Ch.19Party Time for a Week (1)

About two days after seeing the chats of the deceased players.

“Commander, we’ve received a message from the unmanned surveillance drones installed on the outskirts.”

“Hmm.”

“A pirate fleet consisting of one destroyer, two escort ships, and two patrol ships is approaching our base.”

After hearing Jessica’s report, I immediately opened the quest window to check how much time remained.

<Time Remaining Until Chaos Begins (00 : 00 : 03)>

‘Ah, perfect timing.’

And just as I checked the time, the timer expired completely, and a new message appeared before my eyes.

—————————————-

<Event: Week of Chaos Begins>

<Starting today and continuing for one week, pirate attacks will persist against the base.>

<Your ranking will reflect your score based on how you handle the pirates, so please take note.>

—————————————-

-“Are the pirates finally coming, Commander…♡”

“Yes, it seems that way.”

I nodded in response to Pashtra’s transmission—she had become a marine who loves blowing up ships way too much.

Next, I turned to Jessica beside me to receive a brief update on our current situation.

“Jessica, what’s our current status?”

“Pashtra’s fleet, including her escort ship, is positioned at the front, while Berial’s fleet is waiting behind the ice satellite ahead.”

Hearing Jessica’s briefing, I looked at the pristine appearance of the new “escort ship” we had acquired just two hours ago and said:

“Good, then let’s proceed according to plan.”

“Yes, Commander.”

==========

Needless to say, the pirate scum were at a disadvantage against us in every aspect except one.

“Apart from having a destroyer, those guys are weaker than us in numbers, intelligence, and even the quality of their forces.”

“Hmm.”

“They’ve even failed to conduct any reconnaissance of this area, so they’re already losing the information war.”

Berial’s assessment was entirely accurate.

As soon as the battle began, the pirates positioned their destroyer at the front.

They fired wildly at Pashtra’s fleet, which was holding position with one escort ship as its flagship.

But Pashtra’s fleet calmly executed evasive maneuvers according to plan, pretending to retreat due to being outnumbered, while actually luring them inward.

Since our base was located in an initial “resource zone,” it was surrounded by all sorts of abandoned or mined-out satellites, making it literally a maze in space.

Perhaps our pirates were intoxicated by the seemingly overwhelming force difference (1 destroyer, 2 escort ships, 2 patrol ships vs. 1 escort ship, 3 patrol ships).

-“My, the pirates continue to chase after us?”

They kept pursuing Pashtra without proper reconnaissance, pushing forward relentlessly.

-Whoosh…BOOM! CRACK!

Even though their ships occasionally collided with satellites, they continued to push forward recklessly.

Watching this, I wondered why they were acting so frantically, when:

“Commander, did you see it?”

“See what?”

“Pashtra provoked the pirates.”

I tilted my head in confusion, wondering what she meant.

Seeing my reaction, Jessica clapped her hands together, realizing she hadn’t explained properly.

“With the recent update, the status of each ship is no longer transmitted to commanders in real-time.”

“…What?”

“More specifically, if communication functions are turned off or destroyed, there’s no way to know what’s happening with that ship.”

“Hmm.”

“Even if a ship is captured by the enemy, we wouldn’t know unless it’s attacked.”

What kind of crappy update is that?

Since that wasn’t the most important thing right now, I decided to ask for more details about this issue after the battle.

Anyway, while I was thinking about this, the pirates who had been provoked(?) by Pashtra reached our planned location.

-“Now.”

Berial, who had been hiding behind the ice satellite, dove straight at the pirate fleet like a dive bomber.

-“What the hell is that?!”

-“It’s an ambush! Enemy right above!”

And the moment the pirates’ attention was drawn upward in confusion at the sudden attack:

-“Just as the Commander planned♡”

Pashtra’s fleet, which had been slowly retreating to lure the pirates, made a 180-degree turn and unleashed a barrage of main guns and missiles from the patrol ships and escort ship.

-“Fire♡”

Simultaneously, our powered-up Pashtra fired powerful beam attacks.

One of the escort ships that had been positioned next to the destroyer, trying to concentrate shields upward, was engulfed by the attack and sunk.

The other escort ship was also hit defenseless and retreated.

Only the destroyer managed to withstand Pashtra’s coordinated attack due to its class difference…

The problem was that in the process, the destroyer’s shields shattered completely, exposing its vast deck.

Normally, the shields would have recovered before the next fleet-wide attack, allowing the destroyer to survive intact, but…

At that precise moment, assault pods—not quite helldives—from the surprise attack force above penetrated through the destroyer’s deck.

As a result, the destroyer’s interior, which had been crawling with pirates, experienced a holocaust as SSS-class and near-SSS-class superhumans ran wild.

While our superhumans were dealing with the destroyer, the remaining pirate ships attempted a desperate escape to survive.

But in a situation where even having a destroyer was barely enough, with fewer numbers, inferior performance, and no commander:

Before long, they ended up serving only to produce new heat and space dust in the cosmos.

Truly, these space pirates had never contributed anything useful to anyone’s life, and remained a nuisance until their dying moment.

Yet I was nodding in gratitude as I watched them explode like fireworks in the distance.

“Thank you, Midori… live well in space.”

“…What exactly are you doing to those space pirates, Commander?”

Of course, Jessica beside me frowned, showing her inability to understand my attitude.

“Think about it, Jessica.”

“Yes?”

“They’re giving me a free destroyer right now. Shouldn’t I be grateful, whether they’re pirates or not?”

“…”

They even provided a large number of training dummies (living ones) to help level up our superhumans—how generous.

“They’re like the giving tree, just giving everything.”

“I-I see.”

And while I was having this conversation, under the protection of Pashtra’s fleet:

The pirate destroyer, now captured by our Ignis and Berial, was entering our base in all its majestic glory.

==========

And so, we wrapped up the first day’s raid.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve experienced actual combat, but fortunately my instincts don’t seem to have dulled.”

“I know what you mean♡ My skills haven’t deteriorated either♡”

“It was truly excellent combat, seniors.”

Our reliable superhumans were of course pleased.

“Combat results: one destroyer captured, two escort ships sunk, two patrol ships sunk, with zero casualties on our side.”

“Hmm.”

“It was a splendid battle, far more impressive than expected.”

Jessica, who had been monitoring the situation from the command center, also showed great satisfaction.

I was secretly breathing a sigh of relief that my planned operation had worked perfectly.

And apart from the operation itself, I was extremely pleased that everyone had grown by absorbing experience points without getting hurt.

However, I couldn’t just be happy seeing all this.

That was because this damned pirate uprising event wasn’t over yet.

For the next six days, they would continue to push into our base like a boss rush.

==========

And indeed, about four days after that day.

<Pirates Eliminated>

“…I’m tired.”

“Me too.”

I nodded as I watched those once-energetic young women expressing their disgust at the pirates’ plundering activities that had continued almost daily.