What's displayed on the screen is a message window and what looks like a map of the surrounding sea. Judging from it, there seem to be only solitary islands in the area.
Shown in red on the Sea Map is a ship-shaped icon. Four in total.
Nanami on the screen pushed the window around, slid it sideways, and peeked out.
'Summat's coming.'
"Something?! What do you mean, something?!"
'Unidentified1 fleet.'
This is hopeless. The information isn't increasing.
As I stood there bewildered, Nanami also straightened her back in considerable panic.
'Four unidentified vessels are closing in. All armed warships, I reckon.'
"Enemies?!"
'I said unidentified, didn't I.'
Oh, come on. Nanami tilted her head.
'That fleet's passed offshore eight times these past two weeks. Never once answered our radio calls.'
"They didn't attack you then?"
'Because I had the Invisibility System on.'
I thought for a moment.
"Then why are they closing in on us now?"
'Because I left the Invisibility System off... maybe?'
Don't give me "maybe."
"You said this ship was a transport, right? Does it have weapons?"
'Oh, come off it. They've not been confirmed as enemies yet.'
The moment Nanami said that, a bright red warning text appeared.
< Enemy Shelling - Near Miss >
"We're getting shot at, aren't we?!"
'Ah... you're right. What do we do?'
So carefree, this one.
Nanami flipped through a thick book, nodding with "hmm, hmm."
'Let's see... it's a cannon that's not in my database.'
You really are useless, aren't you.
"So it's an unknown weapon?"
'Ah, no. It's just too old to be registered. Probably something like an Age of Exploration cannon. An old thing you load from the front3.'
What the... you scared me for nothing.
Nanami laughed.
'But old or not, if it hits, this ship'll take damage. She's not the sort that relies on armor.'
You little junk heap.
But Nanami wasn't panicking.
'Now then, no need to fret. I'll have all systems up in Battle Mode straight away.'
"Ooh, so we can fight?"
'Aye!'
Nanami gave a crisp salute.
For a moment I felt hope, but Nanami immediately started taking off her sailor uniform.
"What are you doing?"
'I'm switching systems, so give us a moment.'
Nanami changed into a stand-collar officer's uniform.
They could just show the progress with a bar or something, but they get oddly elaborate in the strangest places.
It felt strange for a government ship, but since this wasn't the Japan I knew, I decided to just quietly watch over things. Right now, I had to do something about the enemy attack, no matter what.
< Enemy Shelling - Near Miss >
< Enemy Shelling - Near Miss >
< Enemy Shelling - Bow Portside Impact - Minor Damage >
"Hey, we're being shot! We're being shot! We're getting hit!"
Damn it, they're firing away like crazy.
On the monitor, four reasonably sized sailing ships were clearly displayed. A flag combining a shark and a skull was fluttering. Pirates, most likely. So pirates raising the skull flag is common in this world too.
'It's fine. I'm right confident in my damage control. The Shooting Star was built as a Joint U.S.-Japan Project.'
Boasting about something I didn't understand, Nanami was struggling to fasten the hook of her stand-collar uniform. I'd like to help her, but that's just a CG.
Nanami, now wearing a peaked cap, kept fidgeting with it, seemingly concerned about how it felt.
'System check done. All systems normal. This ship's shifting to Battle Mode. Captain, get yourself to the Command Center.'
"Who's the captain?"
At my question, Nanami looked startled.
'Ah, there isn't one. That's a problem. If the Command Center stays empty, I can't fight. It's against the Rules for Fighting2.'
This is what happens with government ships.
'There's nobody else, so would you be captain for a bit?'
Don't say it like you're asking me to man a stall at a school festival.
That said, if things stay like this, Nanami's in danger. She's the only one I can rely on right now.
"Understood. Just so you know, I'm not a soldier or a sailor. I just need to be in that Command Center place?"
'Aye, you just need to sit there. Job like that takes no time at all.'
Nanami in her stand-collar uniform smiled brightly.
The Command Center was, in essence, the ship's bridge. Apparently these days they don't call it the bridge anymore but the Command Center. It's located in the center of the ship, and for a ship it's a fairly spacious room, yet it has not a single window.
'Captain's entry confirmed. This ship's starting combat operations.'
Nanami in her officer's uniform adjusted her peaked cap with quick little tugs, her expression tightening.
"Combat operations are fine, but isn't this ship beached on land?"
I was getting anxious, but Nanami laughed.
'We'll be off the ground right away, so it's fine. Nothing wrong with the Gravity Engine.'
"It flies, this thing?"
'Aye. We keep clear of residential areas, so you might not have seen much of it.'
Nanami looked a little proud.
She quickly tightened her expression and told me, 'Captain, the attack order.'
"Isn't sitting here all I have to do?"
'Sorry, it's just a formality. Ah, and pick the target as well, if you would.'
Oh, is that right. Since I'm at it, maybe I should try saying it coolly.
On the huge monitor in front, the pirate fleet was displayed. What looked like cannon smoke was billowing across the sea surface, increasing with each volley. They were getting closer and closer.
At this point, we really have no choice but to fight.
"Nanami, commence attack on the unidentified fleet ahead!"
'Aye!'
Nanami gave a crisp salute.
The next moment, I felt my feet float up softly.
