157 Civil War Arc 15: Aftermath

side: Akira

Back at the main base, I sent out communications to coordinate cleanup operations across the various fronts.

To avoid the embarrassment of getting attacked mid-transmission, I delegated vigilance and automated defense to the neural net.

First, clear out the remnants in the Crowney system.

‘Lorenzo (Seventh Prince), it’s Akira. Can I count on you to handle the cleanup in this system?’

‘Leave it to me. I’ve got unmanned vessels now—force levels are sufficient.

Just keep an eye on Nyahyūm for me.’

Lorenzo’s point is valid.

Right now we’re ahead because Nyahyūm’s neutralized.

But once that’s lifted, we could easily be back on the defensive.

‘Shouldn’t we leave that to Naho’s jamming? Should be fine, right?’

"Yeah, I'll handle the jamming. But you should think about what comes after."

"Right. Either leave some kind of fallback in the Crownie system, or figure out how to deal with Nyahyūm."

I mulled over what to do with Nyahyūm now that it was neutralized.

Nyahyūm was linked through some kind of collective consciousness—communicating via a network we couldn’t touch.

We’d disabled it by jamming electronic, quantum, and dimensional signals.

So if we just sealed it inside the Dimensional Storage Vault, cutting it off from the outside... it should be isolated from any higher-ranking Nyahyūm still out there.

If we could jam it from within the vault, maybe we could manage it.

In fact, the Nyahyūm in the True Empire are kept in organic android brainstems, cut off from external contact.

Their only connection to the world now? Their organic senses.

Funny thing—Niahyūm, cut off from the collective consciousness, seems to have developed individuality.

There's no way around it—dealing with the paralyzed Naihume's aftermath is going to drag in Kyle, the first prince.

Too big for me to handle. But I want to end bothering Naoh’s hands as soon as possible.

Let’s prepare a ship with jamming capabilities equivalent to Naoh’s Personal Ship.

I decided to summon her, at this point.

"Help! Factory Mothership!"

I sent a dimensional transmission to the factory flagship shifting from the Anoi System to the Elysion System.

Even if the factory flagship jumps dimensions directly, it’ll still take time to arrive—might as well get some other business done in the meantime.

I’m going to hold a meeting with Kyle, the First Prince.

Initiate auto-defense protocol. Everyone, keep an eye on Brushlips.

Got it. Hmm. Understood. Okay. Leave it to me.

"Kyle (First Prince), waiting in the secret conference room."

Funny how being surrounded by everyone feels this reassuring. Kinda nice, actually.

Well then. Time to tell a story I wouldn’t normally share with someone I’m close to.

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ｓｉｄｅ：Neural-space secret conference room (Akira, Kyle)

"Kyle (First Prince), you there?"

My avatar breaches the shield of the secret conference room in the neural space.

There, Kyle (First Prince)'s avatar waits.

"Akira, glad you're safe."

"Haha, I thought I was a goner too."

I reply with a dry smile to Kyle (First Prince), who sounds genuinely relieved.

But it doesn’t last. I straighten my face and begin to speak.

"First, there's something I need to apologize for."

"What's that?"

Kyle (First Prince) tilts his head. The look on his face says, *What could I possibly have to apologize for?*

"It was me and my missing sister who were操控ing Neahyume."

"Ah... that's quite a twist."

Kyle (First Prince) rubs his chin, deep in thought.

"Actually... I think *I'm* the one who should be apologizing. My younger brother, I'm sorry."

He's well known, as you know, for being a master of deception.

And using charm on women? That's just his standard move. To be blunt—marriage con artist.

"!"

I'm the one who's speechless now, staring at Kyle (First Prince).

"My sister was acting strange. She called me a fraud."

"Probably just under the Prince's lies."

"Would exposing the Prince's deceit snap her out of it...?"

Or could they bear the weight of guilt?

Because people actually got hurt by her actions.

But it should’ve caused real harm, right? There must’ve been quite a few people who died under Lorenzo, the Seventh Prince’s command.

