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Nov 16th, 2025

 

 

INDEX

Chapter 1: Changes to the Odette II’s Registration

Chapter 2: Report on the War of Independence

Chapter 3: The Second Solar Sailing Ship

Chapter 4: The War of Independence is Currently Underway

Chapter 5: Liberty class Intelligence Ship

Chapter 6: The Missing Intelligence Ship

Chapter 7: High waves on the ecliptic

Chapter 8: Pirate ship Odette II

 

 

Illustration by Matsumoto Noriyuki

Design by Shindosha

"Okay, it’s active." Lynn Lambretta, captain of the Hakuoh Girls' Academy Yacht Club, announced gleefully from the captain's seat on the bridge of the training sailing ship Odette II. "We've taken control of the FTL booster. The converter reactor is in idle mode, and the automatic checks are running, and there are no abnormalities so far."

 

"Confirmed." Yayoi reported from the engineer's seat. Half of the display that had shown the status of the Odette II's normal propulsion system was replaced with a display related to the FTL engine. After checking the current coordinate system and movement pattern of the FTL booster, Yayoi circulated the necessary data. "There are no abnormalities with the FTL booster at the moment, and no signs of strange spinning. Approach and docking can be done as per usual."

 

"Roger that." After checking the data sent to her, Lynn looked at Marika in the radar/sensor seat. "What do you think?"

 

"The data from the FTL booster matches our observations."

 

Even if they had permission, they couldn't just casually fire off a high-power radar pulse in the anchorage airspace managed by the star system military. Marika confirmed the current position of the FTL booster, which was anchored at the planned coordinates, using radar and sensor data with a controlled output.

 

Objects that have been left in space for a long time can enter a rotating state due to radiation from their orbit or parent star, or tiny gas leaks or vaporization of buried elements. The FTL booster, which was placed in a corner of the anchorage airspace managed by the Tau Star System Military, was in a stable orbit and condition, probably because it had not been long since its last activation.

 

"It looks like we can grab it without too much trouble. What do you think, Ai?"

 

Lynn called out to Ai, who was in the helmsman's seat. She checked the display showing the attitude of the FTL booster and the current position of the Odette II.

 

"It's fine. We can rendezvous and dock from this orbit."

 

"Let's go then. Hey guys outside, can you hear me?" Lynn, in the captain's seat, called out to the extravehicular work team, mainly made up of freshmen who were working outside the Odette II in preparation for docking. "We're entering the military anchorage airspace now. There's no change to the scheduled time of contact with the FTL booster or the start time of the docking procedure. If everything goes well, we'll the schedule move up and start earlier."

 

The acknowledgement came back as a beautiful unified voice “Roger."

 

"Automatic check of the FTL booster completed." Yayoi reported from the engineer's seat. "No abnormalities at present. Operating normally in idling mode."

 

"Roger."

 

Lynn scanned the data coming from the engineer's seat. The converter reactor, which provides the enormous amount of energy required for the FTL jump, is normally operated at the requested power during navigation. Even if there is no immediate need to use it, it is often left in minimum power operation unless it is shut down for a long time. It is easier to keep it running at minimum power than to go to the trouble of restarting a converter that has completely shut down.

 

"Are you changing the Odette II’s class?"

 

For the time being, Ai will be in charge of maneuvering the ship, which will be on a course to approach the FTL booster. With no work to do, Marika checked the situation in the surrounding airspace. Although it is an anchorage airspace managed by the military, it is one of the Lagrange points between Tau and the Sea of the Morningstar, far from the Sea of the Morningstar satellite orbits, so there is not much spaceship traffic.

 

Marika continued while tracking several spaceships that were on an approach trajectory to the distant Sea of the Morningstar relay station. "I never thought that we would have to do something like an inspection of the Odette II in our generation."

 

"We’re a category II sublight spaceship, a training sailing ship that had no intention of leaving the star system, and suddenly we're adding the option of an FTL booster." Lynn looked at the image of the FTL booster, captured by the Odette II's observation system. "If we plan to continue using an FTL booster, I think it's a reasonable recommendation to switch the ship's registry to class I, which allows FTL speeds."

 

"I think that's true, but…" Marika remembered the time when the vice principal, Black Granny¹, suddenly appeared in the yacht club room. Seeing that the club president Lynn, Marika, and several other members were there, the vice principal took out an electronic document that had arrived for the Hakuoh Girls' Academy, the registered owner of the Odette II.

 

"We have received a recommendation from the Bureau of Shipping regarding the registration of the Odette II." After projecting a three-dimensional image of the coat of arms, which is essential for official documents, the vice principal briefly explained the contents of the recommendation to the club members. "If you plan to continue using an FTL booster with the Odette II, you should change the spaceship's registration class from II, which does not allow FTL speeds, to I, which does."

 

"Are we changing the registration class of the Odette II!?"

 

Nodding at Lynn's abrupt voice, the vice principal placed the electronic document from the Bureau of Shipping on the table in the club room. "If you're not going to change its class, then you'll have to do something about the FTL booster. If you want to change its class, then you'll have to go through the necessary procedures yourself."

 

"Are you sure you want to change the Odette II’s class!?" Lynn asked in an even more directly.

 

"The Hakuoh Girls' Academy has no plans to give up its the training sailing ship at this time." The vice principal said in a quiet voice. "We have no intention of letting our students continue to use the training ship with its registration issues. Fortunately, the Bureau of Shipping has sent over the necessary documents for the class change."

 

The vice principal tapped the electronic document on the table. A list of the enclosed data was displayed like a long scroll, and it began to scroll at a fairly high speed.

 

"When it gets to the stage where the person in charge's authentication or signature is required, please come to the staff room. We will decide as soon as possible on whether to change the class of Odette II or do something about the FTL booster. Is that clear?" Having conveyed everything that needed to be said, the vice principal looked around at the club members. "Do you have any questions?"

 

"Yes."

 

Lynn hesitantly raised one hand. The vice principal nodded.

 

"Lynn Lambretta, go ahead."

 

"I've never changed between class I and II before, so I'm not sure, but what are the costs and effort involved?"

 

"If it's a necessary expense, prepare a budget and submit it. If it's reasonable, it will be approved, but if not, it will simply be rejected. Our school will not hesitate to cover the necessary expenses for maintaining the training ship, but we have no intention of paying extra fees to outside agencies or consultants for that purpose. Do what you can yourself. If you can't, state the reason in the budget. Is that clear?"

 

"I understand." Lynn answered, thinking about what she needed to do right away and what she could find out by looking into it. "If I have any questions or concerns, I will come to the staff room right away. Regarding the class change of Odette II, well, I will get back to you by tomorrow."

 

The vice principal nodded with satisfaction, ignoring the murmuring of the club members. "I'll be waiting."

 

As soon as the vice principal left the club room, the yacht club members who were present started discussing the matter.

 

None of the club members, including Marika, had any reliable data on changing the class of a spacecraft from sublight to FTL. They started checking the electronic documents sent by the Bureau of Shipping and split up to investigate the operating regulations, and all of the yacht club's practice plans for that day were canceled.

 

By the end of the day, several facts had become clear.

 

Currently, there are no aircraft registered with a FTL booster alone in active duty, at least in the Tau star system.

 

There are no operating laws that specifically govern FTL boosters, and if they want to continue using a FTL booster on the Odette II in the future, they will need to change its class.

 

There is a set procedure for changing class registration, and although it is complicated and time-consuming, the application method is defined.

 

Even if the Odette II were changed to class I, the maintenance and operation of the spaceship itself would not change much from the current level.

 

Just before the yacht club's activities ended for the day, Lynn declared "this is a good opportunity, so I'll try changing the Odette II‘s class. This is also a way to earn experience operating the spaceship."

 

The Odette II was built as a solar sailing ship in orbit around the Sea of the Morningstar 200 years ago. At the time, human civilization did not yet have FTL technology, and because it was a solar sail ship that used sunlight as propulsion, its range of operation was limited to the inner planetary systems of the Tau star system.

 

Traveling to and from colonies that were separated by light years from the parent star was done by combining long-term sublight travel with cryosleep. A network of giant laser beams, powered by starsand connecting them. Spaceships depart and accelerate when exposed to laser radiation from the departure point, and decelerate when exposed to laser radiation from the destination.

 

Interstellar space travel that does not exceed the speed of light takes anywhere from a dozen years to several decades depending on the distance from departure to arrival. Over a period of time that allows for several generations to pass at both the departure and destination points, humanity slowly expanded its living space into the Orion Arm.

 

The practical application of FTL technology has decisively changed the universe. Until then, no information had been able to travel faster than the speed of light, and no people or materials had been transported faster than the speed of light. Information arrives before people or materials, and the information was outdated by the number of light years of space it crossed.

 

FTL technology made both FTL communication and FTL travel practical. People, information, and goods can now travel between planets that were previously separated by time and space without any time lag, and humanity came to have a common economic sphere.

 

When FTL travel became possible, some of the older generation spaceships were modified to have this capability. What was required for FTL travel was an extraordinarily large acceleration force and the energy required to jump through hyperspace, as well as the strength of the spaceship to withstand it. By using inertial control and anti-gravity technology to increase the apparent strength without relying on actual structural strength, most spaceships were able to gain the ability to travel faster than light relatively easily.

 

To make it even easier to provide FTL travel capability, FTL boosters were developed. A large number of booster packs were made for older generation spaceships, each of which combined a powerful converter reactor that could single handedly supply the energy for an entire planet and a propulsion engine to make hyperspace jumps a reality.

 

Once the ship arrives at the destination planetary system, the FTL engine is no longer needed until the next jump. There was even a business, similar to FTL tugboats, where boosters would be swapped to other spaceships after their missions had been completed.

 

The practical application of FTL travel made it possible to manage colonies centered around their parent planet. Now able to operate everything as a single economic sphere, humanity pushed forward in pursuit of greater profits.

 

Then, conflict between the parent planet and the colonies led to a war of independence.

 

The FTL booster, which was first fitted to Odette II when it was known as the White Swan, was apparently installed towards the end of the war of independence, which had been fought for 20 years 120 years ago. The conversion reactor and FTL engine were manufactured by the Galactic Empire, with which there should have been no contact at the time. The FTL booster was fabricated from whatever parts were available during the war, and was used only a few times before going missing.

 

There are several theories as to why the FTL booster was removed from the White Swan and then ignored. However, the yacht club crew who actually operated the Odette II equipped with a FTL booster experienced the reason for this.

 

If the FTL booster is attached, the Odette II will be able to travel faster than light. However, with the heavy booster attached, the solar sails will not be enough to propel the ship, even if the inertial control system is fully engaged, and the ship will lose balance and become difficult to maneuver. In exchange for the advantage of being able to travel faster than light, the lightweight and slender advantages of the Odette II are almost completly lost.

 

The Odette II's booster seems to be designed for unmanned operation. It is equipped with a small emergency cockpit that looks like it was taken from a fighter, but like a fighter, it is not capable of long-term navigation, and it can only control its attitude to a small extent by itself.

 

Fortunately, the attitude of the FTL booster, which had been left in the star system military's anchorage airspace was in a stable position, and no additional steps were likely needed to allow the Odette II to approach and dock.

 

"Black Granny said we should either change the class of Odette II or do something about the FTL booster."

 

Seeing the latest status of the faster-than-light booster on the display, Lynn switched the display to show the Odette II’s surroundings.

 

The military-controlled anchorage airspace is set at the Lagrange point created by Tau and Sea of the Morningstar. The anchorage airspace, which is set as a temporary waiting area for old ships and fleets that have been mothballed and are in long-term storage, is vast, but since it is in a planetary orbit far away from Sea of the Morningstar's satellite orbit, there are only a few ships there.

 

"Uh, what do you think that means?"

 

"Should we give up ownership of the FTL booster?" Marika spoke one of the answers she had been thinking of. "Or should we hide the FTL booster somewhere it won't be found?"

 

"...I guess so.” Lynn, in the captain's seat, clasped her hands.

 

"If we just put the FTL booster somewhere that's hard to find, I don't think the Bureau of Shipping or the Star System Military will complain too much if we use Odette II the same way we have been. Considering the hassle of the paperwork involved in changing the class, I think that would be the easiest thing to do, but where is a place to hide it?"

 

"We could either have it blend in with a group of comets in the outer planetary system, or disguise it as an asteroid..." Marika said with a lack of confidence. "But the Odette II is slower than an average spaceship without the booster, so even if we wanted to keep it nearby so we could use it in an emergency, there's no convenient place to hide it near the Sea of the Morningstar."

 

“Well, we’ve been sailing without a booster for almost 100 years since it became our training ship, so I guess that’s fine.” Lynn looked around the bridge. "I wonder when our spaceship will use its FTL booster again."

 

"But once the booster can be used normally, it will be easy to make training voyages to other star systems." Ai, at the helm, slowly turns the wheel. "Maybe we could even participate in a solar sailing race."

 

"That would make for some fun, but it would be hard for a 200-year-old antique spaceship to beat the latest solar sailers."

 

Solar sailing ships, which use sunlight for propulsion, are still in active use as sports ships. Solar sailing ships for racing, made with the latest technology, have maneuvering performance that is comparable to that of conventionally powered spaceships. Yacht races are held everywhere, from formula class races held in a variety of star systems with different conditions, from red giants to white dwarfs, to Sunday races in local star systems.

 

"Generally speaking, when it comes to racing solar sailers, the sails are big, but the body is very delicate and small. Is there a class that a large solar sailboat like ours can participate in?"

 

"Maybe in the unlimited class." Ai answered, carefully changing the Odette II's posture. "I think the Odette II can participate in the unlimited class, which has no restrictions on the size of the hull or sail. With the age of our spaceship, I think we can register it as an antique class, which is a class before we acquired FTL technology."

 

"An antique-class solar sail race would be a galaxy-wide event. No, no, it's not a stage where a training sailing ship from a rural girls' school can participate."

 

"But in this neighborhood, ours is the only solar sailing ship left." After completing the final attitude control, Ai put the Odette II into slow reverse. "Docking."

 

The Odette II, with its foremast at the front and mizzen mast at the rear deployed to provide additional propulsion, and its largest solar sail mast, at the rear, stowed, slowly came into contact with the short, thick FTL booster unit, which only had its navigation lights blinking dully. The nozzle for normal propulsion was sucked into the docking mechanism on the booster unit, and the locking arm on the booster held down the Odette II's slim engine section to fix it in place.

 

At the same time, several slender spacesuits carrying thick cables flew from the Odette II to the FTL booster.

 

"Commence wired connection." Lynn announced from the captain's seat. Although it could be controlled wirelessly to a certain extent, the combined booster would not become one with the Odette II unless it was connected by wire. It seems that frequent docking and undocking had not been anticipated, so connecting the Odette II to the booster required manual connection of multiple wires.

 

"Row A, numbers one to three, connection completed."

 

"Row B, numbers four to six, joined and secured."

 

"Row C, numbers seven, eight, and nine, connection confirmed!"

 

Although the control cables were thick, the connection process itself was not that complicated. So the inexperienced freshmen were sent outside to gain experience in extravehicular work. Thanks to the precise instructions of the sophomores who were on-site supervisors, the work was completed within the scheduled time.

 

"Bridge, roger." Lynn looked up at Yayoi, who was sitting in the engineer's seat. "Is it connected?"

 

"It’s connected."

 

A sign indicating the wired connection was complete flashed on the FTL engine's display.

 

"FTL booster, Odette II connection confirmed. Both the converter and the FTL engine are now under the Odette II's control."

 

"Okay, now let's begin the regular inspection and equipment check."

 

Among the mountain of application documents that had to be submitted for the class change, there were many items in which detailed data about the FTL booster itself had to be filled in. These included the manufacturer and model of the converter, its operating period and inspection and maintenance status, detailed operating data including rated output, and the FTL engine data, some of which could only be viewed when connected to the Odette II.

 

If they were to take the data in the application documents seriously, it could become a full-scale performance test of Odette II. So the yacht club members, under President Lynn's command, calculated some if it from available data, and added appropriate figures brought from other sources to save as much time and effort as possible. Finally, there were some data that could only be confirmed when the Odette II was actually connected to the FTL booster. In order to verify the serial numbers necessary for the class change application, the Odette II docked with the FTL booster for the first time since its last use.

 

"Woosh, here it comes." Lynn, in the captain's seat, was so excited she could barely contain herself as the standard equipment was not enough for her and she brought along her own keyboard and began typing away on the control panel she'd connected. "I knew it. I thought it would come out like that, it had to be that way."

 

Sensing something ominous, Marika, in the radar/sensor seat, lifted her hips and kicked the step. When underway, the Odette II was basically weightless, so she jumped diagonally across to the opposing bridge and went around to the back of the captain's seat.

 

"President, what are you doing?"

 

"Checking for hidden files." Lynn answered, moving her hands busily. "I told you before, the world of the Odette II is full of strange hidden files and locked files, and not everything is clearly visible."

 

"Uh, yeah." Marika remembered something the president had told her a long time ago.

 

"The memory capacity is so large that it's hard to believe it's an old spaceship, and it still holds all kinds of data."

 

"Well, I think the ones with the dates from the War of Independence are just battle records, but when I connected the FTL booster, a lot of files that were previously locked were opened."

 

"Eh?"

 

"I don't remember which files in Odette II's database are locked and which are open, so I thought maybe I was just imagining things. But the last time we connected the FTL booster, we were in combat mode the whole time we were flying, so I didn't have time to take a good look inside."

 

"Really?"

 

"I thought I'd take my time to check it out when I got back, but when I tried to access the Odette II at the dock from the clubroom on land, the files I thought were open were still closed. So, I was planning to check them the next time we connected the FTL booster, but look."

 

Lynn showed a list of files lined up on an empty display.

 

"These are battle records from the War of Independence, and they date back to before the end of the war. I don't know if the same files are on the ground, or in our archives or the fleet headquarters in the spooky building, but the files that were definitely locked or in stealth mode last time are now visible."

 

Seeing Yayoi in the engineer's seat smoothly proceeding with the inspection of the FTL booster, Marika turned her eyes back to the display at the captain's seat.

 

"...So you're saying that the keys to the files that were locked are located on the FTL booster?"

 

“Since it is supposed to operate the FTL engine and the conversion reactor, the booster has a proper navigation computer as well. The theory is that there are three systems, one for normal use, one for emergency use, and one for backup. Although it is not as large as the Odette II’s, there is a heavily protected memory area that won’t be erased even if it’s bounced around during FTL travel. When we connected to the booster, we should be able to exchange keys to verify each other, so it’s not that difficult to set it up so that we can see the files in our database.”

 

"That's quite an elaborate mechanism..." Marika remembered that it had been almost 100 years since the FTL booster had been connected to the Odette II. "It's amazing that the data on this side and the keys on the other side have survived until now after the War of Independence."

 

"Apart from the booster, this has always been an active spaceship. The navigation records are also a great history. I should be grateful to my predecessors for not carelessly messing around with it and erasing the data."

 

"Really, even though we've been neglecting it lately, I wonder how our predecessors managed to operate this solar sailing ship back then."

 

Marika looked around the bridge. Lynn was carefully checking the identity of the files that had been unprotected. Depending on the settings, traps could be set up so that everything would be erased if someone carelessly tried to look at them, or that they would self-destruct if someone tried to copy them.

 

"I think it was just a leisurely training voyage through a vast star system. Unless there was a pirate captain on board, no gangster smuggling ship or crime syndicate would be interested in a girls' school training ship."

 

After disabling a simple copy prevention trap, Lynn tried to back up the contents of the files just to be safe.

 

"Huh?"

 

As she tried to create a backup in the normal record area, Lynn realized it already existed. A backup of the battle record with the same date had been created in the extremely large database that she regularly accessed.

 

Considering the possibility that the same protected hidden files existed without being hidden from the beginning, Lynn compared the two records just to be sure.

 

"...They’re different."

 

There are several battle records with the same date from the end of the War of Independence. Despite this, just by checking the size, she realized that the battle records that were in the backup from the beginning and the files that were unprotected by connecting to the FTL booster were not the same. Lynn spread out the battle records with the same date on two displays and compared them.

 

"What's wrong?" Marika couldn't tell what Lynn was doing from the rapid keystrokes and the display switching from one to another.

 

"There are two battle records with the same date."

 

"Huh?" Marika tilted her head, unable to understand what that meant.

 

"The hidden files that became visible are the battle records of the White Swan during the War of Independence. It's not unusual, as it's also in the database. However, when I tried to back up the battle records of the now visible files, it asked me if I wanted to overwrite the already existing files. They’re battle records from 120 years ago. I wondered if the files that were hidden like this were the same as the normal ones, so I checked them."

 

Lynn showed Marika the battle records displayed on the two adjacent displays. The battle records were automatically recorded over time, but one was neatly edited to make it easier to view later, while the other was raw data, with even the smallest details that would normally be deleted recorded in text.

 

"Isn't this before and after editing the battle records?"

 

Not just battle records, but the navigation records of spaceships are automatically recorded by machines. If left as is, they will only get larger, and since only a small portion of the data is needed for battle records or logbooks, it is normal to extract the necessary information later, edit it, and compress it.

 

"That's what I thought at first, but the locations are different."

 

"Huh?" Marika instinctively looked over the two battle records. The records also include the current location along with the time.

 

“Combat records show that the White Swan was fighting different enemies in different places at the same time during the War of Independence.” Lynn spoke clearly, separating each word.

 

"……Huh!?" Marika asked again. "I've heard that even though the White Swan was a slow sailing ship, it had a magical battle record, but is that really true?"

 

"It's not that hard for a spaceship to disguise itself as another spaceship."

 

Lynn started copying the two battle records separately onto her own data card, carefully checking the process, but there didn't seem to be any traps she'd missed.

 

"I wonder if another pirate ship was substituted, or if it was easier to rewrite the battle records later. I don't know why they did that, but I've got a copy here now so I can take my time and examine it later. Now, I wonder if there are any other strange mechanisms I've missed."

 

After docking with the FTL booster, the Odette II adjusted the power output of the converter reactor, operated it at full power temporarily, and copied operating records of the FTL engine, confirming several pieces of data necessary for the application documents for a class change.

 

The integration test ended successfully, although it took a little longer than planned due to the time it took to adjust the conversion reactor. The Odette II put its FTL boosters back into idle mode for a long-term standby, carefully stabilized its attitude after undocking, and left the star system military's anchorage airspace.

 

At the Sea of the Morningstar Relay Station, an unexpected person was waiting for the Odette II's return.

 

All of the solar sails that the Odette II had deployed were retracted before entering its final approach orbit. The Odette II entered the relay station's Pier C68 with a total of nine solar sail masts folded and the slender hull powered by conventional propulsion.

 

Docking at a closed pier is much more difficult than docking at an open pier. Unless the attitude and speed are precisely adjusted, it is impossible to perfectly fit a spaceship into a closed pier.

 

Entering the port is easy if the target coordinates and attitude are specified to the automatic navigation system. However, because this would not serve as training, the Odette II was operated manually as much as possible when entering its home port.

 

The final port of call at a dedicated pier rarely interferes with the operation of other spaceships. At first, it took hours to secure the ship and send a declaration of completion of entry to the control station, but recently, thanks to the members' habits, it has become possible to enter the port in minutes, the same as other commercial spaceships.

 

The door hatch of the closed pier is closed, and while checking that it is airtight, the Odette II is secured in place. A boarding bridge connects the hull to the pier, and the members who have finished today's training flight disembark from the Odette II, having completed their assigned duties.

 

After confirming with the club president, Lynn, that the main power supply for the normal propulsion engine and the bridge had been shut down, Marika closed the external hatch of the Odette II and disembarked from the ship, when she noticed the club members gathered outside the boarding bridge.

 

"What are you doing?"

 

"Jenny?" Hearing the sound of laughter, Lynn suddenly kicked the floor of the boarding bridge and dashed off.

 

"Oh, welcome back."

 

As Lynn jumped out of the boarding bridge onto the pier, Jenny, who was surrounded by uniformed club members, stretched out in a suit. The club members flee up, down, left, and right from the straight line connecting Jenny and Lynn.

 

"Jenny!"

 

Lynn took another step and jumped straight towards Jenny. In front of the club members who expected a hug, Jenny stretched out her hand and caught Lynn’s.

 

"When did you come back? What about Space University?!" Lynn jumped up and wrapped both of her hands around one of Jenny's hands, slowly descending to the passageway.

 

"I just arrived at the relay station. I saw the Odette II entering the port from the window of my spaceship, so I thought I'd meet everyone here." Jenny looked around at the faces of the club members around her with a happy look on her face. "I'm glad to see you all doing well."

 

"Yeah, we're still going strong." Lynn looked at Marika’s face. "...What's with that dissatisfied look on your face?"

 

Marika shook her head hastily. "There's no way I was anticipating such an unexpected turn of events, right?"

 

"Can you provide that much service every time?" Lynn turned her eyes back to Jenny. "Are you going home?"

 

"No." Jenny shook her head with a wry smile. "I've been in contact with my parents, but my father's ambition to use me as an asset for a political marriage hasn't been completely crushed yet. The main family is keeping them in check, but if we actually meet, it's obvious that we'll end up fighting again."

 

"Then we can relax. Do you want to stay at my place?" After saying that, Lynn tilted her head. "What did you come here for?"

 

"You found something amazing in the basement of our school, right?"

 

Jenny looked around at the faces of the club members, then grabbed Lynn’s left arm. She checked the current time on Lynn’s sturdy men's watch. Lynn’s watch displayed both Galactic Standard Time and the local time of Shin-Okuhama City, where Hakuoh Girls' Academy is located.

 

"I'll tell you more about it as we go. Can you give me a ride home on the shuttle?"

 

 

Hakuoh Girls' Academy has its own shuttlecraft at Shin-Okuhama Airport. The medium-sized shuttle, which can carry all the members of the yacht club on one flight, is used not only for trips to and from the relay station but also for official school events.

 

After storing the Odette II at Pier C68, the yacht club members return to Shin-Okuhama Airport on the school's shuttlecraft. During the short flight, Jenny, sitting next to Lynn, explained the circumstances of her return to the club members.

 

"The history of the War of Independence!?" Lynn exclaimed. "Jenny, aren't you in the economics department!?"

 

"That's my major, but I'm also taking a variety of liberal arts subjects." Jenny began to explain.

 

"It's amazing, as you'd expect from the galaxy's top educational institution that occupies an entire star system, the number of research institutes with their own signboards alone is in the tens of thousands, and the number of lectures you can take and research courses you can participate in just for liberal arts is in the tens of millions."

 

"Um..." Lynn blinked at the numbers, which were literally an order of magnitude different from the universities she knew. "It feels like I could spend a whole year just checking off the list..."

 

"That's right. So, there are lectures and subjects that are perfect for every student, but it's said that you need a lottery-like chance or a series of lucky jackpots to find them. Of course, among them are things like etiquette from a long-extinct interstellar civilization, grammar of an ancient language that no one can speak, mysterious religion classes, and incomprehensible talent training."

 

"... What?"

 

"Anything goes as long as you can use the excuse of culture or history."

 

"So, are you going to learn the hidden arts of ancient civilizations?"

 

"When I went to Space University, I didn't have time to explore such niche subjects. I chose history, specifically modern interstellar warfare history."

 

"Honestly?" Lynn gave Jenny a suspicious look. "I didn't know you were interested in history, especially military history."

 

"I like history. You know that the choice was between interstellar history and colonial history, right?"

 

On planets that were part of the former Federation of Colonial Stars, including the Sea of the Morningstar, pioneering history is the history of the planet, starting with planetary discovery, investigation, and settlement, through the War of Independence, and continuing to the present day. Interstellar history is a vast history that began before the establishment of the Galactic Empire, which is the entire universe centered on the Milky Way Galaxy.

 

"I know that, though." Lynn sighed, remembering Jenny's superhuman memory.

 

"I gave up on that direction because I had to memorize so many names and facts of people and places without any context or rules."

 

"As a first year, you can't move forward unless you have mastered a range of general knowledge, so of course you have to learn a lot of things other than history. In my case, I chose history, economics, and classical literature, and also basic subjects like astrophysics and space law for practical use."

 

"There's no way Jenny would choose a useless subject."

 

"Actually, there is no such thing as a useless subject. It's just a matter of whether the probability of it being useful is high or low." Jenny nodded approvingly to the members of the club who were listening to her story with interest.

 

"Among other things, if you want to do good business in the universe, history is a required subject, not an elective. You want to know before you meet someone what their planet’s current state is and what kind of business your partner has been doing and with whom."

 

Marika remembered hearing something similar from Ririka.

 

"So, I have a terrible person as my professor in charge of history for my liberal arts course."

 

Lynn looked at Jenny's face again. She rarely hears descriptions like that. She just went along with the conversation.

 

"What kind of person is a professor at Space University? I can't really imagine it."

 

"You could say she's the perfect choice. She's a member of the imperial aristocracy with a history spanning tens of thousands of years, a long-lived Methuselah, she's the epitome of a jerk!" Jenny frowned, a rare sight, and spat out "she knows I come from a pioneer planet with a history measured in centuries, and yet she says that if you want to study history, I should at least study history from over a century ago that has been well-established. That's just full on nasty!!"

 

"A Methuselah historian, huh?" Lynn muttered, causing the cabin to burst into laughter. "A professor who might have seen history with her own eyes. How old is she?"

 

"Age? I didn't ask because it would piss me off. She said she was older than she looks, but long-lived species have an average lifespan that is at least 20 times longer than us, depending on the species. There are even sages who live for 10,000 years. Her life is like history, so don't you think it's pretty unfair that she's a history professor?"

 

"I've heard that the students and teachers at Space University are all amazing people, but if this is the case for history, other subjects must be amazing."

 

"They say it's not just a nest of eccentrics and weirdos, but monsters and cyborgs."

 

"Jenny will be like that too..." Lynn muttered to herself, looking around at the yacht club members in the cabin, and leaned back against the backrest. "...It's not much different, is it?      "

 

"What!"

 

"Nothing." Lynn sat up and turned to face Jenny.

 

"So, the history of interstellar warfare? The only war around here would have been the War of Independence, right?"

 

If we expand the scope to include the surrounding star systems, there are plenty of skirmishes and disputes that don't amount to war. However, the only war that Sea of the Morningstar has experienced in its history is the War of Independence.

 

"That's right. Our War of Independence is called the Orion Arm Unification War by the galaxy." Jenny spoke the official name, which she had only recently gotten used to.

 

"In history from 100 years ago, there aren't many cases of the Empire intervening in a war of independence between a colony planet and a parent planet, and since it was a unification war during the expansion period, it seems that the battle records of the Empire don't really match those of the parent planet or the colony planet."

 

Marika nodded. Lynn asked with a slightly suspicious look on her face.

 

"Is that common? The battle records don't add up?"

 

"It's rare for battle records to add up between allies and enemies," Marika answered.

 

"Even if both sides observe the same data, they interpret it differently, and battle results evaluations change depending on the situation and the convenience of the reporter and receiver, so in large-scale fleet battles, it's hard to even compare data. That's why, when it comes to exercises against the Imperial fleet, it's a big job to submit and organize the raw data after it's over."

 

Both Schnitzer, the combat commander of the Bentenmaru, and Coorie, in charge of electronic warfare spend a lot of time preparing for exercises against the Imperial fleet, which have a set scenario, and writing reports after it’s over.

 

"In other words, even though the Unification War was evaluated from the standpoint of the Stellar Alliance and the Federation of Colonial Stars, it's just the Empire's record of the Unification War, and no quantitative evaluation has been done."

 

Jenny summed it up.

 

"If you're going to study history anyway, you'd want to know at least the history of your own planet as basic knowledge. And the headquarters of the War of Independence was found under our school, along with all its records. Since they’re a space university, they can touch the Empire's records as much as they want, and the Stellar Alliance's published records can be accessed as much as they want. So, if we don't get the records of the War of Independence headquarters now and make them into a proper history, the facts can be rewritten at will later."

 

"What do you really think?"

 

"I want to show my professor, who acts like she's history personified, that even a newcomer colony planet has a great history." Jenny answered simply, sticking out her tongue.

 

“When a historian changes his mind, it’s because he has confronted a newly discovered fact that overturns conventional wisdom. So, what do you think? Has the newly discovered Federation of Colonial Stars Fleet Command been investigated?"

 

The club members exchanged awkward glances.

 

Lynn spoke up. "It's just that they're not open about it, but it seems that the underground Fleet Command was originally only known to a select few."

 

"That’s probably true. If it was the Federation of Colonial Stars Fleet Command, not only Sea of the Morningstar would have been there, but people from other planets too."

 

"It would be a different story if it was rediscovered in the basement of a public facility, museum, or theater, but we're a prestigious girls' school. It's not a good idea for outsiders to come in in broad daylight, even if it's under the pretense of an investigation team. Besides, it's not like Fleet Command has any secret weapons lying around from long ago."

 

"It's not like there's nothing there, right?"

 

"Yeah, there's old paper records and a bunch of junk left over when they moved out, but when the War of Independence ended and they joined the Galactic Empire, they took all the electronic equipment and household goods that were useable when they moved out of Fleet Command. It's practically empty, although at least the electrical wiring and lights are still there."

 

"Oh." Jenny frowned a little. "I guess that's the situation. It wasn't destroyed, but it's a war ruin that's been left alone for 100 years, so that's what happens."

 

"Are you going to go down there?"

 

"That's what I came back for." Jenny looked out the window. They were about to enter the atmosphere. "Don't worry, I won't disturb your club activities or classes."

 

"Well, I don't really mind if you do."

 

"But first, I need to check all the records that are publicly available."

The next day.

 

It was a normal morning, and Lynn had come to Hakuoh Girls Academy as usual. During the break after the second period, she was called to the yacht club room by her mobile information terminal.

 

Waiting for her was Jenny, who looked like a new teacher in her business suit.

 

"I received an entry pass from the vice principal." Jenny showed Lynn her ID card, the same color as that for faculty and staff. "As expected, it was pretty quick since Space University has been talking to them. It's hard to believe that I had such a hard time negotiating with the vice principal when I was a student here."

 

"Well, it's been over a decade since someone from our school went straight to Space University, and Jenny is the daughter of Hugh & Dolittle Interstellar Transport, which donates a lot to the school, and she graduated with good behavior and excellent grades."

 

"You have to make use of things what you can."

 

"Is this what you want?" Lynn took out a big old set of keys that had been passed down to generations of presidents of the yacht club.

 

"That’s it. We'll deal with the Fleet Command Center in the depths later, so let's start with what's within reach."

 

Lynn didn't hand the set of keys to Jenny, who was about to take them.

 

"You have your next class, right? You don't have to join me."

 

"Well, as the captain of the yacht club, if you're going to open our archives, I have to at least be there." Lynn jingled the keys. "I don't think the teacher would mind if I was late to class if I was escorting a current student at Space University."

 

 

"Even though it's called record research, at this scale it's not much different from archaeological excavation."

 

Jenny looked around the archives, which she hadn't been to in a while, with amusement.

 

"What are you going to do?" There were rows of bookshelves packed to the ceiling. Seeing the pile of old records illuminated by the lights that had been turned on for the first time in a while, Lynn turned her eyes back to Jenny.

 

"If I read them all, I won't have enough time."

 

"Don't worry, I borrowed a new weapon for an occasion like this." Jenny opened the small container she had dragged from the club room to the archives.

 

"What is it?"

 

A slim automated wagon with spherical tires on the ends of its four short legs came out of the container.

 

"An auto-scanner. Setting it up before use and analyzing and organizing the collected data is a pain, but this will convert all the text and image records in the bookshelf into electronic data."

 

After turning on the main switch, Jenny opened the top of the cylindrical body and began to pull out the thick transparent crystalline antennas on all four sides. The control panel on the top lit up and the automatic check began.

 

"Scanner?" Lynn looked back and forth between the awkward cylindrical wagon, which appeared to have been made from whatever parts were available, and Jenny, who was setting it up with unskilled hands. "Are you going to scan all the documents in the archives?"

 

"Well, not all of them." After setting the thick crystalline antennas that extended out on all four sides, Jenny ran her fingers over the control panel on the top. "It can't scan electronic records or microfilm, but it should be able to read documents and printouts in bound files."

 

Looking around the endless wall of bookshelves in the archives, Jenny began to set things up in detail.

 

"All of them?" Lynn also looked at the rows of bookshelves that stretched up to the high ceiling, even equipped with sliding ladders.

 

"All of them." Jenny answered nonchalantly, without even looking at Lynn's shocked face. "Don't worry, this is an automatic survey robot borrowed from the research department. It was originally developed as a scanner to collect data from the libraries of ancient ruins."

 

"Huh?"

 

"It depends on the development process, but civilizations that invented writing first wrote it on stone, then on wood, leaves, leather, or cloth. Civilizations that didn't have writing used knots on long strings to record things, or wrote in woven patterns, or carved the surface of sticks into various shapes, or whatever they could think of, so there are mountains of ancient scripts that have not been deciphered."

 

Switching on the display, Jenny set the language. Next, she moved on to the scan settings. Lynn noticed that the settings Jenny was doing were similar to the procedure for preparing a radar for use.

 

"Whenever a library or archive that has been abandoned for 100 or even 1000 years is discovered, the biggest problem is how to read the decaying records. Of course, these files are only about 100 years old, so you can pick them up and read them, but in 300 years the ink may have faded and the paper may have crumbled, and in 1000 years it's impossible to know what shape the book will be in."

 

"1000 years?" After mentioning that time period was far too long to be realistic, Lynn looked around the archives once more. "I wonder if our school will still be open?"

 

"It wouldn't be surprising if Sea of the Morningstar had disappeared." Jenny answered nonchalantly. "No one knows how long these files will be readable in this form, but the chances of them being intact in this form after 500 or 1000 years are not very high. That's why we should make copies and distribute them now. For both Hakuoh Girls' Academy and the Sea of the Morningstar Government, it's not a bad idea for our historical documents to be stored at Space University and become the subject of research."

 

"Is this for Space University research?" Lynn looked at the self-propelled wagon-like scanner again.

 

"Yes. It's a robot developed at Space University because of a strong desire to scan the contents of books and scrolls that might fall apart the moment you pick them up, but are miraculously still holding their shape, without touching them. They realized, as they were developing it, that if they set it up properly, they could scan books lined up on a bookshelf or documents stored in a case as they were."

 

"Ah."

 

Lynn made a strange noise. Jenny looked up at her.

 

"What's wrong? Why do you look so displeased?"

 

"So, that antenna is a powerful radar that scans the entire archive at once and reconstructs the information it reads into documents, that's the system?"

 

"As expected of Lynn." Jenny smiled and nodded. "Exactly. However, the radar emitted from the antenna isn't very good for your body, so the archives will be off-limits while it's running."

 

After completing the settings, Jenny tapped the control panel to check. "You got it all just from that explanation."

 

“No, I’ve seen a similar system in use right before my eyes.”

 

"Right before your eyes?!" Jenny exclaimed. "Are you okay? You're fine, aren't you? Did you suffer any aftereffects?"

 

"Sparks bloomed in my eyes." Lynn twisted her lips. "Apparently they placed reflectors and other things underground before the scan, but they fired a high-powered radar from the sky at the underground reference rooms. I’m okay, I was taken to the hospital and checked thoroughly, and there's nothing wrong."

 

"Are you really okay?" Jenny looked over Lynn from head to toe with a worried look on her face. Lynn smiled and waved her hand.

 

"Don't worry, they even did a genetic check."

 

"That's good." Jenny turned her attention back to the scanner.

 

"Now, let's see if this works."

 

After checking the settings, Jenny tapped the control panel. It automatically confirmed that all the settings were OK.

 

After setting a timer to start the scan in one minute, Jenny left the auto-scanner.

 

"Okay, everything is ready. It can scan this entire archive in an hour."

 

After checking the expected finishing time, Jenny took Lynn’s hand.

 

"It will be finished by lunchtime. I think it’ll be okay since everyone is in class, but please lock the archive so no one enters it while scanning."

 

"Sure." Lynn closed the archive door with a big, old key. "There's one thing I want to ask." Lynn looked up at the big archive door.

 

"What is it?"

 

"After scanning and archiving all the data, which may hold the equivalent of several libraries, how are you going to analyze and evaluate it?"

 

"I won't."

 

"Eh?"

 

Lynn looked back at Jenny. Jenny answered as if it was obvious.

 

"All a scanner can do is compile data. It makes it into a database so it's easy to search, and it can translate most languages, but all it can do is act as a librarian, copying the books on the shelves and creating an index. Of course, its capacity is limitless, so I think one scanner could store enough data for several libraries."

 

"Oh, I see..." Lynn turned away from the door to the archives, looking displeased.

 

"What's wrong?"

 

Jenny, who was about to leave, turned back to Lynn. Lynn pointed over her shoulder to the archives and started walking away.

 

"You're at Space University, right? Aren't there robots that can automatically analyze and evaluate data fed to them?"

 

"If there were such convenient robots, the professors and students would all leave their research to the robots and go off and play." Laughing, Jenny walked out side by side with Lynn. “It's not that they don't exist, but I was told they can't be used.”

 

"Why? If there's a robot that can analyze it, it's easy to just look at the results."

 

"That's what everyone thinks and expects. In fact, there are places that are researching electronic brains in hopes of finding such results, and it seems they've been developing them for a long time." Jenny nodded in agreement. "Of course, it's the best academic institution in the galaxy, so they've been researching and developing artificial intelligence for a long time. Depending on the subject, there are electronic brains that are fully practical, but there are also fields where they are completely useless."

 

Lynn tilted her head. Jenny continued.

 

"The reason why they can't be used is explained in great detail in the guidebook for new students. Do you want to hear it?"

 

"By all means."

 

After thinking for a moment, Jenny began to explain. "You see, it's fine if there is only one correct answer, like in mathematics or physics. You know what kind of question it is and what kind of answer you're hoping for, so you can easily tell that the answer you get is correct and check it. But when it comes to cultural studies in the humanities, whether it's literature or history, there isn't just one right answer. You don't know what kind of data you'll need to get the answer you're looking for."

 

Lynn gave the simplest answer. "If it's a computer, you just feed it all the data you have."

 

Jenny answered immediately. "When you do that, you get more research results than the data you put in."

 

"Huh?"

 

"Well, let's say we want to analyze and evaluate the history of Sea of the Morningstar. Let's input all the historical documents currently available at this school. If they're electronic text records, inputting them is easy. Images and audio are a bit trickier, but even so, if you use image pattern recognition, even a very fast computer will take some time, but it should be able to read a lot of things."

 

"Sure, the speed of computer calculations has been at a plateau for the last 100 years, but software has improved, so if you set it up for image recognition or pattern analysis, it can give you pretty good results."

 

"Yes. In fact, that's how public archives databases are built. Let's say you had a database with a fair amount of historical records, and you asked it to look for trends or patterns in that history that weren't previously recorded. What do you think would happen?”

 

"Well, wouldn’t it find all sorts of things that historians haven't noticed before?"

 

"If the goal is to find trends and patterns that haven't been discovered before, you'll need to input a large number of research findings in addition to the records you've already entered."

 

"From the analysis results that come out, you can just omit anything that has been discovered or proposed in historical research so far. There are plenty of servers that specialize in history if you connect to the Internet, so it's not difficult to check the contents."

 

"Then the computer will analyze everything from the detailed wording to numerical matches, approximations, the habits of the record keeper, and even the angle of the graph lines. A computer can't tell which are important matches, which are important patterns, which are new facts that have not been discovered, and which are coincidences. So it will output a report that is larger than all the data that was input, about an order of magnitude larger."

 

"Ah..." Lynn nodded with a disgusted look on her face. "Yes, yes. If you run it without specify parameters, the output will never stop, no matter how long it takes, right?"

 

"I wonder…"

 

"But if that's the case..." After thinking for a moment, Lynn spoke. "Why not assign parameters to the input data?"

 

"That's the next step. But isn't it a lot of work to set the parameters and assign numbers to each and every event in the historical data?"

 

"That's exactly what you can do with a computer. Just set as many parameters as you can think of and give it a pattern for setting the numbers, and it will do the rest no matter how much data there is."

 

"For combat information, the descriptions are pretty standardized, so it's still quite practical. In fact, the military evaluates combat information that way. But not all historical records are recorded according to a set of standards. Even with combat records, how do you turn personal impressions and observations into reliable numbers that can be used for analysis?"

 

"Ah..."

 

Lynn finally began to understand what Jenny was trying to say. Looking at Lynn’s face, Jenny continued.

 

"Apparently, if you try to quantify all the information you can get, you'll get some results. But the results you get are either already out there or something that everyone thinks of without a computer analyzing them, or they're nonsensical or incomprehensible."

