Start of episode two of the anime
Chapter two: an important package
A few minutes after he had been told that surprising fact, Onnainin took seina to see the bridge.as he walked the strange beautyiful woman followed along petting his head. He had hardly been overcome with this much surprise since was revived from the brink of death, but he was still suspicious.
.... Wow space....There's so many possibilities...?He thought to himself.
Despite waking up with a foggy mind Seina had quickly become alert.
thanks to his bad luck he rebounded from the shock of the situation.
He had went to bed and actually woken up on spaceship, he wasn't dreaming.
As one would normally suspect, he thought that this situation reeked of artificiality.
Perhaps this spaceship was a set and they were using special effects.
Maybe the outer space he saw was just a cgi projection on a screen.
(...After all this is an advertisement for a movie or theme park attraction...)
Seina convinced himself.That was the most obvious explanation
"It sure is an elaborate advertisement, they even got my family involved. They should have used a little bit more of the money for the actual movie instead." He said remembering the retro images on the pamphlet.
maybe it was intended.
Even so he wasn't sure why everyone was so committed to this ad campaign, they weren't fooling anybody.
He had been awake for 12 minutes and something unlucky hadn't happened to him yet.
Even so he didn't have to get himself further into this situation.
[I'd rather be here then be dreaming that awful dream again]
Seina thought to himself as he changed his doubt into conviction and followed Onnainin.
"I don't know what you mean... you must be confused. What you're saying is incorrect..."
Even though he was being shown to the bridge, he didn't believe him.
Onnainin Scratched his head at Seina's delusion.
"It seems fake. your acting is cheesy, and you're speaking the same language as me. Even I know there's virtually no possibility that aliens would look like humans and it's even less likely that a society more evolved then us would want to meet us."
"You can understand me because we injected you with various nano machines while you slept. As for our appearance, it's something the great prehistoric civilization chose as a part of their galactic seeding plan... about sixty percent of galactic civilizations are humanoids. Besides that, encountering people from developing civilizations like yours happens every now and then..."
".........."
"Onnainin-chan. It looks like Seina-chan isn't Properly comprehending you"
Mitoto, The mysterious woman, said as she pointed at Seina, He had been trying desperately to understand what was going on and his mind was freezing up on processing what was going on.
"I'm stumped" said Onnainin
"I've asked Mihoshi-chan about this before and she says that usually the easiest way to get members of the Masaki family to understand is by cutting off the artificial gravity."
" Mitoto-sama. That may be very effective, but were in the middle of an expedition. That's dangerous.
"It's only for a little while, we'll be fine."
"but..."
The woman named Mitoto's words were gentle and not at all coercive but Onnainin acted like they were.
(I wonder what kind of relationship these two have.....)
He thought seeing them play their roles in the movie must be interesting to see, although now wasn't the time to think of such things. He had to think about to solving the problem at hand first.
"It's inevitable isn't it?"
"Well if it gets Seina to believe it faster then i guess it's ok."
"……Alan Please do it."
"Roger that." Called out Alan, a member of the crew as he nimbly operated a nearby panel.
"Uwaaaaa?......"
The moment after that, Seina began to loose his balance and fell over.
His body shook up and down. He felt like he was being scooped up off his feet.
It was one of Seina's special abilities to trip and fall down on nothing. was that happening again?
---But he noticed that he didn't immediately hit the ground.Surprisingly his body floated in the air lightly.
"Wow...Oh...OH!"?Seina began to float weightlessly as he babbled gibberish.
He soon grounded himself emotionally, although literally he couldn't sense his feet on the ground.
No matter how much he adjusted his stance, he still couldn't seem to find which way was up.
There was normally no up or down in space,Being scooped off the ground intuitively removed any preconception he had about this situation, this was really happening.
It was like being underwater and it was entirely different from an amusement park ride. The pure weightlessness right in front of him astonished seina. Onnainin passed by him looking completely unfazed.
"Do you understand now?",
"Uhm, this is... maybe?"
"This is what they call "Zero Gravity"."
"Zero gravity...!"
He had heard about it a thousand times but what he had heard didn't come close the feeling of actually seeing it.It was a hundred times better then how it was described. To Seina this seemed completely real and not artificial at all.It was too realistic, the sensatijnbon was overwhelming.
He began to panic and checked his body. There were no gimmicks attached to him, no piano wire, nothing.
It wasn't outside the possibility of reality that he could simple be free falling, which resembled zero gravity. but he couldn't feel any sort of gravity or artificial movement, and state of free fall would normally end very quickly. This had gone on way too long for him to be free falling on earth.
He considered that it could have been some sort of drug induced hallucination, or some type of hypnotism. It was impossible to tell at the moment.
Never the less...
"....is this the real deal?" he wondered
He was suspicious due to his bad luck, but his curiosity soon surpassed his suspicion.well, he didn't know what to do or how to feel about the possibility of it being fake.
They may have been deceiving him. however, more then anything seina desired it to be real as much as he was curious about it. At any rate, that's just how he was, he had to keep suspicious to keep from being fooled and getting hurt emotionally. This situation was positively confusing...
in this moment seina faintly bore a new desire, To go into space.This setting was perfect for him.
He looked at his surroundings while he floated.Seina wanted more then just to float.
Mitoto,Onnainin, and anything which not attached to the bridge were floating .
The crew fastened in their seats by seat belts, the ones that weren't flailed about like a kid batting a ball on a string. it looked ridiculous. It amused Seina. He was no longer in denial.
"Then this is.... then that means....... I'm..... in outer space?"
he murmured to himself trying to process the words coming out of his mouth??
"I'm in outer space now! ..... Space.
.....Spaaaaaace!....The cosmos! I wasn't sure before, but I'm actually in space!"
Anime and manga and sci-fi novels all talked about outer space.
But he was there.
all around him was the endless universe.
There Seina stood, in space... floating.
Space travel by humans wasn't completely impossible. Many companies were working on making private space travel an everyday occurrence. but they were far from reaching that goal at that time. He expected to be an old man before that happened and he never expected to be able to do it. But here he was in outer space.
Kiriko was back in town.
He took a weird route to see her.
He got a flat tire.
He met Amane.
He got a pamphlet.
He filled it out.
His family forced him to put his hand print.
Such a huge string of coincidences.
..... no it was fate, and now he was here in space... floating.
But why and how didn't matter now to seina.
His high from realizing he was in space wore off.
He thought the whole situation over. Onnainin said that GP stood for Galaxy Police. He hadn't really cared about the subject matter of the pamphlet when he signed it.
If it was a real organisation, then it's PR department put out some very awkward advertizing.
But it was better not to question such things.
"Recruiting young people?For the sake of the galaxy!" What an unusual phrase to use.
Seina remembered absentmindedly looking at the cover and seeing muscular GP officers in tight fitting silver bodysuits silently firing ray guns at slimy squirmy octopus like sci-fi aliens.
He felt whoever was in charge of making it should have been fired for having bad taste.
He put finding out who's bad aesthetic out that was out of his mind. He considered that going into outer space was good luck for him, but with his bad luck joining the GP Might be dangerous.
Unlucky seina didn't want to get his hopes up about the future.
With his luck he would be knocked unconscious and jettisoned out an airlock.
It was enough to make his head spin, he felt dizzy, he was dizzy.
"huh?"
"What's wrong?"
