Again at the Mercenary Guild and the Large-scale Subjugation Operation

"Ou. If it ain't the lad from yester… day…"

The moment the receptionist uncle saw Mimi's cute visage peeking over

from behind me, his expression stiffened.

"A lot of stuff happened yesterday and this girl ended up boarding my ship

as a result. I'd like for her to train in the basics of being a ship operator so

we came here to see if you had any resource materials or training apps we

could use."

"P- Pleased to make your acquaintance sir…"

The uncle's hands grabbed me by the shirt with incredible momentum and

forcefully raised me up. Your expression looks hella terrifying uncle!

"The hell d'ya mean by this huuh…!?"

"I get it! I get it! I'll tell you everything so please let me go uncle! Your

face looks really scary man!"

"What about my face!?"

"But it really is scary, uncle! Look, even Mimi's terrified."

"Ku~h…"

The receptionist uncle released me while sporting a deadly serious

expression. He plopped down on his seat, closed his eyes and took deep,

long breaths in order to calm down. I also let out a sigh of relief. I was

about to piss my pants there man.

"It'll take quite a while if I start from the beginning."

"Just start from the beginning kid."

"Yes!"

I ended up telling every detail about how Mimi came to board my ship

while being glared at by the uncle with a terrifying scowl on his face.

"This guy just started out as a merc and managed to land himself such a

wonderful encounter in the span of a day while I've been slugging it out for

fifteen years in this business and have absolutely nothing to show for it!?

Isn't this unfair!?"

"Is this the gap between our destinies!?" the receptionist uncle lamented

towards the heavens and slumped powerlessly on top of his desk right

afterward. He then began crying buckets of tears. They were manly tears

filled with the bitterness of defeat. Mimi and I could certainly feel the

intensity of uncle's emotions.

Another staff member of the Mercenary Guild came out in order to ask

what the fuss was all about. When she found out the situation, she had the

uncle escorted back inside the staff room. Farewell, uncle.

"E~tto, I apologize for our staff's rude conduct earlier sir," the female

receptionist said with a troubled smile on her face as she cleaned up the tear

stains uncle left on the desk. I bet I'd also have the same expression if I

were in her shoes. Bet anyone would actually.

"Uh, I better explain the reason why we came here again I guess."

"I'm sorry to trouble you sir, but I'd appreciate it if you did so," the lady

replied as she bowed her head apologetically towards me. I started going

over our circumstances.

"Understood. So you came in order to register this girl as an official

crewmember and to obtain training materials and apps for ship operators,

correct?"

"That's about it."

"Thank you for your help ma'am."

The new receptionist lady efficiently took care of all the related procedures

and prepared the training materials. The training app was installed on

Mimi's tablet terminal so she could use it right away. It was a great program

where an AI training instructor would impart the know-how of being a ship

operator starting with the basics. It was also bundled with an app that would

display the ship's status and the total available assets in an easy to

understand way.

"I've also included an info-gathering app, so please do your best okay."

"Y- Yes!"

"It would greatly help me if Mimi gets to learn all this stuff. Give it your all

kay."

"I understand."

Mimi immediately began to go over all the installed apps with a serious

demeanor. Yep, go for it girl. It'll make my life easier too. Different from

the game, it seems you have to go through a lot of complicated procedures

as you go around this world.

"Oh yeah. I was wondering if it would be better if this girl can also train in

some self-defense techniques, or maybe get a self-defense weapon for her

personal use."

"Hm. That would be a bit difficult sir. You can't really master self-defense

techniques in just a few days after all. It's the same for handling weapons."

"So that's the case huh."

"That's the case, sir. But it would be good to let her have a laser gun in any

case, even if she doesn't actually use it. It will serve as an effective

deterrent and prevent most shady folk from getting any ideas."

"I see."

"Shall I prepare one sir?"

"Please do."

So the Mercenary Guild also distributes weapons huh? Come to think of it,

I didn't manage to find a gun shop when I was doing some research

yesterday. So things like this were regulated by the Guild or related

government organizations huh.

The laser gun for Mimi's use was soon prepared, and we were then guided

to the Mercenary Guild's shooting range in order to perform test shots.

How good is Mimi with a gun? Well, if she doesn't stop closing her eyes

whenever she shoots, she wouldn't be able to hit anything.

After the shooting practice, we returned to the ship and decided to take it

slow for a few days. Mimi was still fatigued from her time in the back

alleys, so she had to take ample rest. Fortunately, we wouldn't run out of

funds anytime soon even if we don't work for some time.

I was also interested in the major pirate subjugation operation Elma

mentioned. It would result in a pretty large-scale battle once they attacked

the pirate's main base, and those kinds of events in the game would provide

a great number of rewards proportionate to the number of enemies you

manage to defeat.

I honestly didn't want to miss such a golden opportunity.

