Aelita's words sent a chill down the spine of all the faction leaders.
-You're bluffing.
The one that suggested taking the territory shouted, but he was not as confident as just moments ago, and there was a significant change visible on his frog-like face.
-Vulcan, how long would it take to completely vent all the ships in that moron's fleet?
Aelita asked.
-As much time as it takes the atmosphere to be vented, the ships are already taken over.
The AI said, and its voice didn't sound amused, by the threats issued over his new home and its residents.
-Stop.
The lady almost shouted, her voice laced with panic as the situation quickly spiraled out of control.
-We are not taking over your territory, especially after you just saved us all from being annihilated, so please spare our people.
She tried to de-escalate the situation.
Aelita was still pissed at what the frog-like-looking alien said just now, but she took a deep breath to calm herself down before she spoke again.
-Fine, but the option to join us is no longer available for any of you.
I will allow you to stay in our space for the next day or so, which is the time needed for the surviving envoys to leave the regeneration tanks.
After that, you will all leave, and never return, there won't be another warning.
Aelita said in an ice-cold voice like she was passing judgment on them.
Then she turned and left the room, not even sparing them another glance.
-The gunships, that brought you here are waiting in the hangar, they will deliver you to your ships.
Vulcan announced, and the faction leaders shuddered when they heard a note of regret in his voice.
It was like the AI was regretting not being allowed to exterminate them.
Faction leaders didn't linger any longer, not wanting to outstay their welcome and cursing the frog-like idiot for messing things up so much.
The only one who wished to stay was the lady, but she didn't want to try and convince Aelita, to change her mind.
Her reasoning was much more personal.
It turned out that the young envoy was her little sister and she wanted to see how she was doing.
Hearing her request, Aelita had four battle droids, escort her to the med-bay, where Iliana showed her the scans of her sister and explained in detail how her treatment was going.
The doctor also added that the big porcupine-like alien was the one who saved the little girl, by shielding her with his own body.
The lady was surprised at that last revelation since he was the envoy of the frog-like alien, not to mention that he was quite aggressive during the negotiations.
In the meantime Aelita was in the command center, trying to figure out a way to regain the system they lost.
Not only was this their first territorial loss, but it was also their only connection to Andrew's and Theresa's homeworld, so she wanted to prevent the Milky Way galaxy from being transported away.
However, no matter how much she, Runir, Arien, Giarna, Theresa, Drevon, Rhuneek, and everyone else discussed the matter, it seemed hopeless.
The whole thing boiled down, to a simple sentence that no one wanted to say out loud until Runir did.
-We are not strong enough to challenge this enemy.
She said with resignation in her voice.
-You all saw the sensor data, these guys sent over sixty thousand ships at once, and I seriously doubt that this is their full strength.
She continued.
-The truth is, that we didn't even have a year to prepare while they had decades or centuries, to do so.
Taking all this into account, I'm against sending our fleet through the wormhole until we at least have a chance at victory.
-And when will we have a chance at victory?
Aelita asked.
-I have no clue, but right now, an offensive would be simply throwing away our ships with no gains or even a chance to regain the system we have lost.
Even with all the ships, currently being repaired and produced, and the ones that are waiting to be repaired, our forces, won't reach even two thousand ships.
The enemy has over sixty thousand that we know about, but they almost certainly have more, since sixty thousand is not enough to take down a whole galaxy and they can't have their people in every faction, so it won't be that easy for them to take the galaxy over.
Runir explained as best as she could, trying to convince everyone to give up on the idea of attacking and recapturing the Alpha Pictoris system, at least until they had a better chance to do so.
The last thing they needed was to weaken their military might, especially with the second wave of the invasion on its way.
-Moreover, the enemy most likely has a galaxy or two already to draw forces from, so even if they can't send all of their forces here since they need to guard their territory.
We can assume that even if we managed to wipe out their fleet, they are capable of sending another one.
