First trial run
“This is a destroyer, isn’t it? No one would ever ride on a ship like this. But it’s amazing. This is a really impressive room. But, is this place sealed off?”
The president seems a bit down at my last remark, which I find rather cute.
This person is truly an enthusiast.
The room I was then guided to was supposed to be my room, the captain’s quarters.
The door looks ordinary, but it’s likely they have tampered with it.
Maybe they brought something from the captain’s quarters of that ship.
“This place is amazing too. We can’t just leave this unused. This is a masterpiece that me and that Kasumi created. We took parts from the suite and the captain’s quarters of that ship and refurbished it into a more comfortable captain’s quarters. What do you think? This room alone required a considerable amount of skill.”
I crouch down and hold my head in my hands.
Come to think of it, where is big sis Maki?
She hasn’t moved from the bridge, it seems.
After seeing this, she won’t be able to come up with an excuse.
“Alright, that’s enough. I’ve finished the inspection. We’ll secure the tug in the morning, so let’s start the sea test flight tomorrow. Miss Meyrica, I’ll take everyone along. I’m a bit worried about those kids’ maiden voyage, but I can’t leave them behind. Well, since it’s a day trip, they’ll be fine without individual rooms.”
“Understood. I’ll have the tug here by 9 AM, so let’s gather at 8.”
“Ah, please do that. I’m quite tired for today. I’ve been neglecting this for a while, and I really regret it now. But what’s done is done.”
“Acting captain, shall we head back?”
“Ah yes, I’ll bring Chief Maki back too. Otherwise, she’ll just freeze up and be unable to move.”
I take Big sister Maki with me as we leave the ship.
“How are you going to make me report this?”
“Well, we can’t go back now. Since it’s repurposed parts, we’ll just have to say it was a necessary measure.”
“Aw, but complaints are going to come in from all over the place!”
“Ah, but if that happens, just direct them to me. I’ll refute them all. Anyway, it’s simply impossible to have a 30 billion gold budget for just the first-class maintenance. With that kind of money, we had no choice but to use salvaged parts. I’ll make sure to prepare materials to properly explain that. If anyone complains, I’ll make them take responsibility along with us. After all, it’s their own unreasonable demand that’s the problem.”
“But…”
“I understand your concerns. It’s definitely not a coincidence, but we’ll just have to push through and say it was a lucky circumstance. The only explanation we can give is that the parts happened to be from the luxury cruise ship that was attacked by pirates the other day. If it had been a cargo ship, we could have been more discreet. That’s the best we can do. It’s my fault for not listening to the full explanation before the busy work. Honestly, with the president and Maria, I knew this wouldn’t end well. What’s done is done, I guess.”
The next day, we gathered everyone, including the new recruits, in front of the dock.
In these two months, I’ve come to understand the aptitudes, personalities, and aspirations of the new recruits, so I’ve assigned them to Kate and Maria respectively.
This time, we’re not testing any weapons, so we’ve divided them between the bridge and the engine room for the trial run.
We gathered at 8 AM, and had Kate and Maria assign the bridge, engine room, and port and starboard defense pulse cannon crews. Then we waited for the tug spacecraft.
Precisely at 9 AM, the waiting tug spacecraft arrived and took 30 minutes to lift the ship into space.
From there, it’s time for the final checks in each section.
A ship-to-ship call comes in from the dock president in the engine room to the bridge.
[Hey, uh, I mean, Captain, whenever you’re ready.]
The president seems to have realized he’s on the ship, correcting his casual “hey” to “Captain”, but he still hasn’t quite grasped that my official title isn’t Captain.
“Thank you… Lieutenant Meyrica, start the engines.”
“Understood, Sergeant Kasumi. Starting auxiliary engines.”
“Acknowledged, starting auxiliary engines… Power output increasing, no abnormalities detected in the sensors.”
“Engine room.”
[Yes, engine room here.]
“We’re about to start the main engines. Are you ready?”
[Whenever you are.]
“Lieutenant Meyrica. Start the main engines.”
“Understood, Sergeant Kasumi, start the main engines.”
“Starting main engines… Power output increasing, no abnormalities detected in the sensors. Reached output level.”
