078 Drifter Arc 18 Old Imperial Faction

Got held up by some private troubles. Sorry about that.

Might have typos due to rushing—will fix as I go.

Possibly adding more later.

"Ayame, you alright?"

We gathered in the office (Anoi branch) conference room to check on Ayame, who’d been affected by the recent combat.

"I'm fine..."

Ayame seems more upset about her ship being damaged than any injury she might’ve sustained.

"But why’d you collide with an enemy vessel? You’re built for close combat and have top-tier evasion."

Ayame closed her eyes, recalling the scene, before answering.

"Couldn’t dodge it. Stealth ship. And it was a heavy-class vessel—no room to maneuver..."

"Wait. A heavy stealth ship?" "What? A heavy stealth ship?!"

We were stunned. Until now, stealth ships had always been relatively small assault vessels.

The whole point of stealth was to sneak deep into enemy territory.

"The heavy stealth ship was positioned behind the fleet near the Dimensional Jump Gate...

We collided with it just as it emerged from the Dimensional Jump Gate.

I judged it to be large based on my ship taking the hit and the damage marks visible through the shattered shielding field."

"Hmm. What’s the purpose of that ship...?"

As we tilted our heads, Ayame answered.

"Top secret. The Empire calls it a retrieval vessel.

It's believed to be used by the Old Emperor faction to recover personnel from damaged manned ships."

"So the enemy this time is the Old Emperor faction, then."

President Kamizawa gasped. We were just as stunned.

It was the first time we'd ever fought a ship carrying people.

Huh? So that means...

"Please tell me I didn't just accidentally leave someone alive on the ship I captured... and now they're coming back to retrieve them?"

Everyone’s eyes snapped to me. I swept my gaze around, locking eyes with each of them.

A beat passed—then we all sprinted for the storage vault.

(How many days had passed since the Graul Defense...?)

I rushed into the vault’s waiting area, scrambled into my Personal Ship, and dropped into the CIC pilot seat.

As my mind linked with the ship’s neural core, I immediately brought up the virtual display of the Dimensional Storage Vault’s contents.

No organic-looking items among the parts, it seemed.

That means it’s gotta be inside the captured ship.

‘Only the dreadnought was fully captured during the Graul Defense… (crap. I’m getting a bad feeling about this guy.)’

I mutter, linking up communications with the station managers in the waiting area.

At the same time, I route the ship’s neural core through the former dreadnought’s external network to the captured dreadnought’s core.

Scanning for crew data… found it.

‘There. He’s inside the dreadnought.’

Someone was trapped inside the captured dreadnought’s CIC.

‘D-d-d-don’t know what to do…’

‘Calm down, Akira. First, is the captured dreadnought fully under our control?’

‘That’s fine.’

‘Then I’ll move my ship and Naho’s from the adjacent dock—just get that dreadnought out of there.’

Incidentally, we got the fleet’s storage vault arranged, so we’ve got this massive cylindrical vault—big enough to fit every ship in the fleet with room to spare.

The docking bays are on the wall side. Ships within reach of the wall are connected via tubes.

No gravity, of course, so ships are tethered to every surface—up, down, left, right, doesn’t matter.

But the ones tethered in the center? They can’t reach the wall, so there’s a dock jutting out from deep inside the vault, and they use tubes from there to board and disembark.

That’s how we can dock battleships up to a kilometer long.

“Alright, I’ll just stash those two ships in the Dimensional Storage Vault.”

I quickly tuck the pocket fighter and sniper ship—already detached from their docking tube—into the vault.

Immediately after, I pull the captured battleship out from the Dimensional Storage Vault.

The tube extends automatically, sliding into the captured battleship’s boarding airlock.

Only possible because enemy and friendly forces use the same standardized specs.

‘Boss, I’m counting on you to go in. Probably collapsed. But don’t let your guard down—might still have a gun.’

I handed the whole thing over to the boss.

I’m convinced the boss is built for intimidation (lie).

(Just don’t push yourself too hard, boss.)

The battleship’s AI is fully under my control, so the airlock opens with ease.

The boss steps inside, and begins opening the bulkheads along the corridor.

The ship’s CIC is deep within a heavily reinforced defense zone—so there are multiple bulkheads between here and the CIC.

The boss reaches the CIC entrance. Holding something that looks like a bar.

(Huh? Can actually see the boss’s movements…)

‘Akira, good job.’

The boss sends a comms signal via wristband.

‘Hold up. Surveillance cameras were all over the place—totally exposed. Gonna check inside the CIC now.’

You can see the boss, tense and ready, stumble and fall.

(Sorry, boss.)

I grab the CIC’s internal surveillance feed.

Real-time video—inside’s visible.

There, slumped and collapsed, is a girl.

‘Boss, she’s here. Out cold. Breaking in now—three, two, one, go!’

‘Busy, huh.’

At zero, the CIC door swings open—boss dives in immediately.

Girl’s still alive. Looks like she collapsed from starvation, offered no resistance at all.

Our first captive.

We carry the girl to my new place.

Should probably take her to a hospital, but that’d mean Imperial oversight. Not ideal.

If the Empire finds out she’s part of the old emperor’s faction, who knows what kind of torture she’ll endure.

I can’t exactly claim I’m close with the Empire. The Prince and I don’t get along.

Still, we should keep the option open to make contact with the old emperor’s faction by doing her a favor.

We agreed we’d hide her.

So now she’s tucked away in my new wife’s quarters.

“First off, she’s Sato from Earth.”

“““Huh?!”””

“She’s dehydrated and starving. Look after her.”

I asked the three wives to care for her without explaining anything.

Of course, I’m staying by her side too.

I borrowed the name Sato from a dead man. She’s supposed to be the real Sato, who was recovered and placed under house arrest again.

Would be nice if I could just talk things out peacefully and get some help.

At the time, I still hadn’t noticed how dangerous she was.