Ch.196Prequel Episode 1. The Cheerful Space Pirates

July 10, 2073.

That’s what appeared on the screen in front of me.

“Urghhhh…”

Pain like knives cutting through flesh stabbed throughout my entire body.

No matter how many times I experienced it, I never got used to this pain.

Some people supposedly wake up from hibernation without any discomfort.

They say everyone’s constitution is different—I guess I was born with a terrible one.

“Did everyone have pleasant dreams? Assemble in the briefing room within 20 minutes!”

“Haaa…”

Without giving me a moment to catch my breath, the announcement blared through the speakers.

It was the captain’s voice.

I somehow managed to move my uncooperative limbs and put on my underwear.

I spotted pretty frilled underwear stuffed in the back of the cabinet.

When I first came here, I never imagined I’d end up wearing sports bras all the time.

I snickered and slammed the cabinet shut.

Only after quickly washing my face with cold water did my body’s sensations seem to return properly.

My freckled face, slightly damp, reflected in the mirror.

Hmm. Looking pretty today too.

“Nggghh…”

I stretched my stiff body and put on a cardigan.

Just before leaving the room, I removed the window cover to look outside.

“Another gorgeous day today.”

A dark sea filled with nothing but emptiness.

Outside the window, I could see the deck of the massive cargo ship swimming through it.

They say many people on Earth still question the necessity of the Space Force.

This cargo ship—we were the very embodiment of that necessity.

“Jin! Everyone’s here except you!”

“Damn it. It hasn’t even been 20 minutes yet…”

Forced by the hurried announcement, I had no choice but to practically run.

That’s the problem with male-dominated workplaces.

They don’t know how to accommodate female employees.

I tied my messy, barely-combed hair with a rubber band while running and quickly arrived at the briefing room.

Inside, everyone was indeed already seated without exception.

I sighed while buttoning my cardigan and sat down.

“Jin. Listen while you eat.”

“Yessir.”

The captain tossed something wrapped in plastic from the front.

It floated through the air straight toward me, and when I caught it…

“Combat ration. Type 3.”

As expected, it was a combat ration.

And the disgustingly tasteless Type 3 at that.

This was everyday life in space.

I sighed and took out a hard biscuit, crunching on it while watching our aging captain awkwardly struggle with the hologram projector.

“This hibernation lasted three months and two days. Did everyone sleep well? Any discomfort anywhere?”

“The food tastes like crap!”

“Besides that.”

“My back is killing me. A gravity generator would make things so much more comfortable.”

“Please, go ahead and replace this ship with one that has that. Okay?”

After a brief chat, the captain finally found the button.

What appeared in the hologram was a sleek-looking spacecraft.

“Prey has appeared. Currently heading toward Earth from 500,000 kilometers away.”

“Isn’t that a racing spacecraft?”

“More precisely, it’s a cruise ship modified from a racing spacecraft. Either way, the fact that it’s carrying rich people doesn’t change.”

“Whoooo!”

“Finally!”

Cheers erupted from all around.

After spending two whole years coming up empty and hibernating for over a year, we finally had another opportunity.

Though small in size, a private spacecraft for the wealthy would be worth quite a bit on its own.

‘I’m finally getting my big score.’

That’s right.

We were what you’d call “space pirates.”

Normally operating a civilian cargo ship employed by a Mars terraforming company, but when the opportunity arose, hijacking spacecraft and destroying the evidence…

I’ve only been a rookie for two years, but the captain and first mate have been doing this for 20 years without ever getting caught.

They’re admirable humans in many ways.

“Let me explain the operation. The prey doesn’t seem to have spotted us yet, so we’ll shut down all systems and send a distress signal. When the prey approaches and connects to the docking pad, boom. We destroy their engine, infiltrate, and do what needs to be done. You know what I mean?”

“What if they ignore the distress signal?”

“What do you mean what? We chase them, destroy their engine, break the windows, and infiltrate. It’ll hurt my heart to damage an expensive spacecraft, but what choice do we have? Anyway, that’s the end of the briefing. Jin, Ranger, and Knight are the infiltration team. Ash and Gus are the demolition team. The rest of us will stay in the navigation room. Everyone, go get your equipment!”

That was the end of the briefing.

