The Elite Ambush
It was the second day of their journey into Jotala family territory.
Jincheon had whiled away the dull hours in thoroughly enjoyable fashion with Calsira and Heliane's bodies, and now, sensing that a follow-up attack was due any moment, he kept a casual but ready watch.
"Come again? You think elite forces are going to hit us?"
"If my gut's right, yeah."
Seated in the pilot's chair, Jincheon laid out his prediction for Kader as well — just in case.
"That's an overreaction if I've ever heard one."
Kader was absolutely certain nothing of the sort would happen.
"Half of what we're hauling is contraband — narcotics and the like. Sure, pirates hit back when you hit them, but they've got rivals breathing down their necks the second they leave an opening. You really think they'd torch their whole operation just to save face?"
"Narcotics make up more than half, huh. What's the rest?"
Catching a whiff of conspiracy in Kader's commission, Jincheon pressed him for a full inventory of the remaining cargo while they were on the subject.
Kader hesitated at first — was this even something he should share? — but after confirming the contract contained no confidentiality clause, he readily listed the contents.
"The rest is just materials they can't produce themselves, daily necessities, and about a dozen crates of Hytrion gas. That's all."
For reference, Hytrion gas was one of the high-efficiency fuels primarily used in generators.
In a chaotic galaxy where tomorrow's enemy could be today's ally and today's ally tomorrow's enemy, fusion technology had become critical military tech — something you did not leak lightly. A fusion reactor that could generate vast energy from a smaller facility than anyone else's translated directly into the performance of warships and mecha. Superior output meant superior weapons and shields, and that meant a decisive edge in hardware. Fusion tech had become something even spies didn't dare extract.
The reason fusion generators had come up at all was simple: most pirates, for the reasons above, couldn't use them and had to rely on conventional generators instead. Which meant high-efficiency Hytrion gas — the fuel those generators ran on — was a rather important strategic resource from a pirate's point of view.
"Sending elite troops just for a dozen crates of Hytrion gas makes no sense. We'll get a revenge force maybe twice the size of the last one. That's it."
Hytrion gas was common enough that it wasn't particularly expensive. The sensible expectation was a larger revenge force, not an elite strike team.
Their radar's worse than ours anyway. No point arguing this.
Kader's freighter carried a solid radar suite — survival-oriented rather than combat-oriented — but even so, the Calsorn Empire transport's radar was in a different league entirely.
"Either way, better to have a backup plan ready. Jincheon out."
With that, Jincheon cut the channel.
Kader's crew would no doubt be grumbling about the weird nonsense coming from their escort, but Jincheon trusted the battlefield instincts forged through wars against those who had resented his clan's rising influence. He didn't know why — but the other side was going to send elites.
There wasn't a shred of rational evidence behind the judgment. But the honed instincts of a man who had transcended ordinary ranks were already something close to prophecy.
"Heh. Always wanted to say that at least once."
Utterly free of tension, Jincheon sat there smirking to himself over having gotten to deliver a "Jincheon out," quietly congratulating himself on the line.
"Are elite forces really coming?"
"If they are, isn't that dangerous?"
Calsira and Heliane, manning electronic detection and the co-pilot seat respectively, had shifted to a half-believing state on the strength of everything Jincheon had shown them so far.
Jincheon smiled at them.
"Looking after the females is a male's duty. Worst case, I'll make sure you don't die — so don't worry."
"Nnh…"
"Mmm…"
Neither woman felt any real displeasure at being called females. If anything, the tension from a moment ago melted away, replaced by a sense of security — the feeling of being protected by him. As a side effect, both felt a distinct urge in their wombs to receive his seed, but that was neither here nor there.
"Anyway, my gut's off, so for a while we'll switch to manual control and—"
Jincheon gripped the control stick for manual piloting — and his face went rigid.
"Emergency evasion!"
He wrenched the stick hard left and floored the directional thrusters to full deployment.
"Wha—!? What the hell are you—!"
The transport's hull tilted onto a diagonal as it shifted, the freighter under tow catching the same force. Kader opened a channel, voice sharp with complaint — and at the same instant, warning klaxons screamed.
A thick laser beam scraped past the shield along the hull's flank and tore away into the void.
Ships of that bulk took time just to dodge. If Jincheon hadn't sensed the attack and moved first, if they'd waited for the alarm and then tried to evade, the shields would have absorbed most of that beam head-on.
