Star Ship Girl Era: My Shipgirls Are Too Overpowered-Chapter 102: Halcyon Ward-class heavy cruiser: Lysara
After the now-familiar sequence of activation steps, Aurelian stepped back out of the captain’s cabin and waited in the corridor.
This time, the wait was longer than he expected, but after Neris, he no longer treated a long wait as a bad sign; instead, he just thought it was due to the long dormancy period.
Different shipgirls awakened in different ways, and some clearly took their time settling into themselves before appearing.
So he stayed where he was and waited without pacing, one hand in his coat pocket and the other resting loosely at his side, while the old ship around him remained quiet.
Eventually, the captain’s cabin door opened.
A blonde woman leaned out first, not in any hurry, and looked at him with clear, intelligent eyes that already carried a sense of familiarity with herself and with the space around her.
"Commander," she said, tone calm and refined, "would you come in? It would be better if we spoke inside."
Aurelian raised an eyebrow very slightly because this was new, but he did not think much about it, as each ship girl has their own personality; he followed her inside to see what was up.
The captain’s cabin looked different from when he had left it.
The guest area had already been prepared.
Tea was set out neatly.
So were small desserts on delicate plates that absolutely had not been there a few minutes ago.
It was obvious now what had delayed her.
The blonde woman turned back toward him and gave a faint smile that looked practiced but didn’t feel fake.
"Please, sit," she said. "I prefer to talk over tea, and I did not want our first meeting to feel rushed, which is why it took so long. I am sorry to have kept you waiting."
Aurelian took the seat opposite her and glanced once at the table before looking back at her.
"It’s fine," he said. "I haven’t waited long enough."
That seemed to please her.
She sat with smooth, elegant movements and folded one hand lightly over the other before speaking again.
"Then let me introduce myself properly," she said. "I am Lysara, of the Halcyon Ward-class heavy cruiser line of the Vhaloric Directorate. The name Lysara was also the original name of this planet, before it was reduced to this state."
As she spoke, Aurelian saw a small change in her expression; it might be the sadness from the memories she had before she went into the dormant state, or it might be related to what her sensors had detected about this planet right after she was born.
But from this alone, he can see that she cared deeply about this planet and maybe even the inhabitants who used to live here.
As he thought about it, the expression on Lysara’s face faded quickly.
Aurelian noticed it anyway.
"I am Aurelian Vale Arcturus," he said. "And I came from beyond this region."
Lysara nodded slightly as she had expected it.
There was a short pause after that, and Aurelian found himself speaking before he had fully planned the words.
"This world may not be beyond saving," he said. "I have an ecological shipgirl in my fleet. Once the current situation is stable, I can have her look at it."
Lysara’s eyes lingered on him for a second longer than before, as if measuring whether he was saying that only to be kind.
"It would be a beautiful thing if it were possible," she said at last. "Though I admit I have not let myself expect much. There is no one left here now, only the shell."
Then she let the topic go and gently pushed the desserts toward him.
"Please try these first, Commander."
Aurelian did.
The taste surprised him a little.
The sweetness was clean and balanced, present without becoming too much, the kind of taste that felt deliberate rather than decorative.
"It’s good," he said simply.
Lysara’s smile deepened just a little.
"I’m glad. I was not sure whether it would suit your preferences."
She then took a small bite herself and followed it with tea, every movement elegant in a way that felt old-fashioned without seeming theatrical.
She gave the impression of a noblewoman who had once belonged to a world where time moved more slowly, and rules had been carved into habit long before she was born.
They spoke while they ate, as both of them probed each other’s personalities; this led them to slowly learn about each other.
From that conversation, Aurelian quickly learned why Lysara had been classified as a heavy cruiser rather than something stronger. The answer was simple enough.
Compared to the Directorate’s full battlecruiser lines, her class lacked one key weapon system.
That missing piece reduced her overall weight in direct fleet engagements enough that the Directorate had placed her below the true line-breakers.
But "below" did not mean weak.
Once he opened her information through his commander network, that became even clearer.
[Warship Name: Lysara]
[Warship Status: Shield 100%, Armor 100%, No Structural or Core Damage]
[Warship Prototype: T3 Halcyon Ward-class Heavy Cruiser]
[Warship Length: 2520 meters]
[Warship Rank: Tier III Cruiser (Level Cap: Lv60)]
[Level: Lv41]
[Ship Components: Halcyon Ward Hull (Blue) Lv41, Halcyon Ward Armor (Blue) Lv41, Halcyon Ward Engine (Blue) Lv41, Halcyon Ward Shield (Blue) Lv41, Halcyon Ward Radar (Blue) Lv41]
[Ship Armament: Six twin-mounted 1100mm long-focus laser batteries (Blue) Lv41, twenty-four twin-mounted 400mm pulse laser emplacements (Blue) Lv41, sixty twin-mounted 120mm close-in suppression arrays (Blue) Lv41]
[Ship Attachment: Directorate Tactical Command Frame (Blue) Lv41]
[Weapon Slots Remaining: 20]
[Accessory Slots Remaining: 50]
[Ship Girl: Lysara]
[Talents: Luminous Precision (Dark Purple Low-Tier), Ward of the Line (Sky Blue High-Tier), Calm Fire Control (Blue Mid-Tier)]
Aurelian read through it carefully and then looked back up at her.
A laser-focused ship.
That explained some things.
A design like this would hit hard when it landed cleanly, but it also came with the familiar weakness laser-heavy warships often had.
Great damage against exposed targets, less comfortable against shield-heavy enemy lines unless they had special systems to compensate.
