End of Hotel Stay

The first day of us serving as test pilots ended without any problems.

Uh, maybe not totally problem-free, but we pulled through, I guess.

Anyway, we completed our job without a hitch.

There were no problems with the weapons test of the prototype ship

Hammer Seven. There were a total of four hardpoints where weapon

systems could be installed on the ship. It was an average number for a

small craft. They were all placed on the upper sections of the hull, so all

firepower was concentrated there, leaving the bottom completely bare

of weaponry. The two main guns were trained out front while the

secondary weapons covered both flanks.

Basically, I think one can judge if a ship has an optimum set-up for

weapon hardpoints on whether or not the positioning will allow it to

have the ability to focus fire all its weapons from a direction other than

the front of the ship.

For example, in the case of a ship with four hardpoints, if one each is

placed on the top, bottom, left, and right sides of the ship, you can only

focus fire with three turrets at maximum except for firing directly

forward. That means one turret is essentially dead if you don't

concentrate fire to the front.

In this case, it would be better to place the hard points in positions

which allow Hammer Seven to easily reach maximum firepower in one

direction even if you had to leave the bottom of the ship weaponless

and a potential blind spot. That's what I think anyway.

Some folks may place more importance on eliminating blind spots, so I

can't say my take on it is absolute. After all, you can't make good use of

my set-up if you don't have the piloting skills to match.

And so, regarding that little problem I mentioned at the start…

"The ship does perform as the specs suggested! What the heck are you

on about!?"

"There's no problem with the software! There's only a lag in the

reaction time because the calculation of the weight to thrust ratio is

wrong! The data here proves it!"

"There's no problem with our calculations! The software problem just

got compensated by the skills of the pilot!"

"The software is perfect! The mistake in the weight to thrust ratio is the

one being compensated for by the pilot's skills, you fool! The data

corroborates this!"

After the performance test, I succeeded to clock in numbers that

exceeded the expected values. Well, if the ship's only problem is being

one tempo slow, I just had to operate it one tempo faster to compensate.

And once I got used to its tendency to oversteer or understeer, I was

able to perform some interesting maneuvers.

And so, I made up for the delay in the reaction time with my skills. I

wasn't sure if the cause of the problem was the hardware or software

side of the spectrum, so I just suggested they look into both and

implement some improvements based on the results.

And that led to the commotion going on right now. Maybe the hardware

and software engineers didn't get along much, so they both kept

passing the buck and pointing at the other party as the one at fault.

Well, it's not my job to meddle in the spats of a company's employees

anyway. My main responsibility was to serve as a test pilot, and I

believe I did a pretty good job.

"In any case, I have no complaints at all regarding the ship's speed when

cruising in a straight line. They are also affected by the one tempo delay,

but all in all, I think there are no pressing problems with the turning

speed and rolling speed either. However, since the ship is heavy, sharp

and nimble maneuvers are next to impossible. With its top speed, I

think it will be put to good use on hit-and-run tactics which takes full

advantage of its speed and thick armor, or by pilots that can similarly

make use of its quirks to keep enemies firmly in their crosshairs just

like I did. And since the positions of the hardpoints are concentrated on

the top half of the ship, I think it's a unit that can only be put to good

use by highly skilled pros."

I would have liked to share more of my impressions if the dwarven

engineers didn't start to fight amongst themselves. These guys.

Honestly.

"I see… Can I ask what you mercenaries consider as a ship that's easy to

handle for reference?"

"Of course. This is just my personal opinion, but first, it has to be

straightforward. What I mean is that it's better for a ship to have at

least a standard response time. That's a really important factor."

"Oh. So, placing importance on ease of handling eh?"

"Next is some good defensive capabilities, but I think most mercenaries

place more importance on tougher energy shields rather than thicker

and more durable armor. Of course, having thicker armor is a good

thing, but it does affect maneuverability. And also, there are no mercs

who'd prefer to tank shots with their ship's armor rather than the

energy shield. It costs more money to replace damaged armor after all.

The costs will add up, and that's not something mercs welcome at all. In

this aspect, energy shields are more cost-effective, don't you think? A

ship's armor serves as its last line of defense once its shields are down,

but I think most mercs would immediately escape when their shields

start showing signs of going down anyway. There are next to no mercs

who'd rather stay and fight once their energy shields are down, I think."

There's also the fact that armor upgrades cost a ton more Enel than

energy shield emitter upgrades. There's a saying that you can't show off

your strength if you don't spend money, but conversely, you can't just

spend money on pointless stuff.

"Umu, I see."

"In terms of overall firepower, I think small combat starships should be

outfitted with at least two Class 2 weapons. If you can make it so it can

actually be equipped with one Class 3 weapon, I think it will turn out to

be quite popular. Class 1 weapons are frankly no good. Mercenaries

would be more willing to purchase ships that can equip Class 2

weapons by default no matter how few the number rather than ones

which can equip lots of Class 1 weapons."

Class 1 weapons are what you can consider as small arms. Class 2 is the

middle ground and Class 3 weapons are the heavyweights.

By the way, Krishna's pulse laser cannons and ballistic shot cannons are

all considered Class 3. It's a small craft, but it sports a total of six Class 3

weapons plus anti-ship reactive torpedoes. That makes Krishna's

overall firepower on par with a heavy cruiser. Normally, you can only

equip a maximum of one Class 3 weapon on a small ship, and those

ships are already considered top-of-the-line.

"Thank you. These will be very helpful."

