Chapter 190: Attacking The Second Garrison

Eirenne didn’t force her way in.

She didn’t hit the system all at once or try to break everything immediately. Instead, she slipped into it quietly and spread through the port systems piece by piece, touching traffic relays, maintenance channels, command routing, and low-level network chains before placing small problems where they would matter most.

The radar faults came first.

And just like they had planned before.

The starport systems started showing small errors. Range drift. Delayed target returns. Calibration mismatches. Random maintenance warnings.

Nothing severe enough to cause panic right away, but more than enough for the people who were in charge of running them.

The Kharov response was almost embarrassing.

They sent a maintenance request.

Then another one.

Then nothing.

Eirenne watched the internal response for several seconds in complete silence, as if trying to understand everything before she did something else, but after seeing the entire reaction, she didn’t know what to make of this.

Finally, she said, "Their radar division has reported the fault."

Aurelian looked at her. "And?"

"They assigned technicians for later review."

"How much later?"

"Several hours. Possibly tomorrow."

Rhoswen stared. "They can’t be serious."

"Yes," Eirenne said calmly. "I am beginning to understand why they lose territory."

Vaeren gave a quiet breath from his side of the command link, sounding more tired than amused.

"Kharov systems break all the time," he said. "Their technology is uneven, and most officers are used to blaming local workers or maintenance crews. If nothing explodes immediately, they assume it can wait."

"That helps us," Aurelian said.

"It also sounds stupid," Rhoswen muttered.

"Both can be true," Lysara replied.

Eirenne continued moving through the system.

The radar faults spread carefully, always appearing as local technical problems rather than an attack.

Then she started mapping everything else. Fleet positions. Patrol routes. Dock assignments. Command chains. Internal defenses.

The cluster had more ships than the earlier records suggested, but they were badly spread out.

One fleet near each inhabited world.

Additional forces around mining and industrial zones.

Reserve groups are scattered through starports.

Some heavier ships are under local authority, but nothing has been fully gathered together.

No unified readiness.

That was exactly what Aurelian wanted.

Eirenne pushed the updated map to the command display.

"The second garrison is the best opening target," she said. "Roughly three thousand ships assigned. About half are Tier II and Tier III combined. Most of the higher-tier ships are lighter classes. Frigates. Destroyers. Torpedo hulls. Their upgrade chain appears unfinished."

Astercourt’s voice came through the rear command link. "Unfinished or corrupt?"

Eirenne paused briefly. "Likely both."

Vaeren gave another dry laugh. "That sounds familiar."

Aurelian studied the second garrison’s position carefully.

It sat far enough from the largest concentration groups that they could hit it before the rest of the cluster understood what was happening.

At the same time, it was close enough to useful infrastructure that destroying it would open a clean path for plunder afterward.

"Good," he said. "That’s the first target."

Rhoswen immediately looked sharper, almost excited.

Solenne’s tactical feed shifted as she started preparing launch formations from range.

Lysara quietly readied her weapons.

Neris confirmed support stock and transport timing.

Eirenne turned slightly toward Aurelian.

"I will delay full communications disruption until final approach," she said. "If I cut everything now, they may start regrouping before they understand why."

"Do it when we commit."

"Understood."

The fleet began moving.

They didn’t approach in a straight line. Lysara’s route work combined with Eirenne’s interference gave them room to move through weaker sections of the surveillance network, slipping through blind spots and delayed sensor windows while staying just outside clean detection.

The Kharov saw fragments.

But only fragments.

A few reports started appearing through their systems. Strange contacts near the outer edge. Possible sensor ghosts. Distorted merchant signatures. Equipment errors.

Eirenne quietly buried every one of them.

Some reports were delayed.

Others were rerouted.

A few were sent to the wrong offices entirely.

Several got buried under false maintenance traffic.

And all of it worked beautifully.

By the time the Kharov second garrison understood the problem wasn’t just failing radar, Aurelian’s fleet was already close enough to kill them.

"Cut them," he said.

Eirenne acted.

The change was immediate.

Internal communication lines across the second garrison suddenly broke apart in different ways at once.

Some ships lost contact with command. Others received conflicting orders. Patrol groups stopped receiving updates entirely.

Dock control systems froze for several seconds before restarting with corrupted traffic priority lists.

Then the false emergency alerts started.

Minor reactor instability, navigation faults, starport collision warnings, and unauthorized departures.

Every system that normally kept the garrison organized suddenly began drowning in useless information.

The Kharov response became chaotic almost instantly.

Some commanders tried to pull ships into formation.

Others believed the problem was internal sabotage.

Several patrol groups stayed docked waiting for orders that never arrived.

One cruiser squadron even moved toward the wrong side of the station entirely because its threat marker had been altered.

Rhoswen watched the confusion spread across the tactical display and let out a low laugh.

"That’s actually amazing."

Eirenne didn’t react much. "Their internal structure is inefficient. Once confusion begins, it spreads quickly."

Aurelian watched the distance close, as there were no major alarms or coordination that might deviate from their plans.

The Kharov still didn’t understand what was happening.

That was the entire point.

Solenne’s carrier groups were already moving into launch position behind them. Strike craft sat ready inside her bays, waiting for the final order.

Lysara’s ship held steady at the front, weapons charged and locked. Rhoswen looked like she was barely holding herself back from moving early.

Neris checked the timing again. "Transports are ready to move once the outer line breaks."

"Good."

The fleet kept advancing.

Closer.

Closer.

Still no proper response.

The Kharov garrison was trying to wake up while Eirenne kept feeding it more confusion faster than it could recover.

One destroyer group received orders to redeploy twice in less than a minute.

A logistics station locked down its own docking routes by accident.

Several defense platforms rotated toward nonexistent targets.

And through all of it, the Crownward March fleet kept moving quietly toward firing range.

Vaeren watched the tactical display in disbelief.

"They still think this is an internal systems collapse."

"That will change soon," Aurelian said.

The distance counter dropped again.

Weapons were fully ready now.

Solenne’s strike craft began final launch sequencing.

Lysara’s targeting systems locked.

Rhoswen grinned.

Eirenne looked toward Aurelian one last time.