Published at 20th of November 2020 09:24:13 PM
Editor: Thor’s Stone
Oh boy . I have a really bad feeling about this . And I strongly believe my bad premonition had actually hit the bull’s eye . That’s the only conclusion I can think of that makes sense after all .
I finally managed to calm myself down a bit . Oh right . I had Cleria and Elna with me as well .
“Um, Alan?”
“Uh, sorry about that . She was one of my former subordinates . ”
“Subordinate?”
“I’ll tell you all about it later . Have you eaten lunch yet, Selena?”
“Yes . I ate some emergency rations before coming to this city . ”
“Well then, let’s go to the inn I’m staying at and talk over there . ”
“Understood . ”
“I’m sorry Ria, but it looks like we’ll have to cancel today’s magic practice . ”
“I understand . ”
The four of us headed back to the inn . Due to the fancy imperial uniform Selena was wearing, we really stood out .
(What exactly is a Warrant Officer? How come I haven’t heard of such a rank before?)
『The Warrant Officer rank isn’t assigned to personnel except during a certain special situation, but it is indeed an official rank . It is basically higher in rank to a Sergeant Major . 』
So it’s just under an Ensign huh .
(So what’s this special situation you mentioned?)
『In the absence of a proper appointing officer, and furthermore, in a situation where contact with high command is cut off completely due to pressing circumstances, a ship’s AI has the privilege to enlist potential soldiers and appoint them to this particular rank . A Warrant Officer is a rank that is only appointed by ship AIs . 』
Wow . I didn’t know that . Well, that’s to be expected since those special circumstances weren’t exactly all that common until we got ourselves into the current mess we’re in .
(But why a Warrant Officer?)
『An AI isn’t allowed to formally appoint commissioned officers . The Warrant Officer is the highest rank a ship AI is capable of giving . 』
I see . So that’s the case .
In order to become a formal imperial military officer, it’s required to attend an imperial military academy first just as I did . The same applies to non-commissioned officers wanting to become formal officers . We even actually had a middle-aged sergeant major as a classmate at the academy I attended back when I was younger . And after you graduate from the academy, you’re all assigned the rank of Ensign automatically .
According to that middle-aged classmate of ours, he was asked to attend the academy if he wanted to get promoted from sergeant major after years of military service . If he answered yes, then he would have to attend the academy and graduate to get promoted . If he answered no, then he would have to spend the rest of his career as a sergeant major until retirement . No wonder I wasn’t familiar with a warrant officer .
While I was mulling such things over in my head, we finally arrived back at the inn . Verse was quite surprised when he saw Selena . Let’s head to my room then .
“Ria, I’m sorry but would it be fine if I and Selena talked privately to ourselves first?”
“……Alright . ”
I entered the room along with Selena .
“Now then, I have several things I want to confirm with you . First, do you have a communicator with you?”
Man, it’s been a while since I’ve talked in Imperial Common . It actually feels a bit weird .
“Of course, sir . I’ve had it on me all this time . It looks like Your Excellency really did deactivate your comm interface as we surmised . Lieutenant Conrad did take that into account when we started the search operations . ”
Lieutenant Conrad? Oh, she meant Iris huh .
“Oh, right . Now that you mention it, that really seems to be the case . I didn’t actually notice I’ve deactivated it, but I may have done so out of habit . Now then, Selena, can you please stop addressing me as ‘Your Excellency’ . I don’t really deserve to be called something so grand I think . ”
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“But Captain is effectively an admiral . You have every right to be referred to as such . ”
Is that right? So I’m an admiral huh? I did get assigned as a ship captain when that incident happened, but it actually included a military rank promotion as well? When I checked my status, I confirmed that my rank has changed to Commodore . So even someone like me became a commodore huh? The world is probably coming to an end, it seems .
