Space Jellyfish And Betrayal

Dimas was the first to give his report.

“Most of the floating components appear to be damaged. I also found a large container secured to the floor.”

That report seemed to catch Valbo’s interest.

“What was inside?”

“A small shuttlecraft.”

Apparently, it was a six-passenger shuttlecraft approximately fifteen meters long.

“Does it still work?”

“I don’t know. Even if it was brand-new when it was stored there, there’s no telling how old it is now.”

Berta, Rieto, and Sario apparently hadn’t found anything. When my turn came, I began by reporting the safe.

“I discovered a safe secured to the floor at the back of the warehouse. And…”

Valbo interrupted my report, twisting his ugly face into a grimace as he questioned me.

“Wait, a safe? Did you examine its contents?”

“It was locked, so I couldn’t examine what was inside.”

“Tch, you’re useless. We’re going to investigate that safe.”

“Um…”

When I tried to continue my report, Valbo glared at me.

“Just shut up and follow orders. Lead us to that safe.”

I led them to the safe. When Valbo saw it, a grin spread across his face.

“Blow it open with explosives.”

Dimas attached explosives to the safe. Then we evacuated the warehouse. The explosives detonated, sending various objects flying out through the entrance.

We waited for the effects of the explosion to subside before entering the warehouse. The safe’s door had been blown open, and metal ingots were floating through the air. However, the entrance to the room containing the maintenance robots had been completely buried beneath debris scattered by the explosion, making it impossible to see.

Valbo grabbed one of the floating metal ingots and let out a shout. I thought it sounded rather unsettling, but apparently, it was a cry of delight. The ingot was supposedly made of a metal called Galithium.

Galithium was a metal that didn’t exist on Earth and could only be mined in certain regions of space. Just ten tons of it was valuable enough to purchase a medium-sized sublight transport ship.

“Ah!”

Dimas cried out. The small shuttlecraft he had discovered had been struck by debris scattered in the explosion and was now damaged.

“Tch, that shuttlecraft was already broken anyway. Never mind that. Recover the Galithium.”

We recovered approximately two tons of Galithium floating through the warehouse and returned to the reconnaissance ship Gyogaru. Apparently, Valbo proudly reported our discovery to the captain.

Salvaged items like these became the property of the Gyogaru, and the profits were apparently divided among the captain, the other officers, and Valbo. However, Sario, the others, and I, despite being the ones who found the valuables, received absolutely nothing. All we were given were the same old tubes of preserved food.

At that moment, I seriously considered killing Valbo and escaping. However, the conditioning implant embedded in the back of my neck could inflict pain severe enough to make me feel as though I were dying with a single press of a button.

Afterward, we continued exploring Ponce Spaceport. Time passed without me ever finding another opportunity to report the maintenance robots.

Around that time, a swarm of Space Jellyfish approached Ponce Spaceport. I assumed Valbo would suspend the exploration, but instead, our reconnaissance unit was ordered to exterminate the Space Jellyfish.

“Why do we have to do it? Don’t they have Space Assault Troops?”

I asked Sario. The Space Assault Troops were something like marines who operated in outer space. They used equipment similar to our Mobile Armor, but their suits were more advanced, and their weapons were more powerful than our Space Machine Guns.

That was why I thought they should send the Space Assault Troops to hunt the Space Jellyfish instead of making the reconnaissance units do it.

“It’s no use complaining, yesh. The goblin military always sends subordinate soldiers from the lower classes into battle first. Only after those troops have been wiped out do the goblin soldiers themselves move to the front.”

Apparently, this was a long-standing practice that would never change. We armed ourselves and headed toward Ponce Spaceport. The other reconnaissance units were supposed to be coming as well.

We proceeded through the corridors toward the spacecraft berths, where cargo was loaded onto and unloaded from spaceships. The berths were cargo-handling facilities, and the ones here were spacious enough to accommodate five spacecraft loading or unloading cargo simultaneously. The entrance was equipped with an airlock, which we passed through before entering the berth area.

“Huh? There aren’t any Space Jellyfish here.”

I surveyed the enormous berth but couldn’t see a single Space Jellyfish. Part of the outer wall had been destroyed, leaving a large hole, so perhaps they were entering and leaving through it.

While I was thinking that, a Space Jellyfish came through the hole. The monster was approximately eight meters wide. I aimed the barrel of my Space Machine Gun at its core and pulled the trigger.

The recoil struck my shoulder, pushing me backward. Damn it. I had forgotten to activate the electromagnets in the soles of my boots. I switched them on, securing myself to the iron-containing floor.

When I looked at the Space Jellyfish, I saw that an explosive round had destroyed its core, killing it. I had barely breathed a sigh of relief when more Space Jellyfish began pouring through the hole one after another.

“Attack! Exterminate every last one of them!”

Valbo barked the order in his raspy voice. We continued pulling our triggers, firing at the approaching Space Jellyfish. By the time I killed my fourth one, I realized that I was running low on ammunition. Everyone else was apparently in the same situation.

“Commander, we’re running low on ammunition.”

Dimas reported to Valbo. Valbo’s eyes darted around as he confirmed that numerous Space Jellyfish still remained, then issued an order.

“You lot keep fighting to the very end. I’m heading back to make my report.”

“What…? Are you telling us to die?”

Dimas protested. Valbo showed him the controller for our conditioning implants.

“I could just kill you with this instead.”

With those words, he fled. Valbo was gone, leaving only us subordinate soldiers behind. Worse still, he apparently sealed the entrance airlock behind him.

“That bastard sealed the airlock! Isn’t there another way out?”

Dimas practically roared the words. Even as he spoke, the Space Jellyfish continued attacking, and I killed my sixth one.

“Look over there!”

Sario’s loud voice came through my communicator. In the direction he was pointing, there was something resembling an air duct. We immediately started running toward it.

The Space Jellyfish pursued us. Damn it, it was only about a hundred meters away, but it felt impossibly far. Dimas’s Space Machine Gun was the first to run out of ammunition, and a Space Jellyfish’s tentacles wrapped around his body.

I aimed at the creature’s core and pulled the trigger, but my shots missed. Hitting a target while running was difficult. Blood spilled from Dimas’s mouth. The tentacles had crushed him.

Next, Berta and Rieto were caught by Space Jellyfish.

“Help!”

Berta’s voice rang out through my communicator. I stopped running and fired at the Space Jellyfish. The instant my explosive round struck its core, Berta’s and Rieto’s bodies went limp. At the moment of impact, the creature had crushed them both.

“Damn it!”

I pointed the barrel of my Space Machine Gun at the Space Jellyfish that had killed Berta and Rieto and repeatedly pulled the trigger.

“Zen, they’re both dead, yesh. We have to escape!”

Sario’s voice snapped me into action, and I started running. A swarm of Space Jellyfish was closing in behind us. Sario fired his Space Machine Gun at the air duct. The explosion blew away the dust cover blocking its entrance.

Sario jumped into the air duct first. I followed him inside and pushed farther down the passage. A Space Jellyfish stretched its tentacles toward us, but once we had traveled approximately ten meters, its tentacles could no longer reach us.