054 Idol Arc 29 Emergency Call, Third Time 1

Sorry I'm late.

Thanks to my sister causing a ruckus over the unpaid enrollment fee, I was on the verge of being expelled.

I made a fortune joining the SFO and paid the fee with it.

Having survived the expulsion crisis, I strutted into high school like a king.

As soon as I walked into the classroom, I exploded with joy.

"Everyone! Good morning!!"

"Good morning! Akira-chan! Why weren't you here on the first day of school?!"

Mami, with her loose, bouncy hair and enormous chest, lunged at me and hugged me—

"Wait…?"

In an instant, my vision switched to the station's small briefing room.

I stared at my own outfit. Yep, pilot suit. Definitely an abduction.

"Uuuuuuuh?! I thought my debt was paid off?!"

"Sorry!"

Ayame appeared beside me and bowed deeply.

I stared at her, head tilted, wondering what the hell was going on.

"My fault. I’ve got debts... and since I’m with Akira’s fleet, Akira’s pulled into this too."

"So that’s how it is. So the school’s sending a copy-bot instead..."

(Shit! Just as I was about to get hit by Mami’s big chest!)

I was weeping blood when, as usual, the Area Leader walked in.

"Anomaly detected at the Dimensional Jump Gate. We’re doing our usual rear-guard mission. Assigned sector: random draw—M1-P2-M15. We’re leading the defense. No ships get through."

Coordinates: one left, two up, fifteen forward from the Dimensional Jump Gate.

A tricky sector, right in the asteroid belt.

“Engage and destroy any enemy ships that slip past the inner defense. Don’t miss the stealth vessels. Today, you’re each assigned to navigate between the asteroids. Keep your own front clear—no one gets past you.”

Looks like we’re getting ambush points assigned this time. Good thing I don’t have to worry about the others.

“Wait in your CIC until the operation starts. Don’t miss the controller’s orders!”

Everyone stands, heading toward the makeshift transfer ports.

“Ayame, I’ve got you assigned next to me. We’ll cover each other. I’ll send the targeting correction data over the data link. Stay sharp—stealth ships are a problem.”

“Got it. See you in space.”

“Yeah. See you in space.”

Head to the hangar, board our Personal Ships from the standby chamber. Enter the CIC, take the pilot’s seat.

Here are the specifications for each vessel in Akira's fleet.

『AKIRA (あきら)』

Class: Fleet Command Ship (Flagship)

Hull: 250m long — High-speed cruiser variant plus α Arms: 2 Dimensional Storage Vault S-Type (Stealth Ship: 1 Carrier Aircraft: 'Fannel' — 1 External Reactor External Armament External Brain Multiple spare parts)

Main Power: Anti-Annihilation Reactor Type G (+ External Reactor, Anti-Annihilation Type D) High-Speed Propulsion Unit Type C

Armament: Main Gun: Long Barrel 5cm Railgun — Single Mount, 1 Unit Standard Ammo: 50 (Remaining) / 50 (Max) Special Ammo (G-Bullet): 20 (Remaining) / 20 (Max) Special Ammo (Erosion Bullet): 18 (Remaining) / 20 (Max)

(External Armament: Long Barrel 40cm Railgun — Single Mount, 1 Unit Standard Ammo: 20 (Remaining) / 40 (Max) Others...)

Secondary Gun 30cm Particle Beam Cannon, Single Mount, 1 Unit

Anti-Space Cannon 10cm Laser, Single Mount, 4 Units, 4 Guns

Missile Launcher Pod Type D Standard, 2 Units, 2 Guns, Max Ammo 4×2, Missiles Remaining 8

Aircraft-Deployed Missile Type D Standard, 2 Units ×1, Max Ammo 4×2×1, Missiles Remaining 8

Defense Beam-Resistant Coating, Multi-Layered Special Steel Armor Plating

Beam Canceller (Anti-Beam Barrier)

Anti-Projectile, Beam-Resistant Shield Type E, 1 Unit

Stasis Field (Anti-Projectile Barrier) Type C

Electronic Equipment Anti-Ship Radar S-Type, Wide-Area Communication Device S-Type, Tactical Weapon Integration Control System S-Type, Sub-Computer D-Type (External Brain A-Type)

Empty Energy Slot 10

Status Good

‘Fannell’

Classification Attack Craft (Stealth)

