I Was Thawed Out 1,000 Years in the Future. Men Were Extinct. ~Apparently, I’m Being Forced into Breeding Sex by Lewd Beautiful Girls in Skin-Tight Suits to Preserve the Human Race~ - 30

Chapter 30: The Search

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

Old Human Search Vessel Migdal, onboard aircraft hangar. The airlock doors opened, and a Swallow with its wings folded returned along the rails. Maintenance crews immediately set up ladders and began refueling and inspecting for damage. Slowly descending from the cockpit was Alisa, commander of the Ground Drop Unit Alpha.

“……There were no suspicious ships in the surrounding area…… Touya-san’s transmitter also shows no response……”

Her face was deathly pale. Her steps were unsteady as she delivered the report like a mutter in a daze. Captain Sail, listening to her, wore an equally grave expression.

The sightseeing excursion on Planet Tiria had been conducted with Alpha assigned as close protection, supported by Beta and Gamma. It had taken only minutes after Touya went to the café restroom for them to realize he had been abducted. Alisa and the others had broken through the restroom wall and discovered a passageway, but they were unable to track Touya’s trail. An emergency, total lockdown of Tiria’s inbound and outbound traffic had been enacted. Now, together with Tiria’s security forces, they were searching for suspicious vessels, but with little to show for it.

Having lost the person more precious than life itself, the man who held the fate of humanity in his hands, the ship was shrouded in a heavy, wake-like atmosphere. Teres, who had escorted Touya to the restroom, was so utterly exhausted that it was interfering with her ability to perform her duties. She lay confined to a bed in the infirmary.

“Expand the search perimeter. I don’t care if the radar exceeds its output limits. Search everything, right down to the far side of asteroids.”

Even without Sail’s orders, the observation division was straining their eyes to find any trace of Touya. But his trail remained utterly elusive.

“Captain… Shouldn’t we assume the Demonia are involved…?”

The one who put that forward was Jane, commander of the Beta unit, her stern expression undisguised. She, too, had been responsible for checking the café’s safety. The hidden passage and the staff had been disguised for years, planned even before they had been assigned to the old human search mission. Even so, that did nothing to excuse losing Touya.

She clenched her fists so tightly it looked as if blood might seep from her fingertips, desperately restraining the urge to explode.

“Ninety-nine percent certain,” Sail said, grinding her back teeth. “Between the earlier sniper incident and this, it looks like the Demonia have absorbed human traitors.”

A sniper who violated Demonia custom by not announcing herself. A human woman who had openly served customers. And yet Touya’s trail had been erased perfectly. That could only mean Demonia involvement, beings with technology far beyond humanity’s. The inescapable conclusion was an unbelievable one: the two sides were working together.

“Captain, let me search again—”

“Alisa, rest. He’s no longer within the range the Swallow can cover.”

“But—!”

Sail wasn’t worried only about Touya’s safety. Alisa was clearly exhausted, yet the moment she finished minimal refueling she had tried to rush back out of Migdal without even eating.

“If they moved via space dive, we can’t catch them anymore. Searching blindly will only drain our resources.”

“They could still be hiding nearby, anticipating our assumptions!”

“If that were the case, the observation division would have found them!”

As Alisa stubbornly raised her voice, Sail couldn’t help letting anger seep into her own.

“…Wait for the observation division’s results. After that, I’ll have you work yourself to death.”

“…!”

Alisa was a superb soldier. She was not so childish as to miss the meaning of Sail’s words. Even now, her chest felt as if it were being torn apart. She bit down hard on her lip. The worried looks from the surrounding crew felt like a bed of needles. 

It’s my fault that Touya is missing…

That thought stabbed into her again and again.

“Alisa.”

“What is it, Jane—ngh!?”

Called by name in a low voice, Alisa turned around and a powerful blow slammed into her lower abdomen. Her vision flickered. Her lungs collapsed, the air forced out of her. As she crumpled and lost consciousness, the last thing she saw was Jane looking down at her with pity in her eyes.

“…Looks like she collapsed from overwork. I’ll take her to the infirmary.”

“Understood. Give my regards to the doctor.”

