"That matches my own judgment."

"Then I’ll have the fabrication teams start the preliminary review," she said. "But this won’t happen before the Mournveil hunt."

"No," Aurelian said. "The hunt comes first."

That was the correct order of things. The engineering vessel upgrade, the ruin recovery, the possible awakening of four damaged historical cruisers, all of it mattered, but none of it was arriving within the next few days. The beast migration was.

And the migration would not wait for them to be ready.

Once he gave the order, Astercourt left to set the technical side in motion. Seris and Meren would be drawn into it as well, no doubt, because Helion Bastion Twelve had the archive depth and technical labor to support that kind of work better than Haven alone could manage, which is something he is happy to see, as he can finally have them help out with something.

For the first time in a while, that left Aurelian with a narrow strip of time, and although he knows that it is inevitable, it still makes him grumble about the timing of things.

But before he could think much about it, Astercourt came by and reminded him that he should go back and cultivate his body so that he would not fall behind and not be able to advance after the hunt.

So he went to the gravity chamber to restart his cultivation, which, although it is something he finds enjoyable, as you can feel your body getting stronger, is tedious and something that many young people hate and love.

The room had become too familiar by now, not because he liked it, but because he had been here for so long that it had become a part of life that felt empty without it.

His commander’s advancement was not only about fleet bonds and battlefield gains. His own body had to keep pace as well, especially this far from the deeper support structures of core territory.

Out here, progress came slower and demanded more effort, which was irritating but unavoidable.

He entered the chamber, raised the field, and began.

It was hard work in the least glamorous way possible.

Just pressure, endurance, controlled strain, and the steady shaping of a body that needed to carry far more than an ordinary man’s would ever be asked to bear.

The resources he had brought still helped, and Elowen had quietly added her own contributions by producing biological support materials for him when she could, though none of it changed the basic truth that effort still had to be paid in full.

Time passed slowly inside the field.

There was no distraction.

No noise.

Only the steady weight pressing down and the quiet count in his own head as he held position, adjusted, and pushed through each cycle without breaking form.

At one point, while holding through a heavier cycle, his thoughts drifted back to the coming beast hunt.

Voidshade Fenrir were aggressive enough that capture would be more trouble than it was worth.

That was a pity, because properly managed beast stock could become a steady source of useful materials.

But the clue had been very clear about the nature of the migration. These things were going to come through violent and hungry, and the cleanest answer was to kill them fast and harvest what could be harvested afterward.

That still had value.

Fragments. Biological matter. Possibly complete higher-grade source yield if any of the older pack leaders proved strong enough.

Even if the latter did not happen, the first two were reason enough on their own. Blue-grade source fragments were still useful to him, and he had no intention of pretending otherwise.

He adjusted his stance slightly as the field shifted again, muscles tightening under the increased pressure.

The hunt would not be complicated.

The difficulty would come from scale and speed.

They would need to intercept, break the pack, and clean up without letting anything slip through toward more fragile zones. That meant coordination, not just strength.

By the time he finished, he was tired enough that his thoughts had narrowed to wanting to go back to bed and take a nap.

But he couldn’t do that just yet, he let the field drop slowly, letting his body adjust back without rushing it.

He showered, changed, and returned to the command side of Haven just as the next reports began to come in.

The beast-hunt preparations were proceeding well.

Lysara had already adapted further to her new drive and was nearing full comfort with it.

Rhoswen was still rougher around the edges, but improving quickly because she was forcing herself to repeat the same control sequences until they no longer felt new.

The engineering ship’s future engine modification had entered preliminary design review.

Haven remained stable. The bastion remained active. Solenne was still on the return approach with the extracted populations.

Everything was moving.

Not fast enough to be comfortable.

But fast enough to matter.

Then, two days before the Voidshade Fenrir migration was due to cross the twin-star pocket in Mournveil, another report arrived.

Solenne had entered the outer approach to Larkspur Haven.

Aurelian paused reading for half a second, then opened a direct command link.

He did not wait for her to finish full orbital approach or settle into formal contact. The channel locked in quickly, and Solenne appeared on the display from her command space, still in transit.

"You returned at the right time," Aurelian said.

Solenne’s mouth curved very slightly. "Oh? Why do you say that?"

He could hear the fatigue under her steadiness, not because she sounded weak, but because he knew her well enough now to notice the difference.

"How bad was the loading?" he asked.

"Manageable," she said. "The additional population slowed the exit, but not enough to break the operation. Vaeren’s judgment was sound. They were worth taking." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"I read the report."

Behind her, one of the tactical overlays shifted and then narrowed away, which probably meant she had already delegated the next layer of arrival work before even answering him.

Aurelian gave his next order without wasting time.