"Calsira!"
"Range ninety-eight hundred! One cruiser-class! Deploying mecha!"
The moment he called her name, the answer came back from detection.
"Heat source detec—!"
"Hah!"
Before she could even finish reporting that another heat signature had lit up on the enemy cruiser — another laser firing — Jincheon was already hauling the stick the other way, banking hard right.
A laser biased left, reading their previous evasion path, carved empty space where they had been.
How? He can see an attack from that range?
In the co-pilot seat, Heliane felt a jolt of disbelief. Jincheon had started the evasion before Calsira's report was even finished.
A transport ship — always sitting safe in the rear of a fight, or simply hauling cargo from point A to B — had no CIC. Everything was handled from the bridge behind reinforced glass. Heliane had watched Jincheon look through that glass, see something, and turn the stick. He had dodged by seeing a distance that even people with exceptional vision couldn't make out.
He might change the world… no. He has the kind of ability that could.
Even under enemy fire, Heliane couldn't tear her eyes from Jincheon's face.
"Get in the Garelds, now! I'll set auto-evasion and follow right behind!"
"R-right!"
"Yes!"
Startled into answering, Heliane unbuckled, grabbed her seat, and launched herself clear of Calsira toward the Gareld. In zero-g, both women sailed to the mecha locked in their cradles, cracked the cockpits, and climbed in.
We've got shields, so we can hold for a bit. The ones trailing behind us are cutting it close — but if they die, that's their fate.
If the opening ambush had landed clean, most of the shields would have been stripped and leaving the freighter behind would have become a real problem. But Jincheon had felt the killing intent, spotted the ominous flash of light beyond radar range, and pre-empted the shot. Damage was near zero.
On a normal warship with a CIC in the center, that would have hit. That's a problem in its own right.
It had only been possible because this was a transport that a handful of people could fly without a CIC. On a combat vessel, the lag in sensing the attack would have guaranteed a shield hit.
No — later. Focus on the fight in front of you.
Jincheon scrubbed the stray thoughts, set auto-evasion, and launched himself toward his own Gareld. Kicking off a qi membrane formed under his feet, he shot forward, cracked the cockpit with practiced ease, and dropped inside.
"I've set the hatch to open for one minute, then seal."
"Then I'm going out first!"
"I'm going too."
Calsira and Heliane, already powered up, blasted out through the hatch.
"Enemy mecha count is eight. Fewer than I expected."
"Looks like a high-speed cruiser."
A high-speed cruiser was exactly what it sounded like — a cruiser built for speed over a standard design.
"We'll keep them from reaching the ship."
"I'll take fire on the right flank."
Both women floored their boosters. At range, they opened up with laser rifles.
The eight mecha launching from the cruiser came streaking toward them — then, under laser fire, cut speed and began evasion maneuvers.
"Their evasion is polished."
"Looks like Jincheon was right. Elites."
This wasn't the flailing dodge-first style of amateurs. These were clean, deliberate evasions executed only after confirming exactly who was targeting whom. Compared to the pirates they'd wiped two days ago, both the mecha performance and the pilots' skill were in another dimension entirely.
Meanwhile, Jezer — the one who had launched the preemptive strike — was deliberately slowing and weaving through evasion, reading the enemy's strength.
They dodged my cruiser's main gun. These aren't ordinary people.
Jezer's high-speed cruiser had three defining traits.
First: it was vastly faster than other cruisers.
Second: it carried an ultra-high-performance radar suite.
Third: its entire armament was a single output-boosted main gun.
As a pirate, he had stripped away secondary batteries and anti-air guns, pouring every scrap of output into one primary cannon — firing from beyond the reach of ordinary radar to seize the initiative, then closing with mecha to finish the target completely. That was how he plundered. It had worked on almost everyone so far.
"First time. Anyone who's broken my tactics from the opening move."
And the mecha that had come out of the transport was a Gareld — issued only to ace-class pilots. Then another Gareld had followed it out. Either they had better radar on that side, or a pilot with exceptional instincts. The fate of the first group he'd sent made sense now.
"I've found treasure. Heh heh heh."
The original goal had been to seize the freighter. Discovering a Calsorn Empire transport and Garelds turned Jezer's mood distinctly dark.
"All units. Prioritize neutralizing the enemy mecha."
"Yes, sir!"
The answers from the subordinates he had trained personally came back in unison.
