The Search and rescue continued until they didn't find anyone alive for two days straight.
Simon called it off and ordered the last remains of humanity to start the salvage operations focusing on food,clothing and other essential supplies.
He was certain that they couldn't stay here as they would be an easy target if the enemy sent another fleet like the one that destroyed their home.
They needed a place to rebuild and repopulate but unfortunately this was not the place to do it as they were too small in numbers to provide the protection and rebuild their world that was still burning and their civilization along with it.
He instructed Ptah to launch the fleet from Abydos to make room for salvage and Then A.I started to collect the ships starting with The Anubis and The Kali.
Ptah prioritized the heavy ships and he could take over a hundred of them at once since they were smaller than their Confederacy counterparts.
With the materials provided he was able to rebuild the ships within a week and since they had nothing better to do now than salvaging the materials from the planet,ships and stations to ensure their survival for the coming months.
Ptah had more than a month to rebuild over six hundred ships from the Terran fleet.
The enemy ships were used as materials since there was no point in rebuilding them as they were inferior to the Terran ships.
In the end Simon and his fleet managed to get over sixty thousand human survivors and around two hundred lizardmen that managed to survive.
The scan of the system revealed that Mikael's and Steuner's ships were not among the debris,so there was still a chance that they managed to escape.
However Simon didn't know where they went and how to find them.The A.I planet was totally glassed and as far as they knew Athena was the last survivor of her kind.
The same happened on the lizardmen planet and they were wiped out as whoever did this,targeted their settlements.
Finally after almost a month in a coma the captain of a terran cruiser who managed to survive the destruction of her ship regained consciousness and was ready to explain what happened here.
Simon went to the med bay immediately after receiving the news.
He knew this captain as she was a captain of a frigate that went with his fleet on patrol duty several times.
When he entered he saw that she was in a state of depression as she also found out that her entire family and most of her friends were killed in the attack.
His entrance brought her back to reality and she wanted to get up but he stopped her from doing so.
-Don't try to get up,you were badly injured and should rest for now but unfortunately I have some questions that need answers.
He said,taking the chair and bringing it closer to the bed.
She nodded her head and layed back down.
-Who did this?
Was the first question he asked.
-It was the Alliance and the Federation,they came together with a combined fleet of over seventy thousand and a few similar fleets attacked the colonies.
The captain answered.
-We found evidence that someone tampered with the defense system and in result it didn't recognize the enemy fleet as enemies but as friendlies,do you know who did this?
Simon asked.
-There was a message to all ships that the Elani had betrayed us and to target their ships if they were spotted but they never showed up so I think that it was them.
The captain said, she knew that the admiral was dating the Elani fifth princess so it was difficult to inform him about this matter.
Simon was shocked in one second and furious in the next one as he never saw that coming.
-Who sent that message?
Simon wanted to know.
-The council right before they were killed by the enemy ground forces.
She explained.
-Do you know what happened with Admiral Fowler and Warchief Steuner?
-They got the orders from the council to take as many ships as they could and escape.
This was even before we got the information on the Elani.
I was preparing to go to the designated coordinates when my ship got hit and lost the FTL drive.
All the ships that were capable of jumping left with them and the rest of us stayed behind to cover their retreat.
She answered.
-Do you know where they went?
Simon asked,if she was getting ready to jump with them then she had to have the coordinates.
-The rendezvous point was the planet where you found the A.I fleet as the Elani didn't know about this place.
The captain said.
-Athena, send someone to the coordinates of the planet that we first meet on,if we are lucky then we might find them there or at least a message that will inform us of their whereabouts.
-Already done and the scout ship is on its way as we speak.
Athena materialized next to Him.
-Also I just received an information through our relays that this space is now the Federation territory and the Elani empire officially joined the Federation and was granted the seat in their grand council as a reward for their involvement in defeating the enemies of the Federation.
Athena said while looking absentminded for a second.
Both the captain and an Admiral were flabbergasted at first but then the temperature in the room dropped below the freezing point.
Simon was furious and his aura became freezing cold,not to mention his eyes that were as cold as the eyes of the shark.
There is more,The Elani fifth princess will be marrying The grandson of the Elani prime minister Irio Xanzi tomorrow and their first princess was nominated as an ambassador to the grand council.
The A.I finished speaking just in time to see just how furious Simon was.
-Athena, prepare to record my whole body as I need to send a message to someone.
His voice was not much more than a whisper but somehow it was heard as if he was shouting at the top of his lungs.
-Catherine you will be my witness as it is required.
Simon said to the captain that was looking at him wide eyed.
She nodded,accepting the role of the witness.
Simon explained that all she had to do was to state her rank and name and witness what he was about to do.
Then he gave a signal to Athena to start the recording.
-I'm Admiral Simon Black of the Terran Council navy and I am in possession of the pendant of the Fifth princess of the Elani empire Alesia Xirna.
Under the Elani law I hereby sever all connections to the Fifth princess and revoke her right to marry me.
After he finished speaking he tore the pendant from his neck,dropped it and crushed it with his armored shoe.
-There is nothing to say between me and the Fifth princess anymore as her pendant is destroyed for the betrayal she committed. We shall be strangers from this day forth.
This custom was witnessed by…
-Captain Catherine Carter of the Council cruiser Fenrir.
She introduced herself like he told her to.
Athena recognized the custom as the most severe bond breaking that one could perform under the Elani law.
After this moment Simon and Alesia were nothing more than strangers and it would stay that way for as long as they were alive.
As for the Elani betrayal of the Terran council and its allies,the revenge that you brought upon yourself will be delivered and you will be hunted down to the last for the blood of the people of earth and its colonies you will pay with your own blood.
Simon nodded at Athena's avatar signaling that he finished.
-We are scheduled to leave Sol tomorrow so send it through the relays tomorrow morning for all the federation to see.
Simon said and left the room.
He didn't need any more information from Catherine as he decided to go back to the confederation space and rebuild the human civilization there.
And once he was ready,he would bring the fury of Humanity onto the Alliance,the federation ,and most of all the treacherous Elani.