Seina was at the captain's seat of the kamidake looking at the map of the galaxy,
He noticed that about a 3rd of the galaxy belonged to the galactic federation but a lot of it looked like veins or tree roots and much of their territory looked like it was like Swiss cheese with lots of holes in it. nothing was really happening past earth. there were still a lot of undeveloped area's of space judging from the data he was looking at.
He wanted to see it and it was possible with the kamidake for him to travel even to another galaxy but his job was to act as pirate bait and the ship belonged to Jurai, so he was limited to traveling in federation space.
---
Kiriko read off test readings to seina, They were conducting a test flight of the ship.
"It's weird that there hasn't been any trouble so far" Amane said.
"we better finish these tests as soon as possible, we don't want to get trapped if anything happens."
"I'd hate for anything to happen, this is a pretty nice ship."
"oh is it?" seina asked
"Yes, it's even better than the ship that I first came to the academy on, and that was an expensive private luxury liner my friend owned. It responds well, it shoots well, and you can barely feel it move."
"oh is that so? I just figured all ships were like this..."
Their ship was currently in hyperspace.
"alright hull integrity checks are complete, time to start the next test"
the ship exited hyperspace and came out right in front of a medium sized pirate ship.
" stop your ship and don't put up any resistance" the pirate hailed them
"no we won't but you can surrender now if you like." hakuren said
The pirate got mad at them and launched a warning shot.
They expected to overwhelm them because the kamidake was so small and looked to be a weak target But the kamidake recognized the warning shot as an attack and began to open fire.
Soon the space pirate hailed them again with a desperate expression
"Wait, wait! stop it! Stop!
The pirate screamed but the Kamidake's attack didn't stop.
-----------
Amane looked at seina, it was up to the captain's discretion whether to continue the attack or not. However Seina remained silent, and stared at the pirate ship.
kiriko noticed that seina looked different from usual as he was watching the pirate on the screen. He was ignoring the pirates cries. Kiriko kept looking at him waiting for him to give the order to not fatally destroy the enemy ship suddenly he heard a babies cry in the background.
"Huh!! Stop the attack!"seina yelled.
"Stopping attack!"Kiriko responded
Hakuren again recommended they surrender.
Of course the Space pirates didn't refuse.
"Captain, will you please consult with me in private about revising our test plan?"
Kiriko asked, Seina and her had their seats descend down to the lower floor where seina's captain's room was
-----------
"If I were captain I bet I could do better," alan said said in a bragging tone so hakuren would hear.
" he was appointed captain so he has right to decide our route." Hakuren said
"Yes but he's still immature, that's why they assigned us to watch over him.... speaking of what is a beautiful lady like you doing here? where are you from? I've never seen you before."
"we are Airi's secretaries, the experiment is canceled, please wait quietly for orders"
--------
Alan nudged barry with his shoulder
"We should start a new fan club around her! the Revenue will be amazing ... ... "
"but we've been sworn to secrecy, this whole thing is highly confidential, they have to be keeping tabs on everyone. We'll get in trouble."
"So what, we'll make even more then we would at this job, Wouldn't you pay out the nose to see a girl like Gyokuren? Not even a top model can compare to her. "
"well I suppose we could go on the run and hire others to manage it but wouldn't that be too expensive?"
"sure they'll be after us but they'll quit after a while."
"... ... but what about her would she want that?"
"There is no woman who wouldn't like to be a star of the entertainment world!
alan's ability to make the two of his friends completely disillusion with his bad logic took effect
"I see!" as usual cohen and barry said synchronized without verifying the feasibility of Alan 's opinion among themselves.
-------------------
"Oh, is this my room ...?" alan went to his quarters and found the door with his name but it also had barry and cohen's name
"there are so many rooms, so why do all three of us have to share?"
Although the Kamidake was a small ship, up to 50 people were able to live aboard it if they alternated shifts. There were about thirty personal rooms in it.
"Maybe because we are on the bottom end of the hierarchy?"
"That's it. I'm going to go talk to seina!" But the door of their room opened and out came Gyokuren and Karen
"What are you talking about?"Gyokuren smiled
Alan froze up.
"We've prepared your room for you please get some rest so you can get back to work as soon as possible"
Karen turned to leave with gyokuren.
alan unfroze as she began to walk away and he quickly went to stop her.
"Actually, I have a question about our room."
"Oh, I see." Karen knew what he meant before he told her.
"In the other rooms, we have measuring instruments for this experiment installed so we only have minimal living space right now so we put you three in the same room."
