Star Emperor

After they finished signing the contract they both went back to work as there was a lot of it to be done and they didn't have much time till the arrival of the merchant.

At first, Andrew wanted to delay producing more drones, but the discovery of uranium changed his mind.

He immediately ordered another 20 gathering drones and 10 mining drones to be manufactured and designated six storage modules to be filled with the ore.

That way they would have 120 tonnes of it before the merchant arrived.

It was a drop in a bucket considering how much ore they had at their disposal, but it would kickstart a huge transformation of their station and the beginning of research they needed to unlock the higher tiers of modules and upgrades.

Lanarine got back to her job and was way happier now that she was free to do whatever she wanted.

It wasn't ideal as she would still prefer to collaborate with others from her species, but this was at least a collaboration and not slavery.

-Lan, can you come over here for a moment?

Andrew asked around four hours after they signed the contract.

Previously he could just tell her to come but now he decided to be more polite.

-What is it?

She asked, approaching him.

-I'm trying to decide which modules and upgrades to get once the merchant gets here, and you wanted to have a say in it.

He explained.

-Then let's see what we can afford.

She said with a slight smile.

It surprised her again that this human was keeping his word.

She had no idea why she kept thinking that he would trick her somehow when he never even tried anything like that.

It took them another three hours to reach an agreement regarding the modules that they would be buying and the list was quite long.

They had some different opinions about some things but, there was hardly a disagreement about anything as they would most likely be able to buy all the modules they wanted and have a lot of credits to spare.

That day they didn't make a lot of progress with the scans, but thanks to the new drones, one-third of the storage space that was designated for uranium was now filled and if everything went according to plan they would have it filled by the end of the next day.

Additionally, they already had quite a stash of materials before they even discovered the uranium.

It was an eventful day so they both decided to finish early and get some rest.

The next day Lanarine woke up and decided to follow the human's advice and go to the fitness module to get some exercise. 

She found some gym clothes that he bought for her when she became his slave and after getting ready she went straight there.

Entering the module she found Andrew inside, at that moment he was doing pushups.

-Good morning, she said, not wanting to scare him by just showing up.

The human looked in her direction, pausing his exercise for a moment.

-Good morning, I hope that you don't mind sharing the module with me.

He said with a smile, trying his best not to stare at her as the sight of her in the gym clothes could make any man go crazy.

-No, I don't mind, but could you explain the equipment to me?

This is way different than what I'm used to.

She asked after taking a look around the module.

Some of the things she figured out instantly but others were too different for her.

-Of course, just give me a minute to finish pushups.

He agreed.

A moment later he was done and proceeded to explain everything to her, starting from the dumbbells and finishing on every use of the small exercise machine that was installed in there and allowed for a variety of exercises.

-And what's that?

She asked, pointing at the punching bag hanging from the ceiling.

-It's a punching bag, it's not only great for training but also for getting your frustration and anger out.

The man explained.

-I was going to use it after the push-ups so I will just show you. 

He said approaching the bag and tying two boxing bandages around his hands.

Once he was ready he started punching the bag like it was an enemy he wanted to defeat.

Lenarine was surprised at this display of brutal strength and aggression, but after a moment of thought, she figured out that it really was a good way to get rid of the anger and frustration as there were many instances in her life at which she wanted to punch something or someone.

However, in her society, this would get her into a psychiatric evaluation at best or to the specialized institution for people with violent personalities or anger management issues at worst and it would destroy any chance of her joining the military and going into space or even finding a decent job in any other field.

Humans seemed to have a different approach to this.

-Is your species a violent one?

She asked, before realizing she said it out loud.

Andrew looked at her and shrugged.

-You can say that.

He answered not going into details, as at that moment he remembered all the times he was bullied.

-Humankind is a bit complicated, some of us like to live in peace and are total pacifists, while others seem to derive a great deal of pleasure from making others suffer or even killing them outright.

He tried his best to explain.

-Most of us however are stuck somewhere in the middle, we don't like to cause suffering to others but at the same time will do what is necessary to survive and protect the things we cherish.

This was crazy to her, but then again this was also her first alien encounter, other than the station masters in her previous system from which she barely escaped with her life.

It also explained why he killed the station master who attacked him.

-I sure hope that you don't find pleasure in making others suffer.

She said quietly.

Andrew laughed at this remark.

-If I did then you would still be a slave.

He said.

Hearing her words, made him understand that she was afraid of him just as much as he was afraid of her and it would take a lot of time, for them to fully trust one another.

But on the other hand, it diminished the possibility of her trying to hurt him in the foreseeable future.

At the same time, she came to the same conclusion and decided to leave it at that for now.

They didn't talk more after that as Andrew returned to punching the bag while she began her own training.

The human left first as he came earlier so he was done way before her.

He took a shower and changed his clothes before going to the command center to take a look at the progress in gathering resources.

The drones were working all the time with breaks for recharging so there were a lot of materials already gathered in the storage modules, but there were also a lot of discarded materials around the station right now, since he decided to get rid of most iron, copper, and other resources that were cheap as right now he needed the credits the most.

Thinking about it all he decided to produce twenty more gathering drones and use them to move the materials into one spot at which he would be able to have access to them when he needed them.

Other than that he saw that the uranium ore that he wanted was almost at 75% of the designated quantity and the gathering process for it would end within a few hours, allowing him to resume gathering the other materials.