Chapter 79 Punishment.

Day by day the work moved forward and soon they had a dozen tugs operational as they were small and quite easy to repair.

Their next target was the flag ship,some of the battleships and cruisers.

The humans watched in awe as the ships filled the dock,one by one,the last six docks were meant for the wrecks that would serve as materials to repair the warships.

In less than a day there was no more space in the docks as they had been filled with the ships designated for repair.

The Thanatos stayed in space for now as it was the only ship they had if something went wrong.

The best thing was that the tug's A.I Agreed that they now belonged to the humans and they were elated when they were informed that they would work under contract as equals instead of servitude of slavery.

The warship's A.I were also receptive of this idea but it took a bit longer to convince them, in the end they were more than happy to get a new captain and also the idea of their own homeworld and being accepted as a species helped a lot.

The plan was altered and the new A.I the humans brought were being installed on the enemy ships as their A.I didn't even want to hear about working with humans,they were loyal to their creators so they were confined to their computer cores and removed from the ships.

Simon wanted to get rid of them as a potential threat but Athena and Ptah managed to convince him that they were essentially prisoners of war and they couldn't just wipe them out as that would be a war crime.

-Don't worry Simon, as soon as we are back we will bring them back to our world and there they can live free and do what they want.

Athena said when they were discussing the fate of the A.I that didn't want to work with them.

-Do you think that they will cause any trouble?

The Admiral asked.

-No,and I'm sure that with time they will understand that it is better to have freedom and a choice rather than being a slave.

The A.I answered.

-Then I will leave them to you,but be careful with them.

Simon said.

-I will and you don't have to worry as the new hardware that Ptah made for me is great,not to mention it made me way more powerful.

Right now there is no way for them to defeat me and if they try then they will be dealt with.

She said with full confidence in her new abilities.

-Then this matter is settled.

How is Teresa's treatment going?

Simon asked.

The science officer was diagnosed with a terminal stage of cancer which she had hidden from everyone as this would take her off the list of the scientists sent on missions.

The illness itself wasn't hard to cure anymore and it only took about a week in the regeneration tank to be fully healed without any side effects.

Unfortunately the stubborn woman was too invested in her work to worry about her health and no one would know if she didn't faint on one of the data gathering visits to the surface.

She was bright back and Sim on ordered her to get scanned by the medical scanner aboard the shipyard as it was way more advanced than what they had on the Thanatos.

It was then discovered that she had cancer and also a few contusions that she kept a secret.

Upon learning of the situation,Ptah recommended tossing her into one of the medical tanks that were available in the shipyard's hospital.

Technically it was a med-bay but it was enormous and the word hospital was more accurate to describe it.

What The A.I didn't mention was that the tank was also equipped with the rejuvenation technology that was way better than the one the Federation had.

-She will be released from the tank in about an hour and her scans indicate that all the problems she had with her health are gone and she is now 100% healthy not to mention younger.

Two hours later Teresa reported to Simon as he had given order for her to find him as soon as possible.

-If you pull a stunt like that one more time,then I will make sure that you will be permanently kicked out from any research missions.

Simon said angrily.

In his heart he was happy to see her healthy and young again but he was pissed off by her stupidity.

-I didn't want to lose the chance to go on a mission and if I reported that I was sick,then that would happen.

She tried to defend herself.

-No you idiot,you would just spend some time in the regeneration tank and that's it.

Instead you chose to hide it from everyone and faint during a mission.

Be happy that you did that before you became an officer or you would really regret ever being born.

He almost yelled at her.

She slowly started to understand that she screwed up and made her friends worry for her.

-I'm sorry,this will never happen again.

She said in a quiet tone while looking at the floor.

She didn't like to apologize but this time even she herself knew how badly she screwed up.

-I sure hope i won't or you will need much more time in the tank when i'm done with you.

Simon said.

-Either way it's good that you're healthy again.

On the topic of the science ship you wanted to take back with us,it will get repaired and we will be taking it with us but not as a part of the fleet.

It will be docked aboard the Abydos for our way back.

Simon informed her as they discussed it one time and almost argued about it.

-Abydos?

She asked not knowing what he was talking about.

-Oh right,you were in the tank when we found a name for the shipyard.

Ptah wanted to name it and Athena proposed the name so now it's called the Abydos as it is essentially an oversized ship.

Simon explained.

Theresa nodded with understanding while smiling at the information that she would soon have her own science vessel.

-Don't be too happy about it.

For now you will be the captain of one of the cruisers that is being repaired right now.

Simon said and her smile disappeared as she never wanted to be a captain of a warship.

-I know that you don't like it but that is the reality and you are an officer so you have to take command of the ship since we have limited personnel.

Simon said,with a smile on his face.

He knew that this would make her miserable for some time and it should teach her not to piss him off again.

Theresa knew that it was probably some form of punishment as Simon was famous for his creative punishments.

According to some of the soldiers and his own crew,he had a knack for figuring out a way to make people miserable by just figuring out what they hated the most and then forcing them to do it.

This was a great way to keep the crew's record clean as this didn't count as any form of punishment and at the same time everyone was terrified to step out of line as he was sure to figure out a way to make them pay dearly for their transgressions.