Chapter 415: Survey Cutter Ship 3
The discovery of the Human population at Orison changed the mood at Helion almost immediately.
Aurelian did not announce everything to the regional representatives.
There was no reason to spread half-finished information through the March before they understood what they were dealing with, especially when Valeris Reach was already nervous, and the people at Orison had not even been contacted yet.
Still, the people who needed to know were told.
Seris, Meren, Astercourt, Astra, Eirenne, and Neris joined Aurelian in one of Helion’s smaller command rooms less than an hour after the scout feed arrived.
Rhoswen remained at Valeris Reach.
Her orders had not changed.
Watch.
Prepare.
Do not provoke anyone.
She complained about the last part again, but she followed it.
Aurelian stood beside the main display while Eirenne showed the images the scout had captured.
Orison Fleet Service Yard Four looked worse every time he saw it.
The original Vhaloric station was still visible beneath everything added over the centuries, but large sections were now buried beneath new construction.
Old cargo frames had been turned into habitation blocks. Civilian ships had been cut apart and rebuilt into platforms.
Several abandoned mining vessels had been joined together around one side of the yard to create what looked like a permanent residential section.
It was ugly.
But it was alive.
Meren looked at the population estimate.
"Twenty thousand people minimum?"
"That is the current lower estimate," Eirenne said. "Actual numbers could be higher."
Seris looked toward Aurelian.
"And some of their ships attacked Valeris."
"Most likely."
"Do we know why?"
"No."
Astercourt folded her arms.
"Then we should avoid calling them enemies until we do."
Aurelian nodded.
"That is why Rhoswen is staying at Valeris."
Neris looked surprised.
"You managed to convince her not to investigate personally?"
"She has four patrol ships and a scout."
"That was not my question."
Aurelian ignored her.
Eirenne changed the display.
The image now showed the old Adaptive Recovery Foundry.
Most of its original specifications came from Annex Seven’s archive. The facility had been designed during the final period of the Vhaloric Directorate, when patrol fleets often had no access to proper replacement parts.
It used whatever was available.
Broken ships.
Damaged weapons.
Industrial machinery.
Recovered enemy technology.
Anything that could be modified into something useful.
Meren read through the description.
"If this system remained active for centuries, that would explain most of their fleet."
"Yes," Eirenne said.
"It would also explain why their ships look so different from one another."
"Probably."
Seris looked at the images of the Orison vessels.
"They are not badly built."
Aurelian had noticed that too.
They looked terrible.
That wasn’t the same as being weak.
The attacking ships near Valeris had fought well enough to destroy trained patrol vessels. Their construction was messy, but the weapons worked, and their crews understood how to use them.
Aurelian looked toward Eirenne.
"Any information about their government?"
"Nothing current."
"Old records?"
"The technical group left at Orison originally had an emergency council made up of senior engineers, medical staff, and military support officers."
"That was centuries ago."
"Yes."
Astercourt looked at the population estimate again.
"If their government developed from an emergency council, it might still be highly centralized."
"Or completely different," Meren said.
𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
"Also possible."
Aurelian did not like guessing.
They had enough information to know the situation mattered.
Not enough to know what to do about it.
"Contact comes first," he said. "No protection agreement with Valeris until we know whether Orison is willing to stop the attacks."
Seris frowned slightly.
"And if they are not?"
"Then we deal with that after we know why."
Astercourt looked at him.
"You are being careful."
"I have twenty thousand civilians sitting behind thirty-six armed ships. Careful seems useful."
No one disagreed.
The discussion continued for another hour.
In the end, they settled on a simple plan.
Rhoswen would remain at Valeris Reach and strengthen local patrol coordination without formally taking command of the system.
A second scout would approach Orison from a different direction.
Neither scout would cross the yard’s obvious defensive perimeter.
Once both had confirmed the same traffic patterns, Aurelian would send a direct communication request using old Vhaloric emergency channels.
If Orison answered, they would talk.
If it ignored them, they would decide what came next.
If it attacked the scouts, the problem would become much simpler.
Rhoswen liked that last part.
Aurelian did not say it to her.
With the immediate problem handled, he finally returned to the reason he had been at Helion in the first place.
The Crownward Administrative Charter.
Astercourt had spent most of the previous night cleaning up the final draft after the regional meeting.
It was still not a constitution.
Aurelian refused to call it one.
It did not create a kingdom.
It did not make him a monarch.
It did not erase local governments.
Instead, it established the rules every Crownward-controlled position had agreed to follow.
Common trade documentation.
Shared route standards.
Mutual defense procedures.
Rules for emergency authority.
Basic legal cooperation between settlements.
Recognition of local civilian governments.
And formal limits on the power of regional military command outside declared emergencies.
Aurelian read the document one more time.
"How long?"
Astercourt looked at him.
"Thirty-two pages."
"I meant the signing."
"Oh."
She checked the schedule.
"Maybe forty minutes."
Rhoswen’s voice came through the command channel from Valeris.
"I am glad I am not there."
Aurelian looked at Eirenne.
"Why is she listening?"
"She requested access."
"I am an important regional military figure," Rhoswen said.
"You are also two days away."
"That makes me no less important."
Astercourt looked tired.
"Can we continue?"
Aurelian nodded.
The signing would happen that afternoon in Helion’s main civic chamber.
Not because Aurelian wanted a ceremony.
Because Astercourt, Seris, Mirelle, and nearly everyone else had informed him that formally creating regional rules without publicly recording the agreement would be a terrible idea.
Aurelian had stopped arguing after the fourth person said the same thing.
By midafternoon, the chamber was full.
Not crowded.
Helion did not yet have the kind of population that filled every public space, but enough people had come that Aurelian immediately regretted agreeing to stand at the front.
Local workers occupied most of the seats.
Representatives from Larkspur Haven sat near the front.
Sanctuary Ardent’s delegates had delayed their departure so they could attend.
The protected former Compact station participated through a live transmission because its administrator had already returned home.
Elowen appeared remotely from M-17.
Neris sat with the logistics staff.