Setting Sail for the First Mission
After saying goodbye to Her Highness and disembarking from the cruiser, I found Captain Ice already waiting at the boarding gate with thirty riot police officers.
Apparently, they had arrived on a civilian ship today.
“Captain Nao. We’ll be in your care this time.”
“Ah, Captain Ice. I’ve heard from Her Highness. I’ll guide you to the ship right away. What should we do about your rooms?”
“Rooms? Why?”
“Well, we’re heading into space for three days, so I’m asking about where you’ll rest. Someone on this ship went overboard making luxurious rooms, and to be honest, they’re not very popular with everyone.”
“Yes, I’ve heard about that. But there’s no need to worry about that.”
“Huh? No need…?”
“Yes, this is training. Considering future operations, we thought we’d stay in the standby area. If possible, somewhere we can have briefings.”
“I understand. I’ll prepare the multipurpose room for you. Anyway, let’s get everyone on board. I’ll explain more once we’re on the ship.”
With that, I led the thirty riot police officers onto the Shunmin.
For now, I guided everyone to the rear hangar and gave an explanation.
“This is where we’ll store the fire boats you’ll be using from now on.”
I gave the explanation in the empty hangar since the fire boats weren’t ready yet.
These riot police officers will be doing work similar to the inspections we used to handle.
No, it’s not as simple as inspections.
These are people who will be storming ships that are clearly judged to be hostile.
I left the ship tour to Maria and headed for the bridge.
On the bridge, various checks were being done in preparation for tomorrow’s departure.
I caught the Excecutive Officer, Sister Meyrica, to discuss routes and other matters.
We pulled up a map of this space sector on the monitor installed in the captain’s seat, and started planning the investigation while examining information received from the intelligence room.
During this, we also discussed the training for the riot police led by Captain Ice.
“Captain, will those riot police be doing EVA activities?”
“Huh? I don’t know. But it’ll probably be necessary when it comes to actual work. After all, even we had to do it for our insertion.”
“That’s true. It’s not urgent, but it seems we need to have a discussion about it.”
“Shall we invite them to dinner and talk then?”
The discussion with Sister Meyrica ended on that note, and I spent the time until dinner in my room.
Apparently, I don’t need to do pre-checks on the ship like before.
Or rather, I’ve received complaints from here and there asking me to stop, so I’m keeping quiet.
I wonder if my presence is really necessary on this ship.
At dinner time, I gathered all the officers and introduced them to Captain Ice.
Of course, we can’t gather everyone while in space.
If we were docked in our own territory, we could leave the watch to non-commissioned officers, but not while in space.
This isn’t the military or the coast guard, so there are no such rules, but I’m following military thinking as a general common sense.
Even on passenger ships, there’s always supposed to be a navigation officer on the bridge.
During the meal, we also discussed the training for the riot police led by Captain Ice.
Regarding Sister Meyrica’s question about EVA activities, they weren’t complete novices.
No, they were all tough individuals recruited from various workplaces, and they had received some basic training.
However, they hadn’t trained together as this assembled group, so we decided to include EVA training along the way.
At Captain Ice’s suggestion, we also wanted to do insertion training using the personal movers used by guides if possible, so we hastily prepared enough personal movers for everyone.
We originally had about twenty, so we borrowed some from Her Highness’s cruiser to make up the numbers.
If only we had a suitable place for actual training.
In my mind, I thought we could use asteroids in the asteroid belt we’ll pass through for training.
I was planning to investigate this asteroid belt anyway.
With radar ineffective and visibility limited, it’s a perfect hiding place for criminals.
If we could use carrier-based aircraft, the investigation would go more smoothly, but it will take a bit more time before the aforementioned aircraft are ready to use.
The biggest bottleneck is the pilots.
Apparently, they can’t move people until the captain of the Akkeshi, where they were recruited from, is decided.
There’s no point in demanding what we don’t have.
Besides, although we’re moving at the local police’s request, we’re leaving Nihonium under the guise of training.
Yes, this is training.
In my mind, I’m not expecting results like discovering routes favored by criminals from the start.
This is also investigation training.
During dinner, I had a meet-and-greet with the Shunmin’s officers and the riot police’s captain and squad leaders.
Well, apart from Excecutive Officer Sister Meyrica, we only have Maria and Kate as officers on our side.
On their side, besides Captain Ice, I was introduced to the deputy captain and three squad leaders.
I was honestly envious of the number of people who could manage and supervise subordinates, despite there being only thirty of them.
For now, I proposed using the asteroid belt we’ll pass through for the riot police to practice insertions using personal movers as part of the training plan.
After all, we had prepared movers for everyone, even if it was last-minute.
