Where are the enemy warships from?
An hour after the carrier-based aircraft returned, my senior came to the captain’s room with the results.
It’s pathetic, but I was so nervous and tired that I’ve been resting in the captain’s room since the aircraft returned.
The ship’s alert level has been lowered from battle stations to standby, so it’s within regulations.
As my senior starts to explain the documents they brought, I stop her and we return to the bridge together.
It’s easier to explain to the executive officer and others all at once anyway.
I sit in the captain’s chair, call for the executive officer, and ask for an explanation of the documents.
Honestly, the results weren’t encouraging.
The two warships appear to be genuine military vessels, not hastily armed converted merchant ships as we had hoped.
While we don’t know their official names, we’ve confirmed that they’re space destroyers.
The same class as our ship, the Shunmin.
Although the Shunmin has been so heavily modified that it can hardly be called a space destroyer anymore, we’ve at least confirmed that there are two warships of the same class as the pre-modified Shunmin.
“We can’t approach these carelessly,”
“Yes, what should we do?”
asks Sister Meyrica.
Either way, now that we know the enemy’s location, we need to report it to avoid missing the reinforcements coming to help us.
“XO, let’s report to Her Highness. We need to relay this location so we don’t miss the reinforcements.”
“From here, we’re quite close to the enemy. While the aircraft’s radio signals are weak and not easily intercepted, transmitting from the main ship risks enemy detection.”
“XO, let’s fall back for now. We can retreat to a safe distance, inform Her Highness of the location, and then return. If we explain that we’re only receiving communications to avoid enemy detection, Her Highness will understand if anything happens.”
“Understood.”
We decided to fall back since we’ve pinpointed the enemy’s likely base.
This decision carries the risk of losing track of enemy reinforcements or their escape, but it’s a calculated risk.
Safety comes first.
It’s ironic that someone with a death wish like me is planning a safety-first strategy.
It might seem paradoxical, but it can’t be helped.
We retreated to a safe distance and reported the enemy base location and what we know of their forces to Her Highness.
Her Highness informed us that she’d secured a squadron of reinforcements from the military.
They should arrive at the scene within three days at the latest.
Three days is plenty of time for us to remain in this location.
I told Her Highness we’d continue surveillance and then returned to our original position.
Now we’re entering a potentially boring surveillance operation that could last up to three days until reinforcements arrive.
Given our crew’s level of training, we can’t return to normal operations. For the next three days, everyone will sleep and eat near their work stations.
This is the same treatment as the mobile unit members on board, so there can be no complaints, but I’m a bit worried if they can endure it.
However, we can’t allow them to return to their individual rooms.
With the enemy in sight, it’s clear that if we let them return, we wouldn’t be combat-ready for an hour.
Even from our current standby status, I’m worried it would take 20 minutes to be ready.
The last time, it took 15 minutes to reach battle stations, but there’s no guarantee we can achieve that time again.
Well, this has been communicated to everyone through their team leaders, so there shouldn’t be any problems.
The issue is how to deal with this boring time.
For now, we’re launching carrier-based aircraft periodically for surveillance.
We can maintain tension on the first day, but our crew is young after all.
By the second day, boredom sets in.
“Captain, shall we move forward a bit for further investigation?”
suggests XO Sister Meyrica.
“Well, we don’t sense any danger at the moment… Alright. Let’s move the ship to where our aircraft are. Proceed while hiding behind meteors and asteroids.”
“Yes, we’ll advance with utmost caution.”
At an unbelievably slow speed for the Shunmin, we advanced through space where meteors and small asteroids occasionally fly, slightly off the usual navigation route, until we rendezvoused with our reconnaissance aircraft.
At this point, there’s no need to keep the aircraft out.
I ordered the aircraft to return and utilized the ship’s sensors fully for surveillance of the surrounding area.
“No artificial objects detected within attack range,”
Kasumi reported, allowing me to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Keep up the surveillance,” I ordered.
While sipping the coffee prepared for me, I spoke to XO Sister Meyrica.
