Chapter 110 – A Group of Suspicious Characters

Translator: SFBaka

It’s been seven hours since I holed up inside the cockpit. Krishna finally exited from the psychedelic space-time corridor and arrived safely on the Brad star system.

The light from the G-type star Brad, which was adjusted to tolerable levels by Krishna’s HUD, brightened up the cockpit considerably. I guess some of you don’t really get what I mean when I call their sun a G-type star huh. To be honest, I don’t either. To put it simply, they are stars that are very similar to the Solar system’s sun.

“The main shipyard is based on Brad Prime, if I remember correctly.”

“Yes. Secundus and Tertius are both mining colonies. Our target destination is the Prime colony.”

“Okay then. Let’s head to Brad Prime-”

As I started pointing the bow toward the direction of Brad Prime, an alert rang out. It wasn’t an alert signifying an emergency or that we’ve been locked-on to by enemy ships. It alerted us to the fact that we were being scanned. I operated the pilot console and put up the radar display. I discovered one ship a little distance away from Krishna. It was most likely the one checking us out.

“We’re being scanned huh.”

“Well, it’s fine. Being treated as someone suspicious is a bit upsetting, but it’s nothing to be hung up over. Mimi, set a course for Brad Prime and-”

Another alert rang out. And again, we weren’t being targeted by weapons or anything. We were still being scanned. The ships that were scanning us just multiplied. Before we noticed it, the number rose to three.

“……”

“Um…… I’ve set the course.”

“Everyone, brace yourselves. We’re flooring it and shaking them off.”

After declaring so, I accelerated Krishna all at once. I ignited the afterburners and left the suspicious scan-happy ships behind. The radar display indicated that they were actually trying to chase after us, but it’s no use.

“Elma, start charging the FTL Drive.”

“Okay. I’ll begin charging then. Countdown. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… FTL Drive, activate.”

Krishna cruised away at lightspeed.

“Man, that was kinda creepy-”

This was the third time an alert rang out.

When I checked the subspace sensor, I saw lots of ships scanning ours. There were seven in total. Dang, it just multiplied to eight. And it looks like that wasn’t the end of it. The sight of us speeding away with lots of ships following us was akin to a meteor swarm.

“What the hell!? What’s their problem!?”

I can almost hear the crew of those ships shouting things like ‘Don’t let em get away! Chase after em, fellas!’. Just what the heck? It was beyond my understanding and was honestly a bit scary.

“Master, it may be because this is a ship model that they are seeing for the first time.”

After saying so, May put up the radar display on the HUD. They were actually all ships affiliated with Space Dwerg. They were split into various departments like weapons development, hull design, propulsion mechanics and such, but there was no doubt they were all from Space Dwerg Co. Ltd.

“I kinda don’t feel like coming to the colony now.”

I had a strong hunch we were gonna encounter something troublesome again. Well, with a unique ship like Krishna, I’m almost a hundred percent sure. But even so, I also feel that it’s gonna be the same no matter which ship-making company we visit, so there’s no point to running away now and trying again later.

While thinking about these troublesome matters, we finally arrived at the Brad Prime colony. I promptly deactivated the FTL Drive.

We went back to normal space. The ships who were chasing after us also deactivated their drives and popped up one after another. As for how many there were… It kinda feels silly to even count them now.

“Send out a docking request, Mimi.”

“Yes.”

The alerts ringing continuously are seriously getting on my nerves man. There’s the option of threatening them to stop, but that might invite even more trouble, so I’ll just have to put up with this right now.

“Should we release chaff or something?”

It looks like Elma was getting irritated as well. Well, of course, she was. Anyone would. It’s a different matter if you get scanned by ships belonging to the authorities like the imperial garrison, but being scrutinized by civilian ships like this with no restraint feels really off-putting.

