Chapter 443 Valeris Council

The simple ending lasted for less than an hour.

Eirenne had only started sorting through the records taken from the depot when she found the first serious problem.

Aurelian was still aboard Black Crown when she appeared beside his command station, wearing the same calm expression she usually had when she was about to give him bad news.

"The ship Talyra followed has changed course."

Aurelian looked up from Dane’s recovered records. "Back toward the depot?"

"No. It’s heading deeper into the outer wreck region, and the sensor platform is barely managing to follow it."

A map opened between them, showing the small recovery vessel moving beyond the old cargo hull and accelerating along a route that passed through several abandoned recovery sites.

Talyra had already begun comparing its course against the navigation records recovered from Dane’s depot.

Astra leaned closer to the display. "Where does it lead?"

"That’s the problem," Eirenne replied, expanding the surrounding region. "Several places."

Aurelian studied the map. The area was filled with old wrecks, abandoned storage platforms, broken navigation markers, and facilities that had disappeared from modern records.

Hiding one ship there would be easy; hiding several wouldn’t be much harder.

"Any reason to think they’re dangerous?"

"Yes." Eirenne opened one of the files recovered from Dane’s depot. It was a short message sent two days before the attack at Valeris.

"If the conference operation failed, several crews were supposed to withdraw to a location identified as Holding Site Three. The vessel Talyra is following appears to be heading in the same general direction."

Aurelian frowned. "So Dane had another position prepared."

"Possibly."

"Does he know we’ve found this?"

"No. He’s still aboard the Orison investigation ship."

"Keep it that way."

Talyra joined the channel from her destroyer a moment later. "My platform is reaching the edge of reliable control. If the vessel continues accelerating, I’ll lose it."

Aurelian checked the distance between her ship and the target. "Can you move closer without being noticed?"

"Yes, but I’ll have to leave the depot area."

That wasn’t much of a problem anymore. The depot was secure, Orison investigators were already inside, and the Helion patrol ship remained nearby.

"Follow it," Aurelian ordered. "Observation only."

Talyra nodded. "Understood."

Her destroyer changed course.

The recovery vessel had a good head start, but it was not built to outrun a reconnaissance destroyer.

Talyra gradually closed the distance while staying far enough away that ordinary civilian sensors were unlikely to detect her.

For nearly two hours, the pursuit remained uneventful.

Then Talyra suddenly slowed.

"I have multiple contacts."

Aurelian immediately returned his attention to the map. "How many?"

"Seven ships."

That was more than he expected.

Eirenne began sorting the sensor returns as Talyra’s passive systems collected better information.

Four appeared to be recovery vessels, while two were old patrol ships carrying a mixture of Human and Vhaloric systems.

The last was a larger converted cargo vessel with enough external weapon mounts that nobody could reasonably call it civilian anymore.

Astra frowned as the classifications appeared. "That’s not a hiding place."

"No," Aurelian agreed, studying the formation. "That’s a group."

Seven ships gathered around another abandoned Vhaloric structure. It was larger than Dane’s depot, although much of it had collapsed long ago.

A central storage section and several docking arms remained intact, and Talyra detected power throughout the surviving sections.

More importantly, the ships were active.

"They’re preparing to move," Talyra reported.

"Any idea where they’re going?"

"Not yet."

Eirenne opened more of Dane’s recovered files. Several messages referred to Holding Site Three, but most were incomplete.

One surviving instruction mentioned gathering the remaining crews if the Valeris operation failed, while another ordered them to protect "the material" from seizure.

Nobody had found an explanation for what that meant.

Rhoswen joined the channel from Valeris shortly afterward. "Seven ships?"

"Seven," Aurelian confirmed.

"And they’re armed?"

"At least three of them."

A smile immediately appeared on Rhoswen’s face.

Aurelian knew exactly what was coming. "No."

Her smile disappeared. "I didn’t even say anything."

"You were going to."

"I was going to suggest something useful," she protested, leaning back with an offended expression.

"You’re staying at Valeris."

"At some point, you’re going to have to let me leave. Their routes are quiet now."

"They were attacked less than a week ago."

Rhoswen held his gaze for a few seconds, then sighed. "Fine. Then what are you going to do about the ships?"