"Something... I feel sick...."
"Ah, that's a zero gravity sickness. Alan, turn back on the gravity control."
it seemed his dizziness wasn't just in his head Seina grabbed onto a nearby seat and prepared himself for a gentle landing.
"It's back online." Said the crew member.
Zuuuun! The artificial gravity returned.
Seina's foot was caught on the back of the seat at the moment when gravity him pulled back to the floor.
"Aaaah!"
Staaaaan.Staaaaan. Doooooosh.He heard three noises go off at once?
The sound of mitoto landing, The sound of Onnainin landing, and the sound of seina loudly falling on the seat he tried to reserve.
"Ow...ow...ow...ouch..."
"Seina-chan,are you alright!"Mitoto rushed over with a worried look on her face
"S...Sorry about that....I'm alright."
"Oh good. You should try to land on something small next time."
"Really? I'm sorry."
Seina put his hand on a nearby panel to uses it as leverage as he stood up. Mitoto helped him up and began to rub his hair again. His body felt awful heavy. Though he had only been weightless for a little while, 1G of force on his body, which had just finished getting accustomed to zero gravity. was more than he expected.
"Ah, Seina, are you hurt?"
"I'm fine, I'm used to this."
He was still dizzy to some extent, but it wasn't that bad. Seina watched Onnainin slowly get up.
It was funny to him that the person whom moments ago he had assumed was an actor was actually a competent officer of the galaxy police.
...Well, he wasn't really sure if competent was the right word.
"Do you want to go back to your quarters and take a nap? We have about two jumps left before we're at the academy."
"Academy? What's that." Seina asked, He heard his mom mention it earlier but he wasn't absolutely sure what she had meant.
"Oh I'm sorry. Did someone forget to explain it to you? That's what we call the Galaxy academy, it's both an academy and the largest accumulation of collected academic research in the galaxy, some call it the brain of the Galaxy Union. seina-kun, our organizations institution, the GP, directly controls the GP academy and uses it to train new members."
Seina now understood. He wandered what kind of training the galaxy police had to do.
"... even police have to be trained..." Onnainin said to seina.
It was just like in the movies, but this was reality.
It looked like he had to go to some sort of high school, it seemed like there was no way around that.
But seina was more excited by something else Onnainin said?
" By the way uh,...... does a jump possibly look like a warp?"Seina asked excitedly.
Warping through outer space?
Warping must be necessary if there traveling to different star systems?
even people uninterested in sci-fi know that is just basic technology in science fiction.Everyone always gets from place to place by traveling at warp speeds. But it was said that that was currently impossible. Seina thought that was amazing. He was so excited to be in space. It was a lot to digest. It was like he was at a buffet and he was leaving with leftovers.
He had met Onnainin and mitoto and they were both aliens.
He was on an amazing spaceship
That was just a side dish, Warping was the main course.
He didn't care what they called it, it was "warping".
"I'm so excited! I never even thought this was possible!"
This feeling was better than going to a carnival.
"I wouldn't say they were the same, but there definitely comparable."
"Yahoo!"
Seina's breathing became heavy. Not only was he in space, he was going to warp! All his resentment towards his family disappeared and was replaced with gratitude.
"So when do we warp.... oops I mean jump!?"
"Well, it's a long-distance jump and this area of space isn't stable enough for that so we have to get somewhere that is. It will take a little while."Onnainin answered seina
"In the meantime you should go to your quarters and rest. I'll get you when we're ready to jump."
"Alright!"
He wanted to brag about warping to kai.
Seina skipped through the entrance hatch and down passage to his quarters
"Well then, See ya la....ter!"
The hatch shut with seina in the middle of it. he looked at Onnainin for help.
"Don't worry, Just be more careful."
Seina was so focused on warping that had forgotten all about his bad luck while mitoto led him down the hall.
His pinched face was throbbing.
"Seina-chan are you ok?"
"oh... yeah...
uhm.. by the way, Mitoto-san are you by any chance the one in charge of the gp?"He asked her, he figured that would make the most sense as to why the crew seemed very eager to do whatever she said.
Mitoto looked more like a maid with her mop and apron on then she did a leader and with her leisurely attitude she didn't seem like much of a galaxy police officer either.
"Who me? I'm just here to clean."
" oh... what is there to clean?"
he didn't quite understand, but he guessed every ship did need to be cleaned. There were people living there after all and somethings don't change just cause you're not on earth but it was strange.
"A mop seems very primitive, doesn't this ship have some sort of cleaning robot?"
" This is more fun" Mitoto said smiling.
"....I see, I see,"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, well about that Mitoto."
Onnainin said rushing up from the rear to reach mitoto
" cleaning is good... yay cleaning!"
He took the mop from mitoto and she turned pale
"uhm....what's wrong....?"
"Please! Don't clean anything until we arrive at the academy."onnainin said
"uhm... why."
Onnainin began to scold Mitoto like a child.
"Because there people there in charge of cleaning this ship properly and if you clean it now you will take their job away from them."
"Oh...! I had no idea.... I'm sorry."
It seemed there were reasons not to clean frequently.
Seina understood why society was so insistent about cleanliness. but it seemed there were exceptions.
his bad luck had brought those around him many experiences beyond comprehension.
unable to clean Mitoto walked sadly, sometimes she stopped to look at something and you could see her mouth quiver as she used every bit of self control to keep from cleaning.
"What's wrong, are you feeling ok?" seina asked.
"over There, over There."She pointed sadly to a corner that was stained slightly.
Now that she mentioned it seina noticed how dirty this place was.
"Mitoto-san sure loves cleanliness, doesn't she?"
"Corridor three is so dirty..."
"huh?"
it seemed like mitoto loved cleaning, but her love was selfishly intentioned. It seemed like she did it not to be philanthropic but out of principal. It seemed like she was that kind of person. Seina felt sorry for the dirt.
"That corridor, That door, That handle...."
in comparison to seina's light trotting, Mitoto worriedly walked sadly as she noticed everything that was dirty and said it aloud.
To go into outer space, to join the galaxy police, to experience warping. Seina had been a sci-fi fan since he was a little boy so naturally he was excited. however as his excitement for being in space settled, he remembered an important thing.
(I won't be able to see Kiriko-san anymore!)He realized His problem from yesterday hadn't been resolved.
(No!Now I'll never be able to!)
Since he was in space now he had no idea when he would see her again.
"If that's the case I'll never clear up that awkward situation!"
His face stiffened as he thought about how long that situation might go misunderstood by kiriko.
"Mitoto-san, would it be possible to go back to earth for a little while. I forgot something."
"You forgot something?"
"Something important."
“Then you should call the earth and have them bring it to you later.”
"Uhm... no it's not a.....wait there’s a phone!?"
“Yeah. over there.”Mitoto looked at and pointed to something nearby.
“.... look....its a rotary phone.”
There was an old black rotary telephone right in front of Seina. Seina had been so busy worrying about kiriko that he hadn’t even noticed that he had walked into a Japanese style room.
...This wasn’t what I expected, Where did they find an old phone like this??
Doubts floated in his mind.
"uhm.... is this it?"
“well let’s see... first you should pick up the receiver."
That was obvious. Seina didn’t want to hear instructions on how to use a phone. He picked up the receiver
"Woah!?"
He picked up the reciever and instantly before his eyes a screen appeared.
