Ch.158Uninvited Guest (2)

I successfully stowed away on the ship and secured a safe place.

So what should I do now?

‘I need to damage the FTL engine.’

This ship is a warship belonging to the Star Union fleet. When the battle ends, it will return to its original space station for repairs. If that happens, all of us here are finished.

‘But if the FTL engine has problems, movement becomes impossible.’

The FTL engine, a crystallization of super-scientific technology, is a very sensitive organ befitting its excellent performance. A damaged FTL engine is as dangerous as an overloaded reactor. This is because it can drop a ship that has entered FTL navigation in a completely unexpected place.

‘With bad luck, you could even fall into a star.’

In the game, if you fail FTL navigation and fall into a star, it’s instant death. Unique equipment, special traits, top-grade ships—all useless. I once died after being forcibly warped into a star while fighting Voltex One.

‘Reality would be similar.’

Falling into a star due to a malfunction during transit is an extreme case, but not impossible. Unless they’ve been defeated, they wouldn’t move so recklessly.

I placed my auxiliary organ against the wall inside the garbage disposal room. Along with intermittent vibrations, I could feel the flow of intense energy from the side of the ship.

Since the rocket at the front and the front part of the ship were severely damaged, this ship is in a state where it’s difficult to participate in combat. They’ll probably retreat to the rear of the fleet and move while avoiding the Cult’s attacks.

‘I don’t know when the battle will end, but…’

It probably won’t be long.

‘That cyborg flagship I saw earlier.’

That ship, which looked more than three times larger than other ships, is a model I know.

‘Z2-class large battle cruiser. It looks somewhat modified, but that must be it.’

Star Union battle cruisers commonly carry anti-ship torpedoes.

‘Gremlin torpedoes.’

This weapon, one of the most outstanding inventions of the Star Union, is a kind of nano-machine torpedo that, true to its name, eats away and eliminates only metal. The Gremlin torpedoes loaded on flagships are specially modified to specify which type of metal to consume.

For example, a Gremlin torpedo targeting moonsilver will not stop until it eliminates all moonsilver near the point of impact.

And there’s only one faction here that uses moonsilver to build ships.

‘They can fire it during a chaotic battle without any problems.’

The only drawbacks are its very high cost and vulnerability to EMP.

‘But the Cult can’t use EMP.’

Unless there’s a skilled psychic power user like No. 26 or a Cult prophet, it’s difficult to defend against Gremlin torpedoes with just regular shields.

‘They’ll wait for an opportunity to fire at the Imperial Mothership.’

Once they fire the Gremlin torpedo, the battle ends. I need to deal with the engine problem before then.

The goal is set. Now it’s time to move.

[Zz zzz zzzz zzz(I’ll be right back)]

“Where are you going? I want to come too.”

“I””together”

“Both of you wait. The morph… ahem, k, kid has something to do.”

“Something to do?”

[Zzz zzzzzz zzzz(Just going to look around. Play while I’m gone)]

“Okay. Take care!”

“I””goodbye”

“……”

Watching the Sky Mother embarrassed by the fact that she had said a certain word herself was quite enjoyable, but there was no time. I told the kids to rest and crawled out of the garbage disposal room.

At other times, I would move with them, but not this time.

‘I need to move stealthily.’

We’ll all rampage together once safety is assured.

After leaving the disposal room, I crawled upside down on the ceiling. There were many cameras in the corridor, but they couldn’t detect my presence.

This was thanks to the ‘Unknown Creature’s Fur’ trait, with my fur pointing downward as I hung upside down.

‘If they were cyborgs, they would have been startled to see me.’

Since it’s a stealth effect that evades detection equipment, traits, and techniques, normal cyborgs would be able to see me just fine. I’m not sure about androids or drones though.

‘I’ll experiment with that later.’

For now, it’s better not to encounter them. I moved along the ceiling, tightly pressed against it with all eight arms and legs, choosing paths where I couldn’t sense any androids or drones moving.

Fortunately, most drones and androids seemed to have been deployed for ship repairs, as there weren’t many robots in the corridors.

As I got closer to the engine room, I sensed something large moving in the distance.

‘A walker?’

But I quickly revised my thought. As it got closer, I became convinced it wasn’t a walker.

I slipped away at a fork in the corridor and hid against the wall to avoid encountering it.

