As we drew closer to Planet Lady Grey, a battleship loomed before us.
The crest of some ducal house gleamed on its hull.
I figured the space pirates in this area were likely their cronies.
"They're pirates, all right."
"Yup, yup."
The moment they displayed the crest of a fallen ducal house, they couldn't complain about being treated like outlaws. They were at the level where they wouldn't even be granted a trial.
Wifey broadcasted to all channels.
"I considered taking prisoners, but I’ve changed my mind. We will annihilate them. Commencing the assault. I do not care if the enemy lives or dies! Trample them underfoot!"
And so, Wifey's bombardment began.
She fired off missiles one after another. It was the sheer violence of quantity. After all, there was no way ordinary fighters could stand a chance against a large battleship. They were shot down in quick succession.
By then, we had already changed into our combat suits.
"Time to head out."
Ren was still being carried on her palanquin.
"Great King! Awoooooooo!"
"Please, stop..."
Ah, so she really was embarrassed by it. By the way, Veronica was laughing her head off at the 'Great King' title, but she didn't actually mind. It wasn't uncommon for a lord to call themselves a 'King' or a 'God' to their people.
While such titles weren't exactly recommended as a means of governing planets plagued by tribal conflict, they were permitted. Ren was probably the only one whose people called her that entirely of their own accord, though. The further one got from the Imperial Capital Planet, the more common such worlds became. In that regard, I suppose my family's home planet was still quite civilized.
I boarded the Massacre Night and waited for the sortie.
Just then, a contact came in from Kevin.
"Geez! I really thought there weren't going to be any problems!"
He was fuming. Well, it made sense—even though he had personally conducted an inspection, he had completely missed the Syndicate hideout. If Uncle Roger (who looked like a beautiful woman in her twenties), the construction worker, hadn't been there, it never would have been discovered.
Kevin truly had a streak of bad luck.
"I'm just glad you weren't alone when you found it, Kevin."
"T-That's true. Ehehe."
Crisis averted. Then, a transmission came in from the Fairy.
"Leo-kun, it's time to head out~"
"Roger that, Fairy-san."
Since the opponents were human, I charged in with my pulse rifle. As a weapon for the siege, I chose a hammer for close combat.
When I moved out into space, the others were already ahead of me. Suddenly, a massive swarm of drones swirled toward us. It was a tactic often used by penniless pirates.
But listen here, Syndicate-chan—we were well-accustomed to dealing with swarms.
"Eddie, you're up!"
"Why is it always me?!"
Despite his grumbling, Eddie began picking off the drones with his pulse rifle. He shot through that massive quantity with an almost abnormal level of accuracy. He was definitely the type of person I never wanted as an enemy—though he didn't realize that himself.
"Husband! A battleship is coming from the ground!"
A transmission came from Ren, who was providing sniper support from the rear.
Ah, yeah, okay. The cliff hideout—I’d assumed it was just a base, but it was actually a battleship. A space battleship emerging from underground... it’s a man’s dream, really. I figured we’d save that one for last, as it looked like it would take some time.
"Ufufufu. Leave the drones to me~"
At that point, Nina deployed her remote-controlled combat pods. The truly frightening thing about Nina was her ability to operate multiple pods simultaneously. Unlike Kevin, she wasn't just giving real-time orders to semi-autonomous drones. She was operating every single combat machine in parallel via remote control.
Well, the sheer volume of units Kevin controlled was also insane. Individually, Kevin and Nina were each an entire army. They were way too strong.
The combat pods shot down the enemy drones one after another.
"Claire! Melissa! Let's go!"
We charged the first battleship, which had already exhausted its drone supply. Claire and I were equipped with hammers, while Melissa carried her usual katana. For mid-range, we relied on our standard pulse rifles.
The battleship's cannons fired at us.
"Not gonna hit me!"
I dodged with a light hop.
"Dosukoi!"
I slammed my hammer into one of the turrets. It was the type that triggered a plasma explosion upon impact. Ahyahyahyahya! After wrecking the turret, I struck the hull. I breached the exterior wall with nothing but primitive violence.
Kawagon. Power. Strong.
I said hello through the hole in the hull. Claire also smashed through the outer wall and entered along with Melissa. We weren't going to let them use their humanoid fighters; we destroyed those first thing. I swung my hammer around with abandon.
"Gosh... the barbarians are bashing a battleship to pieces..."
"Eddie-kun, you're one of the barbarians too, you know!"
While we were exchanging such banter, the battleship became dead in the water. I also crushed the aircraft hangars so the culprits couldn't escape. Now then, all that was left was the battleship coming from the ground!
While we waited, Ren's Wan-wan Squad boarded the disabled battleship.
"Hyahha!"
The 'Hyahhas' of justice were here to punish evil. The enemies were already being beaten to a pulp. In the meantime, the Fairy searched the ship's computers for data on where the Beast Race had been sold.
"It's not here. It seems the information is really at the hideout."
"Everyone, give them a good scolding!"
The Beast Race warriors overran the ship that was now unable to sail. They had been told they could kill, but they knew how to read the room. The more information we had on the buyers, the better. The Syndicate members were being pummeled with bare hands.
Well, yeah. The Beast Race were built for combat against native dangerous species. Since they outnumbered the enemy, there was no way the Syndicate could win. The only reason they had been able to enslave them until now was because they had kept them managed and dispersed. The fact that they thought they could win now was a delusion.
If it were me, my first move would have been to run away as if my life depended on it.
"Nuhahahaha! For Lady Ren!"
One of the enemies was tossed away like trash, crashing into his comrades.
"D-Dammit! You inferior races!"
Give it a rest, buddy. You're just gonna get hurt.
Ah, he got flung again. The others surrounded him and started kicking the crap out of him. There was no holding back. They were punching with enough force to crack helmets.
"Don't kill them now (deadpan)."
Just as I was starting to feel sorry for the Syndicate, the battleship from the ground finally arrived. It had an exterior that made it look like a hotel ship. With an appearance like a wooden sailing ship, it featured a goddess figurehead at the prow. Beneath the figurehead sat a massive main cannon.
It was ninety percent for show. The ship was built with a design philosophy completely opposite to the military's. Plus, it was unnecessarily huge.