When I was a rookie, I was so nervous about how simple the briefings were, it seemed almost excessive.

But since everyone had been doing this job for at least five years, they all knew what to do without being told.

My role was on the infiltration team.

The easiest role—wait in front of the docking pad and rush in when the hatch opens.

Ever since they gave me an important role once and I failed the capture, resulting in having to shoot down the target, they’ve only given me easy roles.

I returned to my room, immediately took off my cardigan, and put on my space suit over my underwear.

I’d become so skilled that I could put on even the helmet in less than 30 seconds.

Then I grabbed my pistol loaded with 9mm hollow-point bullets.

If you ask why hollow-point bullets specifically, I’d answer that it’s because they don’t penetrate through bodies.

If a bullet penetrates a body and ricochets inside a ship, the outcome probably won’t be good.

“This is the Occasion. We’re returning from a Jupiter tour. We received your distress signal. Can you respond?”

“This is the Occasion. If radio communication is impossible, can you use your searchlights? If you need help, please turn on your searchlights.”

“This is the Occasion. Since there’s no response, we’ll proceed with rescue. I hope the docking pad isn’t locked.”

The voice coming through the radio was exactly my type of handsome.

The prey was properly taking the bait and approaching.

I hurried to the docking pad where Knight and Ranger were already waiting in their spacesuits.

We surrounded the hatch and aimed our guns at it.

The infiltration team was ready.

“10km approach.”

10km.

Quite close.

Both Ranger and Knight were completely silent, perhaps from tension.

But suddenly a question popped into my mind, forcing me to break the silence.

“I’m curious about something, Ranger.”

“Not now.”

“Why does the captain use that inferior metric system? He’s not even French.”

“What?”

“When the superior yard-pound system exists, why… Miles are much more convenient and better.”

“What the… Hey, you’re American, right?”

“Yeah.”

Ranger and Knight’s contemptuous gazes turned toward me.

What? What’s the problem?

I’m right, aren’t I?

“500 meters! The Occasion is attempting to dock! Demolition team! Go!”

What was about to happen was as follows:

The two-person demolition team waiting in the cargo hold would move toward the blind spot of the prey—the rear—and head for the engine section.

When the prey successfully docks and the hatch opens, the explosives set by the demolition team will destroy the engine, rendering the prey incapable of navigating on its own.

We rush through the open hatch into the immobilized prey and clear the interior…

It was a simple, brute-force plan.

“Everyone check your spacesuits carefully. In an emergency, the docking pad might tear off and we could be thrown into space.”

With Ranger’s grim warning, the hull began to vibrate slightly.

It must be due to the thrust vectoring device of the approaching Occasion.

It meant the prey was right in front of us.

Not knowing what awaited us on the other side.

Thud…!

The hull shook violently once.

Immediately after, the docking pad screen lit up.

-Unidentified docking pad contact

-Docking permitted

-Connection complete

Pssshhhhh…!

The sound of decompression came from beyond the hatch.

Even the slightest movement could be transmitted to the other side through vibration.

We remained silent as mice, focusing only on the hatch.

And finally, the hatch opened with a clank.

“Hands up!”

“W-who are you people?!”

A young man exactly my type appeared beyond the hatch and was startled.

Please surrender.

Let me tie you up and take you as my trophy.

Oh, he looks just like a baby wolf, so cute…

“I said hands up!”

“Eeeek!”

“Hey!”

At that moment, my cute baby wolf punched the hatch open/close button with a thud.

Before I could admire the sexy veins bulging on his arm, the hatch began to close again instantly.

“Knight!”

“Yes!”

As Ranger shouted, Knight kicked off the wall and flew in, wedging himself between the closing hatch.

The hatch, gripped by Knight’s arms, made a chilling sound and stopped moving.

Instead, the hydraulic mechanism at the hatch joint twisted strangely and…

Creeeeak… ping!

“Knight!”

“I’m fine.”

A bolt flew out and struck Knight’s helmet.

When Knight turned his head, scattering glass fragments, his face was completely caved in with both eyeballs missing.

But what flowed from inside his skin wasn’t red blood but white lubricant.

“M-monster!”

“Stop right there! Damn it…! Jin! After him!”

