Surrounded by several ships from her fleet, we had no choice but to surrender. Apparently she’d realized someone was trying to track her down, and like the doctor had warned me before, warps were actually pretty easy to detect. They were waiting for us as soon as we exited. After that, we were escorted off our ship and taken onto one of theirs.
“Hey, is this really all right?” L whispered from where she was tied up beside me.
For the record, we’d all been apprehended and restrained with ropes and handcuffs. After that, we were moved to the lower half of what appeared to be the ship’s bridge. Above us in the upper half were pirates clamoring to get a look down at us. Behind them on the highest platform in the room was a grand chair that would surely be the captain’s seat, but it was currently empty.
“It’ll be fine, L. They’re pirates, and pirates always leave the inspection of prisoners to the captain, right?”
“I think you’ve been watching too many movies.”
“Urk...”
Unable to argue that, I fell silent. But despite L’s concerns, I wasn’t all that worried. In the worst-case scenario, our backup plan was to use Harissa’s invisibility and teleportation magic to get out of here. We’d actually allowed ourselves to be captured on purpose, hoping to avoid a fight. Our primary goal was to negotiate, and our business was with the girl who led this curious bunch of space pirates.
Just then, someone appeared on the clanking platform overhead.
“Are you lot the ones who’ve been chasing us all day?”
Said “someone” was a familiar green-haired girl with an ornate coat and boots on. She’d matured as much as Harissa had, but the headband covering the horn on her forehead was the same as it ever was.
“Fam!”
“Hah? How do you know my na...”
“It’s me, Rekka Namidare.”
“What?”
Fam narrowed her eyes and scrutinized my face for a moment. Then, her eyes gradually widened.
“No way...”
She mumbled to herself in disbelief, then jumped down from the platform with a thud. It was at least three meters in the air, but that didn’t seem to faze her.
“Brother Rekka!”
“Whoa!”
Fam suddenly leaped at me in a half-hug, half-tackle that knocked me right over.
“Guh, my stomach...”
“Brother Rekka, Brother Rekka, Brother Rekka!”
She didn’t seem to hear my groaning, however, as she bawled on top of me. She’d looked so mature just moments ago when she was looking down on us, but...
It seems she’s still got a childish side.
I was honestly relieved to see it.
“Sorry, Fam. But, uh... Your horn is stabbing me a little bit. Ouch!”
“Ah! I’m sorry, Brother Rekka!”
With that, Fam let go of me and stepped back. Still sniffling, she wiped her eyes.
“I had no idea you’d turned up again, Brother Rekka. Was it you who found him, Satsuki?”
“Well, not exactly... You see...”
Satsuki was unsure how to answer, so I shook my head and took over for her. After all, I should be the one to have to explain.
“Fam, the truth is that I’m not actually the Rekka Namidare you knew.”
“Huh? What are you saying?”
“Well...”
I gave Fam a rundown of what had happened leading up to this moment.
“I see... So you’re the old Brother Rekka...” Fam said forlornly after listening to my story.
“I’m sorry for tricking you like that.”
“No, it’s okay. It doesn’t bother me,” she said, managing a smile. “I’m happy to see you again too, Brother Rekka, so there’s nothing to apologize for.”
“Yeah...”
All I’d done since coming to the future was apologize and ask for forgiveness. I was using my identity as a bargaining chip to persuade the future heroines to help me, and deep down, I knew it was cruel.
Damn it...
The leader of the extremists, this mysterious mastermind... They just might be the one behind the War of All in the first place. Whenever I found them, whoever they were, I was going to make them pay no matter what. Not only had they stolen my future away from me, they’d left these poor heroines to suffer in a world of unending war. I had no idea what the mastermind’s motivations were, but that was unforgivable. Before I got to them, however, I’d have to get over the hurdles immediately in front of me.
“Fam, I know this is sudden and selfish, but I want you to do me a favor.”
“A favor?”
“Yeah. You’re the only one I can ask.”
I filled her in on the details of Iris’s attack and how it was all part of an enemy scheme against the agency. I told her it would be difficult to avoid further conflict unless I could meet with Iris directly. And I told her that in order to do that, I’d need her help.
“So that’s what Big Sis Iris is up to, huh?”
“That’s why I need you, Fam. Please. I need your help to stop her.”
“You haven’t changed at all, Brother Rekka...” Fam said with something of a forced smile. “But if I lend you a ship, I won’t just be putting myself in danger. I have my crew to think about too, so I can’t agree without conditions.”
“What conditions?”
“Basically, I want you to tell me your odds of success. To be honest, as fast as our ship is, charging into the middle of a giant fleet ain’t gonna be pretty.”
In space with no gravity, up, down, left, and right were all subjective. So to give fleets a relative sense of direction, they always flew in a spherical formation with a flagship in the center. Because of that, the closer we got to the flagship, the more gunfire we’d be taking from all sides. It would depend on the size of Iris’s full fleet, but even an experienced crew like Fam’s could probably only sneak halfway through it before things got too intense.
Which leaves us with the question of how to get through the second half...
