"~ Ark Alliance, this is the Obadia Fleet, requesting permission for assistance! ~"
The space fleet beside Esmond's informal Ark Alliance appeared well and good but after a closer glance at the lead Battleship, it became prevalent that it went through a harsh battle in space, only to barely survive and escape certain death.
"Accept the hail, Celeste.
I want to know why the Obadia Fleet looks like it's about to break apart." Esmond didn't display his inner turbulent emotion after hearing the Obadia Fleet arrived before his own ships.
Based off his knowledge from a past life that lived within the Tartarus Zone, Esmond remembered the Obadia Fleet as a science and medical research Space Fleet that appeared from outside of the Tartarus Zone, a bit before the Bloodied Princess arrived.
They came to find exotic and rare materials to help their research projects but that all came to an end once they started struggling to survive under pressure and constant conflicts in the Tartarus Zone.
The Battleship helped them survive most conflicts until the last battle nearly destroyed the engines of their larger Fleet Carriers, that all appeared worse for wear.
Esmond was actually surprised to see the Obadia Fleet, because his past memories told him the fleet barely survived and only some small Frigates made it to a planet before crashing.
Seeing the large and fairly intact fleet before his eyes, Esmond quickly got in touch with the Commanding officer leading the Obadia Research Fleet, who further surprised Esmond with her origin.
"I am Sofriya Styntrun, Commander of the Military Legion Corps supporting the Athideous Star Sector's endeavour in the Tartarus Zone.
On the noble honour of my family's name, please provide us support if possible!
I can assure you; we will be more than willing and able to replay your kindness in our time of need."
"Don't worry Commander, Ark Alliance is more than willing to provide you cover.
Please open internal communication network for our system to access your ships so we can provide support and repairs." Esmond instructed Celeste to take over the repair work and complete the exchange of information so the ships could be saved.
In the meantime, Esmond opened a communication channel between himself and Philippa, Captain of the Bloodied Princess.
He also made sure the Atlaesus Group listened in because they needed to learn about the Athideous Star Sector and its noblesse since they were about to go into battle for them in the next few minutes.
Both the PSS Necthea and SAT Vocatus prepared themselves for battle, while Carter instructed the war fleet inside the Space to enter the Tartarus Zone, but by camouflaging the ships.
They were told to wait in ambush, so the Bloodied Princess and Obadia Fleet weren't aware of their presence.
"Care to explain why your ships are readying for battle, Esmond?"
"It's the Obadia Fleet, which hails from the Athideous Star Sector.
Are you aware of the region of space, Philippa?"
"… Please do not think of me as a child, Esmond.
However, it's impossible for the reclusive noblesse society of the Athideous Star Sector to send a research fleet into the Tartarus Zone if it means the death of their precious children.
And I don't believe the Noblesse Council would ever suggest sending a Fleet of commoners with a Battleship that could be turned against them in a heartbeat." The captain and leader of the Bloodied Princess couldn't hide her contempt for the reclusive noblesse society.
Philippa wasn't ever a fan of nobles because she hated how they treated the commoners, only ever seeing them as expendable, so she wasn't particularly happy that Esmond was willing to engage with the Obadia Fleet.
"I don't mean to interrupt, but could you explain why you're willing to join up with this random fleet, that clearly looks close to death."
Zaro spoke up in the conference call Esmond set up since he knew Philippa didn't mind the Atlaesus Group nobles because the Empire introduced a unique noble system, she found rather interesting.
"The Obadia Research Fleet is a joint venture between the private and state industries to mine resources within the Tartarus Zone while establishing a region of the space for themselves.
They have also sent several Champions to protect their Fleet and assets.
Commander Sofriya Styntrun is one of them and she possess boosted qualities that make her a great leader in battle." Carter answered Zaro's question from the information he knew from Esmond's past life.
Celeste was currently downloading all of the Obadia Fleet records, so Carter waited for her to finish before he ran his eyes over the projects for evaluation.
"Your Second Officer seems to understand the Obadia Fleet quite well, so can you tell me why we should bother to help them at all?" Philipaa asked Esmond, while glaring nonstop.
