Heart-Pounding First Mission 2

"Fire warning shots at two enemy vessels."

Shin nosuke aligned the main cannon between the two enemy ships blocking his path.

It was the perfect spot—neither ship would be hit, but the threat would be clear.

"No changes from the enemy ships."

"Understood. Firing at maximum output!"

Upon receiving Mark's report, Shin nosuke slid the main cannon's power adjuster to maximum and pulled the trigger.

A blindingly white beam shot forth from the main cannon mounted on Cerberus's bow, slicing through the space between two enemy ships.

Startled by the near-miss, the enemy vessels veered apart, increasing their distance.

"Enemy ships have scattered to left and right. Course is clear. However, they're maintaining a consistent distance and still emitting fire-control radar. Their combat morale appears intact."

Understood. Lock on to two of them with the main guns and rapid-fire cannons. If they don’t surrender now, we’ll sink them.

The two heads of Cerberus, its main guns and rapid-fire cannons, locked onto their respective targets.

The enemy ships still aren’t within weapon range, but they continue radar illumination without making any move to attack.

Now is our chance for a one-sided assault from beyond range.

The enemy ship displayed on the monitor, the red marker locking on to it, and the alarm ringing through the bridge.

Seira, overwhelmed by the atmosphere of her first real combat, couldn't even speak, let alone think clearly.

Yet the rapid heartbeat that had pounded like a drum just moments ago had calmed down.

It felt as though her heart had stopped entirely.

She couldn't accept the reality before her as real.

At that very moment, she was overcome by a strange sensation—perhaps she was still trapped in a dream.

"Enemy vessel's fire-control radar has ceased targeting. They've turned and are now accelerating away."

Seira snapped back to reality at Marks's voice.

The alarm that had been echoing through the bridge had already stopped.

"Good. They've given up. But we can't let our guard down yet. Maintain our current alert status and proceed forward."

The sound of Shinosuke's words and the voice of Marks communicating with Orion.

Hearing those, Seira realized the threat before her had vanished.

And as she grasped what had happened in that brief moment, a sudden, innocent question popped into her mind.

"Ah... um... is it really okay... to let those pirates go... like this?"

Her throat was dry, and she couldn't speak clearly.

A conflicting mix of doubt—whether it was right to let the pirates go—and a strong desire to escape this region immediately.

"Of course, letting the pirates go means they'll likely attack another ship later, which could cause trouble down the line. Ideally, we should have captured them or sunk them outright. But right now, we're on a escort mission, so securing the safety of our convoy takes priority over hunting pirates. Since they fled after our warning, we avoided unnecessary combat—so all in all, that was a pretty good outcome. Sure, we could have sunk those two ships once we locked on to them. But there's a chance they had other allies, possibly including the decoy we encountered earlier. It would've been a hassle if we'd attacked and provoked a full-scale assault, so it's actually better for us that they ran away after our warning."

Seyla listens intently to Shinosuke's explanation.

"But then, other ships might end up in danger later, right?...Ah, s-sorry!"

A natural remark from Seyla, who had firsthand experience being attacked by pirates.

It wasn't a criticism of Shinosuke for letting the pirate ship escape, but Seyla still regretted her careless words.

Likewise, Shinosuke didn't think Seyla was blaming him.

"You're right, but we're neither a military force nor a coast guard. I used to be part of the space navy, so I understand the sentiment, but now we're independent merchants with escort ships. Some among us hunt pirates for bounties, but our priority should be fulfilling the mission outlined in our contract—this job is simply to protect Orion and get her safely to the Garra Stellar Region."

I thought escort duties meant fighting and eliminating pirate ships while protecting the target, but that was a misunderstanding.

Depending on the mission, defeating pirates is secondary, and unnecessary combat should be avoided.

In fact, such cases are more common.

Though convinced by Shinosuke's explanation, and despite the situation being on the brink of immediate conflict, Seira felt relieved that combat had been avoided, yet a chill ran down her spine at the thought of the life-or-death battle that would surely come soon.

Yet strangely, no regret stirred within him about boarding the escort vessel.

"For now, the immediate threat has passed. You must be exhausted, Seira. You may rest for six hours starting from this moment. You probably broke out in a cold sweat, so take a shower and get some rest."

In truth, Seira had done nothing.

She had merely been tense and anxious, heart racing, palms sweating, as events unfolded before her eyes. Still, both mind and body were utterly drained, so the chance to rest was a welcome relief.

"Yes. Um, I’ll take some rest now."

Saying that, Seira stood up—but on her third step toward the outside of the bridge, her legs suddenly gave way and she fell flat on her backside.

"Y-whoa... a-ah? What?"

"Are you okay?"

Shin nosuke called out upon seeing Seira suddenly sit down, but he didn’t immediately rush over to lift her up.

In that moment, Seira pushed herself up using the wall and stood on her own.

"I'm fine, really... I guess I got startled and my knee just... laughed a little... Sorry, I'm fine."

Shinnosuke watched Seira, shakily stepping away from the wall like a bridge, murmuring to himself.

"Should I have helped her up?"

"...Too late. My judgment was slow, Master."

Shinnosuke chose not to hear Marks's words.

After encountering the pirate ship, they sailed smoothly without further incident, and four days later, Cerberus and Orion arrived at their destination—the colony in the Gallar Stellar Region—right on schedule.

Thus, Seira's first assignment as an apprentice communications officer had been successfully completed.