For the rest of the month, the territory was as busy as a bee hive.
The new shipyards started making ships as soon as they were completed, and the cargo ships were always en route to deliver supplies, defense satellites, or whatever was brought from Earth.
All the new stations were now fully operational and contributing to the war effort as much as they could.
Not to mention that their defenses were quite formidable as well.
With thirty stations in his territory at the moment, Andrew's ranking went up in all categories, but the most significant rises were seen in the territory and military categories.
Followed, by the diplomacy of all things.
Tanira worked tirelessly, on that front, doing her best to form a loose coalition in the Andromeda galaxy.
The goal was not to create another faction but to make their neighbors sign a nonaggression pact and if at all possible a mutual defense pact.
They were not true allies, but at the very least they would not attack each other for the time being or even defend each other if need be.
At the same time Aelita and Nairin, finally designed their new ships, using all the designs provided by others and what Andrew had shown them from the sci-fi TV shows sent back from Earth.
The Atlantis project was put on hold for now, since they needed to survive the upcoming struggle first before they even thought about building this thing.
Once the designs were ready and passed the simulations, the production of the new ships began immediately.
It took longer than building the standard ships, but their new ones were much sturdier and more powerful, so it was worth the wait.
The new corvettes looked similar to The Normandy from a game, with the difference being all the guns, including a powerful spinal magnetic accelerator cannon capable of taking down a destroyer in three shots.
The frigate class vessels were similar to the Defiant class stealth frigate, from Star Trek, but without nesels and with much more firepower provided by retractable missile batteries, railguns, and the powerful energy weapon placed on its bow.
Added with the best shields available and powerful engines, the ships were slick, fast, and deadly.
The heavy frigates also had a new design, based on the USS Voyager, but with changes to its propulsion and weapons systems, that changed its look significantly.
Then came the new destroyers.
Bigger than their standard counterparts, and looked like a scaled-down version of Asgard O'neil class ship, with some added turrets and two spinal MAC cannons.
It was also the first ship in the fleet with retractable torpedo launchers, placed to fire behind the vessel.
There were also plans for some cruisers and Binon even found a great template for her project of a mine launching ship.
What surprised everyone was that humanity, despite never leaving their home system, had so many references to spaceships and space travel.
-Humanity always wanted to reach for the stars, but since our technology was not good enough to do so, this was the next best thing.
Andrew explained when Nairin asked about it.
Unfortunately, there was not enough time to produce any significant amount of these vessels, except the destroyers, of which Andrew got a hundred, after taking the compensation from the creators.
The process was quite easy, all he had to do, was to send the design on a certain frequency and the ships appeared a day later.
For the remainder of their time, they did what they could to prepare for the invasion, turning every system in the territory into a fortress, and they were not the only ones with the idea as on the sensors they saw their neighbors do the same.
Two days before the date of the invasion, Andrew sat in the meeting room, surrounded by his ladies, listening to the final reports about their preparations.
-Every station has at least a hundred defense satellites and enough ammunition to refill them at least three times.
Jalina finished presenting her report about the materials.
That could be summarized, by stating that each station was filled up with every essential resource it needed.
-The fleet is prepared as much as it possibly can be.
Each station has the standard complement of two hundred drone fighters and a hundred heavy fighters, fully armed and ready to go.
Other than that the fleet consists of 880 corvette-class vessels, a hundred of which are of the new design, 530 frigate-class vessels, of which 35 are of the new design, 75 heavy frigates, 10 of which are of the new design, and finally 122 destroyers, with only 16 being not of the new design.
This last sentence made everyone chuckle, as they remembered their surprise when a hundred destroyers simply materialized in a flash of light.
-We also have 360 drone frigates and 425 drone corvettes.
The support fleet consists of 40 resupply ships, 25 tankers, 30 tugs, and 45 cargo ships.
For a total of 2419 combat vessels and 140 support vessels.
The former pirate ships known more as the gunships were not even included as their usefulness at the space battlefield had come to an end as they lacked the necessary firepower and shielding to survive against the more powerful ships and they were now being dismantled.
Not everyone was happy about it, but they all understood that the battlefield had changed and there was no more place for a gunship among the fleets of hundreds of warships duking it out with weapons powerful enough to destroy a gunship in one hit.
Runir's report was the last one, that had to be read during the meeting that lasted over four hours already.
-Thank you for all your hard work, I know it has been tough, but it will be worth it.
As of this moment, we are all having the next two days off, with only minimal crews on standby, switched every four hours.
