Ground Work
Currently en route to the base, [Shunmin] received orders from the government as they approached the capital planet.
The government had decided to take custody of the captured space destroyer under tow for investigative purposes. They instructed us to leave both ships at the military defense headquarters stationed in a space colony orbiting the capital planet.
For me, this was a huge relief.
Frankly, remotely landing two unmanned space destroyers on a planet would have been difficult.
I had been considering transferring someone onto those ships, so this saved me a lot of hassle.
Since the space colony was in zero gravity, all we had to do was dock them at the mooring spots.
So, I remotely piloted them to their berths, detached them, and then landed just our ship at the capital planet’s Faren Spaceport.
As expected of Faren Spaceport—
being the largest base in the Space Navy Force, it housed the military’s medical headquarters and its affiliated hospital.
A large number of medical staff swarmed around [Shunmin], transporting the rescued children to the hospital one after another.
Emergency vehicles lined up around the ship, waiting their turn.
Meanwhile, the security personnel aboard [Shunmin] handed over the detained medical suspects to the military police.
Her Highness had already left in a luxury car that had come to pick her up—
likely the princess was being summoned to the royal palace.
At this point, my only remaining task was post-landing paperwork.
After keeping the bare minimum crew onboard, I granted the rest of the crew staggered shore leave and headed for the Ground Office.
They had been pushed hard lately, so I wanted to give them a few days of proper rest.
Once all that was settled, I made my way to the Ground Office with my executive officer in tow.
The Ground Office was a bit of a distance from Faren Spaceport, but a taxi ride got us there quickly. It was located inside a joint government building in the administrative district.
As soon as I entered my office, Maki-neechan showed up.
She hadn’t been here when I arrived, so she must’ve been busy—but she came the moment I returned.
“Welcome back, Captain. This mission was quite the ordeal, wasn’t it? ……Hm? You seem different. Did something happen? Does Executive Officer Meyrica know anything?”
“No, I’m not entirely sure myself. But it seems something occurred at the space colony. The Captain hasn’t said a word about it.”
“Director Maki, I’ll explain everything properly once I’ve sorted my thoughts—to both you and the exec. For now, let’s just get through this mountain of paperwork.”
But really—are Captains supposed to have more free time in space?
No, it’s just that ground duty is way too busy.
What even is this?
In this war-torn era, having to file reports for every single bullet and shell fired is nothing but a nuisance.
On top of that, there’s fuel and food consumption reports, expenses for docking at other bases, invoice processing, resupply planning for the next voyage—
and that’s not even all. Personnel reports, logistics—how much paperwork does it take to run a ship?!
I’ve heard that in the regular military, standardized forms exist where data can be sent automatically from ship terminals. But this organization is still new, so they haven’t gotten around to implementing that yet.
Naturally, the burden falls on the frontline personnel.
There was no way I could finish this much paperwork in just a few hours.
I decided to call it a day for today.
“Let’s finish the rest tomorrow.”
I said that and wrapped up the paperwork.
“That sounds good. Nothing here is urgent enough to rush, and at this rate, we should be done by tomorrow. Shall I make some tea?”
Maki-neechan prepared tea for everyone.
Maybe this was the perfect opportunity.
The Captain’s office within the Ground Office was completely partitioned off, soundproofed from the outside.
I told them both what had happened at the space colony—from my own mouth.
I had already suspected and braced myself for the truth about the organ harvesting ever since we first rescued those children. But Maki-neechan, hearing it for the first time, was visibly shaken.
Meyrica-neesan kept her composure, but even she seemed deeply disturbed by the fact that I had killed a child.
Finally, I relayed Her Highness’ words and honestly shared my own feelings.
“Enough depressing talk. More importantly—what’s the deal with that senior officer assigned to my ship?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s weird, right? She’s my senior—a year above me, and part of the Onshi (Imperial Gifted) Group at that. Why would someone like that end up under my command?”
“What’s this Onshi Group?”
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After clarifying that I didn’t know the full details, I explained what was rumored about elite officer academies—along with my own academic records.
Otherwise, they’d naturally question why I was in charge.
Still, they did ask—and I had no real answer.
“Frankly, I’d like to know myself.”
But since this strange personnel decision had come from the capital, I decided to ask Maki-neechan about it.
“Have you heard any odd rumors from the upper echelons lately?”
“Odd rumors? Well… Oh, now that you mention it—ever since you and the others started making waves, this department has been getting a lot more attention. We’ve been receiving inquiries from departments we’ve never even heard of. And after Her Highness held that press conference on Nihonium, we’ve been getting pressure from the nobility too.”
“Pressure from the nobility?”
“Yes. For example, they’ve been trying to insert their own people into our ranks. They’d love to push out commoners like me and replace us with their own relatives. The moment they found out I was from an orphanage, their attitudes changed completely.”
“Are you going to be alright?”
Meyrica-neesan sounded worried.
“Yes, I’ll be fine. When things get too persistent, Mr. Ferman handles them for me.”
It seemed the capital’s nobility had started seeing this place as a new goldmine.
Everyone was scrambling to secure influence here.
After all, this organization wasn’t tied to any existing power bloc yet.
“Come to think of it, my senior mentioned something similar. She was transferred from the military, but she’s also nobility—and more importantly, she was Her Highness’ classmate.”
“Ah, yes. Lieutenant Karin was transferred here on military recommendation. Normally, Mr. Ferman would reject any external recommendations, but he accepted hers without hesitation. I figured it had something to do with the royal family—but she was Her Highness’ friend?”
“Do you think more people from the military will be sent here?”
Meyrica-neesan voiced her concern.
But the military probably had bigger problems right now.
Back then, the pirates had made a dangerous claim—”We have connections with high-ranking officers.”
Her Highness and the audit team that arrived afterward would undoubtedly uncover evidence of that. Once they did, things would explode.
We continued chatting over tea, discussing the recent atmosphere in the capital.
“I’m getting hungry.”
“Nao, want to grab a meal somewhere?”
“Sounds good. Maki-neechan, know any good places?”
“Leave it to me! I’ve been exploring with the office staff. Lieutenant Meyrica, why don’t you join us? Of course, Nao’s treating.”
“Ugh… Fine. I’ve got enough saved up for this. Meyrica-neesan, you in?”
“Then I’ll gladly accompany you.”
“Perfect.”
As we started cleaning up the tea, a voice called for Maki-neechan from outside the room.
She sounded quite flustered.
“Director! Her Highness is summoning you!”
One of the clerks rushed in.
“Mr. Ferman just called—he wants you and the others immediately.”
“‘The others’? Who else is being summoned? Do you know?”
“All the management staff here. A car is waiting outside, so please hurry!”
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