Gravity Distortion Field (2)
Fortunately, the Gravity Distortion Field was discovered four hours later aboard the high-speed boat that the 3rd Company’s boarding platoon had subdued.
At the report that the device had been found, Freesia sank deep into the commander’s seat, overwhelmed by a wave of relief that rose from the very depths of her soul.
“Thank goodness,” she murmured.
Even Frederick, who usually wore a perpetual easygoing smile, had gone deathly pale when the Gravity Distortion Field first went missing. If a veteran warrant officer with sixty years of service reacted that way, it was no wonder the bridge had turned into an absolute cauldron of chaos. Everyone was going through the motions, but no one could truly focus. That included Freesia, Frederick, and Dmitry alike.
She had hoped to finish her paperwork before the search operation resumed, but that no longer seemed possible. The salvage ship would arrive soon, and between the handover and all the remaining administrative tasks, the entire day would vanish. At least she had managed to compile and submit the list of supplies needed for the next resupply run. The reports would simply have to be written whenever she could find a spare moment.
Freesia called Daisy over and handed her a one-time payment code.
“Could you pick up some drinks and snacks for the bridge crew? Let’s take a short break until the salvage ship arrives.”
When the logistics officer had suggested distributing extra rations, Freesia had shaken her head. Rations were, after all, official supplies. Handing them out would only mean eating tomorrow’s snacks today. Besides, there was no comparing standard military snacks with the civilian ones sold at the canteen.
The bridge crew numbered barely thirty people. Drinks and snacks for thirty wouldn’t cost much. And though no one here knew it, that amount was truly nothing to Freesia. In fact, she could have stuffed the entire battalion with three meals of snacks a day for an entire year if she wanted.
“Um… what should I get?” Daisy asked, clearly wondering how much she was allowed to spend.
Freesia answered without hesitation. “Anything you want.”
While the bridge crew, blessed by their generous battalion commander, spread out their snacks and took a well-deserved breather, Romeo, David, and the main culprit—Second Lieutenant Morgan—stood in the commander’s quarters, engaged in a very sincere conversation with Freesia.
After carefully reading through the report Romeo had submitted and double-checking the Gravity Distortion Field’s serial number multiple times, Freesia let out a long sigh. The three officers flinched involuntarily.
“Well, it’s a relief we found it… but how on earth did you manage to drop a distortion field onto a pirate speedboat?”
Romeo glanced sideways at Morgan.
This isn’t good.
The man at the center of the incident was trembling so violently that even someone watching from the sidelines felt sorry for him. If Freesia raised her voice and demanded an answer, he looked like he might actually faint. In the end, Romeo, who was still somewhat composed, stepped forward to take the bullet.
“The official report from 3rd Company hasn’t been filed yet, but during our boarding platoon’s suppression of the speedboat, there was an incident where an enemy modified human attempted to take a hostage in a surprise attack.”
He had learned the details from Captain Lucas, the boarding company commander, even though the formal report hadn’t arrived. When Freesia nodded for him to continue, Romeo swallowed dryly and pressed on.
Although Morgan was a pureblood of the Elephant Clan and possessed tremendous physical strength, he could not use magic. That meant he could not ignore the laws of physics. Despite his large frame, Morgan’s body weight hovered around 140 kilograms. Adding the weight of his powered armor brought the total to just over 300 kilograms. An ordinary human would struggle to move him, but a modified human’s brute strength was another matter entirely.
Caught off guard by the modified human’s sudden body slam, Morgan had been sent flying. The enemy then tried to pin him down and stage a hostage situation. Or rather, tried to.
Even though he had been knocked down by the surprise attack, Morgan was still a true Elephant clansman. In terms of raw physical power, no beastman race could match them. Even while lying prone with his back seized, Morgan had managed to grab the enemy’s wrist from that awkward position and hurl him away. After a brief but fierce exchange of blows, he had ultimately succeeded in subduing the modified human.
However, the sudden ambush and close-quarters struggle had damaged part of his powered armor. Romeo suspected that the Gravity Distortion Field embedded inside had been lost at that moment.
“Then why didn’t you notice it immediately upon returning? Did you skip personal maintenance?”
The odds of the armor being damaged in exactly the section that housed the Gravity Distortion Field during a close fight with such a powerful modified human were astronomically low, but Freesia was willing to accept that it could happen. The real problem was that no one had noticed during post-mission maintenance. If procedures had been followed correctly, the report should have come in the same day she had collapsed, not today.
Normally Morgan should have explained this part himself, but he was still vibrating like a leaf. David stepped in.
“Second Lieutenant Morgan says he turned in the damaged armor to the maintenance section immediately after returning from suppressing the pirates.”
