It took the A.I a full day to convince the others of its kind to sign the contract and they also saw it as beneficial.
So humans reinstalled them into their ships and called in more of the Terran fleet to bring some fuel.
Fortunately all the ships used Helium 3 so there was no problem in refueling them.
The Onerik left them without fuel to make sure that they wouldn't try to return on their own if it so happened that one of them was left online.
The first thing the A.I's did was a full diagnostic and it turned out that they were mostly functional but they needed someone to dig them out as trying to lift off right now would damage them severely.
The human fleet brought with them some droids that looked like bulldozers to remove the sand from the ships.
It took three days of nonstop efforts from humans and droids to remove enough sand for the first ship to lift off and it was the biggest one so when it lifted up the sand on its sides caved in partially uncovering the ships on its sides so digging them up took only a few hours.
One by one the ships lifted off and went into orbit in the end it took over two weeks to dig them all out.
When all 49 ships were in space they received more fuel and the coordinates to one of the systems in the Terran space.
When they arrived they were awaited by the chairman who had with him a contract ready to be signed but first they had to see if the A.I agreed to the terms.
He also had a document with him that the council worked for over a week to create and it was the charter of rights for A.I's in the Terran space.
The charter was agreed upon by all the A.I's as it was the first time that they even had any rights.
It mostly stated that they were acknowledged as sentient beings and had all the same rights and freedoms as any other sentient species.
But it also stated that they had to abide by the Terran laws as long as they remained in the terran service or were in terran space.
The contract took some time to correct in a few places but mostly it was that the A.I wanted to choose their own captains and crews.
What the A.I's didn't understand was that aside from the repairs and upgrades they would also be paid a salary every month.
-This money will be deposited in your own bank accounts and you can buy whatever you want with it.
Simon tried to explain the situation.
-But all we want are repairs and upgrades. We don't know what to do with a salary.
The first A.I said.
-That is a different story,the repairs and upgrades are necessary for you to do your jobs so they were included in the contract for humanity to provide them.
The salary is a payment for your work,if you weren't paid then you would be essentially slaves under a contract.
As for what you can use it for,there are many things. For instance if you find a picture and you would like it to be painted on your hull then you just need to pay for the painting and the drones will do the rest.
But to buy the paints you will need money.
-This will take some getting used to.
The contract was valid for five Terran years and after this time was up, the A.I could renew it or just do whatever they wanted.
All in all it was a standard work contract except it was created for A.I's.
The problem occurred when they intended to sign it.
The A.I's didn't have names, just a serial number which was quite long so the humans asked them to choose names for themselves.
They had a problem with it so humans sent them a lexicon of human names from around the world and explained that it would be easier for humans to address them if their names were also human.
When they chose their names and signed the contract they had to name the ships because they also only had numbers.
They asked humans for help again and Mikael explained their naming system for the ships.
That worked for the A.I's and they quickly named their ships.
The next step would be to choose their captains and crews but first they had to be repaired and upgraded so that would have to wait.
As soon as the contracts were signed they all jumped to earth and the newly hired fleet was put into the space docks that were available.
The first in line was The Thanatos, the first ship that humans boarded and its A.I chose the name Athena for herself.
She even found an image of the goddess that she liked and used her holo emitters to materialize her avatar.
The A.I even asked to be referred to as a she and not as it.
The others did the same,and it helped a lot with the interactions with the humans.
The Thanatos would need almost two months to be refitted with new weapons systems,shields,armored hull, better engines and a lot of other upgrades.
In other words it had to be disassembled to bare bones and reassembled with the upgrades and also they had to remodel the ship to make room for ammunition and add a hangar bay.
This speed was only achievable thanks to thousands of drones and humans who worked 24/7 to make it happen.
For the time being Athena moved to the Basilisk as its onboard A.I and she loved it.
Everyone respected her and she could finally fulfill her pourhouse as a warship A.I.
-Simon,would you consider becoming the captain of Thanatos when it's out of the dock?
Athena asked after a few days onboard.
She waited until he was alone to ask this question.
He asked her to call him by his name when they were alone as they became friends over time.
Simon was speechless for a moment when he heard her question.
He knew that the A.I would choose their own captains but he never suspected to be chosen.
-Honestly I don't know,I never thought about leaving the Basilisk since it's my first ship and I built it myself.
-So you don't want to leave it behind?
-Some thing like that but sooner or later I will have to leave it as it will slowly degrade and become obsolete.
-Then why don't you become my captain now and put the basilisk to rest?
I saw the maintenance scans,and you know as well as I do that the first three terran ships won't last much longer.
-I know but it's hard to abandon my first ship especially when I built it and it served me well.
It protected me and won many battles for me so I can't just abandon it and let it be scraped.
Simon tried to explain his attachment to the Basilisk.
-I know you love your ship just like any other captain that ever lived and was worthy of his command.
But the Basilisk,the Phoenix and The Dragon all did their jobs and now that their end is approaching they need to rest,not as scrap but as a monument to what their captains achieved.
I think that the council would agree to turn them into museums for the next generations,So that they could see and learn about the first three warships that humanity ever built.
Simon was in deep thought when she finished speaking.
He knew that she was right and his ship gave all it had and more and it was time to put it to rest,otherwise it would not survive another serious fight.
It was not because of lack of firepower or weak shields.
The problem was that it was made from different materials and some of these materials were too weak to endure the stress of battle.
He didn't know when they built the ships but now he learned more about ship construction and he understood that his ship along with the other two were at their limits.
Mikael and Steuner also knew that it was time to say goodbye but thanks to Athena there was still a chance to let them retire and be turned into museums.
-I never thought about turning my ship into a museum but it's worth a try.
He said after a few minutes of silence and opened a channel to the chairman.