The Chagama moved towards the inner system slowly, careful of any possible threats to the 4-kilometer-long ship. While it may dwarf the hostile vessels in the system, it was fighting a completely unknown threat. The large vessel moved away from the relay it arrived from, a smattering of smaller accompanying vessels arrived behind it. When it became clear there were no immediate threats, the fighter complements of these ships were launched, increasing the area of safety and preparing to fly relief missions to aid their ground forces.
As the mighty warship moved through space, its complement of boarding troops launched towards the battered and crippled Smaragdina arrived, quickly suppressing all the hostiles on board. A flurry of small shuttles started moving between the ships, moving material and personnel quickly to where they were needed.
The great warship didn't choose to move further inside the system, instead opting to secure the nearby relays. There would still be some time before more ships would arrive, and they wanted to make sure no enemies escaped the system. While more than a match for the enemy fleet in system, the Nazarick forces were still significantly fewer in number and they would be too focused on chasing ships down or supporting ground units to effectively clean up properly.
**Inside the Smaragdina**
Vice-Captain Sibr moved with purpose through the damaged ship towards the bridge. The surviving crew and undead assault forces sent to relieve them treated the wounded and cleaned up the bodies from the fierce fighting. Engineers rushed about trying to stabilize the ship by bringing the critical systems that had been lost back online.
As she arrived on the bridge she quickly made her way to the coms, signaling the Chagama's captain, hoping to understand the situation more clearly. The figure who showed up in the holo display was not the Chagama's captain, her mind quickly realizing she was in the presence of someone much higher in rank led to her prostrating herself. She didn't need to look back to know all actions of the bridge crew had stopped as they too prostrated on the ground in a show of the utmost respect.
"I apologize My Lady, I did not realize I was disturbing someone of such importance." Her tone forceful, but devoid of emotion.
"It's fine, I wanted to speak to you anyways. Your crew can continue their duties." At such an indifferent reply and curt dismissal, she heard the bridge crew moving about as they continued their duties, any hint of unprofessionalism gone with such an important figure in view of their actions.
It did not go over Sibr's head that she wasn't dismissed, or given further instructions. Her actions and choices were on review, and a single misstep would spell disaster for her.
"Your captain went down to the planet and left you in-charge, right? Why did he leave you in charge instead of just sending the security chief to take care of the problem?"
"Yes, the security chief is also currently on the planet as well, the forces planet side have apparently split into two groups assigned to different tasks. Captain Carysu decided that it was more important to establish further relations with the local presence. He led the initial assault because he is one of the most well trained and highly skilled individuals on the ship, and all that was needed of the Smaragdina was to avoid hostilities.
With the arrival of the hostile fleet we were unable to avoid confrontation and we were unable to leave the system before they caught up to us, leading to the situation you arrived to. They ordered us to surrender, but that was impossible given the circumstances and it would shame Nazarick for a vessel bearing this name to surrender." She replied with conviction.
"Heh~, very well. As soon as Ainz-sama arrives we will move to relieve your captain and destroy these aliens. You are dismissed to continue your duties." With that the transmission was cut and Sibr was able to breath a sigh of relief. Her explanation and justification of her and her captain's actions seemed to be enough, for now.
This rapid change of situation, while unobserved, did not go unnoticed by the Batarian ships further inside the system. Their view of the situation had been lost due to the ships being behind a Gas Giant, the loss of communication with their assault ship sent to investigate was a clear indicator of problems. Terrack may have been arrogant, but he did not get in command of such a large force by being stupid. He decided it was time to cut their losses and leave the system before any further losses, or worse, a relief fleet for the unidentified ship arrived. He gave the order to his men to start loading up the slaves they had already captured, and fall back with all due haste.
"We are pulling out, anyone not on a ship in the next two hours is going to be left behind. Also, send a few dropships and gunships to take care of those sent towards that cannon." He commanded, displeasure at the situation evident in his voice. Those around him started to send out his orders, their chattering grating on his frayed nerves.
