Another SOS Message

Although we just left port not too long ago, we still decided to return to

Comatt Prime space colony in order to take care of our spoils. We'd face

various inconveniences if we continued patrolling around with our cargo

capacity full after all.

Nonetheless, it would be getting our priorities backward if we allowed this

fact to hinder our patrol duties, so we just threw the scrap we got from the

pirate ships and the rest of the loot into the loot storage space we arranged

with the Comatt Prime space colony.

"We'll stay in the colony to start with the repair and modifications of the

captured ships, Boss."

"Gotcha. I'm sure there won't be any problems, but be careful anyway."

"Yes!"

We'll have the mechanic sisters stay in the Comatt Prime colony. They

would be proceeding with the repair and modifications of the two mediumclass and two small-class ships we managed to capture. They wouldn't be in

any danger while staying inside the maintenance docks, so there should be

no problem. The port area was especially secure since the imperial military

and colony security were conducting strict regular patrols and were always

on the lookout.

"We will also remain in the colony to interview the two lovely ladies who

will be modifying the captured ships."

"That's fine, but don't get in the way of their work."

"But of course."

It seems Space Dwerg's Mr. Wamdo and his staff will be remaining in the

Comatt Prime space colony as well. Fomalhaut Entertainment's Zuia has

boarded Krishna while the rest of his staff together with the folks from

Nyaatoflix and Mobius Ring will board the Black Lotus and continue their

coverage there.

"You just don't stay put, do you, sir? Or rather, you're surprisingly quite

diligent when it comes to working."

"Un? Really?"

"Yes. You are quite different from our image of mercenaries."

Krishna was currently parked inside one of Black Lotus's hangars, and

while we were in the middle of taking a short breather inside the break

room, Mobius Ring's Allen began to say such things.

"I'm not really familiar with that so-called typical mercenary behavior

though."

I'm not really a native of this dimension, so I didn't really get the standards

the folks here would consider 'normal'. Of course, it's not like I don't study

about their norms and customs, but I'm just too used to common sense I

cultivated back on Earth, so I found some of the norms and values here

pretty peculiar and just couldn't get used to them.

"Uh, how should I put it? The typical mercenary we know makes a lot of

money in one go, loses that money in one go as well after playing around

without restraint, and would generally live a slovenly lifestyle as long as

they had the money to spare."

"That's right. Compared to them, Hiro-sama is really diligent, or should I

say, stoic."

"Stoic huh…"

Uh, I do flirt around a lot with Mimi, Elma, and Mei, pig out on delicious

food prepared by Tetsujin V every day, and buy stuff without restraint as

long as they catch my eye though.

"To put it more straightforwardly, since you're together with two ravishing

beauties, we thought you were spending most of your time flirting around

day in and day out without restraint."

"You wanna get deducted points again?"

"No, no, I'm saying that's how others would normally think as well!

Right!?"

Nyaatoflix's Nia turned to Fomalhaut Entertainment's Zuia and Mobius

Ring's Allen to back up her claim, but the two just laughed dryly and didn't

make any comments. The two of them didn't voice their agreement, but

since they didn't deny it as well, I guess that's really what people from this

world would normally think.

"Well, the point deduction was just a joke, so don't worry. Anyway, is that

how it is? If I acted like that, it would take me ages before I'm able to

upgrade my ships. Also, my piloting sense would become dull and my skills

won't improve much."

"That comment itself is a perfect example of being stoic."

"For some reason, Hiro really doesn't let up on his self-discipline, doesn't

he?"

"It won't be good for my skills to get dull after all. I don't wanna die, and I

definitely don't want my crew to die either. We're risking our lives

constantly, so it's only natural to not cut any corners, right?"

Since I was shouldering the lives of Mimi and Elma as well, my

responsibilities are quite heavy. If I mess up, my life isn't the only one at

stake.

"As a Gold Star awardee and Platinum-rank mercenary, you really have

quite the different outlook huh."

"But maybe I'm just too much of a workaholic. Alright then. After the

break, we'll launch out in Krishna immediately. We have to go back to

patrol duty. Please proceed with the analysis data caches, Mei."

"Yes. Please leave it to me."

"Is there really no way to have more rocky developments?"

"What does routine patrol duty have to do with 'rocky' developments

anyway?"

