Two hours went by quickly, and the only thing that surprised all the ladies was that Andrew placed the box a thousand kilometers away from their station, but he didn't explain anything, preferring to surprise them.
The moment the counter hit zero, there was a big flash of light, and a massive construction appeared where the box used to be, making all the ladies speechless.
At the same time, full data about the shipyard was downloaded into the station's database, allowing them to see its full specifications.
-This thing is gigantic.
Nairin said in shock, comparing it to the small shipyard she was building.
-Of course it is.
It can build a hundred cruisers at once when it's fully operational and has enough materials.
Andrew said with a grin.
-It's much more than just big and awe-inspiring.
Aelita said, looking at the data about their new shipyard.
-This thing is a freaking monster, no matter how you look at it.
It has ten fusion generators to provide it with power, is heavily shielded and armed in case of an attack, and can produce all kinds of weapons and ammunition for the ships.
Not to mention that it can also produce droid crews and even battle droids, which are way more advanced than what we have at the moment.
Additionally, it also has a command center, crew quarters and a lot of other stuff that is way more advanced than our station modules.
Aelita said, while still reading the list of available compartments on the shipyard.
-Basically, this thing is a small space city built around a shipyard, and it can even support a crew of ten thousand people if need be.
She concluded, making everyone's jaws drop.
Even Andrew was shocked at this discovery.
-How much fuel does it need to become operational?
He asked once he got over the fact that he just got much more than he bargained for.
-At full power and working with full capacity, it requires a hundred liters of helium 3 for each generator, to be operational for a month.
However, for basic operations, it only needs one generator running and a supply of twenty liters of fuel to run it for a month.
The usage of fuel depends on the systems that are in use, and it has reserve tanks for each generator, capable of storing ten tons of fuel each.
In addition to the main tank connected to all generators with 500 tons capacity.
-How many generators need to be active to begin ship production and bring its shields and defenses online?
-Shields and weapons sustems need one additional generator to be activated, as for the ship production and repairs, it needs an additional reactor to be activated, so three reactors in total.
Aelita said, finding the information Andrew was asking for.
-If that's all that we need, we can activate this thing immediately.
Jalina said.
-We don't have any fuel for this thing.
Aelita said.
-We do have some helium 3.
Jalina said, looking at the data on her holoscreen.
-I found some in the crates we got from Arien and Theresa's ships.
She explained.
Everyone looked at her in surprise, just now remembering about the crates.
-You told me to take over the resources distribution since I was interested in it, and when I asked about the crates, you told me to include them as resources.
She said, looking at Andrew, hoping that she didn't do anything to make him angry with her.
Andrew remembered such conversation and nodded.
-Dont tell me that you opened all these crates by yourself.
Aelita said the moment she got over the shock.
-No, I brought some droids with me and ordered them to do it.
It was almost three hundred crates, there was no way for me to open them all by myself.
Jalina explained.
-Alright, so what did you find in the crates besides the helium 3?
Andrew asked, knowing that the crates contained all sorts of goodies.
-If you want, I can send you the full list of items I found.
She said, and did so after he nodded.
Andrew immediately opened the file, as did everyone else since she had sent the file to everyone.
The moment they saw the long list of items she had found, their eyes went wide.
Other than the reactor fuel, which there were almost two tons of, there were also weapons, armors, AI chips, drones, droids, raw nanites, regeneration tank solutions, and even a tier 4 regeneration tank in parts.
All of this was just a few positions on a lengthy list of items found in the crates.
-What are the unidentified items?
Nairin asked, looking at the bottom of the list.
-These are the items I could not identify by myself, even by using the translator.
I meant to ask you or Aelita to identify them for me when you were less busy.
Jalina explained.
-As surprising as this is, you did great.
Andrew praised her efforts.
The young alien woman smiled at the praise.
-We will deal with the rest of the items later, but since we have more than enough fuel, let's activate the shipyard and, at the very least, repair the three heavy frigates.
He said a moment later.
