Launch and Breakup

Mitsuki finished getting everything ready.

“Sir, this is the first time in 12,000 years that we’ve had to activate the condensers. Since you’re here, give the order.”
“Yes, sir. Shrink reactor, turn it on.”
“Copy that. Antimatter reactor output at 70%, power required to restart the degenerate reactor has been reached. Final inspection of the condensers is complete. All components are intact.

Mitsuki proceeded unhurriedly.

“Activate degenerate furnace. External input open. Holding field deployment complete. Generating micro black hole.”

There were no vibrations, only Mitsuki’s voice telling me the progress of the process.

“Generation complete. Event horizon and Hawking radiation observed. Energy conversion complete. Confirmed 90% of rated output. We’ll adjust the mass input to achieve the specified output. All systems in the fortress have been converted to energy transfer from the degenerate reactor. Shut down the antimatter reactors.”

There is no one who can understand what Mitsuki is saying. Mitsuki is responsible for almost all the operations of the fortress.

For Setsuto and the rest of the crew of the Black Silver Glory, it was hard to understand that Mitsuki was an AI. It was a very simple way of saying that she was a human being made of machines.

“This fortress is navigating in a degenerative reactor. Are you sure you want to go to warp next?”
“Yes, please.”
“Copy that. Entering warp process. Attention, all hands. This fortress will enter interstellar warp in 30 minutes from the present time. All activities outside the fortress must cease within ten minutes, and all personnel are requested to make the necessary preparations.”

“We’ve observed spatial microtremors in preparation for warp.”

The fact that the fortress was preparing to warp was immediately communicated to the Count.

“You’re still going to warp.”

Despite what Setsuto had said, it was still a surprise to the Count that such a massive object could actually warp.

Humanity’s technology today is probably no more than a fraction of what the Earth Federation had.

“Do you wish to interfere?”
“No, we should not engage in hostile action. Is the warp in a star system?”
“I don’t know if we can look at them the same way because they’re so massive, but I think they’re interstellar.”
“Right. Then I’m not prepared for the chase. Let’s just let it go.”
“All that preparation for the infiltration operation would have gone to waste.”
“I suppose it’s unavoidable. He was better than me this time.”

The Count was preparing to have people infiltrate the fortress to gather information. The plan was to occupy the fortress as soon as possible. Although he did not believe Setsuto’s words that it would be tomorrow, the Count did not expect it to be this early.

(If I’d known from the start that this was the only time we’d have, I could’ve thought of something else.)

The Count thought that Setsuko had gotten the better of him on this point.

I thought he was just a child.

“The fortress has sent us an estimated time of warp-in. Twenty minutes out.”
“Okay.”

The Count nodded and thought about it for a moment.

“I’m sorry. Can you send out a message?”
“Yes. Which way, sir?”
“The fortress commander in front of you, of course.”
“What kind of text should I send?”
“I salute you for your valor and wish you good health until the day we meet again.”
“I understand.”

The Count’s words were immediately delivered to Settsu in the fortress.

When he heard what Mitsuki had read out, Settsu felt an emotion that was hard to describe.

“Am I supposed to be happy about that?”
“It’s fine. The Count must be very frustrated that you sent it all the way. I can just imagine how frustrated he must be.”

Kitty looked honestly happy. Setsuko can’t imagine that the Count is so young that he’s trembling on the ground.

“Is that so?”
“We will successfully achieve our goal of flying at warp from this system. We’ll win this battle.”
“I see.”

When Kitty said that, joy began to occupy much of Setsu’s mind.

“Do you wish to reply?”

When Mitsuki asked him, Setsuko thought for a moment. It wasn’t something that he expected a reply to, but he wanted to reply.

“Yes, it is. The content is: …… Pray for the longevity of the Count’s fortune, then. Let’s do it.”

Setsuko stared at the dragoon on the monitor. It might be the last time he saw it.

“Understood”

Twenty minutes later, the fortress warped in.