“O-okay!”

This can’t be happening!

My baby wolf panicked and started running away.

I squeezed through the gap Knight had created in the hatch and followed Ranger.

They say humans in fear can exert superhuman strength.

The baby wolf had already fled far away.

There’s no need to be scared.

I’m confident I could take good care of him, feeding him regularly and cleaning up after him…

“Stop or I’ll shoot! Damn it! I said I’ll shoot!”

“Don’t even think about shooting, Ranger!”

He seemed too terrified to hear anything.

Ignoring the warning to shoot, the baby wolf showed no signs of stopping.

But spacecraft have their limits too.

When he reached the storage compartment at the end, there was nowhere left to run.

The baby wolf looked around and suddenly opened a box and grabbed a golden pistol.

Ah. Don’t do that. Please.

“N-no!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In that moment, Ranger’s gun spat fire.

The bullets that instantly flew struck my baby wolf’s (former) body, splattering blood everywhere.

The shooting continued until the magazine was completely empty.

A total of 13 hollow-point bullets were embedded in the baby wolf’s body.

“Ah… ahhh…”

“Tsk. What a waste. Let’s go, Jin. There’s nothing in the storage compartment.”

“My baby wolf!”

“What are you talking about now?”

I kicked off the wall and flew to embrace the blood-soaked baby wolf.

He died with his eyes open.

In his hand was a gold-plated Walther pistol…

He must have been incredibly wealthy.

I could have made such a man mine.

At least fortunately, his face wasn’t hit by any bullets.

With a thud, my helmet touched the cute baby cat’s forehead.

He’s really damn handsome, damn it…

“Jin! Come quickly! Movement detected from the cockpit!”

“Yes, yes. Coming…”

Briefly considering taking just his head, I closed the baby wolf’s eyes and followed Ranger.

Today was truly the worst day.

“Damn, what’s that now?”

White smoke was billowing from the wall of the cockpit we hurried to.

It was a hibernation device.

It seemed the system was forcibly terminating hibernation due to the explosion on board.

As Ranger and I aimed our guns, the device opened and a naked man appeared.

“Oh.”

A middle-aged man.

Not even a handsome middle-aged man, but one with a pot belly.

I couldn’t help but squeeze my eyes shut.

“Hurgh…!”

“Hands up! I said hands up!”

“Aack! Ack!”

As soon as the middle-aged man with a chest full of hair rose from the device, Ranger subdued him and secured his wrists with cable ties.

The man seemed to have something to say, repeatedly trying to speak with his not-fully-functional tongue.

We had successfully cleared the entire ship from the rear storage compartment to the front cockpit.

With the main computer’s power cut off, there was no possibility of anyone operating the spacecraft anymore.

The danger of the docking pad tearing off and flying into space was gone.

Ranger and I could finally remove our suffocating helmets.

“Uh-uh! Uh-buh! Mmph, p-pee…”

“Ranger. Let’s at least hear what he’s trying to say.”

“Nothing to hear. It’s obviously begging for his life.”

“But still…”

“Uh-buh… uh-buh… Huurgh! Huck! Everyone! Peter! I mean, did you see a handsome man? Wasn’t he on this spacecraft?”

“Oh. He spoke.”

“He was here, but we just killed him. If you don’t want to end up like him, keep your mouth shut…”

“That body! You must burn the body! Right now! Quickly!”

“What nonsense is that?”

“Peter! He was infected! By an alien parasite!”

“…”

“…”

Ranger and I exchanged glances.

Ranger’s face—which might have been in my strike zone if he were a bit younger—wore a rather serious expression.

“Be careful! That Peter, he’s a murderer! Or more precisely, the parasite turns people into murderers!”

“…”

Ignoring the man shouting while restrained behind us, we put our helmets back on and headed toward the storage compartment.

I placed my hand on Ranger’s shoulder and slowly moved forward.

When we finally arrived at the storage compartment, blood from the corpse was floating around.

My poor baby wolf was in the corner…

“Is that man senile? What parasite? He’s still the same as before… huh?”

“Holy shit.”

His head was split in half.

There was nothing inside the split.

Instead of a large, wrinkled brain, there was only empty space.

Ranger and I momentarily froze in place, at a loss for words.