-We might as well, and also, I think that this shipyard would be a great place to evacuate if we ever need to abandon the station.
Aelita said, hoping that such a scenario would never happen.
Andrew nodded in agreement.
Since the shipyard was much better armed and shielded, it could become their fortress in case they were in a life-and-death situation.
Andrew, Aelita, Jalina, and Arien went to the shipyard using the corvette, taking some droids with them to carry the fuel.
They took 300 liters of Helium 3 with them to start three generators needed to operate the shipyard.
However, finding the right place to insert the containers proved a bit problematic as they were designed to be used with ship reactors.
However, Aelita found a reserve connection that allowed the transfer of fuel into reserve tanks.
-Let's start with only one generator for now.
I want to know what this thing needs and how it operates before we activate everything.
Andrew said when they emptied 5 20 liter containers of helium 3 into the first reserve tank.
Aelita agreed.
She also was curious, but it was better to take it slow.
The command center was a lot bigger than their own and had many more stations, divided into sections, responsible for different tasks.
The moment Andrew approached the command chair, it lit up, and the armrest opened, revealing a small needle along with a cotton slip and instructions on what to do.
This was the registration procedure for the new owner of the shipyard.
Without any hesitation, Andrew pricked his thumb and dropped some of his blood on the slip before he placed it in a small compartment.
Right after that, he pressed the button, and a moment later, the holoscreens came to life.
Each screen displayed the status of the shipyard, with almost all of them displaying the low power status while the production stations also displayed the resources depleted status.
Aelita found the main engineering terminal and started to look through it.
-This place is incredible.
It's now powered from emergency power, which will last for two more days, without the generator, additionally it has an AI, but it lacks power to activate at the moment.
She said after a moment of getting familiar with the terminal.
At the same time, the registration procedure ended, and an electronic voice was heard from the speakers.
-Welcome, owner.
Please state your Identity.
-Andrew Eagle.
-Thank you.
You are now registered as the main owner of this facility.
Do you wish to add a co-owner?
The voice asked.
-Yes.
Andrew answered, and seeing the registration device open again, he motioned to Aelita to register as co-owner.
She repeated the same steps Andrew did before and soon she was welcomed and asked for her identity.
-Aelita Charr.
She introduced herself and got registered.
-The shipyard is currently underpowered; please activate a generator to recharge the emergency power and bring the facility online.
-Fuel detected in emergency tank 1. Do you wish to activate generator nr 1?
The system asked.
-Activate the generator.
Andrew said, seeing Aelita nod, when he looked at her wanting to ask her opinion.
-Generator activating.
Main power online.
The system informed them, and all the lights lit up at once.
-Warning, Low fuel level.
Please refill the fuel tanks as soon as possible.
The next few minutes were filled with warnings and status updates about the whole station.
The gist of it all was that the station needed more fuel to be fully powered up, and it needed resources to fill it's storage.
-Andrew, this thing has its own resource processing system, and if I'm reading this right, all we need to do is bring the asteroids here to be processed into resources.
Or we can use the resupply system and fill it up with the resources we have already processed.
Jalina said, once she figured out which console was the resource management station.
-That's great.
We won't need to empty our whole storage all the time to build ships.
This was one of the things Andrew was worried about as they also needed the resources to continue expanding all the stations.
-Andrew, come in.
His bracelet came to life, and he heard Lan's voice.
-What is it?
-We have another group of ships coming our way, and they dont look friendly.
Lanarine informed him.
-Can you give me any more details?
He asked, surprised at this development.
-We have 3 frigartes and 6 corvettes coming our way, and the design is similar to the ship that was sent by that Muret guy, to take back our corvette or destroy it.
The geologist informed him.
-I'm on my way back.
Andrew said and turned to Aelita and Jalina.
-You two stay here and activate the shipyard's defenses.
I'll also send some battle droids as security, just in case.
He said.
-Alright, and if they try anything stupid, I'm opening fire on them.
Aelita said before he left.
Andrew knew that this was not an empty threat as the shipyard was armed way better than his station and equipped with energy weapons.