The operation to destroy meteors is underway, but it’s pretty boring work. And there are three hundred meteor destroying quests backed up in the Mercenary Guild.
A lot of mercenaries are like adrenaline junkies, after all. I was surprised that a small (ten kilometers in diameter) meteor like this is worth fifty thousand puni. But it does take time and effort.
So much so in fact, that we work in shifts. It’s been thirty hours since we started, and for some reason, space pirates attack occasionally. Suzuri has taken down fifteen ships.
“Am I perhaps an ace pilot?”
“Tortilla Double’s specs are too high to begin with. Even a total amateur like me could start working as a mercenary all of a sudden.”
And it currently has a shield on par with a destroyer.
“Please be careful when you board other ships.”
“Perhaps that is prudent.”
We talk in the cockpit as the operation continues. The meteor that was ten kilometers in diameter is down to about half that. And it feels like it’s faster the smaller it gets.
“Maybe Suzuri could handle the second and third ships.”
“You are aware that this is not a mothership?”
“I can fly a mothership.”
In VR training, they’re all around the same level, except Iris, so any one of them could do it.
“Fifteen seconds until we leave hyperspace.”
“Whoa, I’ll be quiet.”
“Understood.”
We move back to normal space, head to the designated spot, and fire the laser cannon. It does look like the meteor is smaller than when I first saw it, but it’s too fast to really tell.
“Iris, I think about it every time, but is it hitting?”
“It is. The predictions appear to be correct.”
“Fuhya! I am tired! Genma, switch!”
“Okay, go rest, Suzuri. Call Saratha, she should be on stand by.”
“Very well!”
Suzuri hops off the cockpit and ends her shift. We do another short jump to go around the meteor, shooting it to make it smaller.
▽▽▽
We’re having Suzuri rest a lot, because she was so tired. I had Vasilisa make a sleeping drug, forcing her to sleep. Iris is now on meteor shooting duty.
▽▽▽
I’m not doing another one of these damn quests.
▽▽▽
It’s been ninety hours, and while we’ve been sleeping and resting plenty, the occasional space pirate attacks means I haven’t been able to relax.
But it’s finally down to about a kilometer in diameter. At this size, we should be able to fire directly at it and break it.
“It is finally this small…”
“I didn’t think it would be so much trouble…”
“Now I understand why they recommend going at it with a small fleet.”
It’s not only tough because it’s so simple, but when it’s time to fire, I get nervous to the point of stiffening… I expected a long operation, but I didn’t think the nervousness from when it’s time to fire would accumulate like this.
“Next time, if we really have to do this, let’s ask Iris from the start…”
“Yes. Can I do this on my own? Mechanical intelligence typically do not do this, because it tends to happen a lot, but… Considering how tired you two are, it might be for the best.”
“I was surprised the other three did not have the aptitude for this…”
They were removed from the operation… On purpose so they didn’t have to do their shifts? Is what I felt like asking considering how tired I am, but I didn’t. And Suzuri’s face told me she was thinking the same.
“Aim set. In five seconds. Three, two, one, fire.”
“Hit confirmed. Receiving transmission. Transmission? What is this?”
“Hnu? We are receiving a message. Hum… <This is the proud generational dwarf spaceship Raised Pickaxe. It is currently adrift.>… And then it’s just complaints to whoever may be listening.”
What? I mean, I get what it is, but what happened?
“I have contacted the Alliance, master, but it seems that one in several of the meteors around here has beacons that send out such messages.”
“What!?”
“I do not understand!”
Iris shrugs, and Suzuri opens her mouth while staring.
“Beacons with other messages have been collected, aside from the one about a generational spaceship. However, they are not similar, and they always contain something different, so the Alliance declared they must be someone’s prank. They investigated them at first, but have since stopped.”
“Prank… Like someone wrote a short novel like that and is broadcasting it?”
“Why is this happening during meteor destruction?”
Fortune cookie, gachapon, are the things that come to mind, but… they’re in meteors. Things that are considered small when they’re one kilometer in diameter. That’s like going against a hundred and eighty kilometer being.
No good, that’ll make me lose my mind. Stop thinking weird things, I feel like one might actually appear.
“We should probably not think about it. Suzuri, switch.”
“Understood! Entering hyperspace!”
I stretch my body, rotate my shoulders, and slowly stretch my whole body to release tension from my stiff body.
I’ll watch Suzuri shoot for a bit, and return to the living room…
“Three, two, one, fire! Next… Oh? The radar indicates… the meteor is broken.”
“It appears that was the final shot.”
“There is no next warp point. Is it perhaps over? The meteor broke.”
“Yes, now the meteor will evaporate before it reaches the asteroid belt. We have received fifty thousand puni. Good job, both of you.”
“Ooh!? It is over!!! I am so tired!”
“Good job, Suzuri. Can you take us to the Pokapoka colony and dock there?”
Suzuri suddenly turns her head towards me.
“Can I!?”
“Yes, I’m a little tired… Iris, support her, I’m going to the living room.”
“Very well.”
“Understood!”
It should be fine if it’s just the voyage back. If we removed my piloting implant, she wouldn’t be that different from me.
That really makes me think that Tortilla Double is an amazing ship.
In the living room, I see Saratha constricting a pillow.
“Ah, Genma, good job. Taking a break?”
“Yeah, I mean, the meteor destruction quest is over, but I left Suzuri to dock in the colony.”
“Eh? Really? That’s rare, you don’t usually hand over the controls. Nevermind the meteor quest, what brought about that change of heart?”
“Hn, I just thought it looked like she could do it, so I let her try it out. She even blew away pirates.”
Saratha releases the poor pillow and approaches me.
“Hm… Feeling like buying a second ship before the mothership?”
“Maybe. I think I should get a mothership first, but maybe it’s just right to assign someone to another ship.”
Saratha’s tail slithers as she wraps around my torso. That’s rare. She’s not even drunk.
“Hm… So how was the meteor destruction quest? You were mumbling to yourself a lot.”
“I’m never doing one of these damn quests again. Space pirate hunting is a lot more profitable and easier on my mind.”
Won’t their army handle it? Although I understand why they’re short staffed and need to ask the Mercenary Guild.
“Also, there was a weird and interesting beacon. I think the details will be compiled later, but as we scraped the meteor, there was a beacon with a weird message.”
“Weird message?”
I tell Saratha the sequence of events, but she’s not too interested. Leaving aside the hundred and eighty kilometer tall giant, this whole beacon stuff is interesting, so I want to look into it a bit once we’re back in the colony.
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