The first useful information from the captured Compact courier arrived several hours later.
Eirenne had already copied the ship's navigation records, communication logs, crew files, and hidden transmission history, but most of it was routine.
The vessel had spent the last several months carrying messages between Compact military stations, commercial ports, and private relay posts.
The interesting part was its last assignment.
Aurelian was in the temporary command center when Eirenne opened the recovered orders.
"They were not sent by Marshal Taran," she said.
"Ruun?"
"No."
Aurelian looked toward the display.
The order had been issued through a military relay connected directly to Saevor Drann's central command office.
It instructed the courier to observe Sanctuary Ardent from outside normal sensor range, confirm whether the Human evacuation was complete, estimate the remaining fleet strength, and report whether the sanctuary could still defend itself.
