Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Victory Over the Giant Nesepala
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Not every ship caught by Nesepala ended up as fodder.
Ships carrying influential figures were actively rescued.
[Huff... Phew, I truly owe you one. I won't forget this.]
Leaders like Admiral Nikolai of the Federation or commanders from the Amphibian Cooperative.
People whose voices carried serious weight in their organizations—letting them owe us a debt meant we could call in favors down the line, so it was a smart play to bail them out.
Low-level grunts and their subordinate commanders? No mercy.
Sure, they might've been useful to the kingdom in some minor ways, but the organic matter we'd lose if a Treegalaon died mid-rescue was worth more than any scraps of help they could offer.
Boom—!
Still, thanks to them getting snagged as Nesepala's snacks, I could keep pounding away with the cannons without much interference.
The ships that hadn't been caught yet joined in, pulling back to range and opening fire.
Their lasers might not pack the punch of Alhamra's, but their civilized firepower was steadily chipping away at the beast.
Remoras flew in close to the thing's maw for inspection.
It wasn't dead yet, but if it wouldn't move, it might as well be.
Inside, we spotted a massive eye hidden beneath the tentacles.
Unlike ordinary creatures, no eyelids—just a bloodshot orb glaring at the Remoras.
Not even blinking?
Creepy as hell, so I blasted it with a laser shot.
———!!
Rumble...
No vocal cords, so no roar, but Nesepala shuddered in agony all the same.
Serves you right for staring.
Even as it convulsed in pain, when a Remora approached the mouth for a closer look, it snapped open to swallow it whole.
Cheeky bastard—I kept the barrages going until it was truly dead.
Either way, the long battle was over.
[What a horror. We've learned so much from this.]
Federation Eastern Border Defense Force losses: 88%.
Federation Southern Border Defense Force losses: 61%.
Amphibian Cooperative escort fleet losses: 99%.
Amphibian Cooperative diplomatic fleet losses: 82%.
Varisa mercenary division fleet losses: 90% (including prior).
Committee Galactic Peace Unit losses: 22%.
Lushaka Kingdom fleet losses: 28%.
The Amphibian Cooperative took the heaviest hits—their short-range weapons left them no choice.
No amount of sturdy hulls or evasive maneuvers mattered in this subjugation.
Beyond the ships, countless soldiers had died, casting a grim pall over everything.
The negotiation table was the exception, of course.
"Grrrk. The giant Nesepala must go to the Amphibian Cooperative. Remember the blood we've spilled."
"Incompetence isn't something to brag about, Commander. I'm not dismissing your soldiers' efforts, but remember you barely scratched it."
"Gruk? Our sacrifices are why you're standing here. Is it hard to sit and press buttons?"
"What? You done talking?"
"Calm down, meow. The top contributor—Varisa, who spotted the giant Nesepala—deserves it, right? We'll yield the mining rights, meow."
"How about the cat shuts up? Without the Union's aid, you'd be satellite chow by now."
Before reporting back home, the commanders agreed to hash out a preliminary split.
They gathered aboard the Cerberus-class battlecruiser USS Moretti, representing the five nations in the fight.
True to form for commanders rather than diplomats, the talk was delightfully undignified.
They weren't idiots.
They knew who racked up the biggest feats.
Even with only 28% losses, the Lushaka Kingdom had brought more ships than anyone.
They'd watched millions of Remoras swarm like locusts to their deaths.
They had no clue Remoras were basically vending-machine drones, spat out after a dollop of organics.
Can't sell Treegalaons with the spawning breeders included, right?
Lushaka had peeled the satellites' surfaces and severed the tentacles.
They were just scrambling to grab something before the backlash from their insane losses hit.
"The giant Nesepala goes to Lushaka."
We could've claimed more.
The other commanders would cave eventually, but right now, blinded by astronomical casualties, they saw red.
What they needed wasn't precise merit math—it was a touch of graceful concession.
They might not see it now, but later they'd realize how much Lushaka yielded.
To rope these nations into a union, some losses were just the cost of doing business.
Like America did.
I'd planned to offer to replace their fleets with Lushaka ships, but that could wait.
"Lost a ton of troops? Want our ships? Top performance."
Perfect way to get clubbed to death by a grieving commander.
Better to float it to their leadership subtly.
Or outsource security to Lushaka—save on defense budgets, win-win?
"We'll yield the rest. Mining rights and the satellites too. As you know, we're only interested in organics, so we'll take the main body."
I figured that was generous enough, but apparently their greed ran deeper.
The Amphibian commander flat-out refused; Varisa's screamed bloody murder. Chaos ensued.
The prelim talks collapsed without progress. Only after each nation sent delegates did real negotiations begin.
Diplomats danced around words, but the deals flew fast.
Hard stats laid it bare: Nesepala counts in-system, satellite values, precise giant size and satellite estimates.
Delegates quickly tallied their shares.
Varisa abandoned all claims and bailed.
Daring to demand anything would've been pushing it—they hadn't even paid reparations as the incident's culprit.
Some pushed to hold Varisa accountable, but we smoothed it over.
Varisa played a key role in our trade network.
They held the most star systems of the five, with unmatched mineral output.
Vast territory meant higher odds of future Ozz strikes.
No point antagonizing them.
Sure, Varisa poked the Nesepala, botched containment, and dragged us in—the root of all evil—but whatever.
They delivered the giant right to me.
As planned, Lushaka snagged the giant Nesepala and bowed out.
Truth be told, without ways to exploit it post-analysis, it wasn't worth much.
Satellites were just asteroid-grade at best, and the swarms infesting the system yielded more anyway.
Even dissecting small Nesepala is no easy task.
Varisa's research on minis had stalled too.
The other delegates had heard as much, so they yielded easily.
No upside to riling Lushaka.
They could still analyze a small one from the corpse—not to mention all the minerals—so they were pleased.
"Our thanks for your concessions."
Yeah, that's the spirit.
After all I'd yielded.
Anyway, time to carve up the giant Nesepala's main body.