“We’ll commence launch. The target is the [Bismuth] space colony. Gradually increase the speed, starting at one warp.”
“Launching towards [Bismuth] at one light speed.”
“Understood. Launching at one light speed.”
“one light speed.”
“Now at two light speed.”
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“Reached eight light speed.”
“Any abnormalities?”
“All systems green.”
“Engine room, any changes? Noticed anything?”
[Acting Captain, things are going smoothly over here. It’s actually a bit anticlimactic. Usually at times like these, there’s some kind of routine…]
“Don’t be ridiculous. So there’s nothing unusual, then.”
[It’s all good, sis Meyrica.]
[Hmm, the speed increase did take a bit longer than I expected. With this engine, I thought it could’ve gone a bit faster.]
“Huh? President, this is more than enough, isn’t it? I’d say eight light speed is probably our top speed.”
[Don’t be stupid. With this ship’s, no, this engine’s performance, we should be able to reach ten light-speed. I didn’t bother making a catalog, but we can boast the top speed of ten light-speed.]
“Ten… ten light-speed?”
[Well, today’s just a test run. Captain, let’s call it a day here. There are a few things I’m a bit curious about too.]
The boss keeps calling me “Captain,” but he hasn’t corrected his mistake.
I could just leave it as is, but since it’s about the command authority, I can’t really ignore it, so I try to correct it every time.
“Ah, I’m the Acting Captain, but okay.”
“Then, shall we reduce speed and return to port?”
[Nah, let’s just keep going like this.]
“Alright then, Lieutenant Meyrica. Maintain course and speed for return to Nihonium.”
“Understood. Turning to course for Nihonium, maintaining speed at eight light-speed.”
“Change course to Nihonium, maintain eight light-speed, understood.”
Eight light-speed is certainly fast.
The distance we traveled in two days before is now just a matter of hours.
It was at minimum thrust back then, but even considering that, we were able to return much faster than expected.
As planned, we made it back in a day trip and docked.
Seems there were hardly any issues, as the tug spacecraft just followed the course instructions to enter the dock.
After docking, the boss came over to me and briefly shared his impressions of the day.
“Not bad, but it seems we haven’t fully unleashed this ship’s performance yet. I’ll have the girls report later, but I’m going to start an inspection now. In this state, I can’t issue the requested certificate. Is that okay?”
“Ah, there’s still plenty of time, so please don’t exceed the budget. I don’t have the authority, so I can’t bill for any overruns.”
“Don’t worry. I asked Maki earlier, and it seems we have quite a surplus. And from here on, it’s my pride as a craftsman. If you say you can’t bill more, I won’t be stingy either. I can even cover the costs myself without billing the government.”
“No, that’s quite alright. Honestly, I think we can fully utilize that 30 billion Gold. Please bill properly within the budget. After all, you’ve been providing us a lot of conveniences.”
“Nah, it’s mutual. Thanks to you guys, the ship next door has been dismantled quite a lot. It’s almost lost its original shape now. The only tricky part left is probably the engine area. I’m grateful too. Enough chitchat, I’m heading back to work. I’ll be borrowing the girls for a while longer.”
“Yes, please use them as you see fit.”
I returned to the office to finish up the report.
That’s when Maki, who had fully recovered from yesterday’s shock, came to visit.
“Acting Captain, may I have a moment?”
“Ah, Maki. No problem, what is it?”
“You’re still working, you know. I told you to take a break. Oh well, there’s no one here anyway.”
“Sorry, Maki. So, is this a report?”
“No, it’s a consultation. The test run has been completed successfully, so the maintenance is almost done, right?”
“Hmm, probably a bit more time is needed.”
“Eh? Why?”
“The boss isn’t satisfied yet. He’s going to inspect the ship now. After that, he’ll probably submit a request for modification work. Are we okay on the budget?”
“Yes, the budget is far less than we anticipated, so there’s no problem there. The issue is that interior design. I’d like to restrict access to that ship to just us.”
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so let’s start the sea trial tomorrow -> so let’s start the test run tomorrow (it is a spaceship)
Thanks.
Thanks, fixed
anyone else expect the top brass to not believe it’s fully done so they eventually send them on a basic mission expecting them to fail and be forced to retreat or something else as stupid?