Chapter 186: Preparing A Plan Based On The Collected Data

"This is worth investigating," Aurelian said, looking at the trinary system Lysara had marked. "But not now. We deal with the expedition first."

Rhoswen looked disappointed, but only a little, because the word expedition still meant fighting.

Lysara nodded. "The route itself is not the problem. The only things we need to watch are the storms and the space beasts. The storms are not constant, and if we keep to the path I marked, they should not slow the fleet too much."

She shifted the map again, moving past the inner Mournveil systems and toward the far side of the nebula.

"I also checked the exit route," she continued. "The system closest to the Kharov cluster is quiet. No garrison fleet. No steady patrol. I didn’t even see merchant movement."

The star system lit up near the edge of the map, sitting between the hidden Mournveil route and the larger Kharov-held four-star cluster beyond.

"It is a poor system," Lysara said. "No inhabited worlds, no major resource traffic that I could identify quickly, and nothing that would make the Kharov care about it. They may have scanned it before, but they are not watching it now."

Aurelian studied the point for a few seconds.

That made sense.

The Kharov were aggressive but not careful. They took what looked useful and left what did not, and if this system offered little obvious value, then leaving it empty was exactly the kind of lazy decision they would make.

"That gives us our entry point," he said.

"Yes," Lysara replied. "From there, we can move toward the target cluster without entering through the lanes they expect."

She enlarged the four-star cluster next.

The display became busier at once. Four stars, multiple orbital zones, six inhabited planets, scattered stations, industrial belts, and more traffic than any other Kharov area they had seen so far.

This was not a frontier raiding post.

This was a prize.

Aurelian understood that immediately, and so did everyone else in the room.

Lysara pointed toward the nearest star from their planned entry path.

"If we attack normally, this is the most reasonable first target. There is a garrison here, but it is separated from the largest fleet groups near the inner inhabited planets. Strike here, destroy the local force, then jump across the system before they understand the pattern."

Rhoswen leaned closer. "Then hit the farthest garrison next."

Lysara gave her a small glance. "Yes."

Rhoswen smiled. "That part sounds good."

"It does," Aurelian said. "But we can do better."

That pulled the room’s attention back to him.

He did not explain immediately. Instead, he looked toward Eirenne’s projection.

She understood at once and brought up a new layer over the map.

It showed Kharov’s communication lines.

Not all of them, of course. They did not yet have the full internal structure, but they had enough.

Captured records from earlier battles, Vaeren’s intelligence, recovered Kharov ship systems, and Eirenne’s own analysis had produced a usable estimate.

The cluster was busy enough that no one could control it by hand alone.

It needed traffic control, station routing, commercial permissions, fleet command exchanges, emergency channels, and local network coordination. That was the weakness.

Eirenne spoke calmly.

"The Kharov network here is not elegant, but it is large. If we attack the outer garrison first without touching their communication system, the rest of the cluster will still learn something is wrong before we finish the second engagement."

Solenne’s remote image narrowed her eyes slightly. "So we must make them go blind first."

"Yes," Eirenne said. "Or more accurately, we let them keep looking while making sure they see the wrong thing."

Rhoswen frowned a little. "But will it be better, or is it because of safety? And will we need to destroy all of them together?"

"Yes, and no," Eirenne replied. "If every relay dies at once, they know it is an attack. If their own systems keep reporting delays, traffic faults, false routing problems, and conflicting fleet orders, they waste time deciding what is happening."

Neris nodded slowly. "And by the time they understand, we’re already moving."

"That is the goal," Aurelian said.

Astercourt looked over the plan, already checking the practical side. "You need access to their internal network first."

"Yes."

"How?"

Eirenne answered this time.

"We use a false merchant entry."

The display shifted again, showing the outline of a captured Kharov auxiliary transport, one that had been taken earlier and kept because Astercourt hated throwing away anything that might become useful later.

It was not impressive. It was not strong. But it looked like something that could pass through Kharov’s commercial control without drawing immediate fire, especially after a few exterior changes and forged route signatures.

Rhoswen stared at it.

"That ugly thing?"

"That ugly thing," Aurelian said.

Eirenne continued, "It will be carried inside one of the heavy transports until we reach the entry system. From there, it will move alone toward a secondary starport in the cluster. Its job is not to survive, but to connect us to their network."

"And once it connects?" Rhoswen asked.

Eirenne’s expression stayed perfectly calm. "Then I begin."

Hearing this, everyone in the room understood.

As Eirenne was not a shipgirl. She could not fight like Rhoswen. She could not carry fighters like Solenne. She could not burn through enemies like Astra.

But this was her battlefield.

Networks, movement over the net, command confusion, false orders, broken timing, locked relays, and data poisoning.

Against a crude and overextended enemy like the Kharov, that could be just as deadly as a broadside.

Aurelian looked over the map again.

"Once the intrusion begins, we strike the outer garrison first," he said. "Then we move to the far side before their main groups can form. We destroy scattered fleets one by one instead of letting them gather."

Solenne nodded through the link. "That gives my aircraft better windows. If their command network is unstable, their point defense and fighter response will be slower."

Neris added, "It also makes salvage and transport movement easier."

Astercourt also nodded at this comment.

Aurelian turned toward the transport markers. "The bastion transports follow behind the combat group. They do not enter the cluster until the first two garrisons are gone and Eirenne confirms the network is still disrupted."