A Group of Suspicious Characters

It's been seven hours since I holed up inside the cockpit. Krishna finally

exited from the psychedelic space-time corridor and arrived safely on

the Brad star system.

The light from the G-type star Brad, which was adjusted to tolerable

levels by Krishna's HUD, brightened up the cockpit considerably. I guess

some of you don't really get what I mean when I call their sun a G-type

star huh. To be honest, I don't either. To put it simply, they are stars that

are very similar to the Solar system's sun.

"The main shipyard is based on Brad Prime, if I remember correctly."

"Yes. Secundus and Tertius are both mining colonies. Our target

destination is the Prime colony."

"Okay then. Let's head to Brad Prime–"

As I started pointing the bow toward the direction of Brad Prime, an

alert rang out. It wasn't an alert signifying an emergency or that we've

been locked-on to by enemy ships. It alerted us to the fact that we were

being scanned. I operated the pilot console and put up the radar

display. I discovered one ship a little distance away from Krishna. It was

most likely the one checking us out.

"We're being scanned huh."

"Well, it's fine. Being treated as someone suspicious is a bit upsetting,

but it's nothing to be hung up over. Mimi, set a course for Brad Prime

and–"

Another alert rang out. And again, we weren't being targeted by

weapons or anything. We were still being scanned. The ships that were

scanning us just multiplied. Before we noticed it, the number rose to

three.

"…"

"Um… I've set the course."

"Everyone, brace yourselves. We're flooring it and shaking them off."

After declaring so, I accelerated Krishna all at once. I ignited the

afterburners and left the suspicious scan-happy ships behind. The

radar display indicated that they were actually trying to chase after us,

but it's no use.

"Elma, start charging the FTL Drive."

"Okay. I'll begin charging then. Countdown. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… FTL Drive,

activate."

Krishna cruised away at lightspeed.

"Man, that was kinda creepy–"

This was the third time an alert rang out.

When I checked the subspace sensor, I saw lots of ships scanning ours.

There were seven in total. Dang, it just multiplied to eight. And it looks

like that wasn't the end of it. The sight of us speeding away with lots of

ships following us was akin to a meteor swarm.

"What the hell!? What's their problem!?"

I can almost hear the crew of those ships shouting things like 'Don't let

em get away! Chase after em, fellas!'. Just what the heck? It was beyond

my understanding and was honestly a bit scary.

"Master, it may be because this is a ship model that they are seeing for

the first time."

After saying so, May put up the radar display on the HUD. They were

actually all ships affiliated with Space Dwerg. They were split into

various departments like weapons development, hull design,

propulsion mechanics and such, but there was no doubt they were all

from Space Dwerg Co. Ltd.

"I kinda don't feel like coming to the colony now."

I had a strong hunch we were gonna encounter something troublesome

again. Well, with a unique ship like Krishna, I'm almost a hundred

percent sure. But even so, I also feel that it's gonna be the same no

matter which ship-making company we visit, so there's no point to

running away now and trying again later.

While thinking about these troublesome matters, we finally arrived at

the Brad Prime colony. I promptly deactivated the FTL Drive.

We went back to normal space. The ships who were chasing after us

also deactivated their drives and popped up one after another. As for

how many there were… It kinda feels silly to even count them now.

"Send out a docking request, Mimi."

"Yes."

The alerts ringing continuously are seriously getting on my nerves man.

There's the option of threatening them to stop, but that might invite

even more trouble, so I'll just have to put up with this right now.

"Should we release chaff or something?"

It looks like Elma was getting irritated as well. Well, of course, she was.

Anyone would. It's a different matter if you get scanned by ships

belonging to the authorities like the imperial garrison, but being

scrutinized by civilian ships like this with no restraint feels really offputting.

It's not like they were violating any laws, but scanning ships arbitrarily

usually has the negative connotation of being suspected for carrying

illegal goods or having a bounty. It's like they were accusing us of being

criminals or something. It's very rude. It's like being subjected to a fullbody check and rummaging through all of your luggage in an airport

without prior notice or consent.

