Chapter 414: Survey Cutter Ship 2

"That description is not especially comforting after Annex Seven."

"No."

The repair yard had been designed to keep damaged ships fighting with whatever material it could find.

If its command structure had failed in the same way Annex Seven’s had, then it might have spent centuries collecting ships and rebuilding them.

But Annex Seven had remained near its station.

These attackers were traveling much farther.

That suggested something had changed.

Someone, or something, had given them a reason to expand.

Aurelian privately opened the Destiny System again when he was alone later that evening.

He asked about Orison Fleet Service Yard Four.

The answer came after a short delay.

Surviving Vhaloric infrastructure confirmed.

Adaptive Recovery Foundry operational probability: high.

Independent command authority present: high probability.

Biological Human population: present.

Hostility source: unresolved.

Strategic value: moderate.

Recovery potential: high.

Aurelian stared at the fourth line.

Humans were there.

He closed the System.

Nobody else saw the result.

Nobody else knew he had asked.

When he returned to the command room, he simply gave Eirenne another ordinary task.

"Search for life-support requirements in the old Orison records."

She looked toward him.

"Why?"

"If people stayed there after the Directorate collapse, they needed food, water, and habitat space. Find out where the yard supported civilian populations."

Eirenne nodded.

"That may tell us where survivors would live."

"Exactly."

Astra looked at him.

"You think someone is still there."

"I think we should check before Rhoswen starts treating the place like a machine nest."

"Good idea."

The message from Valeris Reach arrived the following morning.

Rhoswen had reached the system.

Her first transmission showed a large industrial habitat orbiting a pale gas giant, with two smaller stations farther away and dozens of mining ships moving between the moons.

The place looked busy.

It also looked nervous.

Several armed civilian vessels approached the Crimson Bulwark before turning away once Crownward identification was confirmed.

Rhoswen appeared on the main display.

"We’re here."

Aurelian looked behind her.

"No damage?"

"Commander, I traveled for two days. I did not fight the road."

"Just checking."

She ignored that.

"The Valeris council wants to speak with me immediately."

"Speak with them."

"They also asked whether Crownward protection begins now."

Aurelian frowned.

"What did you tell them?"

"That I don’t have authority to agree to that."

He paused.

Rhoswen smiled.

"I can do diplomacy."

"Apparently."

Astra looked almost impressed.

Rhoswen continued.

"I also inspected the surviving patrol ship."

"And?"

"The damage matches the report, but we found something the Alliance team missed."

Aurelian leaned forward.

"What?"

Rhoswen sent an image.

A piece of metal had been pulled from the damaged patrol ship’s outer armor.

It was part of a projectile.

Not unusual by itself.

The markings were.

Vhaloric maintenance code.

Eirenne examined it immediately.

"That is not ammunition."

Rhoswen nodded.

"We thought the same thing."

Aurelian enlarged the object.

It was a broken piece from some kind of industrial component that had been cut down and fired through a kinetic weapon.

Improvised ammunition.

Made from old Vhaloric machinery.

"Orison," Astra said.

Aurelian nodded.

The connection was no longer just a possibility.

"How soon can you reach the old repair yard?"

"About fourteen hours."

"Don’t go yet."

Rhoswen’s face fell.

"We have a scout."

"Use it."

That improved her mood slightly.

Aurelian continued.

"Send the scout toward Orison Yard Four. Passive sensors only. Do not enter the system if there are active contacts."

"And if we find the missing ships?"

"Observe."

"And if we find the attackers?"

"Observe."

Rhoswen sighed.

"You really enjoy that word."

"I enjoy knowing what I’m shooting at before the shooting starts."

"Less exciting."

"More useful."

The scout departed Valeris Reach less than an hour later.

Aurelian remained connected through the long relay chain while it traveled.

Fourteen hours was too long to sit in the command room waiting, so he returned to the charter work, reviewed Helion production reports, approved Neris’s logistics refit, and received another update from Annex Seven.

The repaired long-range relay there had reached forty-one percent operational capacity.

Meridian expected a stable Helion connection within two days.

Good news.

Aurelian barely had time to appreciate it before Rhoswen called again.

Her expression had changed.

The usual excitement was gone.

"We found Orison."

Aurelian immediately opened the scout feed.

The old Vhaloric repair yard appeared near a small red star.

It was enormous.

Not as large as Helion Bastion Twelve, but much larger than the records suggested.

New structures surrounded the original facility.

Some were made from Vhaloric components.

Others were clearly built from dismantled civilian ships.

Dozens of vessels sat around the station.

Aurelian counted twenty-eight before Eirenne’s analysis marked several more behind the repair structures.

Thirty-six ships.

At least.

Some were small.

Others were cruiser-sized.

All were mismatched combinations of different hull designs.

Then the scout found the habitats.

Lights covered them.

Life-support emissions were active.

Transport craft moved between the station and several converted mining vessels.

Astra stared at the feed.

"So there are people."

"Yes," Aurelian said.

Rhoswen’s voice came quietly through the channel.

"More than a few."

Eirenne estimated the population from power use and traffic.

"At least eighteen thousand. Possibly over twenty-five thousand."

That was far beyond the three hundred technicians who had once remained behind.

They had survived.

Not only survived.

They had grown.

Aurelian looked at the strange fleet surrounding Orison Yard Four.

Whatever had happened there over the centuries, this was not simply an old machine system running without orders.

It was a society.

A Human one.

And some part of that society had started attacking its neighbors.

Rhoswen looked toward him through the channel.

"What now?"

Aurelian studied the traffic around the yard.

There were families in those habitats.

Workers.

Children, probably.

People who might know nothing about the attacks being carried out by the ships around them.

That changed the problem completely.

"Bring the scout back."

Rhoswen nodded.

"And the fleet?"

"Stay at Valeris."

"For how long?"

"Until we know who we’re dealing with."

Aurelian looked once more at Orison Yard Four.

He had expected machines.

Instead, he had found another lost Human population living around the remains of the Directorate.

Annex Seven had needed someone to tell its machines that the emergency was over.

Orison might be harder.

Machines could follow a new order.

People had to be convinced.