Star Emperor

Since Andrew left and She didn't like to leave her work unfinished, she decided to complete the scan of the asteroid she was working on before she decided which modules she would need to catch up to the human as soon as possible.

She had no desire to contend with him, but at the very least she wanted him to treat her as equal if it so happened that they would have a chance to cooperate in the future.

Andrew went back to the education module to continue his studies.

He had set the command chair to notify him about any incoming object so he was not worried that he would miss the merchant's arrival.

A few hours had passed before he was notified of an incoming vessel, but to his surprise, it was not one but two ships.

-This can't be anything good.

He said to himself before running to the command center.

The moment he got there he saw Lan who looked at the sensor display, terrified of what she was seeing.

There were two ships on the display, one was a merchant ship and it was damaged again, but this time the damage was much more severe.

Right behind it was a civilian ship armed with cannons that looked almost identical to the ones he had on his station.

Andrew didn't wait until the ships came any closer and activated the weapons systems before targeting the armed ship.

The vessel most likely detected that the station locked on to them as they changed their course and went straight for it.

-This is station master Andrew Sparrow, leave immediately or you will be fired upon.

He said after activating the communication array

Lanarine looked at him with eyes as big as saucers.

-Is he mad? Why did he have to get their attention? 

She thought to herself while being certain that they would be either killed or captured by whoever was flying in that ship.

Andrew was almost certain that these were the pirates that attacked the merchant ship previously.

The last time they failed but this time they got way too close to destroying the merchant vessel and since that was the case, it was in his best interest to take care of them as soon as possible.

The merchant ship kept its distance seeing that the pursuers had changed their target, while the pirate ship didn't answer Andrew's hail nor did it change its course and was still closing in on the station.

Andrew didn't open fire for now as the ship was far enough to evade the incoming rounds, but neither did the ship fire, and it looked like they wanted to capture the station instead of destroying it.

If they managed to dock with the station, it would most likely be all over as there was no way for Andrew alone to stop an unknown number of boarders with what he had at his disposal.

So there was only one obvious course of action left.

The moment the ship entered the effective weapons range, Andrew let loose on all eight of his cannons, sending thousands of rounds toward the ship.

Seeing the station open fire, the pirates tried to use evasive maneuvers, but it was already too late as their shields lit up from the incoming armor-piercing and high explosive rounds.

The ship responded in kind and soon the station's shields flared up as well and the indicator of the shield strength started to decline rapidly.

Fortunately, it didn't last long as the ship shields gave in first, and their hull was soon full of holes.

The ship started to lose atmosphere and a few seconds later there was a small explosion visible on its lower stern side after which the ship went adrift.

Andrew took a look at his own shield indicator and sighed in relief as it stopped at 23%.

-You can open your eyes now, it's over.

He said to Lanarine who was sitting on the floor, curled in a ball and with closed eyes.

She was visibly terrified.

-Did they retreat?

She asked slightly opening her eyes and looking at him with eyes full of fear.

-No, they did not and they won't, they are dead in space and venting atmosphere, so I think that they are toast.

He answered, his voice full of excitement and his body trembling slightly from the adrenaline rush.

This was his first real battle and he won.

However, he didn't allow himself to relax just yet and immediately started to recharge the shields as fast as he could by redirecting all the available power into the shield modules.

He had no idea if the pirates called for reinforcements or if this was their only ship, but he didn't want to take any chances.

At the same time, he scanned the ship using the sensors he had and it showed no life signs present, but that might not be accurate as the crew didn't have to be organic so to be absolutely sure that there were no surprises he recalled a scout drone to scan the ship from up close.

However, this would take at least two hours; in the meantime, he would need to deal with the merchant approaching his station.

The merchant's vessel had a bit of a problem with docking to the airlock.

The main reason was that it had taken a lot of damage and it was barely operational at this point.

It took a couple of tries before it was finally docked, but neither Andrew nor Lanarine expected what happened next.

When the airlock opened, there was a being in a space suit standing at the entrance instead of a droid like it usually was.

-Permission to come aboard, station master.

That being said, it was short, not much over 150 centimeters in height, and judging from the shape of the space suit it was wearing, the alien was a humanoid.

-Permission granted.

Andrew said, not getting what exactly was going on, but he needed the merchant and it seemed that the merchant would also need his help once more.

-Thank you.

The merchant said, entering the station.

-And also Thank you for taking care of the pirates, if not for your intervention, I doubt I could outrun them.

The merchant said while unsealing its helmet and taking it off.

Andrew's jaw almost hit the floor when he saw what was under the helmet.

The only matching description would be a short light green elf.

-Forgive my late introduction, my name is Terelen and I'm a merchant assigned to this sector.

The elf said.

-You are probably wondering why didn't I reveal myself earlier and sent droids instead.

He continued.

-The answer is simple, we are prohibited from revealing ourselves for now except for an emergency situation such as this one.

Andrew was the first one to regain his composure.

-Understood and you most likely need resources to repair your ship like last time.

-Yes, except that the last time it was my sister's ship that visited you, we both take turns trading in this sector.

The elf explained.

Andrew just nodded.

-Send me the list of materials.

He said, not wanting to delay the transactions.

-Also I need to know if you can reinstate her position as a station master.

Andrew pointer at Lan.

The merchant simply took out something that looked like a tablet and soon there was a list of materials displayed on the main monitor of the command center.

-This is the list of materials I need to repair my ship and droids, as for your question, yes I can do that, but she would need her own station to be regarded as a station master again.

-That won't be a problem, she will take some of her modules from my station and buy the rest.

Andrew explained.

-Great.

The elf said fiddling with the tablet again.

-Done, your position as a station master is now reinstated.

Terelen said to lanarine.

-You must get your station before the next visit from us or your status will be revoked once more.

He explained.

-As for our trade, it will have to wait until at least one of my droids is operational again.

It will be faster that way.

-That should not be a problem.

Andrew said looking from the command chair.

-I have all the materials you require except Helium 3, and they are being transferred to your ship as we speak.

-Thank you again, and the price of the resources will be added to your credit balance.

The Elf bowed slightly.

-How long will it take to repair one of the droids?

Lanarine asked.

-The first one is already being repaired and the estimated time to complete the repairs is 5 minutes.

Terelen said after consulting his tablet.

-In the meantime, you might want to read through our updated offer, I just sent it to the command chair.

My Droid will take over as soon as it is available, so it's time for me to get back on the ship.

The merchant said putting his helmet back on.

-I hope to see you again in the future.

He added and left the station.

-Well, you heard him, take a look at the list and start choosing your modules.

Andrew said while sending the list to her console before opening it on his display and reading through it.