Chapter 134: Training Exercises

『We’ve arrived at the target coordinates. Deactivating FTL Drive.』

May’s voice resounded through the comms, and the next moment, Krishna and Black Lotus returned to normal space. It was just a short jump via the FTL Drive, but we couldn’t see even a shadow of Brad Prime in the distance anymore.

“There seem to be no problems so far.”

『Yes, it seems so. Well then, I shall open the hangar hatch.』

“Got it.”

May’s operations were smooth and efficient, without any waste. After the FTL Drive test, it looks like we’re immediately performing the docking test.

When I moved Krishna in front of the hangar that was located on the lower rear of the Black Lotus, a guide beam was immediately emitted from the hatch. The guide beams employed by motherships are a kind of tractor beam that automatically pulls the target ship inside the hangar. In other words, once the guide beam hits us, the whole process will be entirely automated.

Of course, you can also opt to do it manually, but if you mistake the speed and timing, you may end up crashing, and that would cause great damage to the mothership as well, so I wasn’t planning to attempt it at all.

As I was thinking about such things, the guide beam from Black Lotus successfully captured Krishna and pulled it inside the hangar. We docked without any problems and the hatch promptly closed up.

“No problems with this either.”

『Yes. I will have the sisters check the state of the hangar and equipment, so please stand by for a little while.』

“Roger.”

The landing pad Krishna landed on did a full 180-degree turn. In other words, Krishna’s bow was now pointed toward the hangar’s exit hatch. When we perform a launch, this landing pad will double as a catapult and will propel us outside of the ship.

From now on, this hangar will be Krishna’s new home. Basically, Krishna will stay on standby inside this hangar and will jump out in case of emergencies or battle.

I observed the sisters who were now hard at work with the optical cameras installed outside the ship.

“They both look very focused.”

“Yes, they sure are. Dwarf girls are small and cute, aren’t they?”

Mimi’s expression as she looked at the sisters seemed like a real big sister watching her little sisters do their best. Uh, but both of them were older than Mimi, right? Well, it was kind of amusing to see dwarf sisters who looked like little girls running around busily inside the hangar.

By the way, Elma was looking at Mimi while making the same complicated expression as me.

“Oh? So there were maintenance bots too.”

“Looks like it. It’s different for Krishna, which is a small ship, but maintaining Black Lotus would be difficult without using them because of its size.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Despite its designation as a small ship, Krishna had enough living space for five people to stay inside with some room to spare. Including the cargo space, the engine, and various other facilities, it should be comparable in size to Earth’s large aircraft. It might even be slightly bigger.

And the Black Lotus has a hangar large enough to store two Krishnas, an equally large cargo space, and a living area where up to thirty people can stay. Its total length should be over 300 meters. It seemed like an absolute giant in my eyes.

It would certainly be impossible for just two people to maintain such a gigantic ship. Thus, it’s only natural to employ maintenance robots.

And after finishing the equipment checks, Tina and Whisker moved away from Krishna.

『The equipment check is finished, Master. We will now perform the launch test.』

“Roger. We can go anytime.”

『Yes. Opening hatch. Beginning catapult launch procedures. 3,2,1, launch.』

Krishna abruptly accelerated, and I felt my body get pressed toward the pilot seat. We then got successfully ejected to outer space. So this is how it felt to get launched by a ship catapult. It’s like those thrill rides in theme parks.

“That was pretty intense even with the use of inertial control huh.”

“Yes, I was really surprised.”

Well, it’s not like the Gs were enough to make you faint. So it wasn’t really a problem, I guess. I was a bit curious about why my body’s reaction to the force was delayed though. Maybe that’s just normal when you get accelerated by an external force.

『I will open the hatch once more. The next test would be auto-docking. And next will be manual docking.』

“Manual too……? Roger that.”

And I was going on about not attempting manual docking earlier too. Oh well. I guess I can’t say there’s absolutely no need for it so it doesn’t hurt to get some practice in either. I’m sure the only times we’re gonna attempt manual docking were in emergency situations, so practicing now would prevent us from messing up when it counts.