 

"In other words, it takes a lot of effort to create the data to analyze, and the answer you get isn't worth the effort."

 

"If you have the answer you're looking for, you can just look for records that fit it from the start. You can't trust the numbers unless you have a deep understanding of the parameter allocation and numerical settings of historical information, and if you understand that well, it's more efficient and educational to research it yourself instead of getting a computer to think about it."

 

"Isn't that just an excuse for students who have to study?"

 

"Maybe so, but the reasoning is convincing." Jenny sighed deliberately. "So I’ll collect as much information as I can, and index it automatically, but I have to do the rest of the analysis myself."

 

"Ah, so even if you collect the data through the scan, if you don't remember it, understand it, and use it, it's just a waste of memory space, you know?"

 

Lynn recalled a learning method that had been repeatedly experimented with but never put to practical use. Install learning, which mechanically writes memories into unused memory areas of the brain, was expected to be a dream learning method that would allow people to gain a great deal of knowledge in a short amount of time without the effort and trouble of studying. However, simply selecting unused memory areas and burning unknown knowledge into them did not form the synapses needed to access them. Without synapses connecting memory areas, memories in the brain would not be recalled. If you were to forcibly connect synapses with drugs or other means to be able to recall unknown memories, you would then have to restudy them like in rehabilitation before you could use them. Even if a foreign language dictionary was installed in the brain, people would not be able to use the foreign language without re-studying it, and when dementia and brain damage caused by forcibly using unused memory areas through install learning were confirmed, install learning was no longer an effective study method.

 

"Well, that's pretty much it. There are people with monstrous memories and calculation skills, and people with cheat-like intuition, as you'd expect from Space University, but everyone seems to do it themselves, although there are differences in how fast or slow they are at inputting data."

 

Lynn had a difficult look on her face.

 

"By inputting, you mean…"

 

"Reading, watching, and listening to data. I'm really grateful that I was trained in speed reading."

 

"Studying, huh?" Lynn exclaimed. "Even after graduating, I have to go to another school and study again, huh?"

 

"I won't complain because the rewards are great! This is the only time I've had the privilege of studying without having to work."

 

"You’re not working, huh." Lynn stopped and glanced at Jenny.

 

"I told you, combat information can still be analyzed by computer to some extent."

 

Lynn looked closely at Jenny's back as she walked away. Jenny continued.

 

"Even though it was called the Orion Arm Unification War, there were too many factors for a freshman to deal with. Colony wars of independence are not uncommon, but there are not many cases where an War of Independence and an Imperial unification war were fought at the same time. The Galactic Empire suddenly came in and forcibly annexed the Orion Arm, backed by its vast military power, when it had barely any contact with either the Stellar Alliance or the Federation of Colonial Stars, which were on the very edge of its territory at the time. Thanks to that, there was almost no damage to the Imperial fleet or the sides fighting the war of independence, and although it is called the Unification War, it is said to have been an exceptionally peaceful and successful unification that was beneficial for both sides, but we don't know everything clearly, such as the flow of information between us and the Empire, who was thinking what and how they guided each other, and how they operated.”

 

"Are you going to write a history paper based solely on battle information?”

 

Jenny nodded with a happy look on her face. "There are established methods for evaluating battle information, and even computer analysis can produce very useful results. If you want to get reliable results within the scope of what you know, I think it's probably best to focus your analysis on ship-to-ship battles between the Stellar Alliance and the Federation of Colonial Stars."

 

"Haven't all the battles from the War of Independence been thoroughly studied?"

 

"Almost all of the space battles between regular armies are already known, from the placement of each ship to the search situation, to what level the commands were sent and how they responded, and all of the movements at the individual ship level. But that's not the case with the pirate ships mobilized by the Federation of Colonial Stars for the War of Independence."

 

"Eh?" Lynn voiced her disapproval.

 

"The battle records of Odette II when it was the White Swan are pretty thorough."

 

"I know. I'm looking at the same thing." Jenny opened the door to the yacht club room. It was during school hours, so the clubroom was empty. "But pirate ships aren't military spaceships. When they were issued their privateer licenses, they were of course trained on the terms of engagement and other things as regular warships, and that should have included how to record battle information just like regular military forces, but there's no way that pirates, who haven't received specialized training like warships, can record battle information just like regular military forces. Pirates don't attack regular military warships, but civilian transport ships and military-commissioned supply ships, so the attacked ships don't have battle records like warships. It's better if the black box data from the battle is attached, but at worst, it's not uncommon to only have a list of the time, place, enemy, and battle results."

 

"That's terrible." Lynn entered the clubroom and sat down at the table opposite Jenny.

 

"Well, that can't be helped. The Odette II did electronic warfare, but it didn't make battle records until everything was over."

 

"It's the captain's job to write the logbook, isn't it?" Remembering that, Lynn clicked her tongue. "The captain at that time was Professor Kane. He slacked off."

 

"There's no way a training ship from an all-girls school could have done electronic warfare during a training voyage and won. Whatever the truth, Captain Kane was supposed to be asleep at the time. Do you have any battle records from when we were out in the frontier?"

 

"Yeah, Captain Ririka made the records every time, nodding along. I remember it well because I helped her." Lynn nodded confirmation. "We were just going to have fun as a decoy, but we ended up having to be the flagship of a pirate fleet. I only helped with the battle records related to electronic warfare, and there were plenty of people who were willing to help me with the things I didn't understand, but I had a really hard time then."

 

"Are those records in a place where anyone can see them?"

 

"Not at all. You wouldn't just throw out records of a girls' school training sailing ship in a place where anyone can see them, would you?"

 

"Right. On the surface, the battle records of the pirate ships and the records of the civilian ships that were attacked seem to be fairly well-constructed and consistent, but later on, various adjustments were made, the facts were altered, and inconvenient details were blurred, concealed, or not mentioned. It seems that a lot of that happened."

 

Jenny grabbed drink packs from the sideboard.

 

"The only records that can be considered credible are those of the regular fleets fighting pirates on the side of the Stellar Alliance, but they also had a hard time dealing with the sudden emergence of the Galactic Empire, and it's hard to say they've been properly analyzed due to the emergency nature of the Imperial annexation. In other words, there are still plenty of gaps that amateur students can exploit in the records of pirates from the time of the War of Independence, and on the Sea of the Morningstar, there is plenty of primary information about pirates that I can directly access."

 

"I see." Lynn opened the drink pack that Jenny had given her. “So you came back to this planet after you had gone to great lengths to get into space university, risking being taken to your parents' house and imprisoned, because you want a smash hit in your studies?”

 

"That's right. So when I finish scanning our archives, I'm thinking of taking all the data that I can scan in the Fleet Command archives. You have maps and blueprints of the HQ, right?"

 

"Yes, I do." Lynn touched the table in the club room to open the information terminal. The entire table became a display, and she searched for data on a 3D map of the Fleet Command that had been constructed based on data provided by the one-armed meat-grilling uncle from the staff dining hall at Shin-Okuhama Airport.

 

"Well, the data on the HQ that we made with the help of the crew of the Bentenmaru is probably around here, I think."

 

A 3D image was projected onto the table. Jenny looked around at the display, which was more detailed than usual. "Is that everything?"

 

"Almost everything. I've left out the scattered power units and escape routes."

 

"Hmm."

 

Compared to the usual spaceship and building floor plans, the lines are thinner and there are many overlapping 3D shapes. Jenny guessed the scale from the scale of each floor. "It's big, isn’t it."

 

"It's big." Lynn superimposed the ground-level buildings of Hakuoh Girls' Academy on top of the 3D drawing on the table.

 

"Well, even though it's a colony planet, it's still the headquarters that's going to unite star systems and fight an interstellar war, so it needs to be this big."

 

"That's right..." Jenny stared at the 3D structure of the fleet headquarters drawn on the table in the clubroom. "They used all the power the colony had to fight the war."

 

"That's right. The headquarters knew where everyone was and what they were doing in space that spanned dozens of light years, and sent out instructions to help them win. The spaceships in the field who received such unreasonable orders had a really hard time."

 

"Even so, they were determined to win, so they simplified and streamlined their command and information systems more than the Stellar Alliance, and were able to share the same level of information with the headquarters on the front lines while simultaneously conducting both top-down and bottom-up operations, so they were able to hold out against an enemy ten times stronger than them."

 

Jenny recited the mantra that anyone who receives an education at Sea of the Morningstar learns in history. Lynn took over.

 

"Even the lowest-ranking spaceship crew on the front lines understood the situation around them, so they could make better decisions overall, even if it wasn't the best, and they managed to get by, but if you look into it a little, you'll see that they weren't that good."

 

"Even if the decisions from the ground were 10% or 20% better, it wouldn't be enough to overcome a 10-fold difference in military strength. If the Galactic Empire hadn't intervened in the War of Independence, in every simulation the Federation of Colonial Stars would have lost sooner or later, either by being completely defeated or surrendering before that. I don't have any illusions about my planet or its history, I'm just hoping that I can find some useful lessons for the future while enjoying it."

 

Lynn stopped tapping on the panel. "Want to see?"

 

"What?"

 

"It'll take a while to scan the entire archives at the Fleet Command. It'd be unproductive to just wait that long, so here's the battle records of Odette II when she was still the White Swan."

 

"I've seen them all." Jenny looked at Lynn with a puzzled look. "Obviously, I don't remember all the details, but I know the big battles."

 

"What about the White Swan in June of the New Year 129?" Jenny frowned.

 

"That's a very specific number. Um, six months before the end of the war?"

 

At first, the Sea of the Morningstar used the same calendar as the Stellar Alliance, but after the start of the War of Independence, the Sea of the Morningstar used a new calendar, which counts the year the first survey team landed on the oldest colony planet, Sea of the Forest Star, as year zero. After being annexed by the Galactic Empire, the standard calendar common to the entire galaxy is used, and the new calendar is only written in small letters in the corner of a special calendar. The new calendar, which was used throughout the Federation of Colonial Stars, is no longer used in official documents from the government.

 

After a moment's thought, Jenny looked up. "Wasn't it fighting a trade war against the supply fleet for the reconnaissance fleet of the Stellar Alliance that had made a long march to invade the Sea of the Morningstar?"

 

"That's right. Because it’s a solar sailing ship, the farther they got from the star, the weaker the sunlight they could use for propulsion became, but they were struggling to cut off the supply line of the reconnaissance fleet of the Stellar Alliance in the outer planetary system. And this..."

 

With a wave of her outstretched hand, Lynn erased the 3D image of the fleet headquarters, and two record folders appeared on the 3D display. Just by looking at the format, it was clear that the data was old. Jenny read the text displayed alongside it and looked at Lynn’s face. "The battle records of the White Swan."

 

"Yes." Lynn nodded.

 

"Look at the date."

 

"June 22nd to 28th, 129th year of the new calendar? A week's worth of records." Jenny read the writing on the second folder.

 

"This one is also the battle records for the fourth week of June 129. Which one is a copy?"

 

"Strictly speaking, they're both copies." Lynn said, staring at Jenny.

 

"The original is from the Odette II. Both of these are copies. However, the contents are different."

 

Seeing Lynn’s face, Jenny looked back at the folder projected on the 3D image.

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"I've only had a cursory look at battle records from 120 years ago, so I haven't checked how well they match the official records. But these are records of a battle voyage in the southern part of the outer planetary system, from the Rainbow Cloud Star to the outermost orbit of the North Horizon Star, where we were messing with the supply fleet while investigating the movements of the reconnaissance fleet of the Stellar Alliance."

 

"Is this one different?" Jenny looked at the folder Lynn had moved her gaze to.

 

"No, that's a battle record too. But what they did was completely different. In that record, the White Swan was fighting a disguised cruiser in the northern part of the inner planetary system that was trying to invade the absolute air defense zone of the Sea of the Morningstar."

 

"Wow." Jenny smiled with delight. “As expected of our ancestors, even in the middle of the War of Independence, fighting on two fronts against transport ships and cruisers was incredible.”

 

"The battle records in this folder are not in the official records.” Lynn said, looking at the folder floating on the table. "I only checked the star system military database and the public archives website, so if I looked elsewhere I might find some other data, but I couldn't find any records of the White Swan chasing a cruiser from the Stellar Alliance that had invaded the area near the Sea of the Morningstar pretending to be a neutral transport ship."

 

"Oh?" Jenny tilted her head slightly. It's not that uncommon to discover battle records that aren't in the official records. "Have you checked the records of the Stellar Alliance?"

 

"Oh," Lynn said, looking taken aback. "I haven't checked those yet. But it seems they were faking their transponder, so I'm not sure if their ship’s name or registry number are reliable."

 

"If there are battle records from one side, you can just deduce enemy actions from there and check if there are any matching ships. After 100 years, the information should be declassified."

 

"If I check those, I might find something." Lynn looked at the folder. "I think that no one has seen the records of those who fought against the Stellar Alliance’s disguised cruisers for about 120 years."

 

"Oh? Why do you think so?"

 

"You know that there is a lot of encrypted and locked folders and files in the Odette II’s memory, right?"

 

"It's an old ship, after all. I guess it's inevitable that there's a lot of stuff piled up."

 

"When the FTL booster was connected before, I noticed that some of the locks were open. So when the booster was connected to the Odette II to change its class this time, I opened the folder and copied it, and it turned out to be a different battle record with a date that overlapped with an already existing battle record."

 

"Hidden files with overlapping dates?" With a strange look on her face, Jenny looked at the folder again. "Are they real?"

 

"Honestly, I don't know." Lynn shook her head. "Normally, if two battle records that overlap in time were discovered, one of them would be fake. But if you want to make a fake battle record look real, there's no need to overlap the time. It's easier to make a fake look real by writing appropriate records during a free time when there are no battles.

 

"If it's fake, there's no need to lock it and hide it." Jenny reached for the folder that was displayed in 3D. "Can I take a look?"

 

"Here you go. I've removed all the locks and traps, so there shouldn't be any strange mechanisms left."

 

Touching the folder, Jenny slid her finger over the control panel to open the battle records. A week's worth of battle records sorted by date appeared. "These battle records were automatically generated using the ship's recorder, right?"

 

"That's right." Lynn nodded.

 

Spaceships are required by standardized law to have flight recorders that automatically record flight conditions. Even the simplest flight recorders record the current position, speed, and direction at regular intervals, and more advanced flight recorders also record the surrounding space conditions obtained by radar and sensors.

 

Battle records are not required by standardized law. Standards vary from one military force to another, so even space battles are not recorded to a unified standard. In general, in addition to the spaceship's navigation trajectory, including combat maneuvers, and more detailed information on the surrounding space obtained by radar and sensors, the ship's personnel distribution and onboard siutation, including the engine and onboard weapons, the situation on board, and the predicted or confirmed movements of enemy ships are also recorded.

 

Even pirate ships with privateering licenses are required to keep the same battle records as warships during operations. Space pirates during the War of Independence, who mobilized everything from second-hand combat spaceships to unarmed civilian spaceships, were in the minority and kept detailed battle records like the regular military, with the White Swan belonging to that group.

 

"The official records were from the trade wars in the outer planetary system, and the locked records were from chasing disguised cruisers in the inner planetary system, right?"

 

"That's right."

 

Lynn nodded. Jenny ran her fingers over the control panel on the table.

 

"The sailing records from the White Swan's time are here in the club room, right?"

 

"Backups have been kept for generations. The location hasn't changed."

 

Jenny easily opened the archives, which contained the Odette II's 200 years of voyage records. This was an area where all kinds of records related to the Odette II, from blueprints to hull structure to maintenance records and voyage records, were backed up from the main ship.

 

"I'll help you analyze it."

 

"Sure." Jenny answered, operating the control panel with fingers that were a little faster than when she was at Hakuoh Girls' Academy. "I know how to play back battle records here and how to read them. If you have time, come over during lunch. The scanner should have finished copying the archives by then, and then I'll open the archives and collect the materials from the Fleet Command."

 

"Well, take your time." Lynn stood up to return to class.

 

"Wh-what's going on!?" Marika called out as she opened the door to the clubroom after school.

 

"I’m multitasking at the request of the previous club president." Lynn answered, buried in the 3D images that filled the club room, one hand on the control panel on the table and the other on her beloved computer, HAL-bou, which she had brought with her.

 

"What a multitasking nest!" Leaving the door open, Marika looked around the clubroom once again, which was filled with all sorts of displays, including diagrams, photographs, and 2D and 3D objects. The 3D display installed on the table in the middle of the room alone could not possibly display enough images to fill the entire space of the clubroom.

 

Not only were the 3D displays on the main table and the information system on the wall both fully open, but a large display that had been brought from somewhere was temporarily placed on the floor and was playing slideshows and videos.

 

Marika once again looked around the 3D displays that filled the clubroom. "Um, are you comparing battle records?"

 

"Wow, as expected of an active pirate ship captain." Lynn answered as she sorted the values ​​on the 3D chart she had switched to. "Marika is the first person to realize at a glance that these are battle records."

 

"What are you doing?" Marika looked again at the overlapping 3D displays. She confirmed the date, 120 years ago, and the White Swan. "Are these the Odette II's hidden files?"

 

"Yes. Jenny was interested in it, so I’m helping her out a little."

 

"Analyzing battle records?"

 

The records of spaceships that participated in battles are automatically generated by recorders, so the volume of data is enormous. In most cases, only a portion of the records is needed for analysis, but even selecting only that portion and converting it into data for analysis is a time-consuming process.

 

From what she can see, the data displayed in the clubroom seems to be almost all of the elements of the battle records. If you are going to analyze something, you would normally extract only the necessary elements and edit them to make them easier to handle.

 

"What are you planning to analyze from the White Swan’s battle records?"

 

"First, let’s see if they're real."

 

Marika realized she was standing in the door to the clubroom when someone called out from behind her. She hurriedly ran into the room. "President, no, former president."

 

"You know about the Odette II’s hidden files that Lynn brought, right?" Jenny came into the clubroom with her arms full of files. “The battle records of the White Swan, which should have kept the most thorough records among the pirate ships that participated in the War of Independence, are strange in that the dates overlap but the contents are different. I think there is something going on, so I'm looking into it.”

 

"Good day."

Gruier, also carrying a mountain of files, followed Jenny into the clubroom. Marika, holding the door with wide eyes, returned the greeting.

 

"Yes, hello. ...What is this?"

 

“I borrowed some documents from the underground headquarters that I thought might be useful.”

 

After popping her head out into the hallway to check for suspicious figures, Marika closed the door to the clubroom and turned to Jenny and Gruier. "Did you sneak into the Fleet Headquarters!?"

 

The Fleet Headquarters, built in the basement of Hakuoh Girls' Academy during the War of Independence, remains officially closed. It's a historical relic large enough that anyone could get lost, and there are no plans for a large-scale investigation in the near future, so all that can be done is to lock the door to stop anyone from getting in.

 

Meanwhile, thanks to the information provided by the meat-grilling uncle nicknamed "Boss" of the staff restaurant at Shin-Okuhama Airport, knowledge of the complex structure of Hakuoh Girls' Academy, which is located in the former Sea of the Morningstar Government House, has deepened. Several previously undiscovered escape routes and hidden passages have been discovered and are being put to practical use by the students.

 

However, the Fleet Headquarters, which easily exceeds the total floor space of all the buildings at Hakuoh Girls' Academy, has been mostly closed off after volunteers from the Exploration Club teamed up with the History Research Club and conducted a partial investigation. It is not dilapidated enough to be explored, nor is it messy enough to be excavated, and it is so large that even going up and down is a hassle, but the real reason is that the toilets are unusable.

 

"I've been inside. Only in the immediate vicinity though." After placing the pile of files she brought home on the floor of the club room, Jenny tapped the control panel on the table and a 3D diagram of the Fleet Headquarters' structure appeared. "I just finished scanning one document room with the auto-scanner I borrowed from the university for document collection. I just started the second one, but at this rate it might be more efficient to have the scanner read the map, open the document room door, and let it search on its own."

 

"Ah..." Marika looked at the other pile of files that Gruier had set down, then back at Jenny. "So, is this the result?"

 

"No, no, how can you get results on the first day of an investigation?" Jenny laughed and waved. "They say that an excavation is like searching for treasure that you don't know where it's buried, and won't be found unless the person is really interested in finding it, and with this much material it's a similar situation.”

 

Jenny looked around at the many displays filling the clubroom. "Did you go through the hidden files battle records?"

 

"Not really." Lynn answered while typing on HAL-bou's keyboard. “Originally, pirate ships with privateer licenses did not go on combat voyages where they asked the headquarters for instructions on how to move and went out to work. The headquarters did not know all of the movements of the Stellar Alliance's space fleet, and they fought largely based on on-site judgment, so even the headquarters' records could not keep track of the movements of pirate ships.”

 

"I see." Jenny nodded gloomily. "I thought that if we compared them with the records from the Fleet Command, we might be able to find out where the White Swan was and what it was doing at that time."

 

"It was an interstellar war that spanned dozens of light years, and if you count the spaceships that were fighting head-on, there were hundreds of them, both friendly and enemy, and if you include the spaceships that were not on the front lines or doing supply missions, the number is close to 10,000. It would take tens of thousands of hours to properly check even the public information."

 

“They were so busy looking after the regular fleet that they didn't even know what was going on with the pirate ships.”

 

Jenny reluctantly rummaged through the folders of communication records from the Fleet Command that were floating around Lynn.

 

"In the fourth week of June, the 129^th year of the new calendar, in which two battle records were found, the White Swan had several communications with Fleet Command. One of them was a warning that a disguised cruiser from the Stellar Alliance Fleet, hiding as a high-speed transport, had entered the star system for reconnaissance. This communication record and the location of the White Swan estimated from it are close to the battle records found in the hidden files."

 

Extending one hand, Lynn opened the communication records folder in the 3D display and pointed to one of the records.

 

"There were only a few communication records with the White Swan during that period. The Fleet Command did not give any orders for active operations against the pirate ships, so we might find other information if we looked into it in a different way, but I think this is all we can easily find at the moment."

 

"The movements of the White Swan before and after this match the revealed records." Jenny muttered, as if to confirm. "But the records that were purposely locked match the communications records from the Fleet Headquarters. That doesn't make sense no matter how you look at it."

 

After thinking for just a moment, Jenny looked up. "Marika?"

 

It had been a while since her former president had called her by name, and Marika instinctively straightened her back and replied. "Yes."

 

"There are a few things I want to check with the booster connected to the Odette II. When is the next docking scheduled?"

 

"...Whaaat?!"

"FTL booster docking confirmed." Yayoi announced from the engineer's seat. Half of the display automatically changed to FTL engine-related information. Yayoi read the updated status. "There are no abnormalities with the engine itself, its interior, or the booster's attitude."

 

"Okay, we're checking it from here, too." Lynn in the captain's seat confirmed that there had been no abnormalities with the booster since their last docking. Of course, the data sent had changed since the last time, but everything was within the acceptable range. There was no sign of any changes in the airspace around the booster, nor in the star system military anchorage airspace, which was demarcated by coordinates and had floating buoys emitting beacons. "It's a pain to have files that can't be unlocked unless we’re docked."

 

Jenny jumped from the radar/sensor seat, where the freshmen were sitting, to Lynn in the captain's seat. "Can't you insert a dummy into the system to make it look like Odette II is docked with the booster?"

 

"I mean, I don't even understand the Odette II's system, so there's no way I could simulate the system of the old FTL booster." Lynn replied, tapping rapidly on the control panel. "Even though it's called a booster, it has a system as complex as a spaceship. It would be different if I could take the time to copy all the systems and test them, but I don't know what mechanisms are hidden where."

 

"As complex as a spaceship." Jenny looked around at the 3D displays around the captain's desk.

 

Lynn added. "And it's not a brand new completed recently. It was built over 100 years ago, and there's been a lot of time where we don't know where it was or what it was doing. Its recorded data is larger than the voyage records of Odette II, which has been a training ship and sleeping in a special dock for the last 100 years, so I wonder what it was used for."

 

“Our FTL booster is an exclusive item for the Odette II, right?” Jenny looked at the short, stocky booster displayed on the monitor.

 

FTL boosters, which add jump capabilities to sublight spaceships, are transitional products. If the high-power FTL engine is not securely fixed to the main frame, the initial acceleration for the FTL jump could distort the frame and crush the spaceship. The operation must be performed carefully in accordance with the docked mothership.

 

Installing and operating a FTL booster is like forcing using a second-hand FTL engine with a sublight spaceship. It was often used a long time ago when FTL technology had just been introduced and most spaceships could not exceed the speed of light, but since spaceships have been built with FTL engines from the start, it has become rare to see them.

 

"That’s what I expect." Lynn stopped what she was doing, leaving the automatic system checks to the computer. "A solar sailer is a spaceship with a special shape, so it's hard to find one even if you search the whole galaxy. It would be very difficult to use that booster on anything other than our spaceship."

 

"FTL boosters must have been expensive." Jenny mused, crossing her arms. "Now that we're part of the Empire's economic bloc, the construction costs don't change much between class I FTL spaceships and category II sublight spaceships, but before the War of Independence, when neither Stellar Alliance nor the colonies could build FTL engines on their own, the engines alone would have cost two orders of magnitude more than the spaceships."

 

"Well, it's like magic technology for a civilization that can't go FTL." Lynn started moving her fingers again. "FTL speeds consume a ridiculous amount of energy. If you have a stable FTL engine, you can supply enough energy to support several large cities as long as they don't do anything flashy, and even a station with no nearby stars can last for years, right?"

 

"A converter reactor isn't the kind of thing that will operate stably if you leave it alone."

 

The amount of energy a converter reactor contains and can output is commonly said to be the equivalent of a single star². The energy density per volume of a converter reactor is orders of magnitude greater than that of the center of a star, so regular inspections and daily adjustments are essential to keep it running stably.

 

"By the end of the War of Independence, the magical technologies of converter reactors and FTL engines had become quite widespread, but they were still quite expensive for colonies that didn't have much contact with the outside world of the Galactic Empire or its outskirts. I read somewhere that the cost of acquiring Odette II's FTL booster was about five times what it would have cost to build a new ship."

 

"Five times the price of the ship, that's a bit of a stretch."

 

"That was before we were even able to build converter reactors or FTL engines ourselves. So the Odette II's FTL booster was made by the Galactic Empire, with which we which had no commerce in converters or nuclear reactors at the time."

 

"Even so, I wonder how the pirates of the supposedly poor Federation of Colonial Stars could pay such an exorbitant price, five times the price of a new ship."

 

"Unlike warships, pirates have a way of making money. That's how much they make as pirates."

 

"Even if they made money, they were only dealing with the trade fleets of the Stellar Alliance, and even though they were at war, they were still trading within the same economic bloc. Isn't it like mythological barbarian from the backwoods going shopping at a major supermarket chain?"

 

"No matter who you're dealing with, as long as you have money, you can do business with them."

 

"Um..." Ai, who was at the wheel of the Odette II, looked at Marika in the first officer's seat as if asking for instructions.

 

"Yeah, that's fine, just continue with the docking sequence." Marika waved her hand. "We're just going to check the connection with the booster and check the various files on the computer anyway, so there's no need to rush."

 

"Roger that."

 

Marika looked at the freshmen crowded around the radar/sensor seat. They had been keeping a steady watch over the surrounding area until just now, but something seemed a bit off.

 

"What's wrong?" Marika called out to them. "Did you get some strange readings?"

 

"Yes." Among the freshmen crowded around the radar/sensor seats, the one with the braids who was in charge of the sensors looked up at Marika. "There's a strange reaction coming from the direction of the star Tau."

 

"I wonder what it is."

 

Based on the control station's announcement and the Odette II’s transponder reception after departure, there should be no other spaceships in the vicinity. Marika kicked off the step of the first officer's seat and jumped to the radar/sensor seat opposite, peering upside down at the display.

 

"Here it is." The braided freshman pointed to the widespread, blurry response that appeared on the display. "It's far away, but if this is a stealth spaceship, isn't that a big reaction?"

 

"Huh?" Marika said, looking at the radar settings. "You turned up the sensitivity too high. This is the reaction of the star Tau."

 

"What!?"

 

"The solar flare from two days ago will soon reach the orbit of the Sea of the Morningstar, so the station was notifying ships traveling within the star system that they should be pay attention to the stellar forecasts. If the star is normally active, the response is automatically turned off, but if it is abnormally active, we need to adjust it here or the radar will find ghosts like this."

 

Stars emit a wide variety of electromagnetic waves and radiation. Reactions from naturally occurring stars and planets are registered and filtered in advance, and will not appear on the display unless they pose an obstacle to navigation or come unnecessarily close.

 

"As long as you’re using the normal civilian settings, this level of activity should be filtered out."

 

Reaching out from the side, Marika brought up the radar settings on the display.

 

"Right now, there are no spaceships around the Odette II that could cause trouble, so its radar output is higher than when it’s normally navigating. The electronics of this spaceship are old, so even if the radar output and sensitivity are increased, it doesn't automatically change the filter settings." Marika looked around at the faces of the freshmen. "If we were in outer space with no stars nearby, we wouldn't have to worry so much about filter settings, but this is the Lagrange point of the Sea of the Morningstar, and we’re still in the inner planetary system. Even so, it's surprising that it's getting such a reaction beyond the range of the filter settings."

 

Marika looked around at the display at the radar/sensor seat. "Maybe that's because the star is that active, or maybe our system is too sensitive." Marika muttered to herself, then turned back to the freshmen.

 

"Well, that's the cause, so I’ll reset the filter so that our radar/sensor system isn't misled by Tau’s stellar activity."

 

"Okay." The three freshmen at the radar stations all spoke in unison and started working.

 

"Is this also an abnormality in solar activity?" The freshman with braids at the sensor system showed Marika one of the displays.

 

"In such cases, first check the control station's stellar forecast to see if there are any warnings or alerts!"

 

Marika slid her fingers over the control panel and updated the stellar information data that the control station at the Sea of the Morningstar Relay Station was distributing 24 hours a day. The increased activity of the star Tau, accompanied by flare emissions, had prompted the star system military to dispatch a dedicated sundiver, and more detailed warnings had been issued.

 

In the inner planetary system, magnetic storms are occurring due to increased activity of the star, and it is predicted that both normal and FTL communications will be affected. In certain locations, spatial disturbances due to gravitational storms are predicted along with magnetic storms, so caution is required when making FTL jumps.

 

There are no special notes regarding planets, nor comets entering the inner planetary system from the outer planetary system.

 

"So, what's strange?"

"This." The braided freshman in the sensor seat clumsily enlarged a part of the spatial situation displayed on the display.

 

"It's a place that has nothing to do with the Odette II's planned orbit, so I don't think we need to worry about it."

 

"It's a spatial disturbance. I wonder if some spaceship made an inadvertent touchdown."

 

After reading the spatial coordinates, Marika quickly scrolled through the warnings issued by the astronomical phenomena agency.

 

"A FTL jump breaks the laws of physics by warping space-time, so even if you jump normally, there are many problems. Well, the universe is big enough that even if you disturb it a little, the slight disturbance and distortion will eventually disperse and not become a problem."

 

Several spatial disturbances have been observed in the space between the third planet Sea of the Morningstar and the fourth planet, Shining Blue Star in the Tau system, and warnings have been issued. None of them are large-scale, and they are not affected by the increased activity of Tau.

 

"The coordinates of these things are determined via hyperspace symmetry, so it's difficult to predict. It's not very common for spatial disturbances generated by takeoff or touchdown to remain or expand."

 

Marika compared the coordinates of the spatial disturbance captured by the Odette II's sensors with the warning. They are in almost the same place.

 

"You did well to find this. It’s a warning about a spatial disturbance outside the shipping lanes and doesn't seem to be moving or growing, so there shouldn't be any problem."

 

"A spatial disturbance, you say?" Repeating the unfamiliar phrase, the braided freshman glanced around at the radar/sensor display.

 

"This is a good opportunity. Let's gather the latest information and send it to the astronomical phenomena agency. They'll be grateful if we can update them to the latest information, even if it's just rough observation data."

 

The spatial disturbance captured by the Odette II's sensors was over 10 million kilometers away in a straight line from the star system military's anchorage airspace at the Lagrange point of the Sea of the Morningstar. It was so far away that even if they could confirm its existence, it seemed unlikely that they would be able to obtain more detailed observation data than what was displayed in the warning.

 

"It's not like we can try to hit it with radar when it's 10 million kilometers away," Lynn muttered, glancing at the observation data on the spatial disturbance being carried out with makeshift sensors while docking with the FTL booster.

 

"Wouldn't an observation probe in orbit get better data?"

 

"If we get more data from different angles, it will be useful. The radar and sensor systems will be idle while we're docked with the booster anyway."

 

"It'll be good training, I guess."

 

 

The Odette II and the FTL booster docked smoothly, without delay, and without any problems.

 

As soon as the Odette II and the FTL booster connected, several files stored in the Odette II's mainframe were unlocked and became accessible.

 

"Hmm." Moving quickly with both hands, Lynn wrote out a list of files whose access rights had changed just before and just after docking. "I thought so. The files that become visible are tweaked so that they are not visible in our system unless we dock with the booster. What's more, records aren’t kept of when they become visible or disappear. If you don't want people to see those files that much, you can just delete them, so I wonder why they are being kept."

 

"How’s it going?" Floating behind the captain's seat, Jenny looks around the multiple displays surrounding Lynn. "Are there any files other than the battle records that have been unlocked or become visible?"

 

"Right now, I’m doing a full system scan of the Odette II to see if there are any differences from the previous snapshot. But things like ion cannon output adjustments and firing records of shipboard weapon controls that the current Odette II doesn't have, and short-distance jump patterns are not really useful data for an Odette II that doesn't have a FTL booster."

 

The most common hidden files that open when you connect to the FTL booster are those related to engine control. They contain detailed operational patterns for the converter reactor and FTL engine for various situations, but unless you're making a FTL jump under very special circumstances, this data isn't very useful.

 

"What about the battle information from the other day?" Jenny looked at the display where small lines of text were flashing by at high speed. "Are there any files with dates around the fourth week of June, year 129 of the new calendar?"

 

"They don't seem to have increased. Hold on, I'll run a search."

 

After searching all the files that could be accessed while connected to the FTL booster, Lynn ran a search on all areas of the system.

 

"Is it okay if I search for about one month before and after?"

 

"Please."

 

"Okay."

 

The results came back immediately. A list of files that were within the specific search period appeared on the display.

 

"As you can see." Lynn filtered the search results again. "No new files have become visible this time. Only the same files I copied last time are visible."

 

"If you change the date on the FTL booster, will different data come out?"

 

"Setting the date on the booster? Adjusting the clocks of the converter and the FTL engine, which are protected independently?" Lynn looked at Jenny's profile again. "Both systems are tightly protected, so it's going to be a pain. The converter reactor would require rewriting its operating time log, so the proper way to adjust it would require a complete shutdown."

 

"I see..." Jenny looked around the bridge. "It would be possible if we were docked, but there's no way we can shut down and restart the converter reactor here."

 

"Is there anything else you want to try?" Lynn ran her fingers over the control panel.

 

"If we had more time, that would be a different story, but we haven't really analyzed the booster's locking method. Some of the records locked on the booster are protected so they can't be viewed wirelessly from the outside. Right now, we can see them all and try them out." After thinking for a moment, Jenny looked up at the display. "Among the operating patterns of the converter that we can see now, are there any patterns that are safe to try, but that we would rarely have the opportunity to actually operate?"

 

"Um..." Lynn called up a file of operating patterns for the converter and the FTL engine on the display in the captain's seat. There were many operating envelopes that would likely never be used on a peaceful voyage, such as making short jumps in succession in a short period of time, or operating patterns that kept the converter at high power. "I wonder if the operation pattern itself is the key to unlocking it."

 

"I wonder? Is it really that complicated? Yayoi!" Moving her hands, Lynn called out to Yayoi in the engineer's seat. "Can you see if there are any operation patterns that are seem pointless or suspicious?"

 

"Now?!" Yayoi screamed. "That's impossible! It's hard enough to make evasive maneuvers with the absurd combination of a delicate solar sailing ship and a FTL booster, and now you're asking me to just look at the operation patterns."

 

"That’s right." Lynn nodded, perhaps realizing that it was an unreasonable request. "Sorry, forget it."

 

“Um, I think we could automate all the checks on the booster and try to sort the file contents by pattern here.”

 

"Eh?" Lynn looked up at Yayoi.

 

"The files related to the booster's operation pattern are locked over there, so we can only check it while it's docked. We only have a limited amount of time, so we don't know how much we can analyze."

 

“It doesn't matter as long as you can do it. There aren't that many operation patterns that we don't normally use, right?"

 

"But that's not the case." Yayoi pulled some new control screens out of the console.

 

"When we were pirates before, the booster was left connected the whole time, so I just checked the saved operation patterns. I didn't know what would happen next.”

 

"Wow, as expected from someone in charge of engineering."

 

"However, it seems like there's a mix of operation patterns that were only simulated and patterns that were actually tested, so there are a surprising number of operation pattern files. Patterns that would definitely cause a runaway if we did it, and patterns that would probably cause the converter reactor to explode."

 

Yayoi said something so disturbing that Lynn, sitting in the captain's seat, exchanged glances with Jenny next to her.

 

"For the time being, we'll just need to organize the patterns that seem usable."

 

Seeing Jenny's face, Lynn quickly changed her approach.

 

"It's already a lot of work just to analyze the files we have now. Let's clear out what we can see in front of us, and if we're still not satisfied, we can look elsewhere."

 

"A spatial anomaly reaction!" A freshman spoke up. "There's a prejump phenomenon in the direction of the outer planet!"

 

Before Marika could give her instructions, the braided freshman at the sensor seat gave an additional report.

 

"There's no flight plan that matches the data from the air traffic control station!!"

 

When a spaceship traveling FTL returns to normal space, a number of abnormal phenomena, including spatial tremors and gravity quakes, can be observed. Due to the principle of FTL travel, which avoids the physical laws of normal space by passing through hyperspace, it is impossible to avoid abnormalities that disturb space, whether you are jumping into hyperspace or touching down in normal space. Furthermore, abnormal phenomena such as spatial tremors and gravity quakes vary depending on the scale of the jump and the power of the spaceship.

 

"It's a civilian ship!"

 

Marika, who was behind the radar/sensor seat, read out the results of the Odette II's computer's judgment based on the data currently available. The Odette II's system, which has been trained for actual combat, quickly determined the scale of the jump and the type of ship. If the jump pattern of the spaceship is recorded, it is not uncommon for the ship's name to be displayed as well.

 

"This is not a warship touchdown. It's a civilian ship, the type of ship..."

 

Marika stopped reading for a moment. Both Lynn and Jenny looked down at the display that showed the same data transferred to the captain's seat.

 

As if making up her mind, Marika read out the displayed data. "Type of ship: solar sailing ship, name of ship: Odette II!"

 

"They’re touching down!" The freshman in the sensor seat couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the ship's name displayed along with the exact coordinates observed. "It’s the Odette II, no doubt about it!"

 

It wasn't just the spatial anomaly and output pattern that accompanied the FTL jump. The computer also determined that the ship's name was the Odette II beyond any doubt, based on the ship's silhouette captured by the optical sensor and the radar response.

 

"Um, run another observation," Lynn ordered from the captain's seat. "If it's the Odette II that came out, then what in the world is this spaceship we're on?"

 

"Is this someone's prank?" Jenny said, looking straight at Marika. “Wouldn’t it be easy for a veteran pirate to fake a reaction that is identical to the Odette II’s?”

 

"That's, well..." Marika shook her head, wondering if the Bentenmaru could fake a reaction identical to the Odette II. "No, it's impossible. You can fake radar and sensor reactions, but you can't fake the spatial anomalies and gravitational quake patterns of the pre-jump phenomenon."

 

"Then what's that?"

 

Jenny looked around at the information about the spaceship that had touched down on the displays around the captain's seat. There was no other activity in the military's anchorage airspace. The unidentified ship that the computer had determined to be the Odette II was the closest active, functioning spaceship to the Odette II.

 

"Gruier, make contact!" As she spoke, Marika jumped to the radio operator's seat. Gruier, who was sitting there, lightly touched her headset and ran her fingers over the control panel.

 

"Radar and sensors continue gathering information! President, may I use the radar?"

 

"Permission granted within the range used for normal navigation." Lynn answered, also moving her hands. "As it is now, we can't tell if the other party is friend or foe. ... They’re coming out with an identical face, there's no way they’re an ally."

 

"Opening communication line." Gruier said in a cool voice. “Should the message be verbal or text?”

 

Either way, it will still be recorded.

 

"Both!" Marika jumped diagonally and got behind Gruier. "I don't mind a standard message, just identify ourselves and request communication!"

 

"We've reconfirmed the transponder." The freshman with short hair reported. "The computer says that this is definitely the Odette II's transponder!"

 

"From the Odette II..." Gruier was at a for words for just a moment. "From Odette II to Odette II, this is the Hakuoh Girls' Academy training sailing ship, Odette II. Please clarify your ship's registry and name."

 

A standard message containing our transponder data and vectors is sent at the same time as the voice communication.

 

"Are they receiving it?"

 

Jenny asked, and Marika, looking around at the communication panel, answered.

 

"Probably... they're checking the situation right after touchdown."

 

Neither radar nor sensors could see the shape of the spaceship at such a great distance, and as long as the name of the ship, Odette II, wasn’t displayed on the screen, there was nothing suspicious.

 

"So it's a different spaceship with the same name..." Yayoi, who was in the engineer's seat, said timidly.

 

"No." Jenny answered. "I checked this spaceship before it left the station for the first time in 20 years. Within a 100 light year radius there are many Odettes in the station’s registry, from plain designations to color-coded variants, abbreviations, and numbered models. But across the entire galaxy, you won’t find another solar sailing ship named Odette II, only this one.”

 

"Even if there are ships with the same name, they are assigned different transponder IDs." Marika said while looking at the transponder of the Odette II which had just touched down on the display. "There is no other ship with the same ID in the Empire. Probably even in the entire galaxy..."

 

"No reply." Gruier reported, listening to the faint static on the radio after having repeated the standard message twice just to be sure. "Based on the transponder and the situation immediately after touchdown, there is no way that they could not hear our communication."

 

"What about the radar and sensor response?" Lynn asked. "Not only the reaction at touchdown and the transponder, but also the radar and sensor readings? No matter how far away we are, we should be able to see it by now, right?"

 

"It's showing the same reaction as ours." The ponytailed freshman handed the analysis results to the captain's seat along with a summary of the report. "The solar sailing ship's overall length and shape match those of the Odette II."

 

"Are they really that similar?" Lynn ran her eyes over the display at the captain's seat. "I don't know how they dealt with the spatial disturbance at touchdown, but radar and sensors can be fooled. Right, Marika?"

 

"Well, well, it's not impossible depending on the enemy's situation." Marika answered, considering conditions such as detection distance and axis angle.

 

"So, how can we unmask our opponents?"

 

When asked something that Lynn should have known, Marika realized that the conversation was also serving as an explanation to the club members.

 

"The easiest thing to do is to get closer and improve our observation accuracy. Even at this distance, we can get accurate data by using a combat fire control radar, but it's not like they're engaging in hostile activities yet."

 

"Okay, Gruier, keep calling out to them. Yayoi, can we move?"

 

"There are no abnormalities with the normal engine or the FTL booster."

 

"Well, let's take a test drive around the neighborhood. We'll hunt down the fake and expose its true identity!"

 

Marika returned to her seat and ran her fingers over the control panel.

 

"If the trajectory deviates too much from the flight plan, we'll have to contact the control station again."

 

"It's an emergency, not an abnormal situation, don't be so strict." Realizing that it would be a big problem if she declared an emergency while sitting in the captain's seat, Lynn quickly corrected herself. "If we stray too far from the anchorage airspace, we'll revise our flight plan, but we don't intend to delay our return to the station that much. Let's get this done quickly."

 

"Yes..."

 

"Are we going after that spaceship?"

 

Setting the recorded voice call to repeat every minute until there was a reply, Gruier looked up to the captain's seat.

 

"Yeah. It came into our territory pretending to be the same spaceship, so it would be polite to confirm its identity."

 

"What if that spaceship's performance is the same as ours, not just its signature?" Gruier spoke smootly, as if she had already considered the issue. "If that's the case, wouldn't it be difficult to catch up?"

 

Hearing this, Lynn and Marika exchanged glances. Marika checked their ship's current position.

 

"We're a little closer to the star, so we have an advantage in terms of solar radiation. But at this distance in the orbit of the Sea of the Morningstar, it's within the margin of error."

 

"If they've touched down, they must be at least be equipped with a FTL engine." Jenny peered at the display from beside the captain's seat. "Even with normal propulsion, wouldn't they be able to easily escape?"