“You can see the person you’re calling on that screen.
But they won't be able to see you, they don't have a system for that.”
"Ha!"
He poked the screen that was floating in there air. it was there but it was just a hologram. It was undoubtedly space technology.
"oh yes, that's right. To reach the earth's phone system just add 4 9 8 9 to the beginning of the number you want to dial."
"4 9 8 9 That’s a daunting number."
*BIG GIANT UNSKIPPABLE translator note: I have to step in here. sorry to break your immersion folks. the kanji for 4989 means being in dire distress; being hard put to it or the four and eight kinds of suffering which is a Buddhist term for Suffering being born and living, aging, getting sick, and dying and all 4 of those plus being separated from the ones you love, encountering things you don't like, not getting what you want, and suffering from existing basically he had to dial a super unlucky number that in Japanese represents every kind of suffering.
also Tenchi GXP takes place in 1993. That's why he doesn't use a cellphone, or call Kiriko's cellphone, or contemplate emailing her. very few phones or technology ever show up in tenchi, usually when it does they do they're simple camera phones which they had back then. Remember, Tenchi's earth doesn't have wide spread broadband.
Back to the plot:
He was a little worried about that number but he had to call Kiriko. Kiriko was only going to be at her parent’s house for a short time.This call might have been his last chance to clear things up with Kiriko. He was on a mission, OPERATION KIRIKO-SAN!
(she will be so surprised when i explain my mystery lover and the pamphlet. I'm not sure how i'm going to work in the whole going into space and joining the galaxy police though... Perhaps................
[Wow Seina-chan, You really became a GP officer!]
[Yes, Kiriko-san i did.]
[I protect galactic peace and Kiriko-san!]
[How promising!I love you seina-chan!]
[Oh Kiriko-san?]
in his imagination, the two began to get freaky
and then, uhm, well, such things had to wait.
“……things aren’t that easy. I don’t honestly think she’d have sex with me just because i told her i joined the galaxy police....”
[Seina-chan,let's go to the hospital lumped together!]
“That was a bad punchline...”
For now clearing up this misconception with kiriko was his first priority.
he was reluctant to even try to experience such things as sex due to his bad luck.
he had to take things step by step like a tortoise.
Seina thanked mitoto for her lesson on using the phone. she left him alone
he put in the number for earth and the country code for japan and then he started to rotate the dial to input the the number to kirito's house. It was just like making a long distance call
After that, he held the receiver as the phone ringed for what seemed like forever.
FURiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing. FURiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.
His heart beat fast in his chest.
The ringer was a bit different then when he dialed from home
“Ki....Ri...Ko....Saaaaaan...”
His call connected.
“....Hello.... this is the masaki residence...” Said kai’s voice
he thought it was the familiar recording of the family’s answering machine. but he could see it was kai. Seina wasn’t sure how but even though there was no equipment on the other side he could see a video phone image of the house
“Hey Kai! It’s me. Seina!
“........ What the...Seina? Why haven’t you been to school lately. Are you in the hospital again?"
Kai thew himself down on his stomach and scratched his butt.
It was a shameful display
"You should really clean up your room. Hey is Kiriko-san here i was trying to call her."
"I haven't seen you in a while. I’m just sitting here all alone in this gloomy house. What are you doing?"
"I’m at school. Hey Kai, last time i checked it was bad manners to scratch your junk in front of company, when is kiriko getting home?"
"?"
Suddenly Kai seemed suspicious and looked around him.
"How can you see me??Where are you looking at me from??Are you nearby??If that’s the case......." Kai slowly stood up and began opening doors .
"Over here!"When he confirmed that no one was there, he moved on to the next spot.
"Over here?"
“...hey Kai!”
“I’m over here!”
“no I’m not there!”
"Try here!"
“I’m not a ninja Kai, I’m not going to be in the space between the roof and the ceiling”
the scope of kai's search rapidly devolved to include absurd locations.
“I’m not under the floor Kai.”
"Where aaaaaaare you ~~~~?"
"I bet your hiding in my dresser??
I’m not in the floor! and there’s no way I'm in your drawer?"
"You’re a sneaky bastard aren’t you???!!"
he looked under a magazine, he reversed his tea table, he checked behind the tv and checked the phone cord. He couldn’t tell if kai was serious or joking at this point. if he was serious then the whole situation was even worse than if he was kidding.
Eventually kai got tired and sighed a big sigh of giving up in the middle of the room.
"Where haven't i checked yet??Where could he be now?"
For the time being, he quit his normal pattern of searching and thought a bit.
"....if that's the case he must be there for sure!"
Kai dashed out to the living room
"Good grief... Kai sure is...huh!?What the heck is going on!?"
The picture on the screen began to follow kai from behind like it was a hand held camera. He wondered how it did that when the phone wasn't in that room.
"Awesoooooome….. it's just what you'd expect from outer space"
Kai turned down a hallway. He seemed to be going to the kitchen.
"Uhm... Nice try... but I'm not in the refrigerator"
How would he even fit in there in the first place.
Sure enough kai opened the refrigerator
"Well then..."
But kai ignored seina's voice and got a drink. he took the bottle cap off and drank it all in one gulp.
"Aaaaaaah refreshing"
Seina was amazed and couldn't think of anything to say Kai had drank that whole bottle in one breath and placed the empty bottle gently back into the case next to the sink. That kind of thing was unexpected from a guy like Kai.
"Well then, I know where seina is now. He has to have locked himself in Kiriko's room."
"HUH?If i was in there i wouldn't still be able to see you.
"……you can still see me?"
"yes i can still see you wherever you go."
"so, like a hidden camera?"
"yeah but different"
"quit hiding."
"do you remember what i said yesterday……"
Seina gave him a summary of things: How it had to do with the pamphlet he got from the pretty woman, how he joined the GP after filling it in as a joke, and how he was in space now.
"It's amazing!"exclaimed seina
"....Amazing…uhm.... it sure sounds amazing. Are you sure your not in a mental hospital?"kai questioned
"But that's why"seina tried to explain
"Well, whatever the big deal is you sound fine."It seemed that further trying to convince kai was pointless.
"Well i gotta go, Kiriko-san is calling me, goodbye, talk to ya later."
Seina Froze in place.
Kai would have had to been a real idiot to believe him so that outcome made sense. It seemed that kiriko wasn't home though.
"……I don't know what i expected with my bad luck……?Even if i told her about it now i doubt she would even believe me. ……wait a second...I wonder if she went to my place."
He decided to call his house now.
He could see onnainin's face reflecting on the screen as he dialed 4989 and his home number
"Aaaaaack!!!" Seina screamed
"Seina! Were about to perform the jump soon, Please come to the bridge quickly."
Seina thought about how to change Kiriko's mind while he went down the corridor to the bridge.
He hadn't even considered being able to call her an option till now but even if he told her he was in space she might not believe it. Kai's reaction had taught him that much. there was no use in telling someone who thought it was impossible.
If he was going to prove it he would have to understand it himself a little better first. He'd also need evidence. And most of all if he had to be able to tell her without getting clumsy.
" OK. Then i'll wait to call her..., but after I warp... and the jump ends."
Kiriko should surely be home by then." seina told himself as he entered the bridge.
"93,98,... Energy generator output had synchronized stably."
