The ships were towed one at a time into mars orbit just in case they decided to drop something on the planet below.
Then Mikael went to earth and picked up some special forces teams that were outfitted with the power armors recently CSOR from Canada,SAS from England,GROM from Poland,SEAL's from USA and SPECNAZ from Russia.
They had little time to train in power armors but all of them were eager to see what it's like to clear a space ship.
It didn't take them long to clear all five ships from any stragglers especially when they had permission to use as much force as they wanted just don't destroy the ships.
There were many more teams that wanted to take the task and were disappointed but they cheered up hearing that this whole area of space was crawling with pirates and they will have their turn soon enough.
The human forces suffered only three light injuries while the enemies who survived the space battle were almost completely wiped out.
Only one crew decided to surrender and that was what saved them from being exterminated.
After special forces were finished,the ships were towed to earth's orbit and there were a bunch of scientists and engineers that were just drooling to get their hands on them.
The prisoners were sent down to earth for interrogation along with most of the special forces.
All three captains decided that it would be better to have them onboard if this situation was to repeat itself.
And to be fair to everyone it was decided that the teams would switch out every two weeks.
This was also a great opportunity to get the soldiers used to life onboard the ships.
It also helped that the soldiers were more than eager to learn about the ships,armors and anything else that was useful to them.
Most of the time they were either studying information on the database or trainingĀ in boarding and counter boarding actions,with and without armor just to be ready for any possibility.
Simon was mostly busy with the production of drones and building bigger fabricators at the time but if he had the time he trained with the soldiers.
As for the captured ships,they were deemed not fit for frontline duty even after repairs and instead they were used as cargo ships.
They got human crews and after some training and repairs the two ships that were only lightly damaged in the battle started hauling the resources from the asteroid belt.
The other three needed much more repairs so they stayed in earth's orbit for now.
The best news came from the Terran Council as they decided that education was mandatory for all humans and they decided on one currency for the whole planet and it was called a Terran Credit.
It would need time to be implemented on the whole planet but it was another sign of unity for the whole human race.
Also there was lesser and lesser activity of any extremist groups and terrorists who mostly decided that if the world was uniting then there was no more reason to fight for.
There was work for everyone,food for everyone,and even the Holmes people were able to find a job and get out of poverty if they only wanted to do it.
In the meantime the capturedĀ pirates talked and spilled the beans about their hideout.
It turned out that they still had two ships there,one destroyer and one frigate class.
Also there were some captives and a lot of loot in their base.
-We would like one of your ships to go along with the two repaired ships and if possible capture the enemy ships,but if you deem it necessary then just destroy them and capture their base.
The chairman said over the comms.
-We can do it especially if we manage to surprise them.
Simon said.
-Who would you want to go on this mission?
Mikael asked.
-I'll leave the decision to you but do it quickly,the Council wants them gone especially when they are only two systems away from us.
The chairman explained.
-Consider it done.
Simon said and they ended the connection.
-So who will go?
He asked.
The problem was that they all wanted to go and get some action.
In the face of such a dilemma they resorted to the rock,paper,and scissors.
The lizardman won easily and he was the one to go and hunt pirates.
He liked studying but he was in love with pirate hunting.
It took him a day to get everything ready and he was away.
-Do you think that there will be prisoners this time?
Mikael asked Simon right after the ships went into FTL.
-With him in charge,there is no way that he will let them live.
Sometimes they were glad to be his brothers and not enemies.
There were times that they pitied the unlucky bastard that was Steuner's target.
-We will see when they return.
Mikael said and they went back to work.
Their work now was reminding them of what they had to do in order to escape from the JK 18557. The difference was that this time they were doing it for earth and they had a lot of help.
The main problem now was a small number of fabricators and matter converters.
They were built as fast as they could manage it but it would take months to get enough of them and they didn't have that much time.
So when the first big one was built on earth,it was immediately used to produce the parts for a new warship designed by earth engineers and it was a destroyer class ship.
The funny thing was that the guys who designed it also liked science fiction and with the knowledge that the shape doesn't really matter in space.
They designed it to look like a destroyer from a video game but modified and equipped with the best weapons and shields they had.
It would take two and a half months to build and it would be the first star ship ever built on earth.
-This is quite a ship they designed.
Mikael said when they were looking over the blueprints.
-This is the first home built ship for earth and there will be more of them and just wait for what they will design once the space dock is completed.
Simon said.
-We know that our ships will be the cruiser class for the foreseeable future.
Mikael said with some humor in his voice.
It was decided that their ships would serve as the Terran Council space forces official cruiser class ships and the reason for Mikael's happiness was that it was designated Phoenix class
since he was the first to name his ship.
-Yes,yes we all know that the class is named after your ship.
Simon was getting annoyed by the old man's smugness.