Life on board a ship was quite different from the one onboard a station. The main difference was that there was no work to do for most of the crew, at least for now.
But what they did was drills and a lot of them.
Simon turned out to be very creative with the scenarios and he managed to convince everyone that they needed some training in their new responsibilities.
Some of the drills were put on hold as they would require powering up the ship.
The bridge crew also went through some drills with different scenarios.
Over all everyone knew where their battle station was and what to do in different situations.
At first it was according to Simon a total shit show but after a week of training everyone got better and presented an acceptable level of skills.
They were now over 90000 kilometers from the station but the sensors could easily display it on the main monitor and according to the data and visual images the station was now fully protected again.
A dozen of double energy weapons and a fully charged shield would be a tough nut to crack without destroying the station.
-Well our present is ready now the question is who will receive it.
Said Tommy, smiling with satisfaction that their plan worked.
-We will see, we have at least three more weeks of drifting before we are in the optimal position to leave this system.
Monic said from behind the navigation console.
-Let's just hope that it's those soldiers that took Matthew and Yuri. It would be some justice.
David said with a vengeful look on his face and fire in his eyes.
-Don't worry, kid, eventually they will all pay for what they did, if not by our parting gifts then we will hunt them down.
Paul said from his station.
- For now let's focus on some more drills.
Simon said with a grin.
Hearing that everyone groaned,only Simon,Tommy and Paul smiled at this reaction.
-You all know the saying " The more you sweat the less you bleed.
When Simon uttered those words most of the crew glared at him.
- Monic, how much longer till that gravity pull you told us about?
Tommy asked.She checked their position on her console.
-About three more days, but we will start to accelerate some time tomorrow.
-Then we have two more days for drills, after that we need to be more vigilant.
This ship is pretty tough but without shields and in the middle of this junkyard if we hit something big enough then we will be in trouble especially after we start to accelerate.
-Diego how fast will we be going when we accelerate?
- If we stay on this course then we will accelerate to around 35000 m/s over time.
Diego answered after doing some math in his head.
He was the second pilot that was sent to the blue section along with Agnes.
-That will be quite some ride then.
David said excitedly.
-You won't even feel it kid this ship has inertial dampers, if it didn't then we would be splattered on the walls.
Paul explained.
-Right now we are moving with a speed of around 540k/h which is really slow for the space standards but when we speed up then all the way we traveled from the last week will be doing the same distance every hour or so.
And remember that we didn't even start the engines yet.
The next two days were not as quiet as they thought in the middle of the second day there was a real alarm.
When Tommy got to the bridge and asked about the status report the answer shocked him.
-It looks like our present was found.
Simon said pointing at the main screen.
What he saw was a regular battle between 3 noble ships and the station.
-Why are there so many of the noble ships?
Tommy took his seat and asked.
-At first there was only one ship that approached the station but it got shot down immediately after it enterd the firing range.
Then those three showed up after around 2 minutes and started firing on the station but from what I can gather they will lose this fight.
Right after Anne finished talking one of the ships exploded when it got hit with two energy beams.
The whole battle took less than 5 minutes and the two remaining ships had to retreat after they took some serious damage.
-Can we identify the ships?
Tomy asked.
-The first one was coming to take someone so it's a safe bet that we killed some soldiers.
The other two were some kind of patrol ships. I'm searching the database for them.
And I found them, they were light patrol vessels from the LeBlank family.
So I think it's safe to say that we managed to piss them off.
Anne gave a raport.
-They called for help.
David said while listening to the communications.
-Yes they are calling for help on an open channel
The young man confirmed.
-Put it on speaker.
Tommy said and a moment later they could hear the conversation.
-..... repeat this is patrol 4 we were attacked by the defenses of blue section the prisoner transport 09 was destroyed,we opened fire on the station but the shields are active,we lost ship 2 and ships 1 and 3 are seriously damaged,send reinforcements.
-Patrol 4 this is the main control station,return to base for a debriefing,do you require a tow?
-This is patrol 4. We need a tow for two ships.
-Understood, tow ships are on their way , stand by.
-Roger that,standing by.
The transmission ended.
-Well that will be one big repair bill.
Paul said with a wide smile on his face.
He was right, two ships destroyed and another two seriously damaged would cost at least a few million of Imperial Dollars
-I wonder what they will do now?
Tommy said.
- I bet that they will send something heavier than a patrol ship.
But if they don't have a couple of destroyers or a cruiser somewhere around here then they will have a hell of a time taking down that station.
Simon shared his thoughts.
-Or they may get smart and send soldiers through the red section,but that tunnel is in a bad condition so i wouldn't count on it.
Either way there are some surprises waiting for them.
Tommy smiled with a predatory grin.