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“The reinforcements should be arriving soon at the earliest, right?”
“Yes, we were told no later than three days, so by our calculations, it wouldn’t be strange if they arrived now.”
“As for what to do next, I guess we have no choice but to wait for reinforcements.”
In response to this comment, which could be considered my muttering to myself, Senior Karin offered a suggestion.
“Captain, I have a proposal.”
“A proposal? Do you have a good idea?”
“Yes, since our ship has come this far, why don’t we send out the carrier-based aircraft a bit further?”
“What’s the reason?”
“Firstly, aircraft are harder to detect on radar, and secondly, we can confirm the exact type of the enemy space destroyers.”
“Confirming the type, huh…”
“Yes, if we can get a clearer view of their exterior, we can determine the type. Moreover, we can identify their armament from the exterior, which would significantly increase our safety during an attack.”
What Senior Karin says makes sense.
If we can just determine the number of main guns, we can decide on our countermeasures in advance.
Well, since we know they’re space destroyers, there shouldn’t be much difference, but knowing whether they have torpedo tubes or not would make a difference.
“Alright, I understand. I approve Lieutenant Karin’s proposal.”
“Thank you, Captain.”
“As I’ve said many times, please act with safety as the top priority. The military will likely be the main force in the upcoming attack. I want you to fully understand that our primary mission is to stay here and gather information until the military arrives.”
Having received my permission, Senior Karin rushed to the rear hangar to relay the mission to the pilots.
An hour after my approval, the carrier-based aircraft took off from the Shunmin, approaching the enemy while maintaining utmost vigilance of their surroundings.
Three hours later, we received video footage that finally revealed the type of enemy space destroyers.
They are two Bulldog-class space destroyers.
The Bulldog-class space destroyer was the last destroyer type produced by the Kingdom and was evaluated as the masterpiece of destroyers.
According to the information at hand, thirty ships of this class were produced, and this Shunmin was also produced as the 22nd ship of this class, originally named the Hounddog.
Although the Shunmin has become a completely different ship thanks to that president, only resembling its original appearance, we still understand the performance of the Bulldog-class space destroyers since we carried out the modifications ourselves.
“If it’s that Bulldog-class, it’s no match for the current Shunmin. We could handle two of them with just this ship,”
Maria says nonchalantly.
Sister Meyrica seems to share the same opinion and is even optimistic.
Well, we had pretty much figured this out when we learned the enemy had space destroyers, but identifying the specific class has led to a sense of relief.
Come to think of it, it’s obvious. The Bulldog-class was said to be a masterpiece, and there are no space destroyers in the Kingdom superior to it.
I’ve heard that other countries might have newer ships, which could have been potentially dangerous, but that’s just a rumor, so there was no need to consider it.
Just as a somewhat relaxed atmosphere was spreading on the bridge, Kasumi, our warship otaku, said something strange.
“Captain, isn’t this odd?”
“Odd? What do you mean, Kasumi?”
“They’re warships, you know. The enemy ships are warships. Like this ship was, warships are supposed to be properly disposed of even when decommissioned, so why are they there?”
At first, I didn’t understand Kasumi’s question, but her following words made me realize the gravity of the situation.
“Either warships were handed over to pirates without being properly disposed of, or there might be someone among the officials secretly aiding the pirates.”
That’s right.
Pirates shouldn’t be able to possess warships in the first place.
We know that the space frigate we captured earlier was seized by pirates due to a operational mistake by our neighbors, so its history is clear.
However, the history of the two space destroyers before us, including this Shunmin, is suspicious.
All thirty Bulldog-class space destroyers produced have been retired from military service, with some being transferred to the Coast Guard, but those have long since been retired as well.
Records show that some were also transferred to the private armies of nobles in various star systems, and currently, these noble armies are about the only ones still operating space destroyers.
If we consider a more cynical view, there’s even a possibility that the space destroyers before us belong to the private army operated by one of these nobles.
If that’s the case, we’re facing a very troublesome problem.
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