The next six hours went by peacefully, but everyone knew that it was peace before the storm.
While waiting, for Teresa and her ships to arrive, Andrew called everyone to the conference module, to formulate a plan against the three incoming frigates.
These ships posed a serious threat to the station, and could not be underestimated.
With everyone present and Drevon and Rhuneek on the comms, the meeting began.
The first one to speak was Runir as she knew quite a bit about the incoming ships and Andrew wanted her to share this information so that everyone knew what they were up against.
The three frigates were of the older type and their shields were weaker than the tier 3 shields every station was equipped with now.
However, their firepower was nothing to scoff at as only Andrew's station could out-gun them at the moment.
-Now that we know something about the enemy, How are we going to take care of them?
Andrew asked the obvious question.
-Fighting them with our ships is out of the question, they would slaughter us.
Drevon said, while in deep thought.
-I have a question.
Arien raised her hand slightly.
-What is it?
Andrew asked.
-Do you want to take over these ships or just blow them up?
The commodore asked.
-Preferably, I'd like to take them over, but If I remember correctly, Runir explained to us once that the federation ships are equipped with Ignis charges, to prevent anyone from taking them over.
-Do you have some of these charges that we could look over?
Arien asked, surprising him.
-I have one of them, Nairin said.
I know we were supposed to get rid of them but I wanted to study one, to equip our ships with something similar, once we have them.
She quickly explained herself, seeing Andrew's gaze which was less than friendly, as he ordered all the explosive charges to be tossed into the suns, to prevent them from accidentally detonating and damaging the station.
-Great, Drevon, can you send Binon here to take a look and see what she can figure out?
Airin asked.
-She is already in your system, her ship went to get some parts.
I just sent her a message to report to you.
The muscular alien replied.
-Alright, what's going on and who is Binon?
Andrew asked, a bit confused.
-Binon is an explosives expert, and if there is a way to disable the explosives in these three ships, she will find it.
So there is no need to be angry at Nairin for keeping one, as without it, there would not be even a sliver of hope to disarm them and take over the ships.
Arien explained and defended the young engineer from Andrew's wrath.
-I can see the usefulness of keeping one, but that doesn't mean she's off the hook for disobeying orders.
Andrew said, but it was evident that he was not happy about it.
Just when he was about to say something more, the door slid open and an alien female entered the room.
-You wanted to see me?
She asked, looking at Arien.
-Yes, we have work for you, but how did you get here so fast?
-My ship was refueling in hangar 2, so once I got the message, I came to see what you called me for.
-The sooner the better I suppose.
Andrew said, shaking his head at the improbable coincidences he witnessed today.
The commodore quickly explained the situation and the explosive expert was appalled.
-Are you serious, you are keeping a scuttling charge in this station without any precautions?
She said sharply, her three eyes wide like saucers.
-They were supposed to be disposed of, but one of my crew took one for study without anyone knowing.
Andrew explained.
-At least you had the right idea to get rid of them.
Binon said, more calmly.
-Where is the bomb you kept?
She asked a moment later.
-It's in an empty storage module.
Nairin admitted.
-Well at least there is that, so what do you want me to do with this bomb?
-We would like for you to find a way to disarm it, preferably at a distance, so we can take over the three ships coming our way.
-How long do I have?
Binon asked.
-You have around 18 hours to figure it out.
Andrew informed her.
-And what happens if I fail?
She asked.
-Your fleet won't get a frigate.
He answered.
-Show me the bomb.
The explosives expert said, and Andrew nodded at Nairin to show her the explosive charge.
When the two of them left, the meeting returned to planning the defense.
Most ideas boiled down to using fighters to draw enemy fire while the station's armaments disable the ships or destroy them if necessary.
-Why dont we use our own warships to take them out?
Lanarine who was sitting quietly till now asked.
-We have one frigate and one Corvette, they won't stand a chance in a confrontation with three heavy frigates.
Runir explained.
-But who says that it has to be a direct confrontation?
Lan argued.
-Since you seem to have an idea, explain what you have in mind.
Andrew said, quieting everyone down.
-Runir, how much range do these three frigates have on their sensors?
The geologist asked, surprising everyone.
-Without a relay, they have about 1 or two light years on their long-range sensors, why?
Runir answered a bit confused.
-Andrew, remember the asteroid we hid the pirate ships we captured before?
The human nodded, and an inkling of understanding flashed through his eyes.
-You are a genius, Lan.
He said with a big smile.
-That asteroid can hide ships from sensors, so it's a great hideout for our ships, allowing them to strike at the enemy without being noticed and making any attempt at returning fire challenging at best.
Andrew explained, displaying said asteroid on the holo monitor in the middle of the module.
-It's all good in theory, but how do you minted=nd to lock on to the enemy vessels?
