"The garrison command network is now fully fragnted," she said. "They cannot respond as a unified force."
That was enough.
Aurelian looked at the tactical display one final ti, then gave the order calmly.
"Begin the strike."
As soon as he said that, the first to feel the changes were the communications, as the Kharov communication networks began to break apart in layers.
Not all at once, and not in a way that looked clean enough for people to imdiately recognize as an attack.
Orders repeated themselves. Fleet channels drifted out of sync. Starports kept sending out old packets as if they were new.
Ergency systems were clogged with fake priority requests, while local commanders received conflicting warnings about threats coming from different directions.
The second garrison suddenly found itself cut off inside its own system.
Then Solenne launched.
Her first wave of strike craft and drones moved out in a wide spread, fast and organized, heading straight for the outer defensive line before the enemy could settle itself properly.
At almost the sa ti, Lysara and Rhoswen opened fire from long range. Their upgraded propulsion made the difference imdiately.
They adjusted position faster than the Kharov expected, changed firing angles more quickly than the enemy could cleanly track, and kept pressure on the formation before it could stabilize.
The Kharov fleet tried to form up.
It failed.
Not because every officer there was incompetent, but because the entire system around them had already begun to break apart.
Orders arrived late. So never arrived at all. So ships moved toward the wrong targets because their command feeds were delayed or corrupted.
Others stayed close to the station, waiting for confirmation that never ca.
One section tried protecting transport docks that weren’t even under attack yet.
That hesitation led to their being destroyed at a faster rate than they could have imagined.
Solenne’s strike craft hit first.
Missiles and torpedoes tore through the confused outer line before it could settle, punching apart lighter ships almost imdiately.
Precision fire followed right behind it, targeting exposed weak points before shields could fully rotate into place.
Then Rhoswen pushed forward harder.
Instead of circling wide or staying careful, she drove directly toward the section of the fleet that still looked organized enough to fight back properly.
The move forced those ships to turn toward her instead of helping the rest of the garrison stabilize.
Lysara handled the opposite side, cold and precise in her attacks.
She targeted command ships and heavier-weapons platforms first, cutting through them one by one before they could fully coordinate their defense.
Every ti the Kharov tried to rebuild control sowhere, another command vessel disappeared under her fire.
Aurelian watched the battle unfold on the tactical display and gave only the orders that mattered.
"Do not overextend yourself and pursue the enemies beyond the marked lines. We need to make sure that the infrastructure is intact and does not have too much damage."
That was enough.
The Kharov never recovered from the opening hit.
Three thousand ships sounded impressive until those ships had to fight blind against a smaller force moving faster, firing cleaner, and choosing every important engagent angle before the enemy could react.
Many of the lighter hulls died in the first exchanges. The heavier ships survived longer, but not long enough to turn things around.
Rhoswen took a hit across her outer armor during one close exchange and laughed through the link.
"That one actually had so bite."
"Do not chase," Aurelian said imdiately.
She obeyed.
Solenne’s second wave broke apart the ships trying to regroup near the outer edge of the starport while Lysara disabled two larger vessels before they could enter ergency jump alignnt.
Neris kept the support network stable through the entire fight, balancing ammunition flow, power draw, and heat managent without letting anything slip too far out of line.
Eirenne handled the rest.
The Kharov cluster still didn’t fully understand what was happening.
So command offices believed the second garrison was under attack by pirates or raiders.
Others thought the sensor failures were internal problems caused by damaged systems. One office even sent a request asking whether the fleet had begun an unscheduled combat exercise.
Rhoswen nearly lost it laughing when she heard that.
"They think this is training?"
"Not anymore," Eirenne replied calmly. "But they did not receive any instructions from above, so they still think these are drills."
That was all they needed.
The second garrison ceased functioning as a real fighting force shortly after that. Ships were still alive in places, but coordination was gone, command was broken, and every attempt to rebuild formation got hit before it could settle.
Aurelian didn’t waste ti celebrating.
"Transports forward," he ordered. "Limited window. Priority cargo only."
The heavy transports moved in under escort almost imdiately.
Their crews already had prepared lists, and Astercourt’s careful planning proved its value right away. Nobody argued over what to take. Nobody slowed things down debating value.
Ammunition stockpiles.
Refined alloys.
Reactor components.
Spare drives.
Military supply crates.
Dense resource containers.
Anything valuable enough to matter and small enough to move quickly went aboard.
Everything else stayed behind.
They weren’t here to strip planets empty.
They were here to hurt the Kharov, take what mattered, and leave before the enemy could close the trap around them.
Eirenne kept feeding timing updates into the command net as the loading continued.
"The cluster is reacting now," she said. "They are still confused, but no longer inactive. We have ti for the second phase if we leave this area soon."
Aurelian looked over the updated tactical map.
The far garrison was still isolated.
Its command structure still hadn’t fully realized the second fleet was gone.
Good.
That was the opening.
"Finish loading," he ordered. "Then we jump."
Rhoswen’s grin ca back imdiately across the link.
"To the far side?"
"Yes."
"Good."
The first strike had worked.
Not perfectly, because no real battle ever did, but well enough that the operation still held together exactly the way it needed to.
The Kharov cluster was awake now. Ships were moving. Warnings were spreading. Fleets were starting to react.
But reaction wasn’t the sa as understanding, as Eirenne made sure they weren’t noticed as they left.
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