"Engine pressurization is going smoothly. The internal pressure balance is in good order."
"Space jump program initiated"
"Space jump program has loaded"
two of the operators were calling out to each other.
Seina thought this was so cool. this must've been how they warped
"Even energy output is at 120 and rising. 130,135,140......"
around the gp ship space became semitransparent and twisted counter clockwise
"Amazing! now this is a warp……"
Seina expected an impact to shake the bridge soon. he got in a seat and fastened the seat belt tight.
"Co-ordinates have been established……"
"Why isn't everyone else seated? it's dangerous."
"ahahaha, is that so."Onnainin laughed as he sat in the captain seat. Mitoto got in the seat next to Seina.
"Program is completely loaded?Hyperspace jump starting in 10, 9……"
Seina swallowed his saliva He heard the crew counting
"ready to jump"
Seina closed his eyes and braced himself in fear as he prepared for the first impact
a shock that should come soon.
"……huh???wait a second what's going on?"
He tried to open is eyes a little. Was there a delay of some sort?
"Jump complete resuming navigation"
"What!?"
Seina's eyes opened wide and an astonishing cry escaped his mouth?
Disappointment filled his mind. Seina had expected several impacts to shake the bridge but not one did. His body didn't shake, he didn't vibrate, he didn't even have a ringing in his ears.
"uh... uhm.... did we jump……?"
"We just finished the first part of the jump. We're traveling through Hyperspace now."
"Hyperspace?"
He was shocked and a little disappointed.
Was this really what it was like to warp? Was all the danger and shaking just make believe?
"It's pretty isn't it? The light emission is a phenomenon caused by the friction of traveling through hyperspace."
"Laaaaaaaame……"
Seina stared out at space stunned.
Well when you think about it objectively it makes no sense for them to warp all the time if every time they did it they risked their life. It's just not practical.
Besides that seina knew everything in science fiction on earth was just based on vague theory that was too impractical for them to even know much about.
The lights however were very beautiful and fantastic and even though seina hadn't expected it; was totally different from the dramatic and exciting lights in science fiction shows. Seina was sure they were warping, but he was still a bit disappointed.
"Were you expecting something else?"
Onnainin asked asked seina softly noticing his disappointment.
"uhm,no,a bunch of colors"
(....it was a lame thing to be disappointed by... but...
I had so many high expectations for being in space, I kind of expected more from a warp then this)
Reality was always unkind to Seina. So he had reconciled this realization to a degree already.
"Ah, well we will be there soon so that's good"
"oh... good."
"We've got incoming. This is urgent. Enable anti-shock defences."Seina heard Onnainin say as seina got up from his seat.
He heard a crew member scream. The room seized from an impact and a roaring sound similar to dreadful thunder rang out over the bridge causing seina and the others hair to stand on end. Emergency klaxons blared across the ship
"Uwaaaaaah!"
Plasma colored hyperspace pure white for an instant, like a terrible flash bulb, and the seina flew over his chair and was thrown to the back of the bridge.
"I sense an energy reaction nearby"
"Was it a near miss!?"
Onnainin's face became pale.
"It's energy to mass ratio is huge. It seems to be a battleship?"
"Hyperspace navigation can't be maintained! we have to return to normal space."
Soon, the GP ships elegant white hull was left with countless substantially large baked on black marks.
"It's alright. don't worry. This kind of thing is pretty common." Mitoto said kindly as she petted seina's anxious head.
" Ms. Mitoto! There is also a one in hundred billion probability of such a near miss".
" Then you hit the jackpot."
"........."
Onnainin lost any urge to talk to mitoto and turned to issue A directive for the crew. " What is the present situation of the hull damage?"
"There is slight damage to our engines but we can repair it in a couple of hours."
"Our current Coordinates put us just north of 6589 by 2483"
"……Is this a particularly pirate prone area? We're lucky that the hull took such little damage."
Onnainin sat down at the captains seat, he was clearly at his wits end.
"uhm, Pirates……?"
Seina knew what a pirate was but never thought they would be a thing in space. He wondered if they wad hook hands and pet parrots on their shoulders.
"Pirates are people who attack our ships and steal our cargo.It's no exaggeration to say that they are the number one enemy of the Galaxy Police. .... Excuse me, Seina. it seems we made an error in the coordinates of our jump, it was a nearly impossible mistake. the odds must be one in ten thousand."
"oh,..., well then, if you say so……" He murmured, knowing he was probably the cause of the mix up. He looked out the window
It didn't matter where he was Even if seina was in space his misfortune did not change with the scenery. he even had an influence on the jump and pirates sounded dangerous, Seina had no other choice but to sigh at the matter.
" Of course both you and mitoto are on board. You two are the important baggage. We need to make sure you both get to the GP Academy safely." Said Onnainin with a chuckle.
"……Well, if i can get through this without a major injury I guess this day is technically still going pretty well ……"
When the gravity had been turned off earlier and then turned back on Seina accidentally hit a button on the panel of the chair he chose to land in. one of the squares was currently red and no one seemed to notice.
The button transmitted a hailing signal to the nearby pirate ship it was mostly fuzz but they heard something about important cargo co-ordinates and something being shipped to the Galaxy Police. They were about to give up and normally they would have but this transmission made them change their mind.
"……Important baggage going to the GP eh?"
Marlon, The elderly captain of the pirate ship muttered.
" the source of the transmission is close by. The identifying signal confirms the ship's a Galaxy Police vessel."
"Is it a warship?"
"No sir, it seems to just be a transport vessel."
"is it a trap?"
"Were in a safe zone. We have nothing to worry about."
In other words, Even if it was a trap they could get away from it.
"Then let's take a chance." Marlon Laughed with his eyes.
It seemed foolish for a GP ship to come into a pirate occupied area of space, especially one loaded with important baggage.
"……It seems fortune is finally smiling upon us… full speed ahead, Target that stupid GP ship at once!Do whatever it takes to get them!"Another captain on another ship cried out. They also intercepted the same transmission as Marlon.
"We must have it!Capture that stupid ship!"said another captain on another ship, and again another…… and another and another, as could be expected in an area over run by pirates.
Pirates began to move towards the ship like sharks smelling blood, and soon they surrounded seina in every direction all at once.
Onnainin looked back at seina
"Seina-kun, I'm sorry but it seems this might take a while, please return to your room and rest a while."
"ye....yes." it was his chance to try and call Kiriko. Seina ran a mad dash down the hallway away from the bridge. As soon as he was in his Japanese style room he picked up the receiver and dialed 4989 followed by Kiriko's number.
"Hello this is the Misaki residence"
Kai had picked up the call.
"Huh Kai?"
"What, are you surprised ?"
"I wasn't trying to reach you Kai.Is Kiriko back yet?"
"Huh my older sister? Well she was home for a while but when I mentioned you she got all red in the face and ran out"
"To my house!?"
"Yeah.When i told her you took the day off from school she panicked and rushed over to your house. That was about 20 minutes ago. "
He slammed down the receiver. Seina was in a hurry to talk to kiriko and so he hung up on kai and started putting in the number for his home.
"Hurry up!"Seina was always in a hurry it seemed.
One ring, two rings, and soon he saw a picture of the inside of the store and heard Yoshiko's voice.
The store was packed, it was just like Kyoko always said, "When you're not here, bussiness booms."
"Hellooooooo and thank you for calling the Yamada shop."
