It turned out that the ship was full of goods ranging from sculptures allo the way to the weapons.
There was nothing that Simon himself wanted but some human merchants and art lovers wanted to buy some.
The cost of the fuel on the galactic market was quite high as most species weren't willing to gather it themselves and preferred to just refuel at the space stations they docked to.
So the trade was successful and he bought many items for the price of the fuel.
These were the first alien goods available from trade so there was a lot of attention on them.
By the same token captain Vanli bought some of the human art,food and other things to sell to her people,
The alien captain was certain to turn in profit as the new species' goods were always in high demand.
The Zendari captain even asked if she could return in the future,and was granted the permission to return without any problem.
A day after the whole incident The Zendari ship left the Sol system with a repaired ship and tanks full of fuel not to mention some goods they bought from earth.
Truth be told the humans didn't know if they were just scammed or not but this opportunity broadened their knowledge about interstellar trade.
A day later Steuner returned from his pirate hunt and one of his ships was damaged.
-Those bastards either lied to us or were unaware of the other ships but instead of two ships we encountered five.
He said over the comms.
-We had to destroy two ships but we managed to capture the other two ,the last ship managed to escape,the hideout had some prisoners and we set them free and took what we could but there is so much stuff there that i decided to not destroy it for now and return there to get the rest as soon as possible.
They got permission to do that and also he brought back defensive weaponry for the moon base,two energy cannons and four missile launchers with plenty of missiles for them.
This was the first static defenses placed on the moon.
At the same time humans deciphered the data base on the captured enemy ship from the Zentradi incident.
They found out that there were more pirates there as a group of a dozen pirate ships had their base there and they had to be dealt with as it was the Alpha Centauri ,the closest system to the Sol.
-Chairman let's wait for steuner to return and then we can go and take care of them.
They have only two cruisers according to their logs and the rest of their ships are smaller so there should be more than enough to deal with them.
Mikael was trying to convince the Council and the chairman to allow them to go and deal with the pirates.
-But what if someone attacks us here when you are gone?
One of the council members asked.
-Then they will be in for a nasty surprise.
The moon base is armed now and the defense satellites are being deployed around the earth's orbit. Also there are the captured pirate ships that can also fight if need be.
So there is nothing to worry about for now and we will only be gone for a day or two as the system is close to us.
Simon explained.
After some more discussion they were given a green light and as soon as the lizardman returned and unloaded the captured materials they were on their way.
They took the pirates by surprise and managed to disable seven ships before they could even raise their shields.
The rest of the pirate fleet tried to fight back but after the loss of the cruisers that were primary targets for earth ships,the outcome was already decided and they got wiped out in a matter of minutes.
All three terran ships had soldiers onboard and they were now boarding the alien ships and the pirate base eliminating any resistance they came across.
Within three hours it was all over,the pirates chose death before capture and the human special forces obliged them.
Unfortunately there were no prisoners on the base but there were four ships that were unarmed.
This discovery explained why the pirates didn't surrender.
They never expected any mercy after what they did.
The ships were crewed by special forces that knew how to pilot ships and loaded to full with the goods from the base.
The disabled pirate ships were moved inside and repaired just enough to make it through the jump to sol system.
When they all left the three cruisers tore the pirate base to shreds with energy weapons and also jumped back home.
The whole operation took three days and the loot was great,more ships ,more alien tech and the best of all the regeneration capsule similar to the one on the junk planet.
They didnt know how the pirates got a hold of it but now it was theirs and the first thing they did was to scan it and get the blueprints to build more of them.
It didn't have the rejuvenation treatment but it could heal almost any disease and even regenerate lost body parts.
-We really lucked out this time.
Simon said when they were back in the moon base.
-You really did.Especially with the regeneration capsule.
Commander Sanders agreed.
-Lately we have been destroying pirates left and right and they still did not learn their lesson.
Mikael said.
-Wait for a bit longer,when we have a real fleet then we will really get to destroying them.
The Council already approved the plans to eradicate the pirates from our neighborhood.
Sanders informed them.
-When did that happen?
Steuner asked.
-When you were in Alpha centauri.
The council recogenises the threat and as usual the best way to eliminate it is a show of force.
If we destroy eunuch pirates then sooner or later they will figure out that it's a bad idea to stay in this sector of the galaxy and leave or face annihilation.
The bonus is that we will send a message to everyone that we are not to be messed with.
Sanders explained the plan.
-The way I see it,the more pirates we destroy the more goods we get and if we happen to free some prisoners then we also win some good will from our neighbors.
Simon presented his point of view.
-It's the truth but it also puts us in the spotlight and we don't want to be discovered by any major power until we are ready.
Mikael said with a worried expression.
-Don't worry,we should have enough time to get ready.
I heard that the satellites are almost all deployed and there are more defensive weapons being built so no worry there.
Also the first space dock should be coming online soon and the space station is scheduled to start being built within the next month.
By the end of the year we should have quite a fleet ,the defense grid and maybe even a space station if we keep up the phace.