Chapter 358: Pitiful Captain

Wiska led the way while carrying the mental wave measuring device that looked like it was made in a rush as we walked around the interior of the Restalias. Whenever a mental wave『leakage』was detected, we'd contact the lab so they can adjust the settings of the jamming device. After repeating said tedious work and completely preventing the mental waves coming out of the lab from leaking out of the ship, we decided to report our current findings to Capt. Serena.

"There's a possibility of the spheres being some sort of collective intelligence entity connected to each other via mental waves, so you've made a jamming device to interfere with said connection huh...... There are no problems with the effectiveness of the device, right?"

Capt. Serena's dignified voice echoed throughout the captain's quarters. Only I, Dr. Shouko, and Capt. Serena were present.

"We've succeeded in containing the mental waves. At least for now, there doesn't seem to be any problems."

Dr. Shouko replied in her usual cheeky and relaxed tone. It looks like her attitude remained the same even when the other party she was facing was a colonel of the imperial military.

"For now?"

"We've deduced a good safety margin based on the current strength of the mental waves being emitted by the spheres. However, the true extent of their abilities is still unknown to us. That's why I can't give any guarantees."

After replying, Dr. Shouko shrugged her shoulders as she deflected the pressure coming from Capt. Serena's crimson irises.

"......Is it possible to communicate with them?"

"For now, we still haven't succeeded in doing so. But they're constantly exchanging information via mental waves so we don't lack samples. It's a transmission that's unfamiliar to us because they're using an unknown language. Also, there aren't any alien language researchers who can perform cryptanalysis in this ship."

"It's impossible for us to arrange additional personnel for now."

Capt. Serena massaged her temples while displaying a bitter expression, as if enduring a headache.

"You look pretty troubled, Miss Captain. You got burdened with a job that's outside of your specialization."

"I'm a soldier after all."

Capt. Serena clammed up after that one reply. Originally, her Mobile Independent Anti-pirate Fleet, as the name implied, was a fleet for conducting operations against space pirates independently from the strategic policy of the imperial military. On the flip side, one can also look at it as a useful pawn that can be used to achieve any other purpose as long as it's entwined with operations against space pirates. That's from the perspective of the military brass.

Well, considering what happened in the Crystal Campaign, I guess they had no qualms about sending them out even without such a premise. That was a matter that had nothing to do with space pirates after all.

"The schemes within the military, or rather, the politics sure can be troublesome huh. Well, as long as we're involved in it, we can't treat it as somebody else's problem."

"That's true. Even so, it's not feasible to continue the research inside the Dauntless indefinitely, right?"

"Well, thanks to a certain someone, we've managed to take care of the pirates quickly, so we have some leeway. However, it's a fact that we can't let the fleet stay here for long. At best, we can only stretch it out for...... less than a week, I guess."

"In other words, we have to achieve results in less than a week huh. And that's against alien lifeforms that use unknown communication methods and an unknown language."

"Just because they have their own unique communication method, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're intelligent lifeforms though."

If the criteria for creatures to be considered intelligent lifeforms was having a unique form of communication alone, even animals such as birds would be considered as intelligent life. Well, the definition of intelligent life was basically vague anyway.

"Rather, what's the angle the military is going for anyway? The objective was new armor material, right? I think we've collected more than enough samples already, so wouldn't the goal be achieved after you properly analyze them?"

"In terms of developing new armor material, the research is being conducted not just inside the Restalias, but also in military labs located in the Windas system. We'll be able to find out all about them in due time. The problem lies in the raw materials. If the raw materials needed to manufacture that new type of armor only exists on the planet the spheres originated from, the empire would have to take control of that planet - or rather, the entire star system."

"And the Independent Anti-pirate Mobile Fleet was dispatched to the Edge World for such a reason? Isn't that the job of the regular troops? Or rather, don't they have a specialized department that handles this kind of stuff?"

"That's indeed the case."

"You have it hard...... In other words, you need to identify where the sphere samples came from while taking care of space pirates operating within the Edge World, which is supposed to be your main mission. Then you'd have to collect and analyze as much info as possible. You guys are really being treated as convenient pawns huh."

The military higher-ups might have simply treated this as killing two birds with one stone, or gave such orders for the sake of efficiency. But for Capt. Serena who got saddled with work that she and her fleet didn't specialize in, it was quite a hassle.

"On top of that, you'd also have to report that there's a possibility of the spheres being intelligent lifeforms, or perhaps a collective intelligence entity similar to an AI network. Of course, you'd get a major headache."

"......That's why it would be really helpful if you can produce some results as soon as possible."

"Since we've taken measures against the leakage of mental waves, I think we've at least achieved minimum results. The rest depends on the results of the analysis using a cryptanalysis device and the translation implant database."

"I sure hope it goes well. From the very bottom of my heart."

Capt. Serena muttered with a bitter expression. I feel you, Captain. I really do.

TL Notes: As you may have noticed, I'll be using the navy officer ranking system instead of the army one from here on out since it's closer to the intent of the author. I only maintained the previous ranking system since I've been using it for so long. But Weasalopes offered to help with editing the s, so I went ahead with changing it. Go thank Weas guys. He's awesome.