Aurelian had been more reckless once.
That was a long time ago.
Now he wasn't.
What they were looking at wasn't something you rushed into without thinking, not anymore, not after everything he had seen and everything he had already chosen to build.
The place in front of them didn't feel like something that would forgive mistakes.
It wasn't just dead.
It felt worn out in every sense.
The remains of the system stretched out in every direction, broken pieces drifting in slow, quiet paths that had probably not changed in years.
Some of the wrecks were old ships, stripped down to little more than frames. Others looked like station parts, support structures, or things that had once held something important together.
A few pieces were so twisted that it was hard to tell what they had been without getting closer.
But all of it had the same feeling.
It looked dead and broken, and a single gentle touch could destroy everything.
