Simon was cursing the aliens that invaded the Elani empire to high heavens.
He only wished to propose to the woman he loved and spend some quality time with her,was that too much to ask?
Now both of them were busy and didn't have the time to even go on a date, not to mention that she was on their new planet helping with the colonization effort and he was in Sol trying to figure out how to defend against the fleet that might or might not come to attack them.
Mikael and Steuner were also tasked with this assignment so he at least had company.
-You really have a gift of bringing trouble wherever you go.
The old man laughed at him.
-It's not like Iinvited them to invade the empire.
Simon defended himself.
-You did bring your partner closer to your territory so that's a win.
Steuner said, holding back his laughter.
From Simon's point of view his friends had quite a bit of fun at his expense and he was going to find a way to pay them back.
-Lets focus on the task at hand.
The young man said with all the dignity he had left.
The others followed his suggestion.
-We have about one and a half thousand ships at this point and even if they are more powerful than the alien ships I just don't see us coming on top in a good enough shape to defend against another wave if it comes.
And even if it doesn't then we will need years to rebuild our forces after the first one.
Mikael said.
-The main problem is that we just had a little over two years to build up our forces and we did a miraculous job but against five to six thousand ships we will lose more than half of our fleet if not more and that is just one battle with them.
We just don't know how many ships they can throw at us.
Steuner shared his thoughts.
Both of them saw the videos and the analysis of the battle.
The Humanities fleet was small but strong and it was growing day by day.
However they had to buy the time to gather enough of the warships to scare away or destroy any threat.
The time was what they needed the most and it was not certain that they had it.
-If they really didn't follow us then we have the time to build up our forces but what we really need is the way to detect incoming wormholes or they might surprise us like they did the Elani.
The wormhole drive was slower then the FTL drive that was used by most space faring species but since it wasn't used too often,no one had a way to detect the wormholes.
That allowed the enemy to jump in without being detected.
-Actually there is a way to detect them before they manage to jump in using the wormholes.
Athena chimed in.
-That would help us a lot.
If we can detect their approach we would have the advantage and if we could figure out where they are going to jump in then we would be able to destroy them with minimal losses.
Mikael said with a big smile.
-Sorry but it's not anything this precise.
The A.I said.
-At most we would be able to detect an incoming wormhole but that's it.
This technology was developed by my creators and was never perfected.
Athena said apologetically.
-The information about an incoming wormhole is more than we had just a minute ago and I'm certain that our scientists would love to study this thing.
Simon said, looking at the plans of a device that Athena sent them.
The device itself was easy to produce and The three admirals sent the plans to the council for approval.
The device was mass produced immediately and sent to every colony and placed in the Sol system as well .
It would take some time to create enough for every system but it was at least some form of early warning system.
The scientists and engineers were also put to work on this project.
Their role was to improve on the design and if possible figure out how to detect where the wormhole will open so that the incoming enemy would find itself straight in the targeting systems of the Terran fleet.
The human scientists threw themselves at the challenge that was set before them,knowing quite well that it was a system designed to protect humanity.
Other than that, the Terran fleet dropped more defense platforms all around their systems and they also developed a new kind of satellite weapon.
It was a suicide satelite that would ram the incoming enemy with its full speed while leaving some small space mines in its path.
Humanity wasn't sure if the onslaught would come but they were preparing for it as best they could.
Simon and his friends studied the enemy tactics and one thing was clear.
The slow retreat trick wouldn't work on Earth or Mars,the same was also true for the colonies as they all had a similar system of satellite defenses and weapons platforms to protect them from any incoming fleet or ground forces.
Added with many more air defenses than the Elani had at their disposal,the ground assault would quickly turn into a slaughter.
The enemies that would land on the surface would be decimated and then they would have to fight the humanity ground forces which would prepare a warm welcome for them.
-Do you think that they will come ?
Steuner asked when they were having lunch a few days later.
-I don't know, but if they do then they will be in a world of hurt.
Simon said while eating his meal.
-If they come then we can kill them and if they don't then we will probably have to go and find them before we kill them.
Mikael said.
There were some interesting things that the analytical team found while studying the enemy.
The enemy had a lot weaker shields than humans and humanity just refuted their fleet with the upgraded type of shield that the Thanatos had installed.
Another discovery was the enemy vulnerability when they tried to drop their ground forces.
Humanity figured out how to drop and pick up their shuttles without lowering their shields but the enemy had to drop the protective barriers to release their shuttles and that made them an easy target for a few seconds.
The next few weeks passed under the alert conditions and everyone was trying to find a way to detect or even better defeat the enemy if they even dared to show up in Terran space.
The fleet, the ground forces,the airforce and all the forces in the Terran space wanted a piece of the enemy after they learned that the enemy tried to exterminate the Elani who were now their Allies.