Ruynir said, remembering what Tanera once said to them about the other universes.
-If you say it like that, then we really need time to prepare, before we even try to attack the other side, and the optimal time for that would be during the second invasion wave.
Drevon said, after thinking about it all for a moment.
His words surprised everyone, especially the part about waiting for the second wave.
-Why would we wait for the second wave?
By then we will have a lot of trouble on this side of the wormhole and I doubt we will even have ships to spare to send them to the other side.
Arien asked, not believing what she just heard.
-That might be the case, but remember that the other universes, will also send fleets to the Milky Way galaxy and I doubt that they will play around when they learn that they were outmaneuvered by the ones currently there.
The Shark-like alien explained.
Everyone, went silent, thinking about his words, and one after the other their faces turned from confusion to understanding, then to surprise.
It was all right in front of them the whole time but they could not see it.
-Then your idea is to wait for the enemy fleets to weaken each other before we strike? Is that it?
Nairin asked.
-Yes, and while we wait, we need to increase the size of our fleet as much as possible, while eliminating the invasion remnants to decrease the enemy's strength and let our crews gain experience.
We also need to start thinking about designing our own ships, instead of relying on the standard models.
At least that's what the boss told me before he was hurt, and we started working on it.
Drevon said and displayed a few blueprints of ships that his crew came up with.
-You are not the only ones, he also told us to design some ships.
Zira said, also displaying a few designs.
Tiza followed and so did AI, who joined their territory last and who chose the name Cerberus, after going through their database in search of one for itself.
The last one was Nairin, who also displayed some designs.
Altogether they displayed almost a hundred designs, ranging from new fighters all the way to heavy cruisers.
-Vulcan, review these designs and see what's the best.
Aelita said, deciding to have a serious talk with Andrewn when he was out of the tank.
It was not that she didn't appreciate everyone's input, it was that he never told her about the new designs.
-There is no best with these designs, all of them have merit, I would advise waiting for the boss to decide whose design will be used as the new template for the ships.
The AI suggested after it reviewed all the designs in about a minute.
Everyone agreed to that, as they didn't want to start building ships only to scrap them if Andrew didn't approve of their design.
The meeting concluded at this point, and everyone returned to their duties, with Aelita's suggestion that they continue to design ships.
An hour later the Lady came looking for her, with an uneasy expression.
-Can we talk in private?
She asked once the battle droids guided her to the command center.
-I was just about to call it a day and take a bath, care to join me?
Aelita asked, surprising the lady with the invitation.
But she only nodded.
Since it would only be the two of them they didn't need swimsuits and after a few minutes of relaxing in hot water and with the bubbles massaging their bodies, Aelita was the first one to break the silence.
-So what did you want to talk about?
-I want to join your territory.
The Lady said, not beating around the bush.
-I told you, that there is no way for that to work.
Aelita shook her head.
-Besides, even if I let you join, the others might also want to join once they learn about it.
-Then don't tell them, we can just keep it to ourselves, as for the other matter, if trust is the issue, then I can become a hostage to keep my people in line.
The Lady suggested.
-You are assuming that you don't have any spies among your people, and even more than that, you assume that they care about you enough to make them submit to us.
Moreover, even if I agreed, you would need to convince Andrew, since he has the last word in such cases, and before he wakes up it's impossible.
It will be another two days before he gets out of the tank, and by then your fleets will be gone.
-I can deal with the other faction leaders and find an excuse to stay longer, besides, we never planned to stay together in the first place, so I shouldn't matter to them either way.
The Lady pleaded.
When the door to the Jacuzzi module opened and Tarina entered, surprised to see Aelita with one of the faction leaders.
-How did you get in here?
Aelita asked surprised as she stationed droids outside to prevent anyone from entering.
-Have you forgotten that we have the same command clearance?
The diplomat asked.
Andrew made sure that all his ladies had the same privileges, to avoid a suspicion of favoritism.
-Yeah, I forgot, but this might be good timing.