I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship, so I Became a Space Mercenary

We've just left port, but once we get back to Commat Prime Colony, we'll sell our loot and so on. It's going to be a lot of trouble if we're left with a full load of loot.

However, it would be a shame to let that get in the way of our patrol duties, so I'm going to throw my cosmic bandit ship's scrap and loot into the loot storage space I've contracted with Cormat Prime Colony.

"We'll stay on the colony and work on refurbishing the recovered items.

Copy that. I don't think it's going to happen, but be careful.

Yes!

The mechanic sisters are to remain on the Cormat Prime Colony. I'll have them proceed with the repair and refurbishment work on the two recovered mid-sized ships and two small ships. There won't be any dangers or problems as long as they are working on the maintenance dogs. Especially in the port area, since the Imperial Air Force and the colony's security is keeping a close eye on it.

'We'll also be covering the two of you who will remain on the colony to refurbish the loot ships.

Okay, but don't get in my way.

Of course, of course.

Apparently, Wamud and his staff at Space Dwelg will also remain at Cormat Prime Colony. Zuia of Formalhout Entertainment will be aboard Krishna, while the rest of the staff, Nyatflix, and Mobiusling are likely to continue their coverage aboard Black Lotus.

'I wouldn't say they're busy, but they're industrious,'

Yeah?　Really?

'Yes. That's a far cry from our image of a mercenary.

I was storing Krishna in the Black Lotus hanger and taking a short break in the Black Lotus rest area when Allen from the Mobius Ring started to say something like that.

'I'm not really sure what that generic mercenary image is, am I?

I'm not born in this world, so I still don't understand the standoffishness of this world. Of course, it's not that I don't study this world, but the common sense of the original world is already stuck in my head, so the values and images unique to this world have a hard time sticking in my head.

The normal image of a mercenary is one that earns a lot of money, plays fast and loose, and spends as long as he or she has money.

That's true. Hiro-sama is industrious or stoic in that regard.

"Stoic." ......

That said, I've been doing a good job with Mimi, Elma, and May in my own way, and I've been eating Tetsudin's delicious food every day, although I don't particularly moderate my purchases if I find something I want to buy.

To put it more straightforwardly, since there are two such beauties here, you'd think they'd be flirting with each other day and night.

Do you want to get demerits again?

'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's what most people think!　Hey!

Nia from Nyatflix said that and asked Zuia from Formalhout Entertainment and Allen from Mobius Ring to agree, but they let out a dry laugh hahaha and passed it off. Neither of them agree, but it seems there is almost no difference in what they were thinking about around not denying it either.

The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that it's not like that. It's not going to be able to upgrade the ship forever like that, and I don't think my skills will improve because the feeling of moving the ship will be dulled.

You're already stoic in that statement.

'Hiro's never stopped disciplining himself every day, for whatever reason.

'It's not a good idea to let your intuition get the best of you. I don't want to die, and I don't want my crew to die either. You're putting your life on the line, so it's only natural that you wouldn't cut corners.

I don't care if it's only me who dies if I stepped on the wrong side of the line, but when you're entrusting the lives of Mimi and Elma who are also on the same boat, my responsibility is very heavy.

''After all, when you're a Gold Star platinum ranker, your mind-set is different.

He's a bit of a workaholic. All right, let's take a break and get Krishna out of here. I'd better get back to my patrol. May, run a full analysis of the data cache.

Yes, I'll take care of it.

★ ★ ★ ★

Can't it get a little more rockin'?

What kind of a rocking development on patrol?

We sailed from the Cormat Prime Colony again for about two hours. We've been on patrol without any trouble. The Earl of Daleinwald's request gives us a certain amount of leeway in the scope of our activities within the Cormat system, but even so, it's still just a drive if we don't encounter any airborne bandits or anything else within that scope. We literally rounded up all the people who attacked a large civilian passenger ship today, so the space bandits may not be around here for a while.

''Oh, there's an urgent transmission from Comat III's defense force command center.

'Oops, Zuia says some weird stuff, so here comes the rock.

Yeah.

'I didn't do it, Mimi, at ....... What's the content?

Well, ...... the settlement of Cormat III appears to have been attacked by aggressive natives, and vessels capable of ground attack are asked to rush to Cormat III for a support attack as soon as possible.

Ground attack, ......?

I can't help but let out a strange voice at the content of the communication, which is so incomprehensible.

Even though this is a frontier area that has just begun to be settled, it's strange to think that they would call for help from a force that is deployed in space at the level of a protozoan - that is, an animal attack.

They're not armed as an army, so they're not that powerful, but they're still carrying laser guns and rifles that are far more powerful than guns that use gunpowder to fire metal bullets, and their base of operations should be equipped with laser turrets and multi-cannon turrets that are far more powerful than shield generators and weapons that humans can carry.

It is strange to find out after all this time that such a highly threatening protozoan exists. The site should have been surveyed both before and after terraforming, and the highly threatening protozoa should have been discovered and dealt with at that stage.

'It's kind of strange, isn't it? Is the source really the defense unit of Cormat III?

Well, I'm sure.

...... In the meantime, I want you to check in with the defense command center and, just to be safe, with the client. Also, keep a log of all the communications.

I understand!

Now that Zuia is riding with us, it's probably best not to mention Chris' name directly. Well, even if you hide it, it's likely to be known long ago that we and Chris are rather bogged down in a relationship.

What are you going to do?

'When it's a notice from Defense Force Command, we can't just ignore it, can we? Mimi, tell May that we're heading to Cormat III as well.

Yes!

It's times like these that Mimi is very busy. Well, as far as being able to handle this kind of communication work without any difficulty, Mimi is already an operator in her own right. Should we review our share again in a little while?

"PATTERN SETTING, COMMAT III

Aye aye sir, we'll set a course.

Since Mimi has her hands full with communications, Elma sets a course to Cormat III. Since we're already sailing at superluminal speed, there's no need for a superluminal drive activation sequence.

'But what do you think?'

Well, it's weird. Not that it's never there.

Elma also seems to have doubts about this request for a ground attack.

'Either an oversight or an acute mutation due to the effects of terraforming.

Either the survey team overlooked or misjudged the presence of a dangerous native species, or the environmental upheaval caused by terraforming had some serious effect on a native species that had been determined to be harmless.

Or the deliberate disturbance at the hands of a third party.

'Oh, you can think of that too?'

Deliberate sabotage by a third party - in other words, in this case, the possibility that a highly aggressive biological weapon was secretly dropped and bred. That's certainly not a possibility. If there are people who want to prevent the Earl of Dareinwald from making a breakthrough, there's a good chance they'll take such a move.

It's a move that will result in their own necks being tightened if they are found out, but as long as they don't find out, it will be an extremely effective harassment. But if they don't find out, it would be an extremely effective way to harass them," he said, "and if there was any damage to the settlements, it would be a huge blow to the Earl of Dalrainwald's business.

If they can't deal with the situation locally and a call for help comes in: ......

I think there's a third possibility, don't you?

Oh......

It's starting to rock!

'I don't know what kind of threat we're talking about, but you can cut out the details of our discussion. Unless you want to get caught up in the dark struggle of the nobles.

'Haha, of course. A flashy, rocking video is better than a sloppy story like that, of course, because it's supposed to be well received. The Neatflix guys are going to be biting on that one, though.

Uh, yeah. Nia and the like seem to like these sludgy stories better.

Well, it's going to be the first time in a while that I've seen combat under gravity. If we're dealing with protozoa, it's going to be just a duck shot, but that's about it. Let's just be careful not to go crashing into the ground if I'm not careful.