"Then let's plunder this quickly."
Finding treasure had set his pulse racing for the first time in a while. The cable linked to the nape of Jezer's neck lit blue.
A striking red-and-blue color scheme. An exterior like thin armor plating. Jezer's personal unit — the Lexerei, a speed-focused mecha with an additional booster unit mounted on the backpack — surged ahead at overwhelming velocity.
"Ohh."
Outside the transport, laser rifle in hand, Jincheon let out a pure sound of admiration. Unlike the previous pirates, these ones weren't panicking — they were dodging with the distinct air of elite troops.
"This time I can actually enjoy myself."
This was a fight against regulars with real combat experience and properly performing mecha. Jincheon lined up on the unit leading the pack with a booster unit mounted and pulled the trigger.
A vanguard's death tanks morale. Farewell.
A red laser lance streaked out, aimed at the lead mecha's torso.
The vanguard — Jezer's Lexerei — spun sideways in a full rotation and slipped past the beam.
"Dodged it. Quicker than I expected."
The first shot was for reading the opponent's movement. Unfazed, Jincheon tracked the evasion and poured laser fire after it in a continuous stream.
But the Lexerei moved as if it could see the lasers coming, slipping every shot with almost casual ease.
When attack after attack failed to land, a smile spread across Jincheon's face. Never before had his fire missed in a continuous string. The thrill of meeting a strong opponent lit in him.
"For a mere pirate to have this much skill…"
Recognizing the vanguard's quality, Jincheon opened a channel to Calsira and Heliane.
"That one's mine. You two handle the rest."
"Understood. But don't forget — the numbers are a lot for just the two of us."
"We'll hold as long as we can."
They had felt Jezer's skill too. With a request to finish him quickly, they split left and right and charged the remaining pirates.
"Hahahaha! You want a one-on-one with me!"
Jezer, whose name carried weight across this whole stretch of space, burst out laughing at Jincheon's intent to face him alone.
"Interesting! Whether that confidence comes with the skill to match is another question!"
"So you'll take it. Competitive, aren't you. Or just overflowing with confidence."
Each man sized the other up as a mass of self-assurance — and both floored their boosters.
As the distance closed, the Lexerei's booster unit rotated and snapped upward with a solid thunk, disengaging.
High-speed maneuver combat. Same type as me.
Jincheon had never imagined meeting someone who fought high-speed dogfights the exact same way he did. He used thrusters to change vector, swinging wide in a broad arc.
The Lexerei's hybrid gun and the Gareld's laser rifle both fired, rounds and beams streaking toward each other. Neither pilot had slowed — and both were predicting the other's path with uncanny precision.
Jincheon cut thrusters to shift trajectory; Jezer rotated his booster unit and did the same. Both slipped clear.
That was close!
In the middle of a high-speed engagement, Jezer's chest clenched for a split second at a shot from Jincheon that had nearly tagged him. The cybernetic implants enhancing his information processing were the only reason he was still alive. Without them, that would have been a clean kill shot.
Targeting system? The same implants as me?
He flinched for an instant — then, a veteran of pirate life who had survived worse crises than this, coolly lined his hybrid gun on the path Jincheon would take next.
A grenade launcher thumped. A grenade arced toward the Gareld.
Jincheon slid the machine sideways out of the blast radius — but Jezer's grenade was no ordinary explosive.
It burst, and a cloud of fine red particles sprayed outward.
"Particles? What the hell?"
Startled by red particles instead of a normal detonation, Jincheon dove deeper into evasion — but a portion of the cloud punched through the shield and clung to the thigh armor. The red particles gathered and stuck fast.
Confirming the lock, Jezer aimed roughly anywhere and fired the hybrid gun.
The rounds left the barrel, then bent mid-flight and streaked straight for the Gareld.
They hammered into the shield.
"Ngh!?"
Jincheon stared as casually fired bullets curved onto him and buried themselves in the shield. He snapped off answering laser fire, but Jezer had already opened the minimum distance his own skill needed and used the booster unit to slip the return shots clean.
A smart gun? Damn it! A pirate using gear that expensive!
A smart gun — ammunition that tracked a target under specific conditions. Expensive enough that even most regular armies didn't field them lightly. And a pirate had one.
This might actually be dangerous.
Barely a week in this world, and he was already facing an opponent of this caliber. Jincheon had never imagined it. The smile left his face.