Chapter 426: Larkspur Patrol Ship

"Normal patrol load," Caelira answered as if the number wasn’t anything unusual.

Aurelian glanced at the magazine display. "And how much is that?"

"Roughly six thousand mixed weapons."

He slowly turned toward her.

Caelira stared back for a moment before finally smiling. "That is the usual reaction."

Astra was already going through the weapon list, checking the different missile types and launch systems. "You can launch more than four hundred medium missiles in a single coordinated strike."

"Five hundred and twelve if every rack is functional," Caelira corrected her, sounding rather proud of that number.

Astra moved to the reload information. "How long between launches?"

"Two minutes under normal conditions."

Aurelian looked back at the internal magazines. The ship carried enough ammunition to supply a small fleet, yet Caelira apparently considered throwing hundreds of missiles at the enemy every two minutes normal.

"That sounds expensive."

Caelira’s smile grew a little wider. "Very."

That might have been the most honest description of the entire ship.

As Caelira continued explaining what her vessel could do, Aurelian quickly realized the missiles were only half of its purpose.

The cruiser also carried large numbers of repair drones, cargo drones, spare ammunition, replacement shield components, emergency reactor parts, and several internal workshops.

Those workshops were large enough to repair damaged escorts without returning to a proper dock.

The ship couldn’t rebuild something that had been torn in half, but ordinary battle damage could be handled while the fleet was still moving.

Its fuel systems were just as useful.

Once repaired, Caelira could refuel several smaller ships at the same time.

Aurelian immediately thought about Neris.

The logistics force she was building would eventually need something exactly like this. Caelira wouldn’t replace the normal cargo ships, ammunition transports, repair ships, or fuel carriers.

Instead, she could sit near the center of the logistics group and keep all of those ships working while also supporting the combat fleet.

That became even more useful during a long operation where returning to Helion or Larkspur wasn’t practical.

"Can you resupply ships during combat?" Aurelian asked, looking over the transfer systems.

Caelira nodded. "At close formation distance, yes."

"And while under fire?"

Her expression changed slightly before she gave a small shrug. "I would prefer not to."

Aurelian nodded. "Reasonable."

"My armor is better than most supply ships, though," she added, clearly unwilling to make her vessel sound too fragile.

Astra checked the armor readings and gave a small nod. "She’s right. The protection is much heavier than a normal logistics vessel."

Aurelian liked another feature even more.

Caelira carried a short-range jump system.

It wasn’t powerful enough to cross entire regions or replace normal travel through established routes, but it could make small emergency jumps inside a system or between nearby route points.

The system needed time to cool down afterward, but that was still useful.

According to Caelira, it had originally been installed so Arsenal cruisers could quickly reposition whenever enemy ships got too close.

Aurelian could understand why.

A ship carrying several thousand missiles would be a very expensive target, and the enemy would know that too.

Being able to suddenly move away before they reached firing range could be the difference between losing an arsenal cruiser and keeping it alive.

He looked around the old bridge again.

"How much of this still works?"

Caelira’s confidence faded slightly as she looked toward Astra.

Astra immediately started another diagnostic and spent several moments checking the results.

"Primary launch systems appear intact. Two medium missile racks are offline, but the others should work after basic maintenance. Most drone bays are sealed, though they still appear functional. The fuel-transfer system is damaged, and the main drive can only operate at reduced output."

Caelira frowned at the last part. "Reduced?"

Aurelian almost laughed at how offended she sounded.

Meridian had already infected the fleet. Apparently, every shipgirl now took damaged machinery personally.

"Helion can repair it," Aurelian told her.

Caelira turned toward him, and her annoyance disappeared almost immediately. "Helion is still there?"

"It is."

"Operational?"

Aurelian smiled slightly. "Very."

That got a much stronger reaction from her. Caelira straightened and looked more awake than she had since they found her.

"Then why are we standing here?"

"We won’t be for long."

The arsenal cruiser couldn’t safely make the full journey under its own power yet, especially with the main drive damaged, but they could handle that problem.