And so I spent my days working up a sweat in the training room in the

mornings and taking a quick shower afterward. I studied together with

Mimi in the afternoon (There were lessons useful for mercenary work

available on the training app as well), searched the net for useful info,

exchanged messages with the disappointing space elf and sometimes flirted

around with Mimi as well.

Finally, the long-anticipated pirate subjugation operation was officially

announced by the Termaine System Armed Forces. The Mercenary Guild

was solicited for assistance as well.

"It's really convenient that briefings can be done remotely no matter where

you are without the need to gather in one particular place."

"Yes, it is."

I sat on the pilot seat inside the cockpit while Mimi sat on the operator seat

behind me. We were both waiting for the briefing to start.

I think it's great that we didn't actually need to come to the army base or the

guild office for this briefing. You can even order food from inside the ship

anytime, so you really didn't have to take one step out of your starship if

you wanted to. The starship interior may actually be the ultimate

hikikomori paradise.

Multiple window screens popped up on the cockpit display; right on

schedule with the briefing start time. The names of each participating party

were displayed on top of each window. Among them were the disappointing

space elf Elma as well as Serena – the lady soldier I met soon after I arrived

at this Termaine Prime Colony.

"Huh!?"

I suddenly felt cold sweat run down my back the moment my gaze met with

Serena's for some reason. What the heck? Weirdly enough, it somehow felt

like an unpleasant premonition but at the same time not. Still, it wouldn't

hurt to be more careful of this lady from now on.

While I was thinking such things, Serena's window widened and moved to

the center of the cockpit display.

"Well then, let us start the briefing. I am Captain Serena Holz, the

designated commander of this entire operation. Please address me as

Captain Serena."

"Understood, Captain Serena."

Each participant expressed their agreement.

"I will now explain the overall outline of this operation. That said, it's

actually not that complicated. The place the pirates are using as their base

of operations is located on an asteroid field in the Gamma Sector," Serena

began as a map of the sector popped on-screen with a part of the asteroid

field highlighted in red.

"The strategy for this operation is simple. Our System Armed Forces'

starship fleet will sortie first and then proceed to destroy their base through

naval bombardment. Even if it's their main base, the ones manning it are

only mere pirates after all. I assume they'll get routed without putting up

much of a fight."

A number of the mercs participating in the briefing nodded in agreement

with Serena's statement. There was no way for bootleg pirate ships to

oppose the Military model heavy cruisers and battleships of the armed

forces. They're outclassed in both defensive strength and overall firepower.

Mercenary starships may be able to take on a military warship under certain

conditions. But it's not usually something that can be done using a single

unit. In addition, the military has both the numbers and a superior level of

training to their advantage.

In other words, if you were forced to go head to head with a proper military

interstellar naval fleet, it wouldn't even be a battle. You'd get your ass

handed to you without a doubt.

"However, as you well know, our fleet's bombardment is quite powerful but

a little lacking in precision. If they come at us head-on, we would certainly

be able to obliterate the lot of them. But if they decide to scatter and flee

using their small and medium-sized ships, we would be hard pressed to stop

quite a number of them from escaping. That's where you all come in."

Although it's true that destroying their main base of operations and larger

ships would do great damage to the pirates, their main forces are actually

made up of highly mobile small and medium-sized craft. If a number of

them ended up escaping, they would eventually gather together again to

revive their organization. They wanted us mercs to prevent this from

happening. In other words, we were tasked with remnant hunting.

No, that might not be the case at all. Since the pirate's main forces are

composed of these aforementioned small and medium-sized ships, aren't we

actually serving as this operation's main attack force? Meh, it doesn't really

matter either way.

"How about compensation?"

"Yes, about that. There will be no advance payment. The participation

reward will be 5,000 Enel, which will be given to each of you after the

operation concludes."

Man, how cheap. The fixed salary's dirt cheap. I expect the confirmed kill

rewards to be a different story though.

"As for kill rewards, small ships are worth 5,000 Enel per kill. Medium

ones are 20,000 Enel per kill. The large ones are worth 100,000 each. The

bounty rewards already placed on the pirate ships will also be paid

separately. We'll also give you free rein to plunder their ships for goods."

"We plan to eliminate all of the large-sized ships ourselves anyway." Serena

probably thought to herself, judging from that confident smile on her lips.

There were varied reactions from the participating mercenaries, but the

collective response seemed to be generally positive.

"The overall strategy is simple and straightforward. You mercenaries will

be deployed in advance and hide within the outer areas of the Gamma

Sector. We will directly attack the pirate's main base and destroy all major

facilities and as much of their forces as possible. You will stage an ambush

and destroy the small and medium-sized craft which tries to escape from the

battle. We shall then mop up any remaining ships who will manage to slip

away from the ambush."