Despite the blatantly transparent excuse, Sail nodded without hesitation. Jane easily lifted Alisa with her smaller frame, slung her over her shoulder, and walked away.

“Review all of Tiria’s docking and departure records. If you find any suspicious cargo, report it immediately.”

If they had escaped into the vastness of space, finding them would be like searching for a single grain of gold in an endless desert. Sail focused on cargo ships arriving at and departing from Tiria Spaceport, sweeping them for anything suspicious. Drugs and contraband were irrelevant. All that mattered was finding the single, irreplaceable treasure.

Time passed mercilessly.

“Assume the enemy can be ten light-years away in one hour. Authorize communication with all military bases.”

In emergencies, Migdal, which bore humanity’s fate, was granted authority on par with a princess of the Galactic Unified Government and those powers could be exercised at the captain’s sole discretion. Straightening a uniform that felt heavier than its mass, Sail issued her fierce commands.

In the central command room, observation officers operated their equipment, forcibly accessing the unified, all-star-system military network. Public and non-public alike, every observation post, resource, and patrol unit was mobilized. Military, public, and civilian surveillance systems were seized, and a simultaneous search was launched.

“Deploy drones to unmonitored dark regions. You may forcibly requisition them from nearby private corporations.”

All of it for Touya. To find one single man.

At Sail’s word, the vast domain of the Galactic Unified Government stirred. For humanity’s pride, they would find him by any means necessary.

“Grant special investigative authority to Special Operations. Expose the traitors. Drag everything out of them.”

Legal or illegal did not matter. The old human search operation was led by the Galactic Unified Government, encompassing legislative and judicial power alike. Sail’s words, entrusted with that authority, were equivalent to those of the imperial princess herself. Special Operations, a secret unit whose existence was known only to a handful of senior officers even aboard Migdal. Equipped and trained to accomplish any mission, they would execute anything upon the captain’s order. Their jet-black skinsuits were like ninja garb that melted into the darkness of space.

“Please be safe… Touya-dono.”

Having exhausted every conceivable option, Sail could do nothing more than pray.

†††

Three days passed since Touya’s disappearance—coldly, indifferently. No progress worthy of the name had been made, and crushing tension bore down on the scene. Alisa was restrained in bindings. Teres had been sedated.

Relentless communications bearing only grim voices gnawed even at Sail’s steel resolve. Still, she could not fall here. She was standing on sheer will alone. But even that was reaching its limit. From a rational standpoint, the mission should have been deemed a failure the moment Touya was lost. The failure of Operation 264 should be reported to the Galactic Unified Government, and the captain should take responsibility. Preparations for Operation 265 would then begin.

But…

“Just a little longer… Just a little more…”

Sail could not give up. They were not searching for a man. They were searching for Touya Kirisame, for him alone. That conviction pierced her heart again and again, the single thread holding her collapsing body upright.

“I haven’t been held by Touya-dono yet!”

She shouted the confession aloud in the captain’s quarters. She had held back, thinking herself too old for that. But the moment he was gone, a burning agony clenched her heart. She had to find him and hold him to this chest. She had to be held by him or she would never heal. Otherwise, even death would bring no rest. And this feeling was surely not hers alone. Jane, Prushe, Reimi and Alisa as well.

『Captain……』

“—Baldia!?”

As she trembled with near-maddening impulse, a response came through the captain’s direct, encrypted line. Sail sprang up to answer, and a faint, strained voice reached her, the voice of Baldia, head of Special Operations. Hearing such weakness from a veteran soldier and master spy was a first even for Sail. As panic rose, Baldia forced out her report.

“『At these coordinates… A ship…… And Touya-sama—h, higiyaaaah!?』”

“Baldia!? Baldia, report—hey!”

The transmission cut off after a scream. What had happened to the always-cool operative? As Sail reeled, a binary signal arrived. When decrypted, it revealed a set of Galactic Unified Imperial full-universe four-dimensional coordinates. Vast strings of numbers accounting for space and time, pinpointing a single location in the cosmos.

“All hands, listen up. Migdal will now proceed at maximum speed to the target coordinates!”

The clue left behind by Baldia of Special Operations. That meant Touya was there. With that certainty burning in her chest, Sail ordered full acceleration.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー