Collecting intelligence

"Captain, hostile contact concluded. All primary and secondary threats have been eliminated, maps and sys have located possible intact clusters within the constellation of destroyed craft."

"Right, prepare for a wide beam broadcast. Target the entire constellation, just to make sure they all hear me."

Having overseen the destruction of the Eden pirate fleet which attempted to raid the Solar empire's displaced capital planet, Mike was already thinking of the next steps, namely how to escape the galaxy he had been forcefully translocated into.

(Anything from system maps to navigation charts would be great, but most importantly we need to find out if the Eden Theocracy's hold on this galaxy is total. Even if it meant going an extra 5000 light years, travelling outside Eden space would make it much harder for them to track us…)

"System's, configure broadcast to use band 9.7 GHz and use following encoding: A447Z."

"Wilco, configuring broadcast to radio, microwave @ 9.7 GHz, using unknown encoding standard A445Z. Broadcast ready, your station cold microphone, hot on command."

Confirming the CIC was pressurised, Mike removed his helmet and grabbed the microphone at the central map plot as all eyes gathered on him, nodding to the communication system officer Mike switched over to Eden language.

"Attention all non-regulated Eden forces, attention all non-regulated Eden forces. This is the Solar navy royal guard, we'll be conducting salvage operations inside the destroyed constellation of scavenger crafts. If you wish to be rescued, be prepared to provide intelligence and indicate that by pounding on your hull. Surrendering of valuable intelligence will be rewarded with pardoned sentences and the possibility of release from capture. Be aware that any further hostile actions will lead to a lethal response."

Ending the broadcast Mike was about to issue new orders when Jack spoke up.

"Captain…"

Seeming like he really wanted to ask something but not sure he should, Jack decided that consequences could be damned and asked.

"How come you're able to speak that language?"

(Right, I still haven't explained that…)

Glancing around the combat information centre, Mike saw that the rest of his officers also shared Jack's concerns. While Mike had been selected for captain personally by the commander of the royal guard, Mike being able to speak the Eden language was still reason for suspicion.

"Because I was taught it, along with a lot of other things, but how, when or where I was taught that you're better off not knowing. Her royal highness of the Solar Empire knew this when commissioning me to take command of this vessel. If you want the explanation I gave to her, ask the commander of the royal guard, he was present for the conversation."

While Mike knew the explanation he gave wasn't anywhere near sufficient, he also realised that it didn't need to be.

"You can suspect me of being an Eden spy all you want later, in fact, feel free to take this issue up with the fleet commander, but not right now. Right now I need each and every person in here to be an extension of myself and all of us to do our jobs for the sake of people that rely on us to get them out of this situation. Drone controllers, work together with navs and maps to check out the constellation of destroyed vessels, start with the possibly intact sections and listen for vibrations and other signs of life. The more intact intelligence we collect right now, the easier it will be to return back home."

"... Helmen, take us closer to the constellation and match speed double time, the more time we waste the more the wrecks are going to spread out and the harder our search will be."

Still clearly not satisfied with Mike's answer, Jack nevertheless realised that time was of the essence and gave out orders in addition to Mike's, this made the rest of the combat information centre at least follow orders and the salvage work finally started.

-

"Captain, we might have something."

Just half an hour after the salvage operation started, one of the drone operators called Mike over to his station and passed him a headset.

"... That sounds like someone banging on a bulkhead alright, seems like they heard our broadcast and are willing to provide information. Communications give me a tight beam to that ship, same freq and encode as before and give me a high-resolution scan of that vessel."

"Wilco, ready to transmit."

Getting a look at the vessel, Mike hailed the survivors.

"Attention non-regulated Eden forces, this is a focused transmission, we hear you, now starting boarding and rescue procedures. We'll locate your bulkhead and set up an airlock so continue to indicate your location, be aware any hostile action against rescue drones will incite a lethal response."

Turning back to the drone operator, Mike commanded her to locate the survivors and set up an emergency airlock.

"Captain sir, I've located survivors… They're firing at my drone."

Being alerted by another situation Mike turned his attention to another drone operator, looking at his sensor feed revealed a group of Eden pirates in vacuum suits using small arms to fire at one of the drones with little to no effect.

"I already warned them, feel free to terminate those contracts."

"... Roger, eliminating hostile forces."

With a grim look on his face, the drone operator grabbed his joystick and took the drone out of autonomous operating mode and activated its weapon systems. Using the drone's relatively low-powered point defence lasers meant to take out hostile missiles, the drone operator fried each of the pirates that shot at him one by one until only a single one was left, said last pirate quickly threw away his rifle and moved his hands above his head, indicating he was willing to surrender.

"Sir, the last one surrendered."

"That might be a trap, I'm not willing to risk a drone when we have limited supplies, keep your distance and observe."

"Roger."

"Sir I've located the survivors and set up a mobile airlock, preparations for breach are complete."

Having deployed and pressurised a transparent membrane outside a bulkhead, the drone operator sounded a warning and began to cut open the bulkhead to reveal what seemed to be some sort of food storage on the other side. After about a minute of no activity, a pair of open hands appeared in the drone's video feed peeking out from behind cover.

(So no vacuum suit, good thing we set up the airlock instead of just cutting into the compartment.)

"Enter the airlock along with any data containers inside the compartment, inaction will be regarded as a hostile action and treated as such."

Following the instructions Mike had provided, a pair of women hurriedly entered the inflatable airlock and sealed it before the drone detached it from the bulkhead and started travelling back towards the Valourant.

"... It doesn't seem like these women will be able to provide us with much intelligence."