Soon, a spider-like machine appeared from beyond the corridor. It was a robot with a human head and torso, but where arms and legs should be, it had six robotic legs.

‘That’s a Screamer!’

“Kuuuu””Kuuuu”

The grotesque Screamer breathed heavily through tubes attached to its mouth. Every time the tubes attached to its mouth and back pumped chemical solutions, cold sweat poured from its body.

It looked around the corridor with bloodshot eyes, then scuttled away somewhere on its six metal-framed legs.

‘So that’s where the sweat smell was coming from.’

I thought it was partially modified cyborg soldiers sweating from tension, but it was a Screamer.

Screamers well reflect the taste of Space Survival’s developers. To summarize the setting of these bizarre machine-organisms: they’re like penal battalions operated by former communist countries.

The Star Union doesn’t send cyborgs who are vicious criminals or anti-establishment figures to prison, but turns them into Screamers. Rather than wasting someone who’s “just a machine” and useless to society, they turn them into combat weapons.

When you become a Screamer, you lose all control over your body and become a puppet with only your mind remaining. No wonder their nickname is “bio-drone.”

They say they’ll restore you to a normal cyborg when your sentence ends, but most die on the battlefield before that happens.

‘Strange to see Screamers in an elite fleet.’

From the Machine Committee’s perspective, since they’re all criminals, they’re not usually assigned to good fleets like this. I’ve heard there’s an elite unit in the Star Union composed entirely of Screamers, but this ship doesn’t belong to that unit.

‘Screamers are troublesome enemies, so I should be careful.’

They’re fearless like androids, but with combat abilities incomparably higher than combat androids.

When they see an enemy, they bite like mad dogs and hold them down. At a time like this when I need to infiltrate and hunt enemies one by one, they’re nothing but a nuisance.

After that, I confirmed there were two more of them. Since the Screamers patrolled periodically, I had to take a considerable detour to the engine room.

It took longer than expected because of them, but I didn’t waste time meaninglessly.

‘Let’s consider this as familiarizing myself with the ship’s structure in advance.’

I checked information needed to attack this ship, such as the security level of communication facilities and the location of auxiliary terminals that can check the propulsion output.

After gathering information while taking detours, I finally reached the floor above the engine room.

Why the floor above the engine room and not the engine room itself? The reason is simple.

‘Going directly to the engine room is dangerous.’

Being a warship, the level of security in the engine room is incomparably higher than the research ship I wandered around during my Hatchling days.

That most important facility on this ship is guarded by 10 heavily armed androids and 20 combat drones. They maintain strict surveillance 24 hours a day to turn any unauthorized intruders into honeycomb.

Moreover, all kinds of sensors are installed in the corridors leading to the engine room.

While the Unknown Creature’s Fur may not be detected by cameras, it’s surely not omnipotent. It would probably be detected by motion sensors that detect vibrations.

So I don’t plan to directly attack the engine room.

‘I just need to damage other things necessary for engine operation.’

For example, the engine room’s cooling system or the circuit that receives energy from the reactor.

I adjusted the direction of the cameras installed above the corridor, then jumped down to the floor. After landing lightly, I lay flat and pressed the auxiliary organ under my chin against the metal plate on the floor.

I detected intense heat and vibrations—shallow but stronger than elsewhere—from the dark gray inner wall.

‘Around here, I think.’

I just turned the cameras, so this area won’t be recorded. I dug into the metal plate on the floor with my sharp claws. I scratched carefully to avoid making noise that might attract someone.

Soon a hole appeared in the plate, revealing intertwined wires and tubes inside. I opened my mouth wide over the hole.

‘Something melted would be hard to repair, right?’

The acidic fungal gland located between my throat and esophagus activated. Soon, clumps of highly acidic fungi poured out of my mouth.

–

“Imperial Mothership damage 78%. Incapacitated.”

“Phew.”

Kainzque sighed as he watched the video information coming through the cable connected to the ship.

In the center of the video he was watching was what “used to be” the Imperial Mothership.

The Cult’s ultimate weapon, the Imperial Mothership “Punisher of Gormos03,” was sinking after being hit by a Gremlin torpedo.

“That was intense. Really.”

As the chaotic battle dragged on, the Imperial Mothership began to hold back at some point. Probably because they knew we would finish them with Gremlin torpedoes. Other Cult warships also thoroughly blocked the mothership from being hit by torpedoes.

