What Do You Mean I'm The Captain Of A Yandere Mercenary Company?

We shot through the Warp Gate and arrived at the system that supposedly held the Warp Gate that will lead us to the treasure.

There was a Warp Gate already near us but that would be the one that sends us back to where we came from so this wasn't what we were looking for.

"Amber?" I called out.

"No signs of any other ships, Tera… Also no signs of any Leviathans either. We seemed to have jumped to the second planet of the system where the research station would have been."

Looking outside, I think I see some scrap floating around which I assume must be the remains of said station.

No wait… There's a derelict station floating amongst the debris in the distance but it was quite badly destroyed with the entire station broken into two pieces that was split diagonally in half.

"So… A solar flare did that?" I asked, pointing at the space filled with debris.

"Well… From what I read, it set off a chain reaction for that to happen," Mara mused from where she sat. "The power failed and the containment for several delicate chemicals broke down resulting in a fire that led to chain explosions destroying the station."

"Huh… Would we be in danger of that happening to us?"

"I do not believe so, Captain."

Hmm… I guess we should be careful then.

"Where's the Warp Gate to the next system?"

Amber projected the map and it looks like the Warp Gate to the next system was just a quick flight away from us.

Unfortunately, we do not know if there was anything there since we were quite far from it and would need to do a long range pulse scan of the area to see if it was there. But if we did something like that, any ships caught in the pulse would immediately know where we are and that included pirates.

So for all we know, the Leviathan could just be hanging out right on top of the Warp Gate right now…

"Let's head there and check things out… Be prepared to get out of there if it tries to attack us," I ordered.

I powered up the Travel Drives again and our ship accelerated in the direction of the Warp Gate, the stars turning into streaks of light as we sped towards our destination.

My eyes were on the map, watching as the dot that represented us got closer and closer to the marker that was the Warp Gate.

I noticed a small speck appearing a distance away in the distance and I immediately knew that was the Warp Gate we were looking for.

Hmm… There isn't anything near the Warp Gate? Could the Leviathan have already gone somewhere else?

"Amber? Anything on the scanners?" I asked.

"Mmm… Nothing yet, Tera… But it could also be a Leviathan that reflects away scanners…"

"Look for any blank spots on the map. If it reflects radar scans, that would be where it is."

"Hmm… Doesn't seem like… Wait!! There it is!! Stop, stop!!"

I immediately brought us out of Travel Speeds and back into normal space, the Warp Gate still a small speck in the horizon.

I opened the map on my console and as Amber had warned, there was a really big red dot near the Warp Gate itself.

"Do we have visual on that thing?"

A screen appeared and started zooming in the direction of the Warp Gate before moving even further past it, stopping to show an inky black mass that had streaks of luminous blue stripes lining its side.

If I had to describe it, it looked like an anglerfish except without the bulb on top of its head.

And also, it was about the size of a Battleship…

Yeah… I don't think we can fight that thing on our own…

"I'm surprised it's not destroying the Warp Gate…" I muttered.

Ries turned around from the pilot seat with sparkly eyes, "Oh, that's simple. Does Boss know how the technology of Warp Gates came about?"

"Err… Was it something about us defeating a Leviathan that could do what the Warp Gate does?"

She nodded enthusiastically, "That's right! That's right! And you humans even figured out that if you put the Warp Gate at a certain frequency, it would annoy other Leviathans and cause them to stay away from it! Of course, that's not foolproof as you can see here as some Leviathans might be immune to it or… In this case… I think it might just be thinking the Warp Gate is a dying Leviathan and is waiting for it to die to eat it?"

"Great… So how long will it stay there?"

Lea was the one who answered instead, "Leviathans are very long lived, Mistress… For something like that, they could simply stay there for decades or even centuries and still be there."

"Well… Then they wouldn't care about one small ship heading towards it right?"

"In that state, they are most likely very territorial and view anything that comes near their prey as trying to steal it from them so they will most likely engage in a fight. Even if it's something small."

Great…

"What about stealth modules? Maybe we can get those cloaking ships those pirates have to sneak past it?"

Amber chuckled, "Ehehehe… I think if that could work, the pirates would have already done it, Tera. I believe it either has a way to disable cloaking modules or it just doesn't work on it."

Meaning it might be able to sense things around it without making use of sight… Well fuck then… What are we supposed to do now?

"Do we… Give up?" I asked, just throwing the suggestion out there.

Amber appeared beside me, "Ehhhh? After coming all this way? I know! How about I go out there and fight the Leviathan? I'll beat it and then we should be ok, right?"

I blinked at her, "You… Go and fight the Leviathan… By yourself?"

She nodded, "Yep! Just send me out and I'll take care of it!"

I turned to Mara and she understood what I wanted to know immediately and answered, "She could do it… But I would guess she would lose an arm or a leg… Or both."

Amber puffed up her chest proudly, "See?! No problem! I'll take care of it!"

I scowled at her, "No. I'm not sending you out there to get hurt. This is not an option."

"But--"

"No buts. That's final. Understand?"

Amber stared at me for a moment and I thought she would continue to argue before her lips curled up into a grin, "You're so hot when you do that, Tera~"

Sure, sure… Says the girl who can literally control fire… And has that ass to die for.

Ahem…

Ries turned back to look at me right then, "Maybe we can take a look around the system, Boss? The map to that system was erased after all so there must be some reason to that right? Maybe something happened that has something to do with the Leviathan?"

"You mean like… The research station?"

She nodded, "They might be conducting some secret experiment or something. It might be worth checking it out?"

I pondered for a moment, "Hmm… I suppose it's better than bashing our heads against the Leviathan… But wouldn't the pirates already have looted it clean already?"

She shrugged, "The worst that could happen is that we find nothing, right?"

I suppose she does have a point…

"Set a course back to the research station then. Let's see if there's anything we can find there."

"Aye, aye, Boss!!"

The ship turned around and we sped away from the Warp Gate and the Leviathan, both of them disappearing into the darkness of space as the stars around us once again turned into streaks of light.

We slowed down again when we reached the remains of the station, having to manoeuvre through the floating debris to avoid damaging our ship while we approached the derelict.

Now that I see it up close, the research station wasn't as big as I thought. Roughly about the size of a mining station that is supposed to house maybe a hundred to two hundred people at most.

"Scanning the station… No life signs. Power is obviously out… Backup generators are down as well… Life support systems are also down," Amber reported.

"When did the station explode anyway?" I asked.

Mara tapped through her personal terminal, "Hmm… According to the records, seems like the incident happened at least a few years ago. Why?"

"Just checking if there's any possibility of someone still alive in there. If it's already been a few years… I guess we'll be really going into an empty derelict… Alright then, who wants to come along with me?"

"Oh, me! Me! Pick meeeee!" Amber giggled, waving her hand cutely.

The other girls seemed content to just stay behind so I guess this would just be Amber and me.

Alright then, we're just going in to check things out so this shouldn't take too long.