A moment after the explosion, the alarms went off and different kinds of droids rushed over to the affected areas and so did the ladies, who lost contact with Andrew and Tanira.
When they arrived at the conference room, they found the room in ruins with different colors of blood splattered everywhere and body parts lying around.
They all rushed in, trying to find Andrew and Tanira, amongst the carnage, along with any other survivors.
The droids started to rummage through the room, finding four envoys still alive, and then they removed the table that was flipped over and found Andrew and Tanira under it.
The human was holding the Arein in his arms, as he tried to shield her from the blast.
They were both unconscious and bloodied, but still alive.
-They are seriously injured, we need to get them into the tanks as soon as possible.
Iliana said trying to hold back her tears as she examined the two of them.
A moment later the two were put on stretchers and rushed into the med bay along with any envoys who survived.
Within ten minutes all of them were in the regeneration tanks, but it would take a while before any of them regained consciousness, and it was also uncertain if one of the envoys would survive as his injuries were extremely serious.
All the ladies wanted to stay with Andrew and Tanira in the med bay, but they had a lot of things to take care of at the moment.
-Lan, monitor the territory, If anything gets close, I want to know about it.
Runir, Arien and Giarna, get to the Rodill system as soon as possible, I have a feeling this is not over.
Aelita started giving commands and none of the ladies so much as hesitated before rushing to carry them out.
-Vulcan I need a damage report.
She said.
-The conference room is destroyed, but there is no additional damage in that sector.
The estimated repair time is 27 hours.
Docks 23 through 39 were damaged along with the vessels being currently built or repaired in them.
The envoy ships suffered the most damage, with 7 of them being destroyed and the rest being heavily damaged.
The estimated time for dock repair is 92 hours, as for the damaged ships the repair time differs from 12 hours to 50 hours, depending on the damage.
The AI reported, and Aelita could have sworn that she heard anger in Vulcan's voice.
-Begin the repairs immediately.
-They are already underway.
-Will we be able to build ships, during the repairs?
Aelita asked, worried that they might be unable to get new ships for a few days.
-Yes, the damaged docks are out of commission, and a few others would need to have the wreckage removed before they resume production but 62 % of the docks are still in working order and are still producing and repairing ships as we speak.
The AI reported.
-Thank you Vulcan.
Aelita sighed in relief, then went back to the command center.
-Do you have anything to report?
She asked entering.
-Yes, the leaders of all the factions are hailing us and demanding to know why they lost contact with their people.
Sarill said.
Open a channel to them.
-Who the hell are you, and where are our people?
Was the first thing one of the faction leaders asked as soon as the channel was opened.
-I'm the second in command of this territory, as for your people, they are mostly dead.
Aelita stated, not even bothering to hide her anger.
-There are four of them who survived and are being treated, along with our leader and diplomat, because one of your people, decided to detonate a bomb in the conference room.
She continued, barely registering the shock on the faction leader's faces.
-More than that, the ship of said suicide bomber also exploded in the dock, taking most of your ships with it and damaging the rest along with some of our ships and our shipyard.
She dropped another bombshell before the leaders could get over the first one.
-For the moment I have no clue who it was, nor do I know the reason they did that, but as soon as I find out, the culprit will pay, and I don't give a damn about any further negotiations with any of you.
We gave you a chance to coexist, without any further trouble, and this is what we got in return, so the next ship that enters our territory, will be destroyed without warning.
She said with fury in her voice and on her face, before signaling to Sarill, who closed the channel.
-Vulcan, can you identify the ship and the envoy who blew themselves up?
She then asked, hoping that an AI could find the guilty party.
-I already did, and I also found out why our safety scans didn't detect the explosive.
Vulcan said and displayed the results on the main screen.
It turned out that it was a binary explosive, meaning that until the two ingredients were combined they were harmless and impossible to detect by any safety scan.
As for the being who detonated the bomb and its ship, it belonged to one of the bigger factions, which had its territory, next to the faction with the Sol system.
-Send, this data to all the faction leaders and prepare to invade this faction's space.
The Cherin said, coldly.
Only now did she understand why Andrew changed so dramatically whenever they were in danger or he was pissed.
It seemed, that she was the same as him in this regard, but never knew about it.
The next thing she did was to contact all the three fleet commanders.
Giarna, Runir, you two need to figure out a way to invade this territory, they are responsible for this attack and they need to pay for it.
She said the moment they answered the hail.
-Arien you will stay on this side and continue taking out the invasion fleets, but you cant use the tactics, you used before, this time it will only be your fleet.
The three ladies nodded in agreement.
-How are Andrew and Tarina?
Runir asked.
-Alive and in the tanks, but that's all I know for now.
Iliana will inform me the moment she knows anything more.
The fleet commanders were not too happy hearing this, but now they had work to do, so they got to it.
