Finally, I’ve gained a helmsman who acts like a human.
Even if she isn’t an extra life, at least I won’t die a pathetic death.
“Chief. I need an emergency withdrawal of Mana Stones.”
“By protocol, the Squadron Commander must sign for it in person.”
“It can’t be helped, then.”
“We need to head to the planetary hall. Do you happen to have a spare shuttle?”
I turned my head to look at the First Officer.
“The main fleet’s shuttles require repairs. We haven’t secured authorization for the captured ships yet.”
At that, the Chief spoke with an anxious expression.
“I will prepare our shuttle for you.”
It wasn’t that the capital ship couldn’t enter the planet, but it wasn’t very efficient. Unless it was a desperate situation, it would be a waste of Mana Stones.
“First Officer. Lock those bastards in the brig, separated from each other.”
“Understood!”
They were elites, so I wanted to win them over, but since they were deployed on a secret mission, the chances were low. They either had high loyalty or the Imperial Marshal’s Office held some kind of leverage over them.
“I will escort you this way, Commander!”
Accompanied by my escort, I followed the Governor.
The station was quite dilapidated. Broken equipment was left lying around everywhere. Even the residential areas I glimpsed while passing through were in poor condition.
“Ahem.”
And as we passed through the bustling district, I turned my head away. There were many fairies in embarrassing outfits. It seemed their primary industry was entertainment for the ships visiting or passing through this place. Even the lodging facilities were that kind of place.
“You may board here.”
The shuttle’s condition was also a mess. The seats rattled, looking like they were in dire need of repair.
“My apologies. All our other shuttles are currently on the surface.”
Apparently, when the enemy ship appeared, they were all mobilized to evacuate people and supplies. This was the one unit left behind just in case.
“Chris.”
“Yes, Governor!”
Surprisingly, the shuttle’s pilot was Chris. She sat in the cockpit and synchronized with the systems.
“I might be a bit clumsy, so please bear with me.”
I tilted my head. She had performed amazingly in the battle earlier. Generally, her movements were D-class, but her momentary brilliance was beyond that. And yet, she was clumsy at flying?
Clunk!
As soon as the shuttle departed, I understood what she meant.
Clunk! Thud!
We hadn’t even entered the planet’s atmosphere, yet the shuttle lurched several times. How could we be affected by waves at such a slow speed? She was failing to dodge vibrations that even I could see.
“Is there a problem with the shuttle? It’s completely different from before.”
“Well, you see… This child has a bit of a disorder.”
What? Was I scammed during recruitment?
“The doctor called it ADHD.”
I could roughly grasp the situation. She seemed to be the type who couldn’t focus when bored. On top of that, she felt anxiety, which made her passive and timid.
“Chris. Why don’t you increase the speed a bit?”
She was going to be the helmsman of my ship; I had to verify this.
“Re… Really?!”
“You can push it to the limit of what the shuttle can handle.”
“Yes!!!”
Chris’s tone suddenly spiked. It felt as if a flash of madness had crossed her eyes. For a moment, I worried if I had made the wrong choice.
“Commander! In a shuttle like this, it’s danger—”
Before the First Officer could finish her sentence.
Vroooooom!
The shuttle began to accelerate.
“Augh!!”
The Governor screamed at the powerful G-force. Even I felt a prickle in my tailbone, like I was on a theme park ride. Only the First Officer remained composed.
“Attention, passengers! Our shuttle is about to enter the planet. If you don’t buckle your belts, I won’t be responsible for what happens~!”
Chris’s tone had completely changed. Like a crazy woman.
“Kiyoooot!”
The shuttle began to dive toward the planet.
Rattle! Bang!
I could see something breaking off from the wing section.
“Hehe! Hehe! Don’t worry. A shuttle won’t crash just because a little bit of the wing broke.”
Beep—! Beep—! Beep—!
