122 Expedition Arc 7 Enemy Niahyūmu

The notebook PC screen’s too dim for clear reading, so proofreading’s a bit hit-or-miss.

I’ll fix it as I go—please bear with me.

Until Kyle’s fleet returns or imperial reinforcements arrive, I couldn’t move from the 8B system.

I couldn’t tell yet if the enemy assault had ended, and leaving the system defenseless wasn’t an option.

So I killed time—no, I studied the enemy cruiser I’d captured.

The enemy ship looked less like machinery and more like a biological form.

Its material was a mix of metal and silicon—some kind of metallic exoskeleton, crisscrossed with meshed metal and cables.

I used the Tactical Weapon Integration Control System to remotely operate the salvage vessel.

The salvage vessel was stored in the Dimensional Storage Vault, just in case.

The repair vessel was thirty meters long—its arms large compared to the ship itself, but with fingers that split even further, capable of delicate work.

The enemy vessel’s energy conduction systems were destroyed, rendering it immobile, but its brain core was still alive.

I used the repair vessel to strip away the enemy ship’s armor and examine its internal structure.

Inside, I found what looked like a core generating energy, connected to a propulsion system, and cables—probably energy conduits—running to various weapons.

I guided the repair vessel like a surgeon, probing the enemy ship’s interior.

The weapons included a high-powered laser that focused energy through biological lenses, missiles packed with explosives and nearly identical to the enemy ship itself in miniature, and a Particle Beam Cannon—probably stolen directly from an imperial vessel—still mounted exactly as it was.

And at the ship’s control core, a human—body wired directly into the cybernetic system—was mounted.

Whether it was luck or misfortune, that human was already dead.

Not that I breached the seal—no, exposure to vacuum had occurred much earlier, through a breach in the armor.

No space suit. No protection. Just treated like spare parts.

“Ugh. Definitely not something you show a girl…”

I was speechless at the inhumane Status.

It’s hard to describe—just kept alive as biological components, with only the essential parts (the circulatory system) preserved to keep the brain functioning.

Mechanical tendrils wrapped around the remnants of the former human, feeding nutrients and oxygen. In turn, cables protruding from the cervical vertebrae connected to the metallic, biologically resembling cybernetic brain.

If the 8B system had been abandoned by the Empire for planetary defense, I shuddered to think what the inhabitants had become.

But if they’d brought tens of thousands of humans across the galactic arm, turned them into biological components… then the civilizations in the neighboring arm must’ve been wiped out completely.

That’s what the old Empire’s expansion left behind—our own kind, twisted beyond recognition.

Humanity’s natural enemy. An incompatible existence. No wonder this is a fight to the death.

A stray starship or enemy vessel from our side? Easy—capture it, strip it for parts, repurpose it as a drone. But this enemy ship? No use at all.

I detached the salvage vessel from the enemy ship, then vaporized it entirely with a thirty-centimeter Particle Beam Cannon. Buried it in the void.

Left a record. No need for the real thing, anyway.

I ordered the unmanned vessel on patrol in the sector to destroy the enemy ship's wreckage—just in case.

I’d seen inside the wreck. Parts were still intact. Felt like it could come back to life.

Parts were floating everywhere.

Cables inside writhed like living things, scooping up debris. I couldn’t help imagining the enemy ship reviving right before my eyes.

“Better safe than sorry,” I muttered.

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Reinforcements arrived in the 8B system.

A detachment from the main imperial force, currently locked in battle with the enemy’s core at the 8G system.

Now the defense of the 8B system was secure.

I exhaled, relief washing over me—finally free from the weight of command—when a transmission came in from the flagship of the relief fleet.

"This is Lord Howard, Commander of the Imperial Fleet's 348th Division. An imperial summons has been issued from His Majesty the Emperor, calling upon Prince Akira, the Sixth Prince.

Please proceed immediately to the 8H system. Defense of the 8B system (your current location) is in our hands."

"Understood."

"Summoning order, huh? So, basically, a call to come in. Not the good kind. Did I do something wrong?...Wait, actually, can't think of anything."

Nothing comes to mind.

But showing up late? That’d be bad form.

The main Imperial forces were en route from the 8G system—the primary battlefield—toward the liberation of the 8H system, which had fallen under the control of the enemy, the Naihyūm.

After seeing those biological components... I can't stop worrying about the people in the 8H system.

So I didn’t head for 8G. Instead, I initiated a dimensional jump (warp) toward the outer edge of the 8H system.

"This is Prince Akira, Sixth Prince, responding to the summons!"

Eighty thousand Imperial主力—depleted from total war with the enemy—fired railguns simultaneously at me.

Area suppression fire. No room to dodge with conventional propulsion. I began preparing a dimensional jump (warp).

"Best safe spot? Got it!"

I shot behind the Imperial flagship.

Only possible because I had time before the railgun projectiles arrived.

Pointing a 5cm railgun at the Emperor’s personal flagship—technically disrespectful, but the aiming just naturally aligned when I turned the bow toward it, you know?

‘Um, this is Sixth Prince Akira. Please don’t shoot.’

The Imperial Guard fleet, tense and hostile, locked weapons on my Personal Ship as it warped in from behind their protective line.

Their armaments swung toward me in unison. Tension crackled through the air. Then the Emperor spoke.

"Stop! We fired first! Sorry, Akira. It was all a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding?"

"Yeah. We thought the enemy Nihyuum had just warped in. Forgive me."

"Understood. My apologies for the intrusion behind the imperial flagship."

"Haha, if the guard had shot you, would you have shot me?"

"Please. I ran like hell."

"Let's just leave it at that."

The safest place I thought I was in turned out to be the most dangerous.

I’d have been finished if I’d pissed off the Emperor.

A fortress ship had been dispatched to the 8H system.

From now on, that fortress ship and three thousand accompanying vessels would be stationed here, with fifty thousand ships rotating in from the Empire for patrols.

Right now, the Empire’s main force of eight hundred thousand was on patrol, watching for enemy Nihyuum incursions into the system.

So that’s why I got attacked after I warped out of the dimension.

Right now, I had my Personal Ship docked in the fortress ship’s hangar.

I was summoned to the fortress ship’s conference room.

You’d think we could just use fleet comms or a neural meeting chamber, but for some reason, the Emperor loves face-to-face meetings.

I suppose it’s wrong to get yelled at over comms or via avatar… but still…

“Ugh. What’s he gonna say this time? Disrespect after a summoning order, too.”

At least I can’t avoid the old guard’s scolding.

“Heavy on my chest. No way to protect myself in the flesh.”

I headed toward the Emperor’s conference room, my nerves taut.

Thanks for the rating and bookmark.

I think yesterday it was around 5,800 pts, but today it’s already hit 5,900.

Means a lot.