067 Drifting Arc 7 PK

The CEO's ship was hit.

It was Sato, self-proclaimed representative of the self-governance committee (NPO), who fired.

He'd been under house arrest after the scandal, but had escaped and come out to the battlefield.

His ship was that dreadnought from the mock battle I'd fought—Thunder Fleet's warship.

A fanatical activist with a battleship. The worst possible combination.

I pulled the Long Barrel 40cm Railgun, an external weapon from the Dimensional Storage Vault, and mounted it on the right arm of my Personal Ship.

The Long Barrel 40cm Railgun is a colossal weapon, roughly 100 meters long.

Normally mounted on battleships, it's far too big for my Personal Ship, which is 250 meters long—overkill, really.

So I floated it in space, gripping only a small portion of it with my arm.

Energy flows through a conduit extending from the wrist, connecting directly to the Railgun's core.

The recoil from firing is absorbed by the Railgun’s gravity anchor, so even a weak, slender arm can hold it steady.

Activate the targeting system’s long-range mode. Aim at Sato’s Personal Ship.

While they’re charging energy, my Personal Ship rapidly charges its own.

Thanks to the surplus output from the external reactor.

I have to fire before I’m fired upon.

But I hesitated—my aversion to killing held me back.

Sato’s Personal Ship fires first.

One moment of hesitation, and I’ve lost the initiative.

This round might still hurt someone.

I push the thought aside. Fire the Railgun.

My Railgun’s projectile intercepts Sato’s.

Mine seems to have a larger caliber.

Recharging energy.

External reaction furnace rapid charge—my Railgun’s ready to fire.

No hesitation this time. Precision fire mode—firing!

My Railgun’s projectile strikes Sato’s flagship dead on.

The electromagnetic induction rails shatter—Sato’s flagship can no longer fire its large-caliber Railgun.

I seize the opening to establish comms with Anoi Fortress.

“Commander Sanders! Red (enemy) confirmed? Authorization to sink requested!”

No reply.

“Guhaha! Die! Die! Die—!!”

A mad scream, then indiscriminate broadside beams erupt from Sato’s ship.

Not just Earth-born vessels—even the minor domain mixed fleet takes hits.

Lucky we’re out of range—damage is minimal due to attenuation.

“Commander!!”

‘Took my time. Treason. Attacking allies. Guilty. Authorization to sink granted. You capable?’

‘I can.’

Commander Sanders grants the order to sink.

Sato’s ship accelerates toward us.

A vessel within beam cannon range will emerge soon.

Must strike before that happens.

Only I have a functional weapon right now.

I line up the Long Barrel 40cm Railgun.

(…Killing people… Well, the enemy ship probably had people on board too, so what’s the difference now…)

Fire the Railgun.

The massive projectile streaks toward Sato’s ship, obliterating the upper structure where weapons are concentrated.

(No, I meant to hit it… This outcome was just unconscious muscle memory…)

‘I’m such a mess mentally… Fanell! Get over here and rough up the energy distributor!’

Decided to put the Anti-Ship Blade on Fanell to good use.

Realized, deep in my bones, that murder’s a hard threshold for Japanese people.

But the outcome wasn’t that sweet.

Countless Railguns fired from Anoi Fortress pummeled the Sato Ship.

The Sato Ship exploded into fragments.

Sato became the first human casualty on Earth.

President Kamizawa…

Her Personal Ship had been destroyed, but she’d been safely transferred to CIC via emergency containment—unharmed, at least.

“Not ‘safe’! My Personal Ship’s totaled, aren’t you seeing that?!”

President Kamizawa’s ship docked for repairs.

She wouldn’t be fighting anytime soon, and the repair bill was going to be a nightmare.

The defense was a race between the Caprius Fleet and the Graul Fleet, repelling attacks, while the small allied forces saw almost no enemy ships at all.

The Caprius Fleet and the Graul Fleet were putting up a surprisingly fierce fight.

The only real victory for Earth forces was a mercenary who went ballistic after taking damage to his ship from Sato’s PK.

Even that didn’t net a single credit.

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Anoi Fortress’s first interception mission was over. We were back at the office.

"Boss, we’re bleeding red."

"That fake activist! I’m suing for damages—absolutely!"

"No, Sato’s dead. If he hadn’t been transferred from Anoi Fortress, he’d’ve gone down with his ship. End of story."

"…Right. Damn him. Even in death, he’s causing trouble."

I sidestepped the boss’s ranting and turned to the organic terminal AI—my support, Ai.

"How much do you think it’ll cost to fix the president’s ship?"

"Given it’s a 500-meter-class pocket battleship in total wreckage, it’ll be at least three billion G, even on the low end."

"Ugh. Cheaper than a combat aircraft from Earth, but still not something a single person could afford!"

President Kamizawa panicked at that.

"President, calm down. Ayame, any way to cut the cost?"

"Repairing it through fusion might take longer than docking, but if we gather the damaged parts and merge them, the ship’s repair systems should handle it."

"I’ve got parts on hand. Just keeping it in drydock costs a fortune. Let’s get it moved to storage fast."

"True. Fusion repair it is. Not being able to earn income’s a pain, though…"

"Then how about I lend you RIO? I’ll make it cheap."

"Damn, you’re ruthless…"

"Only not charging for parts makes me seem generous, right?"

"What kind of stand-up comedy is that…"

Ayame’s staring, dumbfounded.

I’m splurging like a CEO because I’ve already paid off every debt to both the high school and the Empire, and I never really cared about money to begin with.

On Earth, I don’t have anyone close to me besides my older sister.

So I’ve got this intense urge to get super close to anyone who treats me kindly.

Guess you could call it post-trauma from the backlash after my parents died.

If I’m stuck here, far from Earth, for good, then the only people connected to me are the boss, the crew, and the manager.

These are the people who matter to me right now. I can’t stand being alone.

I start another round of mental sparring with Ai.

“Hey, Ai, what exactly are the enemies?”

“Hostile forces invading Imperial territory.”

“People?”

“That’s a classified matter. I can’t answer that.”

(What? Even this one? Then why does the enemy ship's design match the Empire's specs?)

That’s a prohibited matter—I can’t answer that.

(Well, what even is fusion, anyway?)

It's the phenomenon where a ship acquires DNA and grows.

(What? What's that? The DNA you're extracting?)

Ships can acquire various equipment based on the DNA of their crew members.

You can see the same kind of growth by acquiring the DNA of equipment brought in from outside. That’s fusion.

So, the enemy ship has the DNA of its crew on board, huh.

Yes. That's correct.

“Huh… (wait, hold on—so I’m admitting there’s something carrying DNA, going around the long way now?)”

I guess I might be killing intelligent life forms without even realizing it.

Now that I think about it, the living things from the damaged ship stored in the Dimensional Storage Vault weren’t separated off.

Maybe there’s a crew rescue system on par with the Empire’s.

The only thing unclear is which ships were taken straight to the station after capture.

I’ll never get an answer from Aya, no matter how many times I ask.

Fixed the “murder by Earthlings” bit to “murder by Japanese” instead.

There are ethnic groups out there that don’t shy away from murder… you know.

Added a justification for why the president, who didn’t seem close at all before the transfer, suddenly started splurging like a madman.