Ch.6Pirate Raid (2)

The plan obtained through the collective intelligence of the chat was as follows.

Load Ignis into an assault pod and have her charge one of the pirate ships.

While I operate the patrol ship with extreme precision to buy time against the remaining pirate ships.

Our Ignis would sweep through the interior of the first pirate ship, then leap to another pirate ship.

And the remaining ship would be eliminated by the patrol ship I control and the base’s defense batteries.

To be honest, the most crucial element of this plan was none other than my piloting skills controlling the patrol ship that would serve as bait.

However, we encountered one small, minor problem.

Namely, this patrol ship I was controlling.

Unlike in the game, it was much larger and much faster than expected.

And my control abilities that were needed to operate it were not particularly good.

The “control” issue was especially serious.

*Boom!*

“Commander, if we continue like this, before we even face the pirates…”

“Just a moment.”

*Thud!*

“Commander?”

“The fatigue consumption is more serious than I thought.”

“Commander.”

“Hmm.”

Judging by how Jessica’s tone had turned cold enough to remind one of frozen tuna in a refrigerator as she watched my pathetic state.

In my previous life, moving patrol ships and fleets was simple.

Just a click of the keyboard and mouse, or a tap on a mobile phone, and that was it.

But here, I suddenly had to control an RTS unit from a third-person perspective.

In my previous life, the only machine-related license I had was a standard driver’s license.

And even that was barely obtained, so what disaster would occur when I suddenly tried to control a starship in real-time third-person view?

Those banging sounds were all from the patrol ship I was controlling scraping against something.

Or slightly colliding with something, causing dents in the base’s armor plating and docking facilities…

Some of the external hangar was crushed in the disaster, making those sounds.

I could only avoid eye contact with Jessica, who was staring at me with a cold gaze, not knowing what to say.

But I couldn’t avoid this training altogether.

So I endured Jessica’s icy stare and redoubled my efforts to improve my patrol ship control skills during the remaining time.

———-

Meanwhile, at the same time.

While the protagonist was playing bumper cars with the patrol ship and accidentally crushing part of the hangar.

Inside the pirate ships approaching the planetary system where Jessica and the protagonist were living cozily, the pirates were filled with excitement over the prey they had found after a long time.

“Boys! Are you ready to make a big haul this time too?!”

“Yes sir!”

The unmanned bases that had recently been sprouting up all over space.

The pirates here were those who had mainly been raiding such unmanned bases.

At the same time, belonging to a huge pirate group, they were planning to take a break from piracy after this raid.

“After this raid, I’m going to propose to that woman at the brothel.”

“How dare you, you bastard?”

“You bastard, get off this ship right now?!”

“This guy dares to raise a death flag in front of us!”

“Ah.”

Of course, the reason wasn’t purely about quitting the job, as just mentioned.

“These guys seem to be scouts sent by major factions to explore space in advance.”

“I’ve heard that some of the bases that were on standby have recently started operating.”

Although the pirates themselves didn’t realize it.

As players from Earth began logging in one by one.

The “bases” that had been easy pickings until now were becoming too difficult to raid.

Even before coming here, they had discovered another base and tried to “requisition supplies.”

But they had to retreat in humiliation, chased away by a defense fleet more than twice the size of their pirate group.

So they decided to pull off one last job, just one more, and then return to their territory to enjoy the spoils for a while.

But with that intention, the pirates’ self-imposed principle.

That is, finding “places with more resources to plunder than our fleet strength” was truly not an easy task.

Considering that the pirate group’s strength was only three patrol ships to begin with, it was an absurd principle from the start…

‘Ah, previously we could find plenty to eat with this principle.’

Trapped in their past experiences, the pirate group no longer had the intelligence to find another way.

So if there were resources worth plundering, either the base had at least twice their strength growling at them.

Or conversely, the base was so destitute that even they couldn’t find anything to plunder.

Missing, missing, missing.

More misses, they continued to waste time in vain.

Until one day, they accidentally discovered the current base, which showed a completely different growth pattern from the other bases they had passed by.

“Only one defense ship, and it’s just a patrol ship… the rest are all resource mining ships?”

“That’s what I’m saying, boss?!”

Even a destroyer, if there was just one, would be worth fighting.

But to have just one patrol ship like their own and continuously gather resources…

“Boys, isn’t this just begging us to eat them?”

“Yes sir!”

“They’re flirting with us first!”

They were spouting all sorts of vulgar nonsense.

Their thinking as pirates was so deplorable that even Jessica, not just the protagonist, would have clicked her tongue in disapproval.

Unfortunately, those who could give these pirates a mental education had either been ejected into space long ago by majority opinion.

Or they had given up and become one with them, deciding to just enjoy it.

“Once we raid this base, we’ll go back to our beloved homeland, wash our hands of this, and take a vacation for a while!”

“Wow!”

“Wooooo!”

“Enemy patrol ship spotted ahead! They’re trying to attack us!”

“Hahaha! What can they do with just one ship!”

As if they had just noticed the situation.

They laughed heartily at the patrol ship firing beams at them from beyond effective range.

After completely destroying the enemy patrol ship.

For a leisurely plunder… no, “voluntary requisition of supplies.”

Unlike usual, all three ships entered a full-scale bombardment stance to achieve an overwhelming fleet battle result.

*Beep beep beep beep!*

“Hey wait, what’s that coming?”

“A missile? The reaction seems too weak for that.”

But because of that choice, the pirates would face the worst possible outcome.

*Boom!!!*

“Aaaagh!!”

“W-what?”

“Crazy, crazy!”

“Boss! A fucking crazy woman boarded our ship and is slicing everyone—”

*Slash!*

No one could have predicted this.

———-

At the same time.

“Commander, Ignis has just entered the rightmost ship!”

“Okay.”

After confirming that the Ignis missile (?) I had mixed with some actual missiles had accurately hit the target.

Realizing this was the perfect chance to distract the pirate bastards, I immediately pushed forward with my patrol ship to draw their aggro.

Of course, even though I had trained day and night for about two days.

I was still basically a novice at ship operation.

So if I tried to draw aggro in my current state.

The pirate ships, which were far more capable and skilled at ship handling, would quickly surround my patrol ship and pound it.

If that happened, the precious patrol ship we had would faithfully fulfill its role of becoming space dust.

To overcome this disadvantageous situation, I had devised my own method.

“Jessica, have all defense batteries at the base open fire.”

“Yes, Commander!”

I was using the base defense batteries that were constantly criticized in-game as being useless and better off exchanged for items or resources.

I was making an effoooort to give the pirates who dared invade us a more unique experience.