*See if you can find the Monty Python reference*

Ainz turned to the large holographic display near him. With a nod the technician working at its control panel pressed a flashing symbol. The people who appeared on the display were a fragile looking female humanoid with silky blond hair and a white mask dressed in a long flowing dress, and a tall demon dressed in a suit with a long armored tail sprouting from his waste. "Icarus. I apologize for calling back to Nazarick. It seems that the impact this event is having is much larger than our other first contact scenarios."
"There is nothing to apologize for master, I am yours to be used as you see fit." Replied the masked figure.

"Well, I will leave everything to you for now, I believe I will be gone quite some time because of this. Make sure that your 'pet' does not cause any trouble in your territories, I don't need any extra distractions."

"Understood. May I ask about the circumstances we are in My Lord? I feel that it will be important in planning and our actions in the near future."

"I will have a more descriptive report sent to you, but we have been caught in the crossfire of an interstellar war of some kind. For now, those present are trying to secure their own safety, but that is most likely dated information."
"If I may be so bold your Excellency. I believe that we will be forced into this war and I suggest making movements to expand our intelligence networks in these unexplored regions." Spoke the tailed demon.

"I agree Demiurge, start assembling teams. We appear to have suffered a few losses already so hostilities seem necessary, on which side if either we will fight it is unknown. Myself, as well as three Guardians are going to be present so firepower is not lacking."

"Kukuku, I see My lord. We shall eagerly await your return."

'Ah, what is thinking this time?' Ainz thought to himself as the communication was cut. "Your Majesty, we are receiving a communication from Shalltear's 'Bloody Valkyrie'." replied a helmsman.

"Put her through."

A new figure soon sprang to life in the display. The beautiful blond haired vampire in her red velvet dress was the first to speak "Ahh! My Lord! What do you need of me?!" She cried out ecstatically.

"I know a report was sent to you Shalltear. Did you not read it?" She blushed furiously and looked away, muttering something about children. "No matter, I'm sure the captain of your ship is responsible enough to read it so I'm sure you are underway. Now that we are communicating, I wish to inform to not engage in battle without my approval, there is too little we know right now."

"Yes Ainz, if I may inquire, wo else is joining us on this expedition?"

"Albedo is with me and I have asked Aura to join us as well, her forces' recon abilities will prove useful."

"That is wonderful to hear! I await our meeting my lord!"

As the communication was terminated Ainz turned to the helmsman close to him "How much longer until we reach the staging area?"

"About one hour my lord."

"Good, do not disturb me unless it is an emergency before we reach the rendezvous."


"Ma'am! We are reading one of the assault ships from the unknown fleet is following us and should reach our position in less than five minutes!"

Sibr responded "How large and well-armed is the vessel? It must have made an in system jump to get this close to us right? Is it the same method that brought us here?" she stated, moving closer to a monitor to look at the readings on the incoming ship.

"It appears to be a mid-sized planetary assault ship, and is armed with primarily area damage bombardment weapons for troop support with very few anti-ship systems. It is still well enough armed to destroy us in our current state rather quickly. The readings show its engines and weapons use the same, albeit weaker, technology as the monoliths."

"Damn it, we only have one more shuttle to support us, and isn't armed at all. Get that shuttle out there and try to hail them with anything we can, I don't want to fight them."

It wasn't long before they could see the attack vessel out the front view port. A small wing of fighters and troop ships separated, potentially for a boarding raid. But the vessel didn't make any hostile moves to start with. All forms of communication seemed to be failing until one of the crew called out that he was picking up signals on radio frequency of all things. It took a few moments of scrambling and rushed algorithms to make coherent sense of the transmission, eventually being able to get a shaky audio connection.

What came through was a gruff and masculine voice. "Unknown vessel, identify yourself."

"This is vice-captain Sibr Stroffs of the NSR Smaragdina."

"Where is your captain?"

"On the planet, we were taking damage from a large gun and moved away for safety. This is a research vessel, not military. We couldn't stand up to that kind of fire power."

"Why were you not responding to our earlier hails? We are also detecting no mass effect onboard your ship aside from minute quantities in your cargo bay."

"We don't appear to be from the same section of space. We came through this monolith, not the same one as your fleet." There was a significant delay in response this time as the other side thought about their next move.

"You are interfering in an official military operation. Prepare to be boarded."

"That is not an option. This is a deep space research vessel of the Imperium of Nazarick, it will not be detained by an unknown and unidentified combatant."

