The Cheetah's Brief Rest

Our Space Pirate choosers were dumping out posts so incomprehensible you couldn't tell what they were even trying to say.

Beyond them, lone-wolf players with zero interest in getting tangled up with any of the four factions kept popping up, along with users trying to found their own brand-new neutral factions instead of picking one of the four. The gallery had been completely overrun by what could only be called total chaos.

Watching it all, I found myself shaking my head without even meaning to.

Not because the propaganda itself looked stupid, mind you.

"…No, faction selection hasn't even been unlocked yet. What the hell are these people doing?"

Faction selection was still locked. Meaning none of them even belonged to those factions yet — they were still getting raided by those very same faction ships — and they were out here acting like this. It was so absurd I didn't know what to say.

Faction Sentiment (3)

Of course, if I were simply wrong and faction joining was already available, that would be one thing.

Not a chance.

The global notice from the operators confirmed that my read on the situation was correct.

Thanks to that, for about three days including today, the gallery was dominated by the jeers of neutral players and lone wolves aimed at the faction cliques spouting propaganda.

But then, exactly three days later—

…And on and on and on.

Not just the gallery, either.

The global chat was drowning in smear posts and garbage spam too, turning into a petty, nakedly political free-for-all.

And watching the Kaiju-preference crowd carry on like that, something started bubbling up in me.

Had I made a mistake picking the Space Kaiju?

"Jessica. Jessica."

"Yes, what is it?"

"Even though I clearly heard a perfectly logical argument from Griyanaar about why the Kaiju are good, looking at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this brain-dead garbage makes me—"

"Ah… yes."

"—start thinking that choosing the Kaiju might have been a mistake. That feeling just keeps floating up in my head."

"Mmmmmmh…"

Unlike the others, who couldn't see the community window, Jessica was the only one who could look at it with me — and she couldn't quite bring herself to disagree.

Not that we had any real alternative either.

Still nursing the faint hope that maybe picking something else would be better, I casually asked Griyanaar, who was continuing her biological experiments on the pirates, aliens, and kaiju we'd captured in the newly built biology lab.

"I thought we already settled this conversation, Commander?"

"Ahem."

"More importantly, now that I've become completely obsessed with Space ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Kaiju, there's no way I'd sing the praises of any other faction's advantages, now is there?"

"…When you put it that way, fair point."

Faced with the brutal honesty of Griyanaar — who was currently transplanting kaiju tentacles onto a bald pirate under the banner of "biological experimentation," supposedly as a hair-loss treatment — I could only nod and concede the point.

And the more I thought about it, the less reason there was to get swept up by gallery smear campaigns in the first place.

Who am I again? The glorious Rank 3 high-ranker, and master of the Pirate Empress…!

I already had an entire faction under my command, more or less. Why would I let myself get pushed around by lowly nobodies who didn't even have a faction under them yet?

With that settled, I decided to ignore the smear-filled gallery main page and spend the remaining time diligently clearing daily quests while exploring the gallery wiki tab, hoping to fatten up my information stores — which, for all my "veteran" status, were basically no better than a newbie's when it came to actual intel.

And at last, the long-awaited update day arrived for me and every other player.

…Except that, by all rights, I should have been enjoying that update by now.