 

"What if that look-alike is faster than us?" Lynn looked around the bridge with a grin.

 

"If it's faster than this ship, that's proof that it's a fake. Record all of their movements, radar, sensors, so we can verify them. Ai, Yayoi, launch the Odette II as soon as you're ready!"

 

"Roger." "Engines are ready to go anytime!"

 

"Tracking target, err, fake Odette!" Lynn announced, using her captain's authority to decide on a temporary name.

 

"Odette II, launching from anchorage airspace!"

 

"Would you like a backup?" Marika sent a silent message to the captain's seat, the kind used for private conversations between seats.

 

"What is it?"

 

She immediately got a reply via the same message service. Marika typed out a message.

 

"The Bentenmaru should be nearby. We can contact them and track the fake Odette. If we know that we have reinforcements, the tension will go down, so let's keep it a secret from everyone.”

 

In the captain's seat, Lynn exchanged glances with Jenny, delaying her reply.

 

“Please. We don't know who the enemy is, so it's better to have some support.”

 

Marika opened the communications system from the panel at the first officer's seat. Gruier in the radio operator's seat glanced at Marika. Marika continued without paying any attention. She sent a message with the current location of Odette II and the fake Odette, as well as a brief situation, and asked them to track the fake Odette.

 

In their regular contact before the Odette II departed from the relay station, the Bentenmaru was near the Sea of the Morningstar. Unless it was caught up in an emergency such as an unexpected battle, it shouldn't have been moving around much since then.

 

In order to prevent the members from realizing that the Bentenmaru was providing support, Marika added the words 'no reply necessary' and sent the message to the Bentenmaru. Gruier in the radio operator's seat probably noticed, but the other members of the club probably didn't.

 

"The fake Odette has started moving!" The short haired freshman reported.

 

"Which way? Are they running away or coming towards us?"

 

"Um, it's a clone."

 

Lynn couldn't help but look back at the short haired freshman's face as she told her exactly what she saw. "What?!"

 

"The reaction split into two. I think they've probably detached the FTL booster."

 

"What?!"

 

"The energy reaction has been decreasing since touchdown, so they don't seem to want to use their FTL booster."

 

"Eh?!" Unable to grasp what Fake Odette was up to, Lynn looked at the report from the radar/sensor seat for more information.

 

"Fake Odette, deploying solar sails!"

 

On the Odette II, the solar sail, which creates extra resistance during FTL jumps, is folded up along with the masts. After detaching its FTL booster, the fake Odette unfolded its solar sail that had been stored in one action.

 

"Are they planning to escape from our ship with their solar sail and booster?" Lynn tilted her head. The Odette II was also equipped with conventional power. Their means of propulsion were not limited to solar sails. After glancing at Jenny, Lynn looked at Marika. "What do you think?"

 

"The fact that the fake Odette detached its FTL booster and raised their solar sails means that it has no intention of using its engines."

 

Marika stated only what she could infer from the facts before her.

 

"They don't want to use it, or they can't use it..."

 

"If they’re copying our reactions, there should be nothing wrong with their hull."

 

Lynn looked at the observation data of the fake Odette, which was unfolding its solar sails and changing its attitude.

 

"If there's something wrong with the ship's hull, there's no need to go to the trouble of timing their emergence in front of us to provoke us."

 

"Then they don't want to use it." Marika watched the observation data on the fake Odette being steadily updated on the display. "If they only use their solar sails, the FTL booster won't even serve as ballast. If they're just moving around normally, it's lighter and easier without the booster."

 

"Why not? If you want to increase maneuverability so much that you have to detach the booster, isn't it easier to just use the normal engine?"

 

"If they use their normal engine..." Marika thought for a moment and said "even the engine's power performance would be observed by us. If they use solar sail propulsion, they can move while hiding their true engine performance."

 

"...At the very least, they're not an easy opponent who will easily reveal their true identity."

 

Lynn looked at the fake Odette on the display. With impressive skill, the fake Odette raised all of its masts and deployed all of its yards, then used the propulsion of its solar sails in combination with an inertial control system to change its position with agile maneuvers.

 

"The power performance we're observing now isn't much different from ours!"

 

"You're running away just as fast as we are, aren't you?" Lynn glared at the power output calculated from the observation of the fake Odette as it slowly began to move.

 

"I don't know if they're trying to hide their power output, but that's not the case here. Navigation team, predict the trajectory of the fake Odette and find the shortest distance to corner them!"

 

"This trajectory is..."

 

Because the solar sailer is changing course, the trajectory predicted by the computer changes every second. Seeing the direction of the change, Marika checked the situation of the surrounding airspace displayed on the screen. Since it is interplanetary space near the Sea of the Morningstar, there are no natural celestial bodies that can be used to hide.

 

However, there is a spatial disturbance for which the astronomical phenomena agency has issued a warning.

 

"With this movement..."

 

The fake Odette's intentions were still unclear, but Marika looked up when she saw the spread of the predicted future trajectory.

 

"The fake Odette is going to place the spatial disturbance from the warning between us!"

 

"So what happens then?"

 

Again, for the members of the club, Lynn asked something that was obvious without asking. Marika answered.

 

"We'll be observing the fake Odette through turbulent space. With the scale of this spatial disturbance, the observation accuracy will drop drastically!"

 

"What if we change our orbit and go to a position where there's no spatial disturbance between us?" Lynn offered a solution that anyone could easily understand.

 

“That would cause us to deviate from the shortest trajectory that brings us close to the fake Odette. It will delay our obtaining more detailed observation data, and if the fake Odette were to place the spatial disturbance between us to match our changed orbit, the observation data will end up being disturbed again."

 

"Hmmm." Lynn, in the captain's seat, compared the slowly changing predicted orbit of the fake Odette, its future position, the map of the entire sky, and their current course.

 

"...Radar/sensor team, focus on observing the spatial disturbance. I don't think it will be a big deal if we go straight through, but this is a spatial disturbance that is causing the astronomical phenomena agency to issue a warning, so we will keep a minimum safe distance as we go through!"

 

"Are you okay?"

 

Jenny just asked. Lynn smiled confidently.

 

"The fake Odette is telling us to follow if we can. If they only use their solar sails, we can use not only normal propulsion but also the FTL booster, so we will eventually catch up. I don't like how it has been going on for so long, but if it's a phenomenon like spatial disturbance, we can fly at a safe distance and not get dragged in or have our hull destroyed."

 

"Predicted trajectory is available." Ai, who had left the helmsman's seat and gone to the navigation team's seat, spoke up. "I've constructed our future trajectory on the assumption that the fake Odette will use the spatial disturbance as a distraction!"

 

A flight plan designed to track the fake Odette on as simple a trajectory as possible was transferred to the captain's seat. Lynn scanned the planned trajectory and, seeing Marika nod in the first officer's seat, gave the navigation team a thumbs-up.

 

"I approve. Show the fake Odette your real skills!"

 

"Roger!" Ai jumped out of the navigation team's corner and returned to the helmsman's seat. "Full speed, Odette II, let's go!"

 

It seems that fake Odette also has information about the spatial disturbance. As Odette II leaves its anchorage airspace in pursuit, the fake Odette takes an escape trajectory toward the outer planetary system, maintaining a trajectory that puts the spatial disturbance in front of its pursuers, aiming to disrupt the radar and sensors of the Odette II.

 

A solar sailing ship that relies on sunlight for propulsion can fly without matching its attitude with its thrust direction. However, with the heavy FTL booster connected to the Odette II, the solar sail not only provides little propulsion, but can also cause flight resistance, so it has no choice but to use normal propulsion. The more efficient the flight, the easier it is to predict its future trajectory from its attitude.

 

The Odette II has been unable to receive any radar or communication from the fake Odette. Although its transponder was still transmitting, it was in a state of near radio silence, and it seemed as though it had no intention of leaking any data.

 

The pursuing Odette II has focused its observations on the spatial disturbance between it and its target. Data is occasionally obtained on the fake Odette sailing beyond the spatial disturbance, using only its solar sail, and the fragmentary observation results show that its performance as a solar sail ship is exactly the same as theirs.

 

Regarding the spatial disturbance for which the warning has been issued, the accuracy of observations has improved as the observation distance has decreased.

 

"That's a strange spatial disturbance."

 

The spatial disturbance, on a scale similar to the touchdown of a large spacecraft, seem to be continuing instead of dissipating and disappearing normally.

 

Since this is an amateur observation, there is no information beyond what was automatically processed by the computer, but Lynn was still checking the accumulated observation results.

 

“Just how can something of this magnitude continue...”

 

"I've heard a theory that spatial disturbances appear at symmetrical points via hyperspace." Jenny said as she floated next to the captain’s seat, looking over the same data. “Somewhere in the universe, a phenomenon occurs that causes a spatial disturbance, and when various conditions come together, it also appears on the other side.”

 

"So does that mean that somewhere in the galaxy there is a spatial disturbance that isn't disappearing?"

 

"It could be in another galaxy, not in this galaxy, or it could be on the opposite side of the time axis centered on some reference point."

 

"I don't know who that scholar is, but that's useless!" Lynn dismissed it.

 

"President." Marika looked up at the clock. "Let's decide on a tentative plan now."

 

"Plan? What are you talking about?"

 

"Today, the Odette II left for a short flight from the station to the anchorage, and everyone should be returning to Shin-Okuhama City today. Do we change our plans and chase after the fake Odette, or do we report to the authorities that there is an unidentified ship emitting a transponder with the same ID and leave it to them and go home? Which do you want to do?"

 

Tracking a spaceship takes time. It's a mission that is no different from reading the enemy's trajectory before a battle, predicting the encounter situation, and creating an advantageous situation.

 

"...Even if we extend it as long as possible, it will only be until the start of work tomorrow."

 

With a smile on her face, Lynn looked around the bridge. Marika couldn't help but speak up.

 

"President! Are you planning to chase the fake Odette all night long!?"

 

"Predict the most optimistic tracking trajectory possible." Lynn said, looking around at the faces of the club members on the bridge one by one. "The conditions are that we will go as fast as we can in our current condition, the fake Odette will continue to sail via the sun, and the completion condition is to get close enough to get data that allows us to get a detailed picture of the enemy with our observation equipment. How long will it take to corner the enemy and get the data we need?"

 

"One hour." The braided girl in the sensor seat answered almost immediately. "It depends on how far away we are from the spatial disturbance, but we can get close enough to the target spaceship to get sufficient observation results in as little as an hour."

 

"It will take an hour until closest approach, then we'll go home and clean up, so we'll be three hours later than planned." Lynn rearranged her plans in her head. "I guess we'll have dinner on the shuttle on the way back instead of after we land. Okay, when it becomes clear that we can't get close enough to the fake Odette within the scheduled time, we'll report the ship's presence to the control station, and if necessary, we'll ask the star system military to track it."

 

"Will the military take action just because they're emitting a fake transponder?"

 

Lynn laughed and shook her head at the question from the second year student in the navigator’s seat.

 

"If there's a suitable ship in a convenient location, that's fine, otherwise they'll just acknowledge the request. So if we don't find out the real identity of the fake Odette by the scheduled time, we lose. But we don't have time to sacrifice tomorrow's classes for a single fake Odette. After all, the motto of the Hakuoh Girls' Academy Yacht Club is good behavior."

 

The bridge erupted in excitement at the motto, which they had never heard before.

 

"However, I don't want them to know that we're flying with a time limit. Plan a trajectory that will corner the fake Odette in the shortest time possible, and that also makes it look like we're not in a hurry."

 

"It’s okay." Marika answered while calculating the future trajectory of the Odette II under various conditions. "When the enemy is solar sailing, their acceleration is two orders of magnitude slower than our powered flight. It's only a matter of time before we catch up."

 

"If the fake Odette knows our performance," Gruier muttered, and Marika looked up. The Odette II, the training sailing ship of the Hakuoh Girls' Academy Yacht Club, was also a pirate ship that held a privateer's license during the War of Independence. Now that it has become a civilian ship, its power performance is registered with the Bureau of Shipping and can be viewed by anyone. "If they're sailing, they know we'll catch up eventually."

 

Gruier shifted her gaze from Marika to Lynn. "Why did they run away without even responding when they were definitely in a position to be caught?"

 

"We’ll just catch them and ask them directly." Lynn answered matter-of-factly. "If we get close and make detailed observations, we'll know if they're just faking the reaction or if they've replicated the exterior as well. Let's find out why they've gone to the trouble of producing the same signature."

 

"Even if their signature and sailing performance are the same as ours, we can't tell if they have weapons or not." Imagining various worst-case scenarios, Marika ran her fingers over the control panel. “Be careful to check for any signals from a booster that was separated, or from a drone that was launched without our knowledge. It's not that difficult to fake a signal and disguise it as something else.”

 

Marika put together a suitable trajectory to the fake Odette, keeping the spatial disturbance between them and their target, and applying the current sailing performance of the Odette II.

 

"How about something like this?" She transferred it to the captain's seat, thinking that if Luca, the Bentenmaru’s navigator, checked it, she would immediately reject it. "There aren't that many parameters, so it won't a very complicated trajectory. If the movement of the fake Odette is within the expected range, the only difference is how widely we can avoid the spatial disturbance that is lingering in the range of 1000 kilometers, and how close we can get."

 

"That's fine, right?" With just one glance, Lynn gave the OK to Marika's flight plan.

 

"On the other hand, even the fake Odette can predict how we will move. If it goes according to plan, there is a possibility that they can set a trap. We will continue to observe the spatial disturbance, but we will keep a large safe distance. This is still within the defense range of the star system military, and if it is an unplanned touchdown, an escort ship will fly in to confirm it."

 

"It's true that it was an unplanned touchdown, but if their transponder is exactly the same, I wonder if they will really think they're an unidentified ship."

 

"What?" Lynn looked at Jenny's face.

 

“It's one thing around the Sea of the Morningstar, but once you get out into interplanetary space, the patrol network of the star system military is not that dense. Of course they would be able to detect the spatial anomaly that accompanies touchdown, but if there is a spatial disturbance like that nearby and the emergence of a training sailing ship with a flight plan already submitted, even if they notice that there are two transponders, they will probably think it's a machine error."

 

"We can't expect the star system military to show up unless we report it."

 

"Shall we notify the star system military that we have found an unidentified ship that appears to be a fake ship with the same transponder?" Gruier asked from the radio operator's seat. "We have all the data for that."

 

"You work fast." Jenny smiled at Gruier. If you want to report a suspicious ship to the star system military, you need to attach the necessary data. It's not enough to just report it to the control station or the star system military.

 

"It's not like we're under attack or at risk of being damaged, so it's not that dire." Lynn checked the current position and predicted orbit of the fake Odette, which was trying to escape using only the propulsion of its solar sail. "We'll report to the military and the control station after we've gathered more data. We'll corner the fake Odette via the shortest orbit!"

 

The fake Odette was heading for an exoplanet’s orbit, using only solar sails for propulsion, without using radar, and under radio silence, not responding to communications. In keeping with its tactic of placing the spatial disturbance between it and their pursuers to prevent accurate observation data, it was making small course corrections in response to changes in the Odette II's orbit.

 

The distance between the fake Odette and the Odette II was definitely decreasing, but the observation accuracy had not improved much due to the spatial disturbance that was kept between them. From the data obtained, all they could determine was that the fake Odette was exactly the same as the Odette II, not only in appearance but also in terms of its solar sailing performance.

 

Even with regard to the spatial disturbance designated as the primary observation target in place of the fake Odette, no significant data has been obtained. The sensors have picked up high-energy reactions that are enough to disturb the space, but high-precision analysis has not produced any meaningful results.

 

"Their FTL booster is not moving, and there is no sign of any unmanned probes being released or operated."

 

Lynn looked around the displays at the captain's seat, which showed that the straight-line distance was shrinking and the relative speed was also shifting in their favor, but there was no significant increase in data.

 

"We will soon enter a trajectory to avoid the spatial disturbance." Marika announced. "If there is no spatial disturbance between us and the fake Odette, then our observation accuracy will increase. Once we pass the spatial disturbance, the fake Odette will have no place to hide."

 

"That's true, but..." Jenny floated into the central space and looked around at the faces of the bridge crew. "If they're thinking about it as much as we are, I think they know that much. If that's the case, I wonder what the fake Odette is going to do when we get past the spatial disturbance."

 

"Electronic jamming and active stealth, if the enemy knows our capabilities and launches an attack, there's a lot they can do."

 

Lynn looked at the display showing their positions, wondering when that would happen.

 

"The fact that they're responding exactly the same as us means they've thoroughly researched us beforehand. There's no way that such an enemy doesn't know about our electronic warfare capabilities. Despite that, they're showing no signs of running away when we try to close the distance, so that means they've got some kind of plan in place."

 

"Some kind of plan?"

 

"If we knew that, it won't be a problem."

 

Lynn looked at the current position of the fake Odette on the other side of the spatial disturbance.

 

“But we can make just as many moves as they can. It’s likely that if we respond, they won’t be able to move in time. So, if we avoid the spatial disturbance and observe the fake Odette through the clear space, that's enough.”

 

Lynn checked the situation in the surrounding space on the display. There were still no other spaceships in sight.

 

"We have classes tomorrow, too, so I'm sorry for the person who went to the trouble of making an identical signature, but we'll just turn around and return to the anchorage airspace."

 

"Oh?" Jenny looked at Lynn’s face. "You've already decided to retreat already? That's a pretty quick decision."

 

"We're not at war." Lynn said with a wry smile. "I don't like the idea of them imitating our signature, but so far they're just running away, they're not doing anything to us, let alone attacking us."

 

"Isn't it hostile to imitate our signature?"

 

"It's definitely not friendly, but it's a very mild thing to do." Lynn traced the trajectory of the fake Odette since touchdown with her fingertips. "I haven't done much sailing or fighting on this spaceship, but if they're willing to fight, there must be more they can do. If they're thinking of doing something bad, there must be plenty they can do."

 

"You don't sense anything bad?"

 

"That's true, but if this is a trap set by the fake Odette, wouldn't it be best not to fall for it?"

 

A cry of protest rose from the bridge crew. Lynn raised one hand in response. "We'll gather intelligence. We'll submit it to the control station and, if necessary, to the star system military. We don't have any weapons anyway, so if the fake Odette launches a serious attack, we'll have no choice but to run away. So, rather than slowly approaching a distance that would make us a target for long-range fire, wouldn't it be better to turn around just before that and disappoint the enemy?"

 

"You’re being passive-aggressive."

 

"Considering the safety of the crew and the spaceship, aggressive measures are out of the question." Lynn waved her hands dramatically. "But before we get too carried away, let's do something. Radar/sensor team, once we get past the spatial disturbance, observe the fake Odette with all the equipment you have. The data we get is the result of this battle. With that, we can openly report the presence of the unidentified ship that even disguised its transponder to the control station and the military."

 

"Roger that!" The four freshmen in the radar/sensor seats replied in unison.

 

"You can use high-frequency radar, but not fire control radar!" Marika sent the radar settings to the radar/sensor seats. "Limit maximum output to medium levels. If we use actual maximum output, it would not surprising if it was thought of as an electronic attack."

 

The radar installed on the Odette II, a former pirate ship, has a large, high-output antenna on its mast. It is so high-output that it is absurd for a civilian spaceship or even for a military spaceship, and it can pinpoint the enemy's location before the enemy finds them, making up for their lack of firepower, which is far inferior to that of a warship, and making battle possible.

 

The Odette II's radar was so powerful that it could easily overpower simple jamming signals, and could fry a target like a microwave even at a distance if fired at full power. Marika ordered the radar/sensor seat to use a power output that was high for civilian use, but not so high that it would be troublesome if fired in the inner planetary system.

 

"We only need to fire it once, since that's enough to read the enemy's details at this distance."

 

"That's a pretty simple setup." Lynn, in the captain's seat, looked at the settings Marika had sent to the radar/sensor seat and turned her head to the first officer's seat. "The Odette II could do a lot more."

 

"I'm worried that our enemy isn't even sending out radar signals." Marika looked at the fake Odette's current location on the display. "If they want to hide their electronic capabilities to that extent, there’s no need for us to go along with it. I think it's fine to follow the president's decision of only hitting them with radar once, and whether or not we get a response, we will reverse course and return to the anchorage airspace.”

 

"We'll soon be at the closest point to the spatial disturbance."

 

With that, Ai gripped the wheel again.

 

"All right, Odette II, prepare to maneuver!" Lynn confirmed the planned orbital maneuvers. "Keep the bow pointed at the fake Odette, and dodge sideways to avoid the spatial disturbance. Yayoi, full engine throttle!"

 

"Increasing normal engine power to full engine speed."

 

The power output of the normal engine equipped on the FTL booster far exceeds that of the Odette II. With its bow pointed at the fake Odette through the spatial disturbance, the Odette II started moving sideways at high speed by fully rotating its inertial control system as well as its side thrusters.

 

In response, the fake Odette, located far beyond the spatial disturbance, also begins to move sideways in the opposite direction. However, the movement of the solar sailing ship, which only moves by light pressure, is much slower than the powered flight of the Odette II.

 

The spatial disturbance, which seems to be anchored at a single point in interplanetary space, is almost spherical, and emits gravitational waves and space quakes like needles in all directions. The Odette II suddenly changes its orbit, as if to make a large detour around the spatial disturbance, which is now several thousand kilometers across.

 

Prior observations had provided precise data on the extent of the spatial disturbance's influence. The clearer the space between them and their target, the more accurate the observation data obtained. The Odette II slid sideways from the amorphous, irregularly changing spatial disturbance and captured its target, the solar sailing ship, in the far reaches of space.

 

"Target confirmed!" The short haired freshman called out. “Firing radar!”

 

Suddenly, an ear-splitting noise came from the speakers on the bridge.

 

"What? Have we already gotten a response!?"

 

"At this distance, it will take 20 seconds for the reflected response to return!"

 

In response to Lynn, Marika glared at the radar display at the first officer's seat, which had quickly become filled with noise.

 

"They read my mind. They hit our current position with accurate jamming signals!"

 

"Twenty seconds before we fired our radar!?"

 

"Even though it was through spatial disturbance, they could see us just as well as we can see them. We fired our thrusters dramatically and changed your orbit, so they predicted our future position and launched jamming signals!"

 

"It's not as accurate as a naval gunfire attack." Jenny, seeing the distance between them, spoke in a calm voice. Jamming signals spread out more than beams, but still, precise aim is required to fire them at this density from such a distance. And to keep firing jamming signals, you have to keep tracking the target accurately.

 

"They're emitting jamming signals as a civilian ship sailing normally. With this, there's no reason to go easy on them, right?"

 

"Yeah." Lynn nodded. "High-frequency radar, hit the target with full power! Show the fake the power of the real thing!"

 

Lynn gave orders for the simplest way to deal with jamming signals: to increase the radar output and smash it with brute force.

 

"Roger. Raising radar output."

 

The short hair at the radar seat entered the specified value into the control panel. The converter reactor, which was operating at high power, put as much power as the circuitry would allow into the radar system.

 

The noise on the bridge became quiet, as if the jamming signals attacking the Odette II were being pushed back by the brute force of the high-powered radar.

 

"Can we go now?" Lynn muttered to herself. Because of the distance, it would take some time for the radar response.

 

"It could turn into electronic warfare." Marika replied. "The fact that the enemy fired jamming signals with this timing means that they predicted our response to some extent. That means they might have predicted our next move as well."

 

"High energy reaction!" The ponytail in the radar/sensor seat cried out.

 

"What!?" Lynn looked around the displays at the captain's seat for the source of the high energy reaction. The high energy reaction that she thought was from the fake Odette was being detected from a surprisingly close distance.

 

"High energy reaction from spatial disturbance, spatial disturbance expanding rapidly!"

 

"Port 90 degrees, sharp turn!" Marika quickly gave orders. "Point our tail at the spatial disturbance, full power! Get away!!"

 

"Turing port, change course 90 degrees!" Ai turned the wheel vigorously. The Odette II, which had been flying with the spatial disturbance beside it, suddenly swung its bow. Next to it, the spatial disturbance grew so rapidly that it even shook the stars in the background.

 

"The high-energy reaction is expanding!" Speaking in a creaking voice, the ponytailed freshman did her part. "A shock wave is coming!"

 

"Prepare for incoming shock wave!" Lynn shouted, thinking about what position she should be in to receive the shock wave. "Don't get blown away, grab hold of something!!"

 

As she turned rapidly, the Odette II was engulfed in a shock wave.

For a moment, the bridge of the Odette II was shrouded in darkness, but it quickly switched to emergency power. In the dim emergency lights, the piercing sound of the emergency alarm brought Marika back to her senses. "Check the current situation! Check the hull, engine, radar, and sensor systems for any abnormalities!" As she issued orders without the captain's authority, Marika looked around at the display on the first officer's seat. The display was normal, with only a dull impact on the hull as the ship was engulfed by the explosively expanding spatial disturbance, and it was unclear how much damage had been done.

 

"What alarm is that?"

 

Jenny tilted her head at the unfamiliar alarm. Lynn answered while checking the captain's seat display to see that there was no damage that required immediate action.

 

"There's a firing alert. The fake Odette has hit us with her fire control radar."

 

"It's not the fake Odette!" The short haired freshman screamed.

 

"Unidentified ship at close range! The surrounding configuration is completely different!"

 

"Confirm our current position! Increase engine power, maintain course, and prepare for electronic warfare! Captain, turn off our transponder!" Marika jumped out of the first officer's seat and slid into the empty electronic warfare seat. "The Sea of the Morningstar has disappeared somewhere! I think the nearby star is Tau, so we were probably hit by the shock wave and made a short jump, but being illuminated by fire control radar is not a normal situation."

 

"It must be a misunderstanding or some kind of mistake?"

 

"Even if it's a misunderstanding or some kind of mistake, if we get shot at, something will come flying at us. Our priority is to defend ourselves!" Marika started to systematically turn on the switches in the electronic warfare seat.

 

"As captain, I declare a state of emergency." Lynn floated up from the captain's seat. "This is an order from the president, please take over as captain." Lynn slipped out of the captain's seat and flew to the electronic warfare seat via the shortest distance. "If it's a real emergency, the captain's seat will be too heavy for a mere president of the yacht club."

 

After looking around the bridge, Marika nodded. "Understood. I will take over as captain of the Odette II."

 

"Current location confirmed." The junior student in the navigator seat reported in a calm voice. "We're in the Tau star system, near the orbit of the Shining Blue Star."

 

"Did we jump over one inner planet?" Marika muttered as she stood up next to Lynn, who had sat down at the electronic warfare seat, and watched as the electronic warfare panel went into automatic defense mode. "So that means the unidentified ship nearby is not the fake Odette?"

 

"I can't get a transponder." The braid in the radar/sensor seat replied in response. "The unidentified ship is 500,000 km away, probably a cargo ship."

 

"What kind of cargo ship would have fire control radar?" It was Jenny who said it. Commercial spaceships are built and operated with efficiency as the number one priority, only carry the radar and sensor systems they need. A fire control radar requires precise measurement of the target, and the accuracy, power, maintenance effort, and cost are too great for commercial spaceships to operate. "Only ships that have the weapons and the will to fire would hit us with something like that!"

 

"Even we are equipped with electronic weapons." Marika looked at Lynn, who had begun to run her fingers over the electronic warfare control panel. "Odette II, prepare for battle. Please blind the enemy."

 

"Understood!"

 

"Messages to the fake Odette have been ended." Gruier reported after checking the display in the radio operator's seat that there was no fake Odette in the vicinity. Marika looked at Gruier in the radio operator's seat from the electronic warfare seat.

 

"Did we make it in time?"

 

"Probably." Gruier nodded. "The last communication was just made before we were swallowed by the shock wave. The repeat was turned off before the next communication, so the other party should not have intercepted our communication. So..."

 

"Commencing electronic jamming." Lynn declared, tapping on the control panel. Jamming signals began to be sent toward the unidentified ship that had been hitting them with fire control radar without even emitting a transponder. "With this, the enemy should no longer be able to see our exact position or shape."

 

"Sorry, if it's not urgent, I'll ask later. If they're planning to shoot, they will change the frequency."

 

Raising a hand to Gruier, who still seemed to want to say something, Marika looked at the progress of the electronic warfare on the display. They were in inertial flight, and the enemy was also unpowered and moving only by inertia. "Radar/sensor team, focus on observation of the unidentified ship. Is it a cargo ship, right?"

 

"It seems to be this type." The braided girl in the sensor seat read out the details shown on the display. "A Liberty class cargo ship, a small, high-speed, mass-produced model."

 

"Liberty class?" Marika tilted her head at the model’s name, which she had never heard before.

 

"There seem to be a lot of different models, so I haven't been able to pinpoint which one it is, but it's probably a Liberty class category I type."

 

"Category I?" Marika looked back at the data on the display, wondering what to do now. If it was a cargo spaceship that connects stars, it couldn't do business unless it was a category I that could travel faster than light. "Are category IIs that can't travel faster than light listed in the catalog? That's rare."

 

"This is the first time I've seen a Liberty class that's alive and moving."

 

Marika couldn't help but look up at the captain's seat. Jenny came flying from the captain's seat to the electronic warfare seat, following Lynn.

 

"Are you familiar with it?"

 

"It's a spaceship that was used since the early days of colonization. When it was first developed in the Stellar Alliance, it was so old that FTL engines hadn't been put to practical use yet."

 

"It's that old!?"

 

Early planetary colonization was carried out without FTL technology, and what it was like to travel across interstellar space over eons is taught in elementary school classes on colonized planets.

 

"It was simple to make and sturdy, so it was used for a long time even after it became possible to travel faster than light. However, it quickly disappeared after the War of Independence ended and Imperial spaceships and technology started to come in."

 

Jenny flew to the electronic warfare seat and looked at the display from the opposite direction. "There must have been Liberty class ships with normal engines that were equipped with boosters, but if it's category I, it's probably a type that was built with FTL engines from the beginning. I wonder if it's possible to do business with such an old-fashioned ship in today's universe."

 

"A cargo ship wouldn't be equipped with fire control radar!" Lynn used the electronic warfare panel to determine the enemy's response. "Well, maybe it's a disguised cruiser or an armed merchant ship."

 

Jenny took the seat next to Lynn, taking the place of Marika who had left the electronic warfare seat. "Or maybe it's a commemorative ship like ours and they've kept the old equipment as it is?"

 

"We don't have any onboard armaments!" Marika slid into the captain's seat. "Even if they shoot at us, we don't have anything to shoot back with!"

 

"It's easy enough to pretend we have it." Jenny said nonchalantly. "Although, the way they respond will vary depending on whether they know about our spaceship or not."

 

"They're the kind of people who turn off their transponder and aim their fire control radar at us." Marika said, tracking the movements of the unidentified ship that they were observing on the captain's seat display. "We're still in the inner planetary system, so even if we sink it, it will be considered self-defense."

 

"Despite that, they're not coming at us."

 

The unidentified ship continued its inertial navigation, slowly increasing the distance between them and the Odette II. Perhaps the electronic jamming was working, because there were no further illuminations from the fire control radar.

 

"They don't seem to be actively responding to the jamming signals." Lynn said. "I don't know what they were doing here before we showed up, but at least they don't seem to want to fight now."

 

"I can't trust someone who's turned off their transponder." Marika replied. "If they're equipped with a large-caliber beam cannon, we're at a distance where we can engage in artillery fire. If they fire at us the moment we relax, we won't be able to deal with them."

 

"Unidentified ship, no change in posture." The ponytailed freshman reported. "Energy response is decreasing."

 

"What should we do?" Lynn, in the electronic warfare seat, looked up at Marika in the captain's seat.

 

"After the first radar shot, the enemy hasn't made any further moves, and the distance is gradually increasing. At least, I don't think they have any intention to escalate the fighting any further."

 

"Our jamming signals will make accurate targeting difficult, but we're still within artillery range. Don't let your guard down."

 

Thinking that it would be possible to avoid a situation where they would enter into a fighting situation without even knowing the enemy's true identity, Marika thought about what they should do next. The Odette II, which should have been in an orbit close to the Lagrange point of Sea of the Morningstar, is now in interplanetary space at about the radius of the planet's orbit.

 

Even though they had been suddenly hit by fire control radar, Marika wondered if it was an overreaction to return jamming signals, and tried to check the location of other spaceships in the Tau system.

 

The data that should have been updated in real time from the control station was not coming. Even when the correlation display’s range was switched to a wide area, the current location of the spaceships that should have been in the Tau system were not displayed.

 

When Marika tried to check the Odette II’s current location again, she noticed that not only had the data communication from the control station disappeared, but also the current location displayed by the Galactic Positioning System (GPS).

 

"Huh?"

 

Unlike pioneer systems that have just begun to be developed, star systems with open routes have a fully-equipped Galactic Positioning System. Reference drones are set up in multiple orbits around a star, covering the system in a multi-faceted polyhedron centered on the star.

 

There are countless GPS devices in interstellar space, so unless you are in an uninhabited or undeveloped area, you can confirm your current location.

 

Using the Galactic Positioning System, a spaceship’s current location is automatically displayed with high accuracy. As long as you fly along a route within the Empire's territory where the Galactic Positioning System is in place, it is possible to operate a ship fully automatically, without ever touching the control system from departure to arrival.

 

Because it is a backbone system for spaceflight, its maintenance and operation are subject to multiple safety designs and strict standards, so it is almost impossible for it to become completely unusable.

 

While wondering if something serious had happened in the Tau system, Marika gave her next instructions. "Well, we'll determine our current location using celestial navigation. It seems that the entire GPS has gone down, so we'll use the positions of the stars to determine our current location."

 

"Isn't that impossible?" Jenny looked up at Marika in the captain's seat. "GPS points are independent, so even if some of the points in the sky that can be used as a reference go down, the rest can be used to supplement them. Is it possible that all of the GPS points in the Tau system could suddenly become unusable?"

 

"It's hard to imagine, but it's true that that's what's happening now. It's not just GPS, we can't pick up any transponders from spaceships that are supposed to be flying in the Tau system." Marika looked around the displays around the captain's seat in search of new information.

 

"Celestial navigation is giving us nothing but errors." The platinum blonde junior in the navigator's seat reported in a calm voice, and Marika looked down at the navigation panel at the captain's seat. "I've been trying to confirm our current position with celestial navigation for a while now, but no matter how many times I try, I get an error."

 

Celestial navigation uses the Odette II's cameras and sensors to observe celestial objects across the sky and calculate their current position. The reference star varies depending on the location, but the database for celestial navigation contains data on all the major stars in the entire galaxy, so there is no need to worry about getting lost no matter where you go.

 

The camera sensor automatically identifies the reference star from among the celestial objects captured in the field of view. By precisely observing the positions of multiple stars, you can reverse-calculate your own position from that data. Observing several stars with a sextant from the astronomical dome and manually calculating your current position from that is basic navigation training.

 

The error was coming from part of the navigation system that automatically performs celestial measurements. The references used are Tau, the second planet Stone of the White Star, the third planet Sea of the Morningstar, the fourth planet Shining Blue Star, and several other prominent stars that shine brightly in the sky.

 

The spaceship's navigation system detects the reference celestial bodies using cameras and sensors installed in various places and precisely observes their positions. The celestial navigation system has detected the current positions of the Tau system and the third planet Sea of the Morningstar, but it continues to give observation errors for the remaining references.

 

"I wonder if it's broken." The main portion of the navigation system is not there, so it's pointless, but Marika lightly flicks the screen of the navigation display.

 

"There are no malfunctions found in the connections to the camera and sensor systems, or in the computer itself." The platinum blonde junior reported, apparently having already checked since the error was detected. "However, it seems that the position of the planets and the position of the reference stars do not match. It says to set the clock and calibrate it."

 

In order to accurately calculate their current position, an accurate clock and adjusted equipment are required. The process of accurately readjusting equipment is called calibration.

 

"The clock should be correct via GPS, right?"

 

Galactic Positioning System buoys have accurate clocks built in and transmit the current time. Spaceships are also equipped with high-precision clocks (chronometers) in case the positioning system cannot be used, but it should be calibrated every time their position is determined.

 

After muttering this, Marika remembered that the positioning system itself was no longer receiving signals. "Did the clock go out of sync because of the spatial disturbance?"

 

"It's bad that GPS cannot be used when we're out here." Jenny sighed as she looked around the displays at the electronic warfare desk.

 

"If I can say something..." Gruier raised one hand. Marika looked at her.

 

"Yes, what is it?"

 

"Just before we were engulfed in the shockwave of the rapidly expanding spatial disturbance, we received a reply from the fake Odette. It was a short message."

 

"From the fake Odette?" Marika said, seeing that everyone on the bridge was paying attention to Gruier. "So, what's it?"

 

"Here it is." Gruier forwarded the message to all seats on the bridge. "From Marika Kato, Captain of the Odette II, one week later, to all crew members of the Odette II, one week ago." There was an ominous buzzing on the bridge. Gruier continued reading, as if she did not hear it. "As Gruier reads this message, your Odette II is in the star system 120 years ago, at 00:44 on June 22, 129, new calendar Standard Time. For the exact current location and time, please refer to LORAN. Continue to track the Liberty class and do not allow it to get close to the Sea of the Morningstar, and if necessary, use the transponder with the name of the White Swan. I wish you the best of luck."

 

Marika stared silently at the message sent under her own name. The date of the message was certainly a week ahead of the date the Odette II displayed on the bridge.

 

"What is this?" Jenny asked, speaking for the entire bridge crew. "And what is LORAN?"

 

"It is an old navigational support system used by the Stellar Alliance and Federation of Colonial Stars before the Galactic Positioning System." The platinum blonde third year student in the navigator's seat answered. She started tapping on the control panel as if she had remembered something. "Our ship is old, so I think it probably has a LORAN system, but I wonder if it's still usable after it was decommissioned a long time ago?"

 

"Please check it out, and if it works, use it to confirm our current location and time. Marika?" No response. Jenny called out again. "Captain Kato Marika?"

 

"Y-Yes!" Marika, in the captain's seat, instinctively straightened her back and replied.

 

"What does that mean? I guess there’s no use asking for an explanation." Seeing Marika's face, which looked like it was all she could do just to reply, Jenny smiled sympathetically. "If the caller is the captain of the Odette II a week from now, will we understand what happened a week from now?"

 

"......" Marika opened her mouth to say something. No words came out. Raising one hand, Jenny nodded.

 

"The crew of the Odette II will follow the captain's orders. So please give us your orders, Captain Kato Marika."

 

"...Yes." Marika tried to concentrate on the situation that was right in front of her. "Um, Sasha, do you think LORAN can be used?"

 

"It’s probably usable." Sasha, the platinum blonde junior in the navigator's seat, answered while moving her hands. "The automatic check revealed no abnormalities. It will take a while to start up."

 

"Then, please wait for LORAN to start up and check our current position. The radar/sensor seats, please re-observe the current positions of the inner planets and the reference celestial bodies, and check whether the results match those from 120 years ago. ... 129th year of the new calendar? What year is that in the standard calendar?"

 

"In the new calendar, this year would be 249." Jenny answered. "I only see the new calendar displayed on the annual calendars of shrines and churches, but it's essential if you want to study pioneer history."

 

"So, the year 129 in the new calendar is really 120 years ago." Muttering, Marika looked at the message still being displayed. "120 years ago, um."

 

"The end of the War of Independence, the war will end in six months." Jenny said smoothly. "June 22, new calendar 129, isn't that the time of the locked battle records?"

 

Jenny flew from the electronic warfare seat to the vacant first officer's seat. "The FTL booster is connected, and if this is the Tau star system from 120 years ago, surely there are other unlocked files?"

 

"The time on Odette II is still the same, so the situation hasn't changed at all, right?" Lynn switched the electronic warfare panel.

 

"But does that mean that only the clock on Odette II is 120 years ahead? If this is really 120 years ago."

 

"LORAN, starting up." Sasha stopped her hands at the initial setting screen that appeared on the navigator's seat. "May I have LORAN obtain the current time?"

 

Although it is not as accurate or precise as the Galactic Positioning System, LORAN, a navigation aid for each star system, also calculates the current position by receiving signals containing current position and time information from multiple satellites. Since accurate coordinates cannot be calculated without knowing the exact time, the signal contains time information.

 

"Um." Marika tried to remember what kind of trouble would occur if one of the navigation systems obtained a completely different time. "Before that, please disconnect the currently unusable Galactic Positioning System from the navigation system. If there were multiple different times on the ship, it would definitely cause confusion."

 

"Roger that. I will disconnect the GPS from the Odette II's navigation system." Sasha stopped running her fingers over the control panel. “Do I need to shut down the GPS?”

 

"There's no need to shut it off." Marika looked at the numbers on the Galactic Positioning System clock, which was ticking away Galactic Standard Time 120 years in the future, with no coordinate input. "It should be useable again when we return, and even in this universe, if we enter Imperial territory, we should be able to use the Galactic Positioning System."

 

"Roger. Disconnecting GPS from the navigation system. Switching coordinate acquisition to LORAN, adjusting current time to LORAN."

 

The numbers on the display showing Odette II's current location all returned to zero for just a moment. A new display immediately appeared. This time, there were no data acquisition errors.

 

Marika stared silently at the newly displayed current time. 00:49, June 22, year 129 of the new calendar.

 

"Current location acquisition successful," Sasha announced. "The positions of the reference celestial bodies matches."

 

A moment later, the freshmen in the radar/sensor seats reported. "We were able to confirm our current location using data from year 129 of the new calendar. It matches the new location data."

 

A sense of relief spread across the bridge after their current location was confirmed.

 

"Um, in other words," Lynn scratched her head and raised her voice so that everyone could hear. "So, we've been transported back in time to the Tau system 120 years ago, in the midst of the War of Independence?"

 

In the Tau system at the time of the War of Independence, the many navigation systems introduced after it was annexed by the Galactic Empire were not yet in use. The transponder standards, navigational support systems such as LORAN, and even the standards used for normal communication were all different.

 

The Odette II, which had been maintained as a memorial ship, had old equipment that would have been discarded and replaced long ago on a normally operating civilian ship, but it was left untouched due to its historical value.

 

The navigational aid systems and communication standards that were no longer in use after annexation by the Galactic Empire are now considered antiques, but for the colony planets, which have a much shorter history than their parent planets, they are important historical assets.

 

Some of the systems had been left without proper maintenance or adjustment, and the yacht club members had never even touched were a pain to even start up. They had to find the manuals in the Odette II's vast archive, follow the procedures to start up the necessary systems, connect them to the communications system, and adjust them so that they were working properly.

 

After about an hour of work with all personnel involved, the Odette II once again regained its normal bridge functions, receiving signals from the surrounding space and displaying data.

 

"Oh, it's working properly." Lynn exclaimed as she looked at the space map that now displayed data from the transponders of spaceships flying through the inner planetary. "There are a lot of spaceships with names I've never heard of, and the display is a bit hard to understand, but I can still see that spaceships are flying around."

 

"The transponders from the time of the War of Independence only emitted normal communications that couldn't travel faster than light." Sasha explained while checking the nearby spaceships from the navigator's seat. "So, just imagine that the transponders of distant spaceships that we are only now receiving are signals from hours ago."

 

"What an outdated situation." Lynn looked again at the current positions of the various spaceships shown on the display. On the other side of the star Tau, there were several spaceships flying even further outside the orbit of the Shining Blue Star, but from the Odette II's current position, there was a time lag of nearly three hours even for radio waves traveling at the speed of light. "So, the current position of this spaceship visible on the other side of the star Tau is from three hours ago?"

 

"No, what's currently displayed is the estimated current position calculated from the information contained in the transponders we received." Sasha put both hands on the control panel. The number of spaceships displayed on the display suddenly doubled. "Now, I’m displaying both the real-time transponder information and the future position based on that."

 

The transponder contains the ship's name, current position, vector information such as direction and speed, as well as the time of transmission. When the transponder is received, you can find out when it was sent along with the name and vector of the other ship.

 

"Transponder signals arrive at the speed of light. Transponders from distant spaceships arrive with a corresponding delay. Real-time information is the position of the spaceship at the time of transmission, so it's not the current information. The calculated future position is the coordinates where the spaceship is expected to be now." Sasha looked around at the underclassmen on the bridge as she gave them a basic explanation. "If a spaceship is nearby, it's safe to assume it's current location is indicated by the transponder, but the further away it is, the greater the error. I think the only spaceships that have transponder information that matches their planned orbit are those that operate on a regular schedule."

 

"……And so" Marika swallowed hard and looked at the display, which showed the location confirmed by the last transponder sent by a spaceship traveling within the star system, and the future prediction for its current location. It wasn't a display she was used to, so it took a while to read. "Does this mean that the future location shown for a spaceship doesn't necessarily mean it's actually there?"