I wanted to use them if possible.
Captain Ice was also excited about my proposal, and the two of us got quite worked up.
In the end, we decided to conduct joint training with the entire Shunmin once we find a suitable asteroid.
I had Excecutive Officer Sister Meyrica notify everyone, and that concluded the day.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT gadgetizedpanda.net
Early the next morning, we departed from Nihonium’s spaceport.
Three hours after departure.
Thanks to the speed of normal navigation during this time, we’ve reached empty space.
“Captain, we’ll soon be able to detect strays. What should we do?”
“Strays?? What are these strays?”
“Strays are strays. They’re asteroids that have strayed from the asteroid belt. We’ll be able to detect them on the ship’s radar in about 30 minutes. Shall we train there?”
“I see. Well, we won’t cause trouble for others if we do something there, so what do you think, Excecutive Officer?”
“Well, it’s our ship’s first practical training, so it seems like a good place, doesn’t it?”
“If that’s the case, let’s train.”
“Shall I make an announcement?”
“It’s our first time, so let’s announce it. Excecutive Officer, if you please.”
“Understood, Captain. Ship-wide broadcast, communications officer.”
“Yes, Excecutive Officer. Broadcasting to the entire ship.”
“Announcement from the Captain. We will conduct ship-wide combat training shortly. All hands prepare.”
A sense of tension was added to the atmosphere on the bridge.
Come to think of it, this is the first time we’ve done this since getting this ship.
This atmosphere feels good.
I feel like I’ve really become a true soldier.
Speaking of which, I didn’t feel this tension when we faced pirates before.
At that time, I was only thinking about dying in the line of duty, about dying without involving my subordinates, so maybe I didn’t have the capacity for tension.
If someone had seen that situation from a third-person perspective, it might have looked less like a lack of composure and more like self-intoxication, being so drunk on myself that I couldn’t see anything else, but of course I didn’t realize that at the time.
That’s probably why I was so easily ignored by my subordinate, Sister Meyrica.
Kasumi’s voice broke through my self-reflection.
“Captain. The radar has detected the stray asteroid. It’s entering our radar range.”
Upon receiving Kasumi’s report, we enter into the training we had planned.
“Excecutive Officer. Let’s begin the training.”
“Announcing to the entire ship. The ship’s alert level is changing to pre-combat level. All hands on deck. All crew members except those on duty are to switch to standby status. I repeat. All crew members except those on duty are to switch to standby.”
Yes, this ship operates 24 hours a day as it navigates through space, so about one-third of the crew should be asleep.
The first step is to wake up those sleeping crew members.
Then, we issue an order requiring everyone to be on standby in a place where they can reach their assigned posts within a few minutes.
In this state, combat isn’t about to start immediately, so there’s no need to panic. This is an order to prepare because combat might start soon.
“Excecutive Officer. Since it’s our first time, could you at least check the situation?”
“Yes, Captain. Notifying all team leaders. Confirm and report the status of your subordinates.”
“This is the engine room. Three second-class space privates haven’t arrived.”
“This is the rear torpedo launch control, none of our people have arrived.”
………
………
The reports coming in from each department one after another are appalling.
There are even departments where some of our former inspection team members, treated as rookies, haven’t shown up.
What’s going on?
“Captain. This is a bit…”
“Yeah, this is not good. Excecutive Officer. Sorry, but could you call the security team leader to the bridge?”
After a while, the security team leader came to the bridge.
“Team leader. I’m sorry, but could you and the security team halt the training and search the ship? Just to make sure there aren’t any lost souls, though I doubt it.”
“Um, Captain. I also have a report…”
Oh come on, don’t tell me you guys too.
The team leader’s report was that while there weren’t any lost souls, people were wandering around not knowing where their duty stations on the ship were.
Come to think of it, we hadn’t properly discussed this with the security team.
That seems to be the cause, with people wandering here and there in confusion.
“Excecutive Officer. Please announce the cancellation of the training.”
Also check out my friend Localizermeerkat for more LN translations!
BUY THE SOURCE MATERIAL TO SUPPORT THE AUTHOR !!!
Kindly click on the green button above and contribute to filling the green bar if you’re interested in having another LN from the request page translated. Also, every donation is being used to purchase the source material and to fund more English translations.
Please consider joining my Ko-Fi membership. By becoming a member, you’ll also gain access to 2-10 additional chapters of all of the novels from this site translated into English. Last but not least your support will also assist me in upholding the translation quality and speed. For more information, please follow the link.
Donation for faster release is always welcome
Additionally, I am now accepting translation requests.
Well, the first training turned out to be a dud. It will get better from now on. 😉
Thanks for the treat.