That was the real question.

Aurelian could send Talyra closer and continue watching, but seven ships gave the group enough strength to become a problem if they decided to fight.

The nearby Helion patrol vessel would accomplish very little against three armed ships supported by four recovery vessels.

Calling Orison made more sense.

The legal officer was still aboard the investigation ship with Dane in custody. By the time Aurelian finished explaining what Talyra had found, Oren looked increasingly tired.

"How many more people did Dane involve?" he asked, rubbing his forehead.

"We don’t know if they’re all involved."

"They’re gathering at a location listed in his records."

"That makes them worth investigating," Aurelian replied. "It doesn’t tell us what every person aboard those ships knows."

Oren lowered his hand and gave a reluctant nod. "I understand."

"Ask Dane about Holding Site Three."

"We already are."

"And?"

"He refuses to discuss it."

That was useful in its own way. Dane had surrendered rather than fight, but apparently he still wanted to protect some things.

Aurelian looked at the seven ships again. "Do you have patrol forces near that region?"

"Three ships can reach it within six hours."

"Don’t send them yet."

Oren looked surprised. "Why?"

"Because they’re preparing to move. If you send warships directly at them, they’ll scatter."

"And if we wait?"

"We find out where they’re going."

Oren studied him for a moment, then understood. "You’re planning to follow them."

"Talyra already is."

This time, Oren did not object.

The ships began moving less than forty minutes later, although they did not leave together.

The two patrol ships departed first and traveled several thousand kilometers ahead of the others.

The four recovery vessels followed, while the converted cargo ship remained near the old structure for another twenty minutes before finally joining them.

Talyra watched everything from a distance.

"They’re using a screening formation," she reported.

Aurelian noticed it too. The patrol ships were positioned to detect anyone approaching from the front, meaning Talyra would have to stay behind the group.

Fortunately, her destroyer had been built for exactly that kind of work.

She reduced her emissions and followed quietly while Eirenne stayed connected to her sensor feed.

Several hours passed before their destination finally became clear.

The group was heading toward one of the disputed outer wreck fields.

Aurelian frowned when the location appeared. It was one of the sites Orison had agreed not to salvage during the ninety-day review, and Dalia Renn had previously claimed that the Outer Recovery Cooperative possessed records connected to the field.

Nobody was supposed to touch it until the ownership dispute was settled.

Astra studied the route, then glanced toward Aurelian. "Maybe they’re trying to remove something before the review reaches it."

"That’s what I’m thinking."

Eirenne enlarged the site’s old records. The wreck field contained the remains of at least nine Vhaloric vessels, although most had been heavily stripped centuries earlier.

One hull was different.

It was the broken remains of a large technical support ship. According to the old records, its main reactor and engines had been destroyed, but sections of its internal storage area might still be intact.

Aurelian contacted Dalia.

She recognized the location immediately. "That field has been disputed for years."

"Why?"

"Because nobody knows who first recovered it," Dalia explained.

"Harrow’s Rest says their crews opened the first hull. Orison says the site was registered under one of its later recovery contracts. Our records show independent crews working there before either claim."

"Anything valuable?"

Dalia hesitated long enough for Aurelian to notice. "Possibly."

He narrowed his eyes. "What does that mean?"

"The large support wreck may still contain manufacturing archives."

Aurelian immediately understood the problem.

Not treasure.

Technical data.

Depending on what those archives contained, they could be far more valuable.

"Why wasn’t that mentioned earlier?"

"Because nobody has confirmed the archive survived."

"Does Dane know about it?"

"He would."

That changed the situation.

If those ships were trying to remove technical records before the independent review, allowing them to leave with the material could make the entire dispute considerably worse.

Aurelian contacted Oren again and this time asked Orison to prepare its three nearby patrol ships. He also informed the Valeris council.

The wreck field was outside Valeris territory, but Valeris was a party to the recovery agreement, and he wanted them informed before anyone moved.

The council approved sending an observer aboard one of Orison’s ships.

Dalia requested the same for the cooperative.

Oren complained about that addition.

Aurelian ignored the complaint.

If they were going to stop a group operating inside a disputed site, every major party needed to know exactly what happened there.