A Salesman Appears

"The main merits of medium-class ships is that they possess better

firepower and armor compared to small-class ships."

"Right. Also, small-class ships are largely high-speed ships, but

medium-class ships can range from high-speed ones to heavy firepower

ones, so there's a greater set of options to choose from. And

customizing them will heavily alter their performance to tailor one's

needs as well."

"That's true. But ain't they objectively worse as pursuit ships and

interceptors? I mean, we can customize them to be faster, but they

probably still won't be able to match small-class ships when it comes to

speed and acceleration."

"That's the case in terms of pure specs, but since medium-class ships

possess greater range and firepower compared to small-class ships,

don't you think they can cover more ground depending on how they're

used?"

"Un, it would be nice if we could use an Anti-FTL trap too."

"That's military equipment, so only specialized military ships can use

it."

The Anti-FTL trap Mimi mentioned is basically a type of wide-range

interdictor that can forcefully deactivate FTL drives and prevents them

from reactivating. It serves as a pretty troublesome interference device.

Well, unfortunately, its energy efficiency is basically crap, and only a

specialized ship that lacks firepower is able to keep it active for

extended periods. That specialized ship is exclusively manufactured

and provided to the military, so it isn't available in the market.

"That thing's ability to pin down targets is top-notch after all. It's not

like we need to activate it for long periods of time, so why don't we find

something roughly similar in the market?"

"Yeah, activating that kind of effect in short bursts is more than enough.

It guzzles a crapton of energy, so how about throwing in a capacitor for

good measure?"

"It's technically possible Boss, but findin' one in the market's gonna be

pretty hard, ain't it? It'll be pretty nasty if pirates get their hands on

some after all."

"Yeah, it will be ugly if pirates used FTL traps to stop civilian ships in

their tracks."

"If that's the case, then it probably isn't going to be easy to find…"

It will definitely be a nightmare if pirates started using such equipment

to hunt down civilian ships. It would only take roughly three minutes to

destroy the thrusters of their victim in such a defenseless state after all.

"Well, if there's none, then it can't be helped. Alright, let's talk about the

demerits of medium-class ships next. The main one is definitely

operating costs."

"It would cost more to maintain it compared to a small-class ship, and

we need to pay the mooring fee for it in addition to the Lotus, so we

need to consider that as well."

"On the performance side, it's definitely its speed. Um, like, it would be

difficult for it to avoid attacks and such."

"It's a bigger target compared to small-class ships after all. Since it's

heavier, you wouldn't be able to pull off tight maneuvers with it. I

suppose we just have to resign ourselves to that to an extent."

"But it can equip much better shields compared to a small-class ship,

right? If we gave it enough firepower, wouldn't it be able to take on

typical pirate ships easily?"

"A well-equipped medium-class combat ship will definitely make short

work of the customized civilian ships that most pirates use. The

problem is that some pirate ships are also equipped with a good

amount of seeker missiles."

"The pirates aren't that stupid after all. That's why they employ seeker

missiles to specifically deal with medium-class ships. A medium-class

ship's shields can withstand five or six hits of seeker missiles without

any trouble, but taking ten or twenty hits would be tough."

"You can shoot down some of the missiles using laser cannons, so you'd

be able to trim down the number of hits to a minimum."

"But those guys will probably take the opportunity to escape while

you're busy shooting down the missiles. But we have Krishna and Black

Lotus, so I think we'll be fine even if that happens."

It's true that they can deal with the newly added medium-class ship

with that tactic, but it's fine since they still have to face Krishna and

Black Lotus afterward. No matter which of our ships gets focused on,

the other two will swiftly be able to switch to attack. Once that happens,

the pirate ships would probably not be able to withstand it. Those who

are skilled in running away are the most troublesome after all.

As we continued with our discussion, silhouettes from the company

booths at the back headed toward us. I gave them a quick glance and

discovered that it was a smartly dressed young man who looked like the

shining example of your typical businessman accompanied by an

equally well-dressed beauty – or rather, an android.

"What do you want?"

"I'm very sorry for barging in on your discussion, sir. I'm Autumn from

the Ideal Starway Company. This is my companion, Milly."