It's been two hours since we left Comatt Prime's port once more. We were

able to perform our patrols without encountering any sort of trouble until

now. At the behest of Earl Dareinwald, we were granted a bit of discretion

when it comes to our activity range while within the Comatt system, but if

we didn't encounter stuff like pirates while acting within that range, our

patrols would just resemble leisurely sightseeing drives. We literally

rounded up all the perpetrators of the attack on that civilian ship in one fell

swoop today, so I guess the rest of the pirates would be wary of acting up

for a while.

"Ah, we've received an emergency message from the command center of

the Comatt III defense forces."

"Oops. A rocky development really came. It's because you said some

ominous stuff, Zuia."

"Heck yeah!"

"Hey! Don't just go celebrating on your own, you… So, Mimi. What's the

contents of the message?"

"Um… It seems the planetary colonies on Comatt III are being attacked by

aggressive native lifeforms and all ships capable of air to surface attacks

were being told to rush back to Comatt III to provide air support."

"Air to surface bombardment…?"

I inadvertently let out a weird-sounding yelp when I heard the

incomprehensible contents of the message.

Even though colonization has just barely started, it's a bit strange to request

for the forces deployed out in space to rush back just to deal with attacks

from native lifeforms.

Well, they weren't like the military, so they probably didn't have too much

firepower, but they should at least have possession of laser guns and rifles

which are more powerful than guns that fired physical bullets. The

planetary colony base should be equipped with laser turrets and multicannon turrets which would be more effective for base defense compared to

energy shield generators and hand-held weapons.

Moreover, it's strange that we were not informed that there were still such

highly dangerous native lifeforms lurking around before the colonization

project formally commenced. Investigations should have been conducted

on-site before and after the terraforming process, and at this stage, harmful

lifeforms should have already been long discovered and dealt with

accordingly.

"That sounds kinda strange. Are you sure the message was from the Comatt

III defense forces?"

"Um, there's no mistake."

"…Please confirm it with the command center of the defense forces. And

just in case, confirm it with our client as well. Also, make sure to save the

message on the ship logs."

"Understood!"

Since we had Zuia onboard, it would be better not to mention Chris's name

directly. Well, even if we hide it, it seems they already suspected that we

and Chris had a rather dubious relationship though.

"What are we going to do?"

"If it's really from the command center of the defense forces, I just can't

ignore it. Mimi, tell Mei we're heading to Comatt III."

"Yes!"

Mimi really gets busy during situations like this. Well, since she can already

effortlessly handle communication relay work, I guess Mimi has really

become quite a seasoned ship operator. It appears it won't be long before

we need to revise her salary again.

"Set course for Comatt III."

"Aye, aye, sir. The course has been set."

Mimi's hands were full with contacting the relevant parties, so I had Elma

set the course for Comatt III instead. Since we were already navigating via

FTL Drive, there was no need to restart the sequence again.

"What do you think though?"

"It's quite suspect. Well, it's not like something's definitely up."

It looks like Elma also found the air to surface bombardment request quite

strange.

"Was it due to an oversight that caused drastic mutations during the

terraforming process?"

Did the research team overlook the existence of dangerous lifeforms, or did

the drastic changes in the environment caused by the terraforming process

have a serious impact on the lifeforms that were judged to be harmless?

"Or perhaps, it's a plot put into motion by a third party."

"Yeah, that's something to consider as well."

This might possibly be an intentional obstruction caused by a third party. In

other words, they might have dropped biological weapons with extremely

high aggression on the planet and secretly propagated them. We certainly

can't discount such a possibility. If there were parties that wanted to prevent

Earl Dareinwald from making any headway on this massive project, they

might have employed such means.

They would tighten the noose on their necks if they were to get caught, but

as long as nobody found out, it would serve as effective harassment. In any

case, if the planetary colonies were to receive severe damage here, it would

certainly affect the colonization project began by Earl Dareinwald

negatively.

"Since it's an SOS request that can't be dealt with by the local forces…"

"There's a good chance it's the third-party theory huh."

"Oh…"

"Like I said, don't go rejoicing about rocky developments!"

"I don't know what sort of threats we'll face later on, but be sure to delete

our earlier conversation from your records. That's unless you guys want to

involve yourselves in the secret conflicts between aristocrats."

"Hahaha, of course. Flashy and tension-filled content is way better for us

than those sorts of shady stuff after all. Though I believe those guys from

Nyaatoflix would happily latch onto something like that though."

Ah, yeah, they probably would. Nia does seem like she preferred these sorts

of shady, murky developments.

Well, anyway, it looks like we'll be fighting under the duress of gravity

after quite some time. The opponents are harmful lifeforms, so they would

only serve as target practice though. Oh well. I'll have to be careful not to

mess up and crash on the ground though.