Aurelian carried the blueprint packet the manager had provided and used it only as a guide for the first few turns, because, after years of academy training, he could read ship layouts quickly and understand the basics necessary for his future career.
When they reached the control center, Aurelian stopped in front of the central interface and opened his storage.
Purple source fragnts appeared in a neat stack, each one holding that restrained glow that marked higher density and higher value.
He did not dump them carelessly.
He placed them into the interface feed in a controlled stream, watching the system response and the initial acceptance curve the way a careful commander watched fuel flow before a jump.
After two hundred fragnts, the ship’s internal systems reacted more strongly, and Aurelian felt the subtle shift in the air as the hull went from dormant tal to sothing that was starting to wake.
He paused, asured the response again, then stopped.
"That is enough," he said calmly.
Astra’s eyes remained on the interface.
"You are not going to continue?" she asked.
"There is no point," Aurelian replied. "If it is going to answer, it will answer, and if it will not, then pouring more into it just wastes resources and teaches bad habits."
Astra did not smile, but there was a faint approval in her eyes as she knew what her commander said was right, and sothing that is important because so ships just need more ti, and just dumping source fragnts will not solve the problem.
Once the feed was complete, Aurelian stepped back.
The activation phase began.
For several minutes, nothing dramatic happened, no shaking hull, no violent surge, only a soft increase in system hum and a faint, steady pulse of light that moved through the control center like the ship was breathing for the first ti.
Aurelian and Astra left the captain’s cabin and waited in the corridor outside, not because they were nervous, but because they did not crowd the mont a shipgirl decided whether to step into the world.
The wait was not long.
Ten minutes passed with the kind of quiet that felt heavier than noise, and then a purple light flared inside the cabin, bright enough that it spilled into the corridor through the seam of the door.
Aurelian’s gaze sharpened imdiately, and Astra’s posture shifted by a fraction, not defensive, just alert.
The door slid open.
A girl stepped out.
For the first second, she looked like she had walked out of a combat briefing instead of a birth, because she was wearing a powered fra that hugged her limbs and shoulders in clean armored segnts, and in her hands she carried a compact shield unit that unfolded and locked into a full tower profile with a single smooth motion.
Her hair was a deep red, close to dark crimson that looked almost black until the light caught it, and her eyes were sharp in the way defensive specialists often were, because people who existed to stand in front of danger learned early not to blink first.
She looked at Aurelian, and the intensity softened into sothing steady and sincere.
"Commander," she said, voice clear and grounded, "your most trusted shield is here to report for duty."
Aurelian’s expression did not change much, but his relief was real, because the mont she spoke, the bond had already started forming in the background of his network, like a second anchor dropping into place.
He glanced once at the armored fra.
"Do you have sothing more comfortable?" he asked calmly, keeping his tone normal instead of making the mont awkward. "We can talk like this if you prefer, but it looks like you ca out ready to charge into a war."
For half a second, the new shipgirl hesitated as if she had not considered that appearance could be a problem, then she nodded quickly.
"Yes, Commander, one mont."
The powered fra shimred, broke into clean light segnts, and vanished into storage as if it had never existed, leaving her in a simple academy-style uniform that sat naturally on her smaller fra, and the difference was almost comical in a way that made the transition feel more human rather than less.
Aurelian’s eyes flicked over her again, taking in the details properly now that she looked like a person instead of a walking weapon.
"That’s better," he said, then extended his hand. "I’m Aurelian Vale Arcturus. Welco."
She stepped closer and took his hand, grip firm but careful.
"I am willing to serve you until I die," she said with a look that made anyone understand that what she said was serious.
Astra watched the handshake without interrupting, then stepped forward slightly, because this introduction mattered too.
"I am Astra," she said, tone composed. "Black Crown’s shipgirl, and your senior in this fleet."
The new shipgirl’s eyes lit up for a second, then steadied as if she had recognized a difference in pressure that her instincts could not ignore.
"I understand," she replied, respectful without being frightened. "I am under your guidance."
Aurelian gave a small nod, satisfied with that.
Then his Commander Network was fully updated, and he did what he always did when sothing important happened: he checked the information instead of relying on instinct alone.
The ship’s status appeared first.
User Comments
0 comments from readers