"Yoshiko, is Kiriko-san there!?"
"huh, Kiriko-chan??uh, uhhhhhm, Oh yeah that's right she came over a little while ago to talk to mom……Oh yes sir. that item there is on clearance it's only 30 yen." She said to a customer who was asking her about a thing of soap.
"Can you hurry up and get Kiriko-chan over here?"
"I have to help our customers."
"I'm begging you Yoshiko!"
"Wait a minute will ya. yes uhm... that will be 340 yen."
Yoshiko operated the cash register while holding the phone between her shoulder and her jaw.
"Uhm... Yoshiko... Put Mom or Kiriko-san on the phone already!……"
"Mom, Big brothers on the phone for you!"
Yoshiko looked called out behind her to Seina's mother. But Seina didn't want to talk to his mom he wanted to talk to kiriko. His mother came up from the back of the store and answered the phone
"What is it Seina, I'm busy right now."
"I wasn't trying to reach you mom. I was calling to reach Kiriko-san"
"Kiriko-chan??I just got done talking to her."
"Not again!" His bad luck struck again. He saw the figure of Kiriko about to leave the crowded shop. she looked depressed. Even if Kiriko was the size of his palm he could still pick her out of a crowd.
"There's Kiriko-san??She's just outside the shop! Hurry and go get her?"
"huh?Oh Ok I'm on it."
Kyoko went outside to get Kiriko
"Kiriko-Chan?Seina's on the phone for you?"
Kirko's figure disappeared from the entrance.
"Oh, I was too late."
"Go chase her! "
"But I'm so busy. you should just wait a while and call her at her house."
"Do it! "
Not again……he was used to this?but it was just like the time he went to the hospital all over again. but the doors to the store opened again and in came Kiriko?
"Ms. Yamada, is that seina on the line?"
"Oh what a surprise it seems you've finally had some good luck. How unusual."
Finally, at last! Kiriko pushed through the crowd to get to the phone
She was 3 steps away 2 steps away 1 step away she picked up the receiver……
"Hi there Seina-cha~~"
The picture on the screen and the sound on the receiver cut out as the ship shook all over, Seina could see lasers whiz by outside the window.
"!?"
Klaxons reverberated throughout the interior, Seina didn't understand what was going on and and screamed at a receiver.
"Hello,Kiriko-chan??Kiriko-chaaan!?"
"We're sorry but due to top level emergency situations, All communications have been terminated, please try again later."Announced a monotone machine voice.
"What, Top level emergency situations……"
He looked outside again while holding the receiver
He saw a whole lot of ray beams streaking by.
"Are those lasers?"
Seina seized as the ship shook from the impact
"uwaaaa?" The light of beams lit up seinas face as they went by putting the ship in jepordy "What the...It's just like in the movies."
Seina forgot that light streaks were deadly as he watched it.
"wha...wawawawhat is this........"
"I- I dont get what's going on?"
"Oh my"
"What are they?"
Seina came to his senses finally after one impacted the ship for a second time, He ran to the bridge, the place was filled with a blend of screaming roars and pandemonium.
Though a near miss is a rare event, There was now tons of pirate ships surrounding them shown on the ship's radar and they were all attacking. There was no helping the situation, even if they woke up the rest of the crew the ship was only a GP transportation ship and not a warship it didn't stand a chance in combat.
"Hiiiiiiiiiii". Said onnainin to seina he looked like he was barely keeping his composure.
"are... are you alright Seina-kun. I've seen a lot of things before but this the first time something like this has happened"
Though he was smiling at seina his twitching face was betraying any sense of cool he was trying to project.Ironically, Seina's face was calm and collected compared to Onnainin's.
"se..se..seina-kun, are you a pirate??Why aren't you afraid?"
"Ha.... I'm used to this kind of thing."
"huh? " Onnainin scratched his head dubiously at Seina's comment
Seina was afraid, But regrettably he was used to being involved in the misfortune of those around him. Seina noticed Mitoto looking warmly at Onnainin and his conversation.Her warm radiant smile made his fear melt away.
"Well then, what should we do? We have to do something."
"Eh?……Oh, yes that's right isnt it?"
Finally seina's calm words seemed to have begun to Break Onnainin away from his state of panic.
It seemed that Captain Onnainin's calmness made the crew also become calm and soon they reported on the current condition of the ship.
" The ship has taken little damage so far! We have no trouble navigating!"
" 64% power remaining! Consumption levels are tolerable."
The nearest hostile craft is 7500 units away! "
"7500!?……"
Onainins face stiffened. He sat for a moment thinking silently.
"Shall we surrender?" Mitoto said point blank
"That, that's not even an option??We would be in serious trouble if they found Mitoto, She's a member of the Kuramitsu family?"
Seina didn't know until later, but The kurimitsu family was an incredibly wealthy and powerful noble family. So Naturally if they captured them the ransom money could reach astronomical figures, If a pirate knew mitoto was on board, They would desperately pursue them.
....but even though he didn't know that at the time, It was still applicable to mitoto all the same.
" The nearest enemy warship is 6800 units away and approaching! We're currently within range to fall into a tractor net!"
" Send all energy to the engine immediately."Mitoto began to give instructions in her soft and comforting voice
"but we're under attack……"
"Even if we fought them, isn't it impossible for us to win with this ship?"
"Tha, That's ri……"
It seemed that Mitoto had persuaded Onnainin.
"Ok, Then let's run away."
"Y-yes……"
Onnainin couldn't help but follow her orders
Even if one didn't know her status they could easily see that mitoto was able to see the situation clearly.
"prepare for impact with an energy net and strengthen the shield at the bow of the ship!"
" Our shield levels are maximized!"
"Ha... Like I'd submit to the warning shots of a space pirate."
Onnainin muttered, not yet understanding her angle.
"There's no helping it. This is the situation were in……"
"The Galaxy Police exist specifically to eliminate this situation" Said onnainin
"But we have no choice but to run away now"
Said mitoto point blankly bringing onnainin back to cruel reality.
-------------
Meanwhile on the bridge of the other ship lead by Marlon
The conversations on the bridge of seina's ship was still being relayed while pirates busily operated control panels.
" The 303rd or 448th lead line has been cut off. Energy... to the engines has been..., What's this captain! The outside communication line is on!"??
"What the!?"
"Oh, then So they've heard everything we've said? That's not good, I hope didn't I say anything strange. Hey, there Mr. pirate ."
"Well then, We're signing off……"
The transmission finally stopped.
"They seem to have noticed finally. I thought they were dumber than that."An operator in the back reported to Marlon
"The labor shortage is a serious problem everywhere. prepare the energy net! But don't throw the usual one, just throw one that will slow them down."
"It's being rewritten. We have it programmed for capturing, wounding, and destroying all ships currently".
"Good! We would get our asses handed to us if we injured Mitoto."
"It's reprogrammed. Deploying energy nets?"
A member of the crew pressed a red launch button.
---------------
back at the gp ship :
"Energy reaction up ahead"
A network of several crossing red lights floated forward in outer space.It was like a huge net.
"It's an energy net!"
"Evade Quickly!"
Seina stared at the moniter displaying the current situation
a 3d model of a gp ship was floating in the center of the screen it dodged a representation of the ebergy
"Evasion successful!"
