Dinner With Family by Hiroyuki Morioka (best novels for teenagers TXT) 📕

The enemy ships altered trajectory. By the looks of it, the Red Team had decided to aim for the weaker opponents first — and so they reversed course.

“The enemy has reversed course. They’re headed our way,” said Yatesh.

That makes this two-on-one, thought Lafier. Sobash’s skill as a ship commander had exceeded her expectations. Upon entering battle, he entrusted the piloting of the ship entirely to the Gunner, which was something anybody could do, but not just anybody could give detailed instructions and make an easier environment for gunners to do battle. If I were captaining, Lafier couldn’t help but reflect, I wouldn’t have been able to entrust all of the fighting to the Gunner, which would have left me too distracted to get to other things.

But now she knew better. She was absorbing a lot from Sobash’s battle. If she were to be the one sitting in the Ship Commander’s Seat now, she was confident she’d do far better than she would have a day prior.

Soon they’d enter the EM cannons’ firing range. They were already primed and ready for combat.

“We break past the enemy and rejoin the rest. Gunner, our allies will be firing in this direction without restraint, so I trust you’ll do me the favor of making sure we don’t go down by friendly fire. That would be unsightly.”

“Roger that. But that’ll be... difficult, sir,” replied Idlia.

“Just think of the battle as the real thing, and that will take the stress off,” said Grinshia, intending to console.

“What do you mean? I get more nervous during the real thing.”

“Really? But if you lose during an exercise, you get evaluated. If you lose during the real thing, you don’t have to worry about evaluations. You just die,” she explained.

“I’m afraid I fear death more than an evaluation.”

Listening to this exchange, Sobash was smiling (though he didn’t know why exactly), but he did have to interrupt: “A fascinating conversation, but get back to work, would you?”

“Roger.”

“Speed relative to the opposing units now at zero. Distance: 0.11 light-seconds.”

Still too far to be shooting the EM cannons. Yet Sobash ordered the attack to commence. The strategy was seemingly a curtain of fire. At any rate, the distance between them was closing rapidly.

Now the enemy began firing. Lafier pulled out her circlet’s access-cables and switched her frocragh to beyond-ship mode. However, since she was merely an observer, the seat she’d been given didn’t have a terminal for beyond-ship frocragh. She felt very stupid.

“Distance: 0.05 light-seconds.”

At this distance, she knew the attack should be intensifying. Yet to her irritation, without beyond-ship frocragh she couldn’t tell for sure. She gauged Sobash’s expression — he didn’t seem particularly nervous. Until, suddenly, he winced.

“Hold your fire and evade!” he cried.

But it was too late. “This ship has exploded. This ship has exploded...” announced the ruthless mechanical voice, informing the Flicaubh’s crew of their “deaths.”

“I’m sorry, Ship Commander,” said Deca-Commander Idlia.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. You did admirably. And I expect you to do much the same in the combat to come,” he said, consoling the Gunner. “Now then, we need to bring back our prodigal child. Open the comms for the conveyance ship.”

The line opened immediately.

“Vanguard Ecryua, we have joined you in the ranks of the dead. Come back for docking.”

“Roger,” said Ecryua.

“Can I say something?” came Jint’s voice.

“Go ahead,” she replied, and as soon as she did, Jint’s face came on screen.

“Please contact Commandant Atosryua as soon as possible,” he asked Sobash.

“I can’t do that, Lonh-Dreur,” said Sobash, expression gloomy. “This ship may not be participating anymore, but the exercise itself continues.”

“When will it be over?”

“I don’t know. Though of course, given the current situation, I don’t think it’ll last too long now.”

“I understand,” said Jint, readily backing down. “Please inform me as soon as the situation changes.”

“Sure. I promise I will. But why do you want me to do so?”

“Well...” Jint was about to explain, but... “actually, I’ll tell you later. I want some time to gather my thoughts.”

“No problem.”

The line dropped.

Lafier could bear it no longer. “Ship Commander Sobash.”

Sobash sent a quizzical look.

“I’d like to know what’s happening outside. If the exercise is over for this ship, then do you mind if I sit in the Navigator’s Seat?”

Sobash smiled. “By all means, Your Highness.”

Lafier took Ecryua’s seat. Still stewing from her earlier blunder, she inserted the functionality crystals at the tips of her access-cables into the terminals on the armrests. The sensation of becoming one with the ship came over her with a wave of nostalgic contentment.

Five ships were currently engaged. A pair of ships moving forward, with three in the back (which were likely Atosryua’s team, the Blue Team).

The exercise really will be ending shortly, she thought. Then she searched for Jint and Ecryua’s conveyance ship.

She was finding these ordinary, everyday operations too fun for words. It had been too long.

Chapter 8: The Lapainec Martinr (Pride of Martin)

Two hours after the Flicaubh had picked its conveyance ship back up, the message “true solar flames are blue” resounded across the Hyde Countdom. Following her announcing the exercise complete, Commandant Atosryua summoned the Ship Commanders to a meeting, to be held at the commander’s quarters of the Lymcaubh.

Owing to the mock battle, the squadron was scattered wide. It would take more than twenty-four hours to re-assemble.

At the meeting, evaluations would take place. And the evaluator would be none other than the Commandant, Atosryua. As such, she was busy processing the data in her head. She was obligated to look into not just the actions of the opposing units, but those of each and every ship in the exercise.

Few were as busy as a commandant between the end of an exercise and the beginning of an evaluation meeting. First up was Hecto-Commander Roiryua’s report. Knowing what he’d been thinking and planning to do was the most important thing. Atosryua pulled it up in window-screen form. At the head was a memo:

“Regarding the landworld incident, I was thoroughly