Chapter 56 Night chat.

After learning the truth and Andrew's plans for them all, Lanarine was depressed.

She could do nothing to help them and the only fates waiting for the other stationmasters was either slavery or death.

Her only chance to warn them was Aelita but the girl was nowhere to be seen, since she went into the medical module in the morning.

-Where is Aelita?

Lan asked when Andrew was busy checking the research modules and smiling a bit after seeing what Aelita added.

-I really, need to watch what I say around her.

He just thought to himself, looking at the Jacuzzi module, that she added to the research.

Well, he told her to do what she wanted while he was in the tank, so he could not blame her for wanting to get something he would also like to have.

His thoughts were interrupted by Lan's question.

-She is in the regeneration tank, and won't be out for 160 hours.

He said, not seeing any reason to keep it from her.

-What happened to her?

Lanarine asked, worried about her.

-It's not my place to tell you, if you want to know then ask her yourself when she is back.

He said, surprised at the worry he heard in the woman's voice, but he decided to ignore it and got back to his work.

He didn't have that much time before the merchant arrived again, and wanted to be sure that he had some resources for sale this time.

This also reminded him about the crates, from the ships, so he went to open them.

The plan was to open them with Aelita, but right now that was impossible.

Just as he left, Lanarine was in despair.

If Aelita was there, she could at least try to convince her, but since she would be out for at least 7 days, then there was truly nothing she could do for them and the first one would fall for the trap in two days.

With that, she reluctantly returned to work, which thankfully was reduced by Andrew.

Now all she had to do was scan twenty asteroids a day and she was even allowed to take a break after finishing half of her work which was a blessing to her.

Another thing that she could be happy about was that her station would for now remain in one piece, as he would need Aelita's input about using the modules or just turning the whole thing into resources.

Andrew went to the storage module containing the crates and started to open them one at a time, without translating the writing on them.

The first crate contained the regeneration tank solutions again, and they were tier 4 so there was no way he could use them for now.

The second one was filled with a dozen of rifle-like weapons but not knowing what they were or how much firepower they had, he decided to leave them alone for now.

The next two crates had AI chips again, while the last two contained glass tubes filled with some metallic-looking material but it was in liquid form.

Not knowing what they were, he decided to wait for the merchant to decide what they were worth.

Sadly this time there was nothing they would be able to use, so he decided to sell them all, or if he could he would exchange them for some better modules.

Luckily for him, the hangar module research was about to end, and with the gas separation research finished, he would be able to get his hands on both modules which would bring him much closer to getting his own fleet.

The next research he initiated was the hydrogen generator, and the dock module, which would allow the ships to be docked to it instead of just docking to the airlock.

Both of these were pricy, requiring 70,000 tons of materials each, but they were worth the price.

He wanted to add another research but for now, the other research modules were busy, with Aelita's research.

The Jacuzzi, research was taking absurdly long for such a simple thing, and the other two were also quite long, with the hydroponics module upgrade being the first one, to Andrew's total surprise, she also added the power storage and distribution upgrade, which was necessary to unlock the tier 2 shield generator modules, railgun modules, and upgrade to the drone recharging modules.

Now that they had ten substations, they had more resources than they knew what to do with.

Even with the new research, their storage modules would be filled before the merchant arrived.

Andrew only hoped that this visit would not be as dramatic as the last one.

Not that he didn't appreciate the treasures he got from the pirates, but some peaceful trading, would be a great change of pace.

After looking at the contents of the crates, he decided to visit the fitness module and see what his healthy body was capable of right now.

The results, were greater than he ever suspected, as his strength and speed greatly increased.

Before the treatment, he struggled with making fifty pushups at a time, but now he accomplished this much with ease, the same could be said about the other exercises.

The things that he had to struggle to accomplish, became easy for him, and this only showed how much his body was affected by the drug and all the abuse he went through in the past.

The same could be said about his studies, he deliberately used the older education module, to see how big the difference would be, and it was mindblowing.

The math equations that were giving him trouble before now were so obvious that he became sure about the drug affecting his brain in some way.

Also, his learning speed was increased by a large margin.

Where he would be able to learn three weeks' worth of material in one week, now he could easily do the same in two or three days.

With all of this, he finally noticed that it was time to get some rest, but before that, he decided to see if the ladies were planning something he would need to know about.

Sure enough, there were some video calls between them all, and the most important one was directed at the doctor, who would be the first one to arrive at the station in two days.

-There is something suspicious, about Lanarine's lack of contact, so once you arrive, let us know what's going on.

The fleet commander said, to her.

-You worry too much, she is busy trying to disable the defense system, so it's normal that she doesn't have much time to call us.

The doctor said, trying to calm the others down.

