It’s been a day after the manga meat party. We decided to patrol the asteroid belt area again today.
We’ve managed to make enough money anyway, so it won’t be a problem for us if we headed to a new star system right away. However, it would be a pity not to take advantage of the increasing flow of prey in the area, so it was decided that we would hunt for pirates for a bit more. All three of us were of one mind in the matter.
“That’s strange.”
“Yep, really strange.”
“Is it truly strange?”
Elma muttered with a serious expression. I expressed my agreement. Mimi tilted her head in puzzlement as she looked at the two of us.
We’ve come to hunt some more big, fat prey prowling the area again today but we detected guys who were making some strange moves and seemingly stalking the prey as well. We detected a total of three small crafts.
They were navigating inside the asteroid belt with the express intention of hiding themselves and obviously didn’t come here to mine resources. We were mostly sure these guys weren’t pirates either. Their maneuvers were too organized and calculated. They were obviously gunning for prey as well. They were trying their best not to get in contact with other ships in the area.
“What do you think?”
“They’re really suspicious.”
“Yeah, thought so too.”
“???”
It looks like Mimi still hasn’t understood, but I already have an idea regarding the identity of these guys. They were most likely a recon or covert ops unit from the Vereverem Federation. I don’t have an exact grasp on what their goals are, but it’s likely along the lines of keeping an eye and grasping the troop deployment of the Graccan Imperial Fleet; in other words, the system military.
“Well, this is troublesome. They’ll surely detect us the moment we make a move.”
“You’re right. They’ll probably find us right away.”
“What’s going to happen once they find us?”
“They’re probably going to try and ‘silence’ us.”
“Yeah, guess so. Man, this is really troublesome.”
“So they’re dangerous people?”
“Very dangerous. And armed too. They’re probably from the Vereverem military.”
“Eh!?”
Mimi suddenly made an aghast expression as she gazed at the radar screen. Mimi probably wouldn’t be able to make such a connection by herself just by observing the blinking icons on the radar.
“Ah.”
“Tch. They found us.”
The three unidentified craft shown on the radar screen changed their movement patterns. They were apparently maneuvering to outflank and surround us. They were in the middle of covert operations, so it would make sense that they would want to get rid of any witnesses.
Un, should we cut the generator output, initiate the cooling system and enter thermal stealth mode?
“Nah. That won’t do any good. Can’t be helped then. Let’s take them on.”
“You really have an acute case of bad luck, you know that?”
“Oh that’s rich. Especially coming from you, Elma.”
“Ugh… But it’s not like Mimi’s any better, right?”
“Eh!? Me!?”
Elma reeled from my retort, but immediately deflected the issue toward Mimi.
Elma, who got saved by me after causing an accident and getting slapped with massive debt, certainly had really bad luck. But I, who got suddenly transported to this world without a clue, was probably worse off. But Mimi, who we first met in the 3rd Block when she was about to be assaulted after falling into debt following her parents’ deaths, wasn’t spared from misfortune either, was she?
“Let’s just stop with this topic. We’re just poking open each other’s wounds y’know.”
“Y- Yeah.”
“You’re right…”
“Maximum generator output. We’ll intercept them. Go ask for their affiliation just in case, Mimi.”
“Understood.”
We came out from the asteroid we were hiding behind and started maneuvering so we didn’t get surrounded by the unidentified ships.
“This is the ship of Captain Hiro, Silver Rank mercenary affiliated with the Mercenary Guild. Callsign, Krishna. I’m the ship operator, Mimi. Unidentified ships, please state your affiliation.”
Mimi opened a comm channel and contacted them, but there was no response. Mimi, who confirmed there was no response, tried again. But it was useless. The other guys really didn’t have any intention of talking it out, it seems.
Oh yeah, by the way, my mercenary rank went up from Bronze to Silver a few days ago. The receptionist uncle said that it wouldn’t be possible for me to stay as a Bronze Rank after delivering such results at the subjugation operation and hunting loads of prey in the asteroid belt area.
But it isn’t like a lot’s changed after ranking up to Silver. It’s just that my colleagues looked at me with a little bit more respect, that’s all.
“Unidentified ships have deployed their weapons!”
“Just as expected. We’ll follow suit. Deploy weapon systems.”
“Roger. Deploying weapons. Leave the chaff, flare and generator output controls to me as usual.”
“I’m counting on you. Let’s go!”
We headed for the closest unknown ship as we maneuvered between the asteroid cluster.
“You’re piloting is crazy as usual……!”
“I’m already used to it.”
Elma’s face convulsed as we weaved through the asteroid clusters while Mimi smiled. I don’t think it’s that crazy though. This is normal y’know. We soon found ourselves outflanking the enemy ship.
I piloted Krishna so it seemingly slid on the surface of a large asteroid and soon found myself staring at the defenseless gut of an enemy ship. You’re mine, sucker.
『What the- !?』
“That’s one down.”
I fired our two large-caliber live projectile cannons and the countless destructive submunitions tore through the shields and armor of the Federation’s small attack craft [Sword Fish] and ripped its hull to shreds.
“Those shard cannons pack quite the punch as usual.”
“It’s great huh!”
“You’re just about the only one I know who uses such absurd weapons…”
“But they’re strong right?”
The range of the scattershot cannons really leave much to be desired, but doesn’t it feel awesome to tear through the shields and armor of small-sized enemy ships like they’re made of paper? It can also give considerable damage to large ships, provided their shields were down.
『Hunter 2 was- 』
『Judging from those maneuvers, that’s no mere Silver Rank. Be careful. Take some distance and shoot it down!』
“They’re too far out of effective shard cannon range…”
The other two remaining ships retreated from the asteroid field and turned their bows toward us. Hou, so you want to finish us off with your long-distance firepower huh? And you’re going against Krishna? Interesting. Let’s see what you got.
I hid the ship behind a large asteroid and deployed the four large-caliber pulse laser cannons.
『What the- !? That ship just grew some arms!?』
『Those are high-output laser cannons……! I- It’s no good! We can’t withstand that!』
The Federation craft immediately made evasive maneuvers and fired back. But their laser cannons couldn’t make a direct hit because we were using the asteroid field as cover. Our laser cannons, however, packed enough firepower to penetrate through and eventually scored direct hits on them.
These were literally attacks going at the speed of light. It’s nearly impossible to dodge them directly. Well, their evasion maneuvers were still effective to some extent, but we were still able to get an 80% hit rate. And Krishna’s laser cannons packed enough firepower to greatly damage them even with just an 80% hit rate.
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