With Lysara still out in Mournveil and most of the March already turning its focus toward the coming strike, Aurelian shifted his attention to the other problem that had been waiting in the background this whole time.

The engineering hulls were ready.

Between the Tier III engineering ship blueprint, the added support coming from Helion Bastion Twelve, and the way Astercourt had forced the entire production process into proper order, a full batch of new construction ships had finally come off the line.

They weren’t rushed, but they weren’t ideal either. Some had been finished under better conditions than others, but overall, they were solid.

Their engines had already been pushed as far as they reasonably could be for that class, upgraded to sit right near the upper edge of what a ship like that could handle without turning into something else entirely.

That wasn’t meant to make them fast in a combat sense, but it did make them efficient, reliable, and capable of moving where they needed to go without becoming a burden.

That mattered for one main reason.

If the strike on the Kharov cluster had worked as he wanted, the ruin field ten light-years out would need to be used immediately afterward, while confusion was still spreading and before anyone had time to react properly.

There were four damaged cruisers sitting there, and if he wanted them recovered before the Kharov understood what had changed, then he needed engineering support that could actually handle the job.

Which meant he couldn’t wait any longer.

The awakening had to start now.

The activation chamber set aside for the process sat deep inside one of the bastion’s quieter industrial sections, far enough from the busy areas that failure wouldn’t disrupt anything important.

If things went poorly, it would stay contained. If things went well, it would still be easy to move forward from there.

Astercourt came with him at first, mostly because she wanted to see how the initial attempts went, though she had already made it clear she wouldn’t stay once things became repetitive.

Rhoswen came because she was curious, which wasn’t surprising. Seris and Meren joined as well, both because the ships had come from production lines tied to their authority and because they understood how important even a single awakened engineering shipgirl would be right now.

Astra didn’t come.

She had other things to handle, and more importantly, she trusted Aurelian to deal with this without needing to stand over his shoulder.

The first hull stood in its cradle under the white industrial lights, clean, finished, and silent, like something waiting for a signal it hadn’t received yet.

Aurelian stepped forward and began the process.

Nothing happened.

That wasn’t a surprise.

Older hulls were easier to awaken. Ships with history, preserved warframes, and things with continuity behind them responded more readily.

These were new. Freshly built. They had no past, no memory, nothing that made awakening easier.

They could still awaken, but it wasn’t guaranteed, and he is able to awaken and add them to his fleet because of their uses and their roles, which are different, which allows him to add a few more compared to the cruiser.

As he thought about that, he moved to the next one, again, nothing.

Then the next.

Still nothing.

The fourth.

The fifth.

By the time the fifth one failed, Rhoswen had folded her arms, clearly not impressed.

Astercourt, still holding one of her slates, didn’t even look up. "Good thing you are not the commander, or this would have been a different story altogether."

"Yeah, right, but the awakening rate is so bad, even though we built them."

"That’s not how probability works."

Rhoswen looked like she wanted to argue, then stopped when she realized she didn’t actually have anything better to say.

Aurelian didn’t react.

He just kept going.

Another hull.

Nothing.

Another.

Still nothing.

One after another, they remained silent.

By the tenth, Rhoswen had stopped commenting.

By the twelfth, Astercourt finally looked up, then spoke in a flat tone. "I’m going back to actual work. Inform me when something useful happens."

She didn’t wait for a response.

She just left.

That left Aurelian, Rhoswen, Seris, and Meren in the chamber, standing in front of the next untouched hull.

Aurelian stepped forward again.

The thirteenth.

This time, something changed.

At first, it was just a faint light, spreading slowly through the seams of the hull, almost like something waking up from deep inside.

Then it grew stronger, forming a steady pulse, and after that came the clear feeling of a connection forming where there had been nothing before.

The chamber systems reacted a moment later, adjusting automatically as the awakening process took hold.

Rhoswen straightened immediately. "There."

The light built for a few seconds, then settled as the person inside slowly materialized.

When it was done, the figure standing in front of them wasn’t imposing or dramatic, but she was real.

A young woman with short iron-gray hair, steady eyes, and a look that suggested she cared more about getting to work than about anything else.

The bond quality wasn’t high enough for frontline combat, but that didn’t matter.

That wasn’t her purpose.

She looked at Aurelian first, then around the engineering bay, taking everything in with calm focus.

"So I made it," she said.

Aurelian nodded once. "You did."

Her first questions came right away, and they were exactly what they should have been.

"What line am I from?"

"Engineering," he said.

She nodded slightly. "That makes sense."

Then her eyes moved across the rows of still-silent hulls.

"Am I staying here?"

Seris and Meren both watched Aurelian closely at that point. Not because it was a sensitive question, but because the answer would affect how things balanced between Haven and the bastion.

Aurelian didn’t hesitate.

"Yes," he said. "For now. The bastion needs someone here, and you’re the first one who answered."

That seemed to settle her completely.

"Good," she said. "Then show me where the worst damage is."

Rhoswen let out a short laugh. "You just woke up."

"And?"

Rhoswen looked at Aurelian, as if she were pointing out that the new one already had a point.

She did.

Aurelian handed over a task packet and gave her a temporary designation, something to work under until something better came along.

That handled the first success, but the rest of the batch was still waiting, and there was no reason to stop early.

So he continued.

Another hull.

Nothing.

Another.

Still nothing.

The process kept going until only one remained.

By then, even Rhoswen looked as if she were starting to think the first success might also be the only one.

Then the last hull lit another purple.