-Aelita, the surviving envoy ships are requesting medical assistance for their wounded, as well as help with repairing their ships.
Our droids also found some survivors of the other ships in the wreckage.
-Transport the wounded to the medical bay, but make sure they do not have anything that could explode or any weapons on them, also station battle droids and guardian drones there and in the docks.
As soon as she said that an alarm blared once again.
-It's the Alpha Pictoris system, a portal is opening there.
Lan said a moment later.
Aelita went pale, thinking that it was the second wave of the invasion.
-Are there any more portals opening anywhere close to our territory?
She asked after a moment of gathering her thoughts and getting over the surprise.
-No it's just the one.
Lanarine said, looking for any other portals in their sensor range.
-This is not a portal from another universe, it's a local one connected to a jump gate.
Suddenly Vulcan chimed in, marking the jump gate on the edge of their sensor range.
Nobody was surprised that it was in the territory of the faction that started this whole mess.
-We have an incoming transmission.
Sarill said a moment later.
-Patch it through.
-Your main station is damaged, your leader is dead or wounded, surrender or be destroyed.
The Alien that looked like a mushroom with four legs two arms and one eye, along with a mouth of teeth that would make a shark jealous said arogantly, without even introducing himself.
-Listen here, I have no clue who you are, and I dont care since you won't be around for much longer.
Aelita said, surprising the alien with the sheer hatred in her voice.
-As for your threat, you can show it up your ass, we are not afraid of you, come and try to take us on if you dare.
She said then signaled Sarill to end the transmission.
-Contact Runir and Giarna, and tell them to get to the other side and take defensive positions around the portal, the moment anything comes through, destroy it, no mercy, no survivors.
Hearing that Sarill, got right on that as Aelita was way too scared at the moment to even try and discuss this with her.
Not that the Comms officer blamed her, as she was also in no mood to show any mercy to any enemy that showed up, least of all the ones responsible for the attack on them and injuring Andrew and Tanira.
Soon both fleets that had arrived at the Rodill system only a moment earlier.
Went full burn toward the wormhole.
Arien's fleet also jumped out of the system to hunt down another fleet left over from the invasion.
Since she could not get the real culprits, she would unleash her anger on someone else, and at the moment she was beyond angry.
The enemy fleet that rushed through the portal, was met with a storm of fire coming from the satellites, defense fleet, and even the station itself before Runir and Giarna could even reach the system.
The first two ships that exited the portal were massacred, leaving a debris field right in front of the portal, which caused a lot of trouble for the following forces.
This was a standard tactic Andrew's forces adapted after the first wave when Drevon used the same idea to massacre the invasion fleet coming into his system.
It was especially effective since the ships using a portal could not have active shields leaving them vulnerable for a short time as they emerged.
The fleet coming through the portal now was experiencing this effectiveness firsthand as the moment the enemy ships jumped in, they collided with the debris field left by their predecessors.
After that, the damaged ships were quickly dispatched by the defense forces, adding more debris to the growing pile.
When Runir and Giarna finally arrived, the battle was still on, but there was nothing much for them to do other than watch the slaughter, with grim satisfaction.
-Fleet commander, we have ships incoming from other factions.
Suddenly the droid in charge of sensors reported.
-How many?
Runir asked, ready to throw down with the enemy fleets if it was necessary.
-One ship from each faction, corvette class.
The droid reported.
-Open a channel to them.
She ordered immediately.
-This is Fleet Commander Runir Roan, to the incoming ships, if you enter our territory, we will consider it an act of aggression and respond with full force, this is your only warning.
She said once the channel was opened.
-Fleet commander, this is Captain Ziena, we were sent here as scouts, and with orders to not enter your territory under any circumstances.
Came the reply from one of the corvettes.
-As long as you don't enter our territory I won't make things difficult for you.
Runir said and closed the channel, ordering the droids to have an eye on them before turning her focus back to the battle, or rather a massacre of the incoming fleet.
So far their forces only lost one satellite that was hit by a stray shot from a destroyer that got lucky and managed to fire its weapons once before being shredded.
The enemy on the other hand was losing ships as soon as they exited the portal and the debris field was enormous at this point.
In some cases, the defense forces didn't even need to fire as the enemy ships collided with the wrecks and exploded or went adrift loosing atmosphere.
-How many ships did we get so far?
Giarna asked over the comms after half an hour of the continuous carnage.
-Two destroyers, eleven heavy frigates, 46 frigates, 73 corvettes and 127 fighters.
The station masted provided the answer.
-Make that 133 fighters, he added a moment later as another six drone fighters went out of the portal only to crash into the shipwrecks of their own fleet.
Those were enormous losses and the enemy was not even slowing down as another frigate exited the portal and momentarily got perforated, by a dozen rail-guns, before it could even activate its shields, joining its comrades in the still-increasing debris field.