Me, Her, and the Ballistic Weaponry [Antique] Chapter 36

TL Notes: It's here guys! A brand spankin new Ballistic Weapon chapter! All welcome Mr. Teirow and his motley crew. If you haven't heard of this series yet, I suggest reading the early chapters translated by Yoraikun. It's good.  

"~UOoOoooh! Nope, nope, nope, nope! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!" 

Tarou miserably screamed while piloting the HAD near the space dock of Alpha Station.

"Oi, oi. C'mon man, try not to bump into anything dangerous. There are no replacement parts for that thing" Squall begged over the comms after seeing Tarou's disastrous HAD piloting skills. He then headed towards Tarou, who was currently spinning like an ice skater and connected his BISHOP in order to control the unit remotely and stopped its movement.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Teirow. It seems you have no talent for HAD operation."

Allan's voice rang out from the comms. "Dangit!" Tarou swore in regret but is now preoccupied with trying to stop himself from vomiting out the contents of his stomach.

"It was my dream to control such a rad lookin robot… But is it just not meant to be?"

Tarou entered the dock looking really miserable while being towed by Squall's HAD. His unit was brought back in while still positioned upside down, all tangled up by cables and was the odd one out of the five HADs inside the hangar.

"You can operate such a huge starship without a hitch but you can't even handle this thing? Are you really from the military?" Squall asked doubtfully. Tarou shrugged and answered, "Real unfortunate, huh?"

"I was busy runnin around all over the empire, so I haven't really traveled this far out to the boonies man… Anyway, haven't you found the research station yet?"

Although they were grossly outnumbered, the station still had its defense systems and ten combat-ready HADs. And with the addition of Plum IIs concentrated bombardment, nearly one hundred WINDs were literally reduced to space dust. There were times when it looked somewhat dangerous for Plum II because of the enemy numbers, but the high-capacity shield battery demonstrated its ability to the fullest. It was difficult for the frigate-class WINDs to penetrate cruiser-class shields and armor.

Currently, Rizer was busy recovering the wreckage along with Maar, who's taking the lead due to her experience as a Salvager. Because they can't actually collect everything, they had to be picky when choosing what to retrieve. Since Alpha Station was practically emptied out when it was evacuated, it wasn't realistic to do any sort of business here. Maar's idea was to resort to salvaging instead.

"That's the really unfortunate thing kid. We're now scanning every suspicious place in the area, so I think it'll only be a matter of time before we find them."

The one which replied over the comms wasn't Squall, but the voice of Vera, the station's boss. Tarou nods with an 'un' while thinking about the professor who hasn't been found yet.

The Alpha Research Station was the place where Dr. Aldimof was working in. It was different from the residential station where Tarou and co. were at, and was now currently missing. According to Koume, who ran through the communication records, it moved from its original location when the WIND attack started in order to escape. Since the communications were interrupted, the people remaining in the residential station were having a hard time searching for it.

"I hope they're safe…"         

Tarou got out of the HAD with Squall's help and headed towards the station control room, where Vera and Koume were waiting. They waded through the zero-gravity area, which Tarou still wasn't used to, and he sighed in relief when they reached the control room with artificial gravity active. 

"Welcome back kid. So, how was your experience piloting the HAD?"

The one who greeted Tarou was a woman who was just about the same height as him, with characteristically sharp-looking eyes. In contrast to Maar's fiery red straight hair, she had wavy blue hair. She had her jacket draped onto her shoulders without putting her arms through the sleeves. She also had a large scar running down her cheek and was currently displaying a cool and composed smile.

"He's nothing special  Vera . His HAD piloting skills are too crappy. He was just about to completely trash your unit earlier y'know."

"Wh Hey, don't go sayin anythin unnecessary now!"

When Squall took off the pilot helmet, a guy with short, black hair was revealed underneath. His toned body was evident in the silhouette of his pilot suit. Tarou imagined Allan would look like him if he slimmed down a bit.

"Oh, it's fine. I saw the whole thing through the monitor. Don't worry about that. We owe you our lives after all kid." 

After Vera calms the flustered Tarou down, she proceeded to take out a cigar as thick as a person's thumb from her jacket pocket and lit it up. "Wan't some?" she asked, to which Tarou shook his head. "It's a real cigar y'know" she offered again. Tarou refused once more. 

