136 – Black Lotus’ Debut Battle
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Translator: SFBaka
Editor: Thor’s Stone
After the consecutive training exercises and the surprise inspection by the Imperial military yesterday, we were finally going to return to our normal routine of pirate hunting today. We managed to encounter pirates right away during Krishna’s test run a few days back as well, but this was the first time in a while that we’ll actively engage in pirate hunting.
The Space Dwerg mechanics Tina and Whisker didn’t participate, but the rest of us had a meeting about today’s pirate hunting activity last night. And so, Black Lotus with Krishna parked snugly inside one of its hangars, applied for departure from the Brad Prime colony come morning straight away.
“Let’s go with the plan we decided on yesterday then.”
『Acknowledged.』
Only I, Mimi, and Elma were inside Krishna’s cockpit. May was piloting the Black Lotus while the mechanic sisters were standing by inside a room near the hangar. They were still ultimately outsiders, and it wasn’t advisable to completely let our guards down against them, so it was possible to monitor the room they were staying in from Krishna to some extent.
“Tina, Whisker, I don’t think we’ll face any trouble today, but we’re going to engage in live combat after all. Just keep your wits about, okay.”
『Roger boss.』
『Understood.』
They replied with tense voices over the comms.
“Be sure to wear your diapers just in case.”
『Ahaha. Whisker already has one on, so you don’t have to worry boss.』
『Big sis! Hiro-saaan!』
Whisker’s face turned red from my and Tina’s teasing. Well, at least that got rid of some of their nervousness. Mimi gave me a slight glance for some reason.
“You’ve already graduated from using one, right Mimi?”
“O-Of course. I’m also already used to the job after all.”
Mimi smiled joyfully even as her face blushed red. It looks like she’s happy about my attention. I didn’t really intend to ignore Mimi, but I’ve been really busy lately due to the purchase of the mothership, Krishna’s maintenance, and the fiasco about the mechanic sisters. I’ll spoil her a lot after pirate hunting today. Of course, I’ll be spoiling Elma as well. Oh, and May too. I’ve made May work a lot these past days, so I’ll need to do my duty as her master as well.
『We have been given clearance. We will now depart.』
“Roger. Once we get out, immediately set course for the designated coordinates.”
『Yes, please leave it to me.』
Krishna’s HUD displayed the images captured by Black Lotus as well. It looks like we’ve already left port and started accelerating, but we, who were inside Krishna, couldn’t tell that we were moving at all. I guess other than being launched out from the catapult, the inertial control system is able to deal with this much momentum. Soon, the Black Lotus activated its FTL Drive and went superluminal. Our destination for today was a sector I heard about from the 2ndLt we met yesterday and was said to be a hotspot for pirate activity in the Brad system. They target ships cruising via FTL Drive and stopped them in their tracks by using interdictors.
“Guess we’re fishing for pirates in a sense.”
“So it’s pirate fishing on a system-wide scale huh.”
“You always go big when you do things, don’t you, Hiro-sama?”
I think this was just normal for a merc though. Well, people usually don’t allow themselves to get purposely get hit by interdictors, so yeah. Only mercs like us who engage in pirate fishing would be more than willing to do so.
『Master, there’s a response on the subspace radar. There’s a group of ships tracking us.』
“Jackpot huh. Yosh. Pretend to run away, but make sure you don’t shake them off. Match your speed with a regular civilian cargo ship. Set course for the Brad Prime colony.”
『Acknowledged. I will pretend to desperately try to escape the moment they hit us with an interdictor.』
“Please do. Yosh. Buckle up, guys. We’re starting.”
“Yes.”
“Roger. We’re counting on you for the catapult launch timing, May.”
『Please leave it to me.』
I felt the ship slightly shake as we prepared for combat. It looks like they already hit us with an interdictor.
Soon after, we got a call from Tina.
『B-Boss, I think we got hit with an interdictor! Are we going to be okay!?』
“Yeah, we’ll be fine. Don’t worry. It’s all according to plan. We just successfully baited some pirate ships.”
『B-Bait……? Y-You’re not telling me you were planning on making Black Lotus pirate bait from the start!?』
“Exactly. The shields and hull of Black Lotus are pretty tough, so you don’t really need to worry guys. There will just be some shaking when taking enemy fire.”
『No! Nononononono! We’re gonna get shot at!? That’s absolutely bad, y’know!』
“It’s okay! Believe in the Black Lotus and Space Dwerg’s capabilities!”
I made an OK sign with my fingers toward Tina on the other side of the screen and cut the comms. She looked like she still wanted to say something, but I don’t have the time to deal with her right now. This is gonna be a regular thing from now on, so the earlier they get used to it, the better.
『The interdictor has taken effect and we will now be returning to normal space. I will scan the unidentified ships, and once they are determined to be pirates, I will open fire.』
“Roger.”
After a few moments, the ship strongly shook, and we were finally thrown back out into normal space. It looks like it’s starting.
『Scan complete. Unidentified ships are confirmed to be pirates. There are nine small ships. Opening hatch. Activating launch catapult.』
“Roger. We’re starting you two. Once we’re out there, we’ll charge in immediately. You should start support bombardment once Krishna manages to get their attention, May.”
『『『Roger! (Yes.)』』』
After hearing the crisp replies of my companions and grabbing the control stick, I switch the HUD display from Black Lotus to Krishna. Afterward, the hatch of the hangar began to open.
『Launching Krishna.』
Along with May’s announcement, powerful G forces assaulted my body and pressed it against the pilot seat. We instantly left the hangar behind and shot off to outer space.