The shuttle shrieked as it blared warnings. The interior was flooded with red light. Was this really okay? After surviving all those hardships, surely I wouldn’t die a pathetic death like this?
Thud-thud-thud! Crack!
Eventually, one side of the wing flew off completely.
“Wow! Our shuttle is crashing. Don’t worry and trust me completely!”
“Are you insane?! You operate a shuttle like this?”
I wondered if they even performed maintenance properly. If I had known, I would have used one of our shuttles that was under repair.
The ground drew closer and closer. The lush green forest looked beautiful. Was this the last scenery I would see alive?
“I know, right? Hmph! Commencing shuttle attitude control. I cannot guarantee the safety of any passenger who still hasn’t buckled their belt—!”
Chris gave the announcement in a bright voice. Miraculously, the shuttle moved horizontally instead of vertically.
“This thing can still fly?!”
However, it was spinning around, making me dizzy. The world was spinning. I was spinning. I felt like my mind was going to spin out of control too.
Clatter! Snap!
Then, the seat I was sitting in was ripped off.
“Commander!”
The First Officer quickly unbuckled her belt, drew a dagger, approached me, and swung it lightly.
“Be… Careful!!”
Fortunately, only the belt restraining me was cut.
Grab!
She then grabbed me by the collar and pulled me into an embrace. Normally, I would have thought what a stroke of luck this was, but my mind was so blank that I couldn’t think of anything.
Thud!! Thud!! Thud!
The First Officer kicked off the shuttle walls here and there. And that was while she was holding onto me.
“Wow!! Incredible!”
In the midst of this, Chris, who was piloting, marveled at the sight. She had her head turned to look this way. The Chief shouted urgently.
“Focus!! Focus on what you’re doing!”
“Roger—! Because the employer’s life is precious.”
She jerked the cute little control stick in the opposite direction.
Voom—!
For a split second, the shuttle flew normally. But that was only brief; this time, it tried to rotate the other way.
“Now’s the time?!”
Chris shouted something strange and pressed the emergency button.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Small balloons popped out of the tail in sequence. The shuttle’s speed dropped drastically. Finally, a parachute deployed. The shuttle slowly descended toward the ground.
Peace had returned.
The First Officer roughly set me down. I felt carsick. I barely held back the steak I ate earlier from coming back up.
“Are you injured anywhere, Commander?” the First Officer asked.
“Thanks to you. As for you… Ah!!”
I quickly averted my gaze. She was hurriedly pulling something that had bulged out near her stomach back up. It seemed that the force she had released momentarily had pushed whatever she had fixed in place downward. Her face was turning beet red.
Thud!!
The nose of the shuttle finally collided with the ground. Then, it tilted to the side and stood upright.
Thump!!
The First Officer grabbed the back of my neck and helped me stay upright so I wouldn’t fall.
“Thanks.”
“If you’re thankful, please forget what just happened.”
“I didn’t see anything.”
“Don’t lie.”
“It’s just my nature that I’m not good at lying.”
“A person like that, during the prisoner negotiations earlier…”
“Even then, I spoke based on the facts.”
I spoke confidently with my arms crossed, and the First Officer narrowed her eyes.
Pshhhhh~ Pop!
Meanwhile, a rescue flare shot out from the shuttle and exploded.
“Stop the lovers’ quarrel! It is dangerous outside the shuttle. Please… wait… inside…”
Chris’s speech became slower toward the end. It seemed her dopamine levels were dropping rapidly. Her eyes were starting to look a bit dazed.
‘Her skills aren’t bad.’
I decided to adjust my evaluation of her. Somewhere between C-class and a total disaster that wasn’t D-class.
Rustle—!
Just then, something burst out from the forest.
About 130 centimeters tall, the size of a child. Green skin. Saw-like teeth. Slanted eyes.
“Goblins?”
At my question, the Chief replied.
“They are livestock-type goblins. Their reproductive traits have been enhanced through genetic manipulation. They seem to be runaways from a farm.”