-Whatever the case, just give us a call, the moment you dock, we want to know what's going on.

The diplomat said, looking worried about something.

-I will, the moment I find Lanarine, and make sure that Aelita is alright, I'll call you.

The doctor said.

-Alright we will be waiting for your call.

The fleet commander said and went offline, followed by the diplomat and the student.

Andrew just so happened to see the end of the conversation, so he just opened the saved file and saw the whole thing.

The whole conversation boiled down to their suspicions, and the plans to buy the slavery chips from the merchant.

Other than that it was just a repeat of their plans thus far.

Andrew almost started to laugh at this.

Well, it would only take two more weeks to get them all, and judging by their distance from his station, the last one would most likely be the student, as she was the furthest away.

With this Andrew decided that it was past time to get some sleep.

It was strange for him to sleep alone in the gigantic bed, but at the moment he would need to get used to it.

However, he never suspected that Lanarine would come to the bedroom module, with nothing than the nightgown he had prepared in case she would really come to the station cowering her body.

-What are you doing here?

He asked, surprised by her presence.

-I want to talk.

She answered, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

-Let me guess, you want to convince me to not make the other ladies into slaves?

He said, shaking his head at her stubbornness.

-Yes, they do not deserve this fate, I don't know how this looks from your perspective, but being a slave is not that great of experience for me and I doubt that they would appreciate it as well.

She explained.

-I'm also not the greatest fan of this whole idea, but what else can I do?

He shrugged.

-Why don't you negotiate with them, and convince them to submit?

-That would require some level of trust, and after witnessing your plans for me and each other, I would not be able to trust any of you.

So this option is out.

He explained.

-Listen to me Lan, I thought about this for a long time, and the only way that we all stay alive and the system gets united is for the rest of you to become my slaves.

He said seriously.

-I won't mistreat you, and I don't plan on torturing or using you as sex slaves.

I'll even let you have as much freedom as possible, but that's as far as I'm willing to go with this.

-Can't you relent this one time?

She asked, sadly.

-Find me a better way that would allow me to accomplish uniting this system without killing or enslaving everyone else, and I'll think about it.

Hearing his words made Lanarine sigh.

-I knew, you would not relent, but I had to at least try.

She said with regret in her voice.

-That's admirable of you, especially after you learned what they were planning for you.

Andrew said with a bit of admiration in his voice.

He was sure that he would not try to defend the people who planned to betray him.

-Maybe so but it doesn't change your mind, does it?

-About my plans, no.

About you, yes.

He answered.

-Dial down the control to level 1.

He said a moment later, surprising her completely.

-From now on you don't have to work if you don't want to and the only orders for you right now is not to harm Aelita in any way and not reveal my plans to the others in any way.

-But why?

She asked, unable to comprehend, why he was doing this for her.

-Because I can and I wanted to do it.

Andrew said with a slight smile.

-But don't get too happy, tomorrow I will have a task for you and I'm sure you won't like it one bit.

He warned her.

-What kind of task?

She asked suspiciously.

-You will have to contact the others and lie to them, I overheard their conversation and they are getting suspicious about your lack of contact with them.

Andrew explained.

-And if I refuse?

She asked, knowing that it was impossible.

He started laughing.

-Can you even refuse?

He asked and then turned serious.

-If you warn them, I will have to kill them or capture their stations later, which might endanger their safety, so please don't force me to do it.

He explained.

-So I can either lie to them and lure them into a trap, or warn them and watch them die at your hands?

Is that the choice you are giving me?

She asked.

-What other choice is there?

If you want I can make it easier by cranking up the control for the duration of your task.

Lanarine, seriously considered this option, especially since she had no other choice than to follow his instructions.

-There is no need for that, as much as I hate the thought of enslaving them, the thought of killing them is even worse.

I'll do it, but can you promise me one thing?

She asked, hoping that he would agree.

-What is it?

-Can you promise me that you won't hurt them when they arrive?

She asked.

-I can only promise you to try, If they won't surrender, then they might get tased and that will definitely hurt.

-It's better than nothing, I guess.

She sighed.

Then she remembered the question she wanted to ask him.

-Can you tell me, why Aelita is the only one that won't have the slavery chip?

She asked, curious what was the difference between them.

-She earned my trust, and she even risked her life to protect me, so why should I make her a slave?

He said, seeing no reason not to answer.

-I know that she wanted to protect you, but I had no intention of killing her, and to be honest, I had no way to do so, my baton is designed to stun the target and nothing more.

She said, defending herself.

-I will show you something tomorrow morning, and I hope you will be able to say the same thing then.

Andrew said.

-Go to sleep.

He added, ending the discussion.

Lanarine was surprised by his last sentence, but could not understand what he meant by that.