Chapter 25. In This Kind of Organization, Defying the Hierarchy Gets Your Head Bashed In. (1)
I'd spent the whole day before messing around in the gallery like that, literally killing time with freebies.
The next morning.
I'd checked out stories on all sorts of factions, vaguely sketching out future plans in my head about what we should do next...
"Good morning, Assistant!"
"You seem to have had a very relaxing vacation, Doctor."
"Hehe, oh right. By the way, I looked into some other places besides the Demonia Empire yesterday."
"I know what you're getting at, but we're barely holding one planet—and not even the capital region properly. Not the time to split our focus."
"Ah."
Elena, greeting the morning with her coffee just like I was with my morning cola, hit me with that.
So, just as she said, I judged it premature for now, at least.
And right as that thought crossed my mind—maybe because the report on this mess had reached Demonia Empire HQ?
"Doctor, while you were sleeping, additional support arrived from the Empire."
"Huh? Wow, that's fast this time. How much did they send?"
"We're almost at the point of swallowing a whole planet, so they went all-in with proper reinforcements."
"Hmm."
"A 200-meter Minotaur-class cruiser, one escort destroyer, and a full Space Marine battalion arrived with the research facility and various supplies."
"Hmmmm, I see."
The cruiser was a whopping 200 meters long, packing four massive 150mm railgun turrets and six huge missile tubes that looked 500-600mm across.
It landed at Heisenberg Spaceport alongside what seemed like a slightly over-100-meter escort destroyer.
Then, Space Marines in heavy reinforced armor poured out, led by their officers in armored vehicles heading straight for our branch office.
For a split second, my mind flashed: 'This might actually be doable?'
But that thought didn't last...
I debated bringing it up, then casually opened the gallery while the Marine officer came to report in—just in case.
No matter a million-strong Red... Black Scourge army, with just one cruiser and two destroyers as escorts—no.
Strictly speaking, even adding the other pioneer cities' forces for maybe 10+ extra destroyers, a frontal clash with the planetary government was a no-go, per the vets.
I took their warnings to heart and chucked any budding arrogance into the mental trash bin.
With that massive support boost unexpectedly pumping our forces.
"...Captain Darven Ancio, dispatched as support for Governor Benya Tomiri."
"Ooh, come on in. You're the Marine commander, right? Nice to meet ya."
We focused on blending the new support led by Marine commander Darven Ancio with our existing crew.
Plus handling formations and such, so we hunkered down—no external ops, all-in on internal discipline and unity.
More precisely, Elena handled it directly, with the Heisenberg City mayor as support for logistics and whatnot.
Me? I just watched, stamped approvals now and then, tinkered with larva upgrades on the new gear leisurely.
Or made human-centipede Chimera soldiers from criminals, brewed weird drugs— that kinda time-kill.
If it stopped there, it'd be your standard chill routine, no issues...
But a week later, while thinking that.
"We went through hell getting support from the Empire, and this is what we get?!"
"What do you mean? It's supplies, obviously."
"How is this supplies?! And what? Unified command? You think these backwater locals are on the same level as my men?!"
"What now?"
Suddenly, instead of getting along, raised voices everywhere.
How do they blow up not even an hour after arriving? What a shitty world, I thought, and went to figure out the beef.
But hearing it from Elena and the mayor... my jaw dropped more and more...
"...So, wait. TL;DR: Ancio's turning the new support into his private army and throwing attitude at us?"
"Massive omissions, but not wrong."
"Not just supply gripes—they're causing major fuckery in the city."
"Clashing with our Chimera soldiers left and right, acting on their own whims."
"Oof... just hearing it gives me a headache, Assistant!"
Yeah.
Stripping to the core, ignoring petty crap: the guy who should be handing out sweet cider was force-feeding us sweet potatoes live.
And get this—openly mouthing off to Elena, my actual superior and deputy, both nominally and in reality.
Things were finally stabilizing, perfect time to 'develop' using the Empire support.
But the world flipped me the bird hard.
I couldn't believe it, mood turning sour real quick.