If I couldn’t come up with an answer, Fam was out. And she was right to take me to task over this. No matter how childish she still might be on the inside, she was a proper captain now. The lives of her subordinates were in her hands. She couldn’t just agree to a suicide mission.
First things first, I had to organize my thoughts. I needed two things: a way to get the rest of the way to the flagship, and a way for at least one of us to make it to Iris personally. In order to achieve that, I had a few cards to play. I had Fam and her crew, although they were already doing enough just by getting us the first half of the way to Iris’s ship. I also had Harissa and her invisibility magic, although that wasn’t exactly effective when it came to avoiding detection via radar. Then there was Lea. By herself, she could fly through space at ship speeds, but if Iris’s spaceship wasn’t within view, it would be all too easy for her to lose her sense of direction and get lost within the fleet.
Those were the cards I had in my hand, so how was I going to use them to reach Iris? If I couldn’t figure out a way, this whole negotiation thing would be fail city. Think. Think, Rekka! That’s the only thing you’re good at...
I don’t have any special powers like my future self. I couldn’t do anything on my own, which was why I had to rely on everyone else to save this story. Thankfully, Fam had already agreed to help so long as I could come up with a half-decent plan. But to her and all the other heroines here in the future, I was basically a stranger. They were only willing to help me because of my name and face. I felt terrible knowing that I was essentially just using the heroines, but I was deeply grateful for what they were willing to do for me.
Then there was Iris... She was a heroine just like the other girls, except she was currently being used by the extremists to cause pointless bloodshed. Normally, it would be the job of my future self to step in and save her. But without him around, that job fell on me. I was Rekka Namidare, after all. And playing my part was the only way I had to
pay back the girls who were so generously lending me their power. That’s why I had to think... I couldn’t look at things in isolation. I had to piece them together and maximize any connections I could. It should all lead to one solution. I thought and thought and thought until...
“Hey, Fam! Everyone!” It finally dawned on me. “Listen to this...”
▽
We didn’t have much time left. We had a deadline of 24 hours until the Galactic Federation attack from the time we had received the message, and since then we’d spent half a day chasing down Fam. After negotiating with her, we had to choose the fastest ship she had and arm and man it appropriately. That meant changing out its armaments and carefully screening crew members, which took another two or three hours. Once all the prep work was done, Satsuki divined the location of Iris’s fleet with her magic, and we spent another couple of hours in warp to get there.
“Phew, did we make it?”
The first thing I felt upon exiting the warp was relief that the fleet wasn’t in view yet. If they’d already opened fire by the time we got there, it would be too late. Our goal was to avoid any fighting altogether.
“By my estimate, we’ll be within each other’s radar ranges in roughly ten minutes.”
“So it’s just about time...”
I took a deep breath. We couldn’t afford to fail here. I had to convince Iris to call off her attack no matter what.
“Aye! That’s a mighty long face ya got there, boss! Relax! We’re here for ya, so ya got nothin’ to worry about!”
Just then, a member of Fam’s pirate crew tried to cheer me up. He was very clearly older than me, and had volunteered for the mission.
“Um, I’m not your boss.”
“What’re talkin’ about?! Yer the guy who saved Big Boss Squallow, ain’tcha? We all owe ya a big one!”
“Ahaha... Right...”
Squallow, huh? That name sure brought back memories. He was the founder of the Seageists and basically Fam’s foster father. My future self had apparently saved him for Fam’s sake just like I had, which was a welcome development since it meant Fam’s entire crew was happy to try and help me out in return.
“Just one thing though... You know I’m not actually the Rekka you guys know, right?”
“Don’t sweat the details, boss!”
I tried to correct him, but he just laughed the whole thing off with a hearty chuckle.
Am I just worrying about it too much...? Oh well. I need to focus on the task at hand for now.
So many people were lending me their aid that I had to make sure not to let them down. For their sakes, I was going to give this my all. And just as I steeled my resolve, a number of flashing alerts popped up on the bridge’s giant main screen.
“They’re here!”
The alerts were notifications that the enemy fleet was now within range. It looked like there was an alert for each individual ship... And there were easily over a hundred of them.
“Captain! They’re in the standard spherical formation!”
“All right! Calculate their density!” Fam shouted, rattling off orders from the captain’s chair.
“They’ve sent a transmission seeking to confirm our affiliation!”
“Spam them back with whatever.”
“Aye, captain!”
“We’ve received a warning. It reads, ‘Move it already!’”
“Ignore it.”
I did what I could while watching the crew scramble about. If things went awry here, I was prepared to hand myself over to the Galactic Federation to prevent a fight from breaking out. But like the doctor had warned me, that would only lead to more fighting in the future. It would be an absolute last resort. Before it came to that, we’d give this all-or-nothing surprise attack our best shot. We had to.
“We’ve located the enemy flagship!”
“Calculating the shortest route... Got it!”
“Enemy vanguard is changing formations! Looks like they’re about to open fire!”
“Okay, men! Chaaarge!”
“Yeeeeeaaah!”
When Fam rallied them, her entire crew roared in unison as the ship sped forward to meet the Galactic Federation fleet.
“Urk!”
I couldn’t actually feel how fast we were going from the bridge, but the stars whizzing past us were dizzying.