'550mm Energy Cannon, opening starboard gun port one. Aiming at the lead ship of the unidentified fleet.'
Five hundred fifty millimeter? Fifty-five centimeters? Isn't that pretty big? And what's "starboard number one gun port"? How many does it have?
The moment I felt uneasy, Nanami calmly announced, 'Firing for a direct hit. Fire.'
Ah, maybe a warning shot would have been better for the first one......
Just as I thought to open my mouth, the exterior footage on the monitor went white. The image switched instantly, and the monitor's brightness was adjusted.
When the screen stabilized, the pirate fleet was no longer there. A massive plume of water had erupted, rising up like a pillar. The sea surface is bubbling all over-is that actually boiling? The water plume stretched high into the sky like a cumulonimbus cloud, or rather an anvil cloud4......it kind of looked like a mushroom cloud.
In front of me, trembling at the sheer power, Nanami smiled and reported.
'Confirmed four enemy ships sunk. Enemy fleet wiped out. All systems normal. Closing gun ports, shifting to alert mode.'
"Annihilated, you say."
I don't know much about warships, but is a transport ship supposed to do this kind of thing?
Nanami smiled brightly.
'Aye, all sunk. I aimed at the center ship, but the 550mm Energy Cannon's got enough heat to burn away any wooden bits nearby.'
"Why did you fire something like that?"
'I only used one secondary gun. This is the weakest anti-ship weapon this vessel's got, you know?'
I felt uneasy at Nanami saying this as if it were obvious, but thinking about it calmly, it made sense.
"W-well, there's no reason to hold back. They fired at us first, and it'd hurt if we took hits too."
'Aye, that's right. If we'd kept taking fire, the ship would've taken some damage.'
"Right. Besides, Nanami properly fought back with the secondary gun, and......"
I tilted my head slightly.
"Could it be that the main gun is stronger than this?"
Nanami averted her gaze with an ambiguous smile.
'Well, aye... but does it really matter?'
No, it's not fine.
"This is a transport ship, right? Doesn't it seem odd to have both a main gun and secondary guns?"
But Nanami kept her gaze averted and replied in a vague tone.
'Um, who knows? Not really sure......'
"Look at me. Actually, why are you displaying a CG of yourself averting your gaze?"
'How's that? Pretty human, eh?'
"That's not the issue."
Even I definitely thought something was off, but I also somehow understood that Nanami had no intention of answering.
Looking at the monitor, it was pouring rain outside. It seemed the evaporated seawater was falling back down as rain.
While I was relieved to have survived, the thought that my order had caused this massive destruction was terrifying. I hope I didn't accidentally involve innocent people.......
"Nanami."
'Aye?'
"From now on, let's try to make the first shot a warning shot if possible."
'Right you are. Captain's order accepted. Updating combat protocol. Captain, you've done well.'
Nanami gave a crisp salute with a smile completely free of any cloudiness.
That's terrifying.
Trivia:
- Nanami's report that the fleet passed eight times over two weeks without responding to radio suggests they were observing and waiting, hinting the attack was a deliberate escalation rather than random piracy.
- The detail that Nanami's sailor uniform change is actually a "system switch" presentation implies her entire appearance is a UI element, foreshadowing that her humanlike mannerisms are deliberate design choices.
- The narrator's passing worry about involving innocent people, contrasted with his growing comfort at ordering annihilation, quietly signals his moral drift as the "chill supporting character" premise erodes.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ Literally "affiliation unknown," a formal naval/military designation for unidentified vessels; Nanami keeps using this precise bureaucratic term while the protagonist just wants to know "friend or enemy," highlighting the gap between her protocol-driven thinking and his civilian panic.
2 ↩ "Violation of rules of engagement" — a real military-legal concept; Nanami treats the absence of a captain in the command center as a regulation breach, comically prioritizing paperwork over the incoming attack.
3 ↩ "Muzzle-loading" — referring to cannons loaded from the front of the barrel, an obsolete method predating breech-loading; this dates the pirates' weapons to an early-modern "Age of Exploration" tech level.
4 ↩ "Anvil cloud" — the flat-topped upper portion of a cumulonimbus; the protagonist's comparison escalates to a "mushroom cloud," an implicit real-world nuclear allusion that underscores the absurd overkill.
Notes:
• Nanami - Interface personality of the Shooting Star-class transport ship Nanami, seventh ship of the Shooting Star sisters. Appears as a CG girl in a sailor uniform and sailor cap on the ship's monitors. Polite and helpful, though also lost and isolated from all systems. Speaks with measured formality. Sentient artificial intelligence and interface of a warship, speaking with a polite and good-natured voice. She disguises herself as a transport vessel but is secretly a heavily armed strategic combat ship. Prohibited from operating unmanned, she requires a crew member capable of communication, and reveals classified information to her captain through deliberately careless means. Shipboard AI or avatar appearing as a sailor-uniformed girl on the vessel's monitors. Cheerful, somewhat airheaded in demeanor but highly capable at damage control and combat systems. Serves as the operator and interface of the transport ship.
• Captain - First-person narrator. An office worker who was riding the Yamanote Line before suddenly finding himself on an unknown beach. Pragmatic and quick to adapt, he prioritizes gathering information and returning home. Currently unemployed by circumstance and seeking a way back to his Japan.