Chapter 194: Preparing To Leave The Section Site

"I expected more."

Aurelian ignored the comment and kept watching the battlefield. "Focus. Finish the active combatants."

After that, the remaining Kharov ships started collapsing fast.

Some shut down power and surrendered.

Some kept firing until they were blown apart.

Others tried to escape on normal drives, but all that really did was drag the battle out a little longer without changing the ending.

The military side of the starport was finished. Docked ships were either burning, disabled, or trapped behind collapsed berth systems that no one had time to clear.

Outside the docks, the active fleet had broken into scattered groups, and Solenne’s aircraft were already hunting them down alongside the faster ships in the strike force.

Eirenne sent another update across the command feed.

"The wider cluster is reacting more heavily now," she said. "At least three additional garrisons are attempting to organize, but their command links remain unstable. Several fleets have received false movement orders."

Aurelian looked over the map.

"How much time will you need?"

"We already have more than enough to finish loading here and strike one more target if we remain on target," Eirenne replied. "And not stay in one place for too long."

Aurelian understood exactly what she meant.

Raids usually became dangerous after they started succeeding. Once people saw supplies sitting unguarded or disabled ships drifting in front of them, they wanted more.

One more dock. One more cargo line. One more ship to tow away. Every extra minute started feeling reasonable right up until the enemy finally reacted properly.

That was how raiders died.

"Bring the transports forward," he ordered. "Same rules as before. Priority cargo only. Civilian stores stay untouched unless they’re tied directly to military use."

Eirenne pushed the orders through immediately, and the transport group moved in again.

This time, the process went much faster. Everyone had already done it once, and the confusion inside the garrison had left several military depots almost completely exposed.

Ammunition crates disappeared first, followed by shield systems, spare hull plating, fighter munitions, refined alloys, and sealed research containers.

Eirenne marked them as valuable even though she couldn’t identify all of them cleanly through the damaged network.

Vaeren watched the port feeds quietly for a while before speaking.

"They still don’t know who hit them."

"Good," Aurelian said.

"Some of them think it’s a pirate fleet."

"Also good."

Vaeren stayed silent for a second, then added, "The Kharov will hate that."

Rhoswen laughed immediately. "Even better."

Loading continued while Solenne’s carrier craft kept pressure on the remaining enemy ships.

Waves of aircraft returned to Neris for resupply, rearmed quickly, then launched again before the battlefield could settle.

By now, the fighting outside the port had changed shape. It wasn’t as clean as it was before.

Broken Kharov ships were scattered everywhere, trying to regroup, flee, or simply survive long enough for reinforcements that were still too far away to matter.

One destroyer group managed to organize a push toward the transport lane.

Rhoswen intercepted them before Aurelian even needed to say anything.

He watched it happen across the tactical map. She crossed their line at high speed, slammed into the lead destroyer hard enough to throw the entire formation apart, then hit the second ship before the others recovered properly.

The important part was what happened after.

For once, she didn’t chase them too far.

She broke the group, forced them away from the transports, then returned to her position instead of diving deeper into the fight.

Aurelian noticed that immediately.

So did Lysara.

"She is learning," Lysara said calmly.

Rhoswen heard her over the command link. "I have always been learning."

"No," Lysara replied. "You have always been someone who hits first and then thinks later."

Neris laughed softly at that.

Aurelian also smiled.

The far garrison collapsed completely not long after.

Not every ship had been destroyed, but that was never necessary. The fleet itself was broken.

The military docks were crippled. Supplies were already being stripped out of storage. Their command systems had been cut away from the rest of the cluster. In practical terms, the garrison no longer mattered.

Eirenne updated the display again.

"The cluster has now lost two garrison fleets," she said. "Three remaining fleets are assembling slowly. One mining-sector fleet is moving in the wrong direction due to incorrect routing. The research-station fleet has gone defensive and is requesting confirmation from a command line that no longer exists."

"Can we hit the mining fleet?" Rhoswen asked immediately.

Of course she did.

Aurelian looked over the timing windows.

It was possible.

The mining fleet wasn’t the largest remaining force, but the area it guarded mattered.

Resource stockpiles, processing stations, and transport reserves were all tied to it, and if Eirenne had already pushed the fleet out of position, then the depot itself might be vulnerable.

Astercourt’s voice came through from the rear command link.

"This is where greed starts."

Her tone stayed calm, but firm enough that everyone understood the warning.

Aurelian kept studying the map for another few moments.

She wasn’t wrong.

But she wasn’t completely right either.

Not yet.

"Eirenne," he said, "can we hit the mining depot and still stay inside the withdrawal window?"

The AI paused briefly while calculations ran.

"Yes," she answered. "If transports leave this site within the next twenty minutes and the mining strike is limited to depot destruction and compact resource extraction only."

Aurelian nodded once.

"Then that becomes the final target."

Rhoswen grinned again immediately.

Astercourt didn’t object this time, which meant the numbers were still acceptable.

The transports finished loading and pulled back from the ruined garrison docks. Around them, burning Kharov ships drifted through damaged traffic lanes while emergency systems failed one after another.

The strike force re-formed quickly, moving with a rhythm that already felt practiced despite how recent all of this still was.

The cluster wasn’t blind anymore.

But it still couldn’t see clearly.

Its fleets were moving, but not together. Commanders were shouting orders across systems that no longer answered properly.

Ships were trying to regroup while false signals and broken communications kept pulling them in the wrong direction.

Aurelian looked over the route toward the mining depot one more time.

Two garrisons destroyed.

A third target exposed.

And the Kharov still didn’t understand where the blade was really coming from.