"It's annoying but just leave them alone. Let's just file an official

complaint later. May, please record the affiliation and IDs of all the ships

present here."

"Yes. Please don't worry. I have already taken the appropriate steps."

"Great."

Like I said, what they are doing isn't exactly illegal. But even if it isn't,

there's such a thing as proper manners, right? Regardless of the fact

that we're just mercenaries, doing this sort of thing to a guest is still a

gross breach of etiquette.

"We have permission to dock."

"Great. Let's go then. Auto-docking program, activate!"

"Yes, activating now."

Krishna's controls switched to auto-pilot mode and it began docking

procedures straight away. Brad Prime was your standard Torus-type

colony. In other words, it's one of those donut-shaped colonies we

encountered several times before already. Termaine Prime, where Mimi,

Elma, and I met, was also a Torus-type.

But Brad Prime was much larger compared to your regular Torus-type

colony. The part which serves as the rotational axis was quite long, and

it seems the shipyard was actually annexed to it. It reminded me of

those illegal manufacturing facilities back in the game, but this one was

owned by a recognized ship-making company, so it should be fine. Yep,

I'm sure it is.

After seeing us dock at the hangar, the ships persistently scanning us

gradually dispersed. But then, they also sent out docking requests.

"Good grief… It feels like they're even gonna chase us to the ends of the

universe if they have to huh."

"Yeah…"

How annoying. It looks like it would be safer to keep the shield running

even after we park. I can't have them trying to board my ship after all.

After we safely docked inside the hangar, we finished the follow-up

procedures and were finally permitted to disembark. I had everyone get

off the ship with me this time. In other words, there's me, Mimi, Elma,

and May. We were all going to head to Space Dwerg's main office. We

already decided on purchasing the Skizbrazunil, but we haven't decided

on which custom parts we are going to order, so I had them all come

with me so we can pool our opinions again.

And so, we got off the ship. But…

"What's going on?"

When the ship's hatch opened, the first thing we saw was a group of

more than ten engineer and researcher-looking types flocking outside.

No matter how you slice it, they didn't look like people from the port

admin bureau. They all had gadgets resembling handheld cameras and

were talking excitedly with red faces near Krishna. What the–!? Hey!

What are you gonna do with that stepladder? Don't touch the hull

without permission dammit!

"Um, this is…"

"Hiro."

"Yeah."

I took out my portable terminal from my pocket and got in touch with

port admin.

[Yes. This is Brad Prime's port administration bureau. How may I help

you?]

"Hello. I'm Captain Hiro from the 34th hangar block. We just docked,

but there are more than ten suspicious folks hanging around near our

ship. There are people setting up a stepladder and some are touching

our ship without permission. Please send in some security personnel to

apprehend them. They're being quite a bother."

[That's… Understood. We will send in our people right away. We are

sorry for all the inconvenience this has caused you.]

"Yeah. Honestly. We are actually here for a business deal worth more

than 20 million. So I would like you to deal with this immediately."

I made a bit of a threat to the admin staff, and as a response, the

security personnel was dispatched immediately to deal with the

situation. They swiftly apprehended those suspicious folks and took

them away amidst a flurry of complaints and cursing. After confirming

that the matter was dealt with, I used my terminal to retract the ramp

and activate the ship's energy shield remotely.

"Well, this should be okay for now. But that incident earlier honestly

made me a bit uneasy about our visit here."

"Um…"

"Yeah. Me too."

"Yes."

Even May agreed with me. Cuz those guys were staring at our ship with

creepy gazes y'know. It was honestly a bit disturbing. Were they being

pressured by a development quota or something? Was Space Dwerg

actually a dystopian black company?

"Should we really go through with this? I kinda feel like it's better to run

away though."

I sighed and made an offbeat joke, but no one reacted