038 Idol Arc 14: Cleanup and New Song Premiere

The fate of the captured vessel had been decided.

I was summoned to the executive branch and met the Prince face to face in that white (quarantine) room again.

“Another successful capture, huh? You’re truly terrifying, Akira. But once again, the ship’s AI has submitted to Akira… meaning we can’t just buy the whole thing outright.”

So the AI had apparently pledged loyalty to me and refused to follow anyone else’s orders.

“Just so I know for the future—how the hell do you capture a ship without using a Nerve Crack?”

The Prince’s eyebrows twitched at the mention of Nerve Crack.

“A Nerve Crack? Is that… not one of Akira’s unique skills?”

“Huh? It is?”

"Yes. No one else has that skill. If they're under Nerve Crack's control, trying to capture them like that isn't recommended. Standard capture procedure requires destroying all enemy ship armaments, stripping combat capability, then issuing a capture declaration."

"So the green identification signal—that’s what shows up during the capture declaration?"

"No. That’s yellow. Green only appears after the inspection. Last time with the rental ship, it was blue—plus, it had a rental ship ID code. That was an exception among exceptions. We panicked."

"So if we run into something like this huge missile with its own brain next time… that’ll be risky, huh?"

The Prince answers with a serious expression.

"That's right. The existence of that new weapon exposed how easily we could be tricked by a superficial disarmament. So for now, on the final defensive line, capturing enemy ships without Akira's Nauvcrack is strictly forbidden."

"So only yellow identification signals get destroyed on the final defensive line, then."

"Yes. But uncovering the enemy's new tactics is a major accomplishment. Prize money? Not happening."

The Prince offers thanks. His purse stays tight.

"Right, about that captured autonomous missile—unfortunately, its brain obeys Akira. We can't extract any data. I really wanted it for research. But I’ll remove the explosives and hand it over to Akira."

"So the share from the captured ship will be…"

"Yes. The core components, including the flagship's neural mainframe, and the autonomous missiles go to Akira. Everything else goes to the administrative government. The reactor aside, those two were the highest-value items for purchase. A shame we couldn’t keep them all."

"Is that so...? Oh, and could you spare the shielding field, too?"

"Even that’s a valuable piece of gear—but it’s broken, so the buyback price is low. If you want it, I’ll hand it over."

"Sweet!"

"Good to see you’re so pleased."

With that, the conversation ended. I left the white room.

The captured ship’s neural core components and shielding field generator (scrap), along with the autonomous missiles, were sent to the warehouse above the storage bay.

The missile warheads have been removed—just in case anything goes wrong.

So, why the hell are we dealing with autonomous missiles in the first place? Well, any missile that’s not wire-guided is basically autonomous by default.

These aren’t your standard-issue missiles—no, these are more like high-intelligence warheads packed with explosives, slung onto small ships. Call them what they are: miniature suicide vessels.

Maybe "suicide vessel" is the better term.

You can’t afford to give regular missiles that kind of intelligence. It’s not cost-effective.

Standard missiles are built with just enough brainpower to do their job—nothing more, nothing less. Balance, you know.

But autonomous missiles? Those are the big guns. The ones with a brain installed. The decisive weapon, reserved for when you really need to bring the heat.

A drone bomber with a warhead, maybe?

Wait… are enemy ships unmanned? Did the salvage vessel even have crew on board?

The station’s NPC ships are probably what they call unmanned vessels, right? But I heard in real space, you still need a navigator—some kind of pilot, a gamer?

We handed over the captured ship right after the inspection. No idea about any of that stuff.

I’ll ask the Prince later.

Still, if autonomous missiles are treated as unmanned vessels, couldn’t we use them as unmanned fighter drones?

**************************************************************************************

The debut of Brushlips’ new member, Kirara, has been announced—along with a new song release.

The stage? SFO. The event will feature simulated duels as the main act.

I’ve been practicing singing, dancing, everything—just for this day.

Let me introduce the crew a bit.

Naho is twenty-two, 162 cm tall, with long, soft brown hair that reaches her back. She gives off a gentle vibe, but she’s the leader—sharp when it counts.

Saya is seventeen, 156 cm, her brown hair cut even at shoulder length. Bright and cheerful—she’s the mood booster. Athletic to a fault.

Miyu is fifteen, 150 cm, with short black hair. Shy as a mouse. Still hasn’t said a word.

We’ll be doing simulated combat drills together, singing and dancing in formation.

And I’ve got my own job—audio support.

I need to seize control of all channels via the Wide-Area Communication Device S-type, stream the new song’s backing track, and pick up the members’ vocals through microphones for broadcast.

Showtime.

I step into the CIC of my Personal Ship and take my seat in the cockpit.

Switch avatar to Idol Avatar 1. The avatar in my new song outfit.

Launch virtual screen. Enter cyberspace with Idol Avatar 1, heading toward the stage—named the Simulation Arena.

Three of them were already waiting: Naho, Saya, and Miyu.

Naho, the leader, registers our entry for the match.

The simulation combat zone is already set to standard space.

After a pause, numbers appear before my eyes—counting down.

Zero hits. The debut of our new song—plus my first public appearance—begins.

We four—Brushlips (Brushlips), the first SF0 idol unit—launch into space.