The next few hours after the battle were busy as there was a lot to be done, with the top priority being disabling and removing all the bombs on the ships.
Thanks to the jammer, there was no chance for the commanding officer to destroy the ships, but Andrew didn't want to take any chances with this since these were the three most powerful ships he had captured till now, and he intended to keep them.
Binon volunteered for the assignment.
She was frustrated because she was unable to determine what was the catalyst for the ignis charges on the frigate they had previously captured, and her best guess was that it was removed along with the explosives.
So this was her chance to finally figure it out.
Andrew agreed and even gave her an escort of battle droids to make sure she would not be attacked by anyone who, by some miracle, avoided the droids and sensors, not to mention the vacuum that now filled the ships.
Chances of someone surviving all of this were close to zero, but Andrew preferred to be safe than sorry.
With the charges still in their original spots, it didn't take long for Binon to figure out how it all worked, and she was impressed by the system the federation has developed.
-These charges are a binary weapon.
The bomb itself is simply an incendiary bomb, but there is a block of porous material unedneeth it, which soaks up the fluid from a vial next to it the moment the bombs are activated.
I have no idea what kind of material it is at the moment.
It looks like, until then, both substances are harmless, but combined, they become extremely unstable, and with the addition of the fire from the incendiary bomb, they detonate with extreme force, destroying the ship.
She shared her discoveries through the comms channel as she defused the charges one after the other.
-I'll know more when I run some analysis of the materials in question.
She added a moment later.
-Great work.
Finish up disarming all the bombs, and get some rest; you earned it.
Andrew praised her efforts.
-Thank you.
As for disarming all the charges, it will take a few more hours, there are a lot of them in these ships.
-Alright, but if you get tired, take a break.
Don't risk your life just to finish a bit earlier, it's not worth it.
Andrew reminded her, which made her chuckle.
She liked her new boss more and more with every interaction.
He was everything she had ever wanted in her commanding officer:
Ruthless and without any mercy for his enemies, while caring and thoughtful for his own people.
However, what she liked the most was that Andrew had no problem admitting that he didn't know something.
The total opposite of her previous officers, who always thought they knew it all.
With these thoughts, she assured him that she wouldn't overdo it before she closed the connection.
-I have no intention of dying when I finally found a boss worthy of my loyalty and skills.
She said to herself while she began defusing another bomb.
Binon and Arien were not the only ones who were impressed with Andrews's style of handling things.
The battle was seen by everyone in Arien's fleet, and they all were impressed with their new lord.
At first, they thought that the preparations for this battle were too long and detailed, taking way too much time.
But seeing the effect of said preparations, everyone changed their minds and had to admit that it was more than worth it.
With the battle won and all three ships captured, for the price of some drone fighters and some ammunition, they were able to quickly replenish.
The results spoke for themselves, and there is no true soldier in this universe or any other who can't appreciate victory without casualties on their side.
Andrew had no idea about it at the moment, but this battle had gained him much more than the three ships.
It has gained him the respect and admiration of every being who was now his subordinate.
With the matter of the scuteling charges well taken care of, Andrew turned his attention to expanding all the stations as much as he could, beginning with his own.
The assignment he had given Nairin made one thing painfully clear to him.
He was still not thinking big enough, and that needed to change.
As his territory grew, he would need more and more production power and resources to fuel it all.
So, the first order of business after the battle, other than replenishing all his losses and ammunition, was to expand his resourcing and production capabilities even further than they already were.
This task he decided to entrust to Aelita, since she was the head engineer of the station and the territory as a whole.
The Cherin gladly accepted the task and started working on it immediately.
Her first decision in this matter was to stop the production of new modules for the new stations for one day and use this time to build more component manufacturing modules for the station.
She also asked Andrew to extend Nairin's deadline for another day since she would be using her substation to speed up the process, and he agreed since it would be unfair to rob her of a full day when he was the one who had given her the assignment and set the time she had to finish it.
Nairin joined everyone a few hours after the battle concluded.
She slept through all of it, and now she regretted not listening to Andrew's instructions.
Additionally, she also got an earful from him about not only ignoring his orders but also exhausting herself.
Andrew also informed her about the additional day for her assignment and why it was necessary, to which she agreed without any complaints, not wanting to piss him off anymore than she already did.
With her work on pause for the moment, she focused on the captured ships and the production of parts to repair them, which would take a while since there were a lot of holes in them after the battle.
However, to her surprise, the computer cores of all three vessels were intact and simply powered down due to the battle damage.