 

"The transponders from the time of the War of Independence didn't use FTL communication." Sasha stopped what she was doing and looked down at the display at the navigator's seat. “Apparently, it wasn't until the Federation of Colonial Stars was annexed by the Galactic Empire that transponders were able to display a spaceship's current location regardless of the speed of light. Before that, only ordinary electromagnetic transponders were used, the same as for normal communications.”

 

"I wonder how they can do orbital control with something like that." After muttering with a look of amazement, Jenny tried to recall from her patchy memories the state of orbital control in the Tau system during the War of Independence. "There's a relay station, right?"

 

"I remember there was an event when I was a child to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the construction of the relay station." Marika remembered the festive scene on the Sea of the Morningstar Relay Station that her mother, Ririka, had taken her to. When the relay station was first built, it was a shack-like structure made of the hulls of long-haul spaceships that were about to be scrapped, and she remembers a three-dimensional model of how it grew over the years into a full-fledged space station. "But I think it probably doesn't watch all the spaceships in the inner planetary system like it does now, but only controls the spaceships that arrive and depart from the relay station."

 

"We have position signals from both the Sea of the Morningstar Relay Station and the latest control information." Gruier, who was the first on the bridge to finish adapting and is now collecting information about the surrounding area, reported. "We've also got some communication between the control station and the spaceships arriving and departing, but it seems they're verifying the data by voice."

 

The Sea of the Morningstar Relay Station that Marika and her friends knew relied primarily on data communication. The only time they communicated with the control station is when exchanging greetings with each other when entering or leaving port.

 

“I guess the control station at the time of the War of Independence only controlled relay stations and round-trip flights to and from the ground.” Jenny said, piecing together vague memories.

 

"What about data communications?"

 

"There's nothing I can do about it." Lynn, who was gathering all the electronic information she could get at the electronic warfare desk, answered. "The amount of radio waves in the communications area is about one tenth to one hundredth of our time."

 

"Is it really that little?"

 

The information density of interstellar space is directly connected to the density of spaceships. Jenny, who is ingrained with this common sense, couldn't help but speak up. "If they are fighting the War of Independence, it wouldn't be strange if there were more spaceships flying than there are now, but is that all the radio signals?"

 

"No, the number of spaceships itself is not that different from now." Lynn said while operating the control panel. "They're in the middle of a war of independence, so warships and pirate ships on active missions wouldn't bother to broadcast transponders, and unless it was a neutral transport ship with no fear of being attacked, their flight wouldn’t match their transponders. Our radar can see through to the other side of the star, but it takes a long time for a response to come back, so we don't do that, but there are still a considerable number of spaceships that can be picked up by our sensor systems. However, the amount of information each one is sending isn't as much as it is now."

 

Lynn ran her fingers over the control panel and brought up a list of signals that Odette II was receiving on the display. "Well, unlike today, spaceships back then weren't always connected to a network and exchanging information. The basic principle of spaceships is that they can fly on their own without any communication with others."

 

"They weren't always connected to a FTL network, and transponders only went at the speed of light, and in a star system during wartime, not everything was flying with a transponder." Jenny let out an exaggerated sigh as she summarized the situation. "It was tough being a spaceship back then."

 

Amidst the laughter of the bridge, Gruier, who wasn't laughing, spoke up. "Not back then. It's now." The eyes of the bridge crew turned to Gruier, who repeated herself as if to remind them. “t's not the past, it's now June in year 129 of the new calendar in the Tau star system. We come from the Tau star system 120 years in the future.”

 

"Now is... now?" Ai, who was at the helm, asked to confirm. Gruier nodded.

 

"That's right. Now is the world 120 years ago from the world we were in. I think it's important to be aware of where you are and when you are."

 

"Thank you, Gruier." Marika, in the captain's seat, said, raising one hand. "That's right. We are in the Tau system at the end of the War of Independence, now in wartime. President, can you confirm whether there is a transponder for the White Swan in the Odette II's records, and if so, whether we can use the transponder for the White Swan instead of the current one for the Odette II?"

 

"Yes, well, that's easy."

 

"Do it. Then, please check the current status of the ship. Maki, Ursula, please check the stock of food and water. Can we continue moving like this, or do we need to resupply somewhere?"

 

The Odette II left the relay station with the intention of only making a short round trip to the anchorage airspace. Since there are no meal times scheduled during the flight, with only its normal food stockpile on board.

 

"The inventory list, um." Ursula, a sophomore, brought up the food storage inventory list on the display and compared the numbers that came up with the current number of crew members. "We don't have any fresh food, but the rations and preserved food should last the current crew for at least three weeks."

 

"I'm a bit worried about having nothing but preserved food, but I think three weeks should be fine." Marika nodded. “Sorry, but could you please check the inventory in the pantry? There are bound to be things that are on the list that aren't there, and things that aren't listed but are there, so could you open up all the containers and check what's inside?”

 

"Roger that."

 

"Check all the radar/sensor systems and see if there are any malfunctions or issues. Also, check the inventory of spare parts for repairs and maintenance. Yayoi, how's the propulsion system?"

 

"The nuclear reactors of both the Odette II and the FTL booster are stable. As long as we fly normally, there should be no problems for a month or two. The main ship is at 65% propellant, and the FTL booster is at 35%, so there shouldn't be any problems for the time being."

 

The lack of propellant in the FTL booster means that combat maneuvers and attitude control would be limited. Marika knew she couldn't afford to waste it, and wondered if there was anything else she should check.

 

“President… No, Jenny.”

 

"Yes?"

 

"Just now..." Marika repeated herself. "How much do you remember about the situation in the Tau system in June 129 of the new calendar and the situation during the War of Independence?"

 

“I just looked it up again because I was planning to write a report.” Jenny looked around with a puzzled expression. "If it's the current arrangement of spaceships and the political situation, I think you can look it up in more detail in the library or the ship’s memory."

 

"I'm sorry to trouble you, but could please check again?" Marika tapped the control panel on the captain's seat and called up the battle record of the White Swan. "If this is really the Tau system at the end of the War of Independence, I think it would be terrible if we made a careless move. Um, time inconsistency, impossibilities, or something like that."

 

"You mean time paradox?"

 

"Yes, that's it." After answering, Marika looked at Jenny again. "What is a time paradox?"

 

"It's a proposition of time travel. If time travel were possible, the law of causality, which says that there is a cause and an effect, would break down."

 

"Um, make it easier to understand."

 

"Well, for example..." after thinking for a moment, Jenny continued. “What would happen if our Odette II attacked and sank the White Swan, which is supposed to be a pirate ship in the Tau star system at the end of the War of Independence?”

 

A confused voice was heard, followed by a strange silence across the bridge.

 

“The White Swan was one of the original seven ships that fought in the War of Independence and returned safely. That's why we can now sail on the Odette II. But what if we were to sink the White Swan with the Odette II?”

 

"...History would change."

Ai answered timidly. Jenny nodded with a smile.

 

"That's right. If the White Swan sinks, it won't become Hakuoh Girls' Academy's training sailing ship. But if that happens, the ship we're on won't be the old White Swan, but a different Odette II. But even so, I wonder if 120 years from now we'll still be coming here on that training ship?" Jenny looked around at the faces of the bridge crew. "If the White Swan had sunk during the War of Independence, we wouldn't have to worry about being sunk by a ship of the same shape from 120 years in the future. But then we wouldn't come from the future, so the White Swan would survive the War of Independence and become our training ship. Then we would come back from the present to 120 years ago, and be able to sink the White Swan. No one knows which history is correct, or rather, what would happen if we did something in the past that contradicts the future history."

 

The bridge crew looked confused. Jenny continued. "What if one of your ancestors was on the White Swan now? If one of your ancestors died now, would someone who was supposed to be born in the future not be born? Would someone here suddenly disappear?"

 

"I have a more understandable analogy." Lynn spoke up. "If, by some chance, Jenny were to kill her direct ancestor who runs a shipping company, then her descendant, Jenny, would never be born, and her ancestor would not have been killed."

 

"The grandfather paradox, eh?" Jenny nodded. "In my case, even if my direct ancestor was killed, the family tree might be rewritten a little and no one would change."

 

Lynn looked at Jenny with a pitying look. "Is Jenny's family tree really that messy?"

 

"Sickeningly so." Jenny nodded easily.

 

“...So what you're saying is that if we accidentally do something that changes history, we don't know what will happen, right?”

 

Avoiding a topic that might be unpleasant to touch on, Marika tried to confirm. Jenny nodded again.

 

"That's right. No one has confirmed whether time paradoxes exist, and whether contradictions will occur or not, so no one knows what will happen. Want to try it?"

 

"No way!" Marika shook her head with a frightened look on her face. "I want the world to stay as it is. If I can go back to the future 120 years from now after a week, I want to go back to the world as it was, not to a world where we don't know what's going on because of a time paradox."

 

“Well, unless we do something crazy like sinking the White Swan, I don't think it'll be that bad.”

 

Marika looked at Jenny's face again, speaking gently. "How can you be so sure?"

 

"If a time paradox really could cause such a breakdown in the laws of causality, this galaxy would be in a mess by now. If time travel and time slips were such rare phenomena, we wouldn't be able to come to the past so easily, and I don't think the people who have been caught up in time slips so far haven't done anything crazy."

 

"There's also a theory that the history of the galaxy we live in has already been altered many times."

 

"That's good." Jenny turned to Lynn. "Since we've come all the way to the past, why don't we change the future a little to suit our needs?"

 

"That would be great. What exactly would we do?"

 

"Well, for example..." Putting her fingertips on her cheek, Jenny thought for a moment and said "we could copy the battle records that the Odette II has into the White Swan, or even better, transfer them to their headquarters. If we knew all of the strategies of the Stellar Alliance in the upcoming War of Independence, it would give us a considerable advantage in the war."

 

"Please stop!" Marika raised her voice. "If you do that, you really will change history!"

 

"So, there's probably no need to be so nervous about it. Even if we send the battle records to HQ, it won't be of much use if there's no staff who will seriously analyze them, and I don't think we have the time or desire to go into HQ and convince the central staff by introducing ourselves as people from the future, and if we're just moving around a sparsely patrolled airspace with one spaceship, I don't think it will have a big impact even if it's an event that didn't happen in history."

 

Hearing Jenny's words, Marika looked startled and began running her fingers over the control panel in the captain's seat. "Now that I think of it, what was that Liberty class doing earlier? Is the White Swan’s locked battle record from the War of Independence the mission we have to carry out now?"

 

"Are we still tracking it?"

 

Jamming signals against the Liberty class were stopped once the enemy left artillery range.

 

"We're not tracking it with radar." The short hair in the radar/sensor seat answered. "The enemy is not currently transmitting radar or radio signals. There's no infrared response, so I believe it's proceeding along the predicted trajectory."

 

If a spaceship fires its main engine, it can be easily detected by infrared sensors.

 

"Did you find out the identity of the enemy that the White Swan was chasing from the locked battle records?" Lynn asked Jenny, while trying to track the target in passive mode on the electronic warfare equipment. "If the enemy is a spaceship from the Stellar Alliance's side, didn't we say that we might find something by looking at the records from the time of the War of Independence?"

 

"I did request the records." Jenny looked away from Lynn with a gloomy expression. "In the last year of the War of Independence, the Stellar Alliance was sending out a large number of spaceships against the colonies, and they were doing multiple missions, making it incredibly complicated. I was really impressed that the Stellar Alliance, which operated and governed many colonies, was able to analyze and evaluate so much information."

 

“If it's something you can look into, could you please look into it?”

 

Jenny looked back at Marika's face as she spoke. Lynn called out from beside her.

 

"Do you have any documents?"

 

"Well, I have them because I didn't know when I’d have the time." Jenny let out a resigned sigh. "It's a necessary step to get to know the other party. Okay, I'll give it a try."

 

"Do you have any other documents from the War of Independence?"

 

"I'm sorry." Jenny shook her head at Marika's question. "If I had known this would happen, I would have brought the documents scanned by the auto-scanner, but I never expected this to happen, so I hadn't backed them up yet."

 

The theoretical limit of storing one bit per atom has been reached and has been in practical use a long time now, making it possible to easily carry around huge amounts of data that would take more than a lifetime to view.

 

"Because I thought I could read it from anywhere if I needed to."

 

"Right?"

 

The auto-scanner that was released into the underground command center should be scanning the documents under Hakuoh Girls' Academy 120 years in the future. Even the Odette II would be able to retrieve the data. It's hard to imagine that they would be left in a state where that's impossible.

 

"Then, do you have any other documents that show the current disposition of the Federation of Colonial Stars and Stellar Alliance forces in the Tau system?"

 

"The battle records for the next week from 120 years ago that were locked." After saying that, Jenny frowned. "That also has our position and the enemy's expected position recorded, but I don't think it recorded the positions and movements of other ships."

 

"The only other thing I have are the history books in the library." Lynn said, tapping away at the control panel like raindrops. "Our database probably has some basic history books and textbooks, but it doesn't have detailed battle reports from headquarters."

 

"Okay, well, I'll check out the library." Jenny floated up from the electronic battle table.

 

"And what we have to do is..." Marika thought for a moment. The answer came quickly. "Let's search the Odette II."

 

"What, searching?"

 

"The Odette II is currently in a state where it's best not to accidentally make contact with other ships or get supplies. So, no matter what happens, we have to deal with it with our own ship. If we don't make a list now of what's here and what we can use, it won't be of any use if something happens." Marika brought up the list of all the members of the yacht club currently aboard the Odette II on the display at the captain's seat and assigned tasks to everyone.

 

"The radar/sensor team will continue to track the Liberty class, Yayoi will check the engine, and Ai will monitor the ship's course. I'll leave the bridge command to you for now, president Lynn."

 

"Okay. So what's the captain going to do?"

 

"Prepare dinner." Marika answered with a troubled smile. “I’ll cook dinner with Maki and Ursula, whom I asked to check the pantry. Once we finish searching the Odette II's, let's have dinner. If we don't have something to eat, we can’t work.”

Dinner on the Odette II that day was two hours past midnight, new calendar Standard Time. In the Galactic Standard Calendar, it was just after seven pm local time for Sea of the Morningstar, Shin-Okuhama City, which was a normal dinner time for the Odette II.

 

With more people on duty on the bridge and in the engine room, Marika broadcast the current situation of the Odette II to all crew members over an open line from the dining room to the entire ship.

 

Marika used an open line from the dining hall to broadcast the situation on the ship to all crew members, informing them of the current situation on the Odette II.

 

The cause or phenomenon is completely unknown, but the Odette II is currently in the Tau star system six months before the end of the War of Independence. The only clear indication of this was a message sent in the name of Kato Marika, just before the ship was swallowed up by the shock wave of a rapidly expanding spatial disturbance, and all other circumstantial evidence pointed to the ship's current location being in the Tau star system from 120 years ago.

 

All information, such as the standards of communication traversing the star system, the content that can be decoded, the navigational support system, the arrangement and movement of the stars, the observation results and timestamps of intercepted radio signals, and the current time reported by the navigational support system that had long since ceased use and was supposed to have been shut down, all suggest that the Odette II is 120 years back in time from the world they were in just a few hours ago shipboard time.

 

At the same time, Marika also released a message from the unidentified ship that they had been tracking that looked just like the Odette II. If they were to trust the message, which was made public in a form that could be accessed at any time in Odette II's database, it would mean that they would be able to return to their original world in one week.

 

The interpretation that the unidentified ship they had been tracking was none other than the Odette II and that the people aboard it were themselves from their near future caused considerable confusion among the crew. However, the confusion was easily resolved when they heard Lynn's explanation that this was a guarantee that everyone would be able to return safely to the future as before. Regardless of whether they understood it or not, they seemed convinced.

 

At the same table, Marika also reported the current situation of the Odette II.

 

Since they were not planning a long-term flight, the current stockpile of food, spare parts, and repair materials loaded on the Odette II is not full.

 

There was enough water to maintain the recycling system, and there seemed to be no need to restrict the use of showers.

 

As for food, after checking the food storehouse and refrigerator, it was confirmed that there was enough stock to last the crew three meals a day, plus a midnight snack and up to double portions for those who wanted it, for a month. There was no stock of non-perishable fresh food, but instead a large amount of snacks and ingredients that were not on the list were found. It seems that some had been brought in on various occasions and left unused.

 

"This will help maintain morale."

 

Following Gruier’s advice, Marika lifted the crew's snack allocation restrictions for the duration of this voyage. However, personal stockpiling was prohibited, and only the amount that could be eaten at one time could be taken out.

 

"I wonder if the whole bridge will end up looking like Coorie's seat."

 

"I think it'll be fine for about a week."

 

More serious than food is the lack of spare parts, which cannot be expected to be supplied at all at the end of the War of Independence.

 

The Odette II is 200 years old, and 120 years have passed since the end of the War of Independence. Its equipment has been modified over the years to maintain its performance as a spaceship.

 

Since it became Hakuoh Girls' Academy's training sailing ship, the introduction of new equipment has been curtailed, and the armaments have been removed, but the electronic warfare equipment from the War of Independence has remained as it was, and the radar/sensor system, although outdated, still boasts sufficient power and accuracy.

 

Apart from the systems that have been maintained since the pirate ship's days, it is unclear whether parts will be available for the systems that were updated after the end of the war. There is a certain amount of stock of consumables and repair parts, but it is unclear to what extent they can be used, or even if they can be used at all.

 

Regarding the Odette II’s transponder, which should not have existed at the end of the war, it was confirmed that the ID from the time of the White Swan, which Lynn had found, could be used. However, at the moment, the White Swan is participating in an interception battle with the Stellar Alliance reconnaissance fleet in the outer planetary system, while also carrying out a logistics disruption operation targeting individual supply ships. Its location is on the other side of Tau, a distance that can't be reached overnight unless you make a FTL jump.

 

"Well, as long as we don't enter the control zone of the Sea of the Morningstar or a Federation of Colonial Stars warship asks for ID verification, I don't think they'll complain much about flying without a transponder." Lynn started with optimism. "For now, the Odette II has no plans to approach the Sea of the Morningstar. If friendly forces who have checked our transponder ask for contact, and we accidentally show our real face, it will be obvious that we are a completely different group from the crew that is supposed to be aboard the White Swan, so we can either limit ourselves to message communication, use a voice changer for voice communication, or we can have the communications staff overlay Professor Kane's avatar that we created a while ago. I think we can manage that. The problem is that the Sea of the Morningstar Fleet Command still has records of communication with the White Swan in the inner planetary system from that time."

 

Lynn looked around at the faces of the club members gathered in the dining hall and continued. "Rather than thinking that the White Swan, which should be in the outer planetary system, came here to work and communicated with the Fleet Command, it would be more natural to think that the Odette II contacted command. In other words, we will have to contact the Fleet Command several times in the future."

 

"I have some information to share about that."

 

Jenny, who had come to dinner from the library that had been used as a research room, raised her hand to speak. Marika, who was the only one to come forward and act as moderator, nodded.

 

"Please."

 

"Captain Marika asked me to confirm the current battle situation of the War of Independence. Of course, I haven't examined all the data, and in the current situation I can't compare it with other sources, so it may not be very reliable, but please listen with that in mind. Currently, there is a reconnaissance fleet dispatched from the Stellar Alliance system in orbit around the outer planet of the Tau system." Jenny looked around at the faces of the club members gathered in the dining hall. The people on watch who are not here must be listening in on the bridge or the engine room. "The star system military is intercepting the reconnaissance fleet as the main force of the Federation of Colonial Stars Army. The White Swan, along with other pirate ships, is conducting a commerce war against supply ships and ferry ships in order to strike at the long logistics line that stretches from the Stellar Alliance to the reconnaissance fleet. That is the current situation in the Tau star system."

 

As Jenny stood up and began to explain, Marika asked "would it be better if there was a display or something?"

 

"Sorry, I didn't have time to make images, so I don't have any pictures to show you. Now, I'd like to confirm the situation in the War of Independence six months before the end of the war. It is said that the Stellar Alliance sent a reconnaissance fleet to the colony planets that were hostile in the War of Independence, in order to weaken the power of the Federation of Colonial Stars while at the same time measuring their exact strength. The reconnaissance fleet that is currently at the Sea of the Morningstar was in the Uzumasa system before that, and then in the Sinclair system after that. Because they were far from the Stellar Alliance, it must have been difficult to supply and maintain the fleet, but a large fleet capable of a fleet battle was circling the colony planets.”

 

"That's impressive," Marika said. The difference in strength between the Stellar Alliance and the Federation of Colonial Stars is taught in history classes. By the time the War of Independence began, only four colonies - Sea of the Forest Star, Sea of the Morningstar, Sinclair, and Minerva D - had managed to establish star system armies and defense forces with proper command structures; the remaining colony planets could only list small armies, the size of guard squads, which would be presumptuous to call a military force.

 

In contrast, the Stellar Alliance had organized and operated a powerful fleet that had three times the number of ships, and over ten times the actual fighting power.

 

It is said that the colonies were able to continue the War of Independence because the colonies that the Stellar Alliance had to fight were spread out over a wide area, and because the Stellar Alliance tried to conserve its military strength by limiting the forces it deployed to each star system to the bare minimum.

 

"It must have been difficult to operate a large fleet for a long time while maintaining a supply line. It's simple if you think about using the opposite strategy. Do you think the Federation of Colonial Stars could have organized a fleet and sent it to the Stellar Alliance for reconnaissance or a surprise attack or whatever?"

 

“It was already hard enough just defending their own star system, so I don't think they had the resources to organize an expeditionary fleet.” Sasha raised her hand and gave an answer befitting an honor student.

 

“That's right. The fact that they sent out a large fleet under the guise of a reconnaissance fleet is enough to make you think that the Stellar Alliance had the luxury of doing so, but if you calmly evaluate and analyze the enemy's military strength in the War of Independence, you wouldn't even think of declaring war in the first place, so leaving that aside, the problem is what happens next.”

 

It seems that she has everything she needs to say in her head. Jenny, who has no files or displays at hand, looks around at the faces of the members in the dining hall.

 

"At the end of the War of Independence, the Stellar Alliance changed its policy of gradually deploying its fleets and consolidated the fleets that had been spread across the four colonies into one. The target was the Sea of the Morningstar. Well, behind the scenes, it seems that Stellar Slayer was also carrying out an annihilation operation to cut off the colonies, but that's not the main topic of this discussion, so let's not go into it. The scale of the fleet was enough to send shivers down the spine of the Federation of Colonial Stars, who had assumed that the reconnaissance fleet from six months ago was the main force of the expeditionary fleet."

 

No one was talking to each other, and everyone's eyes were focused on Jenny, who continued.

 

"The size of the reconnaissance fleet and the subsequent expeditionary fleet are accurately recorded by the Stellar Alliance. The expeditionary fleet's strength is estimated to be about three times that of the reconnaissance fleet. So, the question is, where did they get all that power from?"

 

After a pause, Jenny continued.

 

"The easiest way to win a war, both now and in the past, is to deploy a larger force than your opponent. Even if you can prepare a large force that can overwhelm your enemy, if you waste it and just let it sit idle, you will lose the war, so of course how you use it is an issue, but if you can prepare a force stronger than your enemy as a starting point, you've pretty much won. The Stellar Alliance, which had prepared a large force that could overwhelm the colony planets, didn't have to worry about losing, but they kept enough forces at their home planet to defend their planet, far away from the colony planets, in order to protect themselves from a hypothetical enemy that that could attack from any direction, and sent the remaining forces to the numerous colony planets. If they had been deployed to the colonies, it would have been a big challenge on the front lines. Moreover, they knew that weaker colonies would be easily defeated if they fought head-on, so they avoided fighting at all costs. That's why they were able to continue the War of Independence. This was the policy of the Federation of Colonial Stars from the time they launched the war of independence against the Stellar Alliance until the middle of the war. They wanted to conserve their own military power, avoid bloodshed on the other side as much as possible, and create an atmosphere of war-weariness, and if possible, seek independence, or at least end the war if a better treaty can be concluded.”

 

"What is war-weariness?"

 

Ai asked, raising her hand. Jenny nodded and answered.

 

"People are tired of war. Both the Stellar Alliance and the colony planets are run by democracies, so if the general public gets tired of war and wants to stop it, the government and parliament can't ignore that. But the colony planets thoroughly avoid frontal combat, and the Stellar Alliance doesn't actively launch fleet battles, which means there are no large-scale battles, so even if a state of war is declared, it's just a situation that's a little more dangerous than usual, and when that becomes a daily occurrence, it's normal to become war-weary."

 

"Huh." Not really understanding, Ai tilted her head. Since being annexed by the Galactic Empire, neither the former Federation of Colonial Stars, including the Tau system, nor the Stellar Alliance have been in a state of war. Even when people talk about war or wartime, it's only something they learned about in class, saw in movies, or heard about in stories.

 

"Even though they avoided frontal combat, there were battles where privateer-licensed pirate ships would attack transports bound for the Stellar Alliance, and there were also battles where the Stellar Alliance's fleet and the colony planet's motley fleet would stand off, but the Stellar Alliance didn't want to damage its expensive warships, and the colony planets knew they would lose if they fought, so they ran away. Apparently, there were occasional ship-to-ship battles, but full-scale fleet battles where ships sank were rare, and only a handful occurred each year. Realizing that things couldn't continue like this, the Federation of Colonial Stars, which had begun hastily developing military spaceships after the start of the War of Independence, made progress and acquired a large number of them. It also became clear that the Stellar Alliance wasn't serious about their actions, so the Federation of Colonial Stars created a fleet headquarters, unified their command structure, and began an organized counterattack, which was something that only came close to the end of the War of Independence. So, now is the time when Fleet Command is mobilizing the fleet of the Federation of Colonial Stars and seriously fighting an interstellar war against the Stellar Alliance.”

 

Jenny looked around at the faces of the club members gathered in the dining hall once more. She was a little surprised at how she could tell from their expressions that each member had a different level of understanding. “I see, this is how a teacher feels.” Muttering to herself, Jenny continued her explanation.

 

“When the Federation of Colonial Stars established a fleet headquarters and began to operate all of its forces under a unified command structure, its military strength clearly increased. The Federation of Colonial Stars was already being pushed back, struggling to maintain its front lines and avoiding direct combat against the attacking Steller Alliance fleet, engaging in harassing trade at best. However, they were finally able to organize a fleet and confront the enemy on equal terms. This was the change in the situation in the final few years of the War of Independence, when the Federation of Colonial Stars established a fleet headquarters and began to centralize its available forces. From the Stellar Alliance's perspective, it was a serious situation as losses have begun to pile up even though they have not been stingy with the forces they are deploying and the enemy's forces have not suddenly increased. Naturally, they began to analyze the situation and ask why they were losing. The Federation of Colonial Stars’ space fleet was widely dispersed, but it shared a single command structure. It was a huge, bureaucratic organization with a long history of operating its forces before the advent of faster-than-light combat and colonization. It was slow to act, but once it got going, it was sure to move. It seems that it was realized quite early on that the Federation of Colonial Stars, which had previously avoided head-on combat with regular fleets and only aimed to exhaust the Stellar Alliance's military forces and make them war-weary, was now able to fight properly because its chain of command was revised and unified. Therefore, at this time, they sent reconnaissance fleets to each star system in an attempt to reassess the the Federation of Colonial Stars’ combat command structure. To put it more simply, they were trying to find out where the Federation of Colonial Stars’ fleet headquarters was located.”

 

Jenny reached for the drink pack she had set out on the table.

 

"The reconnaissance fleet was the first large fleet that the Stellar Alliance organized as a unified fleet for outer space, and it was also a test case to see if a large fleet could be sent to a battlefield far from the Stellar Alliance and operated while maintaining the chain of command and supply lines."

 

"Didn't the Stellar Alliance know where the Federation of Colonial Stars' fleet headquarters was?" Marika asked. The history of the War of Independence is a required subject for the citizens of the Sea of the Morningstar, but the strategy of the Stellar Alliance's side are not taught in class.

 

"There was a lot of information, but it wasn't clear. In other words, it seems that there was not enough circumstantial evidence for the space fleet, which is a notorious bureaucratic organization, to deploy its full power. Even if there was reliable information, whether it would be used or not is a separate issue for the organization."

 

"Even if someone knows the facts, they will not become shared information unless they can convince others around them." Gruier said. "That's common in large organizations that rely on consensus."

 

"That's right." Jenny nodded. "In order to concentrate forces on a specific target, there needs to be a reason and situation that can convince all parties. In other words, the purpose of sending the reconnaissance fleet to each colony planet was to see how the Federation of Colonial Stars defended each planet, to find out which planet had the fleet command center, and where they could concentrate their forces to cut off the Federation of Colonial Stars 's command system."

 

"As expected of the Stellar Alliance." Lynn nodded in agreement, her arms crossed. “Forming a fleet and sending it out just for reconnaissance is horrifying. Our ancestors had a hard time fighting a war against such a master.”

 

"The term 'reconnaissance fleet' was coined after the war. At the time, it was probably an expeditionary fleet to the Stellar Alliance. The press was active in both the Stellar Alliances and Federation of Colonial Stars, it was a relief that we didn't have to worry about confusing things like different names for friend and foe.”

 

"So we didn't know it was a reconnaissance fleet at the time?"

 

"It seems they thought it was the main force of the Stellar Alliance that had made a long expedition." Jenny replied. "And just when you think you've pushed them back, they appear at the next colony planet. When the reconnaissance fleet first appeared at the Sea of the Forest Star, they prepared to intercept them in earnest, and when they showed up at the Sea of the Morningstar afterwards, they seemed to think that the expedition to the Sea of the Forest Star was a diversion. By the time they had reached Sinclair and Minerva D, the Federation of Colonial Stars seemed to have realized the Stellar Alliance's intentions."

 

"In other words, they don't think it's a reconnaissance fleet right now."

 

"That's why the main force of the star system army is concentrating their forces even to the point of clearing the airspace around the Sea of the Morningstar, and has even mobilized pirate ships to disrupt logistics in order to reduce their strength even a little. Now, here's the main point: since it's called a reconnaissance fleet, its purpose is reconnaissance. However, the main force is stuck in the outer planetary system and hasn't been able to carry out any meaningful reconnaissance activities around the Sea of the Morningstar. However, the reconnaissance fleet from the Stellar Alliance probably anticipated this as well. If that's the case, what do you think they'll do?”

 

“While the reconnaissance fleet is gathering the enemy's forces, they'll send a separate force closer to Sea of the Morningstar to gather information.” Gruier answered smoothly, then frowned. "So, you're saying that the Liberty class we saw earlier was a picket ship for gathering information?"

 

"Liberty class freighters were first built in the Stellar Alliance, and then many were built on colony planets, so they're the most common type of spaceship in this day and age. There are many ships that have been converted for military purposes, and there are many records of intelligence-gathering ships that don't engage in direct combat. However, accurate records are often not kept for ships that were on intelligence-related missions. The intelligence departments of the Galactic Empire, whether in the Stellar Alliance or the colonies, are famous for being ruthless, so I think they probably tried not to keep records from the beginning."

 

"Do you have any basis for saying that?"

 

“The records from the War of Independence are generally public since annexation by Galactic Empire shortly after the war and the confidentiality period has long expired. It's just that the sheer volume makes it difficult to search through them, but there's no record from 120 years ago that hasn't been made public. Despite this, it's difficult to find records of spaceships that the reconnaissance fleet had operating separately from the fleet during its expeditions. Specifically, there are records that show that the Liberty class, which was used as an escort for the fleet, sometimes disappeared in the star system where the fleet was on an expedition and then rejoined, but when you try to look up records about those spaceships, they either don't come up, or have been deliberately altered or erased. So, even if you try to look up the ship that the White Swan fought against in the records of the Stellar Alliance 120 years after the end of the War of Independence, you won't get any good results.”

 

Jenny looked around at the yacht club members in the dining hall with a confident look on her face.

 

"So, I think that the enemy that the White Swan was fighting in the locked battle record was an intelligence gathering ship belonging to the intelligence department. If that Liberty class was an intelligence gathering ship, and its purpose was to investigate the fleet command system of the Federation of Colonial Stars, then all the pieces of the puzzle fit together perfectly."

 

“...In other words, right now the Tau star system is in a standoff with the reconnaissance fleet of the Stellar Alliance in the outer planetary system, while on the other hand an intelligence gathering picket ship has infiltrated the inner planetary system. Is that the situation?”

 

"That's right." Jenny nodded vigorously. "Moreover, we're probably the only ones here who are aware of the situation. Captain Marika, I think we should alert the fleet headquarters on the Sea of the Morningstar, what do you think?"

 

Marika looked at Jenny with wide eyes. "...So you're telling me to contact the fleet headquarters during the War of Independence from the Odette II!?"

 

"Exactly." Jenny nodded confidently.

 

"There are records that the White Swan, which was supposed to be in the outer planetary system, contacted Fleet headquarters several times from the inner planetary system. That means that even if we sent a warning to headquarters now, it wouldn't be an unnecessary shock to history. On the other hand, if we pretended not to see it and kept quiet, the communication that should have been recorded in the records would not have taken place. Wouldn't that be more of a time paradox?"

 

"Hey, wait a minute!" Marika shouted, her head in a state of confusion. "You’re daring to call the fleet command center from 120 years ago from a training ship from a girls' school! You can't just call and get the frequency and communication protocol and have them put you through to someone!"

 

"But even so, don’t you think that's something that has to be done?" Jenny looked back at Marika. Marika opened her mouth, wanting to say something in rebuttal.

 

 

 

"Communication to the Sea of the Morningstar Fleet Command must be FTL." Lynn said, floating next to Gruier in the radio operator's seat. "If it's normal communication, even the Liberty class that is listening in will be able to intercept it."

 

"What about the encryption code?" Gruier asked, setting up the communication from the old data.

 

"Here it is. Even though we have a lot of storage space, I didn't think that the encryption code that changes every day would still be there." Lynn reached for the subpanel and called up the old encryption code. "This is the code to contact fleet headquarters. I put today's date and the White Swan's ID code into the key generator and the encryption conversion code came out."

 

Random numbers started to flow across the display.

 

"How’s it going, Captain?" Lynn called out to the captain's seat. "Have you prepared the message to send to headquarters?"

 

"I'm still working on it." Marika screamed from the captain's seat. “Why are only the communication records still there and the text itself is nowhere to be found?! If there is a message record, the text would be there too!!"

 

"According to Jenny, that's to prevent time paradoxes."

 

"Why do I have to write the message to prevent time paradoxes?"

 

"So, even if the text was still there, and the captain copied and pasted it to send it, it wouldn't count as Marika writing it."

 

"Why not?"

 

"Because if you can write a message by copying and pasting, who wrote the original message?"

 

Marika's hands stopped typing on the keyboard. Lynn continued.

 

"It would be easy to send a message by copying and pasting, but someone has to write the message first. If no one writes the message, there will be no message to send."

 

"...Ahh!! Don't say such tricky things when I'm writing a formal sentence!!"

 

After yelling, Marika started typing on the keyboard. Error warnings rang out repeatedly.

 

The message that Marika had painstakingly written was corrected by all the crew on the bridge at the time, and was rigorously checked for inconsistencies in the wording and content before being sent.

 

From: Sea of the Morningstar Privateer, White Swan. To: Colonial Star Alliance Fleet Command.

 

The text message, sent over the FTL link in a format that had long since fallen into disuse, was automatically confirmed as received with almost no time lag. Gruier sent several fake encrypted messages to a dummy recipient to prevent a third party from tracking them later, and then closed the hyperspace link.

 

"So, a warning about the Liberty class intelligence gathering ship of the Stellar Alliance that entered the inner planetary system has been received by the fleet headquarters." Seeing the communication results on the display in the captain's seat, Marika, looking completely exhausted, let out a heavy sigh.

 

"I think so." With her usual expression, Gruier looked up at Marika in the captain's seat. "I don't know how the headquarters will handle a message sent from the inner planetary system by the White Swan, which should be in the outer planetary system, but since there is a record of it, I think it must have been received."

 

"So, now we can return to the future with peace of mind."

 

"Is that so?"

 

Marika looked back at Gruier, who now had a slightly worried look on her face.

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"Right now, all of the forces in the Tau system, from regular troops to pirate ships, are being mobilized to intercept the reconnaissance fleet in the outer planetary system. Even if the Fleet Command received a warning that an intelligence-gathering ship from the fleet had entered the inner planetary system and believed it, do they have the manpower to spare for that purpose?"

 

"Um..." Marika tried to think of a good excuse. There was no way she would know about the location of spaceships in the Tau system at the end of the War of Independence. “I'm sure former president Jenny will look into it.”

 

"Oh, no, this is bad!"

 

After dinner, Jenny, who was supposed to have returned to the library to look over some related documents, came rushing onto the bridge. All the eyes of the bridge crew were on Jenny. Marika asked on behalf of the others.

 

"What's wrong, why are you in such a hurry?"

 

“I finally found the Alliance ship deployments the current Fleet Command had on record for the fourth week of June, New Calendar 129!”

 

"Isn't that a good thing?"

 

"It's not good! The current system's fighting forces have been mobilized to the outer planetary reconnaissance fleet, leaving the rest of the system empty, which means that no matter what warning Fleet Command receives, there isn't a single spaceship they can send over here!"

 

Marika exchanged looks with Gruier in the radio operator's seat, Lynn, and the other bridge crew members.

 

"Huh!?"

 

The unscheduled communication from the White Swan was mechanically checked to ensure it was a legitimate message that followed proper communication protocols, and was received by the Federation of Colonial Stars Fleet Command in the basement of the old government office in Shin-Okuhama City.

 

The Federation of Colonial Stars Fleet Headquarters was in the middle of its second largest operation since it began operations. The largest Stellar Alliance expeditionary fleet since the start of the War of Independence had attacked the Uzumasa star system, and since it would have been too late to organize and deploy an interception force, they had rushed all the forces they could find in the field, just one month after the start of the interception operation. As they struggled, prepared for a large-scale battle between large fleets the like of which humanity had yet to experience, the gigantic expeditionary fleet made an inexplicable retreat.

 

The relief was short-lived, as a new large fleet arrived in the star system. The Federation of Colonial Stars, which had once gathered its forces in the Uzumasa system, shifted to the Tau system and was preparing to intercept with the reinforced forces.

 

The great fleet that had made the long journey to the Tau system, far from the Stellar Alliance, was accompanied by not only battleships to serve as its main force, but also a large number of auxiliary ships and a huge supply transport fleet equal in number to all of them combined.

 

Battleships consume enormous amounts of energy and supplies every day. The fleet cannot maintain its fighting power unless the consumed supplies, weapons and ammunition are replenished. To support a huge fleet, a transport fleet is needed to continuously supply ample supplies, and military forces are also needed to protect them.

 

At first, the expeditionary force that appeared in the Uzumasa system was a powerful fleet made up mainly of battleships, with only a few transport supply ships. However, as the expedition dragged on, the number of transport ships swelled, and the expeditionary fleet that appeared in the Tau system had become a fleet with many transport ships.

 

In order to make effective use of its limited fighting power, the expeditionary fleet's fighting forces also served as escorts for the transport fleet. The large, slow, and virtually unmaneuverable transport fleet reduced the fleet's combat power. However, the Federation of Colonial Stars could not easily attack a fleet protected by a powerful fleet.

 

The expeditionary fleet, with its huge transport fleet, receives new supplies every day, and the empty transport ships leave the front line for resupply, and new transport ships arrive in their place.

 

The transport fleet in charge of logistics for the expeditionary fleet also has escort ships attached, but their fighting power is far lower than that of the main force.

 

Fleet Command left the task of disrupting the expeditionary fleet to the regular military forces it had gathered to intercept them, and the task of cutting off the supply lines to the pirates.

 

In space, the battle situation changes at the speed of light. Without an appropriate response, it is difficult to win, let alone continue the war. As a result, Fleet Command made ceaseless efforts toward the impossible goal of taking on the large fleet approaching nearby space with the meager forces it had at hand.

 

In order to centrally command the entire vast space, including the seven colony planets and the Stellar Alliance, as a battlefield, the information command and communication network was built with the utmost priority and meticulous care.

 

All information thought to be related to the War of Independence was concentrated at Fleet Command, which analyzed and evaluated the information gathered from all over the universe, and gave the most appropriate orders to the space fleet deployed throughout space.

 

The Stellar Alliance, which operates a much more powerful fleet and is responsible the whole of human space as humanity expands, gave up on the construction of a centralized command and communication network simply by estimating the amount of information that would be accumulated from all of human space. The fleet headquarters was already crying out in frustration just from operating the fleets organized for each star system, and the construction of a system that would impose an even greater burden was deemed unrealistic.

 

The Federation of Colonial Stars, which is far inferior in terms of military power, constructed a space-wide command and communication network, judging that no matter how much of a burden it would impose on the fleet headquarters and communication network, it would be an effective means of directly bridging the difference in military power. Frontline combat is a matter of life and death, but it is said that there was no optimist in the upper echelons of the Federation of Colonial Stars who could disagree with the judgment that no matter how much effort it would put on analyzing information from behind the lines, it was better than combat in space.

 

After many twists and turns, the Fleet headquarters, which would centrally command the entire military force of the Federation of Colonial Stars, was located at the Sea of the Morningstar, some distance from the Colonial Alliance, where communications facilities comparable to those in Uzumasa, the most productive system, were being constructed.

 

The amount of information sent to the Sea of the Morningstar from all the independent fronts was literally murderous, easily exceeding the initial optimistic expectations. In response, the Federation of Colonial Stars mobilized outdated computers that would have been disposed of and even underage students, and worked around the clock to fully utilize their massive information processing capabilities.

 

It was just as the Fleet headquarters had finally recovered from the manic state and confusion of its initial operation and was functioning properly that it received information that a large fleet from the Stellar Alliance was on a long expedition to the Uzumasa system. In order to process the exponentially increasing amount of information coming from across space, the Federation of Colonial Stars deployed personnel equivalent to the population of Shin-Okuhama City. The massive underground command center, which was mocked as if they were planning to continue fighting the War of Independence for a century, quickly filled to capacity.

 

Until the Federation of Colonial Stars declared war on the Stellar Alliance, humanity had not experienced a full-scale interstellar war. Even after the start of the War of Independence, there had yet to be a head-on collision between large fleets. Protocols for interstellar warfare had not yet been established anywhere, and Fleet Command was fighting a war without textbooks, learning every day and suffering considerable casualties.

 

The arrival of the Stellar Alliance's large fleet in the Tau system, which was thought to have come from the Uzumasa star system, greatly increased the quantity and accuracy of the information brought to Fleet Command. This information was not only sent from the Federation of Colonial Stars' patrol ships and intelligence-gathering ships in direct combat, but also from observation records and intercepted communications sent by colony planet registered transport ships sailing in the surrounding airspace, as well as reports from pirate ships attacking transport ships bound for the Expeditionary Fleet traveling along the long supply lines from the Stellar Alliance.

 

Fleet Command was fighting an interstellar war while being overwhelmed by the influx of battle information.

 

"Battle information from the White Swan?"

 

The information required by the Federation of Colonial Stars Fleet Command comes from all human inhabited areas. Almost all information arrives at Fleet Command in the form of electronic data, and is automatically selected and evaluated according to various criteria such as format, date, time, location, and sender.

 

Some of the information received is reported by civilians over the phone, and some is sent without encryption from civilian ships sailing through the outlying areas. Information from ordinary citizens, including everything from sightings to rumours to prophecies seen in dreams, is also collected at Fleet Command and automatically analysed and evaluated. Of course, the reliability of this information is low.

 

Information from pirate ships issued with privateer licenses by colony planets was given the second highest credibility after official information from regular military and private companies. The warning sent by the pirate ship White Swan from the interplanetary space between the orbit of the third planet, Sea of the Morningstar, and the orbit of the fourth planet in the Tau system, Shining Blue Star, was automatically transmitted to Fleet Command, which was conducting an operation to intercept the Stellar Alliance expeditionary fleet.

 

The White Swan is the only survivor of the seven pirate ships that were first issued privateer licenses by the Federation of Colonial Stars, and is still in active duty on the front lines, so the information it sends is highly credible. Fleet Command has added the presence of an intelligence-gathering ship from the Stellar Alliance to the star chart of the Tau system, which shows the operational airspace, although it has not been confirmed.

 

"What should we do about this?" After receiving the warning from the White Swan, Ensign Endou Miki, who is in charge of liaison between the pirate ship and the Fleet Command as a member of the Star System Military General Staff Division 3, Section B, commonly known as the Pirate Section, asked her direct superior, Commander Christie Sherwood, head of the Pirate Section.

