"Yes."

She looked a little too satisfied with herself for being right again, but she did not say anything more about it.

She let it go, which Aurelian appreciated. There were enough things to deal with already without turning small points into long arguments.

A short while later, Aurelian brought Seris and Meren back into the active channel and explained the updated plan.

He kept it simple and direct. They both listened carefully, and when he finished, neither of them objected. If anything, they looked slightly relieved.

Having a clear direction was what they had hoped for, as it would mean Aurelian had agreed to what their clansmen wanted.

"That is acceptable," Seris said.

"The ones who want to come to Larkspur Haven will wait," Meren added. "We will make sure they understand the delay is logistics, not hesitation."

"Good," Aurelian said. "Start organizing the group that is staying. I want labor assignments in place. Sort them by skill. Set up technical teams, archive recovery groups, maintenance chains, and drone supervision cells. Do not leave them idle just because they are not moving yet."

Both of them nodded right away, as they understood what he meant. Idle people caused problems, not always immediately, but eventually, as they tend to feel the need to do something, even if it means riots. It was better to give them structure early instead of trying to fix things later.

Once that was settled, the conversation shifted to more practical work.

The bastion’s assembly plants needed to come back online, at least partially. Component manufacturing, repair stock production, and lower-tier machine support are all needed to resume operations.

Before Aurelian had taken control, most of that had been slowed down or shut off entirely. The bastion had been trying to survive quietly, conserving resources and avoiding attention.

That had made sense before. It did not anymore.

Now it needed to be useful, and useful meant active. It meant parts moving, drones working, sealed sections reopening in a controlled way instead of staying locked indefinitely.

That way, he can use both the Bastion and Haven to make sure that they can bring out what they are best at and help him deal with all the supply problems he has now.

By the time the call ended, Seris and Meren had enough work to keep them occupied for a long time.

Later, when things finally quieted down and the flow of reports slowed to a steady background level, Lysara sat on the edge of a nearby console and looked at him.

"You were right."

Aurelian glanced up briefly. "About what?"

"They adapted quickly."

He looked back at the fading bastion reports for a moment before answering.

"That is to be expected as they are just AI with human emotions, so they are able to adjust quickly," he said. "And that is what I like about this race."

Lysara thought about that, then nodded slowly.

"That sounds about right."

The next day, Astercourt arrived.

She went to where Aurelian and others were without much delay, knowing today would be a hard day at work.

Aurelian noticed the difference almost immediately as she started working immediately, which is what he liked about her, and he couldn’t wait to wake up other ship girls of the same class as hers.

"Commander," she said, giving a small nod. "I reviewed the transfer estimates on the way in. You should have called for me earlier."

Lysara smiled slightly from the side. "I said the same thing."

Aurelian ignored both of them.

"Your task is simple," he said. "You handle intake planning for the awakened group from the bastion. You sort labor priorities. You clean up the administrative mess. And you make sure Haven’s reconstruction stops losing time to bad coordination."

Astercourt did not hesitate. "Understood."

The changes started almost immediately. Once she took over the report flow, things stopped piling up around Aurelian.

Work orders became clearer. Fewer things reached him half-finished. Problems got sorted before they grew large enough to matter.

Fabrication needs were organized. Labor assignments made more sense. Small disputes stopped getting passed up the chain unless they actually needed to be. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

For the first time in a while, things felt like they were moving in a straight line.

It should have happened sooner. Aurelian knew that. At one point, after watching Astercourt redirect several issues away from him in the space of a few minutes, he said, mostly to himself, "I should have brought you in earlier on this project, but Astra needed help too."

She looked up from what she was doing. "It is understandable."

Lysara gave a sidelong glance at that, not even trying to hide it. Aurelian did not react.

By the end of the day, the connection between Helion Bastion Twelve and Larkspur Haven had started.

Transfers were being planned in stages. The bastion was slowly coming back to life under Seris and Meren. Haven’s reconstruction was still heavy, but it was no longer spreading out of control.

Things were still messy. Still incomplete. But they were moving in the right direction.

For the first time since taking control of both locations, the two places no longer felt like separate problems but rather as parts of the same system.

Although not everything was finished, it is good progress.

And that mattered, because the Kharov were still out there. When the time came to deal with them properly, Aurelian did not want to rely on half-built systems and rushed decisions.

He wanted structure. He wanted working supply lines. He wanted trained people who knew what they were doing.

He wanted production that could keep up with demand. He wanted a system that did not fall apart the moment pressure increased.

It wasn’t just about being strong. It was about staying steady and keeping things running without causing problems somewhere else.

It meant having enough control that every step forward didn’t quietly turn into a setback in another area.

He went through the updated reports again, this time without having to jump in and correct anything.