093 Lord's Chapter 5: Post-War Cleanup

"The Earl's manor on Fam-5 was completely empty, huh?"

"Yes. Not a single soul remained—family included."

"Family got away, then... wonder why they didn't all flee together..."

I was receiving reports from the Fam-5 deployment fleet while stationed in the Tatara-4 sector.

There was no trace of the Earl's influence in the Fam-5 territory of the Douglas Earldom.

"The locals were cooperative. No sabotage—no destruction of facilities, no killing of livestock."

"Understood. Deploy a thousand defensive warships to Fam system. Secure the area."

My own direct domain, Fam-4, adjacent to it, had also remained untouched by attack.

Douglas Earl must’ve been diligent in his duties.

Now, the Douglas Earldom’s Fam-5 was officially under my direct control—mine, Akira.

"Factory satellites won’t be usable for a while, huh?"

"Yes, the main reactor's down. Operational halt status."

"Can't use the industrial production core...?"

The worst damage was to the Tatara 4 orbital factory satellite.

Well, I did blow it up, though.

Factory satellites are larger than stations, but still vastly smaller than a factory mothership—the nest of a nomad spaceferry.

Whether calling it a "factory mothership" was too small a name, or a "factory satellite" too grand, is unclear. The image somehow got flipped.

"Would've been shooting a fortress cannon anyway. Can it be fixed?"

"Yes, it’ll take time, but we’ll manage."

The factory satellite crew were just coerced by the Earl of Douglas. They weren’t exactly enthusiastic collaborators.

In fact, they seemed furious about all the gear stolen under the guise of conscription.

Which is why they’re being cooperative with us—liberators.

The Fortress Cannon on the factory satellite caused a power surge that took down the main reactor.

The transmission system’s been damaged by the forced energy discharge.

You can’t even begin to imagine the mess—those destructive energies, built up to launch, reversed back through the pressure buildup.

As a result, the factory satellite’s production facilities were rendered inoperable.

(Sorry about that. I was the one who blew it up.)

"And the command center that controlled the Fortress Cannon? It’s been destroyed too. Needs repairs."

(That one was me too.)

"Douglas Earl also stole several ships under construction, along with various armaments.

Among them were new weapons still in production—supplied by the Empire."

"A new weapon?"

"Antimatter particle cannon. It siphons antimatter from the reactor of a matter-annihilation-powered vessel and fires it."

"That’s another dangerous piece of kit…"

We probably would’ve caught the baptism of that new weapon if we’d jumped into the system through the Dimensional Jump Gate.

Likely, that new weapon’s existence is what pushed Lord Douglas toward rebellion.

“Close call. If the factory satellite reactivates, we’ll have to equip our allies with the new weapon too.”

I felt a chill realizing I’d underestimated Lord Douglas’s fleet.

I know we can’t avoid casualties in war—but I still want to keep them to a minimum.

That’s my weakness, something Commander Shiina pointed out to me.

(…Am I too soft? That’s probably why the CEO let the salvage ship get destroyed…)

From now on, I’ll have to assume that enemy fleets will be equipped with this new weapon.

Not many ships carry annihilation reactors, so the numbers aren’t high—but still, a threat is a threat.

We need to figure out countermeasures… and push forward our own new weapons too.

“Thank you for using us as factory satellites, as you are.

As proof of our loyalty, please accept this.”

What the factory staff offered was the Genesis System.

You know, the so-called terraforming system.

Designed to turn planets in the habitable zone into livable conditions.

In the Anoi System, Anoi II is already habitable—but the environment’s too harsh.

They probably prepared this to reset and rebuild Anoi II from scratch.

And given that we’ve stationed the Anoi Fortress on Anoi II and sent in the survey team… that’s what it seems like.

Personally, I don’t want to do that on a planet that already has a functioning ecosystem.

Well, we could always just terraform the other planet in the habitable zone—Anoi III—and be done with it.

"Can you share your data with me?"

"Can I get the manufacturing specs from your factory?"

"Sure, go ahead."

The makeshift space vessel nest we call the Factory Mothership is a step above the factory satellites.

Right now it's only building starships, but with just the design schematics, it could manufacture anything.

The Factory Mothership happily ingested the factory satellite's data, and the Genesis System was now in mass production.

There were also schematics for a Dimensional Jump Gate [item].

With that, I could now seize control of other star systems during new territory expansion.

Reach other star systems via dimensional jump [warp], install a Dimensional Jump Gate [item], and expand our territory.

Sure, target uninhabited star systems. That’s not invasion, right?

“Planet Weizen Four, secured.”

“Good work. I’ll leave the aftermath to you.”

“““Yes, sir.”””

A report also came in from the detachment of Anoi Fortress Three.

Planet Weizen Four was an agricultural world, growing vegetables and grains.

I divided the farmland and the populace under its care among three lords.

I’d have to feed them anyway if I took control, so might as well let them handle it themselves. Same result.

Post-war cleanup went off without a hitch.

Got a few decent items in the process too. Now, time to think about defense strategy and expanding the territory.

Thanks for the feedback.

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