“Enemy has fired a long-range beam cannon! Impact expected in 15 seconds!”
“Evade it! Left blaster jet to maximum thrust! Seventy degrees!”
The ship trembled as it tilted to the right. A giant beam of swirling light then went flying past just to our left where the ship had been sitting moments ago. So this was what space combat was like... It was basically a long-range showdown.
We knew where the enemy ships were thanks to the radar, but they were still 10,000 kilometers away. We didn’t even have a visual on them at that distance. But that shot they’d fired just now... That definitely would’ve sunk us if it had been a direct hit.
Still, we had to get close enough to be able to see Iris’s flagship at the center of the fleet. Beams like that would be flying the whole time we were trying to make it there... It was a little late, but it finally set in on me how ridiculous of a favor I’d asked Fam.
“It’ll be fine, Brother Rekka!” Fam called out, turning to me with a smile. “If they were serious, we wouldn’t stand a chance. But that’s not gonna happen.”
“Wh-Why not?”
“Because we’re just a single ship. A midsize one with no long-range artillery, even. While they won’t just let an unidentified ship sneak into their ranks, they know we’re not a serious threat to them. They’ll respond accordingly.”
Fam knew the fleet’s real target was agency HQ, which was notoriously defended by mechanisms of the doctor’s own personal design. They weren’t about to charge in recklessly. Of course, a pirate ship appearing out of nowhere was suspicious to them, but a ship that could only go fast was nothing more than an annoying fly to a fully-equipped battleship fleet. They would swat at us if we got too close, but they weren’t going to waste but so much time and energy on us. Their battle lay ahead, so they would conserve any and all resources they could for the main event. Or, at least, that was Fam’s theory.
And she seemed to be right. Slowly but surely, we made our way closer and closer to the fleet. They continued to fire at us, but at a rate that suggested they were trying to drive us away rather than shoot us down. That gave me a spark of hope, but...
“Now the real fun begins,” Fam said suddenly.
“Huh?” I asked, stupefied.
Fam then turned to me and explained, “We’ll be inside their formation pretty soon. That’s where the party starts.”
“P-Party?”
“That’s right! It’s showtime!” Fam roared with a confident grin. “So you should get ready, Brother Rekka. Once we have a visual on Big Sis Iris’s ship, it’s your turn. Better get pumped!”
“Yeah, you’re right. Leave it to me!” I said with a nod as I pounded my chest.
While I was worried about Fam, now wasn’t the time for second guesses. If I wanted to honor the hard work she and her crew were putting in for my sake, I had to see this plan through. I had to make sure it succeeded.
“Let’s go, everyone!”
“Right!”
I gathered Satsuki and the others, and we moved through the ship following the instructions Fam had given us beforehand. The route led us to a small hangar where more pirates were waiting for us.
“They’re here! C’mon! Put these on quick!”
They gave each one of us a space suit similar to what we’d worn on the sandy planet where we found Lea. We quickly got changed, and the pirates checked us out to make sure everything was in order.
“And where’s your suit, lass?” one of the pirates asked Lea.
“I don’t need one,” she replied.
Lea closed her eyes and began concentrating while Satsuki, Harissa, the doctor, L, and I all fi
nished getting ready. Once preparations were complete, the pirates who’d helped us get changed retreated from the hangar. Things were potentially about to get dangerous. We patiently awaited Fam’s signal, but all of a sudden...
Boom!
An impact rattled the ship, making the whole hangar shake.
“Kyah!”
“Eek!”
I had to grab Harissa and Satsuki to keep them from toppling over.
“What was that?! Is everyone okay?!”
Don’t tell me the fleet had actually landed a hit...
“Everything’s fine! It was just a scratch! They only managed to graze us,” someone suddenly declared from behind us.
When I whipped around to see who it was...
“Wait, Fam?! What are you doing here?!”
“I’m coming too. I’ve left orders with my first mate, and they’ll get the ship outta here once we depart.”
Fam, who should’ve been on the bridge, descended the ladder to the hangar floor. She was already wearing a space suit and everything.
“I’m pretty useful when it comes to navigating ships, you know? I also want to see Big Sis Iris again, so let me tag along.”
“F-Fine! Let’s just get a move on!”
The longer we stood around here arguing, the more likely the ship was to get shot down. It was a risk I wasn’t willing to take, and with that decided, I turned to Lea.
“Lea! We’re going!”
“Understood.”
On my signal, Lea began to transform. She went from adult woman to legendary beast.
“Get on, everyone.”
In Leviathan form, Lea’s serpentine body stretched roughly 12 meters long, taking up most of the hangar. When she telepathically let us know she was ready, we all climbed up on her back and fixed ourselves in place. Falling off would mean being set adrift in the cold darkness of space, which was something we all wanted to avoid. Once we were all prepared, Fam gave her crew a signal and the pirates from earlier opened the hatch in the rear of the hangar. There was immediately a blast of what felt like strong wind, but it only lasted for a few moments. It didn’t take long for all the air to be sucked out of the room. Lea waited for things to calm down, then took off.
I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 15 Page 7