Chapter 402: The Architecture Is Familiar

Meanwhile, Eirenne continued searching the captured construct.

The command records were not the only valuable thing inside.

Its memory also contained partial information about Annex Seven’s original purpose.

Strategic Coordination Annex Seven had not been a fleet base.

It had been a support facility for command networks operating across much of the old Directorate frontier.

The station received information from ships, relays, listening posts, supply networks, and military stations, then processed that information before passing it to senior commanders.

Aurelian understood immediately why the Destiny System had pointed him here.

This was exactly the kind of system Eirenne needed.

Her current processing ability was already far beyond that of ordinary fleet command systems, but the Crownward March was growing quickly.

Helion had its own patrol network.

Sanctuary Ardent had civilian and military traffic.

Larkspur Haven had settlement logistics.

Neutral stations were beginning to depend on Crownward routes.

The fleet itself was getting larger.

Every new position created more information.

More sensor feeds.

More transport schedules.

More repair requirements.

More things to compare at the same time.

Annex Seven had once been built to solve exactly that problem on a much larger scale.

Eirenne continued through the recovered specifications.

Then she stopped.

"I found the support core."

Aurelian looked at her.

"The relic?"

"Possibly."

She displayed an old technical entry.

Adaptive Strategic Cognition Matrix.

The description beneath it was damaged, but enough survived.

The matrix had been designed to work alongside a strategic intelligence, expanding the amount of information it could process while reducing delays between receiving data and making useful predictions.

It did not replace the intelligence.

It supported it.

Aurelian looked toward Eirenne.

"Compatible?"

"With me?"

"Yes."

She took longer than usual to answer.

"The architecture is related to systems used in my own design."

That caught Lysara’s attention through the channel.

"Related how?"

Eirenne showed another diagram.

"Different generation, different purpose, but the underlying command language is familiar. If the matrix is intact, I should be able to interface with it."

"Safely?" Aurelian asked.

"I would need to inspect it first."

"Then nobody connects you to anything until you do."

Rhoswen smiled.

"Eirenne was about to say that."

"I know."

Eirenne gave him a look but did not argue.

The recovered records revealed more.

Annex Seven had originally contained three major strategic systems.

The cognition matrix was the most important.

The second was a long-range coordination relay capable of handling enormous amounts of military traffic without relying on ordinary civilian networks.

The third was an emergency route prediction system designed for unstable regions.

Veylora immediately took an interest in that one.

"If it still works, it could improve navigation through Mournveil."

"By how much?" Lysara asked.

"Enough that I want it."

Selvarin’s voice came through the channel.

"That was not a number."

"I don’t have a number yet."

"You sounded very certain."

"I am certain that I want it."

Aurelian almost smiled.

At least they had found something worth all the trouble.

The station itself might be more valuable than the single relic the System had mentioned.

That did not mean they could simply take everything.

Annex Seven was still active, and seventeen large constructs remained inside its maintenance bays.

Probably hundreds of smaller machines were spread throughout the facility.

If they forced their way into the strategic core, the entire station might turn against them again.

Aurelian preferred another solution.

"Can we satisfy the successor authority requirement using Helion?"

Eirenne considered it.

"Possibly. Helion Bastion Twelve was a recognized Directorate military installation, and its command systems accepted your emergency authority. If we provide that record, Annex Seven may recognize continuity."

"Prepare it."

"I’ll need Lysara to send the station’s exact verification format."

"Do it."

The work continued into the night.

By the time the route had been fully mapped, the expedition had destroyed another eleven hostile maintenance constructs without losing a single combat drone.

Three security frames had been encountered in the functioning inner sections, but all accepted the copied maintenance authority and allowed the drones to pass.

More importantly, none of the seventeen large constructs appeared again.

They were still being repaired.

Veylora estimated that several would need at least a day before they could return to combat.

That gave them time.

Lysara finally sent the completed route map.

"We can reach the strategic door."

"Safely?" Aurelian asked.

"As safely as anything inside this station can be called safe."

Aurelian accepted that answer.

"Then nobody goes farther tonight."

Rhoswen looked offended.

"Again?"

"The route has existed for centuries. It can wait until morning."

"The strategic intelligence might disagree."

"Then it can continue doing what it has done for the last few centuries."

Astra covered a small smile.

Rhoswen gave up.

Aurelian looked at the technical records one more time.

The cognition matrix was still showing an active power connection.

So was the route prediction system.

Neither appeared heavily damaged.

If they could recover both, the expedition would already be worth the effort.

The cognition matrix could give Eirenne the processing support she needed as the Crownward March continued growing, while the route system could make movement through Mournveil safer for every ship that followed.

The long-range relay might be useful too, especially if Crownward territory continued spreading across disconnected frontier routes.

But those were problems for later.

First they had to convince Annex Seven that the people standing outside its strategic core were not invaders.

Aurelian looked at the station feed.

For centuries, the facility had been waiting for a commander while its machines slowly tore apart everything around them to keep it alive.

Now a Human commander had finally arrived.

The only problem was proving to a dead government’s machines that he had the right to tell them the war was over.

Eirenne finished preparing Helion’s continuity records and looked toward him.

"If Annex Seven accepts these, the successor authority requirement should be satisfied."

"And if it doesn’t?"

"Then we find another way."

Aurelian nodded.

That was good enough.

Tomorrow, Lysara would take a proper team into the station.

Not to destroy the strategic core.

Not to steal whatever remained inside.

They were going there to finish an emergency that should have ended centuries ago.

And if Annex Seven finally accepted that, the Crownward March might leave Mournveil with far more than the single relic they had come looking for.