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

heavyweight assault ships or résic saura (lightweight patrol ships) embroiled not only Warship Management Headquarters, but even many top-level leaders of the Star Forces. The Caubh-class was the first class ever designed for raid ships, and the Flicaubh was one of the first twelve Caubh-class vessels to be placed in commission.

Holding the reins of a new class of ship fresh off the blueprints was a daunting task, but distinguished in equal measure. As such, Sobash had no complaints regarding his current post. This duty was beyond an honor.

Sobash had only just risen to the rank of Vice Hecto-Commander, a promotion that would normally be unthinkably fast, given that he’d only been a vanguard starpilot a few days prior. Of course, if he’d devoted half of his life to the Star Forces, it wouldn’t be surprising if he’d reached the rank of commodore by this age.

This kind of imperial edict was often enacted in past wars, and served as proof that the Empire was going all out. That didn’t mean that the Empire hadn’t taken the war seriously up until that point. It was simply a matter of personnel composition. There weren’t enough ships or lower-ranked starpilots, but they couldn’t then just populate ships solely with higher-ranked starpilots. Then again, it wasn’t just due to the unique circumstances of the war that he’d obtained the rank of Vice Hecto-Commander. The Star Forces couldn’t be so short of personnel as to select any old soldier as a ship commander of a bleeding-edge vessel.

Sobash cleared his head of the misgivings he’d chewed over countless times since receiving the notice of personnel change. To Sobash, who regarded himself as a merchant through and through, his rank as a soldier and his military status were transient things. That said, he was still enjoying his work.

Immediately after passing through the portal, a huge bulk of information came flowing into the Flicaubh. Orders from above were mixed in with the general information and the personal messages meant for individual crewmembers.

The orders were not confidential. Running his eyes over its contents, he saw they were the simple instructions that followed a familiarization voyage as a matter of course. He felt relieved. The familiarization voyage was fun, but the toil involved was exhausting. He was in no mood to be receiving any more intricate commands.

He ordered his Vice Commander-cum-Gunner to shift course. In assault ships, steering the ship was said to be a ship commander’s role while in 3-space, but in larger vessels like battle-line ships or patrol ships, that was the Senior Starpilot’s job. The all-new class of vessels, raid ships, adopted the same allocation of labor as in large-sized ships.

After the attitude control system howled for a brief spell, the Flicaubh’s course became fixed. Sobash then ordered the main engines stopped, and broadcasted the following to all hands:

“This is your Ship Commander speaking. The ship will now be entering inertial navigation. You are relieved from your shifts. As per the shift schedule, I permit the off-duty to take their breaks.” Then he once again scanned the bridge. “I’ll be needing all of you to keep working.”

His eyes met the Navigator’s. The Navigator being the same as on the Basrogrh — Ecryua. She’d been a rearguard starpilot there, but with her battle experience taken into account, she’d now been made a vanguard starpilot. And it was no coincidence she was his subordinate. The Star Forces gave ship captains the right to choose their subordinates. Naturally, those chosen enjoyed the power to turn them down, and the circumstances occasionally got in the way of the chooser and the chosen even if they had a burning desire to be on the same ship. In their case, Sobash wanted her along, and though he had no idea whether she was thrilled by his request, she at the very least didn’t refuse it.

Sobash turned his gaze to the Inspector Supervisor’s Seat. He had nothing against the woman in that seat, but he had wanted Samson there instead. The Inspector Supervisor of the Flicaubh was instead Loüass Scœmr (Mechanics Deca-Commander) Grinchiac. Just like Samson, she hailed from a landworld. And since she’d worked her way from an NCC up to a Deca-Commander, there could be no doubt she was skilled and knowledgeable. Unfortunately, she just wasn’t as fun to be around. For one, she never touched alcohol — perhaps due to religious reasons? In fact, if other crew members took to a drink or two, her face would scrunch. If that were all, Sobash wouldn’t have minded — after all, he himself was not all that fond of drink — but she responded the same way to light-hearted jokes, too.

During his trading days, Sobash rented supply ships and journeyed to the far corners of the Empire. He’d had to employ crews, of course, and so he’d had two criteria for selecting subordinates. One was hiring heterosexual males, not because he was particularly prejudiced against women or gay men, but because even giant ships had limited space in their living quarters, with relatively small crews. He’d just figured dealing with any romance that might spark in such a cramped environment sounded like a pain, and there were other diversions besides. The other criterion was for the employee in question to have some sort of bad habit. And while Grinshia’s strict and rigid lifestyle could be called a bad habit in itself, it wasn’t the kind of bad habit Sobash preferred. Samson, on the other hand, had been a treasure trove of the bad habits Sobash loved. His idle chatter would liven any room, and he’d even occasionally abandon his senses of his own volition.

Just Sobash’s luck, then, that that lovable jokester would retire from the Star Forces. From what he’d heard, Samson hadn’t yet withdrawn to his home planet, but all the same, they’d probably never meet face-to-face ever again. A thought that made Sobash feel a touch lonesome. He contemplated writing the man a lengthy letter.

Granted, even if Samson had remained in the