Looking at the rough state of their captive's clothing along with how thin they were, the drone operator correctly judged them to be slaves.

"Then do you want to space them instead? Go right ahead."

"... I'll refrain."

As the salvage operation continued, multiple survivors were found, although not all of them were as cooperative as the first one rescued.

"... Any damage to the drone?"

"No sir, the armour can keep up with this for hours on end."

Staring at a group of pirates that continued to fire at the drone that had come to rescue them, Mike stared blankly for a moment.

"No survivors found here. Go ahead and depressurise, that'll make it easier to look for any usable intelligence."

"Sir?"

"You heard me."

"S-sir, yes sir."

After an hour of the Valourant's drones prowling through the debris, Mike deemed everything important to have been collected and decided to call it quits when one of the drone operators spoke up.

"Sir, what about that one I've been observing?"

"Ah, I almost forgot about that one… Are they still lively?"

"No sir, they're become quite docile by now."

"Then collect them and get back to the ship, we need to get back into fleet formation or the commander will be quite peeved with me."

"... Y-yes sir. Recalling all drones now."

"Good work, Jack you have the helm, get us back into formation. I'll go talk with our new guests."

"Wilco, they've been placed in the brig two decks below us."

Leaving the combat information centre to his trusty XO, Mike went down a few levels inside the skyscraper-sized cruiser and passed a bunch of normal enlisted sailors who saluted him before he reached the brig guarded by a pair of marines.

"Sir."

"I'm here to interrogate the prisoners, lock the door behind me."

"... Sir, yes sir."

Entering the brig, Mike found it to be a hallway with 2 person cells on either side, their glass doors made it easy to see if they were occupied. Glancing at one of the numerous surveillance cameras, Mike decided to add a layer of safety and contacted Jack.

"Jack, you copy?"

"Yes sir."

"As an emergency measure, prepare to drop the pressure inside the brig to 0.01 bar. Only on my command of course."

"Roger, good hunting."

(Good hunting, huh… I guess that works.)

Having ensured his own safety, Mike put on his helmet and walked up to the first occupied cell, consequently it was occupied by the two women that were one of the first which had been recovered.

"Good evening, I am the captain of this vessel and I'll be asking you two some questions."

Suddenly faced with a guy clad in an armoured vacuum suit with a tinted glass helmet, the pair of women understandably freaked out a little.

"What was your rank inside the pirate armada?"

"H-huh? I'm afraid I don't understand sir, Captain."

"... What was your job?"

"W-we were in charge of preparing meals, cleaning and caring for the injured."

(Right, so no actionable intelligence to speak of… Unless?)

Even if these women didn't know anything about the inner workings of the Eden theocracy, cooks and servants always seemed to hear bits and pieces.

"... Right then, do either of you perhaps know why you were attacking us?"

"Sir Captain, I don't really know anything about those things."

While one of the women didn't seem to know anything, the other one clearly reacted to Mike's question, but she seemed nervous to speak about it, glancing past Mike to the cell behind him. Turning around, Mike was met with a much more pirate-like pirate, complete with a shaved head and numerous tattoos.

"How did you know to attack us? The appearance of a boon is supposed to be a state secret limited to bishops and above."

"How very well informed you are captain~ We are also very well informed, but that information is going to cost you."

Getting an answer he really didn't like from yet another pirate-like pirate one cell over, Mike's frown transformed into a slight smile.

(So they're looking down on us because we captured them alive and treated them with some amount of humanity…)

"First of all, we need some food and some good booze, even better if you have some spare women too~"

Taking Mike's silence as affirmation, the pirate wore a quite sleazy smile on his face.

Said smile lasted right up till his nose was broken by Mike's fist.

"You guys seem to have misunderstood something."

"Wai!- Arg!"

Cutting the pirate's plea short with a fist to the jaw, Mike made sure to break said jaw with his second hit as he continued monologuing with a voice as cold as ice.

"All of you are alive only because I deemed it so, I've been tasked with getting a lot of innocent people back home and if I need to break a few people to do so, then that's what I'll do."

Beating the sleazy pirate to within an inch of his life, Mike went back to the two women with his objective accomplished, however cruel it was the two of them now feared Mike more than they feared the other pirates and had no issue telling him everything he wanted to hear.

"I-I overheard the captain one evening! It seemed like he received information about that thing you said via some kind of communication!"

"Right, so somebody told you about the boon?... What else?"

Turning back to the pirate with the tattoos, Mike cracked his blood-covered knuckles, an apparently unnecessary measure as the pirate was already falling over his own words to tell Mike everything he knew.

"T-there was someone who leaked the information to us! Apparently, an Inquisitor already softened up the planetary defences so it was just supposed to be easy picking for us!"

(So somebody told them where the boon was located and that it had already been attacked… They were used.)

"Right, then that means you know exactly where we are, how far are we from the galactic centre? How far from regulated Eden space and what kind of forces does the Eden Theocracy have and where are they based? Are any of them in between us and the galactic centre?"

Bombarding the pirates with questions it didn't take more than 10 minutes for Mike to find out what he needed to know.

"S-sir."

Leaving the brig, Mike ran into the same marine on the way out who saluted him again, although he flinched when he noticed the large amount of blood on Mike's hands.

"Ah perfect timing, do you have a towel or something? I got quite dirty talking with our guests."

"S-sir, right here."

Accepting the marine's handkerchief, Mike cleaned off the blood before removing his helmet and greeting the marine with a smile that made his blood freeze.

"Thanks for that… Ah, right. Cell number 4 has some garbage inside that needs to be spaced, otherwise, the other prisoners are quite hungry, feed them something will you?"

"S-sir yes sir!"