The dwarf engineer finished typing my words on his tablet terminal,

bowed to me in gratitude, and joined the fray of his quarreling peers. It

looks like he's gonna finally put a stop to it. Do your best, man.

"Are you finished?"

After the engineer left me, Elma called out. It looks like the girls also

finished their report.

"Yeah. It looks like you guys finished early though."

"Yes. There were no problems with the radar and communication

systems. It looks like it was the same for Elma-san too."

"Well, Space Dwerg is known for the toughness and reliability of their

products, so I guess it isn't much of a surprise. I really can't say the

same for the overall performance of the ship though. There's no point in

a ship that can't be piloted unless you make strange unorthodox

maneuvers like Hiro. It's totally out."

"C'mon. They aren't that strange…"

Uh, I guess if you don't get used to the oversteer and understeer, you'd

likely end up spinning endlessly in space like an out of control ice

skater. But that can be made up with practice. Yup. You have to start

with mastering the timing for the auto-balancer and gyro. You'd

probably end up puking in space a few times, but that's just how it is. I

did manage to experience that in front of a computer screen back on

Earth, and I felt sick even then, so I guess the experience will be a good

magnitude worse if you do it for real.

"So what will we do now?"

It seems the turmoil subsided before it grew worse, but the engineer's

faces still looked positively miffed. A dwarven engineer with a slightly

tired look on his face approached us. It was the guy who was talking

with me earlier.

"We're stopping with the tests for today, so your jobs are finished as

well. We'll be counting on you again tomorrow though."

"I see. Guess we have some free time then."

I turned toward Mimi and Elma and saw them nod in response. We took

off the skin-tight pilot suits and changed back to our normal clothes. We

then exited the Space Dwerg testing facility.

After completing the five-day test pilot gig, we were once again back to

a life of leisure and relaxation. Well, we weren't exactly keeping idle

because we spent the majority of our time touring the colony and

enjoying the sights.

What about the test pilot gig? There's isn't really much to comment

about, actually. I just played around with the prototype the whole time

and got Mimi and Elma blue in the face because of the lacking inertial

control system. That's probably because it was a prototype, and not

everything had been adjusted optimally. But they eventually got used to

it in the latter half of the five-day stint.

"Hey, hey, boss. Are you free today?"

"T-That's no good, big sis…"

Tina plopped her head on my lap as I sat on the sofa and began flirting

with me. Whisker got all panicky after witnessing her sister's brazen

actions. I don't really mind you doing that since you do look cute, but

aren't you too casual, Tina?

"Mmmgh!"

I pinched Tina's nose, who was enjoying my lap pillow without a care.

Hahaha, now your cute face is ruined.

"She just did that so naturally… I'll have to step up as well."

"Well, aren't you quite something, dwarf."

Mimi and Elma, who were lounging around the nearby table, looked at

Tina as if she was a formidable foe. I'm not all bothered by it because I

didn't really look at Tina in that way. Honestly speaking, I saw her more

like a small pet such as a dog or cat rather than a romantic partner.

"So, uh… there's about five days left until the mothership gets finished,

right?"

"Yes. If everything goes on schedule, it will get finished after about 120

hours. There seem to be no delays in the work, so it will most likely get

finished on schedule."

May, who was standing right next to the sofa as she looked after me,

answered my question.

"It looks like Krishna's about to roll out as well."

"Yes. They're a little late, but it seems they will finish the overhaul by

today. I was told they will be handing it over by tomorrow due to them

needing to finish reloading the luggage onboard."

"I see."

If that's the case, then I guess this is our last day staying in this fancy

hotel.

"Are you guys okay with your preparations, Tina?"

"Hm, of course, boss. We've done all the necessary paperwork and

packed our things, so we'll be ready to board the mothership once it

gets finished."

Tina, whose nose I was still pinching, answered with a confident grin on

her lips. I turned toward Whisker and saw her nod several times in

agreement. Guess there's no problem then. I hope.

"Good. Hm… Let's see. How about we visit that luxurious restaurant you

mentioned the other day, Tina?"

After hearing my words, Mimi sat up straight away. Ok, ok, of course, I'll

take Mimi along as well, so don't be so anxious. I'll take Elma too, of

course. I remember her eyes twinkling when she heard they stocked up

on famous liquors around the galaxy.

And so, that night, Tina led us to the restaurant in question… and I

found myself eating yakitori in a restaurant called Yakitori.

Yeah, I know what you guys want to say. This so-called luxurious

restaurant served yakitori and even named itself as Yakitori after all. It

seems it was a restaurant that used real chicken meat bred from a farm

two systems out. It wasn't as expensive as that Kobe beef I encountered

back then, but it was still quite pricey. One skewer costs 15 Enels. Ain't

that too pricey? If you convert it to Japanese Yen, you'd end up with

1500 Yen a pop.

Mimi was impressed by the taste of real chicken while Elma was

satisfied with the taste of those famous liquors. The sisters were

gushing about the taste of yakitori but lamented the fact that they were

banned from drinking as they watched Elma chug down bottle after

bottle. They were looking at Elma like she was their parent's murderer.

It was honestly a bit creepy. It looks like they still weren't past the

liquor ban.

"You don't look like you're enjoying this much, Master."

"Uh, yeah…"

Cuz it's just your standard yakitori, y'know! I would honestly cry tears

of joy if they served authentic carbonated cola here, but unfortunately,

apart from liquor, they only served water and 100% all-natural fruit

juice, which was insanely expensive. One glass was 100 Enels. That's

highway robbery. I'll just stick with 3 Enel glasses of water.

And so, our last night staying at the hotel ended in such a fashion