"Listen up you damned female, I don't know what idiot put you in charge but you need to be taught a lesson. You are going to do as we say or we're going to board you anyways then blow your ship to smithereens." She could hear the frustration and anger in the voice, and felt no small amount of her own building inside her after that outburst.

"I repeat; you will not be taking control of this ship or its crew."

"Damn it! Fine, have it your way. I will enjoy seeing to your 'training' personally."

With that the communication was severed, but not fast enough to prevent a shiver from running up Sibr's spine. Slavery was considered to be barbaric, and the information they got from the surface alongside that last sentence cemented their belief that these marauders were some slaving group. The determination she now felt to stop the slavers even if it meant giving her life.

She could feel much of the same sentiment in the crew around her. One of the older crew, an aged dragonil, was frothing in rage at the reminder of his life in bondage before being freed by Nazarick. "Tell the shuttle to stop as many of those troop ships from reaching us! Everyone else is to take up arms or prepare for Close Quarters Combat to repel any boarding attempts."

The flurry of movement by the crew meant the charge of the small shuttle went mostly unnoticed. Sibr was relieved to see the surprisingly dense transport shuttle ram into one of the troop transports, the absolute damage negation of the Nazarick ship proved to be superior to the shielding and paper thin armor of the transport that crumpled under its charge and caused debris to careen into other troop ships. Its glorious charge didn't last long however as a missile from one of the escort fighters took out its engines in a fiery explosion. The other troop transports carried their payload of troops to the still damaged Smaragdina.

Within a few minutes the shuttles made it to the Smaragdina, with most of the troop ships entering the stuck open hangar and another smaller group heading to a hole in the hull from the damage taken earlier. Sibr personally lead the defense in the hangar, taking charge of the menagerie of personnel while what was left of the security detail handled the smaller enemy inside the ship. The defenders held their ground, their superior weapons and armor, or natural fighting ability of the collage of species, holding back the teams assaulting them. She watched as the old dragonil rampaged through the enemy forces, roasting entire squads of marauders alive with his fiery breath, only to shrug off any blows that hit his strong metal like scales before ripping those who got close enough apart with his claws.

She saw many similar scenes throughout the hangar, but they were slowly being pushed back. When one defender fell they couldn't fill the gap, thus forcing them to constantly retreat to the vastly more numerous enemies. Eventually her communicator chimed "This is security to the bridge! We were overwhelmed by the second group of borders! We are falling back to the armory!"

Sibr made her decision, and called out to all the crew left "All crew are to fall back to the bridge or the armory! We are retreating!"

*On the bridge of the Smaragdina*

The last few crew members on board the bridge franticly searched to find some way of holding back the boarding parties when one of them took notice of the enemy assault ship that was slowly making its way towards them. Panic began to overtake them as they heard on the comms that the defenders were being pushed back and the enemy guns prepared to fire on them.

Two crewmen, who had an odd relationship, turned to each other. "What was that?"

"Nothing. Here's your nine pence."

"I'm not dead yet!" They then watched as the crippled shuttle that had called out moved in between the two ships, where it was promptly hit by a round from the assault ship. A bright flash enveloped the shuttle as it exploded from the hit. But the light was too bright for the explosion, and something else had appeared next to the monolith after the light faded.

"It's a Guardian class dreadnought!" one of the elated and relieved crew cried out upon seeing the new arrival. Cheers were heard throughout the bridge, and part of the ship where the crew had heard on the comms the crewman's statement. One of the crew hit the receiver for the incoming signal and was relieved to hear the response.

"This is the Captain of the NBS Chagama. NSR Smaragdina, respond." Came the familiar rasping voice of an undead.

"This is the NSR Smaragdina requesting immediate assistance! All commanding officers are either off ship or repelling boarding parties! All other vessels in the area are hostile!

"Acknowledged."

The ecstatic crew watched in fascination as translucent domes of symbols moving at kaleidoscopic speeds appeared on the guns of the forward triple battery. Super tier magic. The number of people who could cast it on their own could be counted on the hands of a human, and the number of warships that could fire rounds of super tier magic number less than 100 throughout all of the forces of Nazarick.

When the domes broke, a piercing white light sprung from the end of each battery and the force of a small nuclear bomb roared through space. The few fighters that got in the way were atomized before the force tore through the armor of the assault ship. Being much closer to a laser, the rounds simply passed by the mass effect shielding and destroyed the thinner armor used inside the ships.

Shouts of joy were heard on the bridge as dozens, no, hundreds, of objects too small to be ships were shot from the Chagama that raced towards the battered Smaragdina and now gutted assault ship.