Chapter 199

"Alrighty then, I'll swing by again on the return trip. Keep things tight for me, yeah?"

Taro gave a casual wave toward the monitor, where the elderly Garuda Station Representative was currently bowing.

"Yes, of course. Traders hardly ever set foot in the station, so we should be quite safe. Truly, I cannot thank you enough."

The old man offered a serene, grandfatherly smile and lowered his head. Taro gave a satisfied nod and cut the video feed.

"……Right, we’re pulling out," Marl muttered.

She looked a bit like a deflated balloon as she shoved the Plum’s engine output up. She’d already been briefed on the situation—the whole 'human ranch' horror show—and the shock had clearly knocked the wind out of her sails.

I’m a little worried about leaving them, but we’ve got a job to do.

The objective. The whole reason he’d dragged a fleet all the way out to the middle-of-nowhere Zayed Route. Right now, that had to take priority over everything else. Helping people was all well and good, but you had to be standing on your own two feet before you could pull someone else up. First on the to-do list: crushing the Mercenaries’ conspiracy.

"Since we are leaving the new unit behind, there is really no need for your usual fussing, Mr. Teiro," Koume chimed in, her voice as level and polite as ever. "We are well aware of their capabilities. Despite the... vocal dissatisfaction coming from the other ships."

She was talking about the Electronic Warfare Craft Unit they’d stood up recently. The pilots were all former members of the Sunflower Squad from Enzio. When the unit was formed, the internal pushback had been nasty—plenty of people in the fleet had friends or family who’d been killed by those very pilots. Lately, though, things had simmered down. They’d been acting as a support wing for Bella’s Main Fleet, and their hard work was slowly chipping away at the resentment. They were competent, sure, but more importantly, they were desperate to claw back even a shred of their lost honor.

Because of their high stealth specs, they’d been tapped for the 'wait-and-ambush' role to catch the traders. It was a dangerous gig, with orders to capture the target if possible. Of course, since the traders only showed up once every few years, the odds of them actually appearing were pretty slim.

I need them to bust their humps when the real fight starts, so they’d better earn some trust while they can. If they can’t coordinate with the rest of us, I’ll have no choice but to use them as disposable guerilla fodder.

Taro hadn't exactly forgiven them himself. He still remembered the time their electronic attacks nearly wiped out his entire fleet. But with the company and their society growing at such a breakneck pace, he couldn’t afford to let skilled former military personnel go to waste. He drew the line at using actual war criminals, but he’d reached out to just about everyone else. He didn't want a brain drain of talent to his enemies, after all.

"Anyway, my real worry is that the traders will sniff us out," Taro said, shaking his head. "The guys we’re dealing with are absolute scum. They wouldn’t think twice about nuking the station just to hide the evidence of their side-hustle."

"That should also be fine," Koume said with a slow, reassuring nod. "As Mr. Santol mentioned, those traders stay out of the station’s internal affairs entirely. I have personally scrubbed the surveillance footage; the secret is safe. Besides, I doubt they would risk sabotaging a potential deal with a group possessing such a 'Main Fleet.'"

Koume put a playful, mocking emphasis on 'Main Fleet.'

"Yeah, 'Main Fleet,'" Taro replied with a wry grin.

By his standards, this was a 'decent-sized fleet' at best. The bulk of his forces were still back in Alliance Territory; this was supposed to be a simple scouting mission.

"I told him, 'We have various fatal reasons for keeping our existence a secret from other traders. If even a tiny trace is found, the deal is off.' ...Man, I’m such a liar. I even greased his palms with a bribe." Taro laughed self-deprecatingly as he recalled the speech he’d given Santol.

"No, Mr. Teiro. That was a lie for their benefit. It is not the same thing," Koume asserted flatly. "There are times when the truth is nothing but a poison, and Koume believes this is one of those cases. Honestly, I do not believe for a second that simply being 'truthful' is the same thing as 'justice.'"

"And calling it a bribe is a bit much, don't you think?" Marl cut in. "You just hooked them up with the supplies they needed. Koume’s right—you’re being way too negative. Though... yeah, I get why you feel that way."

Marl shrugged. Taro gave a small, forced laugh and took a deep breath.

Whatever. I live in a world where everyone’s stabbing everyone else in the back anyway. Bit late to start worrying about my moral compass now.

With that, Taro flipped the switch in his head and focused back on the mission.

"……Man, I’m bored, though. 'Mapping the stars' sounds cool, but it’s mostly just flying in a straight line."

Taro glanced over at the mountain of data being updated on his screens. The Plum was constantly suckering in scan data from every ship in the fleet, and Taro was processing the whole lot as a side-task.

"Excuse me? It’s a ton of work!" Marl snapped. "Analyzing, collating, checking for errors... It’s only easy because Etta is a genius and you... well, you’re a freak."

"Hey! You didn't have to change 'excellent' to 'freak.' Can't we just be two excellent people?"

"Zip it! Try being the one who has to design 'peaky' hardware to keep up with your nonsense processing speed and ridiculous demands! I can't even use old data—I have to build this stuff from scratch!"

