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Conquering Fantasy: Ex-Interstellar Army Tale (English Version)
Chapter 0
Prologue (Part 1)
(Published on 20/11/2024)
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The first encounter between humanity and the intelligent life form known as "Arachne" began in the year 2513 in the Gregorian Calendar (GC), on the planet Trappist 1F in a dwarf star system 39 light years away from Earth.
Trappist 1F was once a far-flung planet with agriculture as its main industry. With a population of no more than 150,000 people, the planet had only a limited military force and a small number of defense systems that were not very capable.
When "Arachne" invaded the planet with more than 20 starships, they then bombarded the colony's major cities and began dropping smaller units to make landings.
The poorly armed colonies were easily wiped out by them. The entire population of the planet was declared dead, men, women and children alike.
Ten days later, the 2nd Star Battleship Fleet of the Earth Federation rushed to the Trappist 1 star system as a form of reinforcements to eliminate all "Arachne" battle fleets. They were also tasked with scorching the entire surface of the planet that had been invaded by the "Arachne". However, this came at the cost of losing more lives during the battle.
Some of the surviving Federation soldiers landed on the planet Trappist 1F. And what a surprise they were to witness the footage captured by the security cameras installed in almost every facility on the planet.
Hell, that's the only word to describe the atrocities and abominations committed by the "Arachne" during the invasion.
Ever since then, both humanity and "Arachne" have been engaged in endless wars for over a thousand years.
It is now the year 3527 GC.
A heavy explorer-class starship named "Kaguya Roosevelt" has been busy in long-term exploration since their departure from the nearest orbital station two years ago.
Their only mission is to find the home planet of humanity's greatest enemy, "Arachne".
They are currently in hyperspace; spinning around aimlessly while mapping the paths between stars-it's a mission that sounds simple, yet endless.
Lt. Osborne, one of the crew members assigned to the ship, was busy repairing a processor module inside the main frame of the cleanroom-the heart of the battleship "Kaguya Roosevelt".
It was a maintenance job requested from one of his superiors some time ago. They informed him that the processor module inside the ship might be malfunctioning.
Kaguya, a humanoid artificial intelligence, was monitoring the maintenance work done by the Lieutenant.
While in hyperspace, most of the crew were in cyro-sleep. If Kaguya were a human, she would probably be grumbling about having too many tasks to complete.
Under this situation, Kaguya's main program stated that she used part of her time to observe humans and understand their psychology.
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Naruto Osborne.
Second Lieutenant of the 207th Armed Forces of the United Nation Space Alliance (UNSA).
30 years old.
Originally from the "Proxima Centauri" Star System, Planet "Proxima B".
After completing his military service, he then joined the 207th Fleet at the age of twenty.
He has five years of combat experience and has participated in over thirty military campaigns since he joined.
Five years later, he was then transferred to the Heavy Cruiser Class Star Battleship "Kaguya Roosevelt" as a newly formed unit.
Has served for 5 years.
He is 185 cm tall, weighs 70 kg, and has a slim yet full figure. Lieutenant Osbern has Eurasian and Oriental blood, with blond hair and blue eyes and a refreshing face.
The "refreshing face" judgment is the result of the face evaluation app developed by Kaguya, and the [B] evaluation sets it above average.
The face evaluation application was secretly developed by the artificial intelligence to research human behavior, and when the technology was anonymously shared with the public, it spread like wildfire and generated all kinds of claims due to its accuracy.
The comprehensive system evaluation level showed a grade of [A-] which was the highest rating in the entire ship. It was a pity that he was still a Lieutenant.
"Is this not a problem, Miss Roosevelt? Appointing someone like me in a place like this. I think for a warship of this size, wouldn't it be better if the person in charge was at least a Major?"
Naruto asked the Artificial Intelligence (AI).
It was common knowledge in the UNSA that the AI was given the honorary rank of a Captain in a warship, and a lowly Lieutenant was likely to be assigned as his partner.
[There's no way around it. There are only a few personnel who have the skills for this type of work. Plus, someone who just woke up from cyro-sleep is not suited to this type of work. Therefore, I can only rely on you to get it done."]
After all, the kind of work that requires you to crawl around in a space that is no more than one meter wide is not suitable for someone with a tall body.
The AI that appeared on the thin hologram screen beside Lieutenant Osbern was the ship's AI that mimicked the appearance of an individual who shared the same name as Kaguya.
That individual is a woman who is remembered for saving at least two hundred thousand human lives when the "Arachne" attacked one of UNSA's human colonies. Armed with only one destroyer-class space battleship, she managed to defeat the entire "Arachne" battle fleet in close combat & turned back the brutal creatures out of orbit.
At UNSA, there is a custom to name star ships after officers who have achieved heroic feats. Kaguya Roosevelt is no exception. And as the highest form of honor, her name was immortalized into a new type of warship that has been in operation for 2 years.
That's where the name "Kaguya Roosevelt" came from.
"That's it, huh? I understand. I'll get it done right away. By the way, what are we going to do with all these broken processor modules?"
[There are no such instructions in my database, so I don't know. Either keep it or send it for further repair. What do you think, Lieutenant?]
"I think it would be better if we used it for something else instead of just keeping it in storage."
[What exactly do you plan to utilize it for? I don't think it has any other uses besides the main frame.]
During the long hyperspace period, both technicians and intelligence officers who are not in cyro-sleep are required to do some research. They are not expected to do actual research but rather to hone their skills further and keep them sharp.
The value of a single processor module was greater than an engineer's annual salary. It was impossible for Naruto to waste it.
The theme of his research is "Virtual Reality (VR) in a Stand-alone Scope". The content technically explains the formation of VR in a scope that stands alone and is not connected to other networks.
[I've read your research journal but I don't quite understand. Why are you so fixated on the stand-alone scope and not using it as the main framework? Honestly, I don't think there's any other reason to use VR except for bad things."]
"You're wrong! It's not like that, Captain! It is only the arrogance of humans that makes them believe that they can always access the main frame at any time. We must develop a tool to utilize VR even in emergency situations where access to the main frame is denied."
Naruto argued with the AI.
[Yes, if the order to destroy that thing is given, I will give you some consideration.]
"Thank you very much, Captain. The outcome of my research depends on one of those processors, OK! I'm done."
Naruto cheered at having completed his task.
Just as he was about to try to exit the room, a nearby wall collapsed suddenly and fell on him instantly.
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