But then he thought about something, as he looked at them and said, "No skulls."

Rhoswen looked like she had just been personally attacked. "Commander."

"No skulls."

Lysara let out a quiet breath that almost turned into a smile. "That still leaves many terrible options."

Astercourt sighed, the kind of sigh that came from knowing this was about to get out of hand if no one kept it grounded, but she also knew that even if things were kept under control, it would not be much better.

For a short while, the meeting drifted into something less formal. They talked about markings, false transponder names, how ships should look from a distance, and how much disorder made something believable instead of obviously fake.

It wasn’t useless talk. Aurelian let it run longer than he normally would, because it actually mattered more than it sounded.

If the Kharov saw early reports and thought it was just raiders, smugglers, or an internal problem, it would prompt them to debate what actions needed to be taken.

And all of this would help them, as, with confusion, they can move in and out, and, with the Kharov busy with ’who to send’, they can do it with little to no casualties, since the plan was pretty simple.

The combat ships wouldn’t be fully repainted. Instead, they would use temporary masking and false light patterns where it made sense. Enough to blur identity, not enough to look fake.

The transports and captured ships would get rougher work, something less clean, more uneven, closer to what a struggling group might actually look like.

The false merchant ship was handled carefully. It would look worn, not broken, like a small Kharov trade vessel running a minor route. Not too clean, not too damaged. Something easy to overlook.

Eirenne handled the digital side.

The robots handled the physical changes overnight.

After the meeting ended, most of them left to get ready, but Aurelian stayed in the command room with Eirenne, Astra, Astercourt, and Lysara.

The map of Mournveil and the Kharov cluster stayed open between them.

Astercourt spoke first.

"This plan depends heavily on Eirenne."

"Yes," Aurelian said.

Eirenne didn’t react to the concern. "It does."

"If the intrusion fails?" Astercourt asked.

"Then we fall back to the original plan," Aurelian said. "Outer garrison first, then the next layer, then we leave before they regroup. We lose deeper gains, but not the mission."

Lysara nodded. "That still works."

Astra looked at Eirenne. "What if the plan works too well?"

This surprised Eirenne, as she hadn’t thought anyone would ask the question, and she didn’t have a definite answer herself.

Eirenne paused briefly before answering. "Then it will depend on how good their firewalls as the worse they are, the more info we will get."

"True, but we will not stay there for long, so all of this will need on-the-spot decisions," Aurelian said.

Astercourt nodded, agreeing with this.

Aurelian didn’t stop there.

"I will repeat again," he said. "We are not taking anything that cannot be moved or destroyed. We will be like those pirates, but unlike them, we are doing this to weaken the enemies on the other side and not to just loot."

Hearing this, everyone in the room nodded, agreeing with the sentiment.

The cluster was tempting. Too tempting. Six inhabited worlds, industry, ships, resources, all of it valuable.

But taking it now would be a mistake. He didn’t have the numbers to hold it, and he wasn’t going to plant himself somewhere he couldn’t defend.

A raid was different.

Hit hard.

Take what mattered. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Leave fast.

That worked.

The next day was all preparation.

The bastion came alive in a way it hadn’t since he first took control. Machines moved in steady lines through the shipyards and cargo areas.

Awakened overseers checked loads and timing. Eirenne’s sub-core was built and tested.

Neris stayed close to that part, watching the integration carefully to ensure it didn’t draw too much from her during normal operation.

The captured Kharov merchant ship was reworked until it looked right.

Vaeren was brought in to check it.

He studied it for a moment, then nodded.

"It looks miserable."

Eirenne answered calmly, "That is ideal."

Vaeren looked at her projection for a second, then decided not to question it.

The heavy transports were loaded next.

Ammunition.

Spare materials.

Drones.

Empty space left open for anything they could grab during the raid.

Solenne’s carrier stock was increased as much as possible without slowing the group down. Neris added extra conversion material.

Rhoswen checked her armor upgrades more than once and seemed pleased, which made Aurelian quietly mark that as something to watch during the opening fight.

Lysara spent most of the day working through route timing with Eirenne.

One refined the path.

The other made sure that there were no errors.

By the end of the day, everything was set.

The fleet wasn’t large compared to what the Kharov could bring if they reacted fully, but that was the point.

A large force would be noticed too early. This group could move through hidden routes, strike before anyone understood what was happening, and leave before a full response formed.

The lowest-tier shipgirls in the group were still stronger than most frontier forces, and after the upgrades, even they were closer to the next stage than before.

Solenne’s carrier force alone could break weaker formations if coordination failed. Rhoswen and Lysara would handle stronger resistance.

Neris would keep everything supplied. Eirenne would handle timing and disruption.

And Astra would stay behind.

Holding everything together.

Aurelian stood for a while watching the final reports come in. He did not feel rushed because everything was progressing in an unhurried manner

Astercourt passed by once more.

"Loadouts are adjusted," she said. "All units ready."

He nodded.

Neris sent her final confirmation not long after. "Sub-core stable. No conflicts."

Lysara didn’t speak, but her presence on the system feed was enough.

Rhoswen checked in last. "I’m ready."

Along with her, the rest of the fleet also responded when they were ready to go, with everything checked multiple times.