Just Because You Siege Doesn't Mean the Work Is Done (2)
Naturally, I couldn't just leave them sitting there, so I spent a modest amount of resources relocating them to the mineral zones near the fortress.
As for the remaining resource-extraction ships and transport destroyers, the moment their mining runs finished I ordered them straight back to base — then sent them out again toward the surrounding mineral deposits I'd identified through the fortress command center's database.
And so, even after I'd more or less solved the most urgent resource and base-relocation problems…
"Commander. Commander. Commander."
"…"
"You can't sleep yet~"
"Gyaaaaah!"
…there was still a mountain of work left for me to handle.
A full day had already slipped by just keeping the operations running, which meant I also had to terminate the contracts of the mercenary groups that had casually burned through an extra eight hundred thousand minerals and ninety-nine thousand rare resources. I had to restore the fortress's various defense systems and the spaceport gates I'd thoroughly wrecked. There was the reorganization of the resource fleet I'd mentioned earlier. There were repairs for the ships that had taken stray fire. And then there was the combat fleet that had been trapped by the gate collapse and forced to surrender — all of that still needed sorting out.
In short, everything under the sun.
For now, I decided to start with the mercenary groups and terminate their employment contracts first.
Someone might ask why I wasn't prioritizing the resource-fleet reorganization — but I had my reasons for that, too.
Hiring them had been easy. The mercenary dispatch office had handled everything; all I'd had to do was hit confirm. Terminating them, on the other hand, meant canceling each contract one by one. Processing the cancellations for over five hundred mercenary groups took far more time than I'd expected.
And so, after grinding through mercenary-contract paperwork for nearly an entire day…
"Jessica, five mercenary groups left, right?"
"Yes. Combined, they have five battleships and eight battlecruisers."
Excluding the five groups I'd marked from the start with a clear these ones stay, I had successfully terminated contracts with the remaining five hundred and seven mercenary groups in a single day.
There had been one minor hiccup along the way. When I tried to cancel the contracts of the groups that owned carriers, our Tiamat had thrown a fit, wailing that we couldn't just throw the carriers away.
Not a chance.
I'd just watched those so-called proud carrier craft — no, interceptors — in action. Trust carriers after that? Absolutely not. So, as planned, I kept only the mercenary groups that fielded battleships and battlecruisers, focusing on raw fleet strength.
As for what to do about the small ships I'd originally mentioned — well, I had a solution for that too, so there was no need to bring it up here.
> MERCENARY EMPLOYMENT STATUS
> Currently Employing: 5 Mercenary Groups
> Total Ship Composition
> Battleships: 5
> Battlecruisers: 8
> Daily Resource Consumption: Minerals 2,569 / Rare Resources 150
Because once I'd dismissed every other group and left only those five…
"Huh? Excuse me?"
"What is it, Jessica?"
"Ah, Commander — those five remaining mercenary groups?"
"Yeah? What about them all of a sudden?"
"Apparently they've just merged into a single mercenary group, and they want to sign an exclusive contract with us."
"…An exclusive contract? Don't tell me they're asking to become full subordinates?"
"That's not entirely wrong."
Hearing something that absurd out of nowhere from Jessica left me thoroughly flustered by an event I'd never seen or heard of before. But that confusion lasted only a moment. The moment I processed become subordinates = become part of my permanent fleet, my expression soured on its own.
"Five battleships and eight battlecruisers is genuinely excellent firepower, but… can our Fleet Points even handle that right now?"
"Impossible."
Battleships cost forty points each, battlecruisers thirty. If that unified mercenary group were absorbed into our fleet, the points required would total a staggering four hundred and forty.
Damn, what a waste.
It was realistically impossible, so I was about to tell Jessica to refuse their contract request.
But then…
Exclusive Contract with a Mercenary Group!
Details:
The five mercenary groups chosen by the Commander, sharing similar fleet compositions, have decided to unite into a single massive organization — the Rhodes Mercenary Group — and wish to sign an exclusive contract with you.
Of course, "exclusive contract" is just the polite phrasing. With a Pirate Empress standing behind you, and having judged your abilities exceptional after this fortress assault, what they actually want is to become your subordinates.
Effects:
Although the group is called "exclusive" and "subordinate," it is still treated as a mercenary unit.
The exclusive contract grants a base 5% discount on daily contract fees!
This mercenary group cannot arbitrarily terminate the contract; you must give at least one month's notice before cancellation.
A dedicated Rhodes Mercenary Group contract menu will be created!
The Rhodes Mercenary Group tracks a separate Loyalty value; contract fees and performance scale with Loyalty!
Sign the exclusive contract with the Rhodes Mercenary Group?
Y / N
The moment I read the carefully worded contents of the event message that had popped up so naturally, every last scrap of hesitation I'd been nursing went straight into Griyanaar's chimera-production factory.
A discount? I can't refuse a discount.
I slammed Y without hesitation and locked in the exclusive contract with my new mercenary friends.
Just because you siege a place doesn't mean the work is done.
The instant I signed the exclusive contract with the so-called Rhodes Mercenary Group, I opened the brand-new "Rhodes Mercenary Group Management Menu" that had appeared on my status window and started figuring out what I needed to look at.
> RHODES MERCENARY GROUP MANAGEMENT MENU
> Commander: Lepahn
> Current Ships: Battleships 5 / Battlecruisers 8
> Group Status: No Anomalies
> Daily Resource Consumption: Minerals 2,312 / Rare Resources 135
> Current Loyalty Toward You: +50
> └ Loyalty Effects: Prevents Arbitrary Withdrawal / 10% Contract Fee Discount
⚠ WARNING
If Loyalty falls to −50 or below, the group may terminate the contract and flee even immediately after receiving payment!
Loyalty-based contract discounts and the base discount do not stack.
> └ Base 5% + Loyalty 10% = only the 10% discount applies.
Hmm. Looks decent enough.
Thankfully it wasn't overly complicated, and the only things I really needed to watch were "Status" and "Loyalty." The only real caution was a desertion event that wouldn't trigger unless Loyalty dropped to −50. The non-stacking discounts were a little disappointing, but ten percent was still sweet enough. Rather than get greedy, I decided to be content with reality and move on.
And while I was looking over the mercenary management menu…
"Commander, Commander Lepahn of the Rhodes Mercenary Group is here to pay her respects."
"Is she? Well, might as well put a face to the name. Send her in."
Hearing that the mercenary commander "Lepahn" had come to see me, I nodded without much thought and prepared to receive her greeting.
The problem was that the mercenary commander who appeared — despite a name that had somehow felt masculine — was…
"Hello! This is the first time we've met in person!"
…a woman with an unusual green-tinged hair color, who strode in with absolute confidence while sporting a pair of monstrous thoracic armor plates that looked equal to or larger than Pashtura's — even with a belt holding them in place.
Between a cyberpunk-style outfit that boldly covered everything except her chest and thighs, a pair of absurdly massive breasts jutted out as if screaming, I'm all natural!!!!!