Tarina's suspicions were proven true, the moment the ships from the Milky Way factions arrived outside the Alpha Pictoris system and hailed the station master there.
The station master, who was one of Theresa's subordinates, sent that request to Andrew, requesting instructions about this situation.
-Tell, them to stand by for now, We'll contact them soon.
Andrew said.
He wanted to give Tarina some more time to prepare, and his fleet the time they needed to accomplish their mission.
Not that a dozen ships would be able to threaten his territory in any way, but the more impressed the envoys would be, the easier the negotiations would become.
Or at least that's what Tarina said when he asked her opinion.
Fortunately, the fleet wrapped everything up very quickly as the two fleets they went to hunt down, didn't coordinate in any way, resulting in their destruction, however, this time some ships agreed to surrender when they saw their situation was hopeless.
Seeing that all three fleet commanders were over the moon, as this meant more ships for their fleets, however, it turned out that every single enemy ship that was relatively intact had to be towed, for repairs as they were all damaged and not even one of them was FTL capable.
Additionally, this time they didn't lose a single ship and only several corvettes and one frigate were damaged, but they were still operational.
Once they were done, they left a portion of the fleet to prevent the surrendering crews from having any stupid ideas, and returned to base, after receiving message from Andrew about the envoys.
At the same time, Tarina contacted the ships and authorised their passage through the wormhole, while providing them with access codes for the relays, to let them stay in contact with their factions.
Of course, they would only have access to the comms channels, since Andrew didn't want them to see too much on their sensors.
The envoys immediately used the codes to ask their leaders for instructions, as they were under the impression that their negotiations would take place in the system in question.
The faction leaders, agreed to send them through the wormhole, only when they were assured of their safety.
-Welcome to the Andromeda galaxy.
Rodill greeted the envoys over the comms as soon as they came through the wormhole.
-The four heavy frigates, are here to escort you to the main system of the territory.
Not that you need an escort, but our boss prefers to be safe rather than sorry.
He explained the presence of the ships waiting near the wormhole.
Then he sent them the coordinates of the main system, before wishing them a pleasant visit.
All the envoys were shocked at this since their factions only had two or three heavy frigates at their disposal and here they were, being escorted by four of them.
This made a lasting impression on them , but they were even more impressed with the station and the defenses of the system.
-My lady, the system on the other side of the wormhole is a fortress, and it's not even the main system of this territory.
One of the captains reported to their leader.
-What about their fleet?
The lady asked.
-Nothing much for now, except the escorts.
In the system, there were some frigates, corvettes, and drone fighters along with some upgraded pirate ships, but the escort ships waiting for us were four heavy frigates and they look brand new.
The captain reported.
-Good, keep an eye out, I want to learn as much as possible about this faction.
The leader said, ending the call for the time being.
Other captains were also relaying their observations to their leader, not caring if they were being overheard, which they were sure that they were since they were using the relays.
As soon as they entered the main system, they all gasped, seeing the enormous asteroid belt.
They understood that with such an amount of asteroids, this system was an almost inexhaustible source of materials.
What's more, they saw well over a dozen substations, extracting said resources.
However, the biggest surprise was the main Installation they were heading to.
The captains and envoys could barely believe their eyes when they saw the shipyard with the station attached to it.
Another blow came when the fleet jumped into the system, scaring the living shit out of everyone.
The fleet led by three destroyers and counting over a hundred and fifty ships was an awe-inspiring sight.
The envoys soon discovered why the fleet jumped in as some of the ships were slightly damaged from battle.
Seeing that, they all came to the same conclusion.
They were just returning for repairs and resupply.
However, the sight of such a large fleet made them all afraid, as this was more than enough to take out one of the factions or possibly even two of them in one go.
What they didn't know was that Andrew and Tarina, purposely, made the fleet jump in when it did.
The goal was to show off their territory's military might, giving them some advantages in the upcoming negotiations.
However, what was not planed was the launch of the newly built and repaired ships, which joined the fleet, increasing it size to over two hundred vessels.
Shocking the envoys even more, with the production capacity of the gigantic shipyard.
All in all, the envoys now were certain that this was not a faction they could take lightly.
Soon after that little display, the diplomatic ships, if you could call them that, docked at the shipyard, while their escorts, left jumping back to the Rodill system, to take up their posts, guarding the wormhole entrance.
As soon as the delegations from the Milky Way factions disembarked, and went through decontamination, which they all understood was a necessity when meeting new species face to face for the first time.
They were met with battle droids, sent there to escort them to the conference room.
As soon as they entered the conference module they saw Andrew and Tarina, sitting there.
-My name is Andrew Eagle, and this is Tarina Zeir.
The human introduced himself and his companion.
-I welcome you to my station, please take a seat.
-You're a Human.
One of the envoys neither asked nor stated.
-Yes I am.
Andrew confirmed.
-Will that be a problem?
-No, It won't, I was simply surprised to see another human.
The envoy said, taking his seat.
-One of the members of our alliance is a human.
The alien explained.
-Shut up, we didn't come here to hear about who is in your alliance.
Another envoy, a big guy looking like an overgrown porcupine with four hands, said angrily.
The first envoy sat down and stopped talking, not wanting to piss off the guy with a short fuse even more.
-Since you want to go straight to business, then let's get this over with.
Tarina said, in a neutral voice, her face turning into an emotionless mask.
-As if you don't know why we came?
The porcupine alien growled.
-We are here to demand your retreat from the system on the other side of the wormhole.
The alien said, getting more and more agitated.
-And if we refuse?
Are you willing to go to war over this?
