Enemy Ship Detected
“That’s how it is. We’re going on the offensive, Executive Officer.”
“Yes, Captain. The [Shunmin] will now engage in combat. Move the ship to the attack point.”
“Understood.”
“Once we reach the enemy’s line of attack, aim the main guns on their firing axis and fire a full salvo.”
“This ship has reached the designated point.”
“Main guns are ready to fire at any time.”
“Main guns, full salvo. Follow up with another salvo, then launch two torpedoes in the same direction. Set fuses to contact detonation only. Range—unlimited.”
“Torpedoes ready.”
“Firing next Main guns volley.”
“Proceeding with torpedo launch.”
“Torpedoes away.”
“We’re launching photon torpedoes again. Prepare to fire two as soon as they’re ready.”
“Preparing torpedoes.”
A response comes through the bridge speakers from the forward torpedo control station.
[Forward Torpedo Control here. Next volley loaded and ready.]
“Roger. Fire torpedoes.”
The bridge is practically roaring with attack commands.
“Captain, all attack orders have been completed.”
“Good. Now we pursue the torpedoes we just launched. Executive Officer, have the [Shunmin] chase after those torpedoes.”
“Understood, Captain. Navigation officer, change speed—maximum thrust to pursue the torpedoes.”
“Huh? Maximum speed in this asteroid belt?”
“Yeah, but it’s fine. If there’s any debris in the way, the torpedoes will hit it first. So let’s move now so we don’t get left behind.”
“Understood. The ship will proceed at maximum speed to follow the torpedoes.”
“Lookout, don’t slack on scanning the surroundings.”
The battle moves into its next phase.
Maintaining vigilance, the ship advances at full speed toward the presumed enemy position.
With the [Shunmin]’s top speed, it’s moving just slow enough to be mistaken for a sluggish torpedo—perfect for a surprise attack.
However, for this plan to work, we must detect the enemy first.
If the [Shunmin] is spotted first, we’ll come under fire—but even if we take hits, I’m confident we can handle it.
Still, it wouldn’t hurt to stay alert.
“Raise forward shields to maximum output. And lookout—keep scanning ahead, but also stay sharp for any surprise attacks from other angles. Especially enemy fighters—they’re easy to miss. Stay vigilant.”
The bridge quiets down now that the attack orders have ceased.
Only the bare minimum of operational voices can be heard.
The tension stretches on, making it feel like an eternity, though in reality, hardly any time has passed.
Amid the uneasy silence of the bridge, a loud report suddenly cuts through.
“Metal contact ahead. Estimated distance: zero-point-zero-three.”
“Time to intercept?”
“Approximately five minutes.”
“Decelerate. Reduce speed to one cosmic velocity.”
“Decelerating.”
“Captain.”
“Yeah, it’s fine. Even if that’s the enemy, closing this distance means our ambush will work. Besides, I want to be fully prepared before investigating that suspicious ship. So, lookout—any more details?”
“No, still just metal signatures at this range… Wait—got a heat source from the metal contact. Definitely artificial.”
“Is it the enemy?”
The Executive Officer checks with me—
likely to alert the bridge crew.
“We should assume so and prepare accordingly. I’d like more intel, but we don’t know when they might attack, so stay sharp.”
“““Yes!”””
Five minutes later, Lookout Kasumi delivers another report.
“Confirmed heat source—almost dead center of the metal signature. This pattern matches a spacecraft. No doubt about it.”
“It’s the enemy. Lieutenant Karin.”
“Yes?”
“Status on the fighters?”
“Ready to launch.”
“Then deploy them. I want them covering our rear and flanks.”
“Wait—we’re not sending the fighters to scout the ship ahead?”
“No. Since we’ve already been attacked, I’d rather avoid sending fighters. The [Shunmin] is tougher. We’ll investigate directly. But if we get ambushed mid-inspection, that’d be bad, so keep watch.”
“Understood. Launching two fighters for perimeter security.”
This way, even if the ship ahead is a decoy, we won’t be caught off-guard.
I order the [Shunmin] to proceed toward the suspicious vessel while maintaining speed.
