Discovery of Enemy Armed Ships
Fortunately, we can proceed in a straight line from here to Rhenium.
There don’t seem to be any asteroids or meteor showers along the way.
Ah… This is part of the route I’ve been looking for!
As soon as I reached an area where radio communication was possible, I called out to Her Highness’s cruiser to contact her.
Her Highness was away on diplomatic business with the nobility in Rhenium, but the head of the investigation room was available, so I requested backup.
Three hours after the radio call, I received a reply.
We were to rendezvous at a space colony fifteen hours away from our current position.
They sent me the coordinates of the space colony.
It’s a very small colony used as an emergency shelter and relay point for businesses engaged in resource recovery in the asteroid belt.
This means we won’t stand out if we dock there.
More importantly, the biggest advantage is that even ships with completely unusable engines can be moored in space.
On the flip side, it’s also a place where there will be obvious inconveniences regarding Her Highness’s security.
I’m a bit worried, but since it’s Her Highness’s order, we hurry there.
Although we’re in a hurry, we’re towing another ship, so we can’t reach cruising speed and are traveling at four space velocity.
Four space velocity is about the same as Her Highness’s high-speed cruiser’s cruising speed, so we can’t complain.
Fifteen hours later, we arrived at the target space colony.
Her Highness had already requested support here, so as soon as we arrived, a doctor from the colony came with equipment.
After spending about five hours protecting the children, Her Highness’s cruiser finally arrived at the colony.
Since it was traveling alone, I was a bit worried, but Her Highness wasn’t on this cruiser.
Due to her ongoing diplomatic business with the nobility, he was currently staying at a nobleman’s mansion in Rhenium.
Just before Her Highness’s cruiser arrived, we had finished evacuating all the children.
Captain Ford had brought twenty-three investigators, including the head of the investigation room, and riot squad members on the cruiser.
Chief Investigator Thomson and Riot Squad Captain Ice immediately came to me to discuss our next steps.
We talk in the captain’s room while I present the information I’ve gathered so far.
It seems that the enemy’s base might be at the end of the route I discovered, so we decided to conduct a supplementary investigation before the enemy escapes.
Although the scale of the enemy’s base is unknown, given that we’re dealing with the Sicilian Family, everyone agreed to request military support.
Captain Ford immediately sends an explanation of the situation to Her Highness and requests military support.
We decided to depart before the reinforcements arrive to discover the enemy base and investigate its scale.
Since the investigation here can be handled by just the investigators brought by the head of the investigation room, this time we’ll be accompanied by riot squad members as well.
After three hours of detaching the drifting ship and performing a quick inspection, we departed from this space colony.
We increased our speed and reached the point where we discovered the drifting ship in eight hours, a distance that took fifteen hours on the way here.
From here on, it’s uncharted territory for us.
We proceed while deploying carrier-based aircraft for vigilance to avoid surprise attacks.
We put aspiring pilot cadets in the back seats of the carrier-based aircraft to help with surveillance.
This is to have volunteers assist with the surrounding surveillance that is usually done by one person.
Normally, we would never do this, but honestly, we could use all the help we can get right now.
We’ll use anyone who can do the job.
Since they’re volunteers, it might actually be a good strategy as it provides a valuable opportunity for the cadets to experience actual operations. I congratulate myself on this idea.
Of course, we’ve taken out insurance.
[Shunmin] We continue to monitor data from the carrier-based aircraft in real-time from the bridge.
At the same time, we supervise the cadets.
Although we have two carrier-based aircraft, we conduct surveillance with one at a time on rotation, so pilots and maintenance crew who are not busy take care of the cadets on board via radio.
This should reduce the burden on the pilot who is currently operating the aircraft.
Five hours after starting the investigation, we found what appears to be the enemy’s base.
The first to discover it was my senior.
However, this time we can’t approach carelessly.
I recall the carrier-based aircraft for now to consider our response.
It’s still difficult to detect from [Shunmin]’s sensors.
After storing the carrier-based aircraft, we move [Shunmin] a bit closer and switch to monitoring with the ship’s internal sensors.
“From here, it only appears as a dot even on this ship’s sensors.”