『Hey! There’s a small ship that launched out from that big one.』
『An escort ship? That’s weird. Why didn’t it fly alongside the big one from the start?』
『It’s just one ship. Surround it and bring it down.』
We could clearly hear the vibrant exchange of the pirates over the comms. Hahaha, what a happy bunch. We’re gonna turn you into space dust and get that sweet, sweet bounty.
Eh? Don’t I feel even a little bit repulsed about taking lives? It’s not like I don’t, but the other party are pirates y’know. There’s no room for those sorts of feelings when dealing with the likes of them. They normally kill all the crew of the ships they attack, and even worse, they may cut them up to sell their organs, or turn them into outlets of their lust. Some are even more depraved. There’s absolutely no benefit to leaving scum like these alive. So they don’t deserve any form of mercy from me.
The moment we launched out from Black Lotus, I activated Krishna’s weapon systems. The four heavy laser cannons and the two ballistic shot cannons revealed themselves. Apparently, those bandits mistook Krishna for a regular escort ship and sent six ships to deal with us. The remaining three ships went after Black Lotus.
The six ships rushed over haphazardly without any semblance of a proper ship formation.
“We’re charging in.”
“Roger. Releasing chaff.”
Elma controlled the subsystems and released the chaff. The chaff doesn’t completely shut down the enemy’s targeting systems, but it’s very effective in disrupting their aim and reducing accuracy.
Why is there chaff in space, you ask? I have no idea. It’s just how it is guys. Well, it’s not sprinkling metallic foils though. Maybe it’s some sort of unknown particle or something. Anyway, I don’t really have any interest in knowing how it works as long as it’s effective. If it can make the enemy ship’s accuracy drop, then I’m using it.
『It’s coming in fast!?』
『Break up! Break up! We’ll crash with it at this rate!』
Maybe they’re aware of just how thin their shields and armor were, so the pirate ships desperately made evasive maneuvers in order to avoid Krishna. Basically, most escort ships are of the well-shielded and well-armored variety, so in a head-on collision, the retrofitted pirate ships will be the ones to turn into space debris. So they were well aware of that weakness and tried to avoid a collision as a result.
But that was part of my aim as well since that will expose plenty of gaps I can take advantage of.
『Uwaaah—』
The emerald laser beams fired by Krishna’s four heavy laser cannons tore through the energy shield and hull of the lead pirate ship and instantly brought it down. It looks like the shots failed to hit its generator so it didn’t explode. That’s rare.
I flew past the silenced pirate ship and turned the flight control system off. I used the attitude control thrusters to make Krishna turn rapidly and fired the main thrusters to the maximum in order to chase down the remaining ships. I was already pretty used to the Gs resulting from these intense maneuvers. It may be a result of my daily training workouts. My body doesn’t feel burdened as much compared to before when I make these sorts of sharp maneuvers.
“Gu……!”
“Uuu.”
Elma and Mimi let out pained groans, but I can’t just stop the pursuit. I finally got a clean look at their behinds, so I immediately showered them with laser cannon shots.
『What the hell is with that thing’s movements!? Goddamn monster!』
『Dammit! I ain’t going down like this!』
After shooting down two more ships, the remaining three started retaliating with laser cannon fire of their own. However, Krishna’s energy shield effortlessly shrugged off their shots. I gave the shield’s condition a quick check and found that it would be able to tank at least another 200 or so shots before being saturated. Though if that happens, Elma would immediately activate a shield cell, so it can tank even more.
『Uwaaah! Stooop!』
Krishna made a sharp turn and instantly closed in on the remaining ships. The pirate ships tried to escape, but Krishna was overwhelmingly faster.
『No, don’t–』
The two large-caliber ballistic shot cannons spewed fire and countless submunitions penetrated the shields and hulls of the enemy ships, peppering them full of holes. Two ships were simultaneously brought down. Like I said, no mercy for these guys.
『No! Not here! Not like this–!』
The single remaining ship was also brought down by a salvo of laser cannon fire, and I then headed to support the Black Lotus.
『No! I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna–!』
A ship was running away from the Black Lotus with its large-caliber EML already deployed. It looks like the other two ships were already taken down by the laser cannons of the Lotus.
“Ah, the last ship activated its FTL Drive–”
The barrel of the EML gave off a fierce light, and in the next moment, the last pirate ship that was trying to escape exploded into bits. Man. That’s brutal.
“–and failed to escape. Phew.”
“Guess that’s it. Battle over. We’re starting salvage work, guys.”
Thanks to Black Lotus, we could now retrieve all of the usable equipment from the pirate ships that we usually had to leave behind in the past. That meant that the gains from hunting pirates will increase several times compared to before. And also, we can salvage pirate ships that took relatively lesser damage and sell them off.
Recovered pirate ships have little value for mercenaries since we piloted only the best, but they would be nice commodities for interstellar traveling merchants, miners, or scavengers because they could be bought at relatively cheap prices. As long as we could secure one or two, they were pretty valuable loot.
“Hehehe, from now on, I have to be more careful and not make the pirate ships explode into pieces.”
“You’re making a face fit for a villain, Hiro-sama.”
“Just leave him be. We’ll leave the big one to you, May. Hey, Hiro! Let’s start collecting the loot already!”
『Acknowledged.』
“Roger, ma’am.”
I moved Krishna toward the pirate ship wreckages and scanned their cargo holds for loot. I’m looking forward to our profits today!
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Scrapping broken ships is a real money maker in NMS. Especially Sentinel ships.