Black Crown and the Larkspur patrol ship could escort it once the engines were restarted, while Eirenne had already begun preparing the safest route back to Helion.

Caelira spent the next hour personally checking her ship.

Aurelian followed her through part of the inspection while Astra continued running diagnostics from the network.

Every few minutes, Caelira found another system that had failed during centuries of dormancy, and every time she did, she complained as if the machine had personally betrayed her.

By the time they reached the main missile deck, Aurelian had learned two things about the newest shipgirl.

Caelira liked her ship very much, and she hated seeing empty magazines.

She stopped in front of one of the larger storage bays and stared at the old missile racks. Many were empty, while others still contained weapons that had degraded too badly to trust.

Her expression became serious.

"Commander."

Aurelian already knew what was coming. "Yes?"

"Most of my heavy missiles are unusable."

"I noticed."

Caelira turned toward him. "We will replace them."

"Eventually."

She stared at him for a second. "Eventually?"

Aurelian immediately recognized that tone.

It was almost the same tone Vaelith used whenever someone discussed delaying work on her accelerator.

"Helion already has Seraphiel, Vaelith, Neris’s refit, Annex Seven repairs, and several captured ships taking up dock space," Aurelian explained. "You’re joining a long repair list."

Caelira thought about that before looking back at the empty racks. "How many missiles can I have?"

"We’ll ask Meridian."

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "That did not answer my question."

"It is the safest answer I have."

Caelira let out a disappointed sigh.

Beside him, Astra quietly turned away, but Aurelian could tell from her expression that she was trying not to laugh.

By evening, the old arsenal cruiser was finally ready to leave the moon.

For the first time in centuries, its engines came fully online.

The massive ship slowly lifted from the surface.

Very slowly.

Aurelian watched from Black Crown as the cruiser climbed away from the moon and entered orbit.

The Larkspur patrol ship moved alongside it, keeping enough distance to react if something went wrong with the old engines.

So far, everything remained stable.

Then Caelira appeared on the communication display.

"Commander," she said, looking slightly concerned.

Aurelian immediately knew there would be a problem. "What?"

"My starboard engine is making a noise."

He looked toward Astra.

She checked the telemetry, then answered calmly. "Nothing critical."

Caelira had heard her through the channel, and her expression didn’t improve. "That does not mean good."

"No," Astra admitted.

Caelira looked back at Aurelian. "Helion has engineers?"

"Many."

"Good."

That seemed to satisfy her for the moment.

Aurelian leaned back in his seat as the small group began preparing for the return trip.

The survey assignment near Larkspur had been simple at first. They were supposed to investigate an old wreck marker, confirm what was there, and decide whether anything could be recovered.

Instead, the Crownward March had gained another shipgirl and an arsenal cruiser that could eventually become an important part of Neris’s growing logistics network.

At this point, Aurelian was starting to think the old Directorate had left useful things almost everywhere.

That was fortunate, but it was also becoming dangerous in a different way.

Every successful recovery made it more tempting to search for another one immediately.

There was always another old signal.

Another wreck marker.

Another forgotten station.

Another ship that might still be recoverable.

If Aurelian wasn’t careful, he could keep adding ships faster than Crownward could repair, supply, crew, and protect them.

He had already decided he wasn’t going to do that.

Caelira would go to Helion first and receive the repairs she needed.

Seraphiel would finish her own repairs.

Vaelith would finally get her accelerator fixed properly.

Neris would complete her refit.

Annex Seven still needed work, and the captured ships already sitting in Crownward docks had to be dealt with too.

Once those problems were under control, they could decide what to recover next.

There was no point building a fleet faster than Helion could support it.

A new message appeared on Aurelian’s screen.

Rhoswen.

He opened it.

I heard you found another one.

Aurelian sighed as he read the message.

Before he could answer, another one appeared.

Does she have a big gun?

He looked across Caelira’s weapon profile before typing his reply.

No.

For several seconds, Rhoswen said nothing.

Then another message appeared.

Unfortunate.

Aurelian looked at the thousands of missile cells shown on Caelira’s engineering profile.

He decided not to correct her yet.