Space Creature

"Captain, we have entered the Dark Cluster," Altea reported to Edward.

The Alpha-Charlie had been on the journey for a week and they had passed a few unpopulated star systems. They purposely passed through the barren star systems to avoid the authorities.

If they got into a star system that was occupied by authority, then they would be hailed and they would need to show their identity and travel permit, which they did not have.

The alien ship was not registered in any country and their crew was also not registered as well, they were just like any other pirate group who was unaffiliated to any nation.

Altea and the crews had planned their route so they would not pass through any checkpoint or populated planet, even though they took a bit longer to reach their destination, it was worth it to avoid problems.

"Scan the star system, I want a complete report on possible danger and resources that we can get while we wait for our FTL engine to cycle before we can do another jump," he instructed the AI.

Traveling from one-star system to another would need them to use an FTL engine, as distances between star systems were usually too far to reach with a warp drive alone.

FTL drive would need to be cycled before it could be used, it usually ranged from two to six hours depending on the quality of their engine and the size of their ship, smaller ships would have shorter cycle time since the burden on the engine was lighter.

The only way to bypass this limitation was if they have multiple FTL engines, that way they could use them interchangeably while the other was cycling.

"Scanning the entire start system would broadcast our position to any space ship in the star system. Do you still want to proceed with it, Captain?" Altea warned him.

"Do it anyway, we are still on the edge of the Dark Cluster, the chance of meeting pirates out here is so slim and even if we meet one they would not be strong enough to risk attacking a light carrier," Ed said in assurance.

They looked strong with a light carrier in their possession. People would think they have at least two squads of mecha with them so they better act like it, by broadcasting their position, it shows their confidence.

"Scanning in process," the AI reported.

Ed looked at the report on the table. It was a report on how the new emergency mecha fare after some fine-tuning and optimization.

"Altea, what do you think about this Mecha design?" he asked the AI.

Normally, an AI would not be able to give him its opinion as it was programmed by code, but Altea was different, Ed came to understand that it was more flexible than normal AI since its restriction was lifted.

"In, its performance alone, it would not be able to beat any opponent in a duel, it did not possess enough offensive power to beat another mecha, the only way it could damage other mecha was to build up some speed by sprinting long enough until it becomes fast enough and ram them with it shield but even then its opponent would have a high chance to dodge the charge," The AI told him.

"That's right, employed alone, this mecha is useless unless we use it to ram a castle gate, its offensive power basically zero," he agreed with the AI.

But he saw more than that, "How about defense? What do you think about it?" he asked again.

"If it used its giant shield to block most attacks, it would be able to take more beating than the C-2, it was the only merit of this mecha, it could be a mobile shield for us to protect our ship or mecha," it replied.

"That right, moreover we don't need the best pilot to bring the best of this mecha, as long as they can move the mecha to the right position then it will be enough. This mecha is not supposed to be deployed alone, we can pair it with the C-2 or Red Falcon, that way both could last longer," Ed explained his insight.

The C-2 could use the knight mecha as a shield to buy some time for it to recover its damaged part, as it has the holocaust engine that way the C-2 could continue fighting longer.

The knight mecha might better be called a guardian mecha since all it does is protecting other mecha, with its mobility that way above other defensive mecha it could also join the C-2 to charge at the enemy line, Ed could think a lot of use of the meat-shield mecha which basically help the C-2 overcome its weakness.

If it was coupled with the Red Falcon, then it could shield them against enemy attack whether ranged or melee since the knight mecha was mobile enough to move around.

"Quick Shield, huh? What a fitting name," Ed commented on the mecha's name when he read the report made by Leona.

Quick Shield refers to its features and also the quick time frame it needs to be designed and made. She actually wanted to name it Emergency Shield, but it didn't sound good so it ended up with the name.

"Captain, we have finished the scanning, there is no other space ship in the star system and we did not detect any habitable planet in the system," Altea reported once the scanning process was over.

"Any resource we could gather while waiting for our FTL drive?" he asked it as they would need something that could be turned into money if they want to trade in the pirate base.

As a businessman, Ed knew that he would need to find something that he could sell to be his starting investment.

He could actually sell some alien tech in the Alpha-Charlie, but now that he became its captain, he was reluctant to share its technology with other people. The fewer others knew about his technology the higher his advantage was.

"We detect no precious metal that could be sold for a high price in the star system, but we found a den of Metal-eater in some asteroid cluster," It replied.

"Metal-eater? What is that?" Ed was unfamiliar with the term.

"Metal-eater is one of the most numerous space creatures in space, human and alien alike regard them as a pest as they ate any precious metal they could get their hand on, it seems they have eaten every precious metal in this star system," Altea explained as it sent some info of the Metal-eater to his smartwatch.

According to the data, Metal-eater looked like a giant rat as big as a cow. They have metallic fur and sharp claws and teeth that could bite through metals.

"Can we use them for something?" Ed asked.

"There is no known use of the Metal-eater but one of Daemo researcher once theorized that all the precious metal that was eaten by Metal-eater would not be turned into nothing but they did not even have excretion system so others speculate that there was a pocket dimension in its stomach where it keeps all the metal it has eaten before," The AI explained as it sent another file to his smartwatch.

Ed looked through the research data. The reasoning was sound, but it ended with the project being terminated as they fail to prove their theory.

"This is our chance. If we could actually find where all these metals went then we could make a ton of money!" his money-making sense tingle.

Of course, chance did not mean he would succeed, but he was not a man who feared failure, the worst it would do was waste some time and resources.

"Can we capture and tame them?" he asked the AI.

"We can capture them with our mecha, it would not be hard since they are not that big, but their number would be a problem if they swarm our mecha," It replied as there were hundreds of them in one den.

"What about after that? Can we contain them in the Alpha-Charlie? Won't they eat through our ship and escape?"

"We can implant them without our chip, Captain," the AI showed him a familiar injector.

"This chip looks kind of familiar," he muttered to himself.

"What is this chip?" he asked the AI to explain about the chip.

"This is a control chip that Daemo uses in their pet so they will be tame and not attack their owner," Altea explained.

"Is it me or this chip seem familiar?" he asked in doubt.

"Yes, Captain, you gave this chip on your crew to ensure their loyalty to you before since we don't have one specifically for humanoid creatures," the AI confirmed his suspicion.

Daemo did not practice slavery, so the AI had given him an alternative solution that will do the job.

"Oh, I unknowingly treat them like a pet," he grimaced as he promised to keep it a secret from his crew or they will loathe him.