With the Orison settlement accepted and the ceasefire extended to seven days, Aurelian finally had room to deal with several matters that had been waiting since he arrived at Helion.
The first was his fleet.
The March had grown quickly, but the number of ships directly under his command had not grown at the same pace.
Helion was restoring captured vessels, Larkspur needed patrol coverage, Sanctuary Ardent needed protection, Annex Seven required supply runs, and now Valeris Reach had Rhoswen sitting there with part of Crownward's mobile strength.
Aurelian had enough ships to defend the territory.
He did not have enough ships to defend everything comfortably.
That difference was becoming harder to ignore.
He left the dining area with Astra and returned to one of Helion's command rooms. Mirei and Katsura remained behind, while Yelena had already disappeared again to find Meridian.
Aurelian suspected those two would spend the entire visit arguing beside an open machine.