You have all earned it, and I also have a present for you all, that was delivered with the last shipment of supplies from Earth.
Andrew smiled as he saw everyone's surprised expressions.
-Iliana did her research and it turns out that my home planet has a lot of different drinks that most species can drink and it works similarly to Alcohol for humans.
In the last shipment, there were two boxes of these drinks delivered to your stations, they are labeled, to avoid poisoning anyone.
I hope you all like it, enjoy and have fun.
Andrew finished and closed the channel, officially ending the meeting.
-Well ladies, it's time to relax a bit.
He said with a grin.
-Yeah, but the timing is a bit off, we are waiting for the biggest battle of our lives.
Runir said.
-That's exactly why it is a good idea to rest and relax for a bit.
We have no clue when the invasion will end, and I doubt we will have a lot of time to relax.
Andrew replied.
-We need to make the most of the time that we have left, especially since, everything that we could do was done and is being done, whether we relax or not.
Besides, during the last month, we all worked our buts off, and I need everyone at their best performance when the second wave hits, so stop arguing, and get some rest.
He ended the conversation.
Andrew decided to have a relaxing bath in the Jacuzzi, and not wanting it to turn into an orgy as it had the last few times they all took a bath, he decided to be sneaky about it.
He used the longer route, to not tip off the ladies about his plans, sneaking past their quarters and avoiding them if he could.
Getting there, took him almost twenty minutes instead of the usual five, but when he finally arrived the bath was empty.
Not waiting to be discovered, he took a quick shower and jumped straight into the water.
Hot water and the bubbles, made his body relax and his mind wander about the small pleasures, not that there was anything small about the bath he was taking.
After a few minutes of relaxing, Andrew heard the doors slide open, making him sit up abruptly, hoping that he wasn't discovered by the ladies.
As much as he loved them all, they were sometimes too needy and he was not indestructible, despite the increased stamina and durability of his body.
-Oh, I didn't know anyone was in here.
The Lady said, blushing, slightly, which made her face, turn into a light violet color.
-Yeah, I forgot to close the door.
Andrew lied immediately.
He didn't forget, but did it deliberately, to avoid being found out.
Besides, Aelita could open every door on the station, no matter if he closed it or not, and Nairin, was learning this skill as well, so it made no sense to close them.
-I'll come back later.
The Lady said and was about to leave when Andrew stopped her.
-You can join me, I don't mind.
-Are you sure, won't the others be angry when they find out?
She asked, not sure if she should accept or decline.
On one hand, she wanted to relax in the bath, and she didn't mind having company, but on the other hand, she didn't want to piss off all the important women in the territory, by taking a bath with their man.
-They won't be angry, even if they find out.
Andrew said with certainty.
If his ladies were the jealous type, then they would never agree to share him.
Seeing how certain he was about it, she decided to join him and closed the door after entering.
-I meant to ask you earlier, but what's your real name?
It's strange to call you the Lady all the time.
The question surprised her at first, then she started laughing.
-My name is way too long, by other race's standards.
She said, entering the water, completely naked, making Andrew have a reaction any man would have seeing her beautiful body.
-It roughly translates as the Lady of the Azure depths, so everyone calls me Lady.
She explained.
-And for the record, I also don't like to be called like some noble or aristocrat, but it's still better than calling me by the full name.
She shrugged.
-Have you ever thought about getting a nickname?
Andrew asked after thinking for a bit.
-It never crossed my mind, and frankly, I have no clue, what kind of nickname would be suitable for me.
She shook her head.
-Moreover, everyone calls me The Lady, which is kind of like a nickname already, but if you can come up with something better, then by all means, I won't mind.
The Lady smiled charmingly.
She was doing her best to keep calm as during the last month, she also started falling under Andrew's charm, and now they were alone in a bath no less.
-Taking into account your blue hair, and that you are from an aquatic species, I think Undine, should suit you perfectly.
-Undine?
What does it mean?
-Undine is a mythological water spirit from my world.
Andrew explained as this was all that he knew about Undine.
This stunned her for a moment, but after thinking about it, she felt that it would match her well.
-I like it, it's simple, and the meaning is great, though I'm no mythological spirit, it flatters me.
-Then I'll call you that from now on.
Andrew said with a smile.
She simply nodded, before diving under water, to hide her embarrassment.
What Andrew didn't know and she was not in any hurry to tell him, was that in her species' culture, if a male called a female by a name he had chosen for her, it was the same as claiming her as his mate, unless the female rejected the name.