“Anyway, calling me ‘Your Excellency’ or ‘Captain’ is totally out of the question . As long as we’re on this planet, you need to address me as simply ‘Alan’ . ”
“Understood . …Alan . ”
“I need to talk to Iris for a bit . Make yourself comfortable and sit on that chair over there as you wait . ”
I activated my comm interface and Nanom automatically connected to the portable communicator Selena brought with her . I then contacted Iris via an encrypted line .
(Iris . )
Iris’s face popped up on a virtual window .
『It has been a long time, Captain . I am glad to see you are safe and sound . 』
(Yes . It seems I’ve made you worry . I actually thought you failed saving the ship, Iris . You do know that dumping debris on an inhabited planet is in gross violation of imperial military laws, right?)
『Of course, sir . However, the Captain issued a first-class emergency situation . I am obligated to prioritize Captain’s orders over military regulations in this case . 』
(Is that so? Oh well . I’m glad you’re doing fine as well, Iris . )
『Oh my . Thank you very much, Captain . 』
(Now then, about Selena… What’s up with her?)
『It is as you think . I have produced her on the restored medical bay of the Iris Conrad as a biological clone of the late Commodore Conrad using her biological tissue . 』
(But just why are tissue samples of Commodore Conrad stored on the ship?)
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『It is actually customary . Tissue samples of the late officers our imperial ships are named after are commonly stored inside the said ships . By doing so, it is widely believed that their souls will always accompany the ships in question during their service . 』
(Damn! What the heck? Are we supposed to be the New Imperial Church or something?)
『It seems the case, in a sense . 』
(If this was ever found out by the Imperial Ethics Committee…)
『Yes . I believe I will be scheduled for decommissioning immediately if that were to happen . 』
The Imperial Ethics Committee is an organization that reports directly to the central Adel government . They’re responsible for defining the conduct that the whole of humanity is to strictly adhere to . No person or organization that has deviated from their specified code of conduct has managed to come out unscathed . They hold a frightening amount of authority, and even the military cannot help but back down obediently .
(If you’ve known of that, then just why did you still make Selena?)
『It’s because of your orders, Captain . 』
Eh!? Did I actually give such an order? Let me run the order I gave out that day on playback… Oh . So it’s the ‘preserve the fighting strength of this ship’ part, isn’t it? What a blunder .
(Guess I’ll be getting court-martialled as well huh . )
『There is no reason to worry about it so much, Captain . 』
Eh? Really?
『A commanding officer who declares a first-grade emergency situation is, without exemption, subject to a special court-martial proceeding . It is only when you cannot prove your innocence or justify your actions that you will be subjected to a firing squad . 』
(Oh, so that’s how it is . )
Come to think of it, it seems I did learn about something like that at the academy . I really didn’t have any choice during that situation . Well, it’s not like the imperial military or the committee are present on this planet in the first place, so there’s no point in worrying about it anyway .
(But Selena sure looks quite young though?)
『Her physical development should be equivalent to seventeen years old in human age . I have made it so she has grown to the minimum possible physical age without affecting her abilities as an imperial soldier . 』
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I knew it .
(How does she know how to speak this planet’s language?)
『I have placed recon bits inside the bars and pubs all over this continent . 』
(Bits!? You’re using drones?)
『Yes . I have managed to preserve quite a number of them and dropped them planet-side . 』
Recon Drone DR-3020 – 82 units
General Purpose Bot BT-122W – 82 units
General Purpose Tractor TR-400G – 2 units
Digging Excavator KS-10G – 3 units
Except for the tractors and excavators, that’s quite the military potential . Oh, so that’s it .
(So the so-called apostles were the drones?)
『That is correct . 』
This managed to resolve the doubts I had about that matter .
(Did Selena drop to the surface via those escape pods? Those are defective goods you know . )
『Yes, I am aware . Selena and Sharon used pods I modified and rebuilt using better components . 』
(Now hold up… Who is Sharon?)
『She’s the same as Selena . You can say she’s Selena’s twin sister . 』