 

"That's a problem." The shining silver-haired pirate section chief was buried under pile of displays and data cards and reports of various formats in a corner of the bowl-shaped coliseum where the gigantic fleet headquarters, nicknamed the Pit of Hell, was in operation.

"Isn't the White Swan currently engaged in a trade war with a transport fleet in the outer planetary system?"

 

"It should be." Ensign Endou Miki showed the tablet to the section chief. "According to the communication sent from the White Swan to headquarters before this warning, they are tracking a transport fleet believed to be headed for the expeditionary fleet in cooperation with three pirate ships, and are operating under radio silence."

 

"Hmm." Still wearing a simple headset, the pirate section chief ran her fingers over one of the complex stacked control panels. If the rumor that she wrote the text of the privateering license was true, then the section chief should be older than the mother of Ensign Endou, who was mobilized as a student from university.

 

Looking at her lush silver hair and skin free of signs of rejuvenation, she doesn't seem to be much older than Ensign Endou. However, from her intelligence and extraordinary negotiation skills, Ensign Endou knew that her superior was part of the giant-brained monster that controlled the Federation of Colonial Stars space fleet.

 

"That's strange." The information she wanted was apparently transmitted directly to the information cortex of the section chief's brain from the headset. "It would be easy for the White Swan, with its FTL booster, to travel that far, but White Swan’s captain is not the kind of person to chase someone else without finishing they job at hand. The other three ships in the joint operation have not reported completion, let alone progress. According to our status, the White Swan should still be tracking the convoy."

 

"The ID, encryption code, and all other communication information indicate that it was legitimately sent from the White Swan."

 

"I know." The section chief's grey eyes darted around the multiple displays. "The problem is that the Tau system doesn't have the resources to confirm the information from the White Swan, much less a spaceship capable of tracking the intelligence gathering ship. The Stellar Alliance Expeditionary Force is invading in large numbers, and we even snatched our spaceships that were under maintenance and sent them off, so all that's left now are scattered spaceships in the dock and sunken ships. Even if you turn it upside down and shake it, not even a single speck of dust will come out.”

 

Ensign Endou also knows that the Federation of Colonial Stars' military forces are in an unprecedentedly severe operating situation. "What should we do?"

 

"There's nothing we can do. If the White Swan is in the inner planetary system, let's ask it to track the intelligence gathering ship."

 

"But..."

 

"It'll be fine, the White Swan has dealt with multiple enemies at the same time before." The section chief smiled meaningfully. "It'll be hard to pursue the transport fleet while also dealing with an intelligence gathering ship, but they'll be fine, pirates are used to doing crazy jobs."

 

"Pursue the Liberty class intelligence gathering ship, and either repel it or, if possible, capture it." Gruier's voice read out the reply from Fleet Command on the silent bridge. "Federation of Colonial Stars Fleet Command, Pirate Division, Commander Christie Sherwood." Gruier also calmly read out the final signature of the message. "That's all."

 

An oppressive silence hung over the bridge. Lynn and Jenny exchanged glances, as if asking each other for their opinions.

 

After looking at the two of them, Marika spoke. "Thank you, Gruier. So that's the reply from Command."

 

"All data indicates that this message was sent from the Federation of Colonial Stars Fleet Command." Gruier nodded. "I think it's safe to interpret this as a formal order from Fleet Headquarters to the White Swan."

 

"Jenny..." Lynn looked at Jenny with a resentful look. "What are we going to do? What if we receive an order from Fleet Headquarters and then ignore it?"

 

"Pirate ships have the right to refuse orders from headquarters. Not being part of the chain of command is one of a pirates' strengths." Jenny answered while thinking about something. "In exchange, headquarters can suspend or revoke your pirate license at any time."

 

"So, does that mean the White Swan’s license will be suspended if we don't follow headquarter's orders?"

 

"Suspending the license of an excellent pirate ship like the White Swan, which has better cost performance than warships and has achieved great results, means that Fleet Headquarters is directly reducing the fighting power of the Federation of Colonial Stars." Jenny folded her arms and thought deeply. "I don't think the Fleet Command is stupid enough to do something like that that would only benefit the enemy."

 

"So, if we leave the Liberty class alone, can the White Swan continue as a pirate ship?"

 

"There's another problem." With a grim expression, Jenny looked around at Marika and the other members of the bridge crew. "Let's talk hypothetically. If the Liberty class that entered the inner planetary system here were to freely gather information and then return, what would happen?"

 

"At the very least, the control situation around the Sea of the Morningstar would be completely exposed." Lynn spoke of the simplest predicted situation. “The control status of civilian ships is publicly available, so it probably wouldn't be much information, but if they were to listen in on fleet operation control information, it would probably be pretty dangerous. After all, intelligence gathering ships come to investigate these sorts of things.”

 

"That's right." Jenny uncrossed her arms and put her hands on her hips. “I don't know what level of capabilities intelligence-gathering ships of this era had or how much information they could gather, but if they were gathering information this close to fleet headquarters at the end of the War of Independence, wouldn't that be quite a problem?”

 

"At worst, it would expose the command structure of the Federation of Colonial Stars." Lynn sat down at the electronics battle seat and started running her fingers over the control panel. "No matter how quantum encrypted it is, if the communication can be decoded on the receiving end, it's only a matter of time before it's deciphered. If an intelligence gathering ship can eavesdrop and collect all the communications flying around here, it'll make the rest of the war easier for the Stellar Alliance."

 

"That would make things a lot more difficult for the Federation of Colonial Stars." Jenny said, shaking her head. "After sending the reconnaissance fleet around the colony planets, the Stellar Alliance formed its largest expeditionary fleet. Then, it sent the expeditionary fleet all at once to make the colony planets give up on independence. The question is, why did they choose the Sea of the Morningstar to send the combined fleet to? It seems to be the result of an analysis of the information the reconnaissance fleet obtained from each star system, but although the Sea of the Morningstar has the most pirate ships that participated in the War of Independence and the most privateer licenses issued, the number and strength of its star system army is inferior to that of the Sea of the Forest Star and Sinclair. It is commonly believed that the Sea of the Morningstar was chosen first with the policy of eliminating the easiest enemies first, but actually, there is another theory."

 

"What is it?"

 

Jenny looked up at Marika when she asked.

 

"The Stellar Alliance was convinced that the headquarters of the Federation of Colonial Stars was located on the Sea of the Morningstar. That's why they put all their forces into the Tau system to crush the head of the Federation of Colonial Stars. If they're going to deploy the largest interstellar expeditionary fleet in history, they'll want to strike where it's most effective."

 

"So, you're saying that the Liberty class ships still aren't sure that the fleet headquarters is in the Tau system?"

 

"If they'd gathered the information they needed, they'd have quickly withdrawn."

 

"If Liberty class gathers the necessary information and is properly evaluated by the Stellar Alliance…"

 

"The expeditionary fleet will attack the Tau star system. And it will probably happen sooner than in history. There seems to have been a lot of discussion in the Stellar Alliance about where the expeditionary fleet should attack, or which colony planet they should attack first.”

 

"If the expeditionary fleet attacks sooner than history as we know it, will the Federation of Colonial Stars lose the War of Independence?" Marika asked, looking at Jenny's face.

 

"What do you mean?" Jenny nodded. "If the expeditionary fleet with its extraordinary military power attacks, the Federation of Colonial Stars has no chance of winning. If we can concentrate an interception fleet in the system, it would be one thing, but if we don't do so in time, they will be quickly dispersed, and it will only be a matter of time before the Fleet Headquarters is occupied or the entire Sea of the Morningstar is destroyed. And if the Fleet Headquarters is destroyed, the Federation of Colonial Stars will no longer be able to fight an equal War of Independence."

 

"If we could prevent the Liberty class from gathering information now, wouldn’t that change things?"

 

"At least, in the history we know reconnaissance fleet didn’t succeeded in uncovering important information that could affect the outcome of the War of Independence."

 

"Can history really be changed that easily!?"

 

Jenny shook her head with a difficult look on her face as Marika spoke up. "It's not easy. It's like the butterfly effect, you never know what it's going to trigger. But if there's a turning point in history right now, the result will come out in three months or six months. Maybe the War of Independence will end before the Galactic Empire shows up, or maybe not."

 

"I guess it's going to be a grand historical experiment." Lynn looked around the display with a detached voice. “If we do nothing now, would the War of Independence have a different history than we know it? Let's try an experiment...”

 

Lynn looked up from the display at Jenny. "If history were to turn out differently, would we know?"

 

"That would be a paradox, too." Jenny shook her head. "This is going to get complicated, but if history were to be altered, we would come from an altered future, and we might not even notice that history has changed."

 

"What if..." Yayoi, in the engineer's seat, raised her hand and spoke. "If the colony's War of Independence ended in defeat and they were then annexed by the Galactic Empire, what would be different from what we see today?"

 

"By now, you're talking about 120 years into the future, not our present, year 129 of the new calendar, right?"

 

"Yes..."

“Based on assumption after assumption, and there's no way to verify it, so there’s no way to confirm it, is that okay? Jenny added, sticking out her tongue. "If I knew this was going to happen, I should have at least taken the basics of the history simulation class."

 

"I heard it's useless." Lynn interrupted. "No matter how many model planets and civilizations you have, predicting the future of history unfolding in front of you is like guessing the outcome of the next game in a casino where records have been kept on all the games since the opening."

 

"Is that okay?" Jenny looked around the bridge. Her eyes landed on Gruier, who was staring at her intently. "I wonder if Serenity uses it more practically?"

 

Gruier nodded. "I've only learned the basic theory, and of course I've never used it in practice. However, analyzing and understanding the current situation from the information we have and predicting the future is something that is done in everyday life, not just for historical simulation."

 

"That's right. What I want to predict now is not the predicted orbit of the planet or next year's trends, but the direction of history in what might be, so of course it's not easy. However, even if the Federation of Colonial Stars here surrenders to its Stellar Alliance and is annexed by the Galactic Empire, I don't think it will have much of an impact on the faraway Serenity Kingdom."

 

"That's true..." Gruier answered while thinking. "In order to predict what will happen in the future and what will happen as a result, we need all the information available today. The information we have at hand is limited. No matter how precisely we simulate history, I don't think it will be very accurate."

 

"You're right, the information we have is one-sided and limited. But that doesn't mean we have the time to wait for enough information to make a perfect prediction, and we don't have the luxury of watching the situation change."

 

"Even if we were able to collect complete information, there's no guarantee that history will proceed as the simulation predicts." Gruier said. "I've heard that history is like a complex arrangement of dominoes. Even if you know the arrangement of all the dominoes, whether they will fall as predicted is another matter. But that doesn't mean I think it's a waste to make as many predictions as possible now."

 

"That's why, no matter how certain a prediction may seem, it's never 100% certain. Please listen with that in mind." After a pause, Jenny spoke again.

 

"First of all, I think the timing of contact with the Empire and the annexation won't have much to do with the outcome of the War of Independence, and will likely be carried out in a similar manner to the history we know. With that premise, if the War of Independence ends with a victory for the Stellar Alliance." Jenny thought for a moment before continuing. "Even within the Galactic Empire, there are many planets that have achieved their independence from their parent planet. However, there are not many planets or nations that have achieved their goal in a single war for independence. Therefore, in the Federation of Colonial Stars' War of Independence, after their main military force is torn to pieces by the Stellar Alliance, one of the planets in the Federation will surrender to the Stellar Alliance, and the remaining planets will either accept the surrender recommendation or their government will be dismantled by the Stellar Alliance and reorganized as a puppet government. Well, the most likely scenario is that even after the war is officially over, the independence movement on the colonial planets will continue to operate underground, and depending on the Stellar Alliance's response, irregular warfare such as guerrilla warfare will continue for a long time."

 

"Wait a moment." Gruier looked up as if she had suddenly realized something. "If the Federation of Colonial Stars surrenders to the Stellar Alliance, what will happen to the pirates?"

 

Marika looked back at Gruier's profile as she asked Jenny a question.

 

"If the Federation of Colonial Stars surrenders, what will happen to the privateer licenses issued by the star system governments?"

 

Jenny didn't answer right away, but closed her eyes as if thinking. "It depends on the terms under which the War of Independence ends, but I think it's probably best to assume that the Federation of Colonial Stars will be disarmed across the board. Their privateer licenses will be suspended immediately, and if they ignore that, they'll be pursued as real pirates without a colony planets’ pirate license."

 

"In other words, if the War of Independence ends differently than our history, there will be no more pirates in the colonial planets?"

 

After neatly summarizing Jenny's speculation, Gruier looked at Marika in the captain's seat. Marika shook her head slightly.

 

"That's troubling... When we go back, the Bentenmaru, the Barbaroosa, and the other pirate ships will be gone too."

 

"If the Federation of Colonial Stars' war of independence ends with the victory of the Stellar Alliance's side and the pirates are disbanded, that will have a significant impact on the Serenity royal family." Gruier said, turning her attention back to Jenny. "If it weren't for the previous Captain Kato Gonzaemon, I definitely wouldn't be here."

 

"It might not just be the pirates that disappear." Jenny looked around at the other club members. "If the colony planets don't surrender easily and immediately accept the rule of the Stellar Alliance, and instead engage in guerrilla warfare, not only space but also the planet's surface will become a battlefield. Casualties on the colony planets will increase, which may have a significant impact on the inhabitants of the Tau star system."

 

"If they don't engage in guerrilla warfare and instead simply accept the rule of the Stellar Alliance, there will probably be a strict policy to prevent another War of Independence from happening." Lynn spoke as if it was someone else's problem. "If that happens, won't life on the colony planets become pretty poor? I wonder if Hugh & Dolittle Interstellar Transport will be able to do business as widely as it does now."

 

"Well, even if our company went bankrupt, there are plenty of other companies to replace it, so I don't think it will have much of an impact on the world." Jenny answered curtly. "But if we don't do anything here and one of us might disappear, I would hate that."

 

"Of course, there's a chance that that won't happen, right?" Gruier said. "If we don't do anything, the intelligence gathering ship may not get the information it wants, or even if it does get information, it won't be well received by the Stellar Alliance, and as a result, history might proceed without any changes to what we know, right?"

 

"Of course there is." Jenny said, looking at everyone on the bridge but Gruier. "Even as we speak, time is passing at the speed of light³. No one knows which way history will go in the next moment."

 

"Then, we should just keep quiet and passive." "But what if doing that brings a different future?"

 

At first, everyone on the bridge was hesitant, but then a floodgate broke and they started arguing. Gruier didn't join in the discussion, instead looking up at Marika, who was sitting silently in the captain's seat with her head down.

 

"What do you think, Lynn?" Leaving the crew to debate, Jenny turned to Lynn at the electronics battle seat. "What do you think we should do?"

 

"Track the Liberty class." Lynn answered immediately, running her fingers over the control panel.

 

"Why?"

 

"Because Captain Marika from the future, who was here before us, said so." Lynn looked up at Jenny. "That's what the Odette II sent us in a message just before we were sent here. That means that at least the Odette II that appeared in front of us over there was tracking the Liberty class over here. As a result, the world over there before we arrived was the one we knew. In that case, I think we should do as the captain says."

 

"That's clear." Jenny smiled and nodded.

 

The discussion quickly came to a standstill. Jenny clapped her hands. "No matter how much we discuss this, there's no right answer." Jenny waited until no one was talking before speaking. "We'll know the answer when we return to the future. Maybe we won't know if something is different because of the time paradox. So what we need to come up with now isn't the right answer, but a course of action that all the crew members can agree on."

 

After looking around at everyone, Jenny called out to Marika in the captain's seat. "What do you think, Captain Marika?"

 

Marika, who had been looking deeply down, raised her head. "The captain's job is to operate the ship safely. My current job is to return Odette II to where it came from. It would be easy to just stay safe and hide. But if that meant that where we came from was different, a different world without pirates and where everyone had become someone else, then it wouldn't be a place to return to. If chasing the Liberty class intelligence ship here means protecting not only the Sea of the Morningstar, which is fighting the War of Independence, but the world of the future, then I think that's what we should do."

 

Jenny nodded. "I'm not asking you to take responsibility, Captain. If necessary, I'll share the responsibility with you when we get back. Captain Marika, please decide on the course of action for the Odette II."

 

"Yes." Marika closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them. "The Odette II will pursue the Liberty class as the White Swan. To protect the present and the future."

"We lost sight of them!?"

 

After preparing the plan and strategy for pursuing the Liberty class, Marika left the bridge, pushed by Lynn and Jenny, saying, "We can't let a sleep-deprived captain work." It was past midnight ship time and morning in the local new calendar standard time when she went to bed in the captain's quarters.

 

She had intended to get by with a short nap, but she unconsciously turned off the three alarm clocks she had set up earlier, and it was long after noon ship time when Marika woke up.

 

Glancing sideways at the current time in Shin-Okuhama City, Marika got ready doing the bare minimum, and went to the dining hall to get some instant rations and a drink pack that only need to be warmed up, then ran up to the bridge, where she suddenly received a shocking report from Lynn.

 

"You weren't able to track the Liberty class!?"

 

"That was the intention, but..." Lynn replied apologetically, still seated at the electronics battle station in the same position and outfit as when Marika had last seen her the night before. "I'm sorry, but I had to use a stronger radar on them, since they didn't try to escape even after closing the distance as planned."

 

In the meeting the night before, it had been decided that Odette II would attempt to track the Liberty class while remaining under radio silence and using as little radar as possible. Any decisions that were necessary at any given time would be made by the highest-ranking officer on the bridge at that time.

 

"You used radar!?"

 

"It's not like we're using active stealth anyway, and if we move under power, a solar sailing ship with a booster would be completely visible to anyone who is interested in watching us. But then the enemy's reaction was unexpectedly weak. I thought we'd been ID’ed, so I narrowed down the fire control radar, and we'd been fooled."

 

Lynn displayed an image of an unmanned probe with a ton of antennas on the display so that Marika could see it as she was about to enter the captain's seat.

 

"I don't know when they switched places, but the ship we were chasing thinking it was the Liberty class was actually a decoy launched by them. As you'd expect from an intelligence gathering ship that's actually seen combat, it's an impressively brilliant move.”

 

"Why are you so impressed?"

 

"So, for our next move I want to send out the Silent Whisper."

 

"What!?"

 

With her hands on the control panel in the captain's seat, Marika turned to Lynn in the electronics battle seat on the bridge of the weightless Odette II. Yawning and stretching in her seat, Rin added, "Also, a message from Jenny. The captain must wear her captain's uniform."

 

"What!?" Marika couldn't help but look down at her own outfit, still wearing the uniform of Hakuoh Girls' Academy.

 

"My pirate outfits are still stowed on the Bentenmaru. I didn't bring them here, and besides, why do I need a captain's uniform?"

 

"It should be in the pirate ship's service regulations." It was Gruier who answered, sitting in the first officer's seat. "Pirate ships are treated like warships during operations, so the captain must wear her captain's uniform. Even though the Odette II is a fake, it is operating under the name of the White Swan, so the captain needs to be dressed accordingly."

 

"Well, the current captain of the White Swan is probably a man, right?" Marika tried to resist, even though it seemed like it would be futile. "Isn't it pointless for the captain of the fake White Swan, especially a girl, to wear a captain's uniform?"

 

"Currently, the White Swan's privateer license is valid."

 

The White Swan's privateer license was returned to the Sea of the Morningstar government after the War of Independence. Now that it has become the training sailing ship of Hakuoh Girls' Academy and has been renamed Odette II, it no longer has a privateer license.

 

"If the White Swan is operating under a privateer license and we are acting under that name, we should maintain a style worthy of that name."

 

"You're just saying that to get me to cosplay as a pirate, aren't you?"

 

"That's right." After confidently replying with a response that would have definitely caused Marika to fall off the bridge if they hadn't been in a weightless state, Gruier deliberately lowered her voice. "Marika's captain’s uniform is very popular. Don't you think it's a small price to pay if it keeps the crew’s morale up during dangerous pirate missions?"

 

"Why are you so happy about toying with the captain?"

 

“Jenny also said that it is the captain's responsibility to keep the crew motivated.”

 

"Come on." Marika spun around with a pout on her face and slid into the captain's seat. "Even though you know the captain's uniform is on the Bentenmaru, not here?"

 

"That's something we can manage." Gruier smiled sweetly. "Yesterday's re-examination of the supplies on board the Odette II uncovered old costume boxes and a trunk full of decorations. Volunteers have already begun the construction of a new captain's uniform for Captain Marika."

 

"Oh, I see..." Marika slumped her neck in disappointment, a dejected look on her face. "Fine, do as you like."

 

"Thank you." Gruier bowed with a calm expression. "I will inform the volunteers that the captain has given her permission."

 

"Yes, yes. Don't make the design too embarrassing. So, president Lynn, is there any problem if we use the Silent Whisper?"

 

Marika tried to remember the status of the electronic reconnaissance aircraft that should be mounted on the Odette II's deck. It hasn't been used recently, so it should only be automatically checked, but there shouldn't be any malfunctions.

 

"Unlike the 200-year-old Odette II, the Silent Whisper is an aircraft that shouldn't exist in the current Tau star system during the War of Independence." Lynn floated up from the electronic warfare seat and turned to Marika in the captain's seat. "If its identity is revealed, or if its existence is discovered later, there is a possibility that a time paradox will occur."

 

"Really?"

 

"Well, unidentified spaceships appear all over the place, so maybe we don't need to worry too much about it, but if we use it, it would definitely mean that we've released something that shouldn't exist in the world right now."

 

"That's probably what will happen."

 

"Then, Silent Whisper, which shouldn't exist, will be observed." Lynn said with a difficult look on her face. "For example, if you observe the Sea of the Morningstar from a place 10 light years away in 10 years, the Silent Whisper, which shouldn't be there, will be discovered. Apparently, the existence of something that shouldn't be there is also a time paradox."

 

Lynn looked straight into Marika's face. "I'm not asking you to make a decision right away. I'm going to sleep for a bit, so please think about it by the time I wake up."

 

"That's fine, let's use it."

 

Lynn looked at Marika's face again. "Are you sure? You decided to use Silent Whisper so easily?"

 

"Well, it's a cutting-edge electronic reconnaissance aircraft that's difficult to find thanks to the advanced technology of the future, 120 years from now. Try and find something like that from a few light seconds away, let alone 10 light years away." Marika answered while checking the information on the display without looking up, and Lynn looked dejected.

 

"Um... well, if that's what you want, Captain, then I guess we can just go with that."

 

"If it's a problem that it'll be found out by later observations, then there's something wrong with the fact that there's already two White Swan ships in the system, when there should only be one. If a second ship that shouldn't be there causes a time paradox just by releasing something, then the future would probably have changed before that happened.”

 

"That's... true."

 

"Besides, if it's a problem that something will be observed later, then it should have been over the moment we emitted jamming signals at the Liberty class. ...Was that initial jamming signal even in use 120 years ago?"

 

The jamming signal emission pattern changes in detail depending on the frequency and output of the enemy. The automatic response jamming signal pattern was selected by Odette II's electronic warfare system, which uses programs and algorithms that have evolved over the past 120 years.

 

"The principles of electromagnetic radiation are the same now as they were back then, so I don't think we emitted anything particularly unusual." After thinking for a moment, Lynn broke into a smile. "However, once the jamming waves are emitted, they spread and fly forever. Even if you chase them now, you can't cancel them. I see. That's obvious."

 

Lynn gave Marika a thumbs up. "If we can send out the Silent Whisper now, it will be much easier to track the Liberty class. Well, I'll have you prepare it." Lynn waved her hand and left the bridge.

 

"Okay, I understand. Good night." Raising her hand lightly, Marika returned her eyes to the display. "So, the next question is what to do with the decoys released by the Liberty class?"

 

"That's right." Gruier nodded. "It would be easiest to destroy it with artillery or something, but unfortunately the Odette II does not have such weapons at the moment. If we could retrieve it and investigate it, we might be able to get some data."

 

"That’s no good." Marika simply and firmly shook her head at Gruier. "It's a decoy released by an enemy spaceship during a war. It would be troublesome if we accidentally got too close to retrieve it and it self-destructed."

 

"Ah..."

 

"But it would be troublesome if we just left it like this and it was used later." After thinking for a moment, Marika confirmed the current location of the unmanned probe that was still captured by the Odette II's system. "Let's burn it until it stops functioning."

 

The unmanned probe, which returned the same response as the Liberty class freighter, was dazzlingly illuminated by the focused light reflected from the Odette II's large solar sail, which concentrated the light into a single point. As soon as the unmanned probe was bathed in the starlight reflected and concentrated by the solar sail, it returned a rapidly increasing infrared response, and within a minute it went silent.

 

"We also detected some sort of explosion-like reaction." The short haired freshman in the radar/sensor seat reported. "I don't know if it's the energy system or the propulsion system, but I think there's quite a bit of damage."

 

"If it’s burned this thoroughly, it will probably be useless as a decoy." Marika nodded as she watched the observation results being updated one after another. "We will closely observe the decoy’s status and orbital data, and send them to Fleet Command. We don't have time to recover the decoy or analyze the wreckage, so we will leave that to the Federation forces."

 

Marika looked down at the all-sky monitor, where unfamiliar signatures stood out. "So we need to find the Liberty class ship that should still be nearby from among these?"

 

"In that case, please take this." Gruier, in the radio operator's seat, transferred the completed form, with only the main text left blank, to the captain's seat.

 

"...What is this?"

 

"It's a format for the Fleet Command. If the Federation of Colonial Stars doesn't have any extra ships to send to this system, then retrieving the decoy will be a long way off, but messages will not be accepted unless they are in the correct format, and if they are not well written, the true identity of this ship may be questioned."

 

"Another essay?" With a disgusted look on her face, Marika looked away from the form on the communications monitor. "Give me a break, a message from 120 years ago is like archaic language."

 

 

"A request to retrieve an unmanned probe released by a Liberty class intelligence gathering ship?" Commander Christie Sherwood, in charge of the pirate section at the Federation of Colonial Stars Fleet Command, looked at Ensign Endou Miki through the monitor, who delivered the message. "What does that mean?"

 

"It's a request from the pirate ship White Swan. They neutralized an unmanned probe that was an electronic decoy released by an enemy intelligence ship while pursuing a Liberty class ship in the inner planetary system, and are requesting that it be retrieved and analyzed."

 

"Hmmm." Giving an unmilitary response, Commander Sherwood tapped the display with the light pen she had been using to mark up the report. "That's an uncharacteristic mistake from captain Shiratori.⁴"

 

"A mistake?"

 

“The fact that the White Swan, which was supposed to be pursuing the intelligence gathering ship, reported that it had disabled an unmanned probe means that it was being led astray by an unmanned decoy, not a Liberty class ship.”

 

Ensign Endou Miki looked over at her boss, who was working on the other side of the communication monitor. How could this person understand so much just from a verbal report that summarized the message? "Shall I check the situation with the White Swan?"

 

"You don’t need to." Commander Sherwood on the other side of the monitor looked down at the display showing the report she was checking. "The fact that they requested us to retrieve it means that the White Swan is still pursuing the Liberty class. One of the important jobs of the Command Center is to not get in the way of spaceships that are working. As long as the White Swan doesn't make a request that requires our immediate attention, we can just accept the pirate reports."

 

"Yes, sir."

 

The monitor that had been showing Commander Sherwood's face switched to the words ‘Present, Working.’ Ensign Endou resumed her work of rearranging the sloppy reports sent by a pirate ship that was supposed to be engaged in a trade war in the outer planetary system in chronological order.

 

 

"We are currently in interplanetary space between the orbits of the Sea of the Morningstar and the Shining Blue Star." Marika began her explanation on the bridge, which was dark with the normal lights turned off in preparation for operations, leaving only the lights from the displays and control panels shining. "This point is where we first made contact with the Liberty class."

 

Marika plotted the point where the Odette II first appeared on a large projected flat image. "The blue line is Odette II, and the red line is the subsequent trajectory of the Liberty class."

 

Two bright lines slowly extended from the initial point.

 

"After the first contact, the Liberty class illuminated the Odette II with its fire control radar, broke off contact, and was replaced by an unmanned decoy probe somewhere along its trajectory.”

 

The tip of the red line showing the trajectory of the Liberty class shone brightly. Still shining, the red line extended further. The blue line indicating Odette II accelerated slightly and caught up with the red line.

 

"At this point, we found that the signal the Odette II was tracking was a decoy Liberty class. Therefore, we believe that the Liberty class deviated from our estimated orbit before this point."

 

"It's partly because we weren't actively tracking it, but even after looking through our logs again, we can't find any infrared reaction." Lynn, in the electronic warfare seat, took over the explanation.

 

"We are picking up several noise-level gravitational fluctuations, so I think that after the Liberty class released a decoy in the same orbit as itself, it changed its orbit by using something like a raw propellant jet."

 

"What is a raw propellant jet?"

 

A freshman raised her hand to ask a question. Lynn answered.

 

“The propellant is ejected cold and raw, without a reaction. Of course, the efficiency drops drastically and it doesn't produce much thrust, but in return it doesn't emit any infrared radiation that would give away its location in space. I've read about it in stories about the War of Independence, but this is the first time I've actually seen it with my own eyes."

 

"What we're seeing unfold before our eyes right now is the story of the War of Independence." Jenny interjected. "And we're one of the characters in it."

 

"That’s right. Let's not forget that." A modest laugh broke out on the bridge.

 

"So, that's how we got tricked by the Liberty class." After laughing even louder, Marika continued. "We need to somehow find the intelligence gathering ship from the Stellar Alliance again and disrupt its activities. To do that, we need to figure out where in interplanetary space the Liberty class vessel is."

 

"If the Liberty class released its decoy and then used its live thrust to change course and pass us by, this is the place where it could have done that." Lynn made a large part of the red glowing line on the map flash. "Assuming the Liberty class is approaching the Sea of the Morningstar as originally intended, here is the course it should take."

 

Lynn widened the red band of the blinking straight line towards the current location of the Sea of the Morningstar. "In other words, there is a high possibility that the Liberty class is somewhere in this red space. And ever since we realized that we were chasing a decoy, we've been aiming our ship's radar and sensors at full power towards this space, but so far we haven't found any ship that looks like it."

 

It's been more than twelve hours since they confirmed that what they thought was a Liberty class was an unmanned probe. The Odette II turned around towards the Sea of the Morningstar and continued scanning the vast space with its antenna mast fully open. It hadn't produced any notable results.

 

"As you can see, the space we have to search is too large. Odette II's detection capabilities are much larger than an average spaceship, but the ship we’re searching for is so small, and it is a disguised transport ship that is probably part of the intelligence department of the Stellar Alliance, who has faced us once and hopes to never meet us again. Even if we just observe the space where the Liberty class is suspected to be, I don't think the chances of rediscovering it are very high. Moreover, since the enemy is moving, the search area will definitely expand the longer it takes. If we continue like this, the chances of rediscovering it will only decrease. So, what should we do?"

 

Lynn looked around at the faces of the club members gathered on the bridge. Yayoi raised her hand.

 

"What is it?"

 

"Can't you cheat?" Yayoi said with difficulty. "Um, among the battle records, there is one from the White Swan from this time period, right? Can we use that?"

 

Lynn and Jenny exchanged awkward glances. Jenny stood up in response.

 

"Well, to get straight to the point, the hidden battle records seem to be different from this one, just with the same date."

 

"What!?" a voice rang out on the bridge.

 

"For example, the ship in front of us right now is a Liberty class freighter, but the battle records show that the other ship is a disguised cruiser, and the communication records with the fleet headquarters don't match those of the Odette II, and the position records are different from the start."

 

"So, does that mean the battle records are completely different?"

 

Jenny nodded in response to Yayoi's question. "If we could just follow instructions, it would be easy. In fact, I thought it would be easy because we could predict the movements of the enemy's disguised cruiser, but it seems that it's not that simple."

 

"That's why the battle records from 120 years ago are unreliable." Lynn took over the conversation. "So we have to think for ourselves and do something about it. Do you have any good ideas?"

 

"Send out the Silent Whisper and do a two-point scan."

 

If the Silent Whisper, which has a detection capability by itself that exceeds that of the old Odette II, is launched, the possibility of discovering the Liberty class will increase. Marika spoke of the current plan that had tentatively been decided on.

 

"However, in that case, we'd need to coordinate our scanning from two locations while still blasting out radar waves. It might cause some inconvenience to distant spaceships in flight, but we'll have to tolerate that."

 

"Okay." Lynn crossed her arms with a confident look on her face. "If we can deploy Silent Whisper, our search capabilities will increase by an order of magnitude. This gives us a big advantage. So where should we bet on next?"

 

Lynn looked around at the faces of the crew members, dimly lit by the lights of the displays and control panels. "If we continue to aimlessly scan the space where the Liberty class is supposed to be flying, the enemy will finish gathering information before we find them. All they have to do is quietly spread out their antennas and collect the electronic information flying around here, and that will be their job. We can't let them take their time, so we want to find the enemy as soon as possible. Where do you think the enemy is most likely to be?"

 

No one answered.

 

"May I speak?" Gruier spoke quietly from the radio operator's seat.

 

"Sure, speak up."

 

"The Liberty class wants to get as close as possible to Sea of the Morningstar to gather information. The closer they get, the more information they can gather and the more accurate it will be."

 

"I agree. If they get too close, patrol boats might show up, but they can accomplish their goal without getting that close."

 

"Therefore, I think the Liberty class is somewhere in space centered on the line connecting the point where it was last confirmed and the Sea of the Morningstar's current location. I think we should focus on searching from there and then expand the search range."

 

"What do you think, Captain Marika?"

 

Marika nodded when Lynn asked. "I think that's a good plan. Let's go with that."

 

"Odette II from Silent Whisper, please reply." Ursula's face, in the pilot's seat of the distant Silent Whisper, appeared on the communication monitor. "We've arrived at the planned location. Are you getting any data?"

 

"What do you think, President Lynn?"

 

"It's probably fine." With the freshmen in charge of radar and sensors floating around her, Lynn, who was in the middle, answered while busily fiddling with the control panel that took up three seats. "We're getting much more accurate data than when we were scanning with just the Odette II. Gruier, is the communications line OK?"

 

"No abnormalities at the moment." Gruier answered from the radio operator’s seat through her headset. "Two-way data communication has been established between the Silent Whisper and our ship. However, the amount of data being transmitted is enormous, so the communication speed is always at maximum."

 

“Well, that's because we're sending all of our observation results to them.” After checking the flow of observation data being obtained by the Odette II, Lynn left the radar/sensor seat and jumped into the radio operator's seat. "Hmm, the communication speed is slower than I thought. It would be much faster if we connected it with a cable."

 

"How are you going to connect with a ship 300,000 kilometers away with a cable!?" Jenny snapped. "That being said, we're sending all of our observation data to the Silent Whisper after roughly processing it. Thanks to that, even the faces in the image communication are rough and barely move."

 

The Odette II and the Silent Whisper were connected to form one huge radar system. The Silent Whisper was equipped with a system for this purpose. The idea was to sell it to the military with the claim that the accuracy of the data obtained would increase dramatically if multiple aircraft were operated simultaneously.

 

Lynn made a simple modification to the data link system installed in the Silent Whisper so that it could connect to the Odette II. The first problem was whether the huge amount of observation data obtained should be processed by the Silent Whisper or the Odette II.

 

Everyone assumed that the data obtained should be processed by the Odette II, but Lynn insisted that all the data be centralized at the Silent Whisper and analyzed there.

 

It was built 200 years ago, and although the software had been updated, the Odette II still used a mainframe that was a century old. However, the Silent Whisper's processing power was overwhelmingly higher, as it was equipped with the latest computers and sophisticated software. All the crew members agreed that if Lynn, who had experience with computers ranging from antiques of the past to the latest high-performance machines, could be trusted.

 

Thus, a makeshift observation system linking the Odette II and the Silent Whisper was constructed with the Silent Whisper at its center. The Silent Whisper was placed one light second away from the Odette II, and both radars scanned the same space. The Silent Whisper's observation data was used directly by the Silent Whisper, and the Odette II's observation data was sent to the Silent Whisper, and the two sets of observation data were processed together.

 

The Silent Whisper's observation system can be remotely monitored and operated from the Odette II. However, the amount of observation data that the Odette II can obtain, due to its enormous antenna mast, is enormous. A single, narrowed, directional communication line was not enough, so the Odette II had to simultaneously connect three channels, including a backup, to finally be able to send the data it obtained directly to the Silent Whisper.

 

The Silent Whisper, fully equipped with an optional external antenna in addition to the antennas normally stored in flight mode, took up a position exactly one light second away from the Odette II.

 

"Okay." Checking the communication line from behind Gruier, Lynn gave the captain’s seat a thumbs up.

 

"Looks fine. Let's go." Marika, in the captain's seat, nodded. "Okay, Odette II, Silent Whisper, please begin observation."

 

The solar sailing ship and electronic reconnaissance aircraft began a wide-area precision survey to find the lone spaceship that must be somewhere in interplanetary space.

 

Within a few tens of seconds after the observation began, the Silent Whisper had already located several spaceships. It automatically identified data from the Sea of the Morningstar Orbit Control Station and transponders, displaying the current positions and names of spaceships flying in space millions of kilometers away.

 

"That's amazing." Marika clapped her hands. "They should be easy to find, right?"

 

"Yeah, if we're lucky, it'll be in two or three hours."

 

"What!?" Everyone on the bridge raised their voices after hearing Lynn’s explanation.

 

"Think about it, even if we're focusing our search in the direction where the Liberty class is supposed to be, we're talking tens of millions of kilometers of space. Even if the radar fired off in the direction of the Liberty class were to find something and send a signal back, with the current settings, well..." Lynn returned to the electronic warfare seat and checked the display. "It'll be 400 seconds. If there's any big signal that looks like it, we’re set up so that we don't ignore radar waves returned from further away, but with just two ships, we're going to scan trillions of cubic kilometers of space. There's no way we'll find them that easily."

 

"I thought that before, too." Gruier, in the radio operator's seat, let out an exaggerated sigh. "Space combat is really so time-consuming that it's annoying."

 

"I honestly wonder why they even bother fighting when it's so much trouble." Lynn looked up at Marika in the captain's seat.

 

"Well, that's why it'll be a while before we see any results. Captain Marika, go to your cabin!"

 

"Cabin...⁵"

 

"I'll wake you up if anything happens, so go to sleep now. Unless we're really lucky, we won't see the Liberty class ship appear in front of us anytime soon."

 

 

Morning never comes in space. Unless you set an alarm, the lights don't come on according to the ship's time, so Marika turned off the lights as usual and woke up in the dark captain's quarters with only the nightlight on. Thinking she was at home, she searched for the clock on her bedside table, but the feeling of her fingertips hitting the headboard reminded her that she was on the Odette II.

 

Marika flicked the control panel by her bedside to display the current time, and woke up with a start when she saw the numbers flashing brightly in the dark room. She immediately contacted the bridge.

"This is Marika from the captain's quarters!"

 

"Good morning." A fresh-faced Gruier appeared on the monitor.

 

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

 

The current time was 05:57, early morning onboard time. Marika jumped out of bed, checked that her image wasn't being broadcast anywhere, and swiftly threw off her pajamas.

 

"Because there's no need for it." Gruier answered with a calm expression. She continued without giving Marika a chance to argue. "If something serious happens that requires the captain's decision, you’ll be woken up immediately and put to work. If that doesn't happen, you can sleep and conserve your energy for emergencies. The crew will feel more at ease if the captain is in perfect health."

 

"I told you to wake me up!"

 

"Who would want to be given orders by a sleep-deprived, staggering captain? We don't know when a protracted battle that will make it impossible to sleep will break out. Don't think that we are letting the captain sleep for her sake. If we don't let the captain get a good night's sleep, we will be in trouble if an emergency occurs.”

 

“Ugh!”

 

“There is a new captain's uniform in the captain's cabin. Please try it on.”

 

Picking up the uniform blouse she had taken off the night before, Marika looked at Gruier on the communications monitor. “You didn't wake me up, so that means we haven't found the Liberty class yet?”

 

“Yes.” Gruier nodded. “We will finish scanning the planned airspace soon, but we have not found any signs of it. When you come to the bridge, we will discuss changing our strategy.”

 

 

 

“What is with this captain's uniform?!” Marika came rushing in screaming, and the entire bridge crew cried out in admiration.

 

"It looks good on you." Gruier, in the first officer's seat, floated up. "It suits you, don't you think?"

 

Marika, clad in nothing but a captain's jacket complete with epaulettes and four-striped cuffs over her fishnet stockings and imposing bunny suit, shouted, brandishing a headband with long ears.

 

"Where did you find this costume from? And what are these bunny ears for?"

 

"They’re from the costume box in the storeroom." Gruier answered without changing her expression. "Don't worry, they’ve been cleaned."

 

"That's not the issue, why do I have to put ears on my captain's uniform?"

 

"Because a skull and crossbones mark is a must for a pirate captain." Gruier quickly picked up the tips of the rabbit ears Marika had pointed at her. "After thinking about where to put them, I decided on this."

 

A small skull and crossbones mark had been added to the base of one ear like a hair accessory. "So, don't forget to wear the headband as part of your captain's uniform."

 

"Everyone's playing along, aren't they?" After glaring at the bridge crew watching, Marika put on a sullen expression and held down her lush hair with a headband with long rabbit ears. A cheer went up.

 

"There's no outside business going on, so what's the point of making the captain dress like this?"

 

"It looks good on you." Gruier nodded with satisfaction at Marika wearing rabbit ears. "We're also developing a different captain's uniform for changing into, so you won't have any trouble getting changed."

 

"Come on, when did you do that?" Marika sat in the captain's seat, trying not to think about how she looked from the outside in her bunny suit and captain's jacket.

 

"So, change of plan?" Marika looked around at Gruier and Jenny, who must have been on the bridge the whole time she was sleeping, and at Lynn, who had woken up early.

 

"We've finished scanning the space where we assumed the Liberty class was." Lynn unfolded a map of the surrounding space on the bridge. "As reported, we have not found any Liberty class ships. We are currently rescanning the areas where the signatures were determined to be non-Liberty class and non-spaceship signatures were found, and then expanding the search area."

 

"Yes..." Marika slid into the captain's seat and tapped the control panel to bring the display back to life.

 

"The reasons we determined that the signatures we caught were not a Liberty class ship are..."

 

Within a few hours of scanning, the makeshift wide-area scanning radar, combining the Odette II and the Silent Whisper, had found hundreds of spaceships. The signatures found were checked against a database that held a huge number of records, and were compared with the route outlines published by the Sea of the Morningstar Control Station, and their identities were confirmed one by one.

 

Spaceships that were flying according to the Sea of the Morningstar Control Station's flight plan and whose transponder IDs were confirmed are excluded from the initial verification. Spacecraft that are flying according to the flight plan but whose transponder cannot be confirmed, or conversely, spacecraft that are flying on a different route than the flight plan but whose transponder can be confirmed, require separate verification.

 

Of the hundreds of spacecraft that were found, nearly half had flight plans and transponders that didn't match. The true identity of most spacecraft can be determined by checking the Orbital Control Station database or by re-reading the transponder.

 

Of the remaining 10% of responses, more than a tenth were confirmed to be former spacecraft that had been abandoned or were adrift. For spacecraft whose identity cannot be determined no matter what, communication is attempted to confirm their identity. If there is an automatic response to message communication, most spacecraft can be identified.

 

For spacecraft that do not respond, a more powerful and highly accurate radar is fired for a limited time to confirm the response. If the target is a spacecraft that is far away, it can take tens of minutes for the radar response to return, but while waiting, the radar can be fired at the next target.

 

After hours of searching like this, the bridge came to the conclusion that there was no Liberty class ship that fit the search criteria, making all the work done up to that point seem like a waste of time.

 

After quickly scrolling through the results of the confirmation process, Marika relaxed her combat stance and looked up at the bridge, which was brightly lit by normal lighting.

 

"I understand the search operations conducted while I was away. President Lynn, what do you think is the chance that we'll find the Liberty class ship with a rescan?"

 

Lynn, who was in the electronics battle seat, gave a wry smile and shook her head. "Honestly, I think it's low. If Jenny's guess is correct, the ones operating the Liberty class ship are professional soldiers from the Stellar Alliance. Even though we're from the future, we're just high school students, and we're overwhelmingly lacking in experience when it comes to this kind of pursuit."

 

"That's true."

 

Marika admitted. Lynn continued.

 

"In addition, the Liberty class probably still moving. The time we wasted will let them move even further away, so the space we have to scan will be about ten times larger. If we do the same thing again, we will likely waste our time."

 

"Is it possible that the Liberty class noticed our pursuit and gave up on intelligence gathering?" Yayoi asked. "If we haven't found it after all this searching, maybe it's heading on an outward orbit to join up with the outer planetary reconnaissance fleet."

