As soon as I got that notification, the leader barked an order across the comms channel.

"All ships! Engage travel drives! To the Warp Gate!"

I engaged my travel drives while weaving through the last of the drones, feeling myself lurch backwards as my ship sped off.

The remaining Mercs, escorts and the Destroyer also boosted away from the battlefield, leaving the drones and the Drone Carrier behind.

I watched as the Carrier rapidly shrunk into the distance and I felt myself relaxing a little.

"That was a close one huh?" I muttered through the comms.

Amber looked at me through her screen, "Was it? I thought that was ok though?"

"Really? We were literally outnumbered a hundred to one and we lost like two ships to them before we managed to get away. If we weren't that close to the edge of the interdiction field, we might have lost even more ships to the drones."

She shrugged, "We would have been able to handle it."

Huh… She really thought so?

I mean… I suppose if we were not focused on defending our client, we would be able to distance ourselves from the drones and continue shooting them down from there.

Amber could probably distract the drones while I circled around to attack the Carrier and if the drones would shut down the Carrier was destroyed, that would have instantly resolved the situation.

Well… I guess there's no point thinking about that now anyway.

I leaned back in my chair, "Nnghh… I suppose? At least we're out of it now."

Amber smirked, "What if they have another trap set up right ahead?"

"Don't even joke about that, please… We've been running ragged from the very beginning of this job. I'm already filled with regret for taking up this job in the first place."

"It's not so bad, is it? We just went and shot up a couple of people. Then we came out here and shot up a couple of drones. Pretty simple if you asked me."

"Uh-huh. Did you miss out the fact that we were outnumbered in all of them and even during the shoot out in the station we had to go up against a freaking mech?"

"Didn't Lea handle that thing pretty well?"

"Yes she did, but that's not the point. We lost quite a number of people here."

Amber leaned forward in her chair, "Meh, who cares about those guys? I certainly don't. Anyway… How is she, by the way? Did she do a good job with the turret?"

"Well, she did a fantastic job with it actually."

"You overpraise me, Captain," Lea spoke up from behind me. "I still have a lot to learn from this."

Yeah, sure… I'm already wondering just how crazy good you are if this wasn't your best…

I decided not to ask and let out a sigh instead, "Well… I guess we have nothing to do now except to wait."

Amber grinned, "I really doubt those thugs would try anything more after this so it's just the waiting game now. Hey~ Wanna have a masturbation stream?"

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

I rolled my eyes at her, "No."

"Oh come on! After a fight like that, I need a way to relax too! Let's just do it, Tera!"

"No, I'm not going to do it, Amber."

"Awww! But you used to do it with me in the call last time!"

"That's when… When we're alone," I whispered, trying to make sure that Lea did not hear what I said by lowering my voice.

Not that I was ashamed to admit it since she already knew about our relationship, but I'd think she would feel bad if she knew I was refusing to do this with Amber because of her presence and felt responsible.

Amber waved her hand dismissively, "Oh who cares?! Let's just do it anyway! Come on, Tera!"

"I already said no, so no."

Amber puffed up her cheeks at me, "Oh fine, I'll do it myself then!"

I decided the best course of action for witnessing such a scene was to pretend I never saw it and to turn my attention to Lea instead.

"You alright back there?" I asked.

She nodded at me, "I am doing well, Captain. Thank you for the assistance with the ship's positioning to allow me to shoot down those drones effectively."

I most definitely did not do that but I shall refrain from saying anything.

Instead, I decided to ask her about the plants.

"What about the garden at the back? Do you need any help with it?" I asked.

"Ah, I'm fine, Captain. There's really nothing much that needs to be done with it and the plants are growing fine on their own right now. The materials you bought for me at the store helped a lot."

Oh, that's quite reassuring to hear.

Lea then continued, "I do have a question, Captain. Are there any specific things you would like to grow in particular?"

I tapped my chin, "Mmm… I suppose I would like some strawberries… Some cabbages… Lettuce maybe? Also some herbs like thyme too."

The Alv nodded, "I will keep a lookout for seedlings for those plants in particular, Captain."

"Ah, no need to specifically look for those plants, Lea. It's fine to just get any you think might be good."

I probably haven't said this out loud, but having Lea take over the garden was quite literally a godsend because I would have been so lost about all these things she could have done on her own without me.

If it wasn't because of the fact that I needed to stay in the cockpit just in case more of those thugs showed up, I would have asked her to show me the state of the hydroponics garden right now..

Speaking of which… Amber was really going at it on her side of the screen… She didn't even care that she had an audience while she was busy pleasuring herself through our call.

Oh well, I suppose now might be a good time to write my entry in that captain's log of mine before I forget about it.

I brought up my console panel and started typing away, pouring my lament and annoyance at how persistent that gang was and how I hoped the job would end. While I'm at it, I should also make a note about that Drone Carrier since it's the first of its kind that I've seen in this universe.

Lea seemed to have noticed what I was doing and asked, "What is that for, Captain?"

I looked at her before turning to my console to wonder for a while, thinking about how I should best explain it to her.

"Umm… It's a log that I keep about what events might have happened during the day to serve as a record and reminder for myself. You know, just in case I need to look up past records or just reminisce about the past in general."

The Alv paused for at least a minute before gesturing to the screen in front of me, "Is Captain dying?"

I jolted at her question, "Eh? What? Of course not. Why do you ask?"

"Normally only ship captains who are dying would do that…"

"Don't other ships have captains who write personal logs as records normally? Like freighter ship captains to record where they've been?"

"But not Mercenaries, Captain. Unless they were obligated by someone or something to do so."

"Huh… I see… Well, I just do it for fun really. So no need to worry about it."

"I see… Am I allowed to read them as well?" She asked.

I gestured to the screen, "Sure thing, come take a look."

Lea got up from her seat and walked over to me to peek over my shoulder.

I scrolled through some of the entry logs I made and she seemed to be quite fascinated by them for some reason.

She then turned to me, "Could I make my own logs as well?"

I nodded, "Oh of course you can. Here, I'll show you how you can make records of your own too through the ship's computer and link it to your personal… Oh wait, you don't have a personal terminal yet. I guess we'll need to get you one when we get back to the station later."

"Thank you, Captain. I shall make do with the ship's computer for now."

"That's nice. We can even trade logs to read each other's records from time to time. I think that would be interesting. Even Amber writes one now."

The Alv turned to the screen that showed Amber masturbating in front of her camera before turning away, "I see… Are her logs also stored here?"

"Ah… No… She actually hasn't shown me any yet."

Amber spoke up right then, reminding me that our call was actually still connected, "I'm shy ok? Give me some time to arrange them first before I show you!"

…

Says the girl literally masturbating through a video call right now.

Lea tactfully ignored her and kept her eyes on me, "I would like to try writing this too, Captain."

Oohh~ perfect! We have one more person joining me on writing logs!