"Alright!"But Onnainin's face froze suddenly
"ah……!"
Surprisingly, a net different from the one they avoided appeared around the ship.
"What the hell...!"
" I'm picking up an energy reaction coming from the rear of the enemy ship!Second-level response is at three! It's coming right for us! Prepare for impact! "
"It's going to hit us in 4,3,2,1, here it comes?"
bzhuuuzhuuuvoom. The ship shook a whole lot.
"Uwaaaaaaaa!"eina's face twitched as the impact nearly shook everyone out of their seat.
"Impact confirmed! There are three in the bottom of the ship!"
Seina saw the missiles lodged in the ship bottom's reflected on the monitor.
"What is this!?"
"Ugh, it's Rats!"Onnainin belted out in annoyance.
half-spherical robots called rats came flooding into the ship from the open tip of the missiles that had struck them.
"There invading the inside of our ship. Sensors say there's 6000 of them.... no wait 10000!
"Activate the traps?" The crew manipulated the Panels in a hurry.
Seina watched as the image of Countless Rats following each other down the ship's corridors was projected on the screen. Individually they would be considered cute, but in large groups they were very ominous looking.
soon, innumerable cube blocks also protruded from the walls, ceilings, and the floors in front of the invaders path line. They emits noises like the cry of cat!
"……So it's a game of cat and mouse then?"
Seina stared at the screen in utter amazement, as the rats hit the blocks and were taken inside the cubes and dragged into the walls. It was destroying a whole bunch of them. But it couldn't keep up with the speed of all the rats.
"The rats have broken through shield 5. They're fast, Are they a new model!?"
"All rats captured by shield 2 have been eliminated?"
"Several rats have gotten through shield 3. There headed towards the bridge?"
"Shield seven activated.we're attempting to round up the ones that got past shields 3 and 5."
"We'll be alright, even if they are new……"Onnainin said trying to convince himself, he looked a little bit blue in the face.
Contrary to what he said, The number of rats breaking through the shields seemed to gradually be increasing.
"Do you have version 9.42 of the prediction program?"Said Mitoto who had remained silent until then.
"9.42? That's over 3 versions old why that one?"
"That version uses a lot less processing power, it's quicker."
At the request of Mitoto, Onnainin changed the version of the program
"Wow!This is fast!All rat's behind sheild 6 have been captured!"
" it seems she's right, this version focuses more on processing then on looks. All Rats behind shield 1 have been captured"Someone in the crew announced.
The rest of the crew seemed to regain their hope but seina was feeling a bit estranged.
"……I'm kinda of……useless……"it was a light complaint but it annoyed him slightly.Seina felt like a good for nothing who was only good for bringing misfortune to those around him.
--------------
meanwhile on marlon's ship a crew member was reporting the rate of rat elimination to marlon
" Elimination rate is at 65%...... 77%...,... 82%! 90% soon there won't be any more left!"
" That...... control is impossible unless there using an old version. Make them concentrate on a stoke hold, let's stop them from moving".
" Understood"
Immediately, a crew sent remote instructions to the rats that remained.
Translator note: a stoke hold is where coal is burnt to generate energy.
the remaining rats received the order and fused themselves to the wall of the passage.
Back on the GP ship The blocks moved at high speed and caught a bunch of the rats but unfortunately, the containment ability of the block was limited. One group that it failed to catch Fused into one large mouse and detonated a huge explosion destroying a circuit in the wall.
"Damn it. It's taken out conduction circuits 3 and 5!"
"Have they been eliminated yet?"
"Just a little bit more. Shield 5's been completely rebuilt"
"Rat elimination complete.... but we lost several circuits to the stoke hold."
"Our engine output is lowering,…… were under 100 now."
As one calamity passed another arose. Seina could feel the ship slowing down.
He could see a pirate ship behind them on a monitor.
it was only a matter of time before they caught up to them.
Onnainin turned back to look at Mitoto to confirm the situation?
"It's a pretty risky bet but……"
"It will do for now."
Seina didn't understand.
Soon, Onnainin spoke with a determined expression on his face..
" Prepare for a random jump!"
the Crew looked at him with twitching faces.
" A random jump!?"From the tone of their screaming voices one could tell it was an extreme measure.
"With this many pirates? no way."
Mitoto nodded convincing the crew to obey.It may have been true but they had no other choice.
"Uhm... What's a random jump?"Seina asked the ever still smiling Mitoto.
"Uhm well you see, to avoid mr. pirate we jump to a bunch of random nonsence co-ordinates.Its sort of like skipping a stone. we'll just sorta weave in and out of hyper space until we loose them."
"I see... I see..."
He didn't understand the concept very well. but those in the crew that did all seemed very uneasy about it.it seemed dangerous.
"Random jump program loading."
"Load complete. Jumping in ten seconds."
The GP ship soon entered a random jump despite Seina's bewilderment.
Short distances, middle distances, extreme short distances, short distances and then middle distances.
The ship was changing coordinates on its axis one after the other one after another in accordance with its random jump program.
It was different from the jump they performed a short while ago and there was a considerable shaking on the bridge.
" now this is a warp......"
The hull shook and the crew seemed to be in pain but kept navigating.
This was more or less the situation Seina expected
Soon, the shaking settled down.
" Random jump over! Error levels and hull damage is within the expected range".
"Were we able to shake them off?"
The Crew stared at the radar screen.
- "we lost th~"- and a luminous point in space appeared followed by a ship.
"! "
The luminous points multiply to dozens in no time. They didn't lose even one pirate.
"W-Why!?"
The cry of Onnainin spoke for the feelings of the whole crew.
----------
"Kekekekek.... You do good work. alright."
Marlon the pirate grinned. he seemed very happy, there was a glint in his eye as he ran his finger over a small terminal.
"The ships random jump program has already been fully analyzed they couldn't escape even if they tried all day."Said tipster a man who specialized in jump routes.
"I see, It doesn't matter where they go."Marlon passed a gold coin over to tipster
"I get them every time, that's our deal."tipster handed marlon a folded piece of paper?
"I'm sensing a gravity wave! The ripple patterns match. It's them again!"
They had just performed another jump only to have the pirate ships find them again.
" Really,...... why is this happening!?"
" Maybe they're just analyzing the points where we jump and guessing where we'll jump next."
"Mitoto! Even if they seem compare and then make a guess this level of accuracy is impossible!"
"Then clearly they must have analyzed our jump program".
" But It's the newest version It just came out a week ago!"
Cries of the captain and the crew rang out.
Since the program had been analyzed it was now useless to them.
" Well in that case we have no choice but to input coordinates manually......"
" Umm. We don't have anyone on board who's specialized in doing that".
Mitoto tilted her head. Somehow that didn't seem necessary in this situation.
Meanwhile the nearby monitor was showing a pirate ship getting closer to them, and the warning klaxons rang out very loudly all over the bridge.
It was clear they were in a big pinch.
Onnaining babbled out some words that were unexpected in this situation
"...... It looks like we have to ignore qualifications in order to maintain the safety of the crew. It's clear that if we perform a random jump they will just find us again and if we fail again we might not be able to jump again.".
" Oh, Then we better pick someone to do it who's good at predicting things.".
" So, mitoto......"
" You're kidding, right? It would be better to ask seina, don't you think?"as mitoto said that both she and onnainin turned looked at seina
" Seina....... Will you please enter in co-ordinates for us?"
"You want me to do it!?"
"That's right. You're the only one of us who has no training so you you'll be able to pick coordinates in a way that isn't distinctly habitual of someone in the GP."
"That may be the case... but couldn't we end up somewhere weird..."All the crew looked upon Seina with reliant eyes.
"Seina, please, you're the only one who can help us?"
"but……"
"Please?"
"Really... Are you sure?"
He had a hunch about how this whole thing would end up but before he could object he found himself in a control chair. it had a panel for entering coordinates.
"The enemy ship is approaching!It's only 250 units away!"
"Please hurry seina?"
"ye-yes……"
Seina inputted a random set of numbers and pressed the confirmation key?
Soon the ship went into a jump.According to Onnainin this was supposed to get them out of danger.
But this was Seina so…
"……Why……how did……"
inside the bridge of the GP ship, Onnainin was muttering with an opened mouth stupefied expression. Their light of hope was smashed by what was conceivably the worst situation
Seina had imputed three separate coordinates and done three separate jumps and they had just completed the third one.
Everyone had thought entrusting Seina with the co-ordinates was a sure thing. He was an amateur, he didn't have any standard GP habits. And they surely would have thrown off a professional like tipster. And the fact they they had jumped three times should have meant that they had lost them... But... well.
the luminous points on the radar screen that showed where the pirates were now spread across an entire sector They couldn't count the number of ships. it was like they were multiplying.
Every time they jumped seina, surprisingly, ended up dead center in a herd of a new set of pirates.
of course seina didn't mean to and he was just entering whatever random numbers he though.
but.......Group after group of pirates kept bringing him more unhappiness....
It was the moment that seina yamada earned the feared nickname of "Lorelei".
Translator note: Lorelei was a siren who lured sailors to their death
"the amount of enemy warships is increasing steadily!
" There's too many we can't even distinguish one from the other anymore!"
"they're all headed this way!"
Seina's resolve wavered at the cry of the crews reports.
Mitoto was still smiling though.
" Oh my, things have gotten very crowded."
" Why... how does such a thing,......"
"...... I'm unlucky,......"
Onnainin face twitched as seina's words reminded him of something from earlier
" Your mother's said something like"I'm surprised the person who came and got him while he was sleeping wasn't hurt." in other words,......"
"……ah yes, well that would be because those sort of things happen to me……"
Said seina sorrowfully as he bowed.
-------------
The bridge was dominated by a sorry but lethargic mood.However, the pirate ship chasing them was wrapped in and even more strange atmosphere.
"Shit, There are other pirates after that ship!God damn it that ship is ours!We must get that "important baggage" by any means necessary." Marlon grinned.Though the amount of rival pirates had multiplied they still had the advantage of being first. it was a matter of honor.which still meant something among the more senior pirates.
But...... That was only the old times, with the situation including hundreds of pirate ships running after only one ship there was no way that they could all be honorable. many pirates who were there were driven into a blind sort of mob mentality.
"Captain! There is something incoming up ahead."
Marlon looked at the monitor
In the area not that far ahead of them a giant pirate ship was exiting hyperspace.
The ship was flying the coat of arms of the shank guild.
It was Radi Shank's ship.
Radi's ship had a special engine that allowed it to spend most of its time in hyperspace only rarely exposing it. allowing it to raid ships with ease.
"Ugh, What a greedy coward……"
Marlon's mockery of Radi was a good evaluation of other pirates feelings towards Radi in general.Radi's ship came so near to the gp ship that it just barely missed it.
Radi's ship had been so close that when seina plotted a random jump his ship messed up the whole process and got ripped out of hyperspace.He too got caught up in seina's bad luck.
"shit.We were sailing normally for so long just to end up in this ruckus.that's just great!"
Radi said arrogantly in his captain's seat
He was mostly just mad that he had been dragged into normal space.As he noticed the great number of pirates surrounding him he began to regain his composure.
"A big shot like me is a top priority target for the Gp or Jurai."
He had been in hiding, he was just a coward like Marlon had said
"What are they all going after? a transport ship?"
"I think it's a bit different father, from what I've heard from the other ship's communications lines it seems to be a GP ship.
Aru who was the eldest son of Radi looked back from an adjutant seat.
"A gp ship?The Galaxy police eh?... With this many pirates following them... i don't know what they are shipping, but it seems quite fascinating. KUKEKEKEKE."
Radi's reptile-like smile seemed strangely cunning .
Their ship's location was compromised And if he ran away here, he didn't know what kind of things they would whisper to other pirates about him. He was a coward, but his high pride didn't permit escaping to sub-space in this situation.
"If you can get to that ship first do it...."
(The other pirates would soon regret their malicious gossip.)
Radi thought as he issued orders happily to his subordinates
"Short jump ready!Accelerate maximum speed after the jump! That ship is ours!"
-------
Meanwhile on the GP ship Seina was aboard there was a great commotion.
Seina was struck dumb, and didn't notice the the engines had given out from all of the random jumps. They could no longer get away by jumping. Seina raised his hand and asked a Onnainin a question nervously.
"This is a police ship right?Doesn't it have weapons?"
"Please don't say such obsurdities, Seina! this is just an ordinary transport ship?"
The many pirate ships around them deployed energy nets surrounding them and a few fired warning shots to intimidate them.
"Were reading High level gravity waves. Someone is jumping in from hyperspace"
"What Can it be!?" Onnainin shouted completely at a loss for words
-------------
Meanwhile on a ship hidden nearby was Seto Kamiki Jurai, member of the royal family of jurai, the strongest nation in the galaxy, she commanded the 13th master defense fleet, but the real outstanding strength she commanded was focused in the seventh master defense fleet, which she handpicked from every fleet to lead a pirate suppression attack force.
Seto's ship the Mikagami had noticed one GP ship being followed by 400 dozen pirate ships.They were surprised to see such a showy display from that many pirates
"What the hell is going on……?"
Kanemitsu Hirata commander-in-chief of the fleet instinctively murmured. It could be said that this view was strange for him even though he was a seasoned veteran of many wars. he was a hero who many referred to as the "Seto's sword".
"That GP vessel. Is it a decoy ship?"
Said Seto's intellegence officer Minaho Masaki who was on the opposite side of Seto as Kanemitsu She was known as Seto's shield and neither she nor Kanemitsu could hold back there surprise.
"……If that's the case, those scouts must be top rank."Seto, who would normally be agitated, was struck mute. She was even smiling at the matter.
From her body language you could see she agreed, these decoys were excellent.
It wasn't an easy thing to control the pirate populations in the vast sectors of the galaxy.
usually they pulled long cons using spies to gather intel to perform a sting operations. However, it was a strategy that required serious effort and economic power. It was just as nasty a process to arrest and prosecute the pirates.
But on this day, Seto caught many pirates that they had yet to catch in one fell swoop. They had been secretly investigating pirates in order to find information on the "Grand guild" which was a top brass guild and seina had succeeded in managing to gather all vessels of the organization at once.
all of the pirate ships were lured out to this narrow sector and gathered around one point. It was also clear that they had two or three escape routes to take.
She determined that this exposure of all these ships was impossible even if she herself had gathered the intel. The information collection abilities of Seto were no laughing matter. She held over 40+% of the entire military power of Jurai.
