050 Idol Arc 26: Aftermath of the Central Defense

The defensive battle, called up by emergency summons, has ended.

We’re collecting the ‘Fanell’ and forming the return convoy.

At the center: the captured battleship. Attached to its starboard side: my Personal Ship. To its right: the captured stealth vessel.

On the port side of the captured battleship: Ayame’s ship. Dragging behind it, on Ayame’s left arm, is the captured cruiser, its thrust gone.

My fleet has captured one battleship, one cruiser, and one stealth vessel, and secured destruction rights over one cruiser and two destroyers.

That should probably cover my debts.

The problem now is repairing my Personal Ship and untangling the fused state between it and the captured battleship.

We could treat them as a twin-hull vessel if they were facing the same direction, but my Personal Ship and the captured battleship are fused together in an inverted, reverse-arranged formation.

"Why did it come to this?!"

The two reasons I suspect caused my Personal Ship and the captured warship to end up in this state are...

I’m guessing the damage to my Personal Ship’s starboard side and the Erosion Bullet currently impacting and eating away at the starboard side of the captured warship are connected.

The Erosion Bullet slowed down more than usual when I fired it into the enemy battleship—then I was in trouble.

I think the cause might have been the battleship’s thick armor.

The armored sections currently fused to the captured warship don’t seem to be the main route of the data link—apparently, they’re held together by erosion instead.

The main connection is coming through the path from the Erosion Bullet fired into the captured warship’s bridge—‘Fannel’ is hooked up to that.

The Erosion Bullet likely accelerated erosion by hitting the bridge, where the warship’s electronic and quantum systems are concentrated.

Lesson learned: don’t get overconfident about Erosion Bullets.

They invade and take control of the enemy ship’s network, disabling its control systems.

But they only block commands—enemy ship’s brain is still alive.

Enemy ship’s brain used the same path we used to siphon its data to break the Erosion Bullet’s control and hack into my Personal Ship’s brain.

Guess you could say the warship’s brain really knows how to handle itself.

From now on, I’ll need to think carefully about where to fire the Erosion Bullet—and not hesitate to apply a Naurb Crack to the higher-level brain.

Back to the point—those half-assed eroded spots from the Erosion Bullet hitting the thick armor have affected my Personal Ship too, leading to this current adhesion status, I reckon.

My Personal Ship was dragged back to the station like a captured warship.

Being pulled backward like that is kinda embarrassing.

A captured stealth ship moves alongside, its shielding field deactivated.

Ayame’s ship is dragging the captured cruiser with its left arm.

We stop in the station’s pre-approach patrol zone, waiting for the inspection vessel.

Two warships launch from the station, positioning themselves to cross paths with us.

Two warships position themselves so their fire arcs don’t intersect, blocking our approach to the station.

The capital ship’s heavy railguns and beam cannons lock onto us.

Lock-on alarm blares through CIC. Annoying. Shut it off.

“Akira! What’s that?!”

A small comms window pops up at the edge of the holoscreen—Prince’s voice crackles through.

“Hey, Prince. Again, we’ve captured another one.”

Prince gapes at the screen.

“Inspection underway. Akira-class vessel in contact is also a target!”

“Understood.”

Well, inspection’s expected. Gotta roll with it.

First, the inspection warship establishes data link with the captured cruiser we’ve seized.

Confirmation: energy distribution unit damaged—overload to the net and all armaments.

External sensor beam confirmed—autonomous missile presence denied, neutralized.

The captured cruiser, bound by contract with the administrative body, is handed over as-is and towed away by a tagboat.

At the same time, Ayame’s ship is released.

"Got stuff to discuss—about allocation and all. Let’s meet up. I’ll contact you."

"Uh-huh, got it. Then, Akira, see you later."

Ayame’s ship returns to the hangar.

Next, the matter of me.

The captured stealth vessel is inspected—neuro-override confirmed. Designated safe, under NerveCrack’s control.

Too easy. Feels off.

The captured battleship is inspected likewise—declared neutralized.

And then, my Personal Ship, fused with the captured battleship, is checked too—scrutinized for contamination from the enemy.

"Seems like everything's in order. I'll grant your return."

"No, but this won't fit in the hangar like this."

"Enter the dock. We'll take custody of the stealth vessel and allocate it per regulations."

"Shouldn't I be cleared by now?"

"Depends on the repair costs, really."

Right. The repair bill was the real headache.

"But if I sell this battleship, I’ll be fine, right?"

"Only if it sells... you know."

The Prince seemed to be holding something back.

And so, my Personal Ship ended up docked for a full month.

Guess I’ve got no choice but to keep operating under 'RIO' for now.

Should the idol avatar hold up?