Chapter 449: Talyra 3

"Your cruiser is not quiet," Talyra said, giving Vaelith a calm look.

"It can be."

Talyra simply stared at her.

Several seconds passed before Vaelith turned toward Aurelian with an accusing expression. "She's doing it again."

"I noticed," Aurelian replied, while Astra covered another smile beside him.

The mood became considerably more serious once Talyra entered the outer recovery region.

Instead of following any of the known supply routes, she approached from above the main traffic plane and gradually reduced her destroyer's power output.

The indirect route made the journey longer, but it also reduced the chance of someone connecting her arrival to the supply network Crownward had uncovered.

The journey took most of a day, and nobody at Helion expected immediate results.

That changed while Talyra was still several hours from the reserve site's recorded position.

Her expression sharpened as new information appeared across her display. "I have a sensor contact."

Aurelian immediately looked up. "Supply ship?"

"No." Talyra transmitted the passive reading to Helion. "It's stationary."

The signal was faint but large enough to stand out once she isolated it. Seraphiel was the first to recognize what the readings suggested, leaning closer to her display as her expression became more serious.

"Sensor platform."

Aurelian turned his attention back to Talyra. "Active?"

"Passive collection with occasional narrow sweeps," she replied, examining the energy signature more closely. "The frame is Vhaloric, but someone installed a modern power source."

That immediately made the contact more important.

Someone had deliberately placed an early-warning sensor well outside the reserve site. Whoever operated it didn't just want privacy.

They expected visitors and had taken precautions against them.

"Can you pass it without being detected?" Aurelian asked.

Talyra spent a moment studying the platform's observation pattern before giving a small nod. "Yes, if I avoid the narrow sweeps."

"Do it."

She adjusted course and moved around the strongest section of the platform's observation area, taking her destroyer farther from the direct route toward the reserve site.

Forty minutes later, she found another platform.

Then a third.

By the time Talyra marked all three positions, the pattern was obvious. The reserve site had an outer detection screen.

It wasn't particularly advanced, and Crownward had far better equipment, but it was more than enough to catch ordinary ships approaching directly through the main routes.

Eirenne studied the positions from Helion. "They're protecting the obvious approaches."

"Can Talyra get through?" Aurelian asked.

Eirenne glanced at the destroyer's position before the faintest hint of amusement appeared on her face. "She's already doing it."

That was exactly why Aurelian had sent her.

Several hours later, Talyra finally reached a position where the reserve site's recorded location should have been visible.

At first, the tactical display showed nothing unusual.

Then she began marking contacts.

One.

Three.

Six.

Aurelian stopped counting when the number passed ten.

Astra moved closer to the main display, her earlier amusement completely gone. "Those are ships?"

"Some of them," Talyra replied, her attention fixed on the passive readings as she continued sorting through the contacts.

The old reserve site was active.

Much of the original structure remained dark, but its central section had been restored enough to keep power, docking systems, and several industrial compartments running.

Another long structure beside it showed clear signs of recent repairs, with multiple sections drawing considerably more power than the rest.

Meridian joined the analysis remotely and highlighted several areas. "That's a fabrication block."

Aurelian studied the marked structure. "Working?"

"I can't tell from these readings," Meridian admitted. "But someone has repaired enough of it to restore power. That would take considerably more work than simply using the station for storage."

Talyra continued identifying the vessels around the site.

Four recovery ships.

Three industrial transports.

Two old patrol ships.

A fuel carrier.

The Vhaloric auxiliary transport they had already connected to the freight company's records.

And six additional hulls attached directly to the station.

Those six were different.

Aurelian leaned closer to the display as Talyra gradually improved the image.

Their silhouettes were larger than the recovery vessels, with military hull shapes that immediately separated them from everything else around the station.

"Are they operational?" he asked.

"Unknown."

Seraphiel recognized the hull type before anyone else. Her expression became noticeably more serious as she studied their outlines. "Escort destroyers."

Vaelith immediately smiled.

Aurelian ignored her reaction and kept his attention on Seraphiel. "How old?"

"Very," she answered. "They were already an established design before my last deployment."

The improved images gradually revealed more details.

Two of the destroyers were visibly incomplete, with large sections of their internal structures still exposed.

Another had much of its outer hull plating removed, leaving several internal compartments visible.

The remaining three looked considerably better.

More importantly, Talyra detected power signatures inside all six hulls.

Astra stared at the readings for several seconds before looking toward Aurelian. "Someone is restoring warships."

"Looks like it," he replied, his expression tightening.

That explained at least part of the fuel, reactor components, electronics, drone parts, and other supplies that had been quietly moved into the region for nearly a year.

This was no longer a question of someone secretly salvaging a valuable wreck.

Someone was maintaining an old fleet reserve site, repairing its industrial facilities, and restoring Vhaloric warships.

The bigger question was who.

Talyra remained hidden and continued observing the station. She avoided active scans and relied entirely on passive systems, slowly building a clearer picture from power fluctuations, engine emissions, and movement around the surviving docks.

After another hour, she detected activity.

"Movement from the station," she reported, marking two contacts.

One of the old patrol ships undocked first, followed shortly afterward by a recovery vessel. Neither headed directly toward Talyra.

Instead, both turned away from the station and began moving toward one of the outer sensor platforms.

Aurelian watched their route develop. "Routine patrol?"

"Possibly," Talyra replied, though she didn't sound convinced.

Eirenne compared their departure time with Talyra's earlier passage through the detection screen. After a few seconds, she shook her head slightly. "Or they're checking something."

Talyra reached the same conclusion almost immediately. Her expression sharpened as she calculated the patrol ship's projected route. "They may have detected my passage."

That was enough for Aurelian.

"Can you withdraw without being seen?"

"Yes."

"Then do it."

Vaelith turned toward him in disbelief. "We're leaving?"

"Talyra is leaving," Aurelian corrected.

"But we found the site."

"Exactly."

"And ships," Vaelith added, gesturing toward the six destroyers as though that strengthened her argument.

"Also exactly."

She stared at him for several seconds, clearly unable to understand why either discovery made him want Talyra to retreat.