If she had only captured 30% of the guild from this trip it would have been a massively fortunate success. But currently there were four hundred dozen pirate ships grandly marching in front of her It was a super-natural phenomenon of such magnitude that Seto had trouble even believing it.
"I can't find the first ship we were targeting but the rest of the ships on the list are all here. They're all running after that ship"
An operator group ofladys-in-waiting comprised of karen, gyokuren and suiren reported on the situation one after another following hakurens's report from the operator seat.
"I'm reading over 133 different crew signatures outside and that number is growing."
"From the energy-mass ratio and vibration ripples, no doubt most of them are illegally modified pirates ships that have been disguised."
"It's unusual for this many of them to be exposed like this."
"There seem to be lots of private pirates who don't belong to any of the guilds here as well." Said hakuren, the operator, with an amazed smile.
"But I don't understand, why!?"
"It's as if there were a bunch of jewels scattered in a dessert……"Seto said laughing.
"and someone collected them all and put them neatly in front of me."
"Now what do we do? With all these ships..." Minaho brought her face in close to whisper to seto.
"I don't want to drag that gp ship into this."as seto said that gyokuren cried out, "i'm picking up a Gravity wave ! A large warship is jumping! "
"identify it."
"This……It is the first warship we were targeting! "
it was Radi Shank's ship which returned from the short-range jump that It had set to get closer to the gp ship. He was also a leader of the Grand guild,and by the way, he wasn't popular at all.
--------------
Back to Seina:
"A large ship is jumping in from the back!"
Onnainin announced as he realized there was a large outline ahead of them in space. it was evident that A ship of large mass was jumping in close range to them.
At the same time hard to describe vibrations battered the GP ship.
they felt brutal and gave one's body an instinctive sense of danger.
In other words it was a desperate situation.
"evade ! EVADE! "
"Evading isn't going to do anything!"
"Do it anyways?!"
onnainin screamed, the form of the large pirate ship was reflected in seina's widely opened eyes.
The ship heralded the crest of the shank family and flag of the Grand guild.
The scale of the ship was bigger then anything he had seen so far.
Seina couldn't take his eyes off its excessively prestigious looking appearance. he was utterly amazed.
It seemed his bad luck was getting a bit out of hand.
---------
Another pirate shot off a net to capture the ship and radi's ship and it was flicked off by the force-field of Radi's ship
"Damn it. I've had it up to here with that coward!"
Marlon slammed his fist into his armrest in anger.
"I don't care anymore, prepare to shoot that jackass!"
He hadn't even cared that marlon was there first.
------------
Back on seto's ship:
"Ahahahaha!"
Seto rarely laughed when she was conducting military affairs.But seto found watching the pirates fighting with each other... hilarious.She burst out laughing.
It wasn't just seto laughing. Everyone in the jurai fleet was laughing.
"I loathe Radi Shank"Seto said as she watched Radi's ship go up in flames as a fellow pirate from the grand guild attacked them.After laughing for a while Seto and stood up.
"Prepare to destroy all the ships. "
"Yes lady Seto."
Minaho could not guess Seto's true intentions not even for an instance.
If she wanted to involve the GP ship……she should have just said so.
But with Radi's ship blown up there was now a large gap between the gp ship and the pirates so she understood.
The distance opened up was large enough for them to fit in.
"Make sure not to miss a single ship!"
"Understood!"
---------------
marlons ship again:
"Gehahaha!That's what he get's for getting in the way of my catch."
Marlon said experiencing a slight victory high. They were seized with an impact followed by a glaring light from a spacial warp. A noisy emergency siren resounded through the bridge.
" What is it now? did we hit some of the debris from Radi's ship?"
" It's something else! Were picking up a high gravity wave energy reaction!"
"our meters are exploding from the overload!"
"Remove the sensor sensitivity limits!"An explosion shot plasma all over the place.
" We can't most of our sensors are unresponsive."
" That's impossible,...... ?"
A possibility that he didnt want to believe floated on marlon's mind while he gave directions
"Jump immediately. Get us away from this sector now!"
"Captain! the energy-to-mass ratio, indicates that it's a Juriaian Ship! "
"I thought that was the case. We have to hurry up and jump! "
"We can't! the waves from the ship are keeping us from entering hyperspace! "
"Shit, We weren't quick enough!! "
It wasn't only Marlon's ship. All ships in the area where experience amazing spatial distortion and overwhelming noise. The pressure was tremendous a sweaty crew member turned to Marlon.
"Captain, what is this?!?"
Marlon, disappointedly sat in the captain's seat.
"Oh well what can you do." With many years of experience as a pirate he knew the meaning of this situation and understood well.
Soon mixed with the noise, a communication code like the old General space code would be communicated to all ships and pirates.
"Sir, Were receiving some kind of high frequency code! "
He didn't need to wait for the operator to announce it.
The code's classification was ZZZ
Marlon had experienced that code twice before, and it was the last thing he ever wanted to hear.
" Stop all power reactors right now! Freeze All energy transfer ways! Don't attack or make any evasive actions!"
" But if we do that we'll lose life support systems!"
A young operator looked back at marlon.
"Shut it down now!!Tell all crew members that if they don't feel like dying they should put on an S suit right now.Send those orders to all the ships around us and send a message to the Big Daruma Make it quick!"
"On it!"
the operator noticed the captain's tense upset expression and executed his order.
"It's done!The daruma has ordered all the surrounding ships to stop! What is this? "
They looked at marlon to enlighten them on the answer to this question.
"The ZZZ is a declaration of destruction reflected in water .... A genocide dance of a demon princess of Jurai" ZZZ, a Genocide dance. There was nothing pirates feared more then it.
The ZZZ signal was used to declare that any vessel that kept on resisting would be utterly destroyed by the Mikagami. Even independent ships not involved nearby were held hostage by it.
The only way to be saved was to indicate the intention of unconditional surrender immediately.All power reactors and energy transfer had to be frozen.and all attack and withdrawal behaviors had to be ceased immediately.
When considering the situation and amount of pirate ships crowded in a small sector like this, and the destructive power of the the royal ship, it was impossible to run away.
marlon was familiar with the protocol and so was the other more senior captains, They all complied
-------
back to seto's ship :
" Oh it seems everyone is being good this time, that's a shame I kind of like when they don't comply."Seto smiled as she talked to Kanemitsu.
"They probably don't want to risk their lives... Well then is there anything else lady Seto?"
"What about the GP ship?"
"It's safe." Minaho smiled as she informed seto.
In spite of causality, over four hundred dozen pirates had just been captured in one fell swoop. Pirates sank the flagship of Grand guild which they were targeting .and everyone surrendered without causing any trouble. all the crew members who escaped the explosion of Radi's ship had been arrested too. Seto was happy and reasonably so.
"……But lady Seto?Before we jump, I must inform you that there is one pirate ship that seems to have escaped us."The operator, Hakuren, looked back and said
"Oh, really??Do you know it's identity?"
"It's Ryoko Balta’s ship.
"Phew~ that idol Pirate's ship? hahaha, Well then she is just an idol pirate..." Seto laughed happily and looked at the GP warship which had been considerably bullied and was drifting just outside of the window.
at any rate that simple transportation ship must have drawn such a crowd of pirates for a reason
"Well then, Why don't we have a little chat with them"
End chapter 2
End of Episode 2 of the anime