Aurelian carried the blueprint packet the manager had provided and used it only as a guide for the first few turns, because, after years of academy training, he could read ship layouts quickly and understand the basics necessary for his future career.
When they reached the control center, Aurelian stopped in front of the central interface and opened his storage.
Purple source fragments appeared in a neat stack, each one holding that restrained glow that marked higher density and higher value.
He did not dump them carelessly.
He placed them into the interface feed in a controlled stream, watching the system response and the initial acceptance curve the way a careful commander watched fuel flow before a jump.
After two hundred fragments, the ship's internal systems reacted more strongly, and Aurelian felt the subtle shift in the air as the hull went from dormant metal to something that was starting to wake.
He paused, measured the response again, then stopped.