"the Kamidake is a new model for mass production, we have to eliminate any possible problems it may have before putting it on the production line, which is why this ship was given to the captain."
Gyokuren said while looking over Karen 's shoulder.
It was just like the moment when the sun was completely hidden in the shadow of the moon during a total solar eclipse.
"Oh I see ... ... if seina can sail without problems I guess anyone can." Alan retreated towards his room like a scared fish.
"Something like that."
"Well then, we're off to our room."
"Oh yeah, and remember your confidentiality agreement is indefinite, by the way."
Karen smiled and said to Alan, who tried to enter his room to push Barry - and Cohen who panicked and quickly shoved the other two into the room
------
"Oh,darn, you could let them dream for a while longer, It was so entertaining."Gyokuren smiled like a demon. They got in the elevator
"It's better for all of us that they concentrate on work and nothing else while there on this ship. don't you think?"
"they're just supplementary staffs here because of GP regulations, they only hired them because they were poverty-stricken."
"Gyokuren are you really interested in the entertainment industry? You know what will happen!" she said angrily
Gyokuren was harmless to Alan who was delusionaly trying to make money by using her. But she was familiar with the influences of her own beauty.
It would drive people mad and bring hell upon all of those involved, which would likely end up blowing up in seina's face.
"That's uhm... ...."Gyokuren thought about it and realized what could happen to seina. Everyone around her was worried about her harming him. Kiriko, Set, Airi, Tennyo and even Karen right that moment had warned her. Seina's life was no laughing matter for Gyokuren had fallen in love with him.
"OK, I understand."Gyokuren said with a serious expression.
-----------
The image of Seina and Kiriko in the captain's room was quite a strange picture.
Kiriko was scolding him as he sat slumped down in the captain's seat.
(I'm pretty sure normally this should be the other way around.)
Amane kept watch over the two.
"Excuse me. I'm sorry."
"You're the captain you don't have to apologize for that,even if you destroyed their ship there would have been no problem."
"what?"Seina raised his face with a strange look.
"What I wanted to ask is what you where thinking at that time" Kiriko said
"... .... Kiriko!" Amane called out to interrupt Kiriko, she looked in Seina's direction quickly.
"You did the right thing attacking them. They refused to surrender to us and fired on us first, and the other party was a top tier criminal ship, do you understand?
In other words, it didn't matter if they destroyed the ship or not.
"What I would like to know is why you didn't issue an order to stop the attack immediately When they begged us to stop ... normally a captain should have instructed us to stop our attack immediately What on earth were you thinking? "seina finally understood her intentions.
"... ... That it was strange. the existence of Space pirates is mysterious to me."
"Strange?"
"The universe is so wide and free ... ...."
The universe was projected throughout the captain's room, and Seina, Kiriko and Amane appeared to float in space.
"In the Milky Way .... No, even within the Galactic Federation there are countless undeveloped residential planets. If you don't have an idea how many there are then just look up how many planets are recruiting colonists right now ... ... "Seina clutched his fist tight
Kiriko immediately understood Seina's intentions.
The biggest reason why piracy was done was poverty.
"Because it's not necessary, they rob people and it's not necessary."
Strictly speaking, however, those with pirate battleships were not poor people. even the most basic ship had the necessary equipment for planetary development ......, Even if suddenly large-scale development was impossible, it would still be easy to start an advanced colony on the level of development as the earth. there was no need for them to take away things from others.
"So Why do they do it then, why?"
"There are many reasons, the main reason is that it gets them resources quicker ... ... It's like using a ladder to climb a tree instead of climbing, and guilds provides military like protection for some, usually though when their asked why they say it's because they have just inherited the "family business".
"Those reasons are bullshit!" The face of Seina flushed with anger.
"Of course, guys like Tarrant are a special case... ... Captain. Do you know that there are certain rules between us and the Space pirates?" kiriko said
seina nodded
"like you said .... There is no real special reason for them to do this, most are just succeeding their family business, their guilt towards their punishment is usually surprisingly low. They are quite ordinary people, and the recidivism rate of Space pirates who are caught and convicted is surprisingly low. "
"Space pirating... ... is a family business ......?"
"It's a remnant from before the Galactic Federation was organized. At that time, there were still a lot of hostile planets, and taking the enemy's shipping vessel and robbing them of items damaged the enemy, it fits the national interests of most nations and so It was natural that it was encouraged not only by the military of each country but also by the private sector. so for many it was established as a family business.