Frame Length 25m

Main Engine Thermonuclear Reactor G-Type High-Speed Propulsion Unit G-Type

Armament Main Gun 15cm Particle Beam Cannon Twin Mount 1 Unit 2 Guns

Missiles D-Type Standard 2 Units Mountable

Defense Beam-Resistant Coating Special Steel Armor Plate

Shield Field (Stealth Device) E-Type

Electronic Equipment Anti-Ship Radar F-Type Communications Unit F-Type

Empty Energy Slot 0

Status Good

‘AYAME (ayame)’

Ship Class Assault Vessel

Hull Length 200m Cruiser-Type 2 Arms

Main Engine Thermonuclear Reactor C-Type High-Speed Propulsion Unit E-Type

Armament Main Gun Long Barrel 20cm Railgun Single Mount 1 Unit 1 Gun Standard Ammunition 80 (Ammo Remaining) / 80 (Max)

Secondary Gun 15cm Particle Beam Cannon Twin Mount 2 Units 4 Guns

Anti-Space Cannon 10cm Laser Single Mount 4 Units 4 Guns

Missile Launcher Pod None

Anti-Ship Blade Type C 1

Defense Beam-Resistant Coating Special Steel Armor Plate

Beam-Resistant Shield Type E 1

Stasis Field (Barrier) Type E

Electronic Equipment Anti-Ship Radar Type E Communications Unit Type E

Empty Energy Slot 0

Status Good

This time, it's the first sortie after fusing with a battleship.

'Fanell' is equipped with a beam cannon.

Should I go ahead and max out the external gear from the Dimensional Storage Vault?

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

Commander's order issued—launching.

Heading toward assigned sector, advancing to the designated point.

Powering up radar and fire correction systems, establishing data link with Ayame's ship via the Tactical Weapon Integration Control System.

I also linked up to the station’s mainframe, pulling real-time sensor data from allied ships on the battlefield.

Passed the data to the external brain, got back only the processed results, fed them into the primary mind.

Monitoring enemy fleet positions and movements in the forward sector, running threat assessments.

“Looks like no enemy ships have shown up at my or Ayame’s designated points yet. The vanguard’s already in combat.”

“Is this analysis map being generated by Akira’s Personal Ship? Incredible processing power.”

Ayame’s eyes widen at the display.

“Yeah, the brain from that battleship we captured—now that it’s hooked up externally, it’s more than doubled its processing capacity.”

“Doing something like this single-handedly… it’s practically station-level.”

“Meh, convenient, so what?”

“True enough.”

I'll just keep quiet about how I got the data from the station.

The enemy fleet's pushed through to the inner defense line—about to be outpaced soon.

"Ayame, I sent one ship over there. No gravity anomalies here, so go ahead and snipe with the railgun."

"Got it. Amazing—my personal ship doesn’t even have a targeting correction system, and yet it’s using long-range mode."

"Yeah, it’s linked up via data link. I’m feeding it the correction data from my end."

Ayame’s personal ship fires the railgun.

Hits the enemy assault vessel—cripples it, stops its movement.

"Good job, Ayame. You’ve got the kill credit."

"No, I want to recover it later. That way I can pay off my debt faster. Can’t keep burdening Akira like this..."

"Relax about that. The school’s covered by a copy robot anyway."

Another enemy ship shows up at my designated point.

Two vessels in a single formation. Not another battleship behind them, I hope?

According to the analysis diagram, there’s a cruiser behind the assault ship.

"Alright, let’s try out the new secondary gun."

I fire the 30cm particle beam cannon from the secondary gun at the enemy assault ship.

Thanks to the external reaction furnace, I can fire multiple rounds.

Hit. Follow-up shot—hit again. Both enemy ships are crippled.

"Whoa, overkill……"

The enemy ships are reduced to wreckage. My hard-earned kill credit’s gonna be nothing but scrap.

External armaments are stronger—but useless now.

With the current fixed armaments on my personal ship, the only thing I can use is the erosion bullet.

But without Ayame’s anti-ship blade, I can’t target the energy distributor precisely.

And she can’t leave her designated point right now—no time to loot anything.

"Going to pull the trigger on a railgun cascade...?"

I braced the 5cm railgun, steeling myself.

Last time, the whole deal—no, the other way around.

We'd neglected to account for the number of railgun rounds consumed by the fused captured warship en route to the inner guard. Fixed that now.