 

"If they want to escape, there's no need to release a decoy with their signature and drag us around." Marika shook her head slightly. "The fact that they deliberately used a decoy means they're really motivated. As the president said, if the people on board are a professional warship crew, they wouldn't just give up on their orders."

 

"So, you're saying the Liberty class is still here somewhere?" Yayoi glanced at the screen that was showing the airspace that had been scanned once.

 

"The question is, is it in here, or somewhere else?" Marika said with a difficult look on her face and crossed her arms. "Speak up."

 

Gruier, in the radio operator's seat raised a hand. Marika pointed at her.

 

"Yes, please, Gruier."

 

"I think we need to recognize that the Liberty class we're pursuing is a formidable opponent and rethink our strategy. Since the probability of rediscovering the enemy is low if we continue with the same approach, I think we need to make a bold change of policy.”

 

"Yeah..." Nodding vaguely, Marika looked at the screen. "If we make a bold change of course after coming this far, it'll hurt if we miss the mark" she muttered so everyone could hear. "However, if we don't get any results, the Liberty class will be able to gather information on us, so the result will be the same. Yes, if we're going to start over, it's better to do it sooner. So, let's think about what we should do from now on, assuming that the enemy is better than we expected."

 

Marika dimmed the bridge lights, which were brightly lit in normal mode, to combat mode. A 3D display in the center of the bridge shows a star map of the inner planetary system from the Odette II to the Sea of the Morningstar on the other side of Tau.

 

"The Liberty class we need to find is somewhere in the Tau system. It may not be on the star map shown here, but it’s not in any of the spaces we've scanned so far. So, if it's there, it's not in this space that's been scanned and highlighted in red." A thin, conical red 3D shape is projected in the direction of Odette II's course.

 

"Only that much..." The short haired freshman in the radar seat muttered in a daze. Compared to the vast expanse of interplanetary space that lay between the Odette II and the Sea of the Morningstar, what they had scanned in half a day was only a tiny fraction.

 

"You probably thought the inner planetary system was small." Lynn used a green line from the laser pointer she was holding in her fingertips to explain. "But if you try to look into it in detail, it's so big that it's ridiculously vast. There are only two planets inside the orbit of the Sea of the Morningstar, but there are thousands of asteroids in the catalog, and many spaceships passing by."

 

Lynn displayed all the spaceships and asteroids that should be floating between Odette II and the Sea of the Morningstar. Small, colorful dots overflowed into the space in the center of the bridge. "It won't be useful to display everything we can so, so I’m limiting it to just spaceships."

 

The number of highlighted points immediately decreased to nearly one tenth of their original number. Most of them were located around the Sea of the Morningstar and the numerous routes that extended from it.

 

"Spaceships outside our detection range are reconstructed from the flight plans published by the Orbital Control Station and the transponders we can receive. Therefore, the spaceships shown here are not all of them, and their locations are not accurate." Lynn swept away the highlighted points that indicated the many spaceships displayed with her green laser pointer. "And the Liberty class we're looking for isn't shown here."

 

"Let's get the conditions straight." Jenny projected the calendar onto the screen, overlaying it on the 3D image. "If Captain Marika's message from the future is correct, there are four days left until we return to our original time. If the history we know is correct, the outer planetary reconnaissance fleet will also begin to move to its next destination in four days. Although the intelligence gathering ship doesn't need to be perfectly in sync with the Stellar Alliance fleet, it's unlikely that they'd continue to operate independently in hostile territory without any possibility of resupply."

 

"That's wishful thinking." Lynn stated her personal opinion. "If the captain of the Liberty is really skilled, there is a chance that he will continue to gather information independently, away from the main force."

 

"That's true. But after the main force withdraws, the Federation of Colonial Stars, which has been putting all its strength into the standoff, will have more time to pursue and disrupt the intelligence gathering ship. Besides, if everything goes as planned, we won't be here then." Jenny looked at the calendar, which showed the new calendar and the Galactic Standard Calendar side by side. "Even if they stay, it's fine if the Federation forces or pirates chase the Liberty class and disrupt its original mission, but even if that doesn't happen, there's nothing we can once we've returned to our original time. So let's do what we can now."

 

"If the Liberty's goal is to gather electronic information around the Sea of the Morningstar." Marika turned off the calendar and switched to a star chart. "For information gathering, it's best to be as close to the Sea of the Morningstar as possible. Isn't that true?"

 

"It's a different story if they go down to the surface, but I'm sure most communications will be intercepted if they're around the orbit of the dark twin moons. If they go down to geostationary orbit, there's a chance that even directional communications will be intercepted."

 

The Sea of the Morningstar has twin natural satellites in an orbit much higher than geostationary orbit. Directional communications can't be sent unless the exact location of the other party is known, but Sea of the Morningstar's location is on the star chart.

 

"However, the problem if they get close isn't the communication signals that can only travel at the speed of light, whether directional or omnidirectional. It's the FTL communications that the Fleet Command is exchanging with the entire front line of the War of Independence." Lynn enlarged the star chart projected in the center of the bridge to an orbital map from Sea of the Morningstar to the twin moons. "The fleet headquarters is in Shin-Okuhama City, and the FTL communication system is via hyperspace, so they want to place it in a stable location as far away from the gravity source as possible. The hyperspace network station is set up as a relay station, and then two communication stations are set up in the same geostationary orbit, 120 degrees apart. If an intelligence-gathering ship gets close enough to directly observe this, it's going to be dangerous."

 

"Is it possible to intercept FTL communications?"

 

Marika asked. That is a technology that is impossible even in the future, 120 years after the end of the War of Independence. Lynn shook her hand and head.

 

"If we could do that, we could take over the world in an instant, anywhere, anytime. Impossible, no way, it's impossible to intercept FTL communication from outside. But if you want to know if they're communicating faster than light, that's not impossible to know."

 

"Ah..." As if realizing something, Marika raised her voice. "Since large masses jump and disappear, a spaceship's FTL jump can be seen from far away. FTL communications are sent through hyperspace, though not as fast as a ship's jump, so weak space-time quakes and spatial anomalies can be observed around the communication station."

 

"But even if they can observe the occurrences of the station's FTL communications, they can't tell what the communications are saying, right?"

 

"That should be fine. But if they were to take up positions around the twin moons and observe the station in geostationary orbit, they would easily notice that there are an abnormally large number of FTL communications from the Sea of the Morningstar. If intelligence gathering ships in other colonial star systems are also observing the occurrences of FTL communications, and they noticed that there were an unusually large number of communications from the Sea of the Morningstar, that would be a problem."

 

"Oh, damn." Gruier drew the attention of the bridge crew with her language, which was unbecoming of a legitimate heir to the throne. "The amount of FTL communications between the Sea of the Morningstar, where the fleet headquarters is located, and the outside world must far exceed that of other colonized star systems. Moreover, a large fleet is now approaching the outer planetary system. There must be a large amount of constant FTL communications."

 

"It's not realistic to ask them to refrain from FTL communications just because they have been infiltrated by an intelligence gathering ship." Jenny sighed and looked at the orbital diagram. "In that case, we can't let the Liberty class get close to the Sea of the Morningstar."

 

"The Liberty class is trying to get close to the Sea of the Morningstar to gather intelligence." Marika looked at Lynn and Jenny's faces. "I'm sure that's the ultimate goal, right?"

 

"Yeah. There's no other place in the Tau system that intelligence gathering ships would target other than the Sea of the Morningstar."

 

"If that's the case, then our guess that the Liberty class must be in the space between the Sea of the Morningstar and the orbit where we lost sight of the Liberty class was not so far off the mark. But that means the premise that the Liberty class is heading for the Sea of the Morningstar by the shortest distance was wrong."

 

"Why would they take a detour to reach the Sea of the Morningstar using normal navigation?" Lynn crossed her arms with a difficult look on her face. "It's a short distance, you could get there in no time if you were serious about it."

 

"But if you try to go straight there and accelerate at a high speed, you'll get caught in the observation net immediately due to the energy and infrared signatures. If you jump, the space will be distorted, so whether you jump or return, you'll be advertising your position to those around you. There's only one reason to take a detour: to throw off pursuit." Marika picked up a laser pointer and turned it on. A bright blue light stretches across the dim bridge. "Even if it means a detour and takes longer, shortening the time for on-site observation, the Liberty class decided that it was important to throw us off. To that end, they deliberately abandoned the shortest orbit and headed for the Sea of the Morningstar avoiding the space we would be scanning."

 

Marika split the predicted airspace with a blue laser beam and pointed alternately to the space above and below it. "Spaceships traveling through planetary systems take the shortest route to travel as efficiently as possible. In that case, their orbits will not deviate from the ecliptic plane."

 

Due to the process of formation, stars have planetary systems that are almost on the same plane. Planets captured after the birth of a star may deviate significantly from the orbital plane or even move in reverse, but stars generally have planets on a plane perpendicular to their axis of rotation. This plane is called the ecliptic.

 

"As long as it passes through the ecliptic plane, there's a higher chance it will be found by other spacecraft. So, I don't know if the Liberty class is in the southern or northern sky, but I think it's probably heading out of the ecliptic plane of the Tau system and heading towards the Sea of the Morningstar."

 

"Outside the ecliptic..." Lynn tapped her finger on the control panel as she watched the laser travel back and forth between the northern and southern sides of the sky, above and below the red scanned space. "Well, that's troublesome. The amount of space we have to scan will increase by more than tenfold at once."

 

"If we were to be naive and search all the places we have to scan, we'd be playing into the enemy's hands. The amount of space we have to search is already ten times larger than what we've scanned so far, and it's only going to expand as time goes by, so we can't really deal with them."

 

"So, what should we do?"

 

“Why not ambush the Liberty class at the location they're aiming for from the start?” It was Gruier who spoke. "If the intelligence-gathering ship's target is the airspace around the Sea of the Morningstar, we can intercept it if we get there first."

 

"That's not a bad idea." With a troubled expression on her face, Lynn continued tapping her fingers on the control panel. "But that would mean the Liberty class could gather as much information as it wanted until it got close to the Sea of the Morningstar. It might be able to gather information on the FTL communications from the Sea of the Morningstar with borderline interceptions, but until then, the Liberty class, which has been moving leisurely through the Tau system, would be able to gather as much electronic information as it wants without interference."

 

"I guess we'll have to jump and chase after them." Marika muttered. "This is enemy territory for the Stellar Alliance's spaceships, so they can't fly in a way that draws attention. But we can accelerate and jump as much as we want."

 

"Well, I don't think the control station will complain if we jump as much as we want as long as we don't interfere with their routes." Lynn looked at Marika with an amused expression. "But we have to submit all the flight plans for that, you know?"

 

‘Uh…” Marika stammered, and glared at the 3D display of the star chart. "Compared to submitting a report to the Fleet Command, submitting a flight plan that's just a little old-fashioned is easy! I'll do it, I’ll just do it!"

 

"If the future changes just because the paperwork is too much of a hassle, maybe the bureaucrats will be a little more lenient." After saying that, Lynn shook her head. "If they weigh the issue of responsibility against the future, they'll only think about avoiding responsibility."

 

"Jenny, do you know the exact specifications of the Liberty class freighter?"

 

"If it's something that's publicly available, it should be easy to find." Jenny tilted her head. "But cargo ships have been in use since before FTL travel became practical, and there are countless variations, so their performance isn't uniform."

 

"They're intelligence-gathering ships that the Stellar Alliance sends out to enemy territory on their own. Even if they look like cargo ships, the inside is probably comparable to a warship."

 

"That's right. They might not only increase power output, but also have a system that reduces the infrared response of their wake."

 

"Is that even possible!?"

 

The ponytail in the sensor seat screamed. Jenny nodded.

 

"The infrared signature of the propellant is the most reliable way to find out the current position from the wake. Intentionally dispersing the propellant over a wide area to reduce the infrared signature was a popular technique at the time. It was a technique that fell out of use completely because it was better to escape quickly than to do that."

 

"It's a target that we once lost sight of." Marika said, staring intently at the star chart. "At this point, I think it would be better to overestimate the enemy's performance to avoid future problems."

 

"Assuming the Liberty class's power performance is estimated to be higher than the standard type, what about its course?" Lynn asked. “Do you think the Liberty classes headed for the northern or southern sky after leaving the ecliptic plane?”

 

"I don't know." Marika shook her head. "But if the commander of the Liberty class is as experienced as we think he is, I think he will deviate as much as possible from their projected trajectory to avoid rediscovery."

 

"In other words?"

 

"Probably perpendicular to the initial departure trajectory of the Liberty class." Marika thought of the trajectory of the Liberty class as it broke away after the initial contact. "Until we had tracked the decoy and were out of detection range, all they could do was keep quiet and use a raw propellant jet."

 

Marika displayed the past trajectory of the Odette II on the 3D display.

 

"At some point, the Odette II, which was tracking the decoy, came closest to the Liberty class, which was on an orbit perpendicular to the ecliptic, and then moved away. If we passed by and something sprayed behind it, it would have picked up even our sensors, even though they were facing forward, so after we had moved far enough away, they took extra precautions and fled vertically, the least likely to be detected."

 

Marika moved the beam of her laser pointer perpendicular to the Odette II's past trajectory.

 

"If they simply wanted to put distance between us, it would be safer to run in the opposite direction. But if they did that, there's a chance that their jets fire, which are faster than the main body, would be directed towards us. If that's the case, the safest direction would be vertical. They changed course toward the Sea of the Morningstar when they were far enough away from the ecliptic where the routes converge. Please estimate how far the Liberty class could have advanced at its fastest based on this estimated course."

 

"How far away from the ecliptic do you think it was when it changed course toward the Sea of the Morningstar?" Lynn asked bluntly. "How far away from the ecliptic do you think the Liberty class is?"

 

Marika closed her eyes and visualized the inner planetary system of the Tau star system in her head. Their current position is on the same ecliptic plane as the Sea of the Morningstar's orbital plane. At what point would the Liberty class that ventured away from it feel safe?

 

"...One million kilometers."

 

Marika spoke the number that came to her mind. Lynn immediately pressed on.

 

"What is your basis for that?"

 

"The distance when we first made contact with the Liberty class was 500,000 km. We can engage in artillery fire at long distances, and it's a sufficient distance for electronic warfare. Since we haven't actively engaged in electronic warfare since then, I thought they would maintain a safe distance of twice as much to ensure the enemy doesn't get chased by us."

 

"Hmm." Lynn looked around at the electronic warfare display in front of her. "One million kilometers vertically from the ecliptic is a margin of error when it comes to interplanetary distances, but it's enough to fool our eyes, and it will minimize the time loss of the detour. Okay, let's try to estimate the Liberty class's destination along those lines."

 

“Proceed. We'll make a short jump based on that estimate and search for the enemy."

 

"Wait a moment!" Yayoi spoke up from the engineer's seat. "This is the inner planetary system! There's no way we can make a precise jump!"

 

FTL jumps are highly dependent by the state of space. Space is distorted near gravity sources, making precise jumps impossible.

 

"It's okay if there's a small error." Marika waved her hand dismissively. "Anyway, I don't expect precise jumps in the inner planetary system. Unlike our enemies who have to be sneaky, we can jump around as much as we want. So we're just going to make the most of every advantage we have."

 

"But even so..." Yayoi continued to complain. According to normal navigation procedures, FTL jumps are usually made beyond the outer planetary system where the gravity of the star was sufficiently weak, or, if an accurate jump was desired, would be made in interstellar space.

 

"We'll have to jump at least twice, once toward the southern sky and once towards the northern sky, and maybe even more, but please!" Marika clasped her hands together in front of the engineer and navigator seats.

 

"Please be prepared for an error of about 10 million kilometers." Yayoi complained more, deploying the control panel of the FTL booster.

 

"An error of 10 million kilometers..." Lynn repeated Yayoi's words and began furiously pounding on the electronic warfare panel. "Wait a minute, if there's going to be an error in the jump anyway, maybe we can do something interesting by jumping a little more."

 

"What do you mean, something interesting?" Feeling an ominous premonition, Marika turned her gaze to Lynn.

 

"Depending on how we do it, we might be able to triple or quadruple our capabilities."

 

"What are you doing?"

 

"It's a long-distance survey, so even if we observe from the jump destination, it takes several minutes for the radar to return after traveling tens of millions of kilometers. So if we send out a bunch of radar signals ahead of time and receive them at the jump destination, we can achieve the same thing as deploying several patrol ships with one ship."

 

Radar waves travel at the speed of light. Spaceships can travel faster than the speed of light, so they can jump after emitting radar and receive their own radar waves at a different location.

 

"What!?" Yayoi screamed. "How often do you plan to make us jump?!"

 

"Um, five or ten minutes."

 

"That's impossible!" Yayoi yelled at Lynn, who was waving her hands around while giving a vague answer. “It's one thing to just jump anywhere, but you can't make a precise short-distance jump in ten minutes!"

 

"If it's a short distance, there's no way you won't be able to charge in time, right?"

 

"You have to charge the energy precisely! It's impossible to recharge an engine that's hot from just jumping accurately enough to jump to the next target!"

 

"Um, we have to observe our current position in ten minutes and match the numbers with the next target, right?" Sasha said from the navigator's seat. "I don't think it's impossible, but if we do that, we might not have time to check our current position or the next jump point."

 

"No good, huh?" With a tap of her fingers, Lynn removed her hands from the control panel. “I think fifteen or twenty minutes might be doable, but unless your exact position is known, both transmitting and receiving, even if radar bounces off something, the data won't be useful.”

 

Lynn looked reluctantly at the orbital map of the inner planetary system displayed in the center of the bridge. "I think it's not a bad idea to fly around via FTL and receive the radar waves we send out."

 

"Maybe we can."

 

Jenny, who had been thinking deeply with her thumb on her mouth, muttered. Lynn turned around almost reflexively.

 

“What?!”

 

"The point is, we just need to fly around at FTL speed, emit radar from various places, and receive it. It might be difficult with our Odette II’s FTL booster, but if it's the Silent Whisper, which is smaller and has much more advanced automation for checking its current position and setting up short jumps, surely it could quickly fly around and emit radar waves from various places?"

 

"Is that possible!?"

 

"Gruier, try contacting the Silent Whisper." Jenny instructed. "The Silent Whisper has a smaller mass than we do, so there's less error in short-distance jumps, and the type and power of the radar it emits shouldn't be a problem, but it'd be quicker to ask them if they have a program or manual for such a mission."

 

It's been a long time since the mass of printed manuals for electronic devices has easily exceeded the mass of the device itself. Not only electronic reconnaissance planes like the Silent Whisper, but most spacecraft and electronic devices have their own databanks containing their instruction manuals. If you want to confirm the exact operation method, the quickest and most reliable way is to consult the device itself.

 

Ursula, a sophomore who was acting as the captain of the Silent Whisper, didn't understand what Lynn was saying at first. After listening to Sasha's brief explanation, she finally seemed to understand the mission expected of Silent Whisper.

 

"I'm having Maki look at the manual now, but, um, how exactly do you plan to have us jump?"

 

"Three locations in the southern sky and three locations in the northern sky." Lynn showed off a strategy she had made up on the spot.

 

"The Silent Whisper will jump to the opposite side of the ecliptic from the Odette II, and emit radar waves at each vertex of an equilateral triangle with sides of 100 million kilometers. When we receive them, we will both jump to the other side and switch positions, and then repeat the same procedure."

 

"So you're going to take advantage of the fact we can go FTL and use the technique of creating clones to bombard it with radar from multiple directions?" Understanding the operational plan in her own words, Ursula smiled on the communications monitor. "Well, if the catalog is correct, we can make short-range jumps with unprecedented precision, and with the revised the operating pattern of the FTL engine and the shape of the aircraft, the spatial disturbance after touchdown will converge at an unprecedented speed."

 

"You can't trust the sales pitch in the catalog, but it's good that the spatial disturbance converges quickly." Lynn quickly set up the placement of the Silent Whisper and the position of Odette II in relation to it. If radar is fired before the spatial disturbance has subsided, they won't be able to make accurate observations. "The Odette II will make two short jumps, one to the southern side and one to the northern side. The Silent Whisper will emit radar from six locations. The scanning range is wide, so we can't expect much accuracy, but this should be enough to capture any spaceships traveling outside the ecliptic plane."

 

"Roger that."

 

Looking at the operation plan Lynn had shown them, Marika suddenly started counting on her fingers. "Uh, so that means at least two short jumps and six for the Silent Whisper? Do I have to submit that many applications to the control station!?"

 

"If we consider the rendezvous after that and the pursuit of the Liberty class, there will be one or two more." Lynn grinned. "Thank you, Captain."

 

"And don't submit a flight plan under the name Silent Whisper." Jenny adds. "Well, it's an electronic reconnaissance plane that shouldn't exist in today's world, so just make up a name for it."

 

"Just make it up..."

 

"A flight plan outside the ecliptic is just a greeting to the control station asking them not to worry if they get a strange signal, so it's fine to make it up. Fleet command probably wouldn't expect anything more than a report of pirates doing something suspicious."

 

"Even if it's fine to make it up, the format has to match properly." Marika frowned and tried to bring up the application form for the control station on the display at the captain's seat.

 

"Here you go." Gruier transferred the form for the flight plan for the control station to the captain's seat as if she had prepared for it.

 

"Thanks, that's a big help. Well, the units are different now than they were in the past, so if I keep that in mind when doing conversions and setting the time, it should be fine.” Marika scrolled through the form on the display, checking which blanks she needed to fill in, then suddenly glanced over at the radio operator's seat. "So, Gruier, how many consecutive hours have you been on duty now?"

 

"I've been taking breaks. I'm fine."

 

"No, you haven't slept since we got here, have you?"

 

Marika asked in a low voice, and Gruier answered with her usual cool expression.

 

"I'm built a little differently than the others."

 

"Same here." Marika glared lightly at Gruier. “Even if we are a little better mentally or physically, or if the food we eat or the way we take care of ourselves are different, we are still human beings. We get tired, we get hungry, and we can get sick or injured.”

 

Gruier's face brightened up when she was glared at.

 

“We’re relying on ourselves, so we’re forcing ourselves to stay on the bridge, but if any of the crew members collapse, it’s the same problem. The Odette II doesn’t even have a doctor, let a lone a health committee member, so we can’t provide any treatment, and if anyone falls ill, our fighting power will decrease. Please get plenty of sleep and stay in good health like everyone else.”

 

Marika added to Gruier, who was smiling broadly. "This is an order from the captain."

 

"If it's an order, I have no choice." Gruier quickly left the radio operator's seat and saluted the captain, her body spontaneously relaxing. "Gruier, leaving the bridge."

 

"Get plenty of rest." Returning the salute, Marika lowered her eyes to the display. "Now, let's fill out the application documents."

"So, it seems that the White Swan has submitted a large number of FTL jump applications to the control station."

 

Among the pirate ships issued privateer licenses by the Federation of Colonial Stars, not a single one has submitted a detailed operation outline like a military vessel. Pirate ships are seen as valuable in having many ships that act in a variety of ways according to their own judgment, and it is not uncommon for the reports that they are required to submit after the operation to be full of holes by military standards.

 

Similarly, even if she is the head of the Pirate Division in charge of pirates at Fleet Headquarters, there is no way that all pirates will contact Lieutenant Commander Christie Sherwood at regular intervals to report their current situation. The Pirate Division needs to set up a dedicated information network in all areas to keep track of the latest movements of the pirates under its command.

 

Checking the flight plans of pirate ships, sent to Fleet Headquarters via the Orbital Control Station, is a simple and elementary step in investigating the movements of pirate ships. All flight plans submitted by pirate ships are sent to the fleet headquarters. Ensign Endou Miki checks the pirate ship's flight plan and reports to her superior, Commander Sherwood.

 

"The White Swan will fly twice toward the northern and southern sky, and its onboard tender will fly seven times?"

 

Commander Sherwood checked the summary report from Ensign Endou. She nodded to her superior on the other side of the monitor.

 

"Yes. The destination of the White Swan and the touchdown point of the tender are both far from the ecliptic, in empty interplanetary space."

 

"That's a pretty dramatic jump for the White Swan. Even after it started using a FTL booster, I thought Captain Shiratori would only make the minimum number of jumps."

 

"And they’re not interstellar jumps, they’re short interplanetary jumps." Ensign Endou looked at the flight plan from the White Swan and couldn't figure out the pirate ship's intentions. "Did the White Swan have a tender that could do a FTL jump?"

 

"Did they get it from somewhere, or did they get help from another spaceship?" Commander Sherwood checked the registered data for the White Swan just to be sure. According to records from three months ago, the old solar sailing ship was not equipped with a FTL tender that could jump on its own. "Since it's in the inner planetary system, it seems that it's continuing to track the intelligence-gathering ship. Have you spotted any ships like that here?"

 

Ensign Endou, who had expected to be asked that question, updated the answer to the question she had sent to the fleet headquarters. Many Liberty class freighters from various planets were flying in orbit around the inner planets inside the Shining Blue Star’s orbit, but no intelligence-gathering ship that met the criteria had been confirmed. "Not yet."

 

"Then this must be part of their pursuit." The commander switched the display. "Does this mean that the intelligence-gathering ship has left Tau’s ecliptic plane?"

 

Ensign Endou voiced her own speculation. A civilian spaceship flying between planets would not go to the trouble of escaping the ecliptic plane, which would be a long detour, but for a military spaceship, this is not an unusual orbit. "That's what I think. The White Swan is equipped with radar on par with that of a patrol ship, so I think they're going to make good use of it."

 

"But looking at the flight plan they submitted, it doesn't look like they're tracking based on precise calculations."

 

Near gravity sources, FTL jumps can lead to large errors, and while they can be used to move at high speeds, they are not a suitable method for tracking down an opponent with precision.

 

"They’ll probably be doing a cross-search the of ecliptic together with their tender. Using that ship's radar instead of their own to scan a space that would take hours even at the speed of light is a common military technique."

 

The ensign looked at her silver-haired superior again. "With this method, instead of waiting for the radar to return, you only need to catch the radar response sent by your allies from the other side. That alone can cut the scanning time in half."

 

"...Where did they learn to do that?"

 

"I'd like to ask that too." Commander Sherwood smiled mysteriously. " I wonder where the White Swan’s captain Shiratori learned to do this?"

 

 

First, the Odette II performed a short jump, leaping far from Tau’s ecliptic plane towards the northern sky.

 

As Yayoi, the engineer, and Sasha, the navigator, said, FTL travel in the inner planetary system resulted in a terrible jump error of 20% more than expected. Without Lynn's policy that as long as the direction was roughly correct and that distance errors would be absorbed by calculations and subsequent adjustments, an interplanetary patrol network would not have been possible.

 

The Silent Whisper's short jump to the southern sky was set based on the precisely observed current position of the Odette II, which had flown out far from the ecliptic plane toward the northern sky and touched down.

 

It seems that the new generation of electronic reconnaissance aircraft allows for more detailed setting, and thanks to the additional data from the Odette II, which had jumped earlier, the jump error was reduced to a few percent. This would be a fatal time difference in the event of an emergency deployment into an active combat airspace, but it would not be a significant obstacle to deploying a radar network on a scale of over ten million kilometers.

 

The Silent Whisper, which touched down in the southern sky, began illuminating the Odette II, which was itself firing its radar toward the ecliptic plane from the northern sky. The high-powered radar, if it had been fired at a close range, could have been considered an act of combat, but because of the distance, the radiation would have dispersed by the time it reached the ecliptic plane, and unless it was a warship, no one would notice that it was being illuminated by radar.

 

 

Based on the precisely measured data on their current position, radar illuminated the entire airspace where the Liberty class could be deployed. Ideally, the radar would be dense enough to pinpoint the target, but the space they were searching was too large.

 

While using radar, the Silent Whisper painstakingly and meticulously prepared its next jump. The first jump can be left to chance, as the radar can be adjusted to match the position of the receiving Odette II, but from the second jump onwards, any deviation from the planned touchdown point will result in an error.

 

Thirty minutes after its first FTL jump, the Silent Whisper made a second short-distance jump. While the data from the first jump can be used to make corrections, there will still be an error of a few tenths of a percent. In order to obtain the most accurate observational data possible, the radar signal must be as dense as possible.

 

The Silent Whisper jumped from the Odette II to the second vertex of a huge equilateral triangle that sandwiched the ecliptic plane of the Tau star system and, under Lynn's direction, illuminated it for an hour, twice as long as the previous time, then jumped to the third location.

 

The radar signal sent from the Silent Whisper took almost three minutes to cross the interplanetary space between the third planet of the Tau system, the Sea of the Morningstar, and the fourth planet, the Shining Blue Star, and reach the Odette II. Then, a second wave of radar signals were received from the second touchdown point, followed by a third wave of signals.

 

"I don't think it's too bad."

 

The observation data obtained underwent only preliminary processing on the Odette II’s side, then was returned to the Silent Whisper for detailed analysis, and that data was then returned to the Odette II. Lynn, who had moved from the electronic warfare seat to the radar/sensor seat, compared the detailed analysis data received with the Odette II’s preliminary data analysis, as well as the previous observation data.

 

"At least, the spacecraft in the inner planetary system are clearly visible compared to the data we had seen earlier. It's accurate enough to confirm the error between their flight plans sent to the control station and their actual flight. This observation takes time and effort, but it allows us to scan a wide area with precision."

 

"I can't see any signal that looks like the Liberty class."

 

The radar of Silent Whisper, which is sent from the southern sky, is received by the Odette II, which is in the northern sky, allowing data to be collected over a wide area in the northern sky. The radar of the Silent Whisper, which pass through the ecliptic plane, spread out at the speed of light, and if it intercepts something, it is reflected and changes direction. If there is nothing in front of the radar waves, they will pass from the ecliptic plane to the northern sky, but if there is something, the reflected signal should be received by the Odette II's antenna mast, which is spread out to its maximum.

 

Marika was scrolling the observation results on the display at high speed, which were being updated at an alarming rate. Spaceships travelling between planets in the Tau star system were concentrated in the ecliptic plane, with only a few objects flying outside the ecliptic plane.

 

"Can't we find it?"

 

Ai asked with a worried look on her face. Marika, still wearing her rabbit ear headband with its skull and crossbones ornament, answered with a smile.

 

“Don't worry, just because they've left the ecliptic plane doesn't mean they're flying without stealth or anything. We've found some suspicious signals. Also, we're currently hitting the northern side of the Tau system, so if the Liberty class is on the southern side, we won't be able to find it with these observations. The real test will be after the Odette II's next jump.”

 

"Ugh." Yayoi, the engineer, let out a strange voice.

 

What if, after completing all the planned jumps, finishing the scans, and checking all the signals, they still didn't get a signal that they could be certain was the Liberty class ship? Marika thought about this and gave a carefree smile. "Once we find the target, we have to chase it. Then we won't have time to rest. If you can rest now, do so, and if you want to eat, go to the dining hall"

 

Marika was taught that one of the captain's jobs is to reassure the crew. On the Bentenmaru, she only needed to reassure herself, but now on the Odette II, she has to pretend that everything is going according to plan and dispel the crew's anxieties.

 

"The mission is proceeding smoothly." Marika said, as if to convince herself. "Once we started the radar search across the ecliptic, we were able to see positions more accurately than before, so even if the ship is a little off the ecliptic, we'll be able to find it easily."

 

 

Even when they received radar signals from the Silent Whisper, which had jumped to the third planned point, they could not confirm any signal that could be clearly identified as the Liberty class. The radar emitted from the Odette II were also received and analyzed by the Silent Whisper, but no signal was detected that would require a rescan.

 

After completing the scan of the northern sky, the Odette II jumped to the southern side. Thanks to the correction made using the previous data, the error in this short jump was reduced by half, to just 10%. However, unlike the last time when they overjumped and touched down farther than planned, this time they touched down short of the target.

 

There is not enough time to move to the planned point by normal navigation.

 

"It's okay, it's okay. I'm didn’t expect to be able to jump to the planned location with a short jump from the beginning. If we’re too close it won't be accurate, but this should be fine."

 

Under Lynn's direction, the freshmen in charge of radar and sensors changed the settings and prepared for the next scan. The Silent Whisper, which was jumping to the northern sky just as the Odette II was about to leave, was informed of the coordinate corrections for the target touchdown point, and the fourth jump was made.

 

The Silent Whisper, being a small aircraft, successfully jumped to the northern sky with an error of about 1%, as expected, and began radar scanning towards the ecliptic plane.

 

With the Odette II positioned on the southern side and the Silent Whisper on the northern side, the radar scan can receive the radar sent previously, so it is expected that the observation accuracy will improve. Before the radar signals from the northern sky arrived, the Odette II began receiving radar signals from itself, which was previously in the northern sky, and the Silent Whisper, which was previously in the southern sky.

 

The results of the observations, which were essentially equivalent to using four patrol boats, would be sent to the Silent Whisper for processing, just like last time.

 

After completing the scheduled 30 minutes of radar scans, the Silent Whisper flew to the second point in the northern sky.

 

As the crew became accustomed to the work, both efficiency and accuracy improved. After the Silent Whisper had finished illuminating the ecliptic plane at the second point on the northern side and flew to the third point, the Odette II received news that the target had been discovered via a FTL link.

 

"It's here!" Several similar signals have been found so far. Lynn exclaimed as she opened the processing results that arrived with fanfare from the Silent Whisper. "It's on the southern side, 2.5 million kilometers from the ecliptic! It's flying right on the edge."

 

"Does the signature match?" Marika asked as she scrolled through the observation results that had been passed around to the captain's seat. The only radar signal patterns the Odette II had for the Liberty class were those obtained at the first contact, excluding those in the database that had been accumulated over the years. And the signal patterns in the database had so many variations of the Liberty class that they were only useful as a reference.

 

"It matches. It's cautious, even though it's sailing outside the ecliptic plane, it's under radio silence and it's not sending out any transponders. But with such a high infrared response, there's no doubt it's this one."

 

Marika superimposed the signal of the Liberty class from the observation results on the star chart. Compared to the Odette II, which had jumped far into the southern sky, the Liberty class' current position was much closer to the ecliptic plane of the Tau star system.

 

"Should we pursue it?"

 

Marika shook her head at Ai in the helmsman's seat. "Not yet. At this distance, they'd just move elsewhere if we chased them now. We need to check first. From this position, it will also be detected by the Silent Whisper’s radar, which has jumped to the third location. President, please change the settings."

 

"Don't worry, I've already ordered it." Lynn gave the captain a thumbs up from the radar/sensor seat.

 

"We focused our radar on the predicted trajectory of the Liberty class. However, at this distance, it takes about four minutes for the radar waves emitted from the Silent Whisper to bounce off the target and return to us."

 

While the Silent Whisper's radar was waiting to reach us after it had jumped to the next location, the Odette II’s bridge began examining the signals that had been obtained.

 

The Liberty class was not as close to the Sea of the Morningstar as initially expected.

 

"The jerk is surprisingly laid back." Lynn said while drawing a new estimated trajectory from the observation data obtained.

 

"Is the cruising speed as stated in the catalog? At this rate, I think it's safe to assume that their maximum acceleration is the same as the standard Liberty class."

 

"Did they just add electronic reconnaissance equipment to the standard model?"

 

The range to be scanned is so large that even if they found a signal from the Liberty class, it was only for an instant when the radar bounced it off. Even if they could observe the position and speed of the Liberty class at that moment, they couldn't tell how fast it accelerated.

 

However, knowing its current position and speed, it can be compared with the previous observation data of the Liberty class ship to estimate its trajectory and performance. The rediscovered Liberty class ship was in the exact location predicted by the standard model's performance.

 

"Since it was a single ship that had come to gather information, I thought it would have at least been equipped with an emergency acceleration booster in addition to an engine replacement."

 

"There's no infrared response on the trajectory." A pony-tailed freshman in the radar/sensor seat, who was observing for any infrared response from thrust injection behind the Liberty class’s current position, reported. "The Liberty class appears to be heading for the Sea of the Morningstar while maintaining inertial flight."

 

"Maybe they're not in a hurry?" Jenny tilted her head after looking at the observation data. "Or is this the best the Liberty class can do?"

 

"If Jenny is right, and the intelligence gathering ship's activity period is only while the reconnaissance fleet is in the outer planetary system, then they'll want to get close to the Sea of the Morningstar and start gathering intelligence as soon as possible. No matter what, they would only be able to collect basic communications information at this distance."

 

Lynn confirmed the current location of the discovered Liberty class. "It's much closer to the Sea of the Morningstar than the reconnaissance fleet in the outer planetary system, but they still can't gather much intelligence."

 

"If it's an intelligence gathering ship, they should know that it was detected by our radar." Marika said, thinking about what she would do if she were in the enemy's position. "If they think they've been found, they'll take some kind of action. I think we'll probably see it in the next observation."

 

The Odette II received the radar emissions of the Silent Whisper, which had jumped to the last observation point on the northern side of the sky. The Liberty class responded to the changed illumination pattern with the same clear signal.

 

"No doubt about it, this is it." Lynn confidently passed the results of her observations to the captain’s seat. "Continuing inertial navigation. Radio silence, infrared response is slightly reduced, but I'm sure it's the same one we observed earlier."

 

"...Do you think it's real?"

 

When Marika said that, Lynn instinctively looked up at the captain's seat. "What?"

 

"The Liberty class once sent out a drone that sent back an identical response. If they sent out the same one after leaving the ecliptic plane, how would it show up on our radar?" Marika silently pointed to the observation results. “I thought that if it disappeared after the second radar hit, or if it showed a different signal than before, it must be the real thing. But it seems odd that the Liberty class, which had so spectacularly disappeared from our sight, would remain silent after being hit twice by radar from outside the ecliptic plane, no matter how far away it was.”

 

The radar warning system installed on a warship could easily detect the type and direction of enemy radar.

 

"You say it's fake?" Jenny also turned her gaze to Marika in the captain's seat. "Are you saying that the ship left the ecliptic plane to avoid being found, and then sent out a decoy?"

 

Marika nodded. "I don't like how this response is an exact replica of the navigation performance of a standard Liberty class. It's strange that it was hit twice by radar and still gave a response that was obvious it was a Liberty class, and that it was flying so conspicuously even though it was outside the ecliptic plane."

 

The thought of what would happen if her guess was wrong crossed the back of her mind. Marika forced a smile, feeling a twinge of pain in her stomach. "Well, once you start to doubt, there's no end to it."

 

"If we were to track down the Liberty class that was just discovered," Gruier said, returning to the bridge after the third radar volley on the northern sky side had begun "how long would it take to confirm that this is real?"

 

"It's a bit far to close the gap with normal navigation." Lynn confirmed the current location of the discovered Liberty class and the Odette II. "Should we close the distance with a short jump, and then pursue it with normal navigation?"

 

"But you can't make accurate jumps in the inner planetary system, right?" Yayoi insisted from the engineer's seat. "At this distance, unless we're really lucky, we might actually end up farther away."

 

“So we keep repeating short-range jumps until we get lucky and land close?”

 

"Please stop!"

 

“That's not going to work, is it?"

 

“So it’s going to take a lot of time just to check out this Liberty class ship?” Gruier confirmed the situation. "If this is the real thing, that's fine, but if it's a decoy, the intelligence-gathering ship can approach the Sea of the Morningstar again while we're busy with this."

 

A strange silence enveloped the bridge. Clearing her throat, Marika continued. "I don't like the fact that the Liberty class we discovered only has standard navigation capabilities." Marika looked at the navigation performance figures estimated from the Liberty class ship's current position. “I don't think it's possible for an intelligence gathering ship that can penetrate the inner planetary system of a colony star all by itself and resorts to reckless tactics like raw propellant firing to have the same power performance as a standard model. Even civilian ships have high-speed options, so for a military intelligence gathering ship to stick to a standard model that's even inferior to them is an absolute deception.”

 

"So if it's real, it should be faster." Gruier continued Marika's prediction.

 

"If it's real, it should be further ahead." Marika, in the captain's seat, nodded. "If it's an intelligence gathering ship that penetrates into the inner planetary system, it wouldn’t be surprising if it has an increased power output that's impossible for a civilian ship. And one more thing, even if we confirm the signature that should be further ahead and realize that it's wrong, if the real one is behind us, we'll be able to intercept it in time."

 

"I see." Lynn ran her fingers over the control panel at the radar/sensor seat. "If we were an intelligence gathering ship being chased by pirates, we'd place the decoy as far back as possible. If we placed it too far back, it would be obvious, so I guess they're trying to trip us up by making it look like a standard Liberty class ship. That’s really nasty."

 

The bridge crew laughed at Lynn’s dismissive tone.

 

"It's a war, after all." Marika looked down at the observation data sent by the Silent Whisper, searching for the next target. "If you can win by being nasty, everyone will do whatever it takes."

 

"I thought it was the policy of the Federation of Colonial Stars to avoid fair, head-on combat." Jenny said cheerfully. “So when it comes to the front lines, even the Stellar Alliance has that kind of policy. I didn’t know that.”

 

"It would be a different story if it's a strategic battleship that the Stellar Alliance is proud of." Lynn’s fingers never stop as they race over the control panel. "The enemy is just a single intelligence-gathering ship that has entered the enemy star system. They're only being chasing a pirate ship, so they're probably carrying out their mission seriously, but if a star system military escort ship were to show up, they'd be easily crushed."

 

Lynn stopped her fingers. "So, as Captain Marika, what would you do in this situation?"

 

"I'd send a decoy ahead." Marika spoke one of the answers she had been thinking of. "Placing a decoy behind makes things easier, but there's no guarantee that the pursuers will fall for it. If you send it ahead, the urgency is higher, so they'll definitely take the bait."

 

"That makes sense. So why didn't the Liberty class do that?"

 

"If we had followed the decoy that went ahead, they'd have to overtake their pursuers again at some point before arriving at the Sea of the Morningstar. That would have been troublesome later, so I think they chose the easier option."

 

“I see. So skimping on the initial effort is their downfall. There it is!" Lynn listed over ten responses on the display. "Ignoring the previous response, here are the other signals that are likely to be the Liberty class. Which one should we bet on?"

 

Marika looked at the signatures shown on the display. "You can ignore the signatures from the northern sky."

 

"Why?"

 

"Since the decoy is in the southern sky, the main ship must also be in the southern sky. We haven't observed any traces of a FTL jump, so the Liberty class must be navigating normally."

 

"I see, that makes sense." Lynn deleted the signatures observed in the northern sky from the display, which instantly halved the number of signatures. "What else?"

 

Marika thought deeply after hearing that. None of the signatures observed in the southern sky were definitely that of an artificial object or spacecraft. "If the Liberty class signal is a decoy, ignore anything flying nearby. No matter how many decoys you send out and how well you camouflage the main ship, the closer we get the higher the chance of being found out."

 

"In that case, I guess it's okay to ignore this area."

 

The number of signals decreased by two. Only three remained. Marika tried to think of other conditions to narrow down the target. She couldn't think of any.

 

"What should we do?" Lynn asked after performing a detailed analysis of the remaining three radar responses. "Should we narrow it down to these three and conduct a detailed observation this time? It's a long distance, but if we can narrow down the target, I think it will be easier to get results."

 

"That's true..." Marika thought about it. If you just look at the probability of the analysis results, any of the remaining three responses could be real. And all of them have been scanned by radar twice, from the southern and northern sides.

 

If the signal that clearly looked like a Liberty class ship was a decoy as Marika had predicted, then the real intelligence-gathering ship ahead of us could be expected to be using some sort of electronic stealth. It should have noticed our radar scan while returning a reaction that could not be judged as a Liberty class ship.

 

"...Still no good." Marika spoke up after thinking about it. "If we conduct a third radar scan here, and narrow the target, the Liberty class will find out that their decoy isn't working."

 

"In that case, how about we pretend to fall for the decoy?"

 

Marika looked at Gruier, who had spoken. Gruier waited for the bridge crew's attention to be focused on her before continuing.

 

"What if we started accelerating while illuminating the decoy not only with radar but also jamming signals? With the Odette II’s boosters, we can create a flashy infrared trail that could be observed by the Liberty class ship ahead.”

 

The intelligence gathering vessel ahead of them would not send out radar or communication signals in order to conceal its current location, and its only means of observation in all directions would be by receiving signals.

 

"I see!" Thinking about what to do next, Marika spoke up. "We're too close to jump, but if we accelerate with boosters, we can make a jet that's visible from a distance. With our radar scattered so dramatically, if they want to, they'll know where we are. But if we accelerate rapidly towards the decoy, and then change course with the solar sail, they won't know our movements!"

 

"That's not all." With a grin on her face, Lynn ran her fingers over the control panel at the radar/sensor seat. "They'll want to advance into the airspace around the Sea of the Morningstar as soon as possible and begin their intelligence gathering mission. If they manage to escape outside the ecliptic where it's hard to be found, and we get pulled in by the decoy behind us, they might switch from inertial flight to powered flight and take off."

