Fantasy Galaxy: Why Are There Goblins and Orcs in Space?

Chapter 4 : The Spaceport of the Gorgona Star System

The supply provisions loaded aboard the supply ship Brava were transferred to the space station, and we moved from the Brava to the class-2 reconnaissance ship Gyogaru.

The second-class scouting ship Gyogaru was a combat vessel roughly one hundred and twenty meters in overall length. Its armament was light - nothing but a laser cannon and high-speed missiles. It boasted the fastest performance in the entire Goblin fleet, however.

Sario and I linked up with the other members of the reconnaissance unit. A six-person team led by Varubo, our unit commander

The other three were Berta and Rieto of the Werecat Race, and Dimasu of the Werewolf Race. The two Werecat Race stood about a hundred and fifty centimeters tall - quick and young. Dimasu, on the other hand, stood roughly a hundred and ninety centimeters tall and was said to be sixty years old.

Once our team was formed, we trained together. Berta and Rieto of the Werecat Race were cheerful and talkative. Dimasu of the Werewolf Race, by contrast, was a taciturn man. Incidentally, Berta was the only woman among us.

When training ended and mealtime arrived, those same preserved food tubes were handed out. I took one look and grimaced. Berta, it seemed, had been watching.

「You can't stand the preserved food tubes either, nya?」

Berta spoke up. The Werecat Race were a race like large cats turned human. Bipedal humanoids, but their entire bodies were covered in fur and their faces were feline. Berta resembled a Somali cat. The Werecat Race speech had a distinctive feline lilt - every 『na』 sound came out as 『nya.』.

「These preserved food tubes aren't food. They're torture devices.」

Hearing that, Berta's partner Rieto nodded.

「I know that feeling, nyaa.」

Berta and Rieto had been sold to a dark syndicate as children before becoming Goblin reconnaissance soldiers. Their family had been wandering people who lost their home world, and apparently couldn't raise the two of them.

The other member, Dimasu, had reportedly been captured as a prisoner of war and sold to the Goblins. He once quietly murmured that he wanted to go back to the family he'd left behind on his home world.

The training period ended, and the reconnaissance unit was assigned its first mission. We received the operational briefing from our commanding officer, Varubo.

「The first target iz one called Ponse Zpaceport - one of zeveral in the zystem. You lot will infiltrate Ponse Zpaceport and zurvey itz internal ztructure.」

Ponse Spaceport had been constructed by the Anubis Race. The Gorgona Star System originally belonged to them.

The Anubis Race were a dog-human race like Sario's Kūshī Race, but if the Kūshī were Shiba Inus, the Anubis Race were Dobermans. They had been a Level C civilization, and there was a time when they ruled approximately three hundred star systems. They were now extinct, however - the result of declaring enmity with the Tenjin Race.

When I heard that, I thought they must have had a death wish - or were simply fools. The Tenjin Race possessed overwhelming power. Even ruling three hundred star systems, for a Level C civilization to pick a fight with the Tenjin Race was unthinkable folly.

Sario told me about the Anubis Race's final days: the Rikageru Tenjin Race had annihilated them in roughly a single day. A spine-chilling tale. The information drove home the sheer, overwhelming might of the Tenjin Race.

We returned to our quarters and donned our Mobile Armor, then waited for the reconnaissance ship Gyogaru to reach Ponse Spaceport. When the Gyogaru closed in on Ponse Spaceport, the order to sortie came down.

On that order, three reconnaissance units - ours included - launched. We burst from the Gyogaru's airlock into open space and fired gas from the thruster packs on our backs, heading for Ponse Spaceport.

This was my first time in open space. Nothing had gone wrong, yet the mere fact of being out there sent my breathing racing and cold sweat erupting across my back.

Had I been alone in that dark void, I would have panicked. But Sario and the others were flying ahead of me. Their presence kept me from spiraling, and I managed to make it all the way to Ponse Spaceport.

Ponse Spaceport was a massive structure roughly three kilometers long, but it had been destroyed. Several breaches gaped in its outer hull, and we entered through a hole about five meters in diameter on the star-facing side. Sario and I had been ordered to operate as a pair, so we advanced through the corridors together.

「Zen, we gotta ushe the thrushter packsh to get back. Don't washte them.」

「Got it.」

We pressed forward through corridors devoid of both air and gravity. The formation had Berta and Rieto on point, Unit Commander Varubo and Dimasu in the middle, and Sario and me bringing up the rear.

In zero gravity, we advanced by kicking off not just the floor but the walls and ceiling as well.

「There'z a door up ahead. Inveztigate what'z inzide.」

The fact that he knew a door was there meant reconnaissance drones had already swept the area. Reconnaissance drones were essentially small unmanned devices, similar to modern drones.

Rieto went to the door and checked whether it was locked.

「Commander Varubo, the door is locked.」

「Deztroy it already.」

We'd brought explosives for exactly this kind of situation. Berta and Rieto set charges on the door and pulled back.

「Do it.」

At Varubo's command, the detonation switch was pressed and the door blew apart. With no air, there was no explosion to hear, but vibrations traveled through the wall into the hand I had pressed against its surface.

Debris from the door scattered everywhere, keeping us at a distance for a while. Once it settled, we entered through the blasted doorway. The space appeared to have been a large warehouse. All manner of cargo drifted weightlessly through the air.

Most of it looked like parts of some kind. Probably spare components for machinery that had been used in Ponse Spaceport, I guessed. Almost all of it appeared damaged, though.

「Get to the back and zearch every inch. Find anything uzable.」

Varubo issued the vague command. The explosion had sent cargo drifting everywhere, making it difficult to reach the rear. An order was an order, though, so I pressed deeper and found a safe about the size of a tatami mat, bolted to the floor. The lock mechanism, however, was broken.

A safe, huh - lock's busted, so the thing itself's useless. No, wait - maybe what matters is what's inside? I'll put that on hold. I glanced around, but Sario, Berta, and the others had disappeared from view behind the drifting cargo.

I searched for anything else of interest. At the back of the warehouse, I discovered a room. Its door stood open, and when I floated inside, what appeared to be a brand-new space suit drifted in the air. I drew closer and peered inside the helmet.

「Uwah!」

I recoiled instinctively. Inside the space suit was a mummified corpse. Once I'd steadied myself, I searched for anything else. That was when I noticed cargo in the back of the room covered by a tarp. Thanks to that tarp, the cargo had neither scattered nor sustained damage.

The tarp was secured to the floor with metal fittings. I unfastened just one of them. A section of the tarp peeled back, revealing what was underneath. Inside were what appeared to be maintenance robots. The crates bore labels reading "latest-model military maintenance robots." Latest-model as of several decades ago, that is.

Roughly fifty of those crates appeared to be stacked together.

「Get back here.」

Varubo's voice crackled through the communicator. I hurried toward the entrance and regrouped with the others.

「Everyone'z accounted for. Report.」