TRCSC 05

Chapter 05

Thanks to the medic’s special injection, I slept deeply and woke up refreshed.

My butt hurt a little, but it was tolerable.

Probably because of the pain, it still felt like I was really inside the Star War world.

“I guess I really have to live in this world now.”

Fear and relief coexisted in my mind.

“Captain. We’re entering an asteroid field!”

Outside the window, huge meteorites floated around.

Occasionally, small rocks struck the shields and bounced away.

Just watching the scenery was entertaining enough.

“Let’s go to the situation room.”

When I stepped outside, the corridor was completely cleared.

All the trash that had been piled up was gone.

Far away, soldiers and officers seemed to be in a dispute.

“Do we really have to throw this away?”

“Bring everything—even underwear!”

The officers were not only collecting trash, but also raiding private quarters and gathering everything.

It looked like they were faithfully following my order to collect miscellaneous items.

Judging by morale, they wouldn’t normally be this enthusiastic.

“Ah?! Captain! Do we really have to discard even underwear?”

A soldier arguing with an officer noticed me and asked without even saluting.

“Take off whatever you’re wearing too. In a life-or-death situation, does underwear matter?”

“Ah… understood.”

I passed him and headed to the situation room.

I heard the sound of someone being hit behind me.

“See! I told you! Take off the underwear, you bastard!”

“Ow! Don’t hit me there!”

A scene of active corporal punishment.

I didn’t bother stopping it.

Not because they failed to salute. Definitely not.

I’m not that petty.

Click.

The situation room door opened.

“Attention!”

Two large unfamiliar men saluted me.

They looked disciplined.

I casually acknowledged them.

“They don’t seem to be from the situation room.”

“We’re from the combat unit. We were sent here as reinforcement due to a staffing shortage.”

I collapsed into the captain’s chair.

The soft seat enveloped me.

It was more comfortable than my personal quarters.

I closed my eyes and listened to the murmuring voices.

“I heard the captain sliced up three enemies alone.”

“Probably because he’s nobility.”

“Cook said he didn’t stop even after killing them—kept mutilating the bodies.”

“They say he used to kill people as a hobby since childhood.”

“Let’s be careful.”

I could hear everything clearly, as if my senses had sharpened.

The door opened again and the vice-captain entered.

She immediately saluted me.

I raised my hand slightly—well, my wrist, really.

My severed left hand still didn’t feel normal.

Would it really grow back?

Maybe I should get a hook for now.

“Did you rest, Captain?”

“Yes. Rest is also part of the operation.”

She nodded and began working quickly.

Soon, everyone in the situation room returned.

Since survival was on the line, everyone worked with full seriousness.

Anyone watching would think they were elite troops.

“Situation report: the enemy is slowly closing in on us.”

That was expected.

Their ships were expensive, and ours were just a patrol unit.

With this outdated vessel, there was no fair one-on-one matchup we could win.

“All ships have finished collecting the miscellaneous items.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to me.

As if asking what I would do next.

“Good. We’re near the target point. This is a perfect battlefield.”

The density of asteroids increased.

Movement was becoming restricted.

Some asteroids were several times larger than our ship.

“That spot will do.”

I selected a final destination point.

“We are moving to the designated coordinates.”

The helmsman looked exhausted as he piloted the ship.

He probably had been sleeping on auto-navigation but still looked drained.

Honestly, he didn’t seem very reliable.

We really needed a better helmsman.

‘We need an A-rank helmsman.’

Profiles of elite helmsmen floated through my mind.

But what good was that? None of them were here.

The helmsman is one of the most critical roles on a ship.

It’s called the second lifeline for a reason.

“Captain. Are we really going to fight here?”

“Don’t worry. We’ll win.”

Honestly, I was a little worried.

What if the asteroid field behaved differently than in the game?

As I was thinking, the vice-captain asked,

“I still don’t understand why you chose this battlefield.”

I suppressed my nervousness and spoke confidently.

“About 8,000 years ago, a battle took place here.”

“Pardon? Major battles are well-documented, but I’ve never heard of one here. And 8,000 years ago, this area was occupied by barbarian tribes.”

“Correct. Their battle wasn’t recorded because it was internal. Three factions clashed here: 12 ships, 35 ships, and 42 ships.”

