Jonah stood at the observation deck, looking down at the awakened fleet. A part of him couldn't believe that this was real.

Forty-three ships. Each one was so huge that Nomad looked small next to it.

"I can't decide if this is beautiful or terrifying," Vanessa said beside him. Her datapad had given up trying to catalog all the different ship types and was just displaying an error message.

"Both," Ariana said. "Definitely both."

The ships were nothing alike. Each Life-Weaver ship was unique, shaped by the needs and personality of its original creator. Some had smooth, flowing lines like sculptures.

Through the bond, Jonah could feel their simple thoughts.

Purpose? they seemed to ask. What are we for? What do we do?

"That's the problem," Jonah said aloud. "We have a fleet. But we don't have pilots."

Warden appeared beside them. [Correction. Life-Weaver ships do not require pilots. They are symbiotic entities. Once bonded to a compatible mind, they fly and operate by themselves, only needing general directions instead of someone controlling them all the time.]

"So they can fly themselves?" Vanessa asked.

[To an extent. Think of it as the difference between directing a dog and driving a car. The dog understands your intent and acts accordingly. The car simply follows your input.]

"These ships are dogs." Jonah couldn't help but smile at how crazy the idea was. "Giant, space-travelling dogs made of crystal and metal."

[That is a simple way of saying it, but it is basically correct.]

Ariana directly asked the main question. "Can they fight without individual commanders? If Sterling's ship arrives in eleven hours, we need to know if this fleet can actually defend Haven."

[They can fight. The real question is how well they can do it. To be at their best, they need people linked to them who can make wise choices during the fight and figure out solutions when things go wrong. Without that, they will default to basic defensive patterns.]

"So we need captains." Vanessa brought out a display showing the fleet roster. "Forty-three ships. That means we need forty-three people capable of forming a psychic bond with a ship."

The magnitude of that problem hit them hard. Where do you find forty-three people with the rare ability to connect with alien technology? People who could be trusted with weapons of this power? People who could learn to command in the few hours they had left?

"It doesn't matter anyway," Jonah said quietly. "Even if we found the people, I'm the only one who can create the initial bond. It took me six hours to wake the fleet using the Dragon's power. I don't have time to individually bond forty-three people to forty-three ships."

"Then we must focus on the important ones," Ariana said. "We don't need all forty-three to be perfectly commanded. We need a core group of flagships with competent leadership. The rest can follow their lead."

"How many?" Vanessa asked.

"For an effective defensive formation? Five. Maybe seven if we are being cautious."

"Warden, what are the requirements for bonding with a Life-Weaver ship?" Jonah asked.

[The candidate must have these three qualities: First, an opened channel to cosmic energy, typically manifested through an Awakening. Second, a flexible and creative mind capable of symbiotic thinking. Third, the willingness to merge their identity with another being.]

"So basically, Weavers, Summoners, or people who work closely with living creatures." Vanessa was already running through possibilities in her head. "Tamers, maybe. Some Druids."

"We have one obvious candidate," Ariana said, looking at Jonah. "You."

He'd known it was coming, but it still hit hard. "I'm already bonded to Haven. To every system on this station. Adding a ship on top of that..."

"Might kill you," Vanessa finished. "Absolutely not. We need you conscious and functional to maintain the station's defenses. You can't do that if you are merged with a warship."

"Then we have Nomad," Ariana continued. "That's our second ship, even if it's not part of the ancient fleet."

"And for the others?" Jonah asked.

The question hung in the air, unanswered. They were light-years from home. The only people here were the three of them. Unless...

"What about you?" Jonah turned to Ariana. "Your training focuses on spiritual harmony with cosmic forces. And you have been studying celestial mechanics during the journey. You could bond with one of the ships."

Ariana looked genuinely surprised. "I am honored you would trust me with such a weapon. But I have never attempted a psychic bond before. What if I fail? What if I damage the ship?"

[The risk is minimal.] Warden's assessment was calm. [Princess Ariana's energy signature shows strong compatibility with Life-Weaver technology. Success probability: 73.4 percent.]

"Those aren't terrible odds," Vanessa said. "Better than most of the gambles we have taken lately."

