Lysara seed to know exactly what he was thinking.
"My class was built around sustained laser dominance," she said. "Against damaged or poorly protected opponents, we were excellent. Against strong shields, less so than the Directorate’s true line-breaking classes."
Aurelian nodded. "I see, and you said you are missing sothing."
She gave him a quick nod as she explained.
"Yes. The large breaching weapon. In Directorate records, it was called the Severance Lance. If I had been fitted with it, my class would have crossed into a higher category in both cost and authority."
"Then why weren’t you?"
Lysara rested her chin lightly against one hand and thought for a mont before answering.
"Most likely because frontier commands were never trusted enough," she said. "That kind of weapon relied on higher-order technology, and equipping border fleets too well often made central governnts nervous. Strong frontier forces do not always remain obedient frontier forces."
Aurelian could believe that easily.
If anything, it sounded painfully normal, and sothing that he had to make sure to take care of when he is in that state, but his situation will be different due to the presence of the shipgirls.
She continued, more thoughtful now.
"If we had been fully upgraded, the Halcyon Ward class would not have remained rely a heavy cruiser line. We would also have needed engine reinforcent and deeper power support to sustain both the primary laser systems and the Severance Lance together. But none of that happened. At so point, repairs stalled, my base emptied, and then everything went quiet."
She looked at the old room around them briefly.
"My mory fades after that, until you ca and awakened ."
Aurelian glanced down at the open slots in her loadout and felt the sa thing he always felt when he saw an incomplete but promising hull.
Potential.
Twenty weapon slots still open was not a small thing.
Even without her original breaching weapon, she had plenty of room for improvent later.
"I can work with this," he said.
Lysara’s expression relaxed slightly at the answer, as if that mattered more to her than praise would have.
Then she added sothing else, and this interested him just as much.
"I also rember so of the Directorate’s old outposts and reserve sites across this region," she said. "Not all of them, but enough. If you have ti later, so may still be useful. Equipnt, records, sealed depots, perhaps more. I cannot guarantee what survived, only that they existed."
That was an unexpected gain.
Aurelian had already co here for one heavy cruiser and one archaeological ambush. Hearing that there might be more scattered assets left behind in this region only made the entire zone more valuable.
"Good," he said. "We’ll make use of that."
The tea ended not long after.
There was no reason to sit in the old captain’s cabin forever, especially not with a Kharov archaeological fleet eventually passing nearby and an underground base still needing to be searched properly.
Solenne had already reported that the outer space around the planet remained quiet, but he had no intention of stretching good fortune for no reason.
Lysara stood with him, and the two made their way toward the release controls of the underground ship warehouse.
That was when the next irritation appeared.
The Directorate had layered a ridiculous number of procedures into the launch sequence.
Verification chains.
Redundant lockouts.
Power routing confirmations.
Regional authority checks that no longer mattered because the people who had written them had been dead for who knew how long.
Aurelian stared at the display for a mont, then slowly exhaled.
"This empire really did not trust its own outer sectors."
Lysara looked almost apologetic, though there was so dry amusent in her voice, too.
"There was a major frontier rebellion once, long before my ti, or so I was told. Since then, the center liked restrictions very much. Even simple departures beca ceremonies and long-winded processes that had to go through multiple hands."
"Rebellion, huh?" Aurelian muttered.
Lysara moved to the control interface herself after that, and it beca obvious she still rembered the sequence much better than he ever would have by sight alone.
Even then, it still took ti. The old protocols had to be satisfied one layer at a ti, and more than once, he felt like the dead Directorate was trying to annoy him from beyond the grave as a last farewell gift.
But eventually, after more than ten minutes of confirmations, the final lock was released.
Power surged through the old bay as most of the doors leading outside slowly began to open.
The heavy cruiser woke properly.
Seeing this, Lysara’s eyes sharpened at once, and for the first ti since eting her, the calm elegance gave way to sothing brighter and more alive, a woman rembering what motion felt like after being trapped too long.
She did not waste a second.
The ship accelerated forward through the warehouse channel, clearing the bay and bursting out from its underground prison into open sky with a speed that was almost joyful.
After all those years in silence, the Halcyon Ward-class heavy cruiser returned to the stars.
Above the dead world, Solenne imdiately adjusted formation to receive the new ship, while Rhoswen’s voice ca over the line with unconcealed interest.
"So this is our new sister?"
Lysara’s answer was smooth, despite the excitent beneath it.
"Hello, everyone."
Aurelian stepped onto the bridge after the transfer and looked out through the display at the cruiser now flying free beside them.
One more ship.
One more piece in a fleet that was steadily becoming large with every kind of shipgirl he would need.
And sowhere ahead, still moving toward them on a route he already knew, there was a Kharov archaeological fleet carrying things he fully intended to take.
Aurelian folded his hands behind his back and let his gaze settle on the star map.
"Good," he said quietly. "Now let’s finish the rest of what we ca here for."
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