The stress of such a dramatic change from his plans causes Terrack to need some fresh air. He stepped out from his command tent at the center of the FOB the had made to process their returning cargo. He walked through the camp with no purpose or destination in mind. His eyes drifted over the forms of his men, their faces dour and their actions harsh. He understood their emotions, this raid was supposed to be swift and decisive, but it had suffered immediate setbacks and greater losses then anticipated.
He stopped next to one of the pens, most of the native beasts that were cowering in fear, any hope gone. The few that looked at him with anger or defiance sparked something inside of him, a deep-seated rage sprouted from everything wrong that had happened took over him, he needed something to vent on. A young native caught his eye, she was just a child, but the pure hate she viewed him with was shocking. Her body showing signs of being handled rather violently, bruised and bloody but bold and firm in her stance. It spurred him on, making his rage bubble out and manifest itself in a need for violence.
He knew it would be unacceptable to 'damage' this specific product. The loses already suffered by the expedition would be hard to make up, and a spirited and energetic female youngling would always sell well to those with the right tastes. His fists clenched in rage, he needed some relief. A few minutes later he was seen storming in to his private chambers on board his flag ship, where an already broken female lay chained to the floor. He had some time before they left, he could spare some for relief.
"Don't disturb me until we are ready to pull out." He commanded to the guards posted nearby. He didn't bother waiting for a response before going inside, a quick check to the systems made sure no one could message him, and no one would hear the sounds from inside the room.
When he first entered the room the female he had kept for himself on a previous raid laid there, a broken unresponsive look upon her face. However, she quickly noticed his mood and her appearance grew fearful, clearly aware of what was likely to come.
Drang watched as the captured slavers were moved away from the front of the base, the threat of attack leading them to be secured somewhere less open. Many R'ha officers were very upset about keeping them alive, but with the language barrier overcome because of the magic all Drang's men have on them meant they could make leaps and bounds in terms of intelligence gathering. He decided to head back inside towards a makeshift interrogation room where the General in charge of the base and an identified slaver officer were located.
He finally came to the holding room, a large office that had been cleared of unnecessary items. The R'ha soldiers standing guard stood a little straighter in his presence from fear and respect, the large Death Knights standing guard couldn't be bothered and were unlikely to react to anything non-hostile. When he walked in he was greeted with the sight a very calm and quiet prisoner with a very anxious, but controlled, native.
"Where would you like to start General?" Drang asked, hoping to get some sort of dialog started.
"I believe we should start with the basics. We haven't captured enough of them who will talk to get anywhere on translating their language, so we know next to nothing." He replied, at this point he was only feeling relief at getting somewhere with one of these interrogations, how this menagerie of aliens could be understood and understand anything that was said to them was unimportant.
"Very well, what is your name, race, and place of origins slaver?" He asked, his piercing gaze focused on the secured four eyed alien.
"Lieutenant Varsih, Batarian Hegemony 3rd Recon corps. My species comes from the planet Khar'shan, which is probably what you want to know. It's about twenty thousand light years from here." Came his surprisingly helpful reply.
"Why did you surrender? That is not something your species tends to do, from what I have been told. You mostly just run or try to fight back if you are to be overwhelmed."
"Every single aspect that could have gone wrong on this job has. And with the losses we suffered just getting to the entrance to this place it was obvious to anyone smart we had, as the humans say, 'kicked a hornet's nest'. If you are wondering what a human is they are a bipedal race similar to you in body structure but closer to us in size, there were a few of your men like that."
"I know what a human is, I work along-side many of them. How have you come in to contact with humans and not the rest of the Imperium?"
"I don't know about any Imperium, but humans have become a pretty regular sight after they made contact with the greater galaxy a few decades back. I don't know a whole lot that's relevant about them beyond that. I've only had some contact with humans enslaved by the Hegemony."
The slavery part frustrated Drang, it was clear to him that slavery was normal to the Batarians with this Varsih's lack of interest in the topic. But, he had other areas he wanted cover before they ran out of time in this brief. After telling his responses to the General he returned to the interrogation, a new wave of questions ready. "Why have you been trying to enslave this race, in particular, for the last few months?"
