Kensan System

The Kensan system was a star system that has just been incorporated

into the Graccan empire. Its existence itself has been recognized for a

while already, but it took quite a lot of steps and time in order for it to

be recognized as official Graccan imperial territory internationally.

That's why, technically, it was just newly incorporated.

"Well, that seems to have happened only three months ago."

"That is considered recent?"

"Um, maybe it is?"

Whisker responded to Kugi's question with another question. Well, on

an international scale, I suppose three months can be considered as

something recent.

"So, what're we gonna do now, Boss?"

Tina, who wasn't wearing her usual work overalls but casual room wear

instead, inquired. Her get-up didn't seem out of place because we were

currently relaxing inside the dining hall of the Black Lotus. It didn't look

out of place, but just wearing a thin tank top was still a bit too

defenseless.

"For now, we'll do stuff like recon and info gathering."

Elma responded while sipping a mysterious drink from a straw

extending out of a cup-shaped container. She was always drinking it

when working out, so I assumed it was some kind of protein drink, but

I've never confirmed my conjecture with her. Was it tasty? Maybe I'll

ask her about it later.

"Specifically, we'll gather info related to hunting pirates. It seems there

are many cases of pirates aiming for transport and adventurer ships

around these parts. The imperial space navy is checking out the

surrounding star systems, thinking there's a pirate stronghold in them."

"That's why we mercenaries are going to split up and hunt down space

pirates in order to get information out of them. We need to either

capture live prisoners or secure data caches."

"I see."

It seems that Tina, Mimi, and Elma were convinced by my explanation.

We need to take prisoners because whenever space pirates surrender,

they basically erase all available information inside their database

before purging the cockpit block from the rest of their ship. If they

didn't do that, they'd end up selling out their fellow pirates. It seems

that even pirates have a certain code they abide by. Either way, they'd

still die miserably in the end, so I wish they would at least prove useful

though.

If a data cache couldn't be found, it was just a matter of interrogating

the prisoners, but that would cost the imperial military some time and

effort. In this world of super-advanced technology, it just wasn't

possible to hinder information collection for long. And besides, human

rights weren't applied to space pirates in the first place. In a way, it was

an extremely scary world.

"In other words, it's just business as usual."

"Right."

In short, we were tasked with filling in for the military that wasn't able

to conduct effective small-scale operations. Presently, it seems that the

defense garrison against pirates in this star system was woefully

lacking in the required numbers.

There was no problem with protecting the supply mothership

Dauntless itself. And the Dauntless was equipped with a large number

of defensive turrets and interceptor fighters. Its being called a supply

mothership might sound like its combat capabilities were low, but in

reality, it's more like a mobile fortress.

However, when it comes to protecting the entire system, the Dauntless

by itself wasn't enough. Although fighter interceptors had all the

combat functions a proper combat vessel needs, they were basically

unable to operate too far away from the mothership. So, whenever a

rescue request comes in, they'd need to send a fleet to respond instead

of sending fighters, but the Dauntless escort fleet alone just won't be

enough. That's why we who were hired by Col. Serena and her

Independent Anti-pirate Mobile Fleet were sent all the way to this

Kensan system.

However, as far as I could tell, the actions of the pirates active in this

system were refined and troublesome. Their raids were quite swift, and

they'd already be long gone way before the system garrison and the

imperial space navy's combined fleet could even arrive.

Pirates weren't stupid after all. If they judged that they couldn't win,

they'd have no qualms running away. Even I couldn't prevent some from

escaping from my sights several times already.

"I think it's just a coincidence, but now we'll need to go up against

slippery space pirates who tend to run away right after we purchased

the Antlion that's equipped with a Gravity Jammer."

"I understand what you're getting at, but Antlion's Gravity Jammer was

developed to be a bane to space pirates in the first place. It's inevitable

that we use it to deal with space pirates, right?"

I responded to Whisker's words and shrugged.

We'd probably get the same impression even if we hunted down space

pirates like normal without accepting Col. Serena's request. There was

no equipment more suited to mercenaries like us who make our living

hunting down pirates than something that's able to interfere with the

activation of a pirate ship's FTL drive.

Well, if I asked Kugi, she'd just tell me it's a result of my innate

predisposition for bad luck or something like that, but anyway, we

made the decision to purchase the Antlion that day ourselves, so simply

chalking it all to fate didn't sit that well with me.

"They say the bounties placed on the heads of the pirates are getting

higher and higher. Let's act carefully yet boldly and earn lots of money…

Well, it's our day off today though."

"Thanks to Tina and Whisker, our ships are in perfect condition, and

we've also completed stockpiling supplies in the Windas system. Do you

guys want to check out the Dauntless? We're going to be staying in it for

a while after all."

"Ooh, that sounds good. It looks like a pretty old ship, but I'm curious

about its interior."

"It should be fun walking around a ship this big."

Tina and Kugi look very up to my suggestion. Tina was just acting as

usual, but Kugi was also displaying a strong sense of curiosity. It's

probably because she was brought up in a sheltered environment. Her

three tails were wagging back and forth cutely.

"Let's go and check it out then, everyone."

"Yes! I'll call Mei-san over too."

Mimi operated her tablet terminal and sent a message to Mei who

wasn't present. It seems we're gonna be staying here for a while, so let's

do some sightseeing first.