Astra finished preparing the secure family message next, and Aurelian listened to the wording before it went out.
It asked whether any purple-tier candidates had already been prepared, and whether a purchase team could secure a specific heavy destroyer hull from a limited trial batch at a Polaris-linked market, because the acquisition window was short and he was currently deployed.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
When the message was sent, the Destiny System interface faded, leaving the ship's normal quiet in its place, and Aurelian stared at the star map again as if to remind himself that even the best cheats did not remove the need to survive the next few days.
Astra's sensors kept listening for scattered machine chatter.
The silence still felt wrong.
But now, at least, he had a path to solve the advancement gate when the timing allowed, and he had begun shaping the future fleet in a way that matched the promise he had made to himself.
Purple and above.
