“No matter how militant Iris has become, she wouldn’t blatantly ignore what Rekka has to say. And even if she did, the hawks should readily acknowledge that this Rekka isn’t the Rekka Namidare of this era. Once they learn that, they might back down without a fight.”
“Huh.” That made plenty of sense, actually. “All right, then—”
“It won’t be easy.”
Just as I was about to agree with Lea, the doctor interjected.
“According to the message, Iris is leading a whole fleet to storm the agency. That means we’ll have to dodge battleship after battleship just to get to her,” she explained. “Moreover, this small ship can’t keep up with battleship speeds. We’ll almost certainly be shot down before we reach Iris.”
“Almost certainly, huh...?”
The doctor wasn’t just saying that to shoot my hopes down, either. She’d already run simulations in her head, and that was the conclusion she’d reached. It was a warning: this mission would be suicide.
“But this ship has warp capabilities, right? What if we just warped to Iris’s flagship?” I asked.
“Warps are actually rather easy to spot. Warping relies on spacial distortion, so the exit location is readily observable with a warp-detection radar. They’d be ready and waiting for us the second we came out of it.”
“I had no idea...”
So warping wasn’t as OP as it seemed...
“If we had a speedy battleship of our own, it would be one thing...”
“Doesn’t the agency have any?”
“The agency has a nonaggression policy, so we don’t have any vessels outfitted for combat.”
“Is there somewhere we can borrow one?”
“It’d be hard to find someone willing to stand against the Galactic Federation, not to mention lend us a warship on such short notice. Nobody wants the agency as an enemy, but no one really has a reason to go out of their way to help us.”
“Then could we hire one?”
“Same deal.”
The six of us continued to discuss potential options, but we couldn’t agree on a good solution.
“Hey, I know! What if Harissa uses her invisibility magic on the spaceship so we can approach unnoticed?”
I offered up yet another idea, but the doctor again shook her head.
“Being invisible won’t hide our heat signature. We’ll still be easily detectable on radar. You’d have to wear a space suit and swim closer for something like that to work.”
“Right...”
Swimming through outer space between battleships to reach the heart of an enemy fleet? Even I knew that was a ridiculous plan. However...
“What if I went?” Lea volunteered, raising her hand. “I can function fairly well even in space.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Oh, has my past self not revealed that to you yet?”
“Can’t say she has...”
What the hell had I gotten caught up in that would warrant sending Lea into space?! Calm down, Rekka... Stay focused.
“So, Doctor, would Lea be able to fly under their radar?”
“I do believe so... The main radar installed on battleships these days is designed to detect the heat of ship engines, so the heat from a living being shouldn’t be enough to register.”
Hearing that, Lea nodded.
“I can fly through space in my Leviathan form, so I should be able to approach Iris’s ship without issue.”
“That’s great! Then all we need to do is—”
I was about to celebrate our plan, but the doctor interjected again.
“No. Lea would still need to get within visible distance of Iris’s flagship. And the second they see her, they’ll do a more thorough scan of the area. They’d undoubtedly find us too that way, and we’d never get away in this ship.”
“R-Right...”
“Besides, there’s no point in sending Lea alone. Iris probably won’t listen to anyone other than you, Rekka.”
Iris’s flagship was the heart of her giant fleet. In order to reach her, we’d either have to actively avoid gunfire or actively avoid radar. Lea could avoid enemy radar, but she’d easily be in firing range by the time she was spotted. Worse yet, we’d be sending her in alone. Even if she managed to make it to Iris in one piece, there was no guarantee she would be able to convince her.
“Which means we need to figure out a way to get me to Iris. And without anyone other than Iris seeing me...”
“That’s right. In the end, we still need a ship capable of getting right up close to the enemy, not to mention a captain and a crew to pilot it.”
So this all came down to needing a ship. Too bad I didn’t have one in my—wait! I hurriedly pulled a piece of paper from my pocket. It was the list of heroines the doctor had given me. I’m pretty sure they were on it...
“Yes! The answer’s right here!”
Everyone turned to look at me when I suddenly raised my voice, and I excitedly showed them the list in response.
“Iris isn’t the only heroine from space! There are other heroines with ships that might help us out!”
We didn’t need massive amounts of firepower or political clout. All we needed was a quick way to get to Iris. So instead of looking for a way to save the agency, it was easier to find a way to save me.
“Based on the common heroines on this list, the ones I know right off who should have ships are... Fam, Shirley, and Rain.”
Fam was a former member of the space pirates known as the Seageists. Rain was the princess of her own planet. And Shirley was a genius probably on par with the doctor. Between the three of them, surely one of them would have what we needed. The doctor patiently listened to my plan and thought it over.
“Yes... Maybe one of them can help,” she said, eyeing a single name on the list of candidates.