Chapter 377: Chief Engineer Maren Dast 2

Mirelle Dain stood near the front.

She noticed Aurelian and walked toward him.

"I tried telling them there was no need for this."

"And?"

"You saw the vote about the Alliance officer."

Aurelian understood.

The crowd fell quiet as he approached.

A few people looked nervous.

Others looked curious.

Many looked exhausted.

These were people who had only recently awakened into a world where everything familiar had changed.

Some had survived years under Compact control before preservation. Others barely remembered anything after entering their pods centuries ago.

Now they were watching a commander most of them had never met prepare to leave because three hundred and twelve names had appeared in an old prisoner list.

Aurelian did not climb onto anything or try to make the moment more dramatic than it needed to be.

He simply stood where they could see him.

"We found records showing that people from Sanctuary Ardent were taken to a Compact station called Veyra Nine," he said. "We do not know how many are still alive, and I will not lie to you about that."

Nobody moved.

"But we know at least some prisoners were still receiving medical supplies eleven days ago."

That created a small reaction in the crowd.

Several people whispered to one another.

A woman near the front covered her mouth with one hand.

Aurelian continued.

"We are going to confirm who is there. If any of them are alive, we will bring them back."

A man somewhere behind the first rows called out.

"All of them?"

Aurelian looked toward the voice.

"Everyone we can find."

That answer seemed to matter more than a long speech would have.

The tension in the hall changed.

People began talking quietly.

A few nodded toward him.

One older man stepped forward.

"My daughter was taken."

The room became quiet again.

Aurelian looked at him.

"Name?"

"Serena Hal."

Eirenne searched immediately.

Her projection appeared beside Aurelian.

"Serena Hal. Preservation systems engineer. Transferred to Veyra Nine twelve years ago under Compact occupation records."

The man’s face tightened.

"She was twenty-eight."

Aurelian did not promise she was alive.

He would not do that.

"We’ll look for her."

The man nodded once.

"Thank you."

Then another voice came from the crowd.

"My brother was taken too."

Another followed.

Then another.

Eirenne began collecting names.

Some appeared on the list.

Some did not.

Aurelian stayed longer than he intended.

He listened until the crowd stopped adding names, then ordered Eirenne to compare every one against the Compact transfer files.

By the end, forty-seven people inside the hall had identified a family member or close friend believed to have been taken from Sanctuary Ardent.

The number made the operation feel different.

The prisoner list had already mattered.

Seeing the people waiting for those names to come back made it much harder to treat the mission as another tactical problem.

Rhoswen had become unusually quiet.

When they finally left the hall, she walked beside Aurelian for several seconds before speaking.

"We’re getting them back."

It was not a question.

"Yes."

"If they’re there."

"If they’re there."

Rhoswen nodded.

That was enough for her.

They reached the eastern launch hall shortly afterward.

The Black Crown waited near the restored passage, its dark hull almost untouched compared with the damaged ships around it.

Astra’s Tier V refit had made the flagship stronger than anything Aurelian had commanded before, and the difference was obvious even while it sat still among the repair vessels.

Solenne’s strike group was already forming outside the sanctuary.

Her carrier remained farther back because the Dawn Petal had only recently finished emergency repairs, but enough fighters and drones were ready for the operation.

Neris had three medical transports prepared.

Vaela was aboard one of them with Doctor Marr and a small team.

Lysara’s cruiser was approaching from the Helion route.

Everything was moving faster than Aurelian expected.

That was because nobody needed the situation explained twice.

Astra walked beside him toward the boarding bridge.

"The council approved the operation, the fleet is ready, and Veyra Nine has not yet changed its withdrawal pattern."

"Good."

"Eirenne also found something else."

Aurelian looked toward the projection.

"The station commander has requested permission to evacuate all remaining research personnel within the next sixteen hours."

"Did Drann approve it?"

"Not yet."

That gave them a narrow window.

If they arrived before the evacuation began, the prisoners might still be there.

If they arrived afterward, finding them would become much harder.

Aurelian stepped onto the boarding bridge.

"Then we leave now."

Rhoswen followed with far too much energy for someone who had barely slept since the first Compact attack.

"Finally."

Aurelian looked at her.

"You are sleeping during the first jump."

Her expression changed immediately.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I am not tired."

Eirenne appeared beside them.

"Your medical monitor disagrees."

Rhoswen looked betrayed.

"You monitor that?"

"You agreed to fleet medical monitoring."

"I did not agree to you using it against me."

Astra continued toward the Black Crown without waiting for them.

"You are sleeping."

Rhoswen stared after her.

"Everyone has become difficult."

Aurelian almost smiled.

They boarded the flagship.

Outside, Sanctuary Ardent continued coming back to life behind them.

Civilian doors remained open.

The council continued working with the Alliance delegation.

Repair crews rebuilt the shields while the Human Continuance Matrix treated its next approved patient.

For the first time, the sanctuary no longer needed Aurelian physically standing inside it every moment to remain stable.

That mattered.

It meant he could leave when people elsewhere needed him.

The Black Crown separated from the launch structure and moved into open space.

Solenne’s ships joined around it.

Neris brought the medical transports into the rear of the formation.

Lysara arrived several minutes later and took position along the left side.

Aurelian watched Sanctuary Ardent become smaller behind them.

Three hundred and twelve people had been taken from that mountain.

He had no idea how many would still be waiting when he reached Veyra Nine.

He only knew that the Compact was already packing the station.

If he wanted answers, there was no more reason to wait.

"Fleet ready," Astra said.

Aurelian looked toward the route ahead.

"Take us to Veyra Nine."

The formation turned away from Sanctuary Ardent and accelerated toward the jump boundary.

Behind them, hundreds of survivors remained in the central hall, waiting for names that had been missing for years.

Ahead, a Compact research station was preparing to disappear.

Aurelian intended to reach it first.