Chapter 2:
My First Space Colony
IT’S ABOUT TIME I told you about me: Satou Takahiro.
Location: a city in Hokkaido. Age: 27. Relationship status: single.
After graduating from high school, I went to a technical college in my hometown and joined a firm in that same town. Back in college, I dated a girl I met online, but…you know how long-distance relationships are. We broke up. I got signed on as a network administrator since I was “good with computers,” but I really had no actual expertise so I struggled to learn on the job. I spent most of my workdays flipping out at coworkers who managed to get viruses from every conceivable source: news pages, online shopping, fishy browser games, even porn sites.
My hobbies? Video games. That’s it. And I wasn’t all that picky. I’d play Japanese and Western games alike. For a while, I was obsessed with first-person shooters, playing them so much that I hit the top of the scoreboards. I never quite had the skill to take first place, but I was among the very best in Japan at the time.
Since my coworkers thought I “looked scary” with my “intimidating eyes,” I didn’t really get much social interaction or camaraderie in my daily life. That’s what drew me to Stella Online, a game that allowed me to explore the vast reaches of space on my own. In the end, I got addicted to it.
That’s pretty much all you need to know about me. Oh, right—I like carbonated drinks. That fizzy sensation in the throat is just incredible.
That’s enough about me. Let’s get back to my current predicament.
“And where did you obtain all of this Rare Metal in your cargo?” The Port Authority seemed intent on interrogating me.
“I got all the stuff in my ship from defeating and looting space pirates. Any other problems?” I was fortunate that alcohol wasn’t contraband in this colony with how curious they were about the Rare Metal. I had no clue where the pirates had gotten it, so my only option was to play innocent.
At this point, I was an unaffiliated, uninteresting, self-styled mercenary with no proof of identity. How would you feel if a guy like that strolled in with tons of precious metals? Yeah, suspicious. Extremely suspicious. I couldn’t blame the Port Authority worker for being thorough in his questioning.
“And you absolutely cannot tell me where you got it?” he pressed.
“I’ve been telling you where I got it: from the pirates. This pointless questioning is really irritating.” Was this guy talking in circles intentionally? Was he waiting for me to get annoyed and blow my own cover? Or did he want something else, like a bribe?
Oh ho ho, I know what it is. I bet he wants to make me suggest a bribe first so he can use that to either arrest or extort me. It was a waste of time to play along with stupid games like this. What to do, then?
I was still pondering my predicament when someone barged into the questioning room without so much as a knock. She was a young woman; maybe “girl” was more accurate? I’d be lying if I said she wasn’t pretty darn hot, too. Nice features, shiny blonde hair, red irises, and a pure white uniform with a red mantle. Her dress made her look like some heroic lady knight or war maiden.
She seemed calm and mature on the surface, but her eyes were as penetrating as a bird of prey’s. It would be best not to be fooled by appearances with this one.
My Port Authority “friend” quickly fell to fawning. “O-oh my, Lieutenant Serena. What brings you here?”
“I saw an unfamiliar ship in the hangar. I presume he is the owner of the craft?” she asked, pointing at me.
“Y-yes, ma’am.” The Port Authority worker broke out into a nervous sweat as he handed this military woman the tablet he was holding. She skimmed the tablet, and then her gaze turned to me.
“That is quite the quantity of Rare Metal. I trust it wasn’t obtained through unsavory means?”
“Swear on my life,” I replied.
“Hmm… Are single mercenaries capable of defeating space pirates? You’re not even registered to a mercenary guild. Do you have anything else you’d like to report?”
“There was coordinate data on their ship that seems to point to their home base. I got that info from analyzing the data caches of the destroyed pirate ships. I was hoping to hand over that info while I grabbed my bounty, but I got dragged here as soon as I revealed what was in my cargo.” I shrugged for good measure, just to emphasize how little I really knew about all this.
Something in her bearing reeked of galactic police. She clearly outranked my buddy from the Port Authority. If I made it clear I planned to cooperate, maybe she would help me out here.
“You have no proof that his cargo is stolen, correct?” she asked the Port Authority guy.
“Y-yes. That is true.”
“Then I don’t see the issue. Will he be selling his cargo to the colony? We’re awfully lacking in Rare Metal, so this could benefit us greatly.”
“B-but…”
“But what? Do you have some sort of information that I, the daughter of Marquess Holz, should know about?”
“Er, well…”
“Because it seems to me like the real problem here is a Port Authority worker holding up incoming ships’ cargo in the hopes of extorting bribes.” Lieutenant Serena grinned at the Port Authority worker, who shook like a leaf under her glare. So did I, to be honest; despite the smile, she was terrifying.
“I-I would never do such a thing!” he said.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. We will buy the Rare Metal from him at a fair price. This upstanding, self-styled mercenary will receive Ener for ridding us of space pirates. Then, he’ll likely use that Ener to buy things from our colony. Everybody wins, no?”
“Y-yes, ma’am, of course! I will process the paperwork right away!” The Port Authority worker jumped up from his seat and bolted from the questioning room like a prisoner making his escape. Maybe he was. Maybe he really wanted to escape those heavy glares that badly. Either way, it left me alone with this Serena.