Unparalleled Path ~ Reincarnated as the AI for a Space Battleship - Chapter 19

Running out of time

Nazo also had courage. It takes courage to include the captain of your own ship in the list of suspects.

The person in question, Sohaira, was looking at the place where the explosion occurred while sitting on the partially burned captain’s seat. A faint anxiety can be read in her expression. She must be telling to herself, that she must sit in that seat even if she doesn’t want otherwise everyone would judge her aptitude as commander.

I called Nazo through her income. (TN:I don’t know what is income is, perhaps they explained it in the previous chapters and it was never translated or well explained or I didn’t pay attention)

「First lieutenant, it’s me, Asagaya Shin」

「What’s the matter?」

I checked the status of the security department with the camera. Nazo was sitting alone at a desk. A hollow projection of countless humans upper body were being projected around. Below the upper body were the names and ranks.

「Though it’s a list you have prepared just a few moments ago, you have included the captain as the fourth suspect. Is not there a problem with that list?」

「No. We, the security department, doubt each and every one. Even the princess has a motive and the means to do it」

「Motive?」

「The emperor’s seat. If she achieves the sufficient merits in this war, even she who is in the worst position could have an opportunity. In fact, the princess is already the commander of this ship. If she is able to return to the domains of the empire, the merit would be enough for even his Majesty the emperor to lay his eyes on her」

「You don’t say!」

Although it has not been more than a day since I met Sohairo, she does not look like a person who would kill for power.

「Of course, the possibility that the captain is the culprit is negligible. What interests me the most is your “fifth suspect”」

I divided my conscience to spy on Vega Sandora, the fifth suspect.

She was in her room. Officers are given a private room of up to 3 tatami at most. A thin bed and thin desk.

Vega was naked on the bed.

She was operating the data pad with one hand without diminishing the pace of her push-ups. For a technical officer she has indeed tempered her body. Her upper arm tightened, and her latissimus dorsi were also developing. Judging by the top of the uniform, she did not look different to a beauty, but inside that uniform she is a full-fledged soldier. Her large breasts swing each time she moves, a sporty beauty.

The personal history of AI Kato was being displayed in her pad.

According to the official record, the greatest AI that has lived the “longest” is Kato. The birth of AI Kato dates back to the time when the first emperor was no more than a consul in what was still a republic. The first battlecruiser, “the tenth army corps”, of the history had been constructed, which would be the flagship that would be commanded by the one that soon would be emperor,

Before Kato existed, the main force in space fleets were battleships. Boasting of a overwhelming power and thick armor, they were moving fortresses. However, its largue build was what ruined its mobility There, the first emperor proposed to combine the combat power of the battleship along with the speed of the cruiser, in order to create the battlecruiser Although it continued to be inferior to the battlecruiser, the offensive ability was comparable with the battleship and its speed was comparable with the cruiser. Using it skillfully, the first emperor continued to win battle after battle, constantly expanding his territory.

Kato was only retired once, when the second generation emperor ascended to the throne. The first emperor was deified, and Kato who was part of his crew, was worshiped in the “the mausoleum” of the empire headquarters star.

Kato made its comeback by the twenty-seventh emperor’s era. At the same time, the empire faced its greatest crisis. A third of the sectors of the empire formed an “alliance” and revolted.

The twenty-seventh emperor took Kato out of the mausoleum, then replaced all its parts with new ones, and once again, seated it on the flagship.

Then, the thirteenth one emperor would award the flagship to the first imperial prince, and this would later become one more battleship of the bunch. By the time the first imperial prince boarded the ship, Kato had received three “thought punishment”. The first imperial prince made Kato and his crew fall in danger countless times. Each time they were in danger, Kato demonstrated superior tactics drawn from his vast experience, and thus saving the fleet. However, the first imperial prince forced Kato to take responsibility for losing each time and a thought punishment was carried out each time.

Vega stopped her push-ups and picked up her data pad. I enlarged a part of the document. In it was written, “Even after being released from his thought punishment, Kato still retained his sanity”.

No matter how hard Vega thought, there was something she couldn’t understand.

I returned with Nazo but without forgetting to leave a part of my conscience in Vega’s room.

「The technical officer Vega has just now investigated my, no, Kato’s military service record」

「Thanks. If she were to show any suspicious behavior, contact me immediately」

Suspicious? Would be muscle training while being naked included in that suspicious behavior?

Nazo waved her arm towards the hollow image projected on the air. The projection reacts to her gesture and it moves toward a corner. She curled herself up on a chair. Maybe because of her height, every time she makes some childish-like movements, she looks like a child in her first half of her adolescence. Considering her age, I wonder if she became a first lieutenant because of her excellence or connections?

「You shouldn’t report that you have the suspects under surveillance to the captain?」 She said.

「Even for me the search of the criminal is a matter of life or death. In the unlikely event that a bomb was planted in the reactor it would be the end of the road even for me」

Of course, it’s not like I doubt Sohaira. But as long there is the slightest possibility that she is responsible, I must monitor her. If I overlook it, a little less than 2000 people would end up being sacrificed.

Although I can’t replace the Kato they long for, I’m not so cold hearted that I can abandon the crew to their fate. A part of me, always talks and jokes with them during the course of work. Although only one day has passed since we met, there are many people with whom I feel like I’ve started to become friends. And if you are a human being, it’s natural that you feel responsible for the well being of such friends.

While we are in hyperspace, I continue to monitor the five suspects as far as the cameras reach.

None of them showed suspicious behavior.

On the sixth day after we entered the hyperspace, I sounded an alarm. We were returning to the real space.

Sohaira was in the captain’s seat.

「Asagaya Shin, if the enemy fleet was waiting for us when leaving the hyperspace, I want to tell you that it won’t be your fault」

「Thank you for your concern」

I felt guilty. She was worried about me all this time, and I, on the other hand, was watching her around the clock.

The bridge was surrounded by a moderate air of tension. The crew’s fighting spirit is high. Just recently you could hear Sohaira’s words of encouragement through the broadcast. One after another, of the fifty people who make up the bridge crew, were switching me, the ship, to a combat mode. Orders were given. Increase the output of the reactor, send ammunition to the turret, adjust the output of the defensive field, etc.

It was a mysterious feeling. For me, the crew, were like bacteria working inside my body. These bacteria were keeping my body in the best condition regardless of my will.

The helmsman Neito pulled in order five levers which were in a corner of a console.

On the tactical screen, you could see how the pure white hyperspace captured by the stem camera was slowly losing its color and how the black darkness was growing. In a matter of seconds, we were again wandering in the space that we all know. Each type of existing sensor was put in full operation into reading Randiniumu star system state.

The first thing that caught my eye was a flock of warships that were a few seconds away at the speed of light. Battleships and cruiser ships, putting them together, a total of nine hundred ships. Also twelve minutes away, there were twelve main ships. In addition, nearly three hundred large fleets were waiting near the distant fifth planetary star system.

Chapter end