"Phew, I’m beat."
While he hadn't worked nearly as hard as the villagers, Jin felt a satisfied weariness after a full day of physical labor.
"Jin, thanks for the hard work today. You really saved us," the village chief said.
"I don't think I'll be able to come by tomorrow, though."
"No, no! We finished almost everything today. We'd be inviting divine punishment if we made the Lord help us any more than this."
"Onii-chan, thanks for the hard work!"
"Jin, get some rest. Elsa-chan, thank you too."
Seen off by the villagers, Jin, Elsa, and Reiko headed to Jin Castle. From there, they returned to Hourai Island via the Warp Gate.
"Ahhh... that's the stuff."
A bath after physical labor was a special kind of luxury. Jin stretched out his limbs in the tub.
"I might have muscle pain tomorrow..."
It was a vulnerability that came with having a flesh-and-blood body again, but even that felt right. Jin wore a satisfied smile.
He fell into a deep, dreamless sleep that night.
＊ ＊ ＊
October 7th. Even as he woke to the expected full-body muscle aches, Jin felt refreshed.
Beside him, Elsa complained of slightly sore shoulders and legs—the inevitable price of her hard work during the harvest.
The couple moved their stiff bodies gingerly as they ate breakfast together.
"Jin-nii, what's the plan for today? We won't reach the fragments until tomorrow at the earliest, right?"
Jin checked with Laojun to confirm the timeline.
"Laojun, what’s the status?"
『Yes, My Lord. Upon passing the orbit of the Fourth Planet, the density of matter in space decreased, allowing for a further increase in speed. At this rate, we will intercept the fragments within the day.』
"I see!"
The sooner they could begin, the better.
"Continue as planned. Anything else to report?"
『That is all for the moment.』
"Understood."
The critical moment was only half a day away. Jin braced himself.
Neither Jin nor Elsa could settle into a rhythm that day. They paced the laboratory restlessly, brewed batch after batch of healing medicine, and even tried to take a nap in anticipation of staying up all night, only to give up when sleep wouldn't come.
Time crawled at an agonizingly slow pace for them both, until finally, the moment arrived.
『My Lord, we have detected the fragments of Modenu.』
"Right! Adriana, decelerate as scheduled!"
『Understood.』
The Adriana’s acceleration and deceleration capacity was approximately 20G. It could be pushed higher without a human crew. Even at a speed of 400 kilometers per second, it was calculated to come to a full stop in just over 33 minutes.
Then, it would reverse course. Since it needed to synchronize with the fragments' velocity—which was roughly 250 kilometers per second—that maneuver would take about 21 minutes.
"One hour until the mission begins."
Once the ship was in position, Jin planned to use the Doppel already aboard the Adriana to command the operation on-site.
This was the real test.
＊ ＊ ＊
Out in the vacuum of space, the 300-meter flagship Adriana utilized its full power to decelerate.
20G... a staggering 196 meters per second squared. Such immense acceleration was only possible thanks to the force generators.
During the deceleration phase, the ship passed the fragments of Modenu. Everything was proceeding exactly as planned.
Once the Adriana came to a stop 33 minutes later, the hull rotated 180 degrees, and the ship began accelerating back the way it had come.
The goal was to catch the fragments.
To avoid any potential collisions with smaller debris, the ship maintained a trajectory more than 100 kilometers away from the target path, moving perpendicular to its direction of travel.
＊ ＊ ＊
"It's time."
In the command room on Hourai Island, a tense Jin sat in the cockpit for the Doppel.
『Yes, My Lord. For synchronization, acceleration has been reduced to 4G.』
"Alright. Doppel, wake up."
＊ ＊ ＊
Jin’s Doppel—Jin D—opened its eyes on the central bridge of the Adriana.
『Welcome, My Lord.』
Taisei, the flagship's magi-brain, greeted him.
"Taisei, status?"
『Everything is on track. Velocity synchronization will be complete in approximately two minutes.』
"Good. Once we're synced, launch all ten scout ships."
『Understood.』
Time began to move in a blur.
『Launching ten scout ships now.』
"Good."
The scout vessels, each ten meters in diameter, bore the names Achilles, Perseus, Hercules, Theseus, Castor, Pollux, Prometheus, Endymion, Daedalus, and Cepheus.
"Proceed with the disposal of the small and medium-class fragments as planned."
『Understood. We will handle the medium-class fragments first, then transition to the small-class.』
"I’m counting on you."
While the scouts worked, Jin D and the Adriana prepared to deal with the large and extra-large-class fragments.
Teams of golden Cosmos units from the Space Force began the task of installing large-scale force generators.
The largest of the large-class fragments would receive twenty-five units. The number would scale down based on the size and estimated mass of each rock, with the smallest large-class fragments requiring only five.
With these, they hoped to gain enough control to divert them.
However, it was then that Jin realized he had made a significant oversight.
"Wait... they're rotating?"
The fragments were slowly spinning on their axes.
"I should have seen that coming...!"
If they were spinning, the thrust from the force generators wouldn't be fixed in a single direction, making it impossible to calculate the resulting trajectory with any certainty.
"I have to find a way around this..."
Jin, operating through Jin D, searched desperately for a solution.
"That's it! If I assign one Cosmos unit to each one to maintain control...!"
They could use some of the force generators for attitude control to stabilize the spin, then use the rest to change the orbit. Jin was confident this would work.
Relief washed over him once he had a plan.
"Alright, let's start with the large-class fragments."
Because the extra-large fragment was so massive, Jin planned to handle the large-class ones first and then dedicate all remaining force generators to the final, biggest target.
The Adriana closed the distance to a nearby large-class rock.
Instead of a risky landing, the ship used its own force generators to lock its relative position to the fragment.
『Opening lower warehouse hatch,』 Taisei reported.
『Cosmos 500 units are now transporting the large-scale force generators.』
A large force generator weighed 350 kilograms under 1G, but in the weightless environment of space, moving them was effortless. Even if there had been gravity, the Cosmos units possessed power comparable to the Sky and Marine squads, meaning a single golem could have managed the load alone.
『Installation complete.』
It took nearly an hour to transport and secure the twenty-five units.
"Good. Now, I’m sorry to ask this of you, but Cosmos 500—stay there on the fragment and keep the trajectory adjusted so it heads toward Celane."
And so, the mission began.