Ariana studied the fleet, with a thoughtful look on her face. "If it will help protect this place, and help us win the war, then I will try. Which ship would you recommend?"

Warden displayed a hologram of an elegant ship. It looked almost like a bird, with wings of light and an aerodynamic body. [The Celestial Falcon. A scout-class ship designed for speed and precision.]

"A falcon," Ariana smiled. "That's okay, given my Empire's symbol is the phoenix. Very well. I accept."

"That's three ships with commanders," Vanessa said, updating her calculations. "We need at least two more for Ariana's defensive formation."

Jonah's mind thought fast through the problem. They had the ships. They had the power to wake them. But people? people who could...

Wait.

"The flawed Weavers," he said suddenly. "Back at the Academy. The hundreds we rescued from Sterling's factory."

Vanessa's eyes widened. "Jonah, they are barely functional. Their souls are broken. They can't even control their own Progeny half the time."

"But they are Weavers. They have opened channels. They have the capacity for symbiotic thinking, even if it's damaged."

"What if bonding with a ship could help them? Give them structure. A partner whose mind is strong, helping to stabilize theirs."

[That's possible in theory.] Warden said. [The Life-Weaver ships were designed to heal as well as fight. A symbiotic bond might provide the psychological framework the flawed Weavers lack. It is... an good solution.]

"It's also risky," Vanessa said. "What if the bond fails? What if their instability corrupts the ship? What if we make things worse?"

"Then we make things worse." Jonah met her eyes. "But doing nothing guarantees we face Sterling's ship with three commanded ships and forty dumb ones. That's not a fight we can win."

Ariana nodded slowly. "The boy has a point. In war, you use the assets you have, not the ones you wish you had. If these damaged Weavers can be stabilized through bonding, we must try."

Vanessa looked between them, clearly unhappy but recognizing the logic. "Fine. But how do we even test this theory? The Weavers are back on our home planet. We are months away."

[Distance is irrelevant when you control the Genesis Forge.] Warden's hologram pointed to the station's heart. [The Forge-Heart can create psychic connections across galactic distances. The Dragon's star-chart proves this. Jonah could reach the Weavers' minds from here and guide them through a bonding process.]

"Could I?" Jonah asked. Because that sounded insane.

[Your bond with Haven grants you a unique psychic range. We don't know if you can keep multiple links perfectly stable and connected over the long distances. But it is possible.]

"How long would it take?" Jonah asked.

[To establish bonds between four flawed Weavers and four vessels? Approximately nine hours of continuous psychic effort. Perhaps longer if complications arise.]

Nine hours. They had eleven before Sterling's ship arrived. That left two hours as a buffer. Two hours to prepare defenses, get into position, hope nothing went wrong.

"We're really doing this," Vanessa said. "We are going to reach across the galaxy, fix broken souls, and create an army in nine hours."

"Welcome to my life," Jonah said with a tired smile. "Nothing's ever easy."

"If it were easy," Ariana said, her hand on his shoulder, "they would not need us."

"Alright," Jonah said. "Warden, contact the Academy. Get me a secure link to whoever's managing the Weaver containment facility. Ariana, you should start preparing for your bonding. Vanessa..."

He turned to her, seeing the worry in her eyes.

"Monitor everything. Both me and the Weavers I'll be working with. If anything goes wrong, if anyone's mind starts fracturing, you pull us all out. Understood?"

"Understood." She took his hand. "Just promise me you'll come back. Every time you connect to something cosmic, you come back a little less you. I need you to stay Jonah, okay?"

"I promise," he said. "I'm not going anywhere."

It was a promise he hoped he could keep.

Because in nine hours, he was going to reach across the stars, touch the minds of broken weapons, and try to heal them by binding them to ancient, alien ships.

And if it worked? They'd have a fleet.

If it failed? Well. They'd probably all die in eleven hours anyway when Sterling's ship arrived.

So really, what did they have to lose?

Everything, his mind said quietly. You have everything to lose.

But that had been true since the beginning.

And they'd kept fighting anyway.

"Let's get to work," Jonah said.

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