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It far surpassed manual control systems and effectively avoided personnel losses. After all, training a skilled operator took considerable time and effort. Using cheap, replaceable substitutes to protect those personnel was profitable no matter how one looked at it.

Because of the unusual circumstances, the captain adjusted the procedures for certain matters aboard the warship. For example, remote operators had previously needed to go through a series of extremely complicated procedures and certifications to replace their robots.

But now, everything had been simplified to the utmost. As long as a robot—whether too badly damaged to be repaired in a short time or directly destroyed—was certified by Gwendolyn as unfit for combat, a new robot could be bound to its operator as long as the warship still had one in stock.

With the new policy in place, Kari, who would otherwise have had to wait until the mission ended before beginning the replacement process, returned to the squad and rejoined the mission roster.

"Welcome back."

"..."

"Hmph. I've remembered some of the things you people said earlier. You know who said what. We're enemies now."

"Hey, don't be so petty. It was just a joke."

"But it wasn't funny."

Just as the squad was welcoming Kari back in its own unique way, Gale's somewhat panicked voice came through again. "Watch out!"

Unfortunately, just like last time, the target had already been destroyed by the time he shouted. And this time, the lucky victim chosen by the Zerg tentacle was, once again, Kari.

Thus, Kari's vehicle was destroyed again before he had even figured out what was going on after returning to the squad. Dense barrages of fire then turned the culprit behind this incident into mush.

"Ah!!!!!!" Kari's irritated voice came through the communicator.

"Don't worry, Kari. We already avenged you.