"Ahahaha! You're a lifesaver, Marl-tan! I mean, we couldn't even do this survey without that weird device you whipped up."

"It’s not a 'weird device!' And seriously, asking for an [OBSERVATION PROCESSING DEVICE] with two hundred times the standard precision is insane! People usually ask for a five percent boost! Maybe double or triple if they’re feeling spicy! Two hundred? Even Sophia’s little brother wouldn’t have the gall to ask for that!"

"A-Ahaha……"

"The only reason it even works is the Plum’s [BISHOP PROCESSING MECHANISM], but even I’m impressed I pulled it off. Honestly, if I teamed up with a half-decent inventor, I’d be a billionaire by now…… Wait. That’s actually a great idea. Did I pick the wrong partner?"

"Huh?! No, no, no, wait! Please! Don’t dump me! I’ll die of loneliness! Taro-chan is too young to be a solo act!"

Taro threw himself at Marl’s feet, clinging to her with zero dignity or shame. She looked annoyed, but there was a distinct twitch of a smile on her face as she tried to kick him off. Koume watched them with the indulgent eyes of a parent. The heavy atmosphere was gone, replaced by the usual chaotic, cozy vibe of the first bridge. The only outlier was Etta, who stood perfectly still and silent.

After twenty-three and a half long days of surveying, the Plum and the fleet finally began their trek back toward the Alliance.

The WIND—the biggest headache of the trip—had shown up with terrifying frequency, just as they’d feared. However, they’d managed to swat them aside thanks to the [ANTI-WIND ACTION PREDICTION DEVICE: ENIGMA] units Taro had luxuriously crammed into every single ship. They’d lost one destroyer and two frigates, but miraculously, there were zero casualties. The escape systems had been overhauled based on the lessons learned from Marl’s time as a castaway, and they’d performed beautifully.

Sadly, the Garuda traders hadn't shown their faces, but no one had really expected them to. Taro’s main concern now was the five representatives from Garuda Station currently hitched a ride on one of his ships. He’d tried to explain the reality of the Empire and the traffickers to them—choosing his words like he was defusing a bomb—but they’d still gone into a total meltdown. He was half-worried they’d try to off themselves once they saw the Alliance and realized he wasn't joking. Santol had stayed behind, of course; if the traders showed up and he wasn't there to greet them, they’d smell a rat.

"I wish we could've gone inside," Marl said as they cruised past the Garuda Star System. "It sounds insensitive, but a 'living museum' is a once-in-a-lifetime sight."

Because the station’s tech was basically held together by spit and prayers, Taro hadn't let any of the core crew board for safety reasons. But the reports from the survey teams still on-site suggested the place was a goldmine of ancient relics.

"The situation is a reckless, hopeless mess, but at least we’ve got a strategic foothold now," Taro said, trying to sound optimistic. "Once we’re back, we’re gonna be slammed preparing to give those Mercenaries a nice, big reality check."

Managing a company via Faster-Than-Light Communication wasn't exactly 'real-time' at this distance. Wells (the newly minted Director of the Production Department) and General Manager Clark were currently running the show on the ground, which gave Taro’s group some breathing room.

They’d spent that time obsessing over the Anti-Mercenaries plan. Taro drafted the basics, Alan polished the edges, and Bella ran the tactical simulations. Marl handled the gear procurement list, while Liza crunched the numbers on how much the war would tank their stock price. Etta handled the long-range sensor net, Koume pointed out the 'human' errors in their logic, and Sakura predicted how the EAP would react. Even the regular intel drops from Phantom had been a godsend.

The enemy was a titan, but no one was backing down. Losing wasn't even on the table. Every person in that room was absolutely convinced of their victory.

"I’m gonna make them cry uncle so hard... Oh, Jump’s starting."

Marl, practically vibrating with determination, checked her monitor and gave Taro the heads-up.

"Copy that." Taro secured his drink to his seat, bracing for the transition.

"……Wait!"

Etta’s voice cut through the air—sharp, urgent, and totally uncharacteristic. Taro immediately signaled Marl to abort the jump.

"What’s up?"

"The haze…… the drive particles are shimmering. They’re spreading... rippling out in a massive circle. Someone performed a jump right there. Only a few hours ago."

Etta pointed toward the bridge wall.

"Can you tell the scale, Miss Etta?" Koume asked.

"It’s tiny," Etta whispered.

Taro’s face twisted into a dark, jagged grin. "If our luck keeps being this good, I’m gonna start worrying about a piano falling on my head later. That’s gotta be the traders. Let’s go plug the exit."

Taro hammered out a formation plan to cover every possible Overdrive lane out of the Garuda system and blasted it to the fleet. The high-speed frigates pulled 180-degree turns instantly, streaking away like blue arrows.

"Alright, let's go have a little heart-to-heart with these scumbags."

Taro gave the order to Overdrive toward Garuda Station. The massive ship slowly pivoted, its hull stretching toward a distant pinprick of starlight.

Taro was already imagining the kind of personified evil he was about to face.

But the person waiting for them was someone he never could have expected.