"Carter, since you've bothered to make my life miserable, care to explain?" Esmond sighed as he turned to gloomily stare at Carter.
"The main mission of the Obadia Research Fleet is to establish a base in the Tartarus Zone since the Athideous Star Sector is close to war with their neighbours.
I'm pretty sure the Athideous Star Sector will fall, so their hoping the first fleet they've sent into the Tartarus Zone might help them in the future.
Especially if they send people over from their homeland as a last means of safety and exile from the Galactic Society." Carter's statement made Philippa and her bridge crew paused for a moment to realise the Athideous Star Sector might perish.
The Noblesse Council of the Athideous Star Sector was considered a Second-Rate Galactic State, with enough resources and wealth to be closer to a First-Rate Galactic State, compared to their neighbours.
Hearing they might end up in a disastrous war for their homeland, most of the bridge deck crew of the Bloodied Princess worried about their own Empire going through something similar.
They weren't aware Esmond had plans for their Empire eventually, but after meeting Philippa, those plans were revised to include her help with the management of a highly religious and monarchical society.
"… Do you plan to include them in our Ark Alliance?" Philippa asked Esmond, after she figured the resources of the Obadia Fleet would be handy to establish their foothold in the Tartarus Zone.
"Yes, but only after we've dealt with the incoming pirate fleet.
Just make sure your ship is shielded throughout the battle." Esmond ended the call after Celeste warned him the pirate fleet was about to arrive.
Carter was busy moving the Hidden Fleet into position, so Esmond had to address his bridge crew and the Atlaesus Group once they saw the number of ships about to arrive.
"You might be wondering why I'm not completely forthcoming about the Obadia Fleet, but I can guarantee our relationship with them will provide us quite the introduction into the Galactic Society."
"I think its best you provide us an explanation that's actually informative and helpful for us to assess their value.
And you better not leave it to Carter to explain." Geneviève noticed Esmond tried to not provide a solid answer as to how the Obadia Fleet would help, especially to a member of the so-called Ark Alliance.
"*Sigh* Fine…
The laboratories of the Obadia Fleet could be considered the principle of health science and bio-medical engineering in the Galactic Society.
To be honest, the Spatial Ark Star World has the means to produce equipment that would make their labs obsolete, but the noble and commoner scientists of the Athideous Star Sector are educated in the Central Highlands of the Galaxy.
The Obadia Fleet also contains several Champions, whose value automatically exceeds most Starships since they are difficult to train and develop by most Galactic States.
Before you ask about Champions, they are individuals who exist beyond the mortal constraints of humanity.
Trained to pilot Mechs, and other aircrafts through a Neural Link which affords the pilots greater strength and control over their equipment and machines.
This also means they can exert such great strength during combat that they can turn the tide of wars with ease if the other side doesn't have their own Champions."
Esmond, while respectful of Champions, wasn't overly concerned about them or their strength since he had the power to beat them without much effort, if need be.
The others around him though, became instantly worried that the Obadia Fleet saw them as nothing more than simple pawns.
.
Their concerns regarding the Obadia Fleet ended the second a hundred ship of various sizes and classes appeared.
Charging directly at the Obadia Fleet, Commander Sofriya and her officers started moving their ships past Esmond and his Ark Alliance in an attempt to screw over the three small ships, only to be surprise moments later.
When the first few ships of the pirate fleet tried to disable Esmonds ships, they were caught off guard by the shielding of the SAT Vocatus and PSS Necthea, only to find themselves disabled by an EMP Cannon Shot to the engines.
The pirate fleet still didn't bother to care for Esmond's Ark Alliance but when they tried to fire at the fleeing ships of the Obadia Fleet, they found themselves ambushed by a startling level of firepower that appeared out of nowhere.
All the Rath, Galaxy, and Grand Army Starships decloaked as they fired at the pirate fleet, that consisted of several Dreadnoughts and even one Titan Class Starship, which exceeded Super Dreadnought Ships that reached up to 5kms in length and beyond.
Titans Class Starships contained entire cities and districts that could house competitive arenas for the owners as an extra amenity of the colossal Starship.