It was a simple but efficient plan of attack. They will destroy all the highpriority targets with the first hit and prevent the enemies from escaping with

a "net" of mercenaries. The military forces will take advantage of the

enemy's confusion due to the ambush to form an iron tight "cage".

Afterward, all that's left was to gradually tighten the cage until all the

pirates are wiped out to the last ship. While I was mulling over the

operation details, the hem of my clothes was suddenly pulled. I looked over

to find Mimi who moved from the operator's seat and stood beside me.

"Hiro-sama, what if the pirates forcefully activated their FTL Drives in

order to escape?"

"Don't worry about that. If there are ships incapable of FTL nearby, the

safety devices would prevent the other ships from activating their own FTL

Drives."

"But if they took out the safety devices, wouldn't they be able to forcefully

activate their Drives?"

"They could, but I don't think there would be anyone willing to try that

kind of stunt. If they deactivated their safety devices, they wouldn't be able

to avoid space debris and asteroids large enough not to be repelled by their

energy shields. If they do hit something under those conditions, they'd be

turned to space dust in moments, or so I've heard. I'm not too sure about

the particulars either."

"I see."

The game did mention that the safety devices were coupled with the

obstacle evasion system, but didn't go into much detail about the related

theories. Or rather, the game was pretty vague regarding these sorts of sci-fi

tech stuff. Well, it's fine if we don't know how these things exactly work as

long as we can use them with no trouble. One didn't have to know the exact

details regarding how a microwave or cellphone works in order to use them

right? It's the same thing with starships.

While I and Mimi were discussing, the other mercenaries continued to ask

Serena some questions. They were basically about the reward acquisition

details, which didn't interest me as much. For example, if multiple mercs

ended up shooting down a single pirate ship, how would the rewards be

distributed?

In case of a dispute, the military will determine the deserving party by

going over the recorded battle logs. And in order to ensure transparency and

fairness, the results will be publicly announced and handed over to the

Mercenary Guild.

If there are mercs found to be deliberately stealing kills, they may be

punished with rank demotion or, in the worst case, be expelled from the

Guild. If one wants to continue being a merc, one should behave

appropriately. I don't feel like doing anything like that anyway, so it's not

my problem.

However, there was no one who asked about the thing I wanted to know the

most. Is it because it's considered common sense, or do they not care about

this sort of stuff in the first place? Guess I'll have to ask about it myself.

"Uh, I also have a question, ma'am."

All attention gathered towards me from the windows on the cockpit screen.

Elma looked over as well. She was giving me a "You're going to ask

something outrageous aren't you?" kind of glare. Haha. I'll try to answer

your expectations, ma'am.

"Yes, sir mercenary?"

"It's my first time participating in this kind of large scale operation y'see.

But if, by any circumstance, I judged further combat to be impossible due to

factors like the ship's energy shield failing due to malfunction or damage, is

it alright to withdraw from the battle?"

The other mercenaries were dumbfounded after hearing my question. Elma

facepalmed while Serena displayed a calm smile.

"You could choose to do so, yes. I understand that mercenaries value their

lives as much as their reward money. It's in your nature. However, it'll be

troublesome if one turns tail and flees even before the start of the battle.

Our main objective is to completely annihilate the pirates after all."

"Guess that's reasonable. But I'm a rookie y'see. And it's a rookie-like

thing to think about securing a path of retreat. And it wouldn't be a joke if I

was suddenly told something like 'Fight to the bitter end, or you will be

treated as a deserter and shot down.' y'know."

"You can't possibly think we would do such a thing?"

"It's not about implementing or not implementing such a policy. It's

because our battle formation makes it possible for such a situation to be

enforced. I have a crewmember on board my ship, so I have to be particular

about this sort of thing."

After all, we would be deploying in a two-layer formation during this

operation. The mercs would handle close-range engagements, which the

large-scale military warships aren't suitable for. The military ships would

take care of shooting down escaping pirates from long range instead.

In other words, mercs are the hunting dogs while the Termaine System

Military forces are the hunters who peer through a scope in order to bring

down prey. The hunter's role is originally to shoot down prey being chased

down by the hunting dogs out into the open. But the scope can also be

turned toward the dogs who try to flee. It won't be funny if we were

suddenly told that retreating from the battle was not allowed and we would

be treated as deserters who would be promptly shot down once the fighting

starts after all.

"Fufu. I guess you're right. Yes, the battle formation allows for it. But rest

assured that we won't do something of the sort."

"Glad to hear it. That'll be all for me ma'am."

The reactions from the other mercenaries were varied. About a third of

them looked at me with disdain evident in their expressions. Twenty percent

looked somewhat impressed or curious. The remaining half were all

indifferent.

"Are there any other questions? If there are none, then we will proceed with

the operation. We shall sortie after an hour. Once your preparations are

complete, launch out from the hangar bay and stand by for further orders."

"Roger!"

The briefing's finally finished. Now, it's time for battle.