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

Several other pirate ships followed after us as we dove down towards the planet's surface.

Our shields flared to life as we attempted an atmospheric entry, protecting our ship from the heat of our descent through the planet's atmosphere.

"Amber?" I called out behind me.

"The scans show there's some kind of facility over here on the map, Tera."

A screen popped up in front of me with a blinking red dot a short distance away from where we currently were.

"Ries! Set a course towards it! Lea! Prepare to engage any defenses! Amber, planet scans?"

"There's breathable air down here, Tera. Surface temperatures are at thirty nine degrees celsius. Radiation levels are safe as well. Gravity levels… Seems to be around zero point eight G."

Oh, so we don't actually need to use space suits here, that's a nice surprise.

Maybe this used to be some paradise planet before the Pirate Sovereign came here and turned it into a desert dry land instead?

I can totally see that happening…

Our ship turned towards the direction of the facility that was located at the base of one of the largest mountains in the area.

I was prepared to face an entire fleet of ships waiting for us there but…

Eh?

While there was no doubt that the ships were being launched from here, they seemed to be shot up into the atmosphere by some kind of launcher instead of slowly ascending like I thought they were.

I got to see one of their fighters shouting out of the top of the mountain and disappearing up into the atmosphere in a blink of an eye.

I couldn't help but gasp, "What the heck is that?"

Mara was the one who answered, "In some places, they have these types of launchers to help launch ships up into orbit to skip the take off sequence. They're mostly used on high gravity planets or for ships that lack the capability to escape from a planet's gravitational pull on their own. I'm surprised that they have one here."

"Does that mean these ships can't stay within the planet?" I asked.

"Most likely."

The Pirate Lord let out a bark of laughter, "Hahaha! This is perfect then! All of our ships can land here and they won't be able to chase us down here! We'll use their base as a shield and fire at them if they get into range!"

I was worried that they would just bomb us from orbit so I was hoping to find somewhere on the planet to hide, but I guess just staying near that facility should be enough.

Just as I thought we could enter the facility from the launcher area, it suddenly retracted and a part of the mountain slid on top of it to cover it up.

The thought about blowing the mountain top off occured to me but that might cause the interior of the facility to collapse so I refrained from doing so.

At the base of the mountain however was a building sticking out which I assumed functioned as the entrance to the facility.

I guess we'll have to land the ship outside and head in on foot.

I ordered the girls to land the ship and the Pirate Lord echoed my order to his subordinates.

We brought our ship down on the ground and landed in front of the building.

We waited for a bit to see if any defences might pop out before we got up from our seats.

"Should we leave someone behind to watch the ship?" I asked.

Amber shook her head, "Under normal circumstances I would say yes… But not when we're surrounded by pirates on all sides. It would be safer for all of us to stay together."

Fair enough… Though Amber really said that out loud while the Pirate Lord is still on the call with me, huh?

"Go suit up and get ready to head inside then," I ordered, shutting down the ship engines to get out of my seat.

The girls went to make their own preparations while I followed Ries to put on the Power Armour.

I wasn't sure what to expect inside there so I had her equip me with the same armaments I used when I went to meet with the Pirate Lord.

Ries herself also went for the big guns as she picked up her light machine gun backpack that was also equipped with drones that would follow her.

When we reached the cargo bay, I found the girls there waiting for me alongside the Pirate Lord standing imposingly behind in his giant Power Armour.

Guess he's planning on joining us as well.

I gave each of them a nod which they returned and we stepped onto the platform that would lower us to the planet's surface.

"Are we expecting to meet lots of resistance inside?" I asked.

The Pirate Lord made a show of lifting up the cannons that were attached to his arm, "Obviously. If this was my base and some unwelcomed visitors show up at my doorstep, I would be blasting them to bits as well."

"Like when we showed up?"

"I said unwelcomed. You were welcomed."

"Fair enough."

We reached the planet's surface and the hum of ships also descending to land on the field around us could be heard rumbling across the dry, cracked ground of the planet.

While the pirates would eventually join us, we went up to the building's entrance to check things out first and I realised it's most likely a garage entrance from the steel armoured doors that was big enough to let even my ship fit through.

The Pirate Lord looked up at the towering doors in front of us and grumbled, "We might need to use one of the ship's main guns to blow these doors open…"

I tapped on the screen projected on my wrist and grinned, "No need, I will be able to hack it open. Once your crew is here, we'll head inside."

He turned to me, "You can hack it? Ah… That might explain how you got the files from the research station. Fair enough."

Right then, a white Exo-Knight burst through the atmosphere and did a spin before flaring the wing-like things on its back to slow itself down and touch down on the ground near us gracefully.

It then lowered itself into a kneeling position and the chest opened to reveal Matsumoto seated in the cockpit.

I was wondering how he was supposed to get down when a small platform extended out from underneath the cockpit which he stepped on and it descended to the ground.

I thought it was using some kind of gravitational pull or something until I realised there was a small rod extending out from the back of the platform that was still connected to the bottom of the cockpit. That must be how the thing would lower and raise itself.

"My lord," Matsumoto greeted with a curt bow.

"Glad you could join us. Guess I was right all along, wasn't I?" The Pirate Lord chuckled.

"I never doubted you, my lord."

"Hmph. So what do you think about the Exo-Knight? Seems like that weapon has enough firepower to kill a Leviathan so that should be useful to us, right?"

The guy shook his head, "Unless we intend to continue hunting Leviathans in the future and possess some facility that can replicate these weapons… It won't really be useful to us. Additionally… We would need to keep going back to that research station in our old base to charge the Exo-Knight which makes this quite cumbersome to maintain and use."

The Pirate Lord hummed, "A pity then. I suppose it's a good thing I'm planning to retire after we're done here. Anyway, what's taking them all so long?! Get them all down here to storm this place already! We don't need everyone, just the ground assault teams will do! Get them here on the double!"

"Right away, my lord."

The Matsumoto guy went to the side and started barking orders into his comms and I turned back to whisper at the Pirate Lord.

"Hey… You sure you trust that guy?"

"Who? Matsumoto?"

"Yeah… I mean… Not that I know him or anything but how sure are you that he won't try to stab you in the back to claim the Pirate Hoard for himself? You've basically been bossing him around his entire life right?"

"Hahahaha! Matsumoto? Betray me? That's never going to happen so don't worry about it. I'm more surprised that you even cared to mention it to me. I thought whether I lived or die is of no concern to you?"

"Well, you're the only thing between us needing to wipe out your entire pirate crew so of course I care. With you around, we would be able to leave here without killing all the pirates here. Otherwise, we would need to add your entire crew to the list of corpses on this planet."

"Ha! You really have guts or you're just crazy! Don't worry, I intend to keep my word!"

Right then, several groups of pirates began running towards us dressed in full combat gear.

I guess that's the assault team the Pirate Lord was talking about… That means we're going in now.