『We’ve arrived at the target coordinates. Deactivating FTL Drive.』
May’s voice resounded through the comms, and the next moment, Krishna and Black Lotus returned to normal space. It was just a short jump via the FTL Drive, but we couldn’t see even a shadow of Brad Prime in the distance anymore.
“There seem to be no problems so far.”
『Yes, it seems so. Well then, I shall open the hangar hatch.』
“Got it.”
May’s operations were smooth and efficient, without any waste. After the FTL Drive test, it looks like we’re immediately performing the docking test.
When I moved Krishna in front of the hangar that was located on the lower rear of the Black Lotus, a guide beam was immediately emitted from the hatch. The guide beams employed by motherships are a kind of tractor beam that automatically pulls the target ship inside the hangar. In other words, once the guide beam hits us, the whole process will be entirely automated.
Of course, you can also opt to do it manually, but if you mistake the speed and timing, you may end up crashing, and that would cause great damage to the mothership as well, so I wasn’t planning to attempt it at all.
As I was thinking about such things, the guide beam from Black Lotus successfully captured Krishna and pulled it inside the hangar. We docked without any problems and the hatch promptly closed up.
“No problems with this either.”
『Yes. I will have the sisters check the state of the hangar and equipment, so please stand by for a little while.』
“Roger.”
The landing pad Krishna landed on did a full 180-degree turn. In other words, Krishna’s bow was now pointed toward the hangar’s exit hatch. When we perform a launch, this landing pad will double as a catapult and will propel us outside of the ship.
From now on, this hangar will be Krishna’s new home. Basically, Krishna will stay on standby inside this hangar and will jump out in case of emergencies or battle.
I observed the sisters who were now hard at work with the optical cameras installed outside the ship.
“They both look very focused.”
“Yes, they sure are. Dwarf girls are small and cute, aren’t they?”
Mimi’s expression as she looked at the sisters seemed like a real big sister watching her little sisters do their best. Uh, but both of them were older than Mimi, right? Well, it was kind of amusing to see dwarf sisters who looked like little girls running around busily inside the hangar.
By the way, Elma was looking at Mimi while making the same complicated expression as me.
“Oh? So there were maintenance bots too.”
“Looks like it. It’s different for Krishna, which is a small ship, but maintaining Black Lotus would be difficult without using them because of its size.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Despite its designation as a small ship, Krishna had enough living space for five people to stay inside with some room to spare. Including the cargo space, the engine, and various other facilities, it should be comparable in size to Earth’s large aircraft. It might even be slightly bigger.
And the Black Lotus has a hangar large enough to store two Krishnas, an equally large cargo space, and a living area where up to thirty people can stay. Its total length should be over 300 meters. It seemed like an absolute giant in my eyes.
It would certainly be impossible for just two people to maintain such a gigantic ship. Thus, it’s only natural to employ maintenance robots.
And after finishing the equipment checks, Tina and Whisker moved away from Krishna.
『The equipment check is finished, Master. We will now perform the launch test.』
“Roger. We can go anytime.”
『Yes. Opening hatch. Beginning catapult launch procedures. 3,2,1, launch.』
Krishna abruptly accelerated, and I felt my body get pressed toward the pilot seat. We then got successfully ejected to outer space. So this is how it felt to get launched by a ship catapult. It’s like those thrill rides in theme parks.
“That was pretty intense even with the use of inertial control huh.”
“Yes, I was really surprised.”
Well, it’s not like the Gs were enough to make you faint. So it wasn’t really a problem, I guess. I was a bit curious about why my body’s reaction to the force was delayed though. Maybe that’s just normal when you get accelerated by an external force.
『I will open the hatch once more. The next test would be auto-docking. And next will be manual docking.』
“Manual too……? Roger that.”
And I was going on about not attempting manual docking earlier too. Oh well. I guess I can’t say there’s absolutely no need for it so it doesn’t hurt to get some practice in either. I’m sure the only times we’re gonna attempt manual docking were in emergency situations, so practicing now would prevent us from messing up when it counts.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login