"Because the Hegemony needed something, anything, to bring in some cash, and this system hadn't been discovered by any of the other species yet, so it was thought a profit could be quickly made. That would be the main reason I'd have to guess."
"What do you mean by other species? Like the human group you were talking about?"
"Them, the Asari, Turians, and Salarians. Those are the races with say and power right now, and with them all being anti-slavery it isn't easy for the legal slave trade. While they would complain and raise a stink about what we are doing here when they find out, and sooner rather than later I would imagine, they won't want war, more specifically the influential Asari. They are pretty pacifistic, so with this not impacting major galactic holdings they will probably just cry about the injustice of it and slap some tariffs on the Hegemony."
That was interesting. Human conundrum aside for now, the information that there was a galactic community likely to get involved was likely to cause a few headaches for his superiors. The shock on the General's face was quite evident, while his species clearly now knew about there being alien life, the information about such a greater galactic community was too much after all that had happened to his people, the reasoning too cold and perpendicular to his way of thinking for him to grasp. One thing still nagged at Drang's mind, he had to know. "Why are you being so helpful. You talking about slavery of your captors in such can't be your smartest move."
"You are partially right, but I'm not doing it for them." He said pointing to the General, "I'm doing it for whoever your boss is. I don't want to die a painful death, and by the way you fight that is probably what awaits me even with me helping you. However, I will do everything I can to make sure I stay alive, and, hopefully, return home to my family."
"This is quite the occupation for you to be asking for so much from your captors."
Varsih snorted in a very familiar way, "I grew up as a lower high-class member of the Batarian Hegemony, there was no way I wouldn't become an officer in the military. And to not take part in operations like this is at the least a political and fiscal suicide for you and your family. That is just the way the Hegemony works, how we are raised. I don't try to be a monster, but in this life, that is what happens to you."
That response left Drang quite contemplative, he would need more time to think through his opinions on this, and he was glad he wouldn't be the one to make any major decisions about how Nazarick responded to this. He was quite relieved when a nock sounded on the door. When the door was opened a young officer stood there stiffly, nervousness evident in his stance.
"Sir, you are needed in the control room, more ships have started to arrive in system from one of the devices." The officer blurted out in a brief manner to the General.
Drang turned to Varsih, "Are your troops expecting friends to show up?"
"Hell no, a fleet of this size is hard enough to move around, especially unnoticed. The few ships that didn't come through with the main fleet are there to keep watch and make sure no one interferes, or give us warning if we need to get out of here."
"You are coming with us, we might need you to identify these new ships for us."
There was some protest from the General, but he was quick to silence when Drang decided to have two of the Death Knights babysit Varsih while they were out of a holding room. They quickly made their way to the control room, the place a flurry of activity as they tried to make any preparations for a possible fight.
"Pull up a detailed image of these new ships as soon as you can. And start collecting any information on weapons and armor that you can." The General ordered to the men, getting some semblance of control over the situation.
"we are putting up an image of the largest one now, it, it's massive Sir. Four kilometers long." One of the controllers stated in a shaky voice.
"Impossible, that's six times larger than any other slaver ship we have seen. Why now?" the General whispered in ever growing dread.
As soon as the image of the ship was pulled up all the R'ha, and the lone Batarian, in the room had a sharp intake of air. This was a warship; a massive, well armored, well-armed, dreadnaught of unbelievable size that was heading their way. They could only look at Drang with slack jaws and wide eyes when he started to chuckle.
"I sure hope you don't try shooting at that ship with your gun, you don't want to piss off its commander." He flatly stated with and undertone of mirth in his voice.
"What is it?" he heard someone wisper.
He turned to look at the assembled group, worry about their future clear on their faces. He spoke with a tone full of emotion, his pride and loyalty evident. "That is a Guardian Class Dreadnaught of the Royal Nazarick Navy one of the more powerful classes of ships we field. That ship right there means help has arrived, and all will know why Ainz Ooal Gown knows no defeat."