<h4>Chapter 228 - The Usual Pattern</h4>


    Trantor: SFBaka


    We finally exited the multicolored hyperspace tunnel that was bad for the eyes. ck Lotus transitioned into normal space. I wonder when it was that I began to feel an inexplicable sense of security whenever I saw the twinkling sea of stars from beyond the ship’s canopy. It looks like I’ve gradually adapted myself to this dimension already.


    “Yosh, let’s go.”


    “Opening the hangar hatch. Go ahead.”


    “Launch!”


    After a short round of charging, Krishna wasunched out of the ck Lotus’ hangar by the electromaic catapult into outer space. The sense of release and freedom you get the instant you jump out into the sea of stars was, for me, iparable.


    “Just like what we discussed, our next destination is the Refill Prime colony.”


    『Roger. I will now set the course to Refill Prime colony.』


    “Requesting FTL Drive synchronization.”


    『Synchronization epted. FTL Drive, charging start.』


    “Set the radar’s range to the maximum. If you spot something suspicious, notify me immediately.”


    『「Aye, aye, sir!」』


    Mimi and Mei replied simultaneously. Meanwhile, Elma seems to be calmly performing a subsystems check next. As for me, I didn’t have anything to do at the moment. That’s because it’s my crew members who handle the ship’s navigation,munication, and control of the subsystems. My role is to takemand during emergencies and pilot the ship in order to deal with said emergencies.


    『Countdown. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…… FTL Drive, activate.』


    A roaring sound echoed throughout the cockpit, and ck Lotus and Krishna broke off into the void while leaving behind light trails.


    “I sure hope nothing bad happens this time.”


    “That’s right…… But-”


    “Our bad luck levels are seriously just too hardcore after all. I’d find it weirder if we didn’t find ourselves neck-deep in trouble, honestly.”


    “Ahaha…… Ah-”


    Mimi, who smiled bitterly, suddenly noticed something. She operated her console and put up the image she was looking at on the main screen. It looks like she picked up a ship signature on the subspace radar while we were using FTL navigation…… But that signature is-


    “They use that to tag criminals, right……?”


    “Wasn’t there some news about a ship that went at it with the imperial military recently?”


    “Yeah, there was.”


    While listening to Mimi and Elma’s exchange, I quickly operated my console and canceled the FTL synchronization with the ck Lotus. I then nudged the flight stick to change course in order to follow after the ship with the criminal tag.


    “Make sure to catch up with uster, ck Lotus.”


    『Understood. Good luck, Master.』


    While navigating via FTL, a ship would be more difficult to handle, but even so, a smallbat ship like Krishna was still far more agile and responsive than ck Lotus. If we’re gonna tail a ship using FTL, it would be better for Krishna to act solo.


    “The other party’s movements are quite sluggish. A medium-ss, maybe? Or perhaps arge-ss?”


    “Anyway, let’s stick to them. Have the interdictor on stand-by.”


    “This is gonna be our first time to interdict another ship ourselves huh.”


    Interdiction is the act of forcibly stopping a ship while it’s using FTL navigation. I’m not clear about the detailed processes behind it, but interdiction is performed by grabbing the behind of a target ship via the use of a jamming device called an interdictor which makes use of gravity control technology.


    In other words, it’s like performing a dogfight at faster than light speeds.


    “Hahaha, and where do you think you’re going, buddy?”


    Of course, the side on the receiving end of interdiction would try their hardest to escape being interdicted.


    In order to throw my aim off, they started speeding up and zigzagging around, but I’m not the kind of pilot those kinds of tricks will work on. By the way, we’d be able to interdict them sessfully the moment they reduce speed to a certain level, so if they get careless using those erratic maneuvers, it’ll be an instant game over.


    “It looks like we were right on the money.”


    “No need to hold back against a ship with a criminal tag. We’re engaging them inbat as soon as we catch them.”


    “”Aye, aye, sir!”


    Shortly after Elma and Mimi’s reply, we finally interdicted the opponent, and both Krishna and the enemy ship were thrown back into normal space. And right after a sessful interdiction, the target would then be put into a terrible situation.


    “Ah, what a tragedy.”


    I activated our weapon systems as I watched therge-ss starship that looked decidedly like a pirate ship spin around in space uncontrobly.


    A ship forcibly yanked out from subspace while navigating via FTL would usually experience violent multi-axis rotations just like what’s happening here. They say it’s caused by the leftover kic energy after an interrupted FTL navigation, but I’m not sure about the detailed theory.


    And of course, when a ship is like that, they’d be wide open to attacks by their opponents. So if there wasn’t a chance of getting away or if you didn’t intend to run in the first ce, it would be better to just purposely drop your speed and ept the interdiction to avoid such a situation.


    Since I came to this dimension, there have been a couple of times where I was on the receiving end of interdiction, and I slowed down to ept the interdiction every time. And this is the reason why.


    “I’m gonna punch right through their shields straight away.”


    “That would be best.”


    There’s no need to grant mercy onto a ship with a criminal tag. I fired a volley from all four heavy-caliberser cannons at the pirate ship that was still spinning about wildly. In that situation, other than the cockpit that’s protected by an inertial control system, the other sections of the ship should be in an absolute mess.


    “Enemy ship’s shields are down.”


    “Let’s aim for the thrusters next.”


    After peeling off their shields, I’m gonna crush their thrusters next. Once that’s done, therge-ss ship will be stripped of its mobility. Afterward, I’ll just have to destroy their defensive turrets from a blind spot and they’ll bepletely naked.