"I'm really sorry. I should've clarified things earlier, but I made you guys misunderstand things instead. Like I said, the professor did come to this system, but he's actually not in this station."

 Vera stared straight at Tarou's eyes. Tarou felt really pressured from her gaze but tried not to show any reaction outwardly. He already sensed that they've been deliberately misled, but he wasn't planning on saying anything about it in the first place. And more importantly…

[Teirow, don't make any funny moves. Their Guns and Dollars Corp. is a mafia group that highly regards their code of honor. I don't think they'll lay a hand on us, their benefactors. But if we get regarded as their enemies, they'd probably gun us down mercilessly. In fact, the station's defense batteries are all aimed at us, and their HADs are fully combat-ready. Seems they really prepared a warm welcome for us.]

Allan sent him a secret transmission while he was moving through the station docks earlier. When he remembered it, Tarou really couldn't bring himself to raise any sort of complaint.

"Uh, well, that's really unfortunate. But it can't be helped. And 'sides, we're still relyin on this station's large scanner to look for the research station, so it's all good."

Regardless of the situation, it was true that the scanner installed on the Plum II wouldn't be able to pick things up beyond this star system.

 Vera smiles after hearing Tarou's words. He couldn't tell her exact age because of the development of anti-aging tech, but from her looks alone, she should be between the late 20's and early 30's. 

"By the way Versan, you guys are a so-called mafia coop right? What're ya doin defendin this station then?"

"Mm? What? Is it bad for mafia to run a station's security detail?"

"Uh, no. I didn't mean it like that y'know."

Tarou involuntarily gulped when he saw Vera's disdainful glare. He didn't know if this was a case of that so-called aura of intimidation or whatnot, but scary things are scary.

"Fufu. Well, let's see. In the case of stations out on the boonies like this one, the empire's influence is a lot weaker. Naturally, the type of people coming and going through places like this are a bit different from usual y'see. There're people like us, and lots of other sorts as well. We're like fishes on the water here."

Vera's lips arched up as she emphasized the "other sorts" part of her explanation. Tarou gulped nervously and whispered "Other sorts huh… ", to which Vera answered, "It's not that unusual here y'know".  

"It's not like we're breaking any imperial laws while staying here. In fact, I think we're pretty cute compared to the other folks out there. And most companies have guys like us working for them y'know. Could be a union, a department or as partner companies. Sometimes, they enter a sort of secret alliance as well."

After Vera's explanation, Tarou thought that their organization was a bit different from what he was imagining in his head earlier on. As proof, there wasn't even one item in the news that implicated the mafia coops in any sort of crime. He wasn't used to the idea just yet, but it really does seem that the mafia has already managed to fully integrate themselves in the gears of society.

"But y'know, you're a real strange one yourself kid. Merchant ships are usually all flash and no flair, but isn't that thing of yours a little bit too powerful?" Vera probed.

"Y'mean the Plum?" Tarou asked. "I don't know if you've already gotten the news, but these days it's normal for any company to possess armed ships like this one."

"Hmm… Well, no matter. Are you formerly from the military kid?"

"Uh, well, y'see, there's all sorts o' circumstances an stuff…"

Tarou, who couldn't exactly confess that he underwent an override procedure in order to acquire six years-worth of military academy training, stammered. But it seems Vera misunderstood his hesitant behavior. "Well, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to" she followed up in a whisper, sounding all convinced.

"By the way, I have a little proposal for you. Is it true that you hold sole management rights in your company?"

Tarou honestly answered "Yeah" while feeling an unpleasant premonition. When she heard his answer, Vera showed a satisfied expression. She was about to open her mouth to continue the conversation, but Koume, who has been silent up until now while standing near the control panel, finally spoke.

"Mr. Teirow, a directional scan performed by the station caught a large moving object just now. There are no other structures registered near this area, so I surmise that it's the missing research station."

Tarou raised his face after hearing Koume's voice. He let out a "A'ight!" and started running towards the dock where the Plum was anchored. "Hey, wait up!" Vera called out.

"If you guys are going out for a fight, then take us with you. We won't get in the way, and we'll show you we can be useful. And besides-"

She grinned. It was a smile that inspired fear.

"We're gonna be part of the same union from now on. Helping each other out is the foundation of a great partnership, right?"

She said such a thing quite casually, but it seemed to imply she wouldn't take no for an answer.  

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Chapter end