Chapter 401: The Strategic Core

The work on the disabled construct continued for several hours.

Lysara kept the expedition at a safe distance from Annex Seven while the drones searched through the machine’s memory and copied anything that had survived.

The seventeen remaining constructs stayed inside the station, and although several power sources remained active behind the outer armor, none of them came back out.

That suited Aurelian perfectly.

He had no reason to start another battle while Eirenne was making progress.

Most of the construct’s memory was useless. Centuries of damage had left entire sections unreadable, while other parts had been overwritten so many times that Eirenne could only recover fragments.

The useful parts were mostly maintenance records.

That turned out to be enough.

The construct had spent most of its existence moving between Annex Seven’s damaged sections, carrying replacement material, repairing power systems, and responding to threats around the station.

Because of that, its navigation memory contained routes through parts of the facility that no longer appeared on the surviving station map.

Veylora compared those routes against the maintenance path she had already found.

"There is a connection."

Aurelian looked at the updated map.

"To the strategic core?"

"Not directly, but close. The construct used this route to reach the central power distribution level."

A narrow line appeared through the station.

It entered through the same damaged ring section the expedition had already explored, continued through several maintenance corridors, crossed two industrial chambers, and eventually reached a sealed section below the strategic core.

Lysara studied it.

"How much of that route is still intact?"

"About seventy percent, according to the last usable records."

"When were those records made?"

Veylora paused.

"One hundred and eighty-six years ago."

Rhoswen looked toward Aurelian.

"Practically yesterday."

Aurelian ignored her.

The route was still better than entering through one of the active docks and fighting every defense system between the outer hull and the core.

More importantly, the large constructs rarely used it.

Eirenne had found only a few records of them entering the damaged ring during the last several centuries, probably because the area no longer contained anything worth repairing.

The smaller machines were another matter.

There could be hundreds inside.

"We can handle smaller constructs with drones," Lysara said. "The problem is getting through the sealed sections."

Eirenne brought up another piece of recovered data.

"I may have an answer for that."

She had found an old maintenance authorization stored inside the disabled construct.

It was not command authority, but it had once allowed the machine to open restricted doors while carrying out emergency repairs.

The authorization had expired centuries ago.

Annex Seven had continued accepting it anyway.

Aurelian was not surprised.

The station was still following emergency orders from the same period.

"If we copy it onto the drones?" he asked.

"Some doors may open."

"Some?"

"I would rather disappoint you now than promise every door in the station will cooperate."

"Fair."

Lysara prepared the first group.

Twenty combat drones entered through the damaged ring, followed by six heavier support frames carrying tools, power cells, and portable relay equipment.

Nobody went with them.

Aurelian wanted machines taking the first risks.

The group reached the position they had previously secured without trouble, then moved deeper along the recovered maintenance route.

The first old construct appeared after several minutes.

It was much smaller than the machines that had attacked the ships outside, only slightly larger than the support frames Lysara had sent in.

It came around a corner carrying a cutting arm and immediately charged.

The combat drones destroyed it before it got close.

Two more appeared farther ahead.

Then five.

The fighting remained brief.

These machines were dangerous in narrow corridors, but they had been built for repair work, not direct combat.

Even with improvised weapons, they could not stand against a prepared group of military drones.

Lysara did not let the drones chase anything that retreated.

They stayed on the route.

The first sealed door appeared almost three kilometers inside.

Veylora transmitted the recovered maintenance authorization.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

Then a pale light appeared over the door.

Emergency maintenance authority recognized.

The lock opened.

Rhoswen looked pleased.

"Finally, something in this place likes us."

"Do not get attached," Astra said.

The drones continued.

Beyond the door, the damage became much worse.

One entire corridor had collapsed, forcing the group through an old machinery chamber. Several sections had no power at all, and the drones had to place relay units behind them because the station’s internal structure kept interfering with communication.

They also began finding wreckage.

Not only machines.

Ships.

Aurelian leaned closer when the first recognizable hull section appeared on the feed.

It had been cut apart and dragged into the station long ago.

Farther ahead, another chamber contained pieces from at least four different Vhaloric vessels.

Engines had been removed.