 

"Once the Liberty class begins powered flight, we'll know which of the remaining targets we should pursue."

 

Checking the flight plan she'd put together in her head once more, Marika made sure there were no obvious weaknesses or elements that they could not recover from. "I think that's a good move. The Odette II will verify that the currently confirmed Liberty class is a decoy, and will pretend to be deceived by it and approach it using normal power. After accelerating, we cut power, change course toward the Sea of the Morningstar using solar sail propulsion, and focus passive observation on the three unconfirmed signals that should be ahead, and wait for the enemy's propulsive thrust. Tell the Silent Whisper to follow the same trajectory. I don't think the Liberty class can see a small ship, but if they move we’ll know it."

 

"Roger!" "Increasing booster engine power, starting preparations for high acceleration."

 

Amid the replies from all sides of the bridge, Yayoi looked up at Marika from the engineer's seat. "Rather than actual acceleration efficiency, it's better to have flashy acceleration that can be seen from a distance, right?"

 

"Yes." Marika was comparing the direction of the decoy with the direction of the unidentified reaction. The course differed by nearly 90 degrees. “I'd like to follow a likely signal straight ahead, but going in that direction the solar sail will lose a lot of thrust."

 

"I understand. How about this engine operation pattern to pretend to have reached top speed?" Yayoi passed the operation pattern for acceleration to the captain's seat. Instead of accelerating with a large thrust from the start, they would start with a small thrust and increase the output, using a longer thrust time to reach higher speeds. "This will maximize the duration of the thrust trajectory, making it easily visible even from a distance."

 

"Thanks, then please proceed with this pattern. Focus on the three radar reactions for infrared observation. Be careful because if there are any reactions in the direction of the Sea of the Morningstar from other places, it may be the real one that we missed. Engine, as soon as preparations are complete, we will start accelerating toward the decoy."

 

Marika looked around the bridge of the Odette II as it began to move. "Odette II, let's go!"

 

 

The Odette II began accelerating using normal power, coupled with its FTL booster that generated far greater thrust than its own engines. From the southern sky, it accelerated efficiently towards the Liberty class, which had just left the ecliptic plane, placing its emphasis on time over thrust.

 

The thrust itself was only increased by a little, nowhere near the maximum thrust of the FTL booster. Even so, the Odette II accelerated more than three times faster than if it was only using its main engines, and took an orbit toward the ecliptic plane.

 

"Considering the performance of the Odette II's inertial control, this is the best it can do."

 

The inertial control system installed on the Odette II, an old solar sailing ship, does not have a particularly large capacity. Accelerations that exceed this capacity cannot be absorbed by the control system, and instead are converted into acceleration Gs, causing the ship to creak.

 

Full throttle acceleration lasted for six minutes and thirty seconds. Meticulously planned, the Odette II even made trajectory corrections to adjust its course during its terminal acceleration, and completed the planned acceleration.

 

After the massive acceleration, which the long unused inertial control system was unable to absorb, the Odette II returned to a state of weightlessness once again, fully opened its solar sails, and began changing course.

 

Its current position is in the interplanetary space between the Sea of the Morningstar and the Shining Blue Star, protruding significantly south of the ecliptic plane. To head towards the Sea of the Morningstar, it will receive sunlight from Tau at an angle from the front. The Odette II deployed its solar sail, which expanded several thousand times their apparent size, deflecting the starlight, and began to slowly change course at a painfully slow speed compared to the powered acceleration it had been using up until then.

 

"How long do you think it will take before the Liberty class moves?"

 

On the bridge of the Odette II, which had switched to solar sailing, which prevents the infrared response of the propellant from being detected from the outside, Lynn returned to the electronic warfare seat and asked Marika, in the captain's seat, a question. Marika looked down at the planned trajectory for the first powered flight, which was shown on the display.

 

“Well... At its current pace, the Odette II will be able to rendezvous with the Liberty class decoy in about twelve hours. The Liberty class knows that if we come into contact with the decoy, it will know that it's a fake, so they'll want to increase their speed as much as possible while our eyes are on the decoy and pull away from us. In a few minutes, they should see us firing our thrusters dramatically as we latch onto the decoy..." After thinking for a moment, Marika answered. "But that doesn't mean they're going to be so naïve as to make a move right away. But I think they'll probably move in an hour or two."

 

However, even two hours later, when the Odette II had finally managed to point its course toward the Sea of the Morningstar using only its solar sail, the infrared reaction they were hoping for had not been detected.

 

The ecliptic plane in the background was a busy place with spacecraft traffic, so the trajectories of jets from normal navigation could be easily observed. If an infrared response is observed in a place close to the candidate response from the radar observation, it is assumed to be the Liberty class jet they are looking for, but most of them end up being misses.

 

The number of infrared responses detected exceeded double digits, and when the tension on the bridge of the pursuing Odette II had completely relaxed, the short haired freshman made a familiar report.

 

"Infrared response! Um, we will continue observation."

 

"Please do." When on the bridge during pursuit, the captain cannot leave her seat. Taking a bite of today's rations, which had been delivered by the person on meal duty, to refresh herself, Marika glanced at the latest infrared response observation data. At first, the infrared response was faint, similar to that of a civilian spacecraft normally traveling in the ecliptic plane, but as she watched, it rapidly increased. "Eh..."

 

With a cream sandwich stick still in her mouth, Marika watched the rapidly growing response.

 

"Increased response!" The freshman continued with a different statement than before. "We're getting closer!! On the southern side, directly above the ecliptic!!"

 

"They're moving!?" Marika looked at the output figures calculated from the response patterns captured by the infrared sensor from afar.

 

"Infrared response has increased even more! This isn't a standard Liberty class response!"

 

"Suddenly going full throttle, what a bold captain." Marika muttered as she watched the trajectory estimated from the infrared response being drawn. The longer you continue inertial navigation, the more accurately you can determine your course and speed. Even if the thrust axis of a spacecraft is fixed, the center of gravity will move slightly, even if only a little, due to personnel movements, loss of propellant, and the deployment of antennas and parts. If you want to fly accurately, it's normal to start with a weak thrust and then increase the output while making small adjustments.

 

However, the infrared response that was captured indicated that the output was increasing at a rate that seemed to indicate normal operation.

 

"I think they probably want to minimize the time of operation at maximum power as much as possible." Yayoi said, glancing sideways at the increasing infrared response displayed at the radar/sensor seat. "Short bursts are more efficient than long, drawn-out bursts, and the infrared response will eventually spread faster."

 

The ejected propellant spreads along with the infrared response. The infrared radiation detected is proportional to the amount and time of the ejected propellant, so the shorter the burst, the shorter the time for diffusion.

 

“To be so careful at this stage is a testament to the fact that the Stellar Alliance is sending it right into the middle of the colony stars.” Lynn, at the electronic warfare seat, was throwing all the observed infrared data into the computer for analysis. “Judging from the infrared response, this isn't the acceleration of a standard Liberty class. It’s easily double that.”

 

"It's an engine on par with that of a destroyer." Marika was comparing the Liberty class's estimated speed from the infrared response with the current speed of the Odette II. Even though it was making full use of inertial control, the propulsion force from the sun was shockingly weak, so the acceleration wasn't significant. As long as it continued to use the solar sail propulsion, the speed it reached would increase, but it was so low that they would be left behind by a single acceleration. "We have a booster, so I'm not worried about the Odette II being able to keep up, but if it was just the main ship, it might have been dangerous."

 

The jet, which had been scattering a vivid infrared response, suddenly disappeared.

 

"Okay, increase the sensitivity of the infrared sensor!" Lynn instructed the freshman in the radar/sensor seat. The infrared response of the propellant is much higher than the stars in the background, so the sensor sensitivity is automatically lowered when it detects it. “It's going to take a while for the engines to cool down after such a spectacular burst of power. We should be able to spot the Liberty class by infrared now!”

 

Despite the adverse conditions of a distance equivalent to interplanetary space, the Odette II's infrared sensors, which were spread out across the mast, found the infrared response of the spaceship that had stopped firing. Ahead of the infrared response trajectory of the smoke, at the future position predicted from the firing, a small, isolated infrared response could be confirmed. The computer determined that the infrared response was that of a fairly large civilian transport ship, or a small, high-powered warship.

 

"It's too far away, so it can't be determined that it's a Liberty class." Lynn passed the data to the captain's seat after a careful examination. "Okay, analysis complete. There's nothing in the infrared response that would lead us to conclude that it's a Liberty class ship, but judging from its flight pattern, which accelerated straight from outside the ecliptic toward the Sea of the Morningstar, we can conclude that this is the intelligence-gathering ship we're looking for."

 

Marika looked at the data after completing her analysis. The target's current position based on the new observation results was added to the star chart. Of the three responses remaining on the southern side, the one that was judged to have the second highest probability was beginning to move at an increased speed.

 

Marika checked the infrared response obtained again. "A tiny unmanned probe with limited propellant can't produce such an infrared response."

 

"That's true."

 

"Where is the target after the burn?"

 

"No transponder, no radar or communications." Gruier in the radio operator's seat reported. Since they were only a few minutes away at the speed of light, the display only showed the situation from a few minutes ago, but it was still enough to make a judgment. "It’s continuing navigation under radio silence."

 

"Good job." Marika gave a happy smile. “We've determined the target to be a Liberty class intelligence gathering vessel. There's no need to remain silent any longer. Please activate our transponder. Increase engine power and begin pursuit of the Liberty class!

 

Cheers rang out on the bridge.

 

"President Lynn, can you place electronic jamming on the Liberty class's predicted course?"

 

"It's so far away..." Lynn drew the predicted trajectory of the distant target on the electronic warfare display. At the current distance, it would take two minutes and twenty-five seconds for the jamming signal they sent to reach the enemy ship. "We can send jamming signals along the Liberty's estimated trajectory. But that will only interfere with regular communications interception, you know?"

 

"That's enough." Marika nodded. "The Liberty class's purpose is to gather information on the Tau system and return. Just knowing that they're being pursued by the colony's military forces, who don't want them to get their way, puts them under pressure."

 

Marika stared at the Liberty class's current location plotted on the star chart. "If the Liberty class knows it's being pursued, it'll try to escape by hiding or fleeing again. Based on our respective positions, there are no rocks or planets that they can use to hide. So, there's only one thing they could do."

 

"Electronic warfare!" Lynn exclaimed happily.

 

"That's right. The Liberty class will use every trick in the book to electronically deceive us and try to escape. But at the same time, that will let us know the Liberty class's current location and what methods they will use."

 

"If we know that much and go to the trouble of emitting jamming signals against their future orbit, then that's basically a declaration of war against the Liberty class, right?"

 

"Yes." Marika nodded again. "It's a declaration to the Liberty class that we found you and are pursuing you."

 

Marika looked around the bridge and turned on the switch for the ship's PA system. "This is the bridge, Captain Kato Marika. We are now in pursuit of the Liberty class and preparing for combat."

The Odette II sent jamming signals at the Liberty class ship’s future trajectory. No matter how large an antenna you use to aim at a target that is over 40 million kilometers away, the jamming signals will spread out over the long distance.

 

"But if the Liberty class is an intelligence gathering ship, they should be spreading their antennas out as much as possible to increase their sensitivity." Lynn said as she fine-tuned the direction of the jamming signals sent by the Odette II so that they would overlap with the Liberty class's predicted trajectory. "The higher the sensitivity, the more noise the jamming will cause. We're targeting the Liberty class with jamming. The communications intercepted by the Liberty class will be full of noise that will be difficult to separate."

 

"That's fine for now." Marika looked at the orbital map of the Liberty class ship far ahead of them and the Odette II chasing it. "After that, the problem is how to get the Liberty class to give up on gathering information before it gets close to the Sea of the Morningstar."

 

"Any good ideas?"

 

"Sinking it would be easiest."

 

A murmur of "Oh!" filled the bridge. Raising her hand to stop the crew, Marika continued. "Unfortunately, the current Odette II is not equipped with weapons that can directly attack the enemy. Also, there is no record of the White Swan, a pirate ship in the outer planetary system, sinking a transport ship in the inner planetary system, so we can't sink the enemy."

 

"I see..." Lynn looked bored. "I knew we don't have beams or missiles, so I was thinking of various options we could use."

 

"You never know when we might need to use them, so it's okay to keep them in mind." Marika aimed the laser pointer at the Liberty class ship ahead of her. “The easiest thing would be if we could take control of the Liberty class and sent it to the outer planetary system.”

 

"That's true." Lynn looked apologetic. "Looking at the data communications flying around, it looks pretty difficult."

 

"I thought so." Marika laughed as she answered, having anticipated this situation. "Isn't the network from 120 years ago too different?"

 

"That's one thing, but the Liberty class is flying under tight radio silence, so we don't know what system it's running on or what standard it would respond to. The data also lists the specifications and versions of the Liberty-class's standard control system, but I've never used such an old OS, and there's no way that a control system that's supposed to be for military use would be the same as a standard civilian system."

 

"That's true, isn't it?" After thinking for a moment, Marika asked. "So, what other tactics were you planning to use against the Liberty class?"

 

"We could send so much data through the radar and antennas that the enemy's processing system couldn't keep up, or using the solar sail to concentrate sunlight and raise its temperature, or we could have the Silent Whisper act as an ambush ship and make it look like we've placed missiles along its course."

 

"Okay, okay, I get it." Marika waved as Lynn started counting on her fingers. "You never know when you'll need to do something, so keep in mind any measures we can take. How's the engine?"

 

"It's fine." Compared to an unreasonable order like a short jump in the inner planetary system, a flight plan to close the gap with a cargo ship ahead of them in normal navigation is easy. Yayoi, the engineer, passed the operation plan to the captain. "The power output is high enough. Five minutes of initial acceleration, then fine-tune the course with the solar sail."

 

"Please do it." After confirming that there was enough propellant left in the booster, Marika approved Yayoi's operation plan. The plan is to continue firing the booster after gaining velocity with the initial acceleration, and to make contact with the Liberty class as soon as possible. "We'll start right away."

 

Seeing the captain's stamp of approval on the operation plan, Yayoi began operating the booster.

 

Unlike the previous time, the acceleration was not so great that it could not be absorbed by the inertia control system. It was a long-term acceleration that prioritized efficiency. However, when the booster, which has much greater thrust than normal engines, began to operate, a slight vibration was felt all the way to the bridge.

 

Marika watched the Odette II's speed increase on the display. The problem was the relative speed difference with the Liberty class ahead of it. For the time being, the Odette II was moving faster, so it was only a matter of time before it caught up, but it was unlikely that the other ship would continue traveling at the same speed.

 

Marika showed the current and future positions of the Liberty class and the Odette II on the main display. She cleared her throat and looked around at the bridge crew. "The Odette II has begun pursuing the Liberty class. It is scheduled to catch up with them in twelve hours, and once we make contact, we need to force the Liberty class to leave the Tau system before they resort to some other mysterious tactic to disappear again. What should we do?"

 

The members looked at each other and began to discuss things in hushed voices.

 

"The order from fleet command was to repel or capture them, right?" Gruier, in the radio operator's seat, raised her hand and spoke. "If there are no Liberty class ships in the list of cargo ships captured by the White Swan at this time, then our only option is to repel them."

 

"We have all the battle records from when the Odette II was the White Swan." Jenny sat in the first officer's seat and ran her fingers over the control panel. "As we all know, the real White Swan is currently pirating in the outer planetary system. There's no record of it ever capturing a Liberty class ship."

 

"If that's the case, we have to somehow repel the Liberty class ship." Marika looked at the star chart with the future orbits superimposed on it. The Odette II, now well into the southern sky, was pursuing the Liberty class, which had left the ecliptic plane. “Fortunately, there are no obstacles or approaching fleets on our course until we approach the Sea of the Morningstar. Even if we do something a little flashy, it wouldn't cause any trouble to those around us.”

 

"How did the White Swan do it?" Gruier asked. "How did the White Swan repel its prey, the spaceships it targeted, during the War of Independence?"

 

"Well, it wasn't like the pirate ships that sailed the seas, so it certainly wasn't a procedure where they would suddenly appear in front of you and take over with a swarm of crewmembers."

 

"Just like regular pirates." Marika looked around the bridge. "You have to find the right target before you start your job, but the rest is the same as what we do with the Bentenmaru’s entertainment services. You launch an electronic warfare attack and take over the opponent's communication and navigation systems, then you introduce yourself as a pirate and demand their surrender."

 

"That's assuming the target is an unarmed civilian ship, right? What if they might be armed?"

 

"Even if the target is armed, it's the same as long as we have control of their ship. If you point a weapon at them and they lose control of their spaceship, most of them will listen to you."

 

"What if you don't know if they are armed and you can't take over their controls?"

 

Marika thought for a moment. That was exactly the case this time. "...I haven't confirmed it this time, but I'm sure our opponent is armed, right?"

 

" It's an intelligence gathering ship that's heading into the middle of a colony system in the midst of the War of Independence," Jenny said. "You'd think they'd be equipped with at least a minimum of self-defense weapons."

 

"What is the minimum for self-defense weapons?"

 

The ponytail at the radar seat raised her hand and asked. Jenny answered.

 

"I think it's probably an anti-ship weapon that can intercept missiles. If they're equipped with weapons powerful enough to go beyond the scope of self-defense, they can't complain if they're treated as a warship."

 

Marika added "that might be true if they insisted that the intelligence gathering ship was a civilian ship, but they deliberately chose an ordinary cargo ship and even strengthened its engines. It's one thing if it's a warship, but you should think that they're armed enough to easily break through something like our solar sailing ship that doesn't even have much armor."

 

"After all, they were the ones that hit us with their fire control radar during our first contact." Lynn nodded. "If they have a fire control radar, you should assume they also have weapons that use it. A case like ours is rare, having only a fire control radar installed since the weapons have been removed long ago.”

 

"That's troublesome."

 

"But just because they have weapons doesn't mean they can use them multiple times." Marika looked around at the faces of the club members. "The fact that they're using the Liberty class hull means that they intend to insist that they're a civilian cargo ship until the very end. If they fire even one anti-ship beam or missile, the Liberty class will instantly change class from a cargo ship to a warship."

 

"Well, that's if there are people around to see, right? If we're fighting outside the ecliptic like we are now, there's no reason to go easy on us, right?"

 

"I don't think they'll fire that easily." Marika looked around the bridge with a confident smile. "If it's an intelligence gathering ship, it must have information about the Federation of Colonial Stars spaceships. The Liberty class must think that we're the famous pirate ship, the White Swan. It's a pirate ship that has survived since the beginning of the War of Independence, and what's more, it's a troublesome opponent that's been pursuing them without being fooled by the two decoys they sent out. If they thought we were an easy opponent that could be defeated with one shot, they would have fired at us at the first contact."

 

"That’s true..."

 

"Another thing, even if it's outside the ecliptic, if they sink a spaceship from a colonial system in the inner planetary system, the situation will be in full view of any spaceships traveling nearby. At that moment, it will become clear that it is not just a transport ship but a warship from the Stellar Alliance that has entered the inner planetary system, so I think it will be difficult to carry out its future mission as an intelligence gathering ship."

 

"In other words, the enemy is hiding weapons that can silence us in one shot, they also have powerful engines that are unthinkable in a normal civilian transport ship, and have equipment appropriate for intelligence gathering missions." Jenny summarized the situation again. “The enemy has no shortcomings.”

 

"Yeah." Marika nodded immediately.

 

 

An hour after the Odette II began its pursuit, the Liberty class took action. It was expected that the Liberty class would accelerate in order to delay overtaking and speed up its arrival at the Sea of the Morningstar. However, instead of heading straight for the Sea of the Morningstar, the Liberty class corrected its trajectory by accelerating further away from the ecliptic toward the southern side.

 

"What are they thinking?"

 

As the Liberty class changed its orbit, Lynn adjusted the direction of the jamming signals they were continuing to send. Marika looked at the star chart again, reconfirming the situation ahead.

 

"Does it realize it's being chased and is trying to leave the star system?"

 

"It won’t be that easy." Marika noticed that the direction of the Liberty class's movement as seen from the Odette II overlapped with the star Tau. "They're planning on aligning the Odette II with the star Tau to blind us."

 

"Wow..." Lynn exclaimed in disbelief. "Blinding us with the sun is an old trick. Does it still work?"

 

"Well, the star Tau is the biggest source of heat, radiation, and electromagnetic waves within a radius of several light years. If it were to align precisely with the star Tau at this distance, our radar would not be able to track it."

 

"I see. So what should we do? Should we shift our orbit so that the target appears outside the star Tau?"

 

"That's not necessary." Marika smiled. "Tell the Silent Whisper to shine a stronger radar on the Liberty class."

 

The Silent Whisper, which had jumped to the opposite side of the ecliptic from the Odette II, was now tracking the Liberty from the northern sky in order to make contact again.

 

"Right now?"

 

If the Liberty class was aligned with the star Tau for the Odette II, radar observation from behind would be difficult. However, it would not be an obstacle for the Silent Whisper, which was at a different angle.

 

"Wouldn't it be better to wait a little longer and let them waste their time?"

 

The Liberty class's future trajectory is off the shortest route to the Sea of the Morningstar. Whatever trajectory it chooses from now on, the Liberty class's arrival at the Sea of the Morningstar will definitely be delayed.

 

"No..." Marika thought for a moment and shook her head. "The other party are professional soldiers with far more experience than we have. They may have already started their attack. It would be best to let the other party move as they like and then we can accurately read their intentions, but honestly, I don't know what other moves they have up their sleeves. In that case, I think we should get a grasp of the exact situation now."

 

"I don't think we can do anything more, but if the captain says so, let's do it." Jenny said from the first officer's seat. "We're not in a position to play games."

 

 

Following orders from the Odette II, the Silent Whisper, which was on an orbit from the northern sky toward the ecliptic, aimed its radar at the Liberty-class ship in the southern sky.

 

The radar, traveling at the speed of light, bounced off the Liberty class, taking about three minutes for the signal to reach the Odette II. To confirm the situation, the Silent Whisper continuously irradiated the distant Liberty class.

 

An abnormality occurred about ten minutes after the beam began.

 

"The signal of the Liberty class is expanding rapidly!" The short hair in the radar/sensor seat announced. "This is, um, I think they've probably started releasing an interference field."

 

"It's an interference field." Lynn said after checking the distant radar reaction. Just as smoke screens are used to prevent visual detection, interference fields mixed with metal powder and chemicals are also effective against radar and sensors. The Liberty class, which should have been a clear target, suddenly turned into a noisy and vague response.

 

"At such a long distance? What are you thinking?"

 

The released interference field disperses over time, and as its effective radius expands, its effectiveness weakens. Generally, interference field are used at close range. Even if it is released at a long distance that would take several minutes at the speed of light, it will have completely dispersed by the time of actual contact and no significant effect can be expected.

 

"They must be doing something they don't want to be seen." Marika kept her eyes on the Liberty class's reaction, which was becoming blurred even in the Silent Whisper’s narrowed radar.

 

"Infrared reaction increasing!" The ponytail in the sensor seat reported. "It's not the infrared of the interference field! I don't know why, but the inside of the interference field is suddenly getting hot!"

 

"They’re setting something up." Marika stated clearly, in as calm a voice as possible. "Don't miss it."

 

"There it is!" The short hair called out. "A Liberty class reaction from the interference field! It looks like it's accelerating again!"

 

"Huh?" At this unexpected move, Marika, in the captain's seat, cried out in disbelief and tilted her head.

 

"Is it really that simple? Did they really have to go to the trouble of scattering an interference field to dazzle us?"

 

"There they are again!" The short hair shouted a third time. "A second Liberty class ship has accelerated out of the interference field!"

 

"Huh?" Marika instinctively reviewed the radar responses.

 

Although the radar beam emitted from the Silent Whisper in the northern sky was narrow, it spread out over the course of several minutes as it traveled at the speed of light, capturing a wider area. Following the Silent Whisper illuminating the Liberty class from diagonally behind, the Odette II’s radar, positioned almost directly behind, also picked up a response from a second Liberty class ship.

 

“Is it an unmanned probe?” Lynn, having seen unmanned probes give the same response as the Liberty class twice before, made a quick decision. “Which one is fake?”

 

“Probably both.” Marika, in the captain's seat, did not take her eyes off the radar response. “They fired them after showing us the unmanned probe. If their purpose is to disrupt the situation, I don't think there are only two.”

 

“A third Liberty class ship!” The short hair reported again. “Response of a third ship from the interference field has been confirmed!”

 

 

In the end, six Liberty class ships were released from the interference field. They were indistinguishable even when analyzed using radar, infrared, and optical observation methods.

 

"It seems the enemy has sent out all the unmanned probes they can." Lynn watches the signatures of the six Liberty class ships, which are gradually moving away on different trajectories. "With two ships, the probability is half, but with six ships, the probability of missing them increases. With them this far apart, we can't focus light from our solar sails on each one and check their reaction."

 

The Odette II’s large solar sail can generate intense heat by focusing light at a single point, but the sail control system is not designed to allow for the precise control required to focus the light at a single point more than 20 million kilometers away.

 

"What should we do? Even if we approach them to check them out, will we have to eliminate them one by one?"

 

"Probably none of them are the real target."

 

"What!?" Lynn looked at Marika again, who kept her eyes on the radar response, where the interference field was still in effect.

 

"If the enemy is a veteran, they won't rely on luck no matter how many forces they have. If they sent out unmanned probes, and as many as they had, knowing that we were doing radar searches from two places means that they're planning a surefire move."

 

"Really?" Lynn looked at Marika with a dumbfounded look. “Is this an opponent that requires such careful consideration?”

 

"Probably..." Marika gave Lynn an unsure smile. "Because what if the unmanned probes are equipped with some degree of reconnaissance capabilities?"

 

Lynn looked taken aback.

 

"It would be much easier to just collect and relay communication information, and the probes carried by an intelligence gathering ship should be able to observe FTL communications."

 

"Well, they’re not very large probes, so I don't think it's possible to make accurate observations unless they get very close."

 

"All of the responses from the six Liberty class ships are heading toward the Sea of the Morningstar." Marika looked at the display, which showed the future trajectories of the six ships. "We have to deal with all of these somehow."

 

"As for the unmanned probes, let's leave them to the star system military that's defending the Sea of the Morningstar." It was Jenny who said that. "Even if they don't have the capacity to send warships out to the outer planetary system, they should have enough power to intercept tiny unmanned probes near the Sea of the Morningstar. They need to handle that much."

 

"I see... that's an option." Marika checked the data for the six Liberty class ships. “Please provide as accurate a prediction as possible of the future trajectories of the six ships, including the observation data from the Silent Whisper. I will send this along with a request for interception to Fleet Command.”

 

Thinking about the effort of creating a message to send to Fleet Command, Marika sighed with a gloomy look on her face.

 

“So, if Captain Marika is right, where is the real Liberty class?” Jenny asked, watching the radar response. "Is it still inside the interference field?"

 

"Probably."

 

The interference field that was released continue to maintain its effectiveness as it disperses, although some of it may remain in place without dispersing due to static electricity and other factors.

 

"If they release additional interference fields, the effect will last longer, but by doing that, they will be revealing that all the responses from the six ships they sent ahead were decoys, so they won’t move for a while. If things stay as they are, the interference field will be aligned directly with the Odette II and the star Tau in a few hours, so if they move, it will probably be after that..."

 

"So, what will we do? If the Liberty class is still inside the interference field, will we head for it?"

 

"No..." Marika shook her head. "The situation is still the same, the Liberty class is heading for the Sea of the Morningstar to gather information. If the Liberty class cannot move for a while from inside the interference field, we will make the most of the situation."

 

Marika looked around the bridge, which was waiting for instructions. "The Odette II will continue on its course, and we will maintain our current observation posture against the interference field. Seeing that our course is not being affected by the six decoys or the interference field, they will surely make their next move."

 

After saying that, Marika tilted her head. "If they're inside the interference field, they won't be able to use their radar or sensors, so maybe they're collecting data from a decoy that they sent ahead?"

 

"You mean they closed their eyes and covered their ears?" Lynn asked back, with an incredulous look on her face. "Would an intelligence gathering ship, supposedly manned by professionals, put itself in that kind of situation?"

 

"If it was a fleet battle between regular fleets, they would never do something like that." Marika nodded. “I think the Liberty class is hoping that their pursuer is a veteran pirate ship that won’t decide that an intelligence gathering ship would stay behind in the interference field. Unfortunately, we're not veteran pirates, we're just yacht club members with little combat experience.”

 

Marika stuck out her tongue. "So, in this case, not taking the action that the other party expects would be the worst thing for them."

 

"Let me ask just to be sure." Lynn spoke in a relaxed voice, matching Marika's tone. "What would you do if the real Liberty class ship is among the six ships that went ahead?"

 

"If that was true." After thinking for a moment, Marika answered. "I'd send a congratulatory telegram. Then I'd hurry after them."

 

"A congratulatory telegram, that's great."

 

Lynn burst out laughing loudly. Marika laughed along with her, then looked around the bridge.

 

"Well, I think it's going to be a test of endurance from here on out." Marika said, thinking about whether there was a way to make up for it if her prediction turned out to be wrong. "The enemy has made time their most important bet. By deliberately not moving from within the interference field, they are hoping that we’ll think that one of the six ships ahead is the real one and chase after it."

 

"Can I ask you something?"

 

"What is it?" Marika turned her eyes to Jenny.

 

"What makes you think the Liberty class is inside the interference field?"

 

Marika closed her eyes. "If I were in their position, that's what I'd do." Marika opened her eyes and forced a smile.

 

"At first, the Liberty class tried to throw us off by using two decoys and even jumping out from the ecliptic. If we hadn't brought the Silent Whisper, we would have lost sight of them a long time ago. Even if we lose sight of them again here, we know their destination is the Sea of the Morningstar, so we can get there first. The Liberty class doesn't know the exact ship assignments of the Federation of Colonial Stars, so they don't know where reinforcements will come from, let alone pirate ships. They are the ones who are cornered, not us. If we put them in a bad situation, they'll have a headache."

 

In order to reassure the crew rather than herself, Marika listed only the favorable situations.

 

"Six decoys were sent out, and if we took the bait, they would slowly gather information themselves, but if we stayed behind, they would gather information with the decoy's sensors full power. We can't deal with both of them, so I think that's what happened."

 

“Then why did you stay here, behind the interference field, even though the decoys might gather information?

 

"It's fine if the decoys gather information. As long as it doesn't reach the Liberty class." Marika briefly wondered if her smile looked stiff. "If we want to sabotage the Liberty class, it's better to stay close."

 

Marika looked at the display. The responses of the six Liberty class ships released from the interference field were maintaining their separation while moving further ahead.

 

"The Liberty class is probably going to wait for us to give up." Marika realized that she had begun her biggest gamble of the entire trip. “So we'll have to wait patiently. If they're inside an interference field that doesn't allow for radar or even proper communication, the Liberty class won't be able to gather information. But if they keep doing that forever, they won't be able to do their job, so they'll come out eventually. By then, we'll easily be able to catch up.”

 

"I see." Lynn showed the response of the interference field, which was slowly spreading and moving away from the ecliptic due to inertia, and the future trajectory of the Odette II on the display. "We're heading straight for the Sea of the Morningstar. With our current trajectory, we'll be closest to the interference field in six hours, after which we'll be able to position ourselves closer to the Sea of the Morningstar. So, what should we do until then?"

 

"Let's get some rest." Marika said, as if convincing herself. "They're probably doing the same. Let's eat now. And tell the Silent Whisper to come back."

 

"Okay, let's go eat in the dining room for the first time in a while."

 

Since they left the ecliptic and started the radar search, none of the bridge crew has been to the dining room. Everyone had eaten their meal from the delivered lunch boxes or snacks they had brought with them. Lynn rose from the electronics battle desk and jumped to the captain's seat.

 

"Okay, Jenny, Gruier, I'll leave it to you for now. I'll take the captain to the dining room and then throw her in bed."

 

 

An electronic sound was ringing somewhere in the room. Marika woke up in the dark captain's quarters, lit only by a dim nightlight, and jumped up in surprise. She half-crawled out of her futon, which was only loosely attached in the zero-gravity environment, and tapped on the control panel next to her pillow to answer the call.

 

"This is the captain's quarters! Where are we now!?"

 

"This is Gruier on the bridge." Gruier appeared on the monitor with her usual cool expression. "Current position, 40 million kilometers from the Sea of the Morningstar. I was worried you wouldn't be able to sleep, but it seems you slept soundly."

 

"Really?" Marika looked at the ship's time on the panel. She clearly remembered going to the dining hall with Lynn and the other bridge crew, having a decent meal for the first time in a while, and then being thrown into the captain's quarters. She had been thinking about so much that she didn't think she'd be able to sleep, but the clock had actually moved forward seven hours since she last looked. "What's the situation? Just looking at your face, I can't tell if everything is going well or not."

 

Marika got out of bed.

 

"We've completed the recovery of the Silent Whisper. Both the crew and the ship are safe."

 

"It would be a problem if something happened."

 

"A new captain's uniform is ready. Please wear it when you come up to the bridge.”

 

“When did that happen?”

 

“Also, the Liberty class just emerged from the interference field.”

 

“Is it real?!”

 

Marika tapped the control panel and brought up the necessary data on the display. Gruier on the monitor nodded with a grin.

 

“The Odette II's radar, sensors, and all other observation systems have determined that the ship emerging from the interference field is the real Liberty class. Congratulations, captain Marika, you've won.”

 

“Oh, good!” Marika shouted and rose from the bed. A moment later, she turned to the monitor. “No, the real action is about to begin! What is the Liberty class doing right now?!”

 

“Nothing yet.” Gruier shook her head. "President Lynn is sending out jamming signals from the Odette II, but their infrared response is increasing, so I think they’ll start moving soon."

 

"Got it." Marika left the bed. "I'll be right there."

 

 

"So what's with this outfit!?" Marika came rushing in with her captain's jacket fluttering, and the entire bridge crew cheered.

 

"I modified a costume we had in stock, imagining it as a ceremonial guard costume." Gruier explained with a calm expression. "I used a costume that seems to be for medical workers as a base, and adjusted the skirt and other sizes to fit Marika, added epaulettes, braid, and four stripes on the sleeves."

 

"But the skirt is too short!" Marika, dressed in her stage costume of a white jacket with epaulettes, a miniskirt, and white boots, entered the captain's seat with a sullen look on her face. "I don't have a captain's hat, is that okay?"

 

"I've got one ready." Jenny, who had been in the first officer's seat, floated up next to the captain's seat. The captain's white cap, with a black brim and gold arabesque pattern, and a crest of a silver skull with large eyes, which she had found somewhere.

 

"This is really turning into a costume contest." Marika took the cap with a sour look on her face and put it on her head. It fit perfectly.

 

"Pirate ships are treated like warships, so the captain must be dressed appropriately."

 

"The problem is that there are no concrete rules about what a captain should dress like." Marika let out an exaggerated sigh and sat up straight in the captain's seat. "Okay, captain reporting for duty. Please report the latest situation."

 

Tapping the control panel herself, Marika updated the information displayed around the captain's seat.

 

The signals from the six Liberty class ships that had gone ahead had now disappeared. Instead, the signal from the Liberty class ship is brightly displayed in a position closer to the ecliptic than the Odette II.

 

"Did it just silently come out of the interference field?" Marika noticed that there was still a trace of an interference field behind the Liberty class ship's trajectory that had not yet disappeared.

 

"That's right. It’s sailing towards the Sea of the Morningstar at a good acceleration for a cargo ship. They should be able to see us from there, and the signals from the six ships ahead of us disappeared before the main ship appeared."

 

"In other words, the decoys that were ahead of us are still firmly under the control of the Liberty class ship." Marika thought deeply. "Have you determined the current location of the decoys?"

 

"It's fine." The short hair in the radar/sensor seat answered. "We've confirmed their latest location information."

 

"Then we'll leave intercepting them to the Sea of the Morningstar's system forces." Marika glanced at the Liberty class's response on the display. "Now, how should we deal with this one?"

 

"The Liberty class has activated their transponder!" Gruier reported from the radio operator's seat.

 

"What." Lynn exclaimed in shock. "They're trying to pretend they’re a normal spaceship at this point? Is that what they’re saying?"

 

The information transmitted by the transponder includes the ship's name and registry along with its current location and direction of travel. Gruier, in the radio operator's seat, read out the name of the ship. “Outland Trading, St. Elmo 49."

 

Jenny quickly ran her fingers over the control panel and reported the results of her search. "Outland Trading is a long-distance shipping company from the Stellar Alliance. I can find some on the documents, but there's no information on the company itself."

 

The Odette II's database also contains information updated after the War of Independence. Some of the vast amount of information from the pioneering days has been reorganized or deleted. Jenny added that even if you can't find any information on the transport company itself, it doesn't necessarily mean it didn’t exist.

 

"There is information on St. Elmo... 42 and 47, but only one piece of information on St. Elmo 49." Jenny opened the hit and gave a wry smile. "It's only in a report from the pirate ship White Swan at the end of the War of Independence. It's useless."

 

"If it's an information gathering ship from the Stellar Alliance, it's sure to have a bunch of fictitious registrations." Marika saw the information on the Liberty class being transmitted by the transponder on the display. Destination: Sea of the Morningstar Relay Station. "Is our transponder active?"

 

Marika checked the control panel. The transponder with the name of the White Swan was transmitting right after the pursuit began. "Well, let's have our side do something pirate-like."

 

Marika closed her eyes. It took courage to say the next line. "Let's request a boarding of the Liberty class freighter, St. Elmo 49."

 

There was a full breath before there was a response. Just as Marika was thinking that maybe they hadn't heard her and was thinking about repeating herself, the bridge crew shouted in unison.

 

"What!?" "Are you out of your mind, Captain Marika!?" "Are you going to put on a show during the War of Independence!?"

 

How would the crew of an intelligence-gathering ship from the Stellar Alliance react if all the members of the yacht club boarded the Liberty class ship? Holding back from bursting out in laughter, Marika waited for the bridge to quiet down.

 

"Alright, alright." Jenny clapped her hands. "Our captain wouldn't say something so unreasonable without thinking it through. Well, an inspection means boarding the other party's spaceship and inspecting its contents, right?"

 

"Thank you." Marika bowed to Jenny. "That's right. Both warships and pirate ships have the right to inspect suspicious spaceships that may be carrying illegal materials. If the other party has nothing to hide, they will readily accept the inspection, and if they find nothing wrong, they will be released. If they find military supplies or prohibited goods, they can be confiscated. For the star system military, it's one of their basic duties."

 

Marika looked around at the faces of the bridge crew. "If the other party is a subcontracted transport company, they have no obligation to transport cargo that is not in the contract, so it is not that difficult to confiscate or dispose of illegal cargo. The problem is cases like this, when the other party who claims to be a cargo ship is obviously suspicious."

 

Marika forced a smile that looked like she was having fun. "Since the other party insists that they are a cargo ship, let's inspect them to make sure they’re really what they say they are."

 

"What are you going to do about the communications?" With a look of amusement on her face, Lynn looked up at Marika in the captain's seat. "Are you going to send it in that captain's uniform and request an inspection?"

 

Marika glared lightly at Lynn. "I'd love to try that out and see the captain of the intelligence gathering ship’s reaction, but unfortunately the current captain of the White Swan is a man."

 

"If I ask the control station for communications data, I'm sure I can easily gather the necessary data, so I can quickly create an avatar to put over Marika's image."

 

"I'll send the request for inspection by message." Marika spoke the plan she had decided on from the beginning. "Even if we communicated directly, it would still take a full 30 seconds for a round trip. Sending a message would be less likely to result in mistakes and would give both parties time to consider each other's actions, rather than a clumsy direct communication."

 

"Now, let's create a message for St. Elmo 49." Gruier began tapping away at the keyboard.

 

"A standard template is fine, right? Shall I start by introducing ourselves?"

 

"Yes." Marika nodded out loud. "From the pirate ship White Swan to the Outland Trading cargo ship, St. Elmo 49, um, a request for inspection under wartime law..."

 

"Wait a moment." Jenny started tapping on the control panel in the first officer's seat. "There should be some standard text from when it was the White Swan in the communication records, so, um, I think this should be fine. A request for inspection based on the Federation of Colonial Stars Wartime Special Laws No. 2578 and No. 3119."

 

Marika checked the date of the message in the old record that Jenny had passed around to the captain's seat. If the timestamp was more recent, it might not fit the current legal system during the War of Independence.

 

"Yes, I think this is fine. I think it will work if we just replace the proper nouns and location information where necessary."

 

"Is the boarding request the only thing you're sending?"

 

Marika looked at Gruier. "I'm requesting that St. Elmo 49 stop accelerating and come under our command. If the intelligence gathering ship's operating time is linked to the outer planetary expeditionary fleet, then not accelerating any further now will cause damage to them."

 

"What about after that?" Gruier gazed intently up at Marika. "Are you really planning to board the Liberty class ship and inspect it?"

 

"No way." Marika stuck out her tongue. "It's a cargo ship that has released eight decoys and is equipped with a much more powerful engine than a standard type. If we get close enough to be able to see it, let alone inspect it, we'll know it's not just a cargo ship. A spaceship that came this far on an important mission like intelligence gathering is not going to listen to what we say."

 

"They might just pretend to listen." Gruier said without changing her expression. "They may pretend to comply with the request for inspection and neutralize us in some way as we approach. If we get close enough to see each other, they can hit them us beams and missiles even without radar."

 

"They don't know that we're an unarmed training sailing ship." Marika realized that the explanation Gruier was hoping for was also what the crew wanted to hear. "If both sides think the other is armed, then they're on equal footing. If it's a spaceship manned by professional soldiers from the intelligence department, they should have much more self-control than we do. If they know that firing their guns will prevent them from carrying out their mission, why would they go out of their way to fire their guns at an approaching pirate ship?"

 

"But still, it's not a very pleasant experience approaching a ship knowing that their weapons are ready." Lynn said casually. "If St. Elmo 49 accepts our inspection, please request that they open their control systems to us before contact."

 

Lynn tapped lightly on the control panel. "If we can see inside the other party via the network, that will be a preliminary inspection check."

 

"What the..." Marika looked at Lynn again. "Opening up their control systems to a pirate ship means giving up all power over life and death to us, right? They'd never agree to that!"

 

"So it's convenient, right?" Lynn started tapping on the control panel. "They only have a limited amount of time. We just need to hold out as long as possible and make them waste their time. If they really open up their control systems, we can check their equipment and contents without having to go through the trouble of boarding, and if they have nothing to hide, it should be easier for them since we can avoid the extra trouble of rendezvous and docking. Above all, there's no way they'll just accept such an unreasonable request."

 

Lynn looked up at the captain's seat and grinned. "Don't you think this is the perfect excuse to buy time?"

 

The Odette II sent a message requesting inspection to the Liberty class cargo ship St. Elmo 49 under the name of the White Swan. At the same time, it was instructed to switch to inertial navigation while maintaining orbit.

 

When a message is sent with a receipt confirmation while navigating with a transponder, there is no excuse for not receiving it. The reply came back as a message.

 

"It is an honor to have a boarding request from the famous pirate ship, the White Swan, but unfortunately, St. Elmo 49 cannot accept your request." Gruier smoothly read out the reply from St. Elmo 49. "This ship has signed a contract with the Medical Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Sea of the Morningstar Government to deliver the advanced medical drugs it is carrying to the Sea of the Morningstar Relay Station as soon as possible. For humanitarian reasons, we ask that you refrain from interfering with the ship's route, including boarding. St. Elmo 49’s captain, James F28 Cookie."

 

Gruier looked up from the communication monitor. "Excluding the text regarding the Wartime Special Measures Act and the certification related text, this is the main text of the message."

 

"Thanks, Gruier." Marika, who had been looking at the message nervously, let out a sigh and relaxed.

 

"So they say that medical drugs are being transported." Lynn spoke in a exasperated voice. "What shall we do? Should we ask the control station if there really is such a contract?"

 

"It's easy to create a paper contract." Jenny said, scrolling through the message on the display with a serious look on her face. "It's not that hard to load real medical cargo onto an intelligence-gathering ship. Even if it's a fake transport ship packed with so much stuff that it’s running out of cargo space, it's still possible to transport a small amount of medicine. The reason they specifically chose a Liberty class ship as an intelligence-gathering ship is so that they can say that their main job is as a cargo ship in case of an emergency."

 

"What are we going to do?" Yayoi asked. “Can cargo ships transporting medical supplies not be inspected?”

