Chapter 44 Keep it a secret.
The next morning Andrew skipped the workout and went straight to the command center while leaving sleeping Aelita in bed.
She didn't even wake up when he got up, moving her body of his own.
The first thing he had to do right now was to launch the third substation and swap out the drones, on the other two.
He instructed the drones and watched them do his bidding, while he was at it he also ordered the construction of the four component manufacturing stations that were ready for assembly.
While all that was being done, he took over a scout drone to see if anything was worth salvaging from the two ships he destroyed the previous night.
Remembering where the crates were located previously, he did his best to avoid hitting that area of the ships and he mostly succeeded, since there was not much damage there.
He used the same place to cut an entrance as the first time and soon he could see the interior.
This however was not a pretty sight as bodies were floating inside the cargo hold.
Andrew counted five dead in there and all of them died from vacuum exposure, as there were no wounds on their bodies.
The aliens were not that pretty to begin with and when they were dead and frozen stiff they were even more unpleasant to look at.
Surprisingly, there were more than one species.
Andrew saw one that looked like an insectoid, but he had no idea how to describe this monstrosity, another was a mix between organic and robotic bodies, that looked like a result of an experiment conducted by a mad scientist.
The third one looked like an overgrown frog with a mouth full of spiky teeth.
The last two were of the same species and they both looked like a four-armed hybrid between a snake and a bird with a beak for its mouth.
Continuing his survey, he found the crates, but sadly there were only two of them in this ship, but the good news was that they were in one piece.
Other than that he found some items that most likely belonged to the crew and some more tools, but he left them alone, since, Aelita already had more of these than she knew what to do with.
After finding only two crates, he moved on to the second ship and the cargo hold in this one was even worse as one of the crew evidently was hit by a high explosive round, which ended up splattering him all over the palace.
However, there were six more crates in this one with the addition of a few smaller boxes which Andrew didn't recognize.
Whatever the case, he still took them all and sent them to the storage module for now.
He wanted to wait for Aelita before opening them.
By the time he was done, the four new modules were already assembled and the third substation was ready to leave, it only needed the coordinates.
Andrew ordered the modules to be connected to the station and opened the map to find a good spot for the substation.
However, he stopped seeing that all the stations were moving and their course would bring them close to Lanarine's station.
-What are they up to?
He wondered but decided to deal with it later.
For now, he focused on sending the third substation out to get more resources.
This whole idea brought him immense profits and it would not be long before he could start another research.
After finding a good spot about 50,000 kilometers away from the station, he dent the substation there along with four cubes.
With this done he also ordered the dozen component manufacturing modules to start producing parts for another substation and two more drone manufacturing modules, while they were at it.
-Good morning.
He heard Aelita's voice from the command center entrance.
-Good morning, sleepyhead.
Andrew answered with a grin.
-Why didn't you wake me up?
She asked.
It was her duty to be of help to him and not sleep in bed while he was already working.
She was a bit worried that he might think that she was lazy which in her world often led to abandonment.
-There is nothing wrong with sleeping a little longer, especially after the last night.
Andrew said, noticing her worried expression.
This remark made her face turn orange as she thought of their activities and only a moment later it occurred to her that he meant the battle with the pirates.
Seeing her reaction, Andrew guessed what she was thinking about and wanted to tease her a bit, but decided against it as he was in no hurry to see if she could die from embarrassment.
-Do you know why your friends are moving their stations?
He asked, deciding to change the topic.
-Are they?
She asked surprised and went to see the map he was looking at.
-Yes they are, and if they keep this heading they will be in our vicinity within a few days or weeks at most.
Andrew said.
He didn't like this move as it could only mean two things.
They either found a way to take him down and wanted to be there to get his station, or they were coming closer together for safety purposes, which was feasible after what had happened last night.
He wanted to see their communications but for that, he would have to wait for Aelita to go to the workshop module.
-I have no idea, they didn't tell me anything about it.
The girl said and only then remembered that she muted her communication bracelet again.
When she checked it, there were many unanswered hails from the other ladies and the time stamps showed that they tried to contact her not long after the battle last night.
-I'm going to the communications module to ask them.
She said and left, amusing Andrew as no matter where she contacted them from he would be able to hear their conversation anyway.
But for now, he wanted her to think that their communications were private and didn't interest him.
While she was talking with the ladies, he checked their communication from last night and was more than surprised at what he heard.
He was happy to know that Aelita refused to harm him in any way or even knock him out with the drugs, but also a little pissed that she sent them his medical data.
However, what surprised him most was the fact that Lanarine was against their plan and preferred to use diplomacy.
Not like it would have worked, but she was right that he would compromise and accept coexistence with them all, which was preferable to forcing them to surrender or eliminating them.
Unfortunately, they chose to drug him and take over his station, which was the reason for relocating their stations.
Their plan was flawed as all hell since even if the merchant delivered the drug, he would have to inform him about it as he was the primary stationmaster, not to mention that even if they managed to convince Aelita to give him the drug, she had no way to give him any of it.
Andrew always personally opened his food rations and also took care of his water after he learned that his stepsiblings almost killed him with a drug.
He knew that he was paranoid about it and the last few years living with his tormentors, most likely left him traumatized, but he could do nothing about it for now.
The first thing that would be able to help him with that was the regeneration tank he traded for, but he still needed to wait for the solution to use it, and if he wanted to get rid of the psychological trauma once and for all, he would need a mental correction device, which could deal with it in a single session.
Unfortunately, this was a tier-4 medical equipment and he would need to wait for a long time to get one.
Whatever the case was, he had the time to get ready for their attempt and they overlooked one very important detail.
Once he used the tier 3 level 4 regeneration tank to fix his body, he would become immune to most drugs for a few months, so if they didn't want to wait for it, then their whole plan was a failure already.
Thinking about it he called Aelita.
-Can you come to the command center for a moment?
He asked.
-I'm on my way.
She said and got there in less than two minutes.
-What can I help you with?
The girl asked.
-Have you told your friends about the regeneration tank?
Andrew asked, already knowing that she didn't.
-No, that never came up, why?
-Then keep it a secret for now, I don't want your doctor friend to get jealous.
He came up with an excuse.
-Ok, I also do not want to make her jealous.
She easily agreed.
-Oh and inform Lan, that she will be getting space armor from the merchant.
I traded the four we found for three that we can use, and she will get one as well.
He said with a smile.
-And I'm going to the fitness module now so you can use the command center communication console or the command chair if you want.
Andrew said and left, certain that she would not disclose the information about the regeneration tank while making the others jealous as hell about the space armors, she and Lanarine would be getting soon.