Arien asked, seeing all the dust covering the surface of the asteroid and blocking the vision.
-I thought of that, and we can use the relay to send the targeting data or we can use scout drones, to do the same.
Lanarine explained.
Hearing the answer, Arien, had to admit that it made a lot of sense.
-Alright, we will use this plan, Runir, you take the frigate Arien you will captain the corvette, the droid crews are on standby and both ships are ready to launch at any moment, so get ready and use this time to find the best positions to fire at the enemy ships.
Andrew said, agreeing to the plane.
Runir only nodded accepting her orders, but Arien's jaw hit the floor in shock.
-You are giving me a command of your warship?
She asked, having trouble believing what she just heard.
-Yes, as far as I know, you are the most experienced captain available at the station at the moment, so, naturally, you will be my first choice, but if you dont want to, then I can send someone else.
-No, I want to do it.
She quickly replied.
-You just surprised me, that's all.
Arien tried to explain herself, which amused everyone.
-Nice one Boss, It's the first time I see our commodore so surprised.
Rhuneek said with an amused grin.
-Yeah, that's a sight you don't see often.
Drevon added also amused.
-I will see if the two of you will be so amused once I get there and beat both of you up.
Arien threatened, which shut both of the big guys up immediately, turning their amusement into sheer horror.
From their reaction, all the ladies instantly figured out that she must be similar to Andrew in that regard and decided not to piss her off, for their own sake.
A moment later, a sound of laughter caught everyone's attention.
It was Andrew, who was doing his best, but could not hold it in anymore and bursted into a loud laughter at the comical scene.
Two intimidating and muscular aliens cowering before a dark elf-looking woman, much smaller than them and weighing at most a fraction of their mass.
It was too much.
-What's so funny?
Arien asked angrily.
-Do you want a beating to?
To her surprise, the human laughed even louder, hearing her challenge.
-You're on, as soon as we deal with the frigates, and our new subordinates, we will have a sparing match, and I'll even deactivate your chip for the duration.
Andrew said, with a smile, but his eyes, changed, making the commodore feel a chill run down her spine.
At this moment he looked no different than a predator looking at his prey.
-Boss, dont do it, you will regret it later.
Drevon tried to warn him.
-I think the one you should be worried about is Arien, not Andrew.
Iliana said while shaking her head.
During their first meeting, it was the armor that saved the human from being knocked out by her, but since then he has been studying martial arts from his homeworld, and it surprised her how many different martial arts there were on the list.
With all of that and his learning ability restored, it didn't take him long to defeat her in a sparing match and he only grew stronger, making her lose faster each time they spared until she has given up on even trying to defeat him.
The only silver lining was that she had also become stronger thanks to that.
Ilia's words captured the attention of the three ex-pirates.
-Are you saying he is a strong fighter?
Arien asked with sudden interest.
-No, I'm a strong fighter, even if I say so myself.
He is a monster, and if you dont want to suffer, I'd advise you to abandon the idea of sparing with him.
-Ohh, that's even better, I like a challenge.
The Commodore smiled, making all the ladies roll their eyes.
They were all the same, and at the moment everyone on the station was learning some form of martial arts, for self defense and to stay in shape, but they all quickly learned, that it was a bad idea to challenge Andrew to a sparing match, since he had mastered three martial arts in barely a few weeks and was in the process of learning another one.
At one point all the ladies challenged him to fight them all at once, and he still took them all down without so much as breaking a sweat.
The only difference was that they lasted longer than usual.
Further discussion on this topic was interrupted by Binon's voice coming from Andrew's comms bracelet.
-Arien if this is your idea of a joke, then it's not funny.
The bomb expert said through the comms, and she was not amused.
Actually her voice sounded like she was bored.
-What are you talking about?
The Dark elf asked surprised at the tone of her subordinate.
-These are no scuttling charges, they are incendiary charges, and if my theory is correct, their purpose is to eliminate the crew and damage the interior of the ships.
There is no way these are powerful enough to scuttle the ship and the best part is that they are not activated by the ship's computer, but rather by a radio signal, so if you want to disable them, all it takes is to set up a radio jammer and they will be harmless.
Or if you want a second option, you can always find whoever has the arming device and take him out.
The explosive expert explained.
-But I saw the recordings of these charges destroying ships in the academy.
Runir protested.
-If that's true, then there should be something on the ship, that increases the explosive force of these bombs.
That's the only explanation I can come up with.
Binon said, seriously.
-Boss, Can I have your permission to take a look at the ship, I want to get to the bottom of this.
She asked.
-Go right ahead, but the ship will be launching soon, so you either need to hurry up or you can also go with the ship.
-Thank you, I'll do that.
She said and ended the call.
-Since we now know how to disable the bombs, let's get ourselves a few new ships.
Andrew said and proceeded to explain the plan of action against the incoming enemies.