096 Lord's Log 8 Territory Management 3 Stellar Survey 1

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I ordered urgent surveys of nearby star systems to develop new territories—but thanks to Aya’s observation, an unforeseen issue has arisen here.

“Wait… even in the neighboring star system, observing whether planets exist takes years?”

“Yes. Even the nearest neighboring system is at least ten light-years away. Even if we send an unmanned probe capable of light speed, it would take ten years to arrive.

But the beastfolk (they) don’t have ships that can reach light speed. Even at sublight speeds, it would take a hundred years.”

“No way… can’t we just observe from here, without sending anyone?”

"Optical observation only lets us detect planets directly—just their presence, and even that requires long-term monitoring to recognize a star transit."

"So…?"

"If we can spot an inner planet with a short orbital period, we still won’t see an outer planet with a long orbit—even after a century—once it passes behind the star."

"Right. I’m getting it. Telling us to catalog the planets and types in nearby star systems? That’s a damn fool’s errand."

"Yes."

"Not even a factory mothership capable of dimensional jumps can move, thanks to the Anoi System development..."

I rubbed my temples at Akira’s point.

Everyone’s just gonna say "yes" to my orders...?

Sure, they’ll say "can’t" if it’s impossible. But if it’s possible? They’ll try to carry it out—even if it takes a hundred years.

"So if I push for faster star system exploration..."

"Application to transfer the dimension jump (warp) drive to the factory mothership has arrived."

"Already? That soon?"

"Yes. It has."

"Still—can the factory mothership actually build a dimension jump (warp) drive?"

"It can. The fact is, the factory mothership already performs dimension jumps (warps) with that massive hull of theirs."

"Ah, so it’s got multiple warp drives. If it can maintain and repair them, it stands to reason it’d have spares."

"Yes."

"The real question is whether it’s wise to hand over the warp drive to the beastfolk (them), and whether they even have a vessel capable of housing and operating one."

"Only vessels equipped with annihilation reactors and at least one kilometer in length can mount a warp drive."

"Do the beastfolk (them) have a ship that meets those conditions?"

"There isn't one. Their DNA's been altered for bodily enhancement, so they lack the DNA required to grow a ship."

"Like that thing where DNA grows ships... Earthlings have warships all over the place, but are Earthlings special or something?"

"Yes. They possess DNA so rare it’s almost abnormal."

That answer sent a bad feeling flashing through my mind.

I didn’t want to think it, but... what if the Empire wanted Earthlings’ DNA? What would they do?

Steal just the DNA like they do with beastfolk? Or... here’s where the puzzle piece finally clicks.

"So that’s why the Prince abducted Earthlings."

"That is a prohibited topic. I cannot answer."

"Oh, it’s been a while since I heard that line. Did the Prince’s restrictions get lifted? Or is this a higher-level Emperor-level restriction?"

"That is a prohibited topic. I cannot answer."

At that moment, I realized the possibility.

People who vanished like they were spirited away. Unresolved missing persons cases.

Two hundred years. Earthlings abducted—kidnapped.

A woman claiming she was impregnated aboard a spaceship and her child forcibly removed.

"Introducing new blood via genetic engineering to enhance DNA? Not exactly shocking.

Two hundred years since the Empire arrived on Earth. There are probably already Imperial nobles with Earth blood in them..."

"That is a prohibited topic. I cannot answer."

"No, it wouldn't be strange if the prince had half-Earth heritage."

"Content related to imperial secrets. I cannot answer."

Saying that is basically the same as saying "YES," you know...

Anyway, whatever.

"Off track again. How many ships currently have warp drive capability?"

The personal ship of the former Count Gilbert, four vessels of the Anoi Fortress Defense Fleet, five ships of the Station Defense Fleet, and two Personal Ships belonging to SFO—totaling thirty ships.

"Any ships with dimension-hopping warp drives already onboard?"

None.

The defense fleet’s more like a temporary assignment from the Empire, so we can only use the former Count Gilbert’s ship and the SF0’s Personal Ships.

"Any mercs got a battleship?"

Akira isn’t in the Anoi Fortress unit—but there are people moving in from Earth, eager to join the fight.

The mercs from Anoi Fortress—been working with 'em long enough to know their quirks. But new recruits? No idea what kind of trouble they’ll bring.

Even among battleship captains, there were guys like Sato—giving one of those clowns a dimension-hopping (warp) drive? That’s too risky.

It’s like handing over weapons of mass destruction to a terrorist.

So I guess that means retrofitting the old Count Gilbert battleship with a dimension-hopping (warp) drive and turning it into a scout vessel.

Can we remotely control it via the Tactical Weapon Integration Control System and dimensional comm links?

Yes. It’s possible—but not during the warp jump. If something goes wrong while it’s in transit, we can’t respond.

Still, a crewed vessel might be better. But then we’d have to assign someone to it... and that brings up the usual problem of their potential hostility toward us...

Yes. It’s a common truth—power tends to corrupt.

Hmm. If only I could equip my Personal Ship with a warp drive...

It already has one.

What?!

It’s already equipped—the warp drive.

W-when did that happen?

Right after Akira-sama’s Personal Ship leveled up. You remember, it originally had a Dimensional Storage Vault installed, didn’t it?

From there, developing into a warp drive? That happened in an instant."

"Wait a second—wasn't there a length limit on the installation? One kilometer, right?"

"Master Akira’s Personal Ship already has a hull longer than one kilometer within the dimensional space."

"Wha—? So we can actually warp even if we’re storing an entire fleet inside the Dimensional Storage Vault?"

"Of course."

The moment that clicked, everything snapped into place.

"So I just need to head out on a star system survey, right?"

"Exactly."

"Wait—how did we get here?!"

"……"

"No, hold on. Kae’s got a battleship. I’ll get her to help."

I send a dimensional transmission right away.

‘Kae? It’s your brother. Wanna come play? I just snagged an ocean resort planet.’

‘Be there in a flash!’

Now we can split up the survey mission.