Armor sections were missing.

Power systems had been stripped down to empty housings.

Lysara understood immediately.

"Replacement material."

Eirenne agreed.

"The constructs brought damaged ships inside and dismantled them."

That explained some of the wreckage surrounding Annex Seven.

Not every ship had been destroyed during whatever battle originally damaged the facility.

Some had probably arrived later.

Maybe they had followed the same recognition signal.

Maybe they had tried to dock.

Then the emergency systems decided they were unauthorized and turned them into spare parts.

Rhoswen became noticeably less amused by the station after that.

"How many?"

"Impossible to know," Lysara said. "These remains could have accumulated over centuries."

Aurelian looked at the stripped hulls.

"Keep moving."

The drones eventually reached the central power distribution level.

Unlike the outer sections, this part of Annex Seven was still functioning.

Lights remained active.

Doors opened and closed.

Old maintenance systems moved behind transparent panels.

The station looked less abandoned here.

That made Aurelian more cautious, not less.

"Slow down."

Lysara reduced the drones’ speed.

The decision proved useful almost immediately.

A security frame stepped out from a side passage.

It was different from the improvised maintenance constructs.

This one was clean.

Intact.

Its armor still carried the original Directorate markings.

It raised a weapon toward the drones.

Nobody fired.

Veylora transmitted the maintenance authorization.

The frame stopped.

Several uncomfortable seconds passed.

Then it lowered its weapon.

Emergency maintenance access acknowledged.

Proceed within assigned service route.

Rhoswen stared at it.

"That worked?"

"For now," Aurelian said.

The drones passed.

The security frame watched every one of them but did not attack.

That told Aurelian something important.

Not every system inside Annex Seven had become corrupted.

Some parts were still following their original rules.

The station could probably be recovered.

They just had to reach the part that mattered.

The route ended below the strategic core.

A massive sealed door blocked the final passage.

This time, the maintenance authorization failed.

Access denied.

Strategic command authority required.

Veylora tried twice more with different emergency codes.

The answer remained the same.

Lysara looked toward the feed.

"We can cut through."

Eirenne immediately disagreed.

"Not safely. That door is connected to the strategic core’s containment systems. Damaging it may trigger another response."

Aurelian thought for a moment.

"What about my reconstructed authority?"

"We can try."

The same limited command signature Annex Seven had accepted earlier was transmitted through the drone relay.

The station responded almost immediately.

Human claimant recognized.

Emergency command reconstruction remains incomplete.

Strategic core access denied.

Aurelian wasn’t surprised.

They already knew the station recognized him only at a restricted level.

But another message appeared before Eirenne could disconnect.

Secondary verification available.

Aurelian looked toward her.

"What does that mean?"

Eirenne was already searching the old protocol files.

"I don’t know yet."

Veylora found the answer first.

"Strategic facilities sometimes allowed emergency command restoration if the normal leadership structure was destroyed. A surviving Human officer could rebuild authority through local verification."

"How?"

"Depends on the facility."

The station answered that question.

Three requirements appeared.

Human biological confirmation.

Recognized Directorate command lineage or successor authority.

Emergency review by surviving strategic intelligence.

Rhoswen read the final requirement.

"Surviving strategic intelligence sounds promising."

Astra looked at her.

"Or dangerous."

"Those are not mutually exclusive."

Aurelian focused on the second requirement.

"Successor authority."

Eirenne understood where his attention had gone.

"The Directorate no longer exists."

"But Helion recognized us."

"Helion recognized Human emergency authority under old continuity law. That may be enough here, but we need proof the station will accept it."

"Can the first two requirements be done remotely?"

"Probably not the biological confirmation."

That meant someone eventually had to enter Annex Seven.

Aurelian had expected that from the beginning.

He still wasn’t going to send Lysara inside until the route was properly secured.

"Map everything between the hull opening and that door," he said. "Place relays, lock down side passages, and confirm every defense system you can find."

Lysara nodded.

"That will take several hours."

"Take the time."

The drones began working backward through the route.

Several damaged side passages were sealed with portable barriers.

Sensors were placed at junctions.

The security frame near the power level remained passive as long as nobody left the approved maintenance path.