As we close in, more details emerge.
“Based on the metal signature, it’s not a supermassive ship. Heat emissions suggest a small craft—bigger than a cruiser, though.”
“Strange. The firepower they used against our fighters was immense—at least on par with an Aegis-class battleship’s main guns.”
“True, but sensors aren’t detecting anything near that output. We’ll have a visual soon—hold on.”
“Visual acquired. Enlarging and projecting on screen.”
Kasumi operates her console, displaying the ship’s silhouette on the main bridge screen.
At this range, atmospheric distortion would make the image blurry on a planet—but in space, there’s no interference.
Only the natural dimming of light over distance.
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“Can you zoom in further?”
“Image quality will degrade, but yes.”
Kasumi complies, enlarging the feed.
“Ah! I know this ship!”
Lookout Assistant Banya suddenly shouts.
“What do you mean, Banya?”
“I’ve been on one before. Pretty sure they said it was a famous shipyard’s passenger-freighter hybrid. A childhood friend of mine serves on a sister ship—I saw it once when picking him up.”
“Now that you mention it, it does look like one. Let me check… …Got it. Banya’s right—it’s a Shaft Shipyards’ Block Chain model. Their flagship mid-sized passenger-freighter. Over 230 units rolled out so far.”
“A modified pirate ship, then. Probably just slapped a massive main gun on it.”
“But that doesn’t make sense.”
This time, it’s Kasumi—a self-proclaimed warship enthusiast—who speaks up.
“What’s the problem?”
“For a ship that size, the heat signature is way too small. Current readings suggest something more like a small craft.”
“Maybe they modified it to mask heat emissions?”
“Then the signature would be even smaller. If they went to the trouble of masking heat, they’d do a better job.”
“So identifying the ship just raises more questions. Either way, we still need to investigate. Approach cautiously—stay ready in case they fire those battleship-grade weapons.”
“Understood, Captain. Navigation, adjust speed to five cosmic velocities.”
“Adjusting speed to five cosmic velocities.”
Proceeding warily, we’ve found what appears to be a modified civilian ship.
Despite our caution, the enemy shows no reaction—
However, despite its superior surveillance capabilities—capable of detecting carrier-based aircraft at that distance—it showed no reaction even as we approached this close.
I order the fighters to intensify scans, especially toward our rear.
“Captain, we’ve swept the area—nothing but that ship. Not even anything hiding behind asteroids. It’s empty.”
Something’s wrong. There has to be more.
Pirates who detected our fighters at that distance should have reacted by now—
especially to a government ship like the [Shunmin], with its unmistakable color scheme.
They should be fleeing, attacking—something. But there’s nothing.
At this point, it’s just eerie.
“If they’re not reacting even at this range, it’s probably a trap. An attack from behind would make sense, but we’re not seeing that either. All that’s left is that ship.”
“Could it be rigged to explode when we get close?”
“Kaori, I doubt that. Even if they knew we were coming, prepping something like that would take weeks.”
“Kasumi’s right. A ship that size would need at least half a month for prep.”
“Maria, why? Couldn’t they just overload the engines and make it blow?”
“Kaori, what civilian ship can even reach critical output? Even with all safety locks disabled, the fuel couplings would fail long before then. They’d never hit even half of critical output.”
“But this ship—”
“The [Shunmin] was retrofitted from a civilian frame, but do you really think the president overlooked that? Every part was swapped for military-grade. I helped with that—right, Executive Officer Meyrica?”
“Exactly. Pirates wouldn’t put in that kind of effort. They probably can’t self-destruct. Besides, where would they even get military-grade explosives?”
She’s right. The plasma fuel we use only becomes energy when properly ionized—in raw form, it won’t even ignite.
It’s so non-toxic and harmless, safe enough for kids to play with.
No matter how much you gather, it’ll never explode.
Military ships might have contingencies, but civilian vessels? Impossible.
Even if it’s a modified pirate ship, the best they could manage is a localized blast near the main guns—
assuming they use the same fuel.
But if they tried to overload the plasma in the guns… Nah.
The energy would just vent harmlessly into space.
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