Ch.87This ship now belongs to us.

# Chapter 87: This Ship Is Now Ours

A few days later.

The moment I heard the additional report sent by the troops, I once again had to experience utter disbelief.

“So you’re saying you just charged straight at a vessel that’s at least the size of a battleship…?”

-“When we scanned it from extreme long range, it clearly had no weapons activated.”

I shook my head at what I couldn’t tell was either fearlessness or sheer ignorance.

‘No, before that, aren’t they scared of such things?’

Even for special forces, this was too much.

In the footage they were showing as supposed documentation while reporting, there appeared to be more interception beams than actual space.

-“Well, the anti-aircraft defense was so dense that we simply couldn’t get in.”

-“It has a structure unlike any defense system we know. It’s like hundreds of shotguns scaled up dozens of times, all firing at once.”

“…How exactly did you figure that out?”

-“Of course, we found out by going there directly, didn’t we?”

-“You’re asking such obvious questions, Minister.”

“Were you all suicidal candidates? Why are you so proudly doing such insane things?”

Hearing those words, not only I but even Riel couldn’t hide our bewilderment enough to elicit such a reaction.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t hide it—they had no intention of hiding their attitude.

Seeing them like this, I sighed deeply and decided to call the field commanders.

And a moment later.

-“We apologize, Minister.”

As soon as they appeared on the communication screen, I found myself nodding involuntarily at the sight of Meteorn and Gran, their faces gaunt with dark circles under their eyes.

“…It must have been difficult.”

-“What can we do? There’s no one else who could take our place.”

To think they were carrying out operations with these madmen solely out of a sense of responsibility.

It truly was a pitiful sight.

-“Ah, then we’ll proceed with the next operation, Minister.”

“Hmm… alright.”

-Communication terminated

After ending the communication with the Marines and the Purge Unit, I had various complex thoughts.

No, before that, neither the Purge Unit nor the Marines were supposed to be places for watching the insane shows of suicidal maniacs…?

When my thoughts reached that point, I began to wonder if sending Prosnack’s Marines together with our Purge Unit members might have been a mistake.

—————————–

About a week later.

After returning from shoving raw drug concentrate directly into the spines of those caught trying to traffic drugs in Kar-Du, I received a communication report from the Marine-Purge Unit.

No, they were now nicknamed the Ghost Ship Watchers.

Perhaps they now understood what kind of person I was.

When reporting to me, they tended to skip the trivial details and get straight to the point.

This time was no different; they omitted unnecessary talk and started with what had happened, but…

-“Minister, we decided to infiltrate the ship individually, and after long hours of space walking, we finally managed to land on the ship’s armor deck and docking facilities!”

“…You did what now?”

I realized that sometimes it’s necessary to listen to people’s words carefully from the beginning.

How did they manage to infiltrate a ship with sensors and interception capabilities good enough to detect and intercept even a small assault craft?

When I asked with such doubt in mind, this time the reporters on the other side of the screen—Meteorn and Gran—replied with puzzled tones.

-“Assault craft? How could we use those?”

-“That’s right, didn’t you see the assault craft getting intercepted last time?”

“…Then how exactly did you land on the ship?”

-“Just as we said, our Purge Unit and Prosnack’s Marines used the propulsion devices on our assault suits to fly individually and land on the ship.”

Hearing those words, I could understand the meaning of their report about “landing individually,” and Riel beside me seemed to realize it too, as she opened her mouth in astonishment.

“Wait a minute, are you saying you assaulted the Dark Age ship without even using assault craft, just with your bare bodies?”

-“That’s correct, Assistant Riel.”

According to them, they flew through space using only propulsion devices like some kind of X-Men and landed on the ship.

And they did this toward a ship protected by an anti-aircraft defense system capable of tearing apart assault craft armor plating, while it was “moving” slowly through space.

Understanding this, I held back a sigh and asked if there were any casualties.

“…Were there any stragglers?”

-“None in our Purge Unit.”

-“There are no weak marines in Prosnack who can’t handle such situations.”

With no casualties reported, I decided to ask what on earth they were thinking when they pulled such a stunt.

And the two human weapons answered my question:

-“After various provocations toward that ship, we discovered that it only reacts thoroughly to things approaching it.”

-“Also, after various experiments, we confirmed that its tracking radar only detects objects above a certain size.”

They continued explaining their various plans, and with each word, I felt my composure slipping away.

I mean, we need to “retrieve” this ancient Dark Age ship intact, but they tried ramming it with meteors to bypass its anti-aircraft defenses.

Then they lost a modified assault craft trying to crash it at insane speeds thinking, “If we go fast enough, we’ll land before the anti-aircraft system catches us.”

After implementing all sorts of bizarre plans, they concluded that they shouldn’t even use assault craft but just fly in individually using only propulsion devices.

My expression must have been quite contorted as I listened to them, because the two reporting began to avoid my gaze and carefully offered excuses.

-“…We also thought it was impossible at first.”

-“But when we actually tried it, it worked surprisingly well.”

Seeing them like that, I finally let out the sigh I’d been holding back and said dejectedly:

“You seem to have forgotten that you’re an organization composed of the most excellent talents gathered from each country.”

Although the Marine side seemed to engage in strange behaviors with their “heat” or whatever.

Considering they were treated as equals to the Purge Unit members, they were probably similar.

That’s why I felt the need to tighten their leash to prevent these lunatics from doing the same thing again, and opened my mouth.

But my lecture would only be appropriate under the assumption that these guys were idiots who disregarded their own lives.

-“Please don’t worry too much. We naturally prepared countermeasures before executing the operation.”

I wondered how one could possibly have countermeasures for charging at a ship with bare bodies.

-“As a precaution, we manipulated the anti-ship missiles on the stealth destroyer to fly from the opposite direction of our assault, turning the ship’s detection systems away from us.”

-“We also conducted jamming operations using reconnaissance aircraft so that even if our assault was detected, interception would be difficult.”

“…Hmm.”

So you had it all figured out.

Come to think of it, these people have gone through countless real combat situations over a period incomparable to mine.

Of course they would have addressed any issues in advance.

“Impressive. So you succeeded in landing without any stragglers?”

-“That’s correct, Minister.”

“Then are you currently inside that Dark Age ship?”

-“Precisely.”

No wonder the background in the screen looked different from previous reports.

I nodded at them and continued.

“So what’s your plan now? Are you going to proceed with seizing the ship immediately?”

-“We intended to, but the ship is larger than expected… and due to its special armor plating, scanning from outside was impossible, so we’ll need to search it manually.”

“Hmm.”

Whether it’s Dark Age technology or not, even scanners that can instantly scan planets didn’t work.

As they explained that they had set up a temporary base camp and were proceeding with internal reconnaissance, I nodded again and said:

“Understood. If there are any further unusual developments, report back then.”

-“Yes, Minister.”