I don’t know what to say to them... like a brother.

He’ll understand, Prince Lorenzo—he of the seventh line—was the one who deceived and used him.

Well, that’s after we’ve caught the two of them. Yeah, it’s fine to kill the Prince.

Kyle, the First Prince, says something chilling with a straight face.

Since being disinherited, the Prince’s been treated like a stain on the royal family.

And aiding the rebellion against the Empire. Already considered a wanted criminal beyond life or death.

And as for Leonardo, the mastermind behind this rebellion—the fifth prince—his banishment has also been decided.

This isn’t even a duel with Lorenzo—the Seventh Prince. It’s a rebellion against the Empire.

“So I’m asking a favor.

Lorenzo’s star system’s Dimensional Jump Gate was destroyed during this battle.

The only way to reach other hub-group star systems now is via the fortress ship’s dimensional warp drive.

And even that’s damaged badly—liberating Lorenzo’s home system, the Rasty Sector, is all we can manage right now.

So we’re asking the Imperial regular forces to handle the hunt for Leonardo, the Fifth Prince, who fled to Leonardo’s Sector.”

“Just reroute the regular forces currently advancing on the Crownee Sector.”

“Please.”

Talk to someone with authority—everything moves faster, huh.

Next up: neutralizing the Naihume at the Crownee Sector.

"About the Crownee Sector—there are currently around sixty thousand disabled Naihume vessels.

We could annihilate them, sure. But if we attack, they’ll counter with defensive measures.

I want to isolate them for the future.

If we establish this isolation tech, we might not have to fight the Naihume at all.

I’m asking for budget allocation—on behalf of the empire’s future."

"What’s the mechanism?"

"Isolation into another dimension, plus severed cross-communication. Should be doable with existing tech, at least in theory."

Kyle (First Prince) ponders. Calculating losses from military casualties versus the isolation budget in his head.

"Got it. I’ll approve the funds. Can it be built?"

"I’ll make it cheap."

And thus, the budget for the Naihume isolation device was authorized.

"Alright, I’m heading back to the front. Thanks, Kyle (First Prince)."

"Stay safe, Akira."

I snapped back into consciousness, my mind returning to the cockpit.

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ｓｉｄｅ：アキラ

A short while after I exited the neural space and returned to the real world, the Dimensional Radar detected a massive dimensional leap—what we call a warp out.

According to the tracking data, the origin point was the Elysion System. The factory mothership had arrived.

‘They’re here. Hehe.’

‘Yeah. Been waiting.’

The factory mothership always comes rushing in when I’m in trouble. But this time, I’d specifically ordered it not to show up until I called.

So it’s clearly excited to be summoned. Came at full speed.

‘So, uh… I need a favor. Can you build a special warship equipped for electronic warfare, and also construct an isolation device using the Dimensional Storage Vault? No problem, right?’

‘No problem at all!’

I immediately copied the electronic warfare equipment data from Naoh’s Personal Ship to the main body of my Personal Ship, then transferred the Dimensional Storage Vault and Anti-Dominance Signal Countermeasure Device data to the factory flagship.

That should handle the disabled Neahyume. Should be fine now.

So, how’d you all even pick up on my crisis, anyway?

"That's because... ever since Akira went out alone, everyone's been worried. We've been keeping an eye on him through the Dimensional Radar the whole time."

So Akira got the worst of it and had to pull back, right?

The Dimensional Radar stopped working due to jamming, so we all panicked and bolted—this is bad, really bad.

"When we reached the relay point, the Dimensional Radar suddenly became functional. I realized something was wrong—my brother jumped into the jump (warp) without hesitation."

'Narrow escape, huh?' 'Yeah. Really close.'

That's right. Thanks.

I’d’ve been in trouble if you hadn’t been watching the Dimensional Radar… if you hadn’t jumped out right away.

Gotta thank them for their move.

Messed up the update date by one day. Sorry about that.