It’s not like they were violating any laws, but scanning ships arbitrarily usually has the negative connotation of being suspected for carrying illegal goods or having a bounty. It’s like they were accusing us of being criminals or something. It’s very rude. It’s like being subjected to a full-body check and rummaging through all of your luggage in an airport without prior notice or consent.

“It’s annoying but just leave them alone. Let’s just file an official complaint later. May, please record the affiliation and IDs of all the ships present here.”

“Yes. Please don’t worry. I have already taken the appropriate steps.”

“Great.”

Like I said, what they are doing isn’t exactly illegal. But even if it isn’t, there’s such a thing as proper manners, right? Regardless of the fact that we’re just mercenaries, doing this sort of thing to a guest is still a gross breach of etiquette.

“We have permission to dock.”

“Great. Let’s go then. Auto-docking program, activate!”

“Yes, activating now.”

Krishna’s controls switched to auto-pilot mode and it began docking procedures straight away. Brad Prime was your standard Torus-type colony. In other words, it’s one of those donut-shaped colonies we encountered several times before already. Termaine Prime, where Mimi, Elma, and I met, was also a Torus-type.

But Brad Prime was much larger compared to your regular Torus-type colony. The part which serves as the rotational axis was quite long, and it seems the shipyard was actually annexed to it. It reminded me of those illegal manufacturing facilities back in the game, but this one was owned by a recognized ship-making company, so it should be fine. Yep, I’m sure it is.

After seeing us dock at the hangar, the ships persistently scanning us gradually dispersed. But then, they also sent out docking requests.

“Good grief…… It feels like they’re even gonna chase us to the ends of the universe if they have to huh.”

“Yeah……”

How annoying. It looks like it would be safer to keep the shield running even after we park. I can’t have them trying to board my ship after all.

After we safely docked inside the hangar, we finished the follow-up procedures and were finally permitted to disembark. I had everyone get off the ship with me this time. In other words, there’s me, Mimi, Elma, and May. We were all going to head to Space Dwerg’s main office. We already decided on purchasing the Skizbrazunil, but we haven’t decided on which custom parts we are going to order, so I had them all come with me so we can pool our opinions again.

And so, we got off the ship. But…

“What’s going on?”

When the ship’s hatch opened, the first thing we saw was a group of more than ten engineer and researcher-looking types flocking outside. No matter how you slice it, they didn’t look like people from the port admin bureau. They all had gadgets resembling handheld cameras and were talking excitedly with red faces near Krishna. What the-!? Hey! What are you gonna do with that stepladder? Don’t touch the hull without permission dammit!

“Um, this is……”

“Hiro.”

“Yeah.”

I took out my portable terminal from my pocket and got in touch with port admin.

『Yes. This is Brad Prime’s port administration bureau. How may I help you?』

“Hello. I’m Captain Hiro from the 34th hangar block. We just docked, but there are more than ten suspicious folks hanging around near our ship. There are people setting up a stepladder and some are touching our ship without permission. Please send in some security personnel to apprehend them. They’re being quite a bother.”

『That’s…… Understood. We will send in our people right away. We are sorry for all the inconvenience this has caused you.』

“Yeah. Honestly. We are actually here for a business deal worth more than 20 million. So I would like you to deal with this immediately.”

I made a bit of a threat to the admin staff, and as a response, the security personnel was dispatched immediately to deal with the situation. They swiftly apprehended those suspicious folks and took them away amidst a flurry of complaints and cursing. After confirming that the matter was dealt with, I used my terminal to retract the ramp and activate the ship’s energy shield remotely.

“Well, this should be okay for now. But that incident earlier honestly made me a bit uneasy about our visit here.”

“Um…”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“Yes.”

Even May agreed with me. Cuz those guys were staring at our ship with creepy gazes y’know. It was honestly a bit disturbing. Were they being pressured by a development quota or something? Was Space Dwerg actually a dystopian black company?

“Should we really go through with this? I kinda feel like it’s better to run away though.”

I sighed and made an offbeat joke, but no one reacted.

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