 

"That's ridiculous." Jenny flatly denied it. "Hospital ships are the only ones you shouldn't mess with, friend or foe. I heard there were even landing craft disguised as refugee ships, so if you let them off the hook just because they made an excuse, you can't run a pirate business."

 

"Gruier?" Marika called out to the radio operator's seat. "Can you please write the message? If I do it, we'll arrive at the Sea of the Morningstar by the time I finish composing it."

 

"I understand." Gruier put her hands on the keyboard. "So you want me to take Captain Marika's intentions into account and tailor the message to suit the current times."

 

"Right. Well, I'll ask them once again to accept an inspection based on the Wartime Special Measures Act, and then, if we confirm the existence of emergency medical supplies, we'll transport them...” Clearing her throat, Marika repeated herself so as not to confuse anyone. "I told them not to worry, as we will take care of it with the White Swan. Is there anything else we should add in terms of diplomatic strategy?"

 

"That's right." Gruier, who had been moving her fingers as she listened, paused to think for a moment. "Shall I suggest that the White Swan is faster than a Liberty class cargo ship, so it can deliver urgently needed advanced medical drugs more quickly?"

 

"Wow." Lynn muttered softly. "You're saying that after seeing the Liberty class blow past standard-class ships like it's no problem. That's sarcastic."

 

"It's a wartime negotiation." Jenny replied in a soft voice. "It would be strange if there wasn't that much sarcasm. Besides, if we can avoid actual combat by just exchanging words, it would be better for both of us."

 

"How about this?" Gruier sent the completed message to the captain's seat. Marika noticed that the message Gruier had written was so elaborate and pretentious that it was difficult to understand the contents by skimming through it. "It's amazing how you can write such complicated sentences so easily."

 

"There is a pattern. All you have to do is to combine things accordingly. It’s simple."

 

"Okay, send it like this."

 

 

The reply from St. Elmo 49 was that they use special containers to transport advanced medical drugs, so it is impossible to transfer only the contents, and it is not realistic to transfer special containers in a place without port facilities. They also sent a flight plan for the Sea of the Morningstar Control Station along with a notice that they would soon begin final acceleration.

 

"It's all lies..."

 

"Well, they can set things up however they like."

 

Flight plans submitted to the Orbital Control Station are automatically approved unless they are extremely reckless from the start. Marika displayed St. Elmo 49's flight plan on the display and checked its trajectory.

 

"For their flight plan, they're only planning to accelerate to the extent that they can still claim to be a cargo ship."

 

The St. Elmo 49 planned to accelerate to further shorten the remaining journey to the Sea of the Morningstar, and to decelerate to enter orbit around the Sea of the Morningstar. The acceleration planned was much lower than the acceleration performance of St. Elmo 49 estimated from observed data to date, and was comparable to that of a standard Liberty class spacecraft operating without regard for schedule priority and operating costs. Since deceleration is usually done by pointing the main engine in the direction of travel, maximum acceleration is equal to maximum deceleration.

 

"Well, please check with the relay station to see if St. Elmo 49 has reserved a pier with special port facilities based on their schedule."

 

"I think that's pointless." Jenny interrupted Marika's instructions. "If the pier reservation wasn't made according to the flight plan, that might be a good point to criticize, but if they insist that it was a paperwork error, that's all. Instead, why don't you pretend to be in a hurry and request an inspection via the network?"

 

Marika checked the distance between the Odette II and the St. Elmo 49. The Odette II was continuing to accelerate slowly, gradually closing the distance between her and the St. Elmo 49, but it would still take some time before they could make contact.

 

"Or is it the pirate way to put up with the other party's excuses until they actually make contact?"

 

"Apparently, there are some pirates who are clever like that." Marika smiled wryly. "But that's not my style. Okay. Let's request the St. Elmo 49 to open their network so we can conduct the inspection with time as the top priority. Please add that if they don't comply, we may use force."

 

"Use force?"

 

Gruier asked, moving her hands. Marika cleared her throat and answered.

 

"Do something scary."

 

 

The reply from St. Elmo 49 was a little slower than before. It was just when the bridge was starting to consider whether to prepare a new version of the message with the same content, that the reply finally arrived. “I don't understand the meaning of opening our network. Please explain it to me.”

 

That's within the realm of expectation. Immediately after the last message was sent, Lynn and Gruier sent a message in which they explained in detail, including Jenny's legal opinion.

 

The reply from the St. Elmo 49 was even slower. "Access to the network on board the St. Elmo 49 is limited to pre-registered users and devices, so third parties cannot access it from outside."

 

Lynn snorted as she read over the perfunctory reply. "If that's really true, then we live in a peaceful universe where it's impossible to take control of the ship via the network."

 

"In exchange, we're willing to provide you with the details of the cargo on board and its registration information."

 

Jenny shrugged after reading the same text. "Do these people really think that just showing pirates a cargo manifest is enough?"

 

"If they listened to everything pirates say, they certainly wouldn't be able to run their transportation business." Marika scrolled through the messages she had received from start to finish. "So, what do you think? Do you think we'll be able to find holes in their system or network from the exchanges we've had so far?"

 

Compared to the time when they could only gather information from radar and sensors on radio silent spaceships, the situation has improved greatly since they can now communicate directly, even if it's just through messages.

 

"Well, I think I’m starting to get the basics figured out." Lynn tapped the control panel sporadically, like raindrops. "They're very disciplined, only communicating with us through their transponders, and the standard automated response with the relay station. Perhaps the jamming we've set up on their path is working, there's no sign of them communicating with the decoys they sent ahead."

 

"There's no sign of FTL communication apart from the relay station." The ponytail in the radar/sensor seat reported. "It doesn't seem like they're in contact with the outer planetary reconnaissance fleet either."

 

"We've got a call from St. Elmo 49!" Gruier announced the arrival of a new message. "They're about to begin final acceleration towards the Sea of the Morningstar."

 

"Well, I knew it would come to this, but it looks like we'll have to use force." Marika let out an exaggerated sigh. "Please tell St. Elmo 49 that the inspection will take place after their final acceleration. The inspection will take place before final deceleration, so there will be no time lost by accepting the inspection, and that if the inspection turns out to be unsuccessful, the White Swan will guarantee a safe arrival at the relay station."

 

"Roger that." Gruier immediately began composing a new message.

 

"Anyway, communication before an inspection is like a ritual, and it has to be done." Marika explained. "I've never heard of a cargo ship that would accept a pirate inspection without hesitation, and 'm sure there are very few pirates who would abandon an inspection just because of a communication."

 

"Very few, so does that mean it happens sometimes?"

 

"Yes. There are many stories, like the other ship having an epidemic, or something being strange and then investigated to find out it was an illegal merchant ship, or it was a pirate hunter."

 

"An illegal merchant ship..."

 

“Assuming the St. Elmo 49 accelerates according to its flight plan, please create a flight plan for us so that we can rendezvous during their final inertial navigation."

 

Marika looked at the trajectory map to the Sea of the Morningstar. St. Elmo 49 has already reached a speed that exceeds interplanetary travel speed. If it accelerates further, it will arrive at the Sea of the Morningstar sooner, but if it doesn't slow down, they would just pass right by it.

 

The pursuing Odette II’s speed has already exceeded the St. Elmo 49's speed a long time ago, so it will also need to slow down again in order to rendezvous.

 

"If we compare our deceleration time with their acceleration schedule, the final rendezvous time will not change much." Sasha, in the navigator's seat, showed a rough trajectory prediction on the display. "If the St. Elmo 49 maintains its current speed, we won't be able to match our speeds and rendezvous unless we slow down significantly, but if they accelerate, our deceleration time will be shorter."

 

"Even though the rendezvous schedule won't change much, they're still forcing the acceleration, so..."

 

Marika continued from Lynn, who muttered a summary.

 

"What it means is they want to get to the Sea of the Morningstar as quickly as possible."

 

Marika reviewed the orbital diagram. She superimposed predicted trajectories on it, assuming that the six decoys, whose signals had already disappeared, were following the same orbits as last observed.

 

“It would be obvious if they slowed down the decoys that we've already issued an alarm for and sent them into the space near the Sea of the Morningstar, so they're probably only expecting them to make observations as they pass by. Even if it's just a one-time flyby, if six of them are sent out at the same time, they can gather a lot of data. However, in this day and age, an unmanned probe of that size probably wouldn't be equipped with FTL links, so they can't collect data unless they’re within a certain distance. Even if they're considering the possibility of the decoys being intercepted, if they can reach the Sea of the Morningstar at the same time, the accuracy of their observations will increase.”

 

"Even at this point, it's a spaceship that's faithful to its mission." Lynn spoke up. “Well, I'm impressed. If I wasn't in this position, I'd like to learn a lot from them."

 

"I'm learning about various tactics and negotiation methods from them. I don't know if it'll be useful."

 

"It's not a job suited to post-war pirates."

 

“However, if we don't do what we can to prevent them, I don't know whether they I’ll be able to pirate after the war.” Marika looked around the bridge. "As things stand, we can't stop the St. Elmo 49 from performing its final acceleration. After this, we'll continue to request inspections and rendezvous to stop the intelligence gathering ship. We'll continue to jam communications with the St. Elmo 49, but can we use electronic warfare to take over the enemy's control at the same time?"

 

"To be honest, I don't think we can take over their controls." Lynn began tapping on the control panel furiously. "But we can try all sorts of things, and let them know we're serious. Maybe we can find a good backdoor."

 

"Please proceed."

 

"Please check your messages." Gruier, in the radio operator's seat, passed a new message to the captain's seat. When the St. Elmo 49 finished its final acceleration, the White Swan would inspect it as soon as possible, so prepare to receive it.

 

"Just to be safe, we should prepare to board." Jenny floated up from the first officer's seat. "The captain can't leave the bridge to inspect the enemy ship, so I'll prepare things here."

 

"Please do it." Marika thought of the faces of all the members of the yacht club who were currently on board the Odette II. "Um, do you want someone to help out?"

 

"No. We're going to be dealing with an intelligence spaceship operated by a professional soldier. Even if we have a little bit of experience, there's no way high school girls from 120 years after the war can know what kind of traps might set up. Or, Captain Marika, have you ever done a formal inspection?"

 

Marika immediately shook her head. "No!"

 

"Right? Even if we manage to dock and allowed to inspect, it's obvious that there will be trouble after that. So we're going to prepare to prevent that from happening."

 

"What are you going to do?"

 

"It's a dirty trick, but once we've connected to the boarding bridge, I'll inject some incapacitating gas into the ship." Waving to the murmuring crew, Jenny headed for the bridge door.

 

“If we can get the Liberty class to sleep for two or three days before final deceleration, it will pass through the inner planetary system at its current speed. By that time, the outer planetary reconnaissance fleet will have already withdrawn, and when they return, the regular fleet of the star system military will be there to take them on."

 

"Please proceed." Marika waved goodbye to Jenny as she left the bridge.

 

 

As previously announced, the St. Elmo 49 performed its final acceleration to shorten their flight time. Although its arrival speed was slower than that of the Odette II, which continues to accelerate at a low speed, it will arrive at the Sea of the Morningstar sooner.

 

To approach in space, you must match your relative speed to that of the other spaceship. In the vacuum of space, objects do not decelerate like they do in water or the atmosphere, so they continue to move at their initial speed.

 

Due to the St. Elmo 49's final acceleration, the distance between them and the Odette II decreased more slowly, and the speed difference also decreased.

 

The back and forth between requests for inspection and gentle refusals continued endlessly.

 

"Maybe the exchange of requests for inspection during the war was automated to some extent?" Gruier spoke up while she was busy composing messages. "Basically, they're just saying no to an inspection, but in a roundabout way with plausible explanations, so if they make a template, they can just replace the recipient's name and get away with it."

 

"Yeah, I guess."

 

After exchanging messages multiple times, the content of the messages began to repeat similar points. Gruier often found herself simply cutting and pasting previous messages to create new ones.

 

"Inspection requests are done by normal communication unless it's a long distance like this time, right?"

 

"I think so."

 

“Whether the communications officer acts as a proxy or the captain does it directly, at least direct communication avoids exchanging copied messages.”

 

For voice communications that includes images, interacting in person is easier than creating text messages.

 

"I see. So one of the effects of an inspection request is to make the other party communicate directly and annoy them."

 

"I'm not making a prank call."

 

"What about the electronic warfare?" Marika changed the person she was talking to. "Do you think it will be possible?"

 

"Ah, no." Lynn, in the electronic warfare seat, answered in a gloomy voice.

 

"The data is increasing little by little, but it's an old system that I'm not used to using. The protocols are completely different in strange places, and since it was before the merger with the Empire, there are standards I've never seen before. I can deal with it because we have an old system, but this is difficult."

 

"I see..."

 

"If the enemy was a little more aggressive, I could read their moves and get a sense of their habits, but they're pretty much silent. I don’t know how people in the old days used electronic warfare against opponents like this."

 

"Please continue."

 

"We'll be passing the point of closest approach soon." Sasha in the navigator seat announced. "St. Elmo 49, no movement."

 

The St. Elmo 49, which had left the ecliptic plane of the Tau star system, was on an orbit that would return to the ecliptic plane from the southern side. The Odette II, who had made a large FTL jump into the southern side, was approaching the St. Elmo 49 while still moving by inertial navigation.

 

The Odette II is currently traveling faster than the St. Elmo 49. According to their flight plan, the St. Elmo 49 will enter a deceleration sequence as it approaches the Sea of the Morningstar and enter a trajectory to the relay station. If it does not slow down, it will continue traveling at a speed far exceeding the escape velocity of the Tau system and will pass right through to the outer planets.

 

As it approaches, the Odette II is jamming communications and engaging in electronic warfare with the St. Elmo 49. However, the St. Elmo 49 remains almost silent except for transponder signals and communications regarding the inspection, and is not even performing radar scans of its course. The electronic warfare has not produced much success.

 

"The White Swan is a pirate ship famous for its electronic warfare." Jenny said as she returned to her first officer’s seat. "If you are even a little familiar with the name and are thinking about how to respond, it's basic to not play the game your opponent is good at."

 

"Well, thanks to that, 'I’m having fun." Lynn was tapping the control panel at a slow pace. "If they accidentally get serious, I don't know if I can fight them with the methods they used in the War of Independence."

 

"Optical image captured!" The braid in the radar/sensor seat reported. "The St. Elmo 49, maximum telephoto."

 

The display showed the silhouette of the St. Elmo 49, obtained through optical observations by the Odette II. The computer-corrected image was quite grainy, but the overall shape was still discernible.

 

The optical image of the cargo ship, captured after traveling hundreds of thousands of kilometers, showed it to be an old-fashioned spaceship with a chunky hull cluttered with antennas, auxiliary machinery, and folded robotic arms. It was unclear what color the hull was originally, but it was black with soot in places, discolored reddish-black and taking on a dim camouflage color.

 

"Wow." Lynn exclaimed. "What a dilapidated ship."

 

"Um... are there any blueprints for a standard Liberty class?"

 

"This is what a late model standard equipped with a FTL engine looks like."

 

At Marika's instruction, a wireframe 3D image was projected next to the flat optical image.

 

"Hmm?" Lynn compared the flat image of the St. Elmo 49 with the standard 3D blueprint. "At least, from what I can see, they haven't enlarged the engine section or added boosters."

 

"If the engine section hasn't been enlarged, that means they've either replaced the entire engine or even remodeled the internal structure to install a more powerful engine."

 

Lynn moved the 3D drawing of the standard Liberty class and overlaid it on the 2D image. The basic hull shape was almost identical.

 

"It looks like there are a lot of robotic arms and sensors that seem to have been added later, and there are a lot more antennas."

 

The antenna masts that would be compactly arranged on the upper keel on a standard model have been expanded to all four sides. There are even large parabolic antennas that are half the diameter of the ship on the top and bottom of the hull, and it is unclear what they are used for.

 

"It's basic to have good communication functions for a spaceship that flies long distances, but even the standard model should have enough communication equipment."

 

"In any case, a cargo ship doesn't need that many antennas, right?" Lynn glanced at the electronic warfare display. "Above all, it's really suspicious that they're not even sending out a single radar signal even though they've spread out their antennas like this."

 

"It's not an airspace where radar is needed."

 

The St. Elmo 49 is flying through an airspace just prior to entering the ecliptic.

 

"Prepare to decelerate, okay?" Marika checked the relative positions of the Odette II and the St. Elmo 49. Because of its high speed, the Odette II quickly overtook the St. Elmo 49.

 

"It's fine." "We've done it." Yayoi in the engineer's seat and Ai in the helmsman's seat answered.

 

"Okay, turn 180 degrees and start deceleration with the main engine. Tell the St. Elmo 49 that we'll rendezvous and force-dock regardless of their response."

 

"Roger that." Gruier answered.

 

"Commencing 180 degree turn."

 

The Odette II overtook the St. Elmo 49 at a much higher speed and begins to rotate around its center of gravity while maintaining its heading. Because the inertial control system is active, the only sound heard on the bridge is a faint creaking of the ship's hull.

 

"Radar/sensor systems, be alert." Marika said, pretending to be as calm as possible. "Has there been any change in the response from the St. Elmo 49?"

 

"No change." The freshmen in the radar/sensor seats responded in unison, switching between subsystems one after another. The display becomes distorted as the attitude of the spaceship relative to the target changes significantly. "The turn will be completed soon."

 

The Odette II completed its 180-degree turn, pointing its tail, equipped with FTL boosters, in the direction of travel. Since its speed hadn't changed, the distance between it and the St. Elmo 49 gradually increased.

 

"Commencing deceleration." Yayoi announced from the engineer's seat. The FTL booster began firing high thrust.

 

For both acceleration and deceleration, it's most efficient to use the engine at the maximum thrust a spaceship is equipped with. Following the basics of maneuvering protocol, the Odette II began to decelerate with its bow facing the St. Elmo 49.

 

"In a real battle, there's no way we would face the enemy like this." Lynn muttered as she checked the distance to the St. Elmo 49 on the display. It was a distance that would allow for long-range artillery fire.

 

"It's not a battle. It's an inspection." Marika said as she looked at the frontal image of the St. Elmo 49 obtained through optical observation. “Well, I guess if we've come within artillery range, we've probably already come to an understanding.”

 

Not wanting to do anything that would expose its maximum performance in front of the enemy, the Odette II slowed down, limiting the thrust output of its FTL booster to a level that could be absorbed by its inertial control system, thereby narrowing the difference in relative speed with the St. Elmo 49. The rate at which the relative distance was increasing slowed.

 

"It's moving!" The short haired freshman called out. "Radar from the St. Elmo 49!"

 

"Which is it? Navigation or shooting!?"

 

"For now, it's just navigation..." The short haired freshman confirmed the type of radar fired from the St. Elmo 49. If it's a navigation radar that detects obstacles ahead, it’s neither accurate nor powerful enough to be used for fire control.

 

"But there's a new antenna rising from the side of the hull." The ponytail in charge of optical observation zoomed in on the image of the St. Elmo 49 captured from the front. "That isn't a low-power radar for navigation, is it?"

 

A hexagonal honeycomb-like antenna extended from the side of the St. Elmo 49's hull, facing forward.

 

"It's a phased array radar for fire control." It was Jenny who pointed it out. “Did warships of this era have antennas like that?”

 

"Keep an eye out for any other movements." Marika stared intently at the image of the front of the St. Elmo 49. No visible shipboard weapons had been spotted yet.

 

"What should we do?" The short hair asked. “If they hit us with fire control radar at this distance, they'll be able to measure our exact location.”

 

"We're using reverse thrust in front of the enemy." Marika spoke as slowly as possible. "They don't need to bring out a fire control radar now. They can easily determine our position with optical and infrared observations."

 

"Shall I try to fire back?" Lynn, in the electronic warfare seat, said cheerfully. "Our fire control radar is already built into the antenna mast. We can fire immediately without the trouble of deploying it like they did."

 

"Not yet." Marika was watching the optical image of the honeycomb-structured phased array radar deploy on the side of the St. Elmo 49.

 

"They just deployed their fire control radar, they haven’t fired it at us. But..." Marika confirmed their position relative to the St. Elmo 49. "... Deploy all solar sails. Align the light direction and focal point directly with the St. Elmo 49."

 

"What!?" Unable to understand what Marika meant by her order, Lynn looked up at the captain's seat.

 

"The enemy is illuminating us with their navigation radar, though not continuously." Marika said, wondering how well her sudden idea would work on their enemy. "If we fully open the solar sail in this state and point it at them, all of the radar they fire will return to them. It will probably look like our signal has suddenly increased."

 

"So in this configuration, we'll be pointing a mirror at the enemy." Jenny jumped from the first officer's seat to the rigging seat and began the operation. After entering a low acceleration state, the mast was fully open, but the Odette II's solar sail was not deployed.

 

"That's right. The solar sail can accurately reflect not only sunlight but also electromagnetic waves. And the fire control radar emits high-power radar for precise measurement, but it is not designed to receive all of the radio waves it emits."

 

The position of the star Tau is to the side relative to the Odette II. If the direction of the star and the direction of the reflection are aligned with St. Elmo 49, Odette II's solar sail will not receive sunlight.

 

"Even with optical observations, it should look like we've suddenly become larger."

 

The only things illuminating the Odette II are the radar emitted by the enemy and the sunlight from the star Tau.

 

"If the enemy knows that the White Swan is a solar sailing ship, they won't be able to act carelessly..."

 

"Yes, setup complete." Jenny sat in the rigging seat and typed in a command into the control panel. The solar sail unfolded between the extended masts, forming a huge field with the Odette II at the center.

 

"Navigation radar output from the St. Elmo 49 is reduced!" The short hair announced happily.

 

"You've got guts." Jenny floated up from the rigging seat to the captain's seat and whispered to Marika. “Isn’t it like spreading your arms in front the enemy and asking them to shoot?”

 

"If we’re going to be a target anyway, don't you think it would be better to be bigger so they won't hit the important spots?" Marika answered so the rest of the crew could hear. "In this state, if the enemy uses their fire control radar, it will come right back at them. Of course, if the target is too big, they'll probably just have to aim blindly at the center."

 

"So it's safer than just approaching silently?"

 

"And if they fire even one shot, they'll lose." Marika looked at St. Elmo 49 on the display with a gloomy expression. "We can't force our way through. But if we really have to dock and inspect in this state, that would be the worst thing..."

 

After muttering, Marika spoke up.

 

"Odette II, continue deceleration! Continue approaching the St. Elmo 49!"

 

With its solar sail field fully extended, the Odette II slowly closed the distance between it and the St. Elmo 49.

 

 

In the end, the St. Elmo 49 fired its navigation radar several times in the wrong direction before retracting its fire control radar back inside the ship without ever using it. In Lynn's opinion, the wide beam of the navigation radar was measuring the effective area of the Odette II's solar sail, which was spread wide along its course.

 

And so, the St. Elmo 49 accepted the White Swan's request for inspection.

 

"Please confirm the procedure for forced docking with a Liberty class freighter." Marika began preparations for the inspection of the St. Elmo 49. "I am familiar with the Bentenmaru, but we're going to do a forced docking using the Odette II, are you okay Ai?"

 

"I'll manage it!" With a pale face, Ai, at the helm, answered bravely while showing the forced docking procedure from the White Swan era that she had dug up from the depths of the archives on the display.

 

"Well, if we do a forced docking with the FTL booster still attached, it might take a while because of the increased inertia."

 

"I don't mind if it takes a little while. It would be bad if it took so long that the other party thinks we weren't professional pirates, though."

 

"Move the incapacitating gas to the boarding bridge!" Jenny began preparing the incapacitating gas to be injected into St. Elmo 49 from the boarding bridge that was connected after the forced docking. She called the members of the crew who were not directly involved in the rendezvous and docking procedures over the entire ship's broadcast. "Everyone, put on your spacesuits and assemble at storeroom No. 6 on the port side! We’re going in."

 

"Please proceed." Marika called out to Jenny as she left the bridge. "I think we'll leave it to you to be the first to board the St. Elmo 49."

 

"What I'm worried about is the expiration date of the incapacitating gas in the storeroom." Jenny stopped in her tracks, putting her hand on the door, and gave a meaningful smile. "There's no way they'd use an incapacitating gas for riot suppression on a girls' school training sailing ship. If you check the ingredients, it's not something that deteriorates, so I think it's fine, but it was used during the War of Independence, so be prepared."

 

"Oh, no."

 

"Don't worry, I'll bring the anesthetic gas from the infirmary, so if the incapacitating gas doesn't work, I'll use that."

 

"We'll start a wired attack at the same time as boarding bridge connects." Lynn, in the electronic warfare seat, was busy preparing to take over their controls.

 

"Our electronic weapons are 120 years more advanced than theirs, so no matter how much it's upgraded for military use, I can easily take over the controls of an old cargo ship. Even if the incapacitating gas and anesthetic gas don't work, it'll be fine if we send St. Elmo 49 into outer space, right?"

 

"No, as long as we can neutralize its ability as an information gathering ship, that's fine..."

 

No inspection was carried out. Finally, when they had come within a few thousand kilometers of each other, a new message arrived from the St. Elmo 49.

 

An urgent telegram from the Outland Trading headquarters stated that defects had been found in the advanced medical drug being transported and that it should be recalled immediately. The St. Elmo 49 is cancelling its flight plan to the Sea of the Morningstar and was returning to the relay station at the planet Sechi.

 

As the Odette II approached in them space, the St. Elmo 49 quickly changed course and steered toward the outer planetary system. The message ended with the standard message wishing the ship a safe voyage.

 

The Odette II returned a message wishing the ship all the best, as if they were seeing it off, and continued on the same orbit.

 

Although deceleration stopped when the St. Elmo 49 changed course, Marika kept the solar sails fully spread as she watched it depart.

 

The jamming continued for several hours, until the St. Elmo 49 disappeared beyond the Odette II's detection capabilities.

 

"Is this the end?" Jenny asked to confirm as she repeatedly scanned the direction of the outer planets with radar.

 

"At the last observation, the St. Elmo 49 was accelerating toward the outer planets." Ponytail in the radar/sensor seat said. "If it were to reverse course and return starting from that speed, it would take a minimum of 36 hours to return to our current location."

 

"Is that for a standard Liberty class? Or was it calculated based on the performance of the St. Elmo 49?"

 

"A standard Liberty class would take 72 hours." Ponytail answered confidently. "The outer planet reconnaissance fleet should have already begun to withdraw by then."

 

"I guess it's over." Marika let out a deep sigh and stretched her back in the captain's seat. "Disable combat mode, retract the solar sails."

 

"Roger."

 

The atmosphere on the bridge, which had been tense with combat readiness, relaxed. Jenny was about to jump to the rigging seat, but Lynn in the electronics seat beckoned her.

 

"What is it?"

 

"Look at this." Lynn brought up a list of battle record files on the display. "This is the data that was visible from the beginning. This is the data that couldn't be seen unless the FTL booster was connected. And this is the data now."

 

Lynn looked at Jenny's face. "There are now three battle records from the same date. What should we do?"

 

"…Huh?"

 

Lynn looked over the three battle files lined up on the display. "I can't show these by accident. I guess I'll just have to hide them somewhere they can't be seen..."

 

The bridge started to get noisy, and an electronic alarm sounded.

 

"What!?"

 

Marika jumped up and looked around the control panel, and Gruier spoke up.

 

"We have astronomical information from the Sea of the Morningstar Orbit Control Station. The flare caused by abnormal activity from the star Tau, which was observed two days ago, will soon pass through the inner planetary system, so any spaceships in the vicinity should be careful when navigating."

 

"I remember!" Marika exclaimed, looking around the bridge.

 

"Observe the surrounding airspace! Look for any spatial disturbances in the vicinity similar to the one we saw when we came here! We won't be able to get back if we keep going like this!"

 

“There is a spatial disturbance in the direction of the Sea of the Morningstar. It’s small-scale, but similar to the one on our way here.”

 

As if she had already checked, Gruier passed around the astronomical agency's space forecast to the captain's seat.

 

A spatial disturbance was confirmed near Sea of the Morningstar's Lagrange point. Looking at the coordinates, Marika immediately realized that it was in the same position relative to Tau and the Sea of the Morningstar 120 years in the future.

 

"There, that's the target!" Marika shouted in a manner unbecoming of a captain. "Go in before it disappears! If it's the same pattern as on the way there, we should be able to get back!!"

 

For a moment, the bridge of the Odette II was shrouded in darkness, and the emergency power supply quickly switched on. In the dim emergency lights, the piercing sound of the emergency alarm brought Marika back to her senses.

 

"Confirm current location! Transponder, transmit Odette II signal! And get the current time if possible!!"

 

Before she could get a reply, the Galactic Positioning System in the captain's seat displayed familiar coordinates and time.

 

"Galactic Standard Calendar, confirmed!" Lynn shouted enthusiastically. "Galactic Positioning System and standard time have both been restored! We're back!"

 

"Not yet." Jenny, in the first officer's seat, carefully checked the surrounding space. "We need to confirm that our world is really the same as it was before."

 

"We have a radar signal!" The short hair announced. “Unidentified ship nearby."

 

The display that received the transponder immediately showed the name of the ship.

 

"...Odette II!?"

 

"Thank goodness." Jenny, in the first officer's seat, shook her head with a look of relief. "Captain Marika, that was us a week ago."

 

Jenny pointed to the clock on the control panel, which was set to Galactic Standard Time. "It’s probably just before we were sucked into the spatial disturbance chasing the fake Odette II. If we're there, then this must be the original world."

 

"Eh?" Unable to fully comprehend the situation happening before her eyes, Marika looked back at the signature of the Odette II shown on the display.

 

“I thought it might be something like this. What in the world was that spaceship that looked just like the Odette II that appeared before us before we jumped into the War of Independence? Come on, Captain Marika, please successfully lure us into the spatial disturbance of a week ago.”

 

"Eh, uh..." Marika tried to remember the situation on the training voyage just a week ago. "Well, we'll detach the FTL booster and use only the solar sails to get around to the other side of the spatial disturbance..."

 

 

 

Things went mostly as the crew remembered.

 

At the very last moment, just before the Odette II was about to be engulfed in the rapidly expanding spatial disturbance, Marika hurriedly sent the message that was recorded in the communication logs.

 

The pursuing Odette II disappeared into the spatial disturbance, just as Marika and the others remembered.

 

"All right, this situation is resolved." Lynn clapped her hands as her sensors showed a reaction very similar to a spatial jump. "Do your best, us from a week ago."

 

Marika was looking at the message she had sent to the Odette II when Jenny came up from the first officer's seat.

 

"Thank you for your hard work. Now we can finally go home."

 

A communication alert rang out. Marika looked at the display and reflexively tapped the communication panel.

 

"This is the Bentenmaru, Odette II come in?" A familiar face appeared on the monitor along with a familiar voice.

 

"Hyakume!?" Marika raised her voice and put the headset to her ear. "This is the Hakuoh Girls' Academy Yacht Club, training sailing ship Odette II, Kato Marika! Is that really the pirate ship Bentenmaru?"

 

"You’re asking if we are the pirate ship Bentenmaru?" On the communications monitor, Hyakume looked at Marika with a puzzled expression.

 

"Is everyone there? Misa, Kane, Schnitzer, Coorie, Luca, and Sandaime are all on board!?"

 

"Yes." Hyakume switched cameras with a practiced manner. The main bridge of the Bentenmaru was shown, with the captain's seat empty. Cheers rang out from the bridge of the Odette II.

 

"As you can see, everyone is here. We rushed over because an unidentified look-alike had appeared. What's going on?" Hyakume asked, showing the faces of the crew on duty on the bridge. "You look like you haven't seen us in 100 years, you know?"

 

Still clutching the headset, Marika closed her eyes with a big smile on her face. "It's been 120 years. Thank you for coming." Taking a deep breath, Marika opened her eyes. "Well, we need to return the FTL booster to the military's anchorage airspace and return to the relay station. Please escort us."

 

"Aye Aye, sir." Hyakume returned a stiff salute from the monitor. "If that's your order, Captain, we'll do as you wish. By the way," Hyakume looked at Marika with interest from the monitor "is that a new captain's uniform? It's nice, as expected of a girls' school, it's gorgeous."

 

"Too bad." Marika took off her captain's hat. "It’s restricted to the White Swan."

 

"Huh?"

 

"Now, let's go back to retrieve the FTL booster." Marika put her captain's hat back on and clapped her hands. "Odette II, prepare to launch!"

 

"Umm..." Gruier whispered from the radio operator's seat.

 

"Hmm? What?"

 

"Who exactly wrote the last message Marika sent to the Odette II?"

 

Marika looked at the communications monitor and saw the message still displayed in front of her.

 

Afterword (Asahi Novels version)

 

I just finished checking the galleys over the phone and am now writing the afterword.

 

"See you in an hour."

 

Well, it was none other than the author who delayed it this much, so it's his own fault. I'm a guy who never learns.

 

So, this time, I’m bringing you a time-travel historical story. Even I'm not entirely sure how a time-travel space opera story can be considered a historical story, but anything goes with space pirates, I guess.

 

Because this is a historical story, the use of super technology is kept to a minimum. Instead, existing technology, electromagnetic waves, and their applications such as radar and communication are used abundantly.

 

Electromagnetic waves propagate at the speed of light. On Earth, radar shows the visible field with almost no time lag, but in outer space, the situation is a little different. It's wide and unobstructed.

 

The average distance from the Earth to the Moon is roughly 380,000 km. So, let's go out into space and fire a radar across a distance of about 1 million kilometers.

 

The speed of light is 300,000 kilometers per second. It takes roughly just under seven seconds for the radar to travel 1 million kilometers, bounce off a target, and return. That doesn't really make sense to me.

 

 

But that's just how it is when you use radar in space. At least that’s what I think it's like. With that in mind, this time I'm trying out using an ultra-long-range radar at tens of millions of kilometers. I guess it would be impossible unless we brought in a dedicated electronic warfare ship. However, in radio astronomy, we can easily observe celestial bodies at light-year distances, so I think it's probably okay.⁶

 

The workplace, which I wrote about in the afterword to the previous volume, is also where I wrote a significant portion of this story.

 

It's a three-story reinforced concrete building that used to be an old elementary school, and the room I'm renting is in the corner of the third floor, built on the challenging northern land. I was terrified at what it would be like in the winter, and it turned out to be a disaster.

 

I don't think the minimum temperature inside the room dropped below freezing, but that means it's warmer inside a refrigerator. With kerosene fan heaters, if the ambient temperature is below 5 degrees C, the digital display just shows a single horizontal line and doesn't show the temperature.

 

This big old classroom is equipped with two fan heaters, so I thought I could run them both at the same time, but the room is so big that it takes a long time to heat up. I thought I could maintain the temperature with one heater once it got warm enough, but the room temperature, which I had finally managed to raise to nearly 20 degrees C, started to gradually drop.

 

I had no choice but to bring in winter sweaters and jackets, but it still wasn't enough, so I moved my desk closer to the fan heater, and even though I got so close that the hot air was directly hitting me, that was the only place that was warm.

 

In the end, I managed to create an environment where I could work by sticking air cushion sheets used for packing between the pillars and forcing the volume to be heated to be smaller, but being a testing ground is terrifying.

 

However, being in an environment without an internet connection and with nothing else to do but write has been a great help, and my work efficiency has improved considerably compared to when I'm at home. I feel like it's improved. Maybe I'm just feeling like I'm working because I have nothing else to do and I'm writing instead.

 

The film "Bodacious Space Pirates: The Movie" is in production and is scheduled for release in February 2014. It's scary, but also reassuring and encouraging that so many highly anticipated, talked-about, and masterpiece-worthy films will be released at the same time.

 

I'm hoping to have my next new work released by then, so I'll see you in the next one.

From a land without a rainy season

Yuichi Sasamoto

 

Afterword (KADOKAWA version)

 

The two White Swans six years later.

 

Here's part one of the War of Independence arc.

 

The author, who has always been a spontaneous storyteller, can't remember if I wrote the time slip arc because I was thinking about what would happen next or if I was desperate, but I guess I was testing things out while thinking about what would happen next.

 

Ah, I vaguely remember now. For series like this, big story points always revolve around establishing settings and then breaking them, so maybe I thought I could do it with a story about the setup, but I'm not sure.

 

In this story, I’m focusing on long-distance space combat, with a focus on enemy reconnaissance.

 

In both the past and present, to fight you need an opponent. You can't start a battle until you find the enemy, whether they're nearby or far away, and you can determine their location.

 

If the goal of both sides is to search for, find, and destroy each other, the story is relatively simple. However, since war is a negotiation in a different form, there are many troublesome circumstances for both sides, and the situation is not so simple.

 

The War of Independence is also a means for the Federation of Colonial Stars to gain greater benefits. The objectives of both sides in the battles that take place within it also change depending on the circumstances at the time.

 

This time, the Odette II, which has been drawn into the War of Independence due to various circumstances, has the objective of preventing a Liberty class freighter, which is conducting reconnaissance, from approaching the Sea of the Morningstar. The objective of the enemy Liberty class is to get as close as possible to the Sea of the Morningstar and gather as much electronic information as possible. In order to prevent each other's objectives, sinking the enemy is of course an option, but as people of the same technological civilization who can understand each other's language, even in times of war, that would be too much trouble.

 

This time, the enemy's objective is to gather information on the Sea of the Morningstar. The Odette II just needs to stop that. Since it's in space during wartime and without any weapons, it's extremely difficult to sink it, but since the enemy claims to be a civilian cargo ship, they can't just fire on it so easily.

 

In terms of the machinery it's equipped with, the Odette II, which launched from the the Sea of the Morningstar 120 years later after the Galactic Empire's annexation, doesn't actually have an overwhelming advantage.

 

I don't have a chance to explain it in detail in the story, but aside from super technologies like FTL travel and anti-gravity, electronic machines do not continue to advance infinitely in the real world.

 

For example, televisions and cameras are becoming increasingly high-resolution, but when it comes to displays, once the resolution exceeds that of the human eye, any higher resolution becomes meaningless.

 

The calculation speed of computing elements cannot be increased infinitely, and recording density cannot be increased infinitely either. The CPUs and memories of the mobile devices we currently have in our hands have achieved performance figures that seem unbelievable in the last ten years, but these advances may reach their practical limits within our lifetimes.

 

Once computing elements and memory elements have been miniaturized to the molecular or atomic level, it becomes impossible to make them any faster or denser. In other words, we can predict that computer calculation speed and memory density will sooner or later reach their limits.

 

As for chemical fuels, the energy that can be extracted from chemical formulas was calculated in the 19th century. No matter how many new technologies are developed, as long as chemical reactions are followed, it is impossible to extract more energy than the fuel contains.

 

As for materials, as long as known materials are used, we cannot expect strength beyond that dictated by intermolecular forces. Carbon nanotubes are expected to be used as a material for space elevators because, according to calculations, they can achieve the material strength required for a space elevator with a total length of 36,000 kilometers.

 

In other words, a technologically advanced civilization progressing normally will, at a certain point, reach the technological limits of computer speed and the strength of machine materials, and no further progress can be expected. Well, that's what it looks like on the surface, but in a space opera with FTL travel, anti-gravity, inertia control, and everything else, there are plenty of things that can be done if necessary.

 

No matter how far into space you go, the laws of physics and the phenomena that accompany them do not change. Whether it's a spaceship from 120 years ago or the Odette II from 120 years in the future, the speed of the electromagnetic waves it emits is the same, and the processing speed doesn't change much either.

 

Even if the limits of computing elements and memory circuits are reached, we can expect software to continue to improve. If the Odette II, currently carrying high school girls, were to enter space during the War of Independence and defeat active soldiers and military spaceships, it would only happen because software has advanced 120 years since then and an understanding of the events that have occurred up to that point.

 

This prediction is based on the assumption that the currently mainstream von Neumann-type computers will continue as they are, but I wonder if that will change if other types such as quantum computers appear. Since it is impossible to make things smaller or denser than the atomic or molecular level, I don't think it will be too far off.

 

Well, I thought I could manage it somehow, but what I learned from it was that space warfare is an incredibly time-consuming endeavor. Even if it's just in low planetary orbit, it's already difficult in its own way, but when the battle area expands to the diameter of a planetary orbit, even in an inner planetary system, just finding the enemy becomes a huge hassle, as you can see.

 

I’ve always wondered why wars are fought when it requires so much time and effort, and this is something I realized when I researched sailing ships and armaments from the Age of Discovery, which I’m a fan of. Long-distance communication was by semaphore, and the only way to send orders to the other side of the planet was to send written orders that took months to reach the destination, and sailing ships were the fastest means of transmitting information. Combat was relatively easy if ships were equipped with cannons, but even in times when the only means of long-distance attack were thrown weapons such as bows and spears, and the only means of propelling ships other than sails were oars operated by many people, people still formed fleets and fought battles.

 

 

While ocean battles were one thing, there are countless examples in history of large-scale battles between large numbers of people on land. Even in an age when megaphones were the only loudspeakers, and battlefields were vast and beyond the range of human voices, there are countless large-scale battles⁷.

 

When I look into the wisdom and techniques used to continue the battle and spread the will of command to the lowest level, I’m impressed that they were able to fight with such things, and astonished that people so intelligent had no other choice but to fight. But battles don't just happen by chance; there is a clear path leading up to them, and it is just one form of negotiation that is chosen, so whether we, as outsiders and spectators, agree with it or not, in most cases the trouble leading up to the battle is recorded.

 

In the end, no matter what stage of technology they have, intelligent beings (in this case, the human race on Earth throughout history) will use any means to achieve their desires. It's a surprisingly obvious conclusion.

 

What's scary about this obvious conclusion is that when it comes to space battles in the future, I’m making up what I think it might be like based on current battles, but when we actually get there, it could end up being a completely different situation, with people thinking "this is easier" or "this is more rational and practical." Well, if I ever get the chance to see it with my own eyes, I can just write a new story then.

 

In the next volume, volume 11, not only the Odette II but also the Bentenmaru will be transported to the galactic universe at the end of the War of Independence. This will be Sasamoto's last book in the Heisei era, and the next volume, volume 11, will be the first in the Reiwa era. So, what will the future hold?

 

April 1, 2019

Yuichi Sasamoto

 

This book is a new edition of "Miniskirt Space Pirates 10: The Two White Swans," published by Asahi Novel in June 2013, with additional content and corrections and a new cover.

Sasamoto Yuichi

 

 

 

1963: Born in Tokyo.

 

1974: Becomes hooked on "Space Battleship Yamato" from the original broadcast.

 

1979: Watches "Mobile Suit Gundam" from the original broadcast.

 

1982: Reads "Galactic Beggars’ Army" and learns how to use airplane pilot manuals as reference books.

 

1984: Published "Operation Fairy"

 

1992: Published "Come and See the Stars Dance"

 

1992: Begins researching rockets from the first H-II rocket to write a space opera.

 

2008: "Miniskirt space pirate" battle begins!

 

2012: "Bodacious Space Pirates" televised.

 

2014: "Bodacious Space Pirates" theatrical animation was released.

 

2018: "Miniskirt Space Pirates" second battle begins!

 

 

Matsumoto Noriyuki

 

 

 

Worked for a game company for about 10 years. After that, he became a freelance illustrator, working on illustrations for light novels. Currently, his main activity is manga. His representative works include "Rin - Noriyuki Matsumoto Art Collection" (Enterbrain), "Tsubame Yodamari Shoujo Kiko" (Tokuma Shoten), and "Minami Kamakura High School Girls Bicycle Club" (Mac Garden).

 

 

 

Notes

[←1]

TL note: Ms. Greenbell

[←2]

TL note: The author is very inconsistent when describing how much energy is required for FTL. First, it was enough to single handedly power an entire planet. Next, it could support several large cities (as long as they didn’t do anything too flashy), now it’s the equivalent of a single star.

[←3]

TL note: This is not just poetic. Look up Minkowski space on Wikipedia.

[←4]

TL note: I’ve been translating the original name of the Odette II, the Shiratori (白鳥号, hakuchou-gou) as the White Swan. However, the captain’s name is also Shiratori (シラトリ, written in katakana so it isn’t mistaken for the name of the ship.

[←5]

TL note: The “go to your cabin!” in the line before and the “Cabin…” here have a literal translation of “house!” and “House…”. In Japan, this is mostly used as a command to a dog, but it’s hard to put into English.

[←6]

TL note: Radio astronomy is quite different. It’s detecting signals from large, powerful objects (stars, quasars, etc.) with huge antennas (see “Very Large Array” on Wikipedia). A ships’ radar is limited by both the inverse-square law (see Wikipedia) and antenna size (see “angular resolution” on Wikipedia, particularly the Rayleigh criterion section.)

[←7]

TL note: That’s why battle drums and bugles were used – they could be heard much further than voices.