What Do You Mean I'm The Captain Of A Yandere Mercenary Company?

Not gonna lie, the hustle with the gangs didn't even pay well, which kind of explained why the Mercs were more interested in the looting.

Like that hustle only paid four thousand Credits despite the scale of that fight.

Guess I shouldn't be surprised to learn that they skimp on these kinds of things…

The silver lining is that I managed to loot a total of twelve thousand Credits off the thugs, which was three times what the hustle paid off.

I guess that's the plus for taking risks during the fight.

I didn't see any equipment worth taking and I wasn't going to lug a whole bunch of stuff back on the ship so I only took the Credit Chips.

At least there didn't seem to be any fights amongst the Mercs when we were looting. It seems like there's at least some understanding where it's first come first served.

Or at least I think so, anyway.

Not that it really matters since I didn't stay that long to check and was out of there pretty quickly after I got tired of sifting through dead bodies.

Anyway, I had something else more important to do right now, which is to return to my ship and prepare dinner for all of us.

Since this would be the first time Mara would be coming on board our new ship and tasting my freshly cooked food with the new appliances, I want to give her the best impression of it.

That's why I had to go back and make some preparations first.

I moved through the station and passed the now familiar streets to get back to the docking bay that my ship was docked at.

Along the way, I actually received another notification about an open hustle for dealing with a store robbery but since I also saw a few Mercs who ran off at that moment, I assume they could take care of it without my help.

Passing through the docking hatch, I stepped foot into my ship and into the cargo bay, prompting the lights to turn on.

Looking around, I was once reminded of the scale of our new ship as the cargo bay itself was already so huge.

What we currently store here didn't even take up a percent of the space available in this area.

With just the four of us, it would be impossible to maintain this ship by ourselves which was why Ries was intending to leave that to the bots that she would be bringing in later.

I wonder what kind of bots she would be bringing on board?

Setting that thought aside for now, I went through the security checkpoint after storing my shotgun and space ammo in the gun locker before heading towards the kitchen, tying my hair up on the way there.

Since there were more people tonight and I wanted it to be more memorable… I decided that I would prepare more dishes this time and make a spread instead of just one dish.

I could, of course, use the teppan grill again and put on a show for Mara… But I was thinking that I could do that some other time and focus more on the taste than showmanship for tonight.

After all, I believe Mara, Lea and Ries have not been properly acquainted yet and doing a show with the grill would distract them from each other too much.

Also… I just want to say that walking through my ship while it was completely empty felt a little surreal.

I reached the kitchen and I headed straight for the walk-in fridge before looking at what I could use for tonight's dinner.

Hmm… Let's see… I think I can use that beef and chicken… And then that rice… Oh, since I have that synthcheese mixture I might be able to do something with that… And those sauces that I mixed myself too. And I would also want to use some fish so… Aha!

I can make some meatballs in pseudo tomato sauce, some fish baked rice and also a pot baked chicken.

Damn… My mouth's watering just thinking about it already…

I guess I should get to work now.

I took out all the ingredients I needed from the fridge and brought them to the kitchen, dividing them up to separate them for each course I would be making.

Let's see…

I'll need the sauces first so I started mixing those together with the synthfood I knew would make the taste I wanted.

It took me about half an hour to prepare that but in the end, I had bottles filled with the sauces I would be using arranged nicely in a row.

I should first get the meatball started and this one was pretty easy.

I just dropped the beef into one of the machines which would help me mince it up which I would then take to season before dropping it into the same machine which I would tap on the screen to get them to roll it for me.

That gave me time to prepare the onions, garlic, celery, potatoes, carrots and the other vegetables which I also dropped into another machine for them to help me chop them up individually.

I also dropped in the rice in the multi-purpose cooker to cook and by then, my ingredients were already properly chopped and rolled up.

Yes, yes… I can see how the chefs of this universe slowly lost their cooking skills since all of this was literally just done for them where the only thing you needed to do was to drop them into a machine and tap on the screen…

But hey, at least it's just the ingredients prepping that I'm making use of these machines! Not like I was pushing in the organic food through a conveyor belt and then just tapping on the dish I want it to make before waiting at the other end!

Anyway…

I started preparing the dressing for all the courses first as I started cooking shallots, garlic and chilli topped with some salt and oil on a pan on top of the stove.

That would be for the meatballs.

For the chicken pot, I dropped onions, celery and garlic drizzled with oil in a roasting dish before tossing it into the oven to bake.

Then for the baked rice, I had the fish, mixed vegetables and the synthcream I made dropped onto a saucepan to cook over the stove which I would be stirring occasionally.

I went back to the meatball dressing and added in the synthtomato puree into the pan and let that cook too.

By then, the rice was already done cooking so I took that out and placed it aside.

The vegetables for the chicken were also done so I took out the roasting pan and dropped the chicken pieces into it before arranging the herbs and vegetables on top of them.

That went back into the oven to roast which I can ignore for the next few minutes, giving me time to focus on the other two dishes.

The meatball dressing gets some water, the spices and also some tomatoes which I then let it boil before allowing it to simmer.

I turned my attention to the baked fish mix which was ready so I spread it over the rice generously before placing the synthcheese on top of it, some breadcrumbs and then drizzled with oil.

That was then transferred over to the oven to bake alongside the chicken and I could now finish up with the meatballs.

Dropping the balls into the sauce, I watched them cook on the stove before adding some seasonings on top of it and taking the pot off the stove to place a lid over it at the dining table.

Returning to the kitchen, I pulled out the baked rice where the top had already turned a golden colour and sprinkled some shallots over it before bringing it out to join the pot of meatballs on the table.

Right as I was returning for the chicken pot, I heard voices from the dining room entrance and I turned to see Amber, Lea, Ries and Mara walking in.

They only managed to take three steps in before they froze, their eyes glued to the dining table where I had already set the two dishes.

I let out a chuckle to myself before calling out to them, "Help me set the table girls, dinner's almost ready."

I heard a mad rush from behind me and I didn't need to look to know that they were definitely scrambling to follow my instructions so I concentrated on the baked chicken pot instead.

Placing the roasting dish on the counter, I added the finishing touches consisting of spreading the cream over the top and drizzling the remaining vegetables over it before placing it back into the oven.

It's all thanks to the tech now that all this could be prepared at the same time or else this would have taken at least an hour longer.

I only needed to wait for another minute before I took out the chicken, peeking inside to see the cream was bubbling hot.

Perfect.

I brought the final dish out to the dining room and found the table already set and the four girls watching me bring out the final dish as they stood at the side.

Wiping my hands on a cloth, I nodded at the table, "Let's eat then~"

The way they scrambled into their seats almost made me think that they hadn't eaten in days.

Alright… Let's see how these taste~