Meridian finished the reconnaissance destroyer's final command-core test shortly after Aurelian reached Dock Ring Four.
He had expected to find her waiting beside the awakening platform. Instead, she was halfway inside an open maintenance panel, with Yelena holding a portable light and an engineer reading measurements from a nearby terminal.
Aurelian stopped beside Astra.
"Is something wrong?"
Meridian's voice came from inside the panel. "No."
"Then why are you in there?"
"Because I wanted to check something."
Yelena looked over her shoulder. "The power feed was showing a small difference between the primary and secondary lines. We found a damaged connector."
"Is it fixed?"
"Almost."
Aurelian looked through the observation window toward the destroyer. Its hull was narrow and longer than most Crownward patrol vessels, with several sensor structures mounted along its upper surface.
