The ship reached Crownward space without trouble.
By then, Eirenne had already finished sorting the first set of route data, the Halcyon Vault maps, and the basic recovery notes from the dead system.
She had not been idle for even a mont since coming aboard, and that was already starting to show in small ways.
Files that had been scattered were now in order.
Duplicate reports were cleaned.
Damaged archive fragnts were marked by value.
Even the cargo list had been corrected twice, once by Neris and once by Eirenne, which led to a quiet disagreent that ended with Neris admitting, very softly, that Eirenne’s version was more efficient.
Rhoswen had looked far too entertained by that.
Aurelian did not involve himself in the argunt. He only cared that the work was done properly.
The mont they reached Helion Bastion Twelve, the real transfer began.
Eirenne’s field core was moved out of the ship first. The process was not difficult, but it was delicate enough that everyone involved treated it carefully.
The core was large, heavy, and expensive in a way that could not be judged by material alone. It was not just equipnt.
It was Eirenne’s working body for now, and damaging it would be a stupid loss after going through all the trouble of bringing her here.
Seris and ren were both present when the core was brought into the prepared chamber.
At first, they said very little.
That was not surprising.
Eirenne was not like the awakened machines of the bastion. She had not grown slowly inside abandoned systems, shaped by isolation and old fear.
She had been designed, prepared, strengthened, and sent out by the Arcturus family for a commander who was expected to hold more than one star system one day.
To Seris and ren, that difference was clear almost imdiately.
Eirenne studied them as well, with the sa calm curiosity.
"So you are the awakened population here," she said.
Seris inclined her head. "Part of it."
ren added, "And you are the Commander’s appointed artificial intelligence."
"Correct."
Rhoswen leaned toward Neris and muttered, "They sound like they’re about to start comparing manuals."
Neris covered a small smile with one hand.
Aurelian heard them and ignored them.
Once the chamber was ready, Eirenne connected to the bastion systems.
The change was imdiate.
Not in a massive, dramatic way as power flow stabilized around her core. Data lines opened and then corrected themselves.
Several old bottlenecks in the bastion’s communication structure were identified before anyone even asked.
Eirenne did not seize control from Seris or ren, nor did she push Astercourt out of any administrative chain.
She simply linked in, looked around, and began making the whole system easier to understand.
A few minutes later, she appeared as a projection in the chamber again.
Her image was clearer now.
Still small, still formal, but sharper and more stable than before. It was obvious she was no longer running under the sa tight limits she had endured aboard the ship.
"This is much better," she said.
Rhoswen folded her arms. "You look happier."
"I am operating with less restraint."
"That sounds like happy."
"It is the closest practical version."
Aurelian looked to Neris. "Power draw?"
"Stable," Neris said. "High, but stable. The bastion can support her without trouble. Haven would not have been as comfortable."
That confird his decision.
Eirenne’s primary anchor would stay here.
From Helion Bastion Twelve, she could reach Haven through secured relays, assist Astercourt, support Seris and ren, and begin building the automated rear-defense model he had requested. It was not perfect yet, but it was the correct starting point.
Once the transfer settled, Aurelian expected to move on to Neris’s engine installation.
Instead, Eirenne spoke first.
"My lord, I need to correct my earlier surface search."
Aurelian turned toward her.
Rhoswen looked interested at once. "Correct how?"
"The scan I perford while we were leaving Halcyon Vault was limited by power, range, and the need to avoid wasting ti," Eirenne said. "Now that I have stable processing and access to the bastion’s archive comparison tools, I have finished checking the compressed vault index we recovered."
Neris looked up from her own display. "And?"
Eirenne brought up a list.
The room went quiet.
Aurelian did not react outwardly, but even he needed a mont to take in what he was seeing.
The Halcyon Vault was not rely holding a handful of useful pieces.
It had a real store of rare artifacts.
Not all of them were ready to use. So were damaged. So needed reclassification. So were old enough that even Eirenne wanted them inspected before anyone tried installing them on a ship. But the amount alone was far beyond what they had assud during the first visit.
Rhoswen stared at the list.
"That is not a small correction."
"No," Eirenne said. "It is not."
Neris leaned closer, her sleepy look gone completely. "Engines. Armor. shields. sensor arrays. hull materials. weapon cores. Auxiliary systems..."
"There are also over two thousand lower-grade pieces that I did not include in the main priority list," Eirenne added. "Most are not imdiately important, but they are not worthless."
Rhoswen slowly turned toward Aurelian. "We left all that behind."
"We did not know the full count then," he said.
"And now?"
"Now we go back properly."
That settled the matter.
The first trip had been fast because it had to be. Aurelian did not regret that. He had gone there for the engine, found Eirenne, secured both, and left without letting curiosity turn into delay.
Now the situation was different.
Eirenne was anchored. The vault was mapped. The risk profile was clearer. And most importantly, they had the ans to retrieve more without wasting the main fleet’s ti.
The old transport-support hull Eirenne had ntioned remained in Halcyon Vault’s inner bay, and with her stable connection restored, she could guide enough station robots to bring it to minimal operation.
It was not suitable for combat, and he had no intention of treating it like a warship, but as a cargo hauler for old artifacts and stored materials, it was exactly what they needed.
Seris and ren were tasked with preparing a retrieval team from the bastion.
Neris helped organize the cargo priorities.
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