This piques her curiosity as the data from the enemy could be very useful.
-Andrew, can I download the data from the ship's computers to one of the data storage modules?
She asked when she found him observing as the first heavy frigate was towed into the hangar by over a thousand drones.
This was the first ship Binon declared as free of all scuteling charges.
-Sure, you can use module 10; it should be empty, but make sure that you disconnect it from the station's systems. I don't want to get any surprises along with the data.
He agreed immediately.
His own idea was to restore the power to the ship before accessing the data, but it would take a few days, and the sooner they had the data, the sooner he would get answers for a few questions that came up after the battle.
With his permission, she relocated the module near and connected it next to the hangar housing the ship and disconnected it from the rest of the systems.
Then she ordered some droids to stretch a cable from the ship's computer core to the data storage module, as there was no way she would be able to do so herself.
The connecting part was the problem, as it took her a while to figure out how to interface the ship with the module.
In the end, she asked Aelita for help, and together, they found a way to connect the two devices.
Which required an additional cable to provide power to the ship's computer core.
Once that was done, they downloaded the whole database from the ship, which took 97 % of the data storage capacity and 2 hours to download.
Then she started reading through the data, starting with the newest entries, and was shocked at what she saw.
-Andrew, you need to come here and see this.
She immediately called through her comms bracelet.
-What is it?
Andrew asked, surprised that she called him.
-I just accessed the data from the ship, and you need to see it for yourself, because I have no idea what to make of this at the moment.
She answered, not sure if she understood this correctly.
-Oh, and you might want to bring Tarina with you; she will want to see it as well.
Nairin added.
-We are on our way.
Andrew answered.
It was the first time she had called him with such urgency in her voice, so he took it very seriously.
A few minutes later, the two of them arrived.
-Take a look.
Nairin said, showing them the data she had just read through.
Both Andrew and Tarina lined closer and read through the data, which shocked both of them.
-This explains a lot, Andrew finally said after a few minutes of reading.
-Is this good or bad for us?
Nairin asked, unable to figure it out.
-It's not only good; it's great.
Tarina answered before Andrew.
It turned out that the federation conquered over 50 systems, but only two of these were their original systems.
The other three and the systems of the two slave races were taken by others, and they were not planning on returning them or joining the federation.
To make matters worse, Tarina's homeworld was taken over by one of the slave races, and with the advanced technology and the second largest fleet in the whole federation, they were hellbent on keeping their freedom this time.
This, however, was just the tip of the iceberg as it turned out that the maintenance and repair crews throughout the whole federation were comprised almost entirely from the slave races, so the federation's fleets were now operating with minimal to no maintenance.
Going with this information, Andrew accessed the maintenance logs for the ship, and what he saw made him shake his head and sigh heavily.
It turned out that this ship had had no maintenance for over 4 months and its main weapon was offline due to a malfunction, which explains why the enemy ships only used railguns and cannons.
Additionally, the captain's logs explained that their orders were to not only bring Runir and Tarina back for execution, but they also wanted to capture Aelita and Nairin alive to serve as slaves and help maintain their fleets.
As for the rest of the crew, it was left to the discretion of the commander of the small fleet to decide their fate.
Other than that they were to plounder the station and blow it up afterward, to leave no evidence of their actions.
-This is despicable.
I can't believe I was once a part of this federation, and I even wanted to serve it with all I had.
Tarina said, with regret in her voice.
This was the first time she saw the Federation for what it truly was: a gathering of brutal, expansionistic species who saw everyone besides themselves as nothing more than slaves or prey to be hunted down and conquered.
What's more, she now reflected on her actions and plans before Andrew defeated them, and she was terrified of what she saw.
This made her fully understand that she was only a step away from becoming just like everyone else in the federation.
The young Areini was so ashamed of her past actions that she could not look either Andrew or Nairin in the eyes at the moment.
-You don't need to be ashamed of your past; you did what you thought was right at the time.
Andrew said, placing his hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her.
He immediately figured out what was going on when he saw the change in her behaviour.
-How can you say that, after what I was planning to do to you?
She asked, with a sob that she could not hold in any longer.
In many ways, Andrew's kindness was worse than the anger and scorn she was sure she deserved.
-Because, we can all change and become someone much better than who we were in the past.
If you need proof of that, then one is standing right before you.
Andrew said sincerely.
Tarina knew his story as did the other ladies on the station, so she understood what he meant.
However, it didn't change the feeling of immense shame she felt right now, and she was almost certain that Runir would feel the same way once she learned about everything.