After doing repeated practice drills for launching and docking, next on the agenda was checking out the weapon systems. At May’s prompt, the moveable armor sections that concealed the weapon turrets and pods opened up and revealed the Black Lotus’s fully armed state.

“Man, that sure looks flashy.”

“It’s amazing. Seeing all those laser cannons firing is a bit scary, but it’s also kinda pretty.”

‘Well, the sight is quite beautiful, sure. But I wouldn’t want to plunge in the middle of that bombardment at all.”

“That’s true too.”

The sight of twelve laser cannons firing in a barrage sure was something.

The Black Lotus was equipped with eight Class 2 and four Class 3 laser cannons, for a total of twelve. There’s also the ten seeker missile pods that were not being fired right now. And we can’t forget the main centerpiece – the large-caliber EML. In terms of overall firepower, the Lotus definitely trumps Krishna.

『The weapons check is complete. I will now proceed with the maneuverability test.』

“Yeah, go ahead.”

Black Lotus fired up its afterburners and started accelerating. Because of its size, it was fairly slow out the gate. But due to the high output of its thrusters, its top speed was nothing to scoff at. This speed was more than sufficient for shaking off chasing pirates during an escape.

“Oh…… It’s actually faster than I expected.”

“Yes, it’s huge but it sure can move huh.”

“Is that so?”

I and Elma were surprised by the unexpected mobility of Black Lotus, but Mimi didn’t seem to get it and tilted her head. No, it really is more mobile than I expected. In other words, its turning speed was relatively high. Usually, large ships like it had good straight acceleration but somewhat suck at turning. That’s why they were very susceptible to small ships sticking close. Once the small ships manage to get behind the large ship’s blind spot, they would get peppered with attacks after all.

But the turning speed of Black Lotus was unexpectedly good. Rather, it looks like it’s not only using the side thrusters but also the attitude control thrusters to forcefully achieve such a feat. Maybe those maneuvers are based on my own.

“What do you think?”

“It’s faster than expected, but that’s about it. But it could best pirates with crappy ships and equally crappy piloting I guess.”

“Yeah, I thought so.”

It’s indeed faster than expected, but Elma and I didn’t think much of it regardless. Just like Elma said, it could surprise unprepared and sucky pirates. But it’s just to that level. As expected, we can’t count on Black Lotus too much in high-speed battles. Well, it’s a heavy and large ship after all, so I guess that’s to be expected.

While Black Lotus continued its maneuvers in open space, multiple ships suddenly warped out nearby accompanied by booming sounds. From the looks of them, they were probably part of the imperial navy. I wonder what’s up?

『This is the Brad System Defense Forces Third Fleet. Please respond.』

They immediately opened communications. Did they mistake the situation for an active battle or something?

“This is the mercenary ship Krishna’s Captain Hiro speaking. That large one over there is our mothership, the Black Lotus. We just got it today, so we were performing some tests. Go ahead.”

『I see. Please wait for a bit.』

“Aye, aye sir.”

An alert signifying the imperial ships scanning us rang out. We didn’t really carry anything illegal so we just allowed them to scan us obediently. The Black Lotus should be getting scanned as well.

『Master. The imperial navy is asking that we comply with an inspection.』

“We’re not carrying anything illegal anyway, so just let them go ahead. It’s not all that pleasant, but it can’t be helped.”

『Understood.』

“Also, the Krishna will dock in order to comply with the inspection as well. Please make preparations.”

『Yes.』

I cut the call with May and had Mimi connect with the imperial fleet next.

“This is Captain Hiro. We will now dock inside the Black Lotus to participate in the inspection. The Lotus has two functioning hangars. Please go ahead and send a small ship to the second hangar for performing the inspection.”

『Understood. Thank you for your cooperation.』

After confirming their response, we proceeded with docking inside Black Lotus.

I was thinking of going to the asteroid belt after training and doing a bit of hunting, but it looks like that won’t be happening this time. We’ll probably undergo a full inspection this time, and that means they’ll be scrutinizing our entire cargo. It’s better to just honestly cooperate at times like this.