‘That was more annoying than I expected.’

Because the Cult warships blocked the way, even sacrificing themselves, our flagship also had trouble firing the Gremlin torpedo.

“Cult warships retreating.”

“Tsk, should have run away earlier. Idiots.”

When the Cult became more troublesome than expected, Nemea Fleet’s Acting Fleet Commander Sanadaev adopted a quintessentially Star Union strategy.

He had torpedoes hit friendly ships to coat them with nanomachines, then ordered them to charge toward the Imperial Mothership.

About 10 ships were sacrificed, but thanks to that, the Imperial Mothership fell victim to the Gremlin torpedo’s nanomachines.

The result is what Kainzque is watching now.

“Pursuit unnecessary. All fleet units return to the ESS-22 system.”

And so the brief battle ended. Kainzque doesn’t know how much impact the result of this battle will have.

‘It’s not my concern anyway.’

All decisions are made by the high-ranking officials of the Machine Committee. Maybe Acting Fleet Commander Sanadaev will be troubled because of this battle.

“Order the repair drones to return, and prepare the FTL engine.”

“Confirmed.”

The computer of Ship No. 98 relayed Kainzque’s orders. Meanwhile, he checked the information of the “special machines” loaded on the ship.

‘Damn, why conduct new Screamer experiments on my ship?’

Originally, all Star Union Screamers are managed by the Machine Committee’s android Pyrrha Eleven.

Normally, they would handle Screamer experiments, but this case was different. Orders came from above to experiment whether Screamers could get along well with regular soldiers on ships.

They’re currently testing whether the few completed prototypes can be deployed on regular ships without problems, and Kainzque’s ship was one of those carrying Screamers.

‘Why the hell do we need to carry these criminal bastards on the ship?’

No captain would like criminals wandering around the ship, even if they’re completely controlled. Even more so if they have to regularly observe how well these criminals are adapting and submit reports.

But Kainzque couldn’t voice his complaints.

Pyrrha Eleven’s rank is High Commissioner—the same rank as Nemea Five, the commander-in-chief of the Nemea Fleet and High Commissioner of the Machine Committee. He couldn’t possibly say anything to an android in a position far higher than Acting Fleet Commander Sanadaev.

“Sigh, gotta do what I’m told. No. 98, what’s taking so long? Why haven’t we departed?”

“Problem detected in FTL engine.”

“What? What kind of problem?”

“Cooling function inactive. Energy supply from reactor reduced to 40%. Probability of error during FTL jump in this state: 63%.”

“What? What nonsense is this?”

Why would the perfectly fine FTL engine suddenly have problems? Kainzque was dumbfounded.

Just then, a communication came from the flagship.

“Ship No. 98, what’s going on? Why aren’t you returning?”

“Uh, we have a problem with the FTL engine. If we jump now, there’s a 63% chance of an error, which is dangerous.”

“The JP-99 system could see enemy returns at any time. Move to a nearby system, repair urgently, and return when the error probability drops to 10%.”

“Understood!”

After ending the communication, Kainzque called No. 98 again.

“What’s the closest system from here?”

“The AD-100 system. With the current propulsion state, we can arrive in 3 days.”

“Good. Let’s go there first and repair—”

As Kainzque was about to give the order, the image floating in front of him suddenly cut off. Not only that, but all the lights in the situation room where he was sitting went out.

“What’s this? No. 98? What’s going on?”

The ship remained silent despite his shout.

After a moment, power returned to the ship’s situation room. No. 98 sent a message through the cable connected to him again.

“Bzzt, unknown, bzzt, EMP occurred. Currently recovering.”

“What? Sudden EMP? What’s the cause?”

“Unknown. Investigating.”

“Connect to Starlink and investigate the cause.”

“Impossible. Communication function currently deactivated.”

“Damn it! What’s going on here!”

Communication function deactivated. That meant one thing.

Distress.

They were in enemy territory where they had just been fighting. They were stranded in such a dangerous place with a damaged FTL engine.

That wasn’t all.

“EMP source confirmed. Estimated to be inside the ship.”

“…Inside?”

Hearing No. 98’s report, Kainzque felt his neck freeze.

Being stranded was already a problem, but now something unknown was with them.