Chapter 397: Strategic Coordination Annex Seven

Aurelian waited until the communication with Lysara ended completely before leaving the command room and returning to his private quarters.

The frozen image of Strategic Coordination Annex Seven stayed in his mind the entire way.

A hidden Vhaloric station still carrying power after centuries was already worth taking seriously.

The fact that it was still sending out a request for an authorized command entity made it even more important.

If the station had been completely dead, the answer would have been simple. Lysara could have entered through an outer maintenance section, copied whatever records were still there, taken anything useful, and left if the structure proved unsafe.

But an active command system was different.

Sending the wrong answer might unlock the station.

It might also wake everything inside it.

Aurelian closed the door behind him and opened the Destiny System.

He kept the question simple.

What is the safest available method to gain access to Strategic Coordination Annex Seven?

The answer appeared a few seconds later.

Existing emergency command authority may be recognized.

Primary access method requires valid Vhaloric strategic command authentication.

Alternative succession path available through combined authority records from Helion Bastion Twelve and Sanctuary Ardent.

Warning: station command core remains active.

Automated defensive entities present.

Primary surviving asset remains recoverable.

Aurelian read the warning twice.

The System didn’t say the station was friendly, but it also didn’t tell him to force his way inside. That meant there was still a proper way in if they handled it carefully.

That was enough for him.

He closed the System and returned to the command room, where Astra, Rhoswen, and Eirenne were still going through the last transmission from Lysara.

Rhoswen noticed him first.

"So?"

Aurelian ignored the way she was already leaning toward him and looked at Eirenne instead.

"Can Helion’s authority records and Sanctuary Ardent’s emergency command transfer be combined into an old Directorate strategic command authentication?"

Eirenne went still for a moment while she processed the question.

"Possibly."

Astra glanced toward him.

"What made you think of combining them?"

"Annex Seven was strategic infrastructure," Aurelian said. "Helion already recognizes inherited Vhaloric military authority, and Sanctuary Ardent accepted me through an emergency Human succession process. If the Directorate expected its command structure to break apart during a collapse, then there should have been a way for surviving installations to rebuild higher authority."

The explanation was simple enough because most of it came directly from records they had already recovered.

Eirenne immediately began searching.

Several minutes passed before her projection finally looked up again.

"There is."

Rhoswen smiled.

"Convenient."

"It was buried inside Helion Bastion Twelve’s emergency mobilization archive," Eirenne continued.

"The protocol was created for a situation where central Directorate command had disappeared, but several recognized military or civil installations were still operating."

Aurelian nodded.

"Can we use it?"

"Not directly. Annex Seven will likely issue a challenge response once it receives the authority package. Lysara can transmit your current command record, but the station may ask for another form of confirmation."

"What kind?"

"I will not know until it answers."

That was about as much as they could prepare from here.

Aurelian reopened the long-range channel.

It took several tries before the relay inside Mournveil finally caught Lysara’s group again. Her image returned with heavy interference running across one side of the transmission.

"We are still holding position," she said.

"Good. I found an authentication path."

Lysara’s expression sharpened immediately.

Eirenne transferred the old protocol through the channel.

Veylora started examining it on her side before the file had even finished loading.

"I know this format," she said. "Older Directorate emergency command language."

"Can you send it without opening a direct control connection?" Aurelian asked.

"Yes."

"Do that."

Lysara looked toward the dark station hanging beyond her bridge.

"If it reacts badly?"

"You withdraw."

Rhoswen folded her arms.

"Still seems like a waste of a perfectly good ruin."

Aurelian ignored her.

Lysara gave the order.

The transmission left her cruiser and crossed the dark space between the expedition and Strategic Coordination Annex Seven.

For several seconds, nothing changed.

The station continued repeating the same old message it had been sending since they arrived.

Authorized Directorate command entity, identify.

Then the signal stopped.

Everyone in the command room became still.

For the first time since Lysara had reached the station, the identification request disappeared completely.

Selvarin leaned closer to one of her displays.

"Power movement inside the station."

Veylora looked up from another reading.

"Large movement."

Aurelian watched through the delayed feed as Strategic Coordination Annex Seven began waking up.

It started slowly.

A single ring section came online first, pale lights appearing one after another along its outer edge. Then another section lit up farther along the station.

Long white lines spread across the central spine while dormant systems began drawing power from somewhere deeper inside the structure.

The station still looked ancient.

Still damaged.

But no longer asleep.

Rhoswen moved closer to the display.

"I knew it."

Astra looked at her.

"You knew nothing."

"I strongly suspected something would happen."

"That is not the same thing."

"It is close enough."

Aurelian let them argue quietly while he kept watching the feed.

More sections of Annex Seven came online, but there was no weapons fire yet and no sign that the automated defenses had moved against Lysara’s group.

That was good.

Not safe.

But good.

Then a new transmission reached Lysara.

Unlike the old repeated request, this message carried several layers of encrypted Directorate formatting.

Eirenne started decoding it immediately.

The room stayed quiet while the text formed across the main display.

Recognized military succession fragment detected.

Secondary Human emergency authority detected.

Central Directorate response unavailable.

Command reconstruction permitted.

Submit living command, claimant.

Lysara looked toward Aurelian’s image.

"It wants you."

"Not physically."

"Agreed."

Aurelian transmitted his biological command record, Tier III commander identification, Helion inheritance record, and Sanctuary Ardent succession authority through Eirenne.

Nothing connected to the Destiny System went with it.

The station spent almost a minute checking the data.