Princess, Our Princess (2)

There were even cases like this…

"Commander, a Zenobia Empire fleet is pursuing us from the rear."

"Can we shake them?"

"They're faster than we are. Impossible, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sir."

"Tch… Fine. Intercept them immediately."

"Yes, Commander."

Some of them just would not quit — chasing us like their lives depended on it, as if something about us had drawn every scrap of aggro in the sector.

What with the thoroughly eventful journey home, the list of things demanding my attention was anything but short. It was fair to say my nerves were being thoroughly frayed.

Of course, if I could have focused on just those problems alone, I wouldn't have needed to get this sharp-edged about it…

The base upgrades still had to keep running on schedule, on top of everything else.

"Commander, word is that Earth Federation fleets have been reinforcing the nearby airspace recently."

"…What?"

"Marianne passed it along, so it's solid."

And then there were the constant rumblings of other factions trying to keep us in check.

Uuuuughhhhhh.

…And the community reports that rolled in the second I so much as thought about catching my breath.

With days this relentlessly packed, I could feel my mental state quietly catching fire without me even noticing.

And so I diligently scrubbed the gallery of shitty memes, elderly content, weird gore material, Miss Spin, Leba Diving, and every other unholy thing people somehow managed to drag in.

What the hell.

People posting pure bait for reasons I couldn't begin to understand — piling extra weight onto a situation that was already complicated enough.

All in all, it was a thoroughly irritating state of affairs. But as had been mentioned before, and as the admins had officially confirmed for us — whatever else might be restricted, when it came to moderation, each armband holder had been granted unlimited authority to handle things however they saw fit.

As payment for shaking the mental state of an already busy man, I sent them straight to a full fifteen-day ban.

Ah, at last!

The moment word arrived that I could finally build the capital ships I'd been waiting and waiting for — stacked on top of having just obliterated those bait posters — I could feel a decent chunk of the stress that had been piling up finally start to ease.

Of course, just because I'd built the shipyard didn't mean…

"Commander, we're going to need additional support for the new research this time."

"Commander! Hibernating wild beasts woke up inside the asteroids in the resource zone — supply intake's taking a hit!"

"Oppa, even a little would help — could you cover some of the repair costs?"

"Uuuuughhhhhh."

There were just so many places in this world for money to vanish into.