Tali' looked out the front view port of the Normandy, terminus station in front of her. She could not understand why Shepard thought it was necessary to head into the deepest parts of terminus space. 'It must have something to do with that message from that admiral she got the other day.' She thought to herself thinks back to the last few days.

"Jeez, those asari maidens are going to be turned into horse meat." A crass voice said from behind her.

"Jack, I don't not see why you are so pessimistic about them." Tali' responded, motioning to the large ship leaving the station. "They have a large group of commandos with them, not to mention that extra group of scientists."

"Yeah, but they are heading into dead space. Plus, it's not like they are being subtle and those 'mercenaries' we have been seeing around a lot seem to be quite smitten by them." Came an indignant reply.

With her piece said, Jack moved off the exit off the bridge. "Just tell the commander I will be asleep if there is someone to kill." She stated, leaving Tali' alone on the bridge, waiting for the return of the ship's captain.

*With the Smaragdina*

Carysu was freaking out. Of course, he didn't show it, his training able to keep his image calm. But the thought of something happening to those under him, when his command was given by their master personally scared him to the point of wanting to curl his tail around him and hide. It did not help that having no information on how the entire ship was seemingly teleported didn't help.

With a barely noticeable quake in his voice. "Status report!" "Sir all systems are still green, but we are picking up new readings! It's a complete system, we are counting a single sol class starts with 3 rocky planets 6 gas giants and a proto star!" Cried out some nameless deck hand.

He took a moment to think about his next move. "Alright, move us in towards the planets slowly, pick the most promising of the rocky planets. Also, where is that structure?"

As the ship started to make its way further in to the system a response came, and that answer would have quite the significant impact on future events.

*Terminus Station*

Ma'lak looked around him, making sure he was not being followed before he slipped into the dilapidated building just next to the main docks. As he walked through he heard some of the conversations his subordinates were having. "Did you see those maidens? Damn they were fine." One said. "Yeah, but they were with quite a few commandos, too many if you ask me." Replied another. "Ah, quit complaining, those are the most fun to break and turn into docile slaves." Stated a third.

Walking through to a separate area, Ma'lak's thoughts drifted to the upcoming mission. Some politician had hired their 'mercenary' group to send a message, the maidens would just be war spoils. The true mission was to capture the data, and hopefully source, that was traveling with them. They would of course succeed; it was a job they had done before. They would also be getting a not insignificant amount of aid from some other 'mercenaries'. With all this how could they be defeated by a bunch of children, old and over-hyped hags, and a few aloof scientists?

*With Ainz*

On New Gaia the ruler of some 15 billion people of the nearly 1000 identified sentient species was quietly reading a very old looking book, the fact that it was made of parchment giving one an idea of its unique nature. A beautiful but otherwise unassuming maid stood behind him and a cup of tea on the arm rest of the very luxurious couch. He was finally able to relax after a very busy period of time. 'Ah, fifty years without any bodily pleasures leaves one to crave the little things' he thought to himself.

His attention suddenly shifted to his side, the rustling sound and heavy pressure on his side making it obvious someone was leaning against him. He looked down at his side to see a head of black hair with a pair of curved white horns coming off of it resting against his bony side. "What are you doing Albedo?" questioning his second in command who was resting against him.

"Ah, I'm sorry my lord! I will move right away!" she replied frantically.

"No, you can say where you are, I was referring to why you are here in Nazarick." He replied in a level but slightly rushed tone, in truth he didn't want her to go anywhere.

"Oh! The plans for the new elevator platform were finally completed, so I handed it off to the local worm in charge of finances for the next phase. There was nothing else I had to do and I heard you were here so I came to visit you." She replied, snuggling closer to her master, borrowing into his side.

"I see. Well, I have a few days and wished to relax here before going back out to Vesuvius prime. I was just about to retire for the night you may come join me for dinner if you wish" he replied, shifting in an attempt to move from the couch.

"Of course!" she replied in a very enthusiastic manner. "I will go get ready right now!"

"No, well, that might be a bit much." He replied, too late to get her attention before she had disappeared through the door.

"Would you like me to draw a bath for you while the food is prepared my lord?" The previously silent made questioned.

"Yes, that is a good idea. Please assist me in preparing for dinner." He replied, now forced to make an effort I appearance.

"Yes my lord!" The maid stated before leaving with a bounce in her step.

*Several hours later*

A ping grabs the lazing Overlord's attention. He sits up from the bed slowly as to not disturb the three other occupant's sleep. Pulling his skeletal hand down his face in a very human way he stated "What, could it be at this hour?" he questions the other party. The nervous, but mature voice that replies informs him that it is the elf in charge of research he was speaking to that morning. "Ye -yes my lord! You wanted me to inform you if there were any major developments and there has been a very big one. We have lost contact with one of our research vessels!"

"Calm down, while unfortunate to lose a ship it has happened before, there must be something else if it is important enough to let me know about it now." He replied in a stern manner.

"Of course master! Perhaps I should start at the beginning, one of our deep space vessels, the Smaragdina, had just left the outer edge of the veil when they started getting signals about a large object. Once they got closer they realized it was a large artificial structure not of our design. Upon closer inspection they noticed it seemed to be completely inactive, so they moved in to conduct research and get any samples."

The Overlord was silent, there was nothing he could do or think in response to the situation. He had of course considered it, but it seemed so unlikely that they would actually find alien life. Ignoring his distress, she continued speaking. "They tried to contact us through regular means but couldn't due to interference so they sent a message. Of course we just got it and it gave very little information, so we waited to tell you and tried to get more communication so we sent another nearby ship to join them. Just as they were getting into visual range they saw the Smaragdina disappear in a flash of light! Since then no contact has been made with the ship. That was less than twenty minutes ago. What do you want us to do now?"

"Huh?"