Departure for the Garra Stellar District

On the night Seira arrived at Cerberus, Shinnosuke briefed her on his work schedule starting tomorrow.

Starting tomorrow, my assignment will be escorting a medium-sized cargo ship named Orion to the Garra Stellar District. The cargo mainly consists of rare metals and precious metals used for jewelry—items that are particularly attractive to space pirates. While there are relatively safe routes to the Garra Stellar District, pirates still pose a threat. This will be Seira’s first escort mission, so I’ll be entrusting her with communications. Still, Marks will be supporting her, so there’s no need to worry.

In the end, Shinnosuke chose escort duty for Seira's first mission.

Although Zany and others advised otherwise, Shinnosuke also needed to go to the Garra Stellar District, so he accepted the job to go there.

"Yes! I'll do my best!"

Hearing Seira's reply, Shinnosuke nodded.

"Departure is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 6:30. We'll rendezvous with Orion at the designated zone at 7:45 and head toward the Garra Stellar District. There's no set wake-up time, so you'll need to manage your own schedule."

"Understood."

After watching Seira return to her room, Shinnosuke let out a long sigh.

"Phew, having a young girl on board is exhausting... This is going to be tough until I get used to it."

In truth, Shinnosuke had been even more careful with Seira than Seira herself realized.

During his time as commander of the space military's frontier patrol unit, he had a female non-commissioned officer named Arnes aboard his ship, and before that, there had been female crew members aboard several ships he had served on.

But during military service, multiple personnel operated the ship, so it wasn't much of an issue. Now, though, only Shinosuke, Ceyla, and Marks are aboard the Cerberus.

Moreover, Seira is still only 18 years old.

The age when Shinosuke was still studying at the officer school.

I honestly don't know how I should approach it.

Well, there's nothing for it but to get used to it.

Markus speaks coldly.

"Mark, you're being cold."

"Yes. Depending on the level of activity, the internal power source temperature fluctuates between 80 and 160 degrees. However, the surface temperature of the body is always maintained at 25 degrees. If someone were to say it's cold, it would be cooler than human body temperature..."

"Markus, you're deliberately saying that, aren't you?"

"Not at all."

With that, Shinosuke left Markus, who had shifted his dual-camera focus away, and decided to rest in his own room.

When morning came the next day, Shinosuke woke up at five and had himself ready by five fifteen.

After finishing his preparations, Shinosuke entered the bridge, where Seira was receiving instructions from Markus on the equipment.

"Good morning. You two are up early."

"Good morning!"

After exchanging greetings, Shinosuke took his seat at the captain's station and powered up the ship's systems.

"Serah, is there any issue with handling the communication equipment?"

Shinosuke double-checks while preparing.

"Yes, no issues. It's a completely different model from the school's training vessel, but I learned the basics from Marks. It seems easier to use than the training vessel's communications operator unit."

Nodding in response to Serah's reply, Shinosuke flips the starter switch for the Cerberus's main engine.

"Main engine startup. Conducting system checks. Communications system."

"Affirmative, uh, communications system is normal."

"Navigation control, weapons control, radar system."

"All systems nominal."

Following the manual, Shinosuke continued verifying the ship's operations while receiving reports from Seyra and Marks.

"Good, Cerberus all systems nominal. Request departure clearance."

"Understood. Departure request sent to Harbor Control Center and Merchant Ship Association Dock Management... Received."

While checking the manual data displayed on the monitor in front of her, Ceyla completes the departure request.

So far, everything is on schedule.

"Alright, then we're departing."

Upon receiving Shinosuke's instruction, Ceyla opens communication with the dock management room.

"Dock Management Room. Cerberus is departing. Um... requesting release of the airtight hatch."

Upon receiving Ceyla's transmission, the dock hatch opens, and the docking platform carrying Cerberus begins moving into departure position.

"Unlatching hull locks—Cerberus, departure!"

Once the launch platform reached departure position, Shinnosuke released the locks, lifting the ship into the air.

Cerberus departed on schedule, heading toward the预定 rendezvous point with the cargo vessel Orion.

The route from colony departure to the rendezvous point was heavily traveled by numerous vessels, so there was no need to prepare for pirate attacks, and the bridge maintained a relaxed atmosphere.

Shinnosuke switched to autopilot and was about to make coffee using the water heater stationed at the edge of the bridge.

"Ah, Shinnosuke-san, I can make the coffee—"

Shinnosuke raised one hand to stop Seira, who was about to get up out of consideration.

"I've got it. I always make my own coffee. It's faster this way—plus, I have my own little ritual."

Shin nosuke was diluting the freshly brewed coffee with more hot water.

"Um, how about breakfast? I used the automatic cooker to make a sandwich, just in case."

Seyra offered the lunchbox she had prepared.

"That's really kind of you. I was just wondering what to have for breakfast—this comes at the perfect time."

Shin nosuke took the lunchbox from Seyra.

Though Seyra had prepared it, Shin nosuke assumed it was just a synthesized meal from the cooking machine's ingredient cartridges. But when he opened the lid, it looked different from his usual sandwich.

There were ingredients in it that weren't part of the machine's standard recipe list.

"Hey? This doesn't taste like my usual sandwich. Marks, did you update the cooking machine's recipe software?"

"If I'm not ordered by Master, I wouldn't just decide on my own to skip meals."

"Yeah... that's true..."

Seeing the exchange between Shinosuke and Marks, Seira burst into laughter.

"Kukuku... um, actually, I made this using a secret technique with the automatic cooker."

"A secret technique? What's that?"

"I don't make the sandwich directly in the kitchen appliance. Instead, I synthesize the bread and ingredients separately. This time, I made standalone combinations—roast chicken, sautéed carrots, egg paste, cheese, lettuce, and more—then assembled them into a sandwich by layering them between slices of bread."

"Hmm... I never thought of that."

Shin nosuke is impressed, though this clever hack with the automatic cooker isn't exactly a secret.

It was simply that he didn't know the appropriate portion size for meals.

But I couldn't prepare it since there was no recipe data for tomatoes...

Markus replies to Seara, tilting his head.

It's because the master erased all data related to tomatoes. You mean likes and dislikes? The master doesn't eat tomatoes, so to ensure tomatoes aren't accidentally included, they erased all data concerning tomatoes.

It seemed Shinosuke was upset, as if he'd been tattled on, but since it was true, he couldn't argue.

"Markus is telling the truth, but if Serah wants to eat tomatoes, we can reinstall them, right?"

"Oh, no, it's fine. I don't really have any preferences, and it's no problem at all without tomatoes. If I feel like eating them, I'll get them myself when we dock."

Shin nosuke felt as though he had lost, listening to Celia speaking with a smile.

Afterward, Cerberus continued its voyage smoothly and arrived at the designated rendezvous point on schedule.

The cargo ship Orion, the vessel to be escorted, was already waiting in the designated zone.

"Cargo ship Orion, this is escort vessel Cerberus. Um... from now on, we'll be assuming escort duties for your vessel. Please take care."

Seyla sends a message while carefully checking the manual data to avoid operating the communication equipment incorrectly.

It's natural that she's clumsy, since it's her first job—but even while referring to the manual, she's following the correct procedure.

She must have studied thoroughly at the maritime academy.

"This is the cargo ship Orion, affiliated with the Ranglud Company. Please escort us safely to the Garra Stellar Region."

The Cerberus and the Orion began their voyage toward the Garra Stellar Region.