However, it is certain that the strange rules we have with them are one of the reasons for the increasing number of Space pirates, but if every ship carrying a package faced mortal danger every time they delivered something it wouldn't be a viable business."
"Is it a necessary evil ...?"
"Yes and this ship and it's captain have to overcome it."
"!!"Seina lifted his face like he was surprised.
"We had manage to cut a few blooms of them in the past but now it's possible that we could eliminate them fundamentally, thanks to the captains and criminals who were captured by you a large amount of pirate cease to exist, now.
The economic income rates of the Galactic Federation are the highest they've been hundreds of years. It probably will further increase.I haven't been told anything more in detail yet, but you being a captain is a part of a big plan." kiriko said
"With me ... ... in this ship?"seina saidkiriko nodded
"Anyway's I know it's early but I think as the captain you should take a day off.."
and with that Kiriko bowed and went out of the room quickly.
"hmmf! Wow, she sure left fast, I guess she didn't want to be seen by anyone else."
Amane laughed and sat down on the armrest of the captain's seat.
"Well then wanna have a meal with me?"
eina tried to get up from the chair and avoided looking inAmane's eyes, but Amane took him by the neck and held him down in the chair. she leaned to her hand pivoted to his shoulder and then she began to caress his crew cut.
"Hey, why did you do such a thing, Seina-chan ...? ... oh wow i sound just like her!"
Amane smiled and giggled to negate the seriousness of her words.
"Amane!"Kiriko,came back to the captain's room to intervene, she took Amane's by the back of the neck and then tried to drag Amane out of the room as if she was a cat carrying off it's child.
" Kiriko, is the baby on that ship safe?"Seina asked Kiriko. that was also why Seina gave the an order to cancel the attack.
"They don't have a baby on that ship"
"What? but ... ...."
"There is something that plays that sound when your ship is about to be destroyed to get peoples attention, it's like a doorbell or a knocking sound in a commercial, just like in a commercial its there to deliberately get your attention and make you stop the attack. "
"You don't have to worry, every new captain usually falls for it, it's like a little rite of passage."
Amane laughed as if to cover the blow of Kiriko's words.
"Oh ... well I guess that's good."
Seina had mixed emotions. he didn't want to destroy their ship at the moment but he had let a bunch of top tier criminals go for no reason.
"Captain, that's why we are attached as your aides"
------------
"What do you think? ..."
Airi asked Mikami and Minaho While watching the report from Kiriko
"I guess that's to be expected from someone with his biased probability ..."
"I think that he's still a bit childish."
"Do you intend to make him to call you mommy ...?"mikami said giving airi a harsh glace.
"Well... to heal a wounded heart the duty best left to one's mother"Airi hugged the air and made a kissy face
"do that and he will just have more trauma, ho ho ho"
"Trauma ... .... Hey! My love is medicine!"
"an overdose of medicine is still poison ... and ... besides isn't kiriko supposed to act as his doctor?"
"...... Uhm..... Well....... I sure am tired! I should go.... Bye!'
Minaho read the air between Airi and mikami and hurried to leave.
"I hate it when she leaves me, oh it's so hard being a Mom" airi said. Minaho glared at airi then turned to mikami.
"Mikami please don't become a problem for seina, it's the last thing he needs right now ok?"
"Well unlike Airi and Seina's way of thinking I'm not childish, I have a good handle on my emotions and actions."Mikami took her face close to Minaho's and whispered so Airi couldn't hear
"But as Airi says, whether that is a good thing or not, I am still a woman of complex emotions."
Minaho gave a bitter smile to her answer.
"anyways airi how did the Kamidake fare?"
Minaho said to airi, Mikami interrupted her and said.
"That just means I don't trip over my own feeling like Airi does."
"...... Hmpf! well i'm looking at the data they sent back ..."Airi looked at the data for a short while
"... for now everything looks good"
"You should hurry up and go home Minaho, I'm going to go check the hull."
Mikami said ignoring the sullen Airi who seemed mad at her.
"oh right I almost forgot! About the plan you had... now is a good time to go forward with it, let's do it!"
"The plan she had, ... what is it?"
"Oh yeah! That's right! Now is a good time to finish the preparation... "
"Ok it get on it... however I need to check to see if the scheduling works out."
Minaho started a monitor and started checking a schedule.
"Hey, what are you two doing.... Hey.... Hey"
Like begging for sweets or toys, Airi hounded them.
Minaho ignored her and finished checking the data on the monitor and nodded to Mikami.
Mikami thought a bit.
"OK then let's get ready right away."
the two of them headed for the transfer gate quickly.
End of chapter
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