirty percent.
Fire the first torpedo.
As expected, it pierces the shield, and the big ship has fewer defensive lasers at the bottom than I thought. They’re focused on firing at Tortilla Double, and I tried to time when the torpedo was launched, but a few seconds later, they turn to the torpedo… And I can’t stay and watch after that.
What really matters is the second one.
I’ve been firing my secondary cannon too, and firing the main cannon in focused mode to scrap its shield. Whoa, the main gun pierced its shield! And mine was broken too!!! Aah!!
Their defensive lasers start burning the front of my cockpit, and the transparent panel being used as a window is covered in a blue light. I bring the armored shutters down, and switch to an exterior camera that projects on the shutters.
The AI is now also crying about hull damage, but I don’t have time to mind two cry babies, and keep firing the main cannon.
I control the ship with the sub thrusters, and blast off with the plasma engine to get away from here, when an explosion happens.
Then another one. And then another one.
The first was the main cannon hitting the Herald of Autumn. Then both torpedoes each hitting from one side.
It looks like they landed in a good spot, because the Herald of Autumn is broken in a V shape. Then there’s some sort of secondary explosion. I flew five kilometers away in ten seconds, but I fly even more so I’m not caught in those explosions.
I hear the sound of the shield recharging, but the sounds of the defensive lasers that had become natural background noise are gone.
The Herald of Autumn is destroyed, and its pieces are all over the place. There’s no sign that something else will attack, so I’ve won.
“Uoh, I’m aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!!!!!!!!”
“I’m dead~.”
Damage report. Thankfully, the ship’s hull wasn’t pierced. I should do emergency repairs here, and do proper repairs elsewhere. And I want to salvage that big ship if I can, but I’m tired.
“Genma, are you salvaging that~? Can I~?”
“Yes, I was going to do it with the salvage drones, but I can give permissions to the co-pilot seat. Do you want to do it?”
“Yes~. Let’s make some money~.”
I look at Kori, who turned back into her humanoid shape before I knew it, and munch on a solid block while drinking water. I’m tired. I wanna eat something sweet. I need to check the radar. I wanna get out of here with the hyperdrive. But if I don’t salvage, the cost of the torpedoes will leave me in the red…
▽▽▽
I’ve been taking a break eating and drinking on the pilot seat for thirty minutes, and Kori is still at it.
But that large luxury transport ship refitted into a pirate ship appeared all of a sudden, and I was forced into a tough fight. Was there any way to escape it? I try asking Kori.
“No way~. The hyperdrive was being jammed. Maybe if this ship was super fast.”
“I guess we couldn’t then. This ship only goes five hundred meters per second.”
The cola float slime girl was in her slime form during the battle, but it looks like salvaging brought her back. She’s full of energy. Honestly, I couldn’t even think properly before this thirty minute break.
“Yeah, there was no way. That was incredible. I didn’t think you’d actually shoot it down~.”
“I think this ship is actually suited to fight big things like that. It’d have trouble with smaller ships that can move around better.”
“I see~.”
She scans from the co-pilot seat and operates the salvage drones. Scans again, and packs things into open spaces in the cargo bay. I have no idea if this is good or bad. I just see it like we’re selling copper wire.
“Fuhe fuhehe~.”
“What?”
“I picked up something nice~.”
“If it’s against the law, leave it.”
She looks at me with a slovenly smile, and sends information to my monitor. Hum…
“Space expansion container…? What’s this?”
“It’s what it sounds like, a container with magic applied that makes its interior larger~. It means that this four meter long and three meter wide container can actually hold ten times what a normal twenty five meter long and wide container can. It also has a weight reduction function, so it’s really awesome~. Of course big space pirates would have something like this~. And I picked up four of them~~~~~~!!!!!!”
“That magic exists…”
There’s gravity magic too, but this is really making my head spin. I’m starting to think Japan doesn’t exist in this universe.
“I heard some sectors don’t have magic energy~. I guess yours was like that~.”
Maybe that’s it… Maybe…
“Ah, and as for my payment for the salvaging, can I take one percent of the sale~?”
“Your payment… Wait, isn’t one percent too little?”
“This is getting crazy~~~~. Uehehehehehe~~~~!!!”
▽▽▽
We spend an hour salvaging, and no other pirates arrive. I wonder why.
“Space is a big place, you know~? Distress signals don’t matter much~. I was really lucky to have been picked up~~!”
“I guess. Okay, the hyperdrive is ready, coordinates are set, activate the hyperdrive.”
After I’m done confirming, space gets narrow, stars turn into string, and we enter a weird purple space. Is this hyperspace? We can leave the rest to the AI, and we should reach our destination tomorrow.
“Subspace, uh?”
“The fairy path to be precise~. We just borrow it with the hyperdrive~.”
Yes, let’s just go with that. I figured it wasn’t scientific.
“I guess now we can take it easy.”
“That’s~ right~.”
Kori says there are dangers of jams, pursuit, and being forcefully ejected, but it’s typically only the army and fairies who can do that. That means we’re not in danger of being attacked by space pirates. And fairies don’t play those kinds of pranks.
That’s a relief, but Kori? Why are you on my seat? Why are you holding me down… You’re strong!? I can’t get you off me!?
“Kori?”
“It’s~ fine~ right~? I’ve been patient~. Let’s make you my husband~.”
And then she has me for the next twenty-four hours. In a lewd way.
Thanks for the treat.
Oh so now its another universe? This series is really the temu version of the space mercenary one