The man called Autumn politely introduced himself, and his companion

female-type android Milly gave us an elegant bow.

"You are Captain Hiro-sama, correct?"

"Indeed. So?"

"I shall be frank then. I wish to offer you our company's products. Milly

here has particularly sharp ears, you see. Thus, she couldn't help but

overhear the contents of your conversation, Hiro-sama."

"Well, it's not like I mind a little eavesdropping. We're not talking about

anything particularly confidential anyway."

This guy said it wasn't on purpose, but I bet it definitely was. His female

android companion was equipped with high-performance audio

sensors, after all, so her job was definitely not just serving him as an

assistant but information gathering as well.

"So? What does the great Ideal Starway want to offer a poor mercenary

like me?"

The Ideal Starway Company was an ultra-large ship-making semigovernment firm that manufactured ships for the imperial military.

Their ship designs were well-polished and elegant, and their

performance was just about above average. The speed and armor of

their ships were just about above-average too. Same for their

customizability. They were also priced well compared to the other

company's ships. Putting it nicely, their ships were reliable allrounders. Putting it badly, they were half-baked. They were that sort of

ship maker.

"Surely you jest, sir. Isn't it a little too humble of you to call yourself a

mere 'poor mercenary', Hiro-sama? After all, you are a Gold Star

recipient and Platinum rank mercenary who has even been specially

recognized by His Imperial Majesty himself."

"That's true."

"Yes, certainly."

"Yep."

"Right."

Everyone agreed with Mr. Autumn's remarks except for me. Even Mei,

who was standing behind me, nodded. Am I playing an away game here

or what?

"Ok, ok, my bad. Sheesh. Anyway, you wanna discuss a deal with me,

right? Have a seat then."

"Thank you very much."

When I offered him to take a seat, Mr. Autumn sat down across the

table, right in front of me. Milly stood behind Mr. Autumn.

"So, I suppose Ms. Milly here already has a good idea about what type of

ship we want from our conversation earlier, right?"

"Indeed. So I was wondering if you'd be interested in one of ours."

After saying so, he placed a tablet-type information terminal on the

table and pushed it toward me.

Hm? This table was equipped with a holo display, so it should be able to

project the contents of the tablet terminal if the data was sent to it.

Going out of his way to show me the tablet screen directly was

somewhat suspicious.

"Don't mind if I do then."

I picked up the tablet terminal and looked at the screen.

What was displayed was a medium-class ship with a sharp-looking

profile typical of the Ideal style. It was an elegant and streamlined

design with a pointed bow. However, the stern looked quite sturdy and

had a rugged feel to it. The heroic design that combined both grace and

ruggedness was definitely Ideal-quality.

I rotated the 3D model displayed on the screen and found that the main

thrusters were composed of three large ones and two small ones. Its

acceleration performance seemed to be quite good. It had plenty of side

thrusters, and it looked like its turning capability was surprisingly good

as well. Well, I'm still not clear about its power to weight ratio, so it

might be unexpectedly heavy. Maybe this ship was actually only fast in a

straight line.

"What are the mechanisms attached to the center and both sides of the

ship?"

There were spherical parts on both sides of the ship, but I didn't

recognize what type of devices they were, exactly. At least, I've never

seen option parts like them before.

"I haven't seen these before either… Judging from their appearance,

they seem to be some sort of electronic warfare equipment though."

Elma peeked at the screen and cupped her chin as she tilted her neck in

wonder. They did look a bit like ECM generators or amplifiers.

"Those are the centerpieces of this ship. It's a rather aggressive

prototype, design and performance-wise."

"Oi, oi. Don't tell me you want us to test this prototype of yours?"

"It has already passed the quality control and reliability tests perfectly,

though it's true that it's not officially released in the market yet."

"So that means you want practical combat data huh… So, what the heck

are these anyway?"

"We call them Gravity Jammers over at the company. To put it simply,

they are compact versions of the equipment called FTL trap."

After saying so, Mr. Autumn displayed a conspiratorial grin. I see. Now I

know why he's so confident after listening in on our discussion.