Tarina asked, not even batting an eye at the pissed-off alien.
If he tried anything, he would get teased as both her and Andrew's seats had hidden tasers under the table.
However, to her surprise, another envoy spoke before the porcupine could.
-Droga, sit down and shut your mouth, this was never our plan and you know it.
A sharp female voice, belonging to a blue-skinned, alien who looked more like a warrior than a diplomat made the big alien sit down and keep quiet.
-I apologize for his outburst, we have no intention of demanding that system from you, and we are even less interested in going to war with you over it, especially with the second wave approaching.
However we would like to hear the reason you chose to take over that system and if possible, what are your plans for the Milky Way galaxys side of the wormhole.
Hearing her words the rest of the envoys visibly relaxed as she was trying her best to deescalate the situation.
They all knew that an open war with a foe this powerful would not benefit them in the slightest and might even bring about a downfall of their alliances.
Tarina nodded slightly to show that she accepted the apology.
-The answer to your first question is quite simple, we took that system to prevent the Milky Way galaxy from being conquered and transported away.
Additionally, we need it as a fall back point if we become unable to hold on in this galaxy.
-What do you mean, transported away?
One of the other envoys asked a bit confused.
-Has no one explained this to you?
If the invasion forces conquer a whole galaxy, it is then transported to their own universe as their property.
Or at least that's what we were told and the one who informed us about it had no reason to lie to us.
Tarina explained, barely able to hide her surprise at their lack of knowledge about this.
The envoys on the other hand and by an extension their leaders were shocked to the core, hearing about this.
They had no idea that this was even possible.
-Then what happens if we take over a galaxy in their universe?
One of the envoys asked after pressing his hand to his ear for a moment.
-It will be transported to our universe as our property.
Tarina answered without hesitation.
-However, according to our information this has never happened before, and let's face it, we are in no condition to assault the enemy universe at the moment.
She added.
All the envoys took a moment to think about it and had to agree with her last statement.
At the moment they would have a hard enough time defending against the second wave of the invasion to even dream of attacking the other universes.
-Thank you for sharing this information.
The blue-skinned female envoy said with gratitude, as this was very important.
-However, I would like to hear the answer to my second question.
-Certainly.
Tarina nodded.
-The answer is that we have no other plans for the Milky Way galaxy as of yet.
At the moment we are focusing on the development of the territory as well as our fleet while at the same time, we are busy clearing out as many invasion fleets that were either stranded here or stayed behind on purpose as we possibly can.
She answered.
-I'm certain you saw our fleet on your way here, they were just coming back from taking out some of the invasion forces and as soon as they are rearmed and repaired, they will go for the next target on the list.
Most of the envoys nodded.
-Why should we trust you, that you won't attack us?
Droga asked suddenly.
-You have as many reasons to trust us as we have to trust any of you.
The diplomat said calmly.
-However, attacking you at the moment would be beyond foolish.
Her words surprised the big porcupine.
-How so?
He asked.
-It's simple.
If we attack you, we would suffer casualties and so would you, diminishing our military capabilities.
With the second wave of the invasion on its way, it would be crazy to kill each other, making us an easier target for the invading forces.
The big guy nodded slightly agreeing with her.
He might have a short fuse, but he was no fool or he would not become an envoy in the first place.
At this moment a small four-fingered hand shoots up from the smallest envoy in the group.
They had no idea how the envoy looked like, since it was wearing a hooded robe hiding its appearance.
-Yes.
Tarina acknowledged the gesture as a request to speak.
-My lady wishes to know what was your ship doing in our territory.
A voice that Andrew immediately connected to a little girl's voice came from under the hood.
Both he and Tarina were surprised that someone would send a child as an envoy, but considering that there were millions of species in the universe, there had to be all sorts of customs as well.
-Let me answer that.
Andrew opened his mouth for the first time since the introduction.
-That ship was there to get some information I needed, I'm surprised that you even detected it.
He said truthfully.
-We didn't detect the ship, but we detected its FTL jump.
What were you looking for in that system?
-The system in question is my home system, and as stated before I needed some data from my former home.
-My lady asks for you to refrain from doing this again.
The young envoy said.
-She doesn't have to worry, I wont be sending another ship to the sol system any time soon and if I want to send one, I'll contact her for permission first.
-My lady says it is acceptable.
The young alien said, and went quiet, after saying what she had to say.
-Did you send similar ships to other territories well?
The blue-skinned woman asked.
-No there was no reason to do so.
As stated before, this was done only to retrieve some data from Andrew's homeworld.
Tanira answered.
This explanation seemed to calm everyone down as they got tense hearing about this as it implied that this territory had a stealth ship at its disposal.
The meeting went on for three more hours, as the envoys voiced their concerns and Tarina did her best to respond, mostly by stating the obvious again and again.
Andrew's forces were busy clearing this part of Andromeda galaxy so he didn't have the time nor the forces to commit to the Milky Way and only wanted them to accept his ownership of the Alpha Pictoris system.
Most of the envoys finally accepted the truth, that Andrew's territory was no threat to them at the moment and agreed to relinquish all claims to the system, which was always contested in the past.
To be honest, they didn't have much of a choice, as it was almost impossible to kick him out of there, even if they wanted to do so.
When it came time for the last envoy to voice his opinion, the tall and cloaked figure who didn't say a word during the whole meeting, stood up.
-My lord, didn't send me here to give away what is rightfully his but to send a message to all those who oppose him.
With that, he pressed a button on the device he was holding in his hand, and exploded and the ship that brought him there did the same a moment later.