Chapter 168: Moving Towards The Core Of The Site

This is because Aurelian knew he had been more reckless before.

Looking back now, it wasn’t hard for him to admit that. There had been a time, not even that long ago, when anything hidden or unknown would pull him in almost without thinking.

If something looked sealed, abandoned, or half-dead from the outside, that alone had been enough reason to go in first and figure things out later. Back then, the idea of risk didn’t carry the same weight because he didn’t have much behind him to lose.

That had changed.

Larkspur Haven had changed that.

Helion Bastion Twelve had changed that.

Building something that actually mattered, something that depended on him staying alive and making the right calls, had changed the way he thought about these situations.

It wasn’t just about what he could gain anymore. It was about what he could lose if he made the wrong move.

So even though he trusted Eirenne and knew she would always consider his best interests, he didn’t move right away, as he also wanted to start this habit for future situations.

He checked first.

That was the correct choice, and he knew it without having to think too hard.

Eirenne seemed to understand that as well.

"Master is being cautious about this? This is new," she said from the main display, her small projected form still calm and composed, standing in the middle of everything that had just happened.

"But I am still happy to see that, although I have only seen you for the first time, I have all the data about you from the Arcturus database and know that you like these kinds of sites, but it is good to check beforehand."

’Master is maturing, madam would be happy to see this,’ Eirenne thought as she let her master do whatever check he wanted to do.

Rhoswen glanced at the projection and then back at Aurelian.

"So what next?"

"Hmm, after checking the surroundings, let’s follow these ships," he said.

The two surviving patrol ships were still drifting where they had been left, damaged and slow, still trying to follow routines that no longer had enough power behind them to matter.

They looked weak, but that didn’t mean much on its own. A ship could look like it was barely holding together and still cause problems if someone got careless.

So Aurelian didn’t go himself.

He then sent unmanned units to check the situation inside the ships because Eirenne was unable to access the cameras.

The frames moved across the short distance, and all three of them watched the feed as they made contact.

The first hull barely resisted. Its shield was so weak it looked like it was only there out of habit, not because it could actually stop anything. The frame cut through it easily, entered the ship, and started its scan.

The report came back quickly.

Energy levels were low.

Very low.

The ship could still move and respond to commands, but its weapons were almost useless.

Energy systems didn’t have enough power to matter, and while some physical weapons were still there, there was no real ammunition left to support them. It still looked like a warship, but it couldn’t act like one.

The second ship was the same.

Neris went over the data as it came in.

"Looks like Eirenne is right about the ships," she said. "These ships are nearly empty both in personnel and energy-wise."

Rhoswen crossed her arms.

"That doesn’t mean the center is safe."

"No," Aurelian said. "It doesn’t, but as Eirenne said before, she is able to access the whole situation, so instead of trying to be too safe, we can just move cautiously."

And he knew that with Eirenne, they would be safe, but he still wanted to go check, not only because of some kind of ceremony about the dangers, but also to see if there were any remains in those ships.

But there were none, which kinda sucks, since he wanted to see what people from another civilization looked like.

And also because weak patrols didn’t mean there wasn’t a trap deeper in. They didn’t mean there weren’t failsafes or hidden systems waiting to activate. And they definitely didn’t mean there weren’t stronger defenses closer to the center.

A place like this had lasted too long to trust at a glance.

Aurelian kept watching the drifting hull in front of them, letting the situation settle into something simple.

If this had been his system, he would have kept stronger defenses on the outside, even if everything else was failing.

That was the basic way to hold control. The fact that this outer layer was so weak suggested it wasn’t being managed properly anymore.

Which meant the weakness was real.

But that didn’t automatically make the center safe.

He looked back at Eirenne.

"Let’s go check out the situation in the center," he said.

She nodded.

"Good."

There was a short pause, then she added, "Why do we do about the ships in front of us?"

Rhoswen looked over as well, waiting for an answer.

Aurelian didn’t respond to that right away.

What mattered wasn’t what to do with these ships; what mattered was whether destroying them caused some kind of sequence of events.

But from the looks of it, the patrols were barely functioning.

The system hadn’t reacted when he did what he did.

And if there really was something valuable deeper inside, waiting longer out here wouldn’t make things any safer. It would just waste time.

He made his decision.

"Fine," he said. "Lead the way."

Eirenne’s smile was small, but there was something behind it, not relief exactly, but something close.

"Let’s go." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The remaining patrol ships shifted slowly under her control.

They moved like old machines trying to do their job properly again, even if they no longer had the strength for it.

Aurelian’s ship followed at a steady pace while Rhoswen and Neris kept watching the system carefully, looking for any sign that something might react once they moved deeper.

But nothing did, which both relieved and disappointed them.

As they moved inward, more of the system came into view.

The broken ring they had seen earlier became clearer, and even Rhoswen went quiet for a moment when she saw it properly.

It was massive.

Or at least, it had been.

Now, large sections were broken or drifting, parts of it dead and out of place, but enough still remained to show how big it once was.

This hadn’t been some small station or forgotten outpost. It had been something important, something built to support life and control space around the star.

Now it was just a ruin.

And they were heading straight into it.