    『S-Stop! We have hostages here you know!?』


    “And? No matter how many of the hostages die, the bounties on your heads wouldn’t decrease, right?”


    In the first ce, we didn’t know if they really had hostages or not, and there was no guarantee of a sessful rescue in this situation.


    Whether it’s a good Samaritan filled with a phnthropic spirit, an innocent child, or an imperial aristocrat with a lofty title, all will be treated as good as dead once captured by pirates.


    In fact, even if an innocent party loses his or her life after a pirate ship gets shot down, the attacking party will not be charged under gcticw. Otherwise, we would not be able to hunt pirates down if they knew using human shields would be effective.


    “The only ones who would fall for such a trick are absolute amateurs.”


    “We can’t really care about every little thing after all.”


    “……”


    Elma gets me, but Mimi just gasped silently. I couldn’t see Mimi’s face right now since we’re in the middle of activebat, but I imagine her face should have already turned blue. Well, it’ll take some time to get used to things like this anyway…… Or rather, I actually had it in me to honestly ignore the lives of the hostages huh? Perhaps I was just insensitive to the life and death of others.


    “We’ve crushed their arms and legs. What now?”


    I mulled over those thoughts as I took out all of the enemy’s thrusters, missileunchers, and other secondary weapon systems. And then, Elma called my attention. Well, it’s no use dwelling on stuff like that anyway. I guess that just goes to show how much I’ve limatized to this dimension and my role as a mercenary. I better not think too deeply about it.


    “Let’s see…… Since they’re a ship with a criminal tag, it would be best to hand them over to the imperial military if a patrol arrives, but-”


    Before I could finish my words, arge, dark silhouette appeared within the sector after a booming roar. It was the ck Lotus.


    “Since the ck Lotus is already here, we should just subjugate them ourselves. I need to engage in melee fights from time to time or my skills will be rusty.”


    “It’ll be dangerous though?”


    “Since the enemies are pirates, I wouldn’t be at a disadvantage. We havebat bots too. Also, this would be a great opportunity to train Mimi for meleebat operations.”


    I gave her a nce and found Mimi’s expression all tensed up. Yep. She’s done it more than a few times already using the simtor, but there’s nothing like live practice after all. I’ll have her do her best here.


    “Man, what a blunder.”


    I nned to have Krishnae alongside the pirate ship and board it first, then have thebat bots use ck Lotus’ drop pods to follow afterward, but I realizedter that I actually left my power armor inside ck Lotus.


    And so, I was going to engage in meleebat without wearing a power armor this time. Well, I do have a portable shield generator with me anyway. I even had a pressurizedbat suit that would allow me to survive getting thrown into outer space for approximately three hours, so I think I’ll be fine.


    『Are you really going to be okay? There’s no need to push yourself, Hiro-sama.』


    “I’ll be fine. If it gets really dangerous, I’ll just hide in a corner somewhere and leave all the work to thebat bots.”


    I replied to the worried Mimi as I checked my equipment. This time, I’ll be bringing my long and short swords as well as my trustyser gun. I also brought three shock grenades, two sma grenades, and a spare energy pack. I also wore my chameleon stealth cloak.


    I was contemting whether or not to bring aser rifle along as well but decided against it since longer weapons might prove difficult to handle while performing meleebat in tight spaces. Ship interiors are generally tight spaces after all. Aser gun would be more convenient.


    『Approachplete. Breaching hull.』


    『The drop pods are ready too. We can charge inside at any time.』


    “Please have thebat bots infiltrate first. I’ll take control of the cockpit while they’re busy.”


    『Aye, aye, sir. Good luck, Master.』


    As we had our exchange, we finallypleted opening a breach on the enemy ship’s hull in order to allow us to charge inside.


    『Breachingplete. Please be careful.』


    “Gotcha. Commence boarding.”


    Krishna’s hatch opened, and I made my way to the breach on the hull of the enemy pirate ship to rush inside it. The ce we opened was apparently the outer hatch of the enemy ship’s cargo hold. I faced no enthusiastic weingmittee. They were probably busy dealing with all thebat bots.


    “This is Snake[1]. I’ve sessfully infiltrated the enemy pirate ship.”


    『Shouldn’t an infiltrator’s codename be Mouse?』


    “So it’s Mouse in this dimension huh……”


    It looks like it was standard for a mouse to infiltrate stuff in this dimension instead of a snake. How unfortunate.


    “This looks like a cargo hold. Can we get a map of the ship somehow?”


    『Um…… There’s a console on the wall to your left. Please connect yourm terminal there, Hiro-sama.』


    “Roger.”


    I followed Mimi’s guidance and found the console. I then connected my portablem terminal to it via a data cord. Mimi then proceeded to crack the database of the pirate ship in order to get detailed info on it.


    『Um…… I’ve finished getting the info. I’ll put up the info on the HUD of your helmet, Hiro-sama.』


    Immediately afterward, a 3D map of the ship interior was projected on the HUD of the airtightbat suit helmet I was wearing. It was definitely arge-ss ship. It was pretty huge.


    “Please indicate a route to the cockpit. I’ll begin the suppression operation.”


    『A-Aye, aye, sir.』


    “Calm down, Mimi. Take three deep breaths and focus.”


    I headed for the cargo hold’s exit while listening to Mimi take deep breaths three times over thems. I was curious about what they’re carrying, but I’ll have to take control of the cockpit first.


    “I’m leaving the cargo hold.”


    『Yes. Leave the support to me.』


    『Be careful Hiro.』


    As I listened to the replies of the twodies, I pulled out myser gun from its holster and released the safety.


    [1] Notes: A reference to Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid franchise.