The vice-captain looked like she was thinking, Why is this guy talking nonsense?

Sorry, I’m just repeating what I saw in the game.

“Who won?”

“I don’t know. If two factions had teamed up, the outcome might have changed.”

“But no one allied. The 12-ship faction that did nothing ended up winning.”

“Don’t tell me… the asteroids here…”

“Yes. You’re familiar with ‘Deng,’ aren’t you?”

“Of course.”

Deng was a useless mineral.

When exposed to high energy, it randomly transfers gravitational effects to nearby matter.

No direction.

No fixed magnitude.

Something palm-sized could become as heavy as an asteroid.

Or something building-sized could become lighter than a feather.

And when gravity becomes unstable like that…

“If it collapses, this place becomes a sea of fire.”

At best, everything explodes.

At worst, it collapses into atomic-level chain reactions and nuclear fission.

“You know quite a bit about Deng.”

“I once wrote a report on it at the academy. One of my professors was researching it.”

There were always strange people.

Studying Deng when there was nothing else left to study.

Deng cannot be controlled artificially.

It cannot be safely stored.

It only contaminates everything around it.

That’s why it is considered useless.

“Good. Then I’ll leave the trash deployment to you.”

“Understood. May I take temporary command?”

I nodded.

The elf vice-captain sat in the command seat.

She took command permissions from me and began issuing orders across multiple ships simultaneously.

She sorted every piece of junk carefully into launch systems.

Even a single piece of underwear or pen was not ignored.

And she didn’t just manage our ship—she coordinated other captains as well.

‘She’s doing all that?’

Is she calculating everything?

Watching her makes me feel like I’m going insane.

If it were me, I’d just dump everything near the enemy.

“Even missiles?”

“Of course.”

“We’ll need to recalculate explosion ranges.”

“R-right.”

Missiles were the most unstable items onboard.

Among them, missiles were the most dangerous when interacting with Deng-induced reactions.

“Just in case, we’ll shield them with other items.”

“Good. If we throw away missiles, the enemy will definitely notice.”

Missiles were the only real anti-ship weapon that bypassed shields.

Unlike beam weapons powered by reactors, missiles were consumables.

In other words, extremely expensive assets.

“Let me ask again. Are we really discarding them?”

“Why are you asking?”

“Aren’t you worried about losing funding from your noble house? The patrol unit depends entirely on General Command subsidies…”

I knew patrol budgets were minimal.

Patrol units were created to save the military budget.

A tax burden in exchange for noble privileges.

They were expected to collect tolls from passing merchant ships.

‘So that’s why morale was so bad.’

That explained a lot.

They probably relied on extorting merchants to survive.

“After the battle, we’ll withdraw anyway. Patrol units have no obligation to hold territory.”

Patrol units only observe and report.

They don’t have to fight.

They can disband after reporting.

They are private assets of nobles.

“So we’re returning?”

“Of course.”

We needed to return quickly.

Then I had to convince my father to liquidate our assets and leave the Humildas command.

This place was going to fall into chaos.

‘Which faction should I align with?’

That thought gave me a headache.

There wasn’t a single group I liked.

“Are you considering joining the volunteer forces?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“I believe the Imperium is preparing for full-scale war.”

“That makes sense. It’s their standard strategy.”

“Then war will break out, and as a noble of Humildas, you will also participate.”

What kind of logic is that?

I had no intention of doing so.

I’d only fight if there was a chance of winning.

Otherwise, I’d run.

Humildas had no future.

Not unless I was the one commanding the entire army.

“What does that have to do with you?”

“I want to continue serving under you.”

“…Why?”

“I believe I can be promoted faster under you.”

She wasn’t wrong.

Vice-captains could be promoted to captain easily after a victory.

And captains could command corvettes.

“Why go that far?”

“My goal is higher.”

“We’ll talk after the battle.”

The enemy was approaching.

We finished setting up the trash trap and formed formation.

“Captain. Composition analysis is complete.”

“Then that spot will do.”

Not all asteroids contained Deng.

Some were normal.

We positioned ourselves between two normal asteroids.

They would act as buffers during the explosion.

“Isn’t that too perfect? What if the enemy slowly pushes in to capture us?”

“Don’t worry. That won’t happen.”

At that moment, the sensor officer reported:

“Captain. Enemy ships have appeared in front of us.”