Reunion with a Classmate
“Captain, the task force has returned with Maria and the others.”
“Have you received any reports of injuries?”
“No, not from anyone yet.”
………
………
“I’m back~”
Maria returned, greeting with a remarkably silly voice.
“Welcome back. How was it?”
“Huh? How was what?”
“Maria, report first.”
“Oh, right. That ship was terrible. Well, it was better than this ship before, but it clearly hadn’t received proper maintenance. When the task force made an emergency stop, things were rattling all over the place. We managed to get it moving, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it broke down at any moment.”
From Maria’s report, it seems that the space destroyer was not in a condition that suggested it belonged to any active military force.
Apparently, poor maintenance is quite common in nobles’ private armies, but it’s hard to imagine a noble foolish enough to directly involve themselves in piracy through their private forces.
I’m not well-versed in noble society, but if it were a noble’s army, they would at least attempt some form of camouflage.
For now, with Maria having started the engine, we can remotely move it anywhere.
“I see. So we’ve completed the capture of the enemy warship.”
“That’s right. Captain, what’s next?”
“More importantly, what happened to that colony?”
“Two hours ago, we received word from the military fleet commander that they successfully took control of the space colony. They’re currently hunting down the remaining insurgents.”
“How is Her Highness doing?”
“Well, about that……”
“What is it? What happened?”
“An hour ago, we received a communication from Her Highness saying she had entered the central control room of the captured space colony.”
“What? But they’re still hunting down insurgents, right? How are they ensuring her safety?”
“She said it’s fine because at least two platoons of soldiers are standing by around her.”
“That’s nonsense. Well, it’s not like I can do anything about it, and I certainly can’t stop Her Highness. I feel sorry for the head of security. He’s definitely going to get scolded later. It might even come directly from His Majesty.”
“Is that so?”
“I don’t know. Anyway, let’s just report to Her Highness and get out of here.”
“Huh? Why?”
“I have a bad feeling. We’re definitely going to get caught up in some trouble.”
“What are you talking about? Trouble is an everyday occurrence for us. I’ll at least send in the report.”
I had Excecutive Officer Meyrica send a report to Her Highness in the central control room.
Immediately, Her Highness sent back two orders.
The first was about the prisoners we’re holding.
She wants us to transport them to the colony, where they’ll be managed together with the prisoners captured there by the military.
The second was that they’re short-handed for the investigation, so she wants us to bring the task force members here to the colony.
Following Her Highness’s orders, I entered the not-so-spacious port of the space colony, towing the two captured space destroyers.
Honestly, this port is small for a space colony.
As it was, we couldn’t fit my ship in because a military space frigate that had entered earlier was in the way, so we had to ask the military ship in the port to move out.
This space colony has a narrow port, which will make operations difficult, but it was originally a pirate secret base.
This size must have been sufficient for them.
Thinking about such things, I disembarked at the port with the Excecutive Officer.
A military officer was supposed to greet us at the port.
When we exited our ship onto the port, a group of about thirty military personnel was waiting for us.
One of the officers came forward to greet me.
That officer turned out to be Mark, my classmate.
I never imagined I’d encounter Mark here.
Mark saluted and started to introduce himself.
“Mark from the First Fleet Supply Ship Escort Squadron… Huh? Could it be… Nao?”
He asked with a very surprised look on his face.
The two officers behind him also noticed the strange atmosphere and approached to confirm.
I recognized the faces of the two who came later.
I hadn’t talked much with them, but they were also my classmates.
Naturally, Mark was surprised, but when the two confirmed it was me, they froze.
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“Hey, Mark. It’s been a while. Oh, you’re on duty now, sorry. Let me start over. Let me introduce myself properly again. I’m Nao-Bruce, captain of the space destroyer [Shunmin], belonging to the Interstellar Criminal Police Organization Establishment Preparatory Office. Thank you for welcoming us. Also, thank you for accepting our request for assistance. As per Her Highness’s instructions, please handle the transfer of prisoners to the military. I’ve left the practical matters to my Excecutive Officer, Lieutenant Meyrica, so please discuss the details with her.”
“Hello, Ensign Mark. It’s been a while since that time. Looking forward to working with you.”
Noticing the two frozen behind him, Mark brought them in front of me and had them greet me.
“Um, could it really be Nao?”
“What are you saying, Sofia? That’s rude.”
“But, I can’t help it, Emma.”
“It’s been since graduation for you two. Long time no see, Ensign Sofia and Ensign Emma.”
“We apologize for our rudeness, Captain.”
“But still, how come you’re… a captain…”
Our conversation was completely out of place for a battlefield that had just been captured, creating an atmosphere around us that didn’t fit the situation.
One of their subordinate non-commissioned officers, finding this strange, started approaching us.
It wouldn’t be good to keep them occupied any longer.
“For details, ask Mark. I’ve met with Mark a few times since graduation and explained things to him then.”
“Huh? I haven’t heard anything. I knew Nao had become acting captain, but when did the ‘acting’ part get dropped?”
“Well, now’s not the time for such talk. If we get some time later, I’ll explain everything. More importantly, it looks like your subordinates are getting impatient, just like ours.”
“Ensign Mark, please handle the prisoner transfer.”
Meyrica tactfully started on the work.
She began discussing the prisoner transfer with the non-commissioned officer who had approached us.
Left out of the loop, the other officers and I just watched over their work for now.
Oh, I almost forgot about the other request.
“Ensign Mark. Her Highness asked me to bring our task force. Could you guide us to the central control room?”
“Mark, we’ll keep an eye on things here, so please… escort Captain Nao.”
“Alright, understood.”
I contacted the bridge via radio and called Captain Ice to this location.
Soon enough, Captain Ice arrived here with the task force members who had just finished their work.
From the looks of it, no one seemed to be injured.
So far, it seems we’ve suffered no casualties on our side.
Feeling relieved, I spoke to Captain Ice in front of the gathered task force members.
“Captain Ice. You’ve heard Her Highness’s request, right? I’m sorry to ask this when you’re tired, but we’re going to guide the task force members to the colony’s central control room now.”
“No need for concern, Captain. Fortunately, the task force suffered no casualties, so we can still be of use to Her Highness.”
“This is Ensign Mark from the military who came to assist us. He will guide you to Her Highness.”
“I’m Ice from the task force. Pleased to meet you, Ensign.”
“Likewise, Task Force Commander.”
“Captain. I can handle things here. Please come along with us.”
“Why?”
“There’s something that concerns me. On the ship we captured before, there were many…”
“Ah, right. I haven’t heard about that yet. Understood. I’ll look into it on my end.”
“Mark, I’ll come along too. On the way, could you tell me what you know about the current situation in the colony?”
Mark answered my questions sincerely.
There should be a lot of things he’d normally have to keep secret, but it seems Her Highness has completely taken control of the situation here, and Mark hasn’t been instructed to hide anything from us.
Still, the information Mark knows is limited.
However, one thing that concerned me from Mark’s explanation was about the people they’re protecting.
He said they’re only sending a few people to monitor them, which honestly doesn’t sound like proper protection.
I asked only about that location and told Captain Ice that we’d head there before separating from this group.
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