The Ancient Ship (1)
They had no official designation, so the name they went by changed with every report.
Three full days had already slipped past since the last transmission from the Marine–Purge joint task force.
For the first day, and even the second, we had thought nothing of it.
Then came the third day.
"Minister, can it really take this long just to check out one ship?"
"Tell me about it. At this rate I'm going to come down with gastritis again."
The continued silence from the joint force was starting to fray my nerves. As if the chaos in the eastern sectors weren't already enough to keep me busy—Kerzin Federation, having dispatched their own special unit, was once more creeping outward in that nasty habit of territorial expansion, while those red-obsessed bastards of the Fuxviet Union, high on a belated dose of militarism, kept trying to pull every diplomatic stunt imaginable. I was so swamped that I almost missed the days of pure burnout.
Event: Ministerial Overwork
Word that the Minister of the Foreign Executive Ministry of the Holy Sevelian Empire has been suffering from excessive overwork has spread through high society and foreign media, becoming a topic of heated discussion.
Trait Applied: Neurasthenia — attached to Minister Arto Virtorius Sevely
And of course, on top of everything else, that garbage event had to pop up. If another few days passed without a single report, I might end up hospitalized with a full-blown nervous breakdown before anything else happened.
But then—
Ding♪
"Minister, the joint force just sent another report."
"Finally!"
As if they had somehow sensed my exact state of mind, their transmission arrived at the perfect moment. Ignoring the neurasthenia symptoms entirely, I immediately turned my attention to the report coming through the screen.
And as I listened to what followed…
"Interesting."
All the irritation from moments earlier vanished without a trace. In its place, pure curiosity settled in.
"So you're saying there are signs of combat inside the ship?"
"That is correct, Minister."
That fact alone wasn't particularly fascinating. Ambassador Prosnark had already warned me that neighboring powers were making moves to claim the vessel. Special forces from the eastern states could easily have slipped aboard and clashed with the defense systems long before my advance team even arrived.
But the next part, combined with that, was what truly snagged my interest.
"The problem is that, according to our own investigation, the vast majority of those traces are extremely recent."
"Recent—how recent, roughly?"
"At the absolute longest, no more than ten days."
"Ten days… Did the advance team ever report anything approaching the ship?"
"No, Minister. Neither the advance team's reports nor the records stored in the surveillance devices show any sign of anything near the vessel."
How fascinating was that? My advance team had begun monitoring the ship a full month ago. In all that time no one had infiltrated it—yet combat traces existed?
It was extremely interesting.
"And… we also discovered corpses of those killed at the combat sites."
"Hmm."
"Examination of the bodies confirmed they belonged to the Kerzin Federation's Cerberus Special Unit, Minister."
And of all people, it had to be Kerzin's special forces—the ones backed by the Precursor Empire.
These bastards… are they trying to hand the ship over to Kerzin?
The blatant favoritism left a sour taste in my mouth. The fact that they had infiltrated despite our comprehensive surveillance net meant either they had been inside from the very beginning… or they had used that bizarre technology from the Dark Age to teleport straight into the ship.
And a moment later, the data feed they showed me of the Kerzin special unit they had found proved my suspicion correct.
…Shit. That looks exactly like the gear the Precursor Empire's ground forces use.
The equipment the special unit had been wearing was identical to the stuff that always made me spew dual-channel curses whenever I saw it in the game—the standard kit of the Precursor Empire's ground troops.
The instant I laid eyes on it, a new event message bloomed before me.
Event: Insidious Intervention
The Precursor Empire—a living fossil that has endured since the ancient Dark Age—has traditionally paid no attention whatsoever to outside affairs.
Yet for some reason, clear evidence of Precursor Empire involvement is scattered throughout this incident.
Further investigation will be required to determine exactly why they are acting this way.
It was nothing more than a typical progress-type event notification with no rewards attached. Still, it was the most solid confirmation that my suspicions were dead on.
"…All right. Prioritize securing the ship's critical sections first."
"Understood, Minister."
"If we encounter any other entities during the search and secure operation, how should we respond?"
They were asking how to react to enemies—or rather, to whatever they might run into. I took a sip of the water sitting beside me before answering.
"If they're hostile, eliminate them without mercy. If they approach peacefully… leave that to on-site judgment."
At my words, killing intent flooded the faces of the unit members delivering the report.
"Understood."
"Confirmed. Assholes! From this moment on, we turn this ship into a Marine vessel overflowing with fighting spirit!"
Though with the Marines, it felt less like killing intent and more like pure mania.
Yet the joint force that had signed off so bloodthirstily to begin their full-scale "exploration" soon sent me another report.
"Minister, the Kerzin Cerberus Special Unit appears to have been completely wiped out."
"Huh?"
The very people we had treated as our most dangerous potential enemies—the ones we had been prepared to fight if necessary—were now nothing but corpses.
"Are you sure about that? You're not mistaken or anything?"
Even Riel, standing beside me, couldn't help asking. But on the communication screen, Meteorn shook his head firmly, radiating absolute certainty.
"Certain. After counting the bodies we recovered, the numbers match a company-sized element of the Cerberus Special Unit."
"Whoa."
"A few of the corpses were blown to pieces or crushed by the defense systems' firepower, so there may be minor discrepancies in the exact count, but…"
"If you're saying that, then at worst we're talking about an approximation."
"That is correct, Minister."
"Understood. Keep up the good work for now."
"Yes, sir."
—Communication ended.
Once the link with Meteorn cut off, a wave of emptiness drained the strength from my body.
"Minister, the Cerberus Special Unit is supposed to be on the same level as our Purge Squads, right?"
"…Yeah."
They had been the most dangerous opponents I had been quietly fretting over. Yet the moment we actually entered the field, they were already wiped out and reduced to corpses. I had no idea how to put this hollow feeling into words. It was like watching a kid you were about to hoist onto your shoulders and bounce around while declaring them the greatest, only for them to crack their head on the ceiling and pass out cold. That was roughly how I felt right now.
While I was stuck in that mood, Riel seemed to be viewing the situation from a completely different angle. She tilted her head with a grave expression and spoke to me in a puzzled tone.
"On top of that, those suits—they're Precursor Empire gear, aren't they?"
"Mmm… probably."
Hearing my answer, Riel thought for a moment, then opened her mouth with an extremely serious look.
"If guys walking around in Dark Age equipment got wiped out that thoroughly… doesn't that mean our joint force is in danger too?"
"…Ah."
The second those words hit me, I realized this was no time to be wallowing in the anticlimax of Kerzin's special unit.
Ah, shit. We're screwed.
I immediately started operating my terminal to open a channel to the joint force and warn them—
—Beeeeeep…
"Minister? I was just about to contact you with an additional report, but… is something wrong?"
To my surprise, the moment I tried to call, Meteorn—the very person who would be reporting—was calling me at the same time.
"What is it? Don't tell me someone got hit?"
Please don't let that be it. If even one of them died, Artraia and Prosnark would start grilling me in real time.
I sent up a silent, desperate prayer—and on the other end, Meteorn waved both hands as if to say such a thing was impossible.
"Thank goodness… Wait, then why were you about to report right away?"
"Well, I think it would be better for you to see it yourself rather than hear an explanation."
With that, Meteorn flipped the communication screen so that the view they were looking at came through to me as well.
The instant I saw it, I understood exactly why he had felt the need to call me immediately.