Freesia was so dumbfounded by David’s explanation that she couldn’t even find the words. According to him, after handing over the armor, Morgan had carried out his normal duties yesterday. It was only this morning, while inspecting his spare armor, that he realized he had never retrieved the Gravity Distortion Field from the damaged suit. When he visited maintenance, the chief had naturally assumed Morgan had already secured the device beforehand. That was standard procedure, after all.
It was only after Morgan came looking for it that the maintenance chief realized something was wrong. Only then did Morgan understand that the Gravity Distortion Field was missing. He had mobilized his entire platoon to tear the ship apart in a frantic search, but when they found nothing, he had finally reported it to David and Romeo.
While the entire 3rd Company was turning the ship inside out, someone had suggested it might have fallen onto the speedboat. In the end, they had found it near the exact spot where Morgan and the modified human had fought.
“Haa…”
Freesia didn’t even know where to begin pointing out the mistakes. When everything was considered, the ultimate fault lay with Morgan for failing to confirm the device in time. Still, watching a man built like a mountain tremble like an aspen tree softened her heart a little.
She, too, had caused an accident back when she was a second lieutenant—though not on this scale. She had accidentally connected her personal terminal to a military channel. Even after the warning lights flashed, she had assumed it was a glitch and tried multiple times to reconnect. She had been dragged before the battalion commander, the operations director, the operations officer, and her company commander, each one chewing her out in turn. That night she had cried under her blanket for a long time.
Thinking back on it, she could understand why Morgan was shaking so pitifully. She had trembled exactly the same way in front of her own battalion commander back then.
Still, it was truly fortunate they had found it in time. If they hadn’t thought to search the speedboat, the Gravity Distortion Field would have been lost forever, and headquarters would have learned of the disappearance. That would have been catastrophic.
I almost got myself in serious trouble.
The thought of nearly being torn apart by her superiors despite having reached the rank of lieutenant colonel sent a cold sweat down her back.
“Officially, this never happened.”
The three officers, who had been hanging their heads like condemned criminals, snapped upright in unison.
After receiving the report that the Gravity Distortion Field was missing, Freesia had immediately looked up previous cases of lost distortion fields. She had also asked Frederick, who had seen every kind of incident and accident imaginable. Complete loss of a Gravity Distortion Field could result in anything from demotion or suspension to, in severe cases, outright dismissal. Even when recovered, the usual punishments were confinement or pay cuts, and it would remain a permanent stain that hindered future promotions.
In one actual case, a certain major had lost a distortion field while still a first lieutenant. Because of it, he had only managed to reach the rank of major in his late thirties.
“And Second Lieutenant Morgan.”
“S-Sir! Second Lieutenant Morgan!”
The thunderous reply was so loud it made Freesia’s ears instinctively flatten. Romeo and David, seated beside him, looked like they wanted to cover their ears, but since they were in the middle of being disciplined by their battalion commander, they gritted their teeth and endured it with straight faces.
“Good. I like the energy. Just lower the volume a little.”
“S-Sorry, ma’am!”
It was still loud, but at least it no longer threatened to burst eardrums.
“You did an excellent job subduing that modified human without sustaining major casualties. That said, you understand that losing the distortion field was a serious mistake, yes?”
Morgan’s head drooped again. Only then did he remember what she had said earlier: that officially, this never happened. In other words, there would still be unofficial punishment. Given that he had lost a Gravity Distortion Field, it was bound to be no light penalty. Even so, avoiding an official reprimand was a mercy.
If the matter had gone through official disciplinary channels, his future prospects for promotion would have been finished. No matter what punishment Freesia handed down, he would have no choice but to accept it gratefully. In fact, the fact that she was handling it unofficially was something he should thank her for a hundred times over.
“Once this search operation ends and we return, you will be restricted from leave and overnight liberty for one month. Reflect on your actions.”
For a moment, Morgan thought he had misheard. He had been prepared to accept being barred from all evaluations for the rest of his time in the 2nd Search Battalion, yet the punishment was only a month of restricted leave?
“Thank you, Battalion Commander! I swear this will never happen again!”
Morgan continued bowing and expressing his gratitude nonstop until the very moment he left the cruiser. Romeo and David, who had also nearly received damaging marks on their records, did the same.
Not long after the three men left the cruiser, word arrived that the salvage ship, escorted by the stellar defense force, had arrived. Freesia let out a long sigh.
If she could, she would go back two months in time. She wanted to grab the personnel director by the collar—the one who had promised her a nice, quiet posting with no work—and shake him while screaming, “Is this what you call having no work?!”