The task of the Leeg people

The day had finally arrived for departure toward the 6325 Stellar Federation.

As Fukuki and Tsukikage headed toward their designated rendezvous point, they met up with a convoy from the Ranguldo Company, which was also en route to the same rendezvous point. Seeing one of the ships in the convoy, Seira exclaimed:

"Ah, Shinnosuke-san, that's the cargo ship Orion."

The flagship of the Ranguldo Company convoy was the medium-sized cargo ship Orion.

The ship Seira first escorted under Shinnosuke's command, and has escorted on several occasions since.

"Orion to escort vessel Fukubuki. Please carry out convoy escort duties."

Seira responds to the transmission from Orion.

"This is Fukubuki. The pleasure is ours."

"Your voice... you're the communications officer who escorted us before on the escort vessel Cerberus. It's been a while. Please take care of us again this time."

Seeing the unexpected reply from Orion, Ceyla turned to Shinnosuke with a joyful expression.

Shinnosuke nodded in response to Ceyla's expression.

Although they had rendezvoused earlier than planned, Fuuki and the convoy headed toward the designated rendezvous point.

At the rendezvous point, Ira's A884 frigate and one other escort vessel had already arrived.

"What is that escort vessel?"

"Um... it's kind of old, or rather... oh, sorry, I didn't mean to speak ill of someone else's ship."

Milina and Seira couldn't help but voice their thoughts upon seeing the escort vessel waiting.

It's basic courtesy for sailors not to speak ill of another's vessel, but hearing those remarks, Shinosuke couldn't help but smile wryly.

In truth, the escort vessel waiting alongside Ira's A884 wasn't just outdated—it was a truly decrepit, aging warship.

The ship showed clear signs of repairs in various places, and since the paint hadn't been applied over the repairs, the patches stood out starkly.

If ten people saw it, eight would instantly think of it as a 'rundown ship.' If it were depicted in a manga or anime, it would likely be shown emitting smoke in space, accompanied by sound effects like 'pon-ska pon-ska' or 'gata-pishi gata-pishi.'

So it was hardly surprising that Milena and Seira couldn't help but say it out loud.

There's no need to say it directly to the other party.

" Well, just be careful. But that's quite a rare ship, isn't it?"

Shin nosuke says this, but his eyes are serious.

"Master Shin nosuke, do you know that ship?"

"Yeah, D-21F Phalanx-class frigate. An older model, two generations behind the current ones. I've never seen one in person before. Someone actually uses that as a destroyer escort, huh?"

D-21F Phalanx-class frigate.

A frigate developed and deployed in combat by the Damura Star Cluster Commonwealth Space Force for fleet escort duties.

Equipped with missile launchers and missile cells at various points along its hull, this frigate carries as many as 200 missiles of varying sizes. While its other armaments consist of only one rapid-fire cannon and three anti-aircraft machine guns, making it a missile-specialized frigate, its ability to intercept enemy forces advancing on a fleet with massive missile salvos is formidable. However, it also has a significant drawback: losing a single vessel results in the loss of a large number of missiles. Additionally, due to the emergence of next-generation ships that better balance artillery and missile capacity, this vessel never received a successor, making it an unfortunate ship in need of replacement.

More than a few decades after all ships of her class had been decommissioned, Shinosuke was little more than a textbook example taught in naval development history courses at the academy.

"Commander Leg of the D-21F Phalanx-class frigate Javelin here. Please take care of us, escort ships Fukubuki and Tsukikage."

Commander Leg of the Javelin, speaking in a flat, unvarying tone, was a Tasclean man with gray coloring and large, eyeless eyes. There were reportedly two other Tasclean crew members aboard the Javelin—both women.

Incidentally, Tasclean males have no hair and give a very mechanical impression, whereas Tasclean females, while sharing the same body color and eye characteristics as males, have long, white hair and a physique resembling that of typical human females, with females being taller in stature.

Tracing back the history of the Tascleans, originally there was no physical distinction between males and females—only genetic differences existed.

Although the Tascleans originally had no physical distinctions between males and females—only genetic differences existed—throughout their long history, in order to facilitate communication with other species, females evolved, so to speak, altering their own bodies to create clear gender distinctions visible to all races. This process ultimately solidified the current form of the Tasclean species.

Incidentally, it seems the evolution of Tasclian females was particularly influenced by another species encountered on a planet long ago, when the Tasclians were still traveling through the galaxy in early disc-shaped spacecraft.

The Javelin, a guard ship of the Tasclian Leg, is an aging vessel with a visibly dilapidated appearance, yet its combat capabilities are on par with current models.

The hull is old, and its rapid-fire cannons are of outdated design.

However, it was originally a fast and agile vessel, with its primary armament being a missile launcher, and the missiles currently installed are the latest models.

Moreover, the Reg's Javelin has an additional missile launcher installed, carrying about 100 more missiles than the standard Phalanx-class frigate.

Although the main armament consists of smaller, less powerful missiles, 300 missiles still amount to the firepower of a small missile base.

Of course, once those missiles are all expended, the ship would be nearly defenseless. However, it's virtually impossible to fire 300 missiles during a single escort mission, so for a freelance merchant escort vessel, this is absolutely no issue.

As a drawback, its primary armament is missiles, which are more expensive than beam weapons that consume the ship's energy—yet even so, Reeg managed to rise to the top rank piloting this javelin.

Its disregard for exterior maintenance and paintwork reflects the typical Taskerian attitude: unbothered by appearances, utterly focused on practicality.

"It's my first time working alongside you. I'm Captain Shinosuke Kashimura of the destroyer Hayabusa. Please take care of me."

"I'm already familiar with Captain Kashimura's record through the guild's database. I'm looking forward to this mission, especially since it offers the chance to gather more data on Captain Kashimura."

Even though the words came out with Reg's emotionless tone, an uneasy feeling lingered in the air.

It felt just like talking to Marks.

"Understood. By the way, you can call me Shinosuke instead of the formal 'Captain Kashimura'."

"Though I don't particularly feel the formality, it's for smoother communication. Understood, Captain Kashimura."

"..."

Shinosuke glances at Marks, who's seated at the central operations station.

"Master, please don't look this way."

Still, something feels deeply unsatisfying.

Although the way Taskerians express themselves might be better represented in katakana as something like "Wareware hou chuu jin da," it would be too difficult to read, so I'll send it in standard notation.