"Fleet wide communication, disable the enemy ships so we can collect those bastards up!
I guarantee the Mercenary Association will pay a decent sum for a pirate fleet that owns a damn Titan Class Starship." Esmond shouted once the Titan Ship broke through the space clouds that obstructed its complete construction.
The Atlaesus Group also found themselves dragged into the fight, with Esmond sending them off to the Combat Sim Room, where Full Dive Body Gear Pods were installed for the crewmen to utilise during battle.
The pods were connected with the Androids in the cargo deck, which would be deployed into battle from managing the Fighter Starships and Mechs.
By the time Sung, Zaro, and the others were deployed into the middle of the battle, they couldn't help but feel amazed by how close it felt to Stellar Wars.
The controls of the Fighter Ships were setup to be similar to the Fighters inside Stellar Wars.
Claudette Atlaesus'Quan found herself piloting a Mech that was made exactly like her own in Stellar Wars, leaving her overjoyed because the familiarity helped vanquish the very first enemies she came across.
She was trained by House Atlaesus to be fearless in front of death and destruction, but it wasn't enough to keep her from being stunned by the sight of the dead cleaved in half.
The only thing that helped was the sensation of controlling the Mech that felt like her own Mech in Stellar Wars, so Claudette's mind assumed it all was a game instead, largely ignoring the reality around her.
Esmond actually hoped the influence of the game would help people like Claudette and newcomers to warfare who might be stumped by the sight of their victims.
Zaro also found himself afraid by the immense scale of the battle, as he flied the Fighter Starships through the disabled ships and wrecks.
He was slightly stunned when the first missile shot out an enemy Fighter, Zaro quickly regained control over his Fighter just before enemy combatants locked onto him.
Only Geneviève and a few others of the Atlaesus Group found themselves to be fine when facing the enemy, because they were trained as warriors from a younger age and even accomplished several missions that saw combat.
"Atlaesus Squadron One, make your way over to the backside of the Titan!" Geneviève shouted to the Android pilots' supporting her Fighter Starship.
She was leading a dozen Fighters toward the backside of the giant Titan Starship which had yet to deploy its own Fighters to safeguard itself.
All the other Ships around the Titan already deployed their Fighters, but nobody appeared to be ready for the Ark Alliance and their hidden fleet.
Using the utter chaos in space, Geneviève cut through several small formations of Fighters with the Rath Class Starships providing cover.
Galaxy and Frigate Ships were quite similar in size and required crewmen, so the Ark Alliance Fleet quickly made a large dent in the overall Pirate Fleet.
The firepower of the speedy Rath Class Starships helped the Fighters soar through space without much difficulty until they finally fired upon the engines of the Titan.
"Send the SAT Ships toward the Titan to deploy DropPods!
Pierce the hull of the Ship and sweep the damn hunk of junk." Esmond's orders were relayed by Celeste to the Ark Fleet, quickly alerting the SAT Starships to change their course towards the Titan.
For the next 10 minutes, the stronger firepower of Esmond's Ark Alliance, quickly brought the Pirate Fleet to its knees as no ship had the ability to escape once the Fighter Starships shot them down with EMP Cannon fire.
The DropPods full of Powered Armour Suited Androids and soldiers quickly swept through the Pirate Fleet ships before joining them onto the largely Ark Alliance network.
Carter started sending majority of the ships into the Space for repairs and refitting, while the Titan started repairs in outer space, as Drones poured in from the Spatial Ark Star World to help hasten the work.
Esmond wanted to move the Titan into the Spatial Ark Star World, but Carter explained it would be better not to because most of the Pirates that were captured had to be placed on the Titan since the other ships moved over to the Spatial Ark Star World.
The Obadia Fleet couldn't help but feel worried and afraid that they might have turned their back on the wrong person, with officers pleading to Commander Sofriya that they needed to prepare for battle, but once Esmond's call came through, Sofriya decided that their fleet needed worthy allies.
As a small conference between the leaders of the Ark Alliance and Obadia Fleet was being organised on a Grand Army Destroyer which housed enough space for everyone to meet in comfort.
In the meantime…