“Yeah, but we can’t just rush in on our own, so we’ll wait for backup here.”
“Will backup really come?”
Excecutive Officer Meyrica asks worriedly.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT gadgetizedpanda.net
“Well, Her Highness herself said she’d personally appeal to some important acquaintances, so they should at least send something to save face. Well, if even one space frigate shows up here, we might force our way in depending on the situation over there.”
“I see. Well, that’s reassuring.”
“Reassuring?”
“I was worried you might go alone. I’m relieved to hear you say we’ll properly wait for backup.”
“Come on, I’m not that reckless.”
I still have some discretion left in me.
If it were just me, that might be a good idea, but this ship now has more subordinates on board than before.
I don’t want to involve cadets who still have their future ahead of them, security personnel entrusted to us by Her Highness, and riot squad members, many of whom I hear have families, in a suicide mission.
My ideal is to die heroically while saving them.
But what should we do?
Just watching something that only appears as a dot is extremely boring.
Just waiting here will only lower the morale on the ship, but what can we do?
We can’t exactly conduct training in a place like this.
As I was lost in thought, Senior Karin made a suggestion.
“Captain, we can’t determine the enemy’s situation from here. How about we try to identify the enemy’s scale and specifics?”
“Lieutenant Karin, what specifically do you have in mind?”
“Yes, I suggest we use the carrier-based aircraft to go a bit closer and conduct surveillance. I propose sending out two carrier-based aircraft for monitoring duties.”
Indeed, Senior Karin’s proposal is worth considering.
If we don’t know the enemy’s strength, we won’t be able to act immediately even when backup arrives.
The only thing we can do now is reconnaissance, but if we follow the proposal, there’s a risk that the carrier-based aircraft might be discovered, making it quite a dangerous mission.
After thinking for a while, I decided to accept the proposal.
“Let’s accept Lieutenant Karin’s proposal. However, this time, I won’t allow any cadets on board the aircraft.”
“Thank you for accepting my proposal. This time, unlike before, we’ll be monitoring a single point, so it shouldn’t be too much of a burden on the pilots. We’ll also keep an eye on the surroundings from here using the monitors.”
“Alright, just make sure to prioritize the safety of the crew during the operation.”
Having received my permission, Senior Karin immediately headed to the rear hangar from the bridge.
She’s going to have a direct briefing with the pilots and mechanics.
Two hours later, the operation began.
The objective of this operation is to investigate the enemy’s strength by bringing the carrier-based aircraft close enough to identify the enemy ships.
It’s an extremely simple plan: once we obtain the information, we won’t allow any further advance and will order them to return.
This might be the first time we’ve conducted an operation with two aircraft outside of training.
This time, one pilot commanding the carrier-based aircraft will be in charge of surveillance of the surrounding area, while the pilot operating the other aircraft will collect information.
After the carrier-based aircraft took off, Senior Karin monitored the screens as if she had forgotten to blink.
We must avoid any surprise attacks.
She also seems to be watching out for traps set up to defend the enemy base.
In any case, after three hours of intense tension on the bridge, the operation ended.
When both carrier-based aircraft safely returned, I felt oddly tired.
I hadn’t done anything, which is pathetic.
As soon as the carrier-based aircraft returned, Senior Karin rushed to the rear hangar to collect information.
From the images on our sensors, we could only tell that they were warships.
There were two small warships, and we wanted to at least identify their types if possible.
It seemed she headed to the hangar to download the information from the cameras mounted on the carrier-based aircraft.
After all, the information that can be uploaded in real-time is compressed, so we have to expect some degradation.
This is often done especially for information from distant locations.
Although I didn’t know this before, Senior said that this method is sometimes used, albeit rarely, in military carrier-based aircraft operations.
We process the downloaded image information using image processing software to enlarge the problematic images.
This process takes considerable time, but it allows us to safely assess the capabilities of the enemy’s armed forces.
Right now, Senior is processing the information along with the mechanics.
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.
Due to his ongoing diplomatic business with the nobility, he was currently staying at a nobleman’s mansion in Rhenium. -> Due to her ongoing diplomatic business with the nobility, she was currently staying at a nobleman’s mansion in Rhenium.
Thanks for the treat.
fixed thanks