Chapter 163: Meridian Goes Back To Start The Repairs

That was the balance Aurelian had been looking for.

He didn’t want to rush into a full salvage operation, and he wasn’t about to go back on a decision he had already made just because something new showed up.

At the same time, leaving everything untouched didn’t feel right either. What he needed was something in between, something that moved things forward without pulling attention away from the bigger plan.

This was that middle ground.

Not a full push.

Not ignoring the opportunity.

Just a small, controlled step that would make things easier later.

Rhoswen looked at him from across the room, her expression sharp as always, but this time more focused than impatient.

"So we’re not putting everything on hold just for that."

"No," Aurelian said.

"But we’re not leaving it alone either."

"No."

She thought about it for a moment, then gave a short nod, like that was enough of an answer.

That was all it took.

The plan came together quickly after that, without much argument or delay. Meridian would go back to the ruin field, but not with the idea of clearing everything.

She would take only what she needed, enough support, enough drones, enough tools to handle one clear task instead of trying to take on the entire field at once.

One ship.

One step.

Nothing more than that.

Aurelian would stay at Haven.

That part mattered more than anything else.

The route through Mournveil still wasn’t fully locked in, and the March itself was still taking shape.

Solenne was still working through raid planning, and there were too many moving parts that depended on him being present.

There was no reason for him to stand over Meridian while she handled the first phase of repairs, when there were other matters only he could decide.

So Meridian left again.

This time, not just to check.

But to work.

The days that followed split naturally between two things.

War preparation.

And restoration.

During the day, Aurelian worked through March matters with Astra, Astercourt, Neris, and Caelan. Training continued at Haven.

Production at the bastion didn’t slow down. Transport planning moved forward step by step.

At the same time, Lysara kept sending reports from Mournveil, each one adding more detail to the route.

Alongside all of that, Meridian’s work at the ruin field moved forward quickly.

Her first report focused on clearing the site.

The split cruiser had been buried more cleanly than expected, and as she worked closer to the hull, it became clear that it really was the best candidate for recovery.

The damage had been severe when it happened, but the surrounding structure hadn’t been crushed or twisted beyond use. It had been cut apart, driven into the ground, and left there.

That made a difference.

Her second report went further.

The actual repair had started. Temporary supports were being placed to hold the structure steady.

The two halves were being brought back into alignment. Damaged internal systems were being replaced where needed, and where they couldn’t be replaced, they were bridged carefully so the system could still function.

Structural welding had begun, slow and controlled, not rushed.

The third report was the one that made Aurelian stop what he was doing and read it properly, rather than just scanning it.

The ship was no longer in two pieces.

It was whole again.

Not fully repaired.

But whole.

The shape of it had come back, the outline of the class visible again in a way that made it clear this wasn’t just a wreck anymore.

The feed Meridian sent showed exactly what she meant. The hull still carried scars, still showed where it had been broken, but there was nothing about it now that felt beyond saving.

She was rebuilding it.

Step by step.

Rhoswen saw the same feed later and stared at it for a few seconds before speaking.

"That’s still ridiculous."

Aurelian didn’t argue with that.

Meridian kept working.

She repaired the parts that would have caused problems during activation, especially the older systems that couldn’t handle stress anymore.

She corrected small structural faults left behind by the crash and the years buried in the ground.

She brought the power system online slowly, testing each step instead of forcing it forward and risking failure.

She worked like someone fixing something that had been broken for a long time, careful and steady, making sure that when it came back, it would actually hold together instead of collapsing again.

A little over two days after she started, the message Aurelian had been waiting for finally came through.

The first cruiser was ready.

Not perfect.

Meridian made that clear right away.

Some armor still needed proper work in a full yard. A few outer sections weren’t at full strength yet. But the ship itself was stable, powered, and ready for awakening.

That was enough.

This time, Aurelian went in person.

He took Rhoswen with him, keeping the trip simple and focused instead of turning it into something larger than it needed to be.

The route was quiet, the system still empty, and when they reached the site, the change was clear even before Meridian’s full report finished loading.

The cruiser didn’t look dead anymore.

Damaged, yes.

Marked by everything it had gone through, yes.

But not dead.

The split line had been repaired, the hull resting on the broken surface of the world like something that had been dragged back from the edge and refused to stay down.

Meridian was waiting for them when they arrived. She looked more tired than before, but there was something more settled about her, too, like she had fully stepped into the work.

"There are still armor issues," she said as soon as Aurelian stepped down. "Nothing critical. Nothing that would stop activation. But it will need a full yard pass later." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Aurelian nodded. "You did well."

Meridian didn’t really respond to that, looking away almost immediately as if praise was the one part of the process she hadn’t figured out how to deal with yet.

Rhoswen walked along part of the hull, looking up at it as she moved.

"It still feels strange that this is the easy one," she said.

"The easy one is relative," Meridian replied.

That was true enough.

They moved inside not long after.

The interior matched what Meridian had already said. The space was tight, built for function over comfort, with narrow passages and systems packed close together.

It wasn’t unbearable, but it was clear that whoever designed it cared more about what it could do than how it felt to move through it.

Rhoswen looked around and shook her head slightly. "I’d hit something every time I turned."

"You probably would," Meridian said.

She led them straight to the command center.

Once there, the process was simple.