Aurelian placed the necessary source fragnts in place and began the awakening.
This ti, the response ca almost right away.
There was no resistance from the hull, no instability, no pause that made anyone wonder if sothing had gone wrong.
The reaction moved cleanly through the ship, and a mont later, a young woman appeared before them.
She had black hair and wore what looked like a worn military-style uniform.
Parts of her were still wrapped in bandages, but not because she was hurt personally, but sothing that is similar to how the ship is being repaired, and this is being shown through her body.
Even so, there was nothing weak about her first impression, as she still had that look of defiance to death.
The mont she fully steadied herself, she saluted.
"My na is Selvarin," she said. "Third prototype cruiser of the Thornwake line. Commander... thank you. I did not think I would be of use again.
Her voice was formal, but there was too much real feeling under the words for them to sound stiff. She ant what she said. That much was obvious.
Aurelian looked at her for a mont, then gave a small nod.
ridian stepped in right after that. Although she would like to see where this would lead, as an engineer, she needs to ensure everything is under control.
"Your armor still has unresolved faults," she said. "Nothing serious enough to stop movent or local combat, but you will need proper yard repair later."
Selvarin turned toward her, and the understanding ca across her face almost imdiately. She knew right away who had done the work that had brought her back.
"You repaired ."
"Yes."
The look in Selvarin’s face shifted just enough to show what she felt, and she didn’t need to add much for it to be clear.
"Then I owe you more than thanks."
ridian looked uncomfortable almost at once, like praise was one of the few things she didn’t know what to do with, so she turned back toward her display instead of answering properly.
Rhoswen, anwhile, looked openly pleased with the whole thing.
"So there really are three more waiting."
Selvarin’s eyes shifted toward the excavation feed, where the buried remains of the other cruisers still lay under dust, broken stone, and marker lines.
"Yes," she said quietly. "There are."
That hung in the air for a mont.
Aurelian let it sit just long enough, then moved the conversation back to where it needed to be.
"Welco to the Crownward March," he said. "Your sisters will be repaired in ti, but not all of it can happen under my direct watch."
"From this point onward, ridian stays here and continues the restoration work. Until this site is fully secured and the other ships are brought back, you are responsible for her safety and for the local periter around the field."
Selvarin answered at once.
"Yes, Commander."
That was enough for him, especially once the rest of the bond settled in and gave him a better sense of her.
As ridian had guessed, Selvarin was not weak.
She is a personification of a ship that has been through multiple battles and can stand on her own and protect.
And this too with no backup or resupply stations, as the place they are currently is still an abandoned part of the galaxy, and as such, her duty is heavy with the addition of ridian, who, although she has safety features, is primarily an engineering ship girl.
But still, Selvarin felt suited for that as she wants to be here and wait for her sisters to be unearthed.
ridian seed to think so, too.
"You’ll do," she said.
Selvarin looked at her, and for the first ti, there was the smallest trace of dry humor in her expression.
"I’ve just been assigned to protect the person who dragged back out of the grave. I had better."
That made Rhoswen laugh, and even Aurelian felt the edge of a smile touch his thoughts, though it never quite reached his face.
After that, the rest of the day was spent on practical work.
Now that there was another awakened shipgirl on site, the whole field could be organized more cleanly, and Aurelian had no intention of leaving things in a half-finished state if there were obvious improvents that could be made before he returned to the March.
So he went over the site with both ridian and Selvarin, reviewing what had already been done and what still needed tightening.
The defensive periter ca first.
Patrol drones were moved and reassigned so their coverage made more sense with Selvarin active.
Sensor lines were widened, giving an earlier warning if anything entered the region.
The excavation plan for the next cruiser was adjusted to take advantage of Selvarin’s own knowledge of the class, since no one understood the buried ships better than one of their sisters.
Support stock was checked and rebalanced to ensure ridian wouldn’t waste ti later by overlooking sothing simple.
Ergency withdrawal paths were marked again and cleaned up to avoid confusion if the site had to go defensive quickly.
Only after all of that was finished did Aurelian prepare to leave.
Rhoswen looked less irritated this ti than she had during the first visit, and that made sense.
Back then, the ruin field had felt like little more than a delay, four broken hulls under dead dust and no clear answer for when any of it would matter.
Now it was different. One ship had been restored and had awakened. ridian was working with Selvarin, standing guard.
The place no longer felt like a graveyard soone was rely thinking about.
Just before departure, Selvarin stopped him one last ti.
"Commander."
Aurelian turned to look at her.
She was standing near ridian, with the restored cruiser behind them and the other three hulls still waiting farther out under the dust.
The image was hard to ignore. A soldier who had been pulled back from ruin was now being asked to stand watch over others who had not woken yet.
"You ca back for ships no one else would have bothered looking for," she said. "I know what that ans."
Aurelian did not answer right away.
There was no need to make the mont bigger than it already was, and no need to dress it up with words that would only weaken it.
After a second, Selvarin saluted again, this ti cleaner and steadier than before.
"I will hold this place."
He believed her.
"Do that."
Then he boarded and left them there.
Three more cruisers waiting under the dust of a dead world beneath a dead star.
As this went through his mind, Rhoswen steered her ship back to Crownward March.
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