Perhaps due to the genetic manipulation, they seemed to have almost no intelligence. Why would anyone go as far as genetic manipulation to raise such things as livestock? Because this planet’s specialty was fake fairies. And fairies have no males. To breed fairies, there were no creatures as cost-effective as goblins.
“Occasionally, we use males of other livestock for breed improvement.”
Even so, there wouldn’t be a dramatic difference. The maternal genes were just that strong.
Rustle—! Snap—!
The number of goblins steadily increased. Now, there were too many to count.
“Isn’t that too many for just farm escapees? Haven’t they been breeding out here?”
“Well… occasionally… there are females mixed in.”
“Weren’t you only supposed to import males? Don’t tell me you’re breeding those things on the farms too?”
“Absolutely not. There are unscrupulous merchants everywhere, you know.”
To summarize: Females were mixed in among the imported goblins. They escaped due to a mistake by the farm. Since there were males and females, they naturally bred.
“How do you plan to handle this later?”
The moment they were recognized as residents of the planet, they would start evolving rapidly.
“Commander. There are too many of them.”
If there were only a few, the First Officer and the escorts could have wiped them out, but now they had multiplied to an uncountable number. Even now, more were joining in.
“Chief. When is the rescue team coming?”
“Based on this location, they should arrive within 30 minutes at the latest.”
There were two doors on the shuttle. The guards stood watch at both.
“Will the windows be okay?”
“They are livestock; they don’t have the ability or intelligence to break reinforced glass.”
He said that, but…
-Sniff, sniff. Woman!! It’s a woman!!!
“They can talk?”
I felt a chill. That meant their intellectual capacity had reached a certain level.
Scritch, scratch!
The creatures clung to the shuttle. Quite a few of them pressed their faces against the windows. Some picked up stones and slammed them down, but fortunately, the windows didn’t break.
-Here! Over here!!
Then, they discovered the doors and swarmed toward them. Perhaps because these things had a minimum level of intelligence, they seemed to have deduced that the doors would be the weak point.
Thump—! Thump—!
They brought a log from somewhere and used it like a battering ram. They were far too smart to be called livestock.
Crack!
Eventually, one door rattled and broke.
“Hold them back!! We only need to hold out for 30 minutes.”
The guards pushed back with their shields and swung their weapons.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!
I thought they were bottom-tier, but they fought better than expected. Well, if you can’t even beat livestock, you should quit being a soldier.
Crunch!!!
The other door broke as well. Guards were deployed there as well.
Clang, clang!! Slice!
The guards mechanically slaughtered the goblins. Goblins’ corpses began to pile up in front of the doors.
-Woman! Woman!
Those bastards are something else. If they liked women that much, why did they escape the farm?
Rustle!
They systematically moved their comrades’ corpses out of the way as they struggled to break through the doors. At this rate, could we hold out for 30 minutes?
Thump! Thump! Thump!
However, the ones hitting the windows with stones or slamming their heads against them were extremely bothersome. In particular, one guy kept glaring only at me while he rammed his head against the window.
“Shoo~ I’m a male.”
Should I pull down my pants and show him? While the other goblins were eyeing the female First Officer or Chris, only that one was glaring at me.
“You crazy bastard! I said I’m a male!!”
Feeling anxious, I pulled a pistol from my waist. It probably wouldn’t happen, but what if the window broke? Should I just commit suicide early instead of being violated by that thing?
“Chief. How much longer?” I asked, feeling uneasy.
“I think they will arrive in about five minutes. Armed hunters are coming with them, so you can rest easy.”
Even now, that one guy continued to glare at me.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The act of ramming his head against the window did not stop. And then, finally.
Shatter!
The window broke. He lunged toward me.
‘What?!’
Despite being livestock, dark energy surged around him. What this meant was clear.
‘An Apostle!’
I changed my mind. Instead of suicide, I pulled the trigger of the pistol at him.
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