The Count quietly watched the scene. According to his analysis, the warp destination seemed to be the uninhabited Stellar System, thirty light years away. Perhaps they would repeat the warp from there and go somewhere else.

“Where do you think we’re going?”

The Count visited his chief of staff.

“First of all, it must be the employer of the Black Silver Glory. It’s somewhere in the frontier independent countries. I’m sure the Imperial Capital is aware of it.”
“Do you think they’ll take it?”
“I doubt it. Setsu-sama has become quite resourceful, and I’m sure he won’t give up his fortress to the enemy without a fight.”
“Yes, I suppose so. Now, I’ll have to report this to the imperial capital, as this may be the first time in two hundred years that the situation has changed significantly.”

The Count foretold.

If you throw a stone that big into a pond, there is bound to be a big splash. I didn’t think it would come off.

Frontier independent countries.

Independence sounds good, but the reality is that the three major powers are too busy bickering with each other to be left alone.

The three major powers are the Empire, the Kingdom, and the Federation.

Of course, each country has its own official name, but since everyone knows which country it is without saying the official name, the official name is rarely used except for rituals.

The general feeling was the same for the independent countries, but this was due to the fact that there were ‘too many to remember’ and ‘no big problem if you don’t remember them. Therefore, most of them were lumped together as “independent countries”.

The Kingdom of Mars-Camino was one of those independent countries.

Of the three major powers, it is considered to be better than the Kingdom, and many spaceships made by the Kingdom are flying around the system.

The third planet of the Janota system, Kaliko, is the only inhabited planet, and the territory is held by building orbital facilities and other facilities in four neighboring systems.

The Glory of Black and Silver has arrived at the spaceport on Calico’s satellite.

The spaceport is a simple spaceport that was built by leveling the surface of the satellite and turning it into a ship parking area. The spaceport terminal was built a short distance away from the parking area.

“Landing complete. All clear.”

The damage that the Silver Glory had sustained in the Nueve system had already been repaired.

The dock facilities at the fortress were made available to them, where they were thoroughly repaired.

“We’ll fix our ship.”

The maintenance team of the Black Silver Glory insisted, so the fortress only provided materials and tools. The materials were the wreckage of a bounty hunter’s ship, which the fortress reworked to fit the Black Silver Glory and provided.

Then, a phenomenon occurred where the performance of the part using the provided parts increased. This is due to the different dimensions of processing technology.

Therefore, a plan to remodel the “Glory of Black Silver” is currently under consideration. The person in charge of the project is Keuk, a jack-of-all-trades.

“The ship that was such a jerk has become as obedient as a five-year-old’s head. …..”

Denias, who had made the landing, lamented.

“What’s wrong with a five-year-old head?”
“Why, Keuk, are you a pedophile?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. The only good thing about being five is your head. Aren’t you cute?”
“Hmm, yeah.”
“There, do that where I can’t hear you.”
“It makes sense to do it so I can hear you.”
“Yes, yes. Use a loud voice when you praise.”
“If you think that’s a compliment, you’ve got it all twisted up.”
“Your head is pretty cute now, too.”
“I’m not pretty now, I’m beautiful. Can you make no mistake about it?”
“That’s right. I can’t help but think of your head when you were five.”

Durdov and Mitski entered the bridge.

“Head, I’m ready.”
“Well, I’m going to go finish up some bureaucratic work, Keuk, so I’ll see you around.”

Kitty took the captain’s seat.

Setsueto followed, and the four of us left the bridge together.

I put on my space suit in the airlock. Mitsuki could handle the vacuum on her own, but I asked her to wear it so as not to startle the viewer.

The four of them got out, caught in the hull of the ship.

In the black space, which was completely devoid of atmosphere, the surface was covered with fine dust. In front of me, I could see a blue planet floating in the sky.

Once outside the ship, the ship’s gravity control system was no longer in effect. My body seemed to float softly. The gravity of this satellite is small, about 0.1G.

There were various spaceships lodged around us. Some of them were large cargo ships, while others showed fresh signs of damage. This may be a spaceport, but it is a spaceport for pirates.