VoidHive Codex — Arc 4, Chapter 21: The Fleet

[FLEET COMMAND TRANSMISSION — CLASSIFIED TIER 1 — ADMIRAL COSS TO JOINT COMMAND]

Seventeen vessels of the Third Expeditionary have taken up position at the Verath-9 perimeter. This is not an escalation. This is a precaution.

Lieutenant Vance's transmissions continue to arrive on schedule. She is alive, coherent, and — by her own assessment — making progress. Joint Command has reviewed her logs and flagged three passages for psychological evaluation. I have reviewed the same passages. I believe she is fine. I believe she is seeing things we don't have the framework to process yet, and that is not the same as instability.

The Architects have not responded to the fleet's presence. They have not moved. They have not signalled. The Welcome Structure continues its slow expansion — now extending 61,000 km along the ecliptic — and the gravitational readings remain within the parameters Vance described as benign.

I am recommending we hold position and wait.

Some on the Joint Command council are recommending otherwise.

I am hoping patience wins.