Star Ship Girl Era: My Shipgirls Are Too Overpowered

Chapter 279: The Governor’s Struggle 2

She used Daskor’s own command seals, captured footage from the vault, and testimony from his wounded aide.

The aide, Halven Rusk, agreed to record a short statement after receiving treatment. He looked exhausted and pale, but his voice held when he spoke.

"Governor-Marshal Daskor ordered the black reserve opened beneath the capital. He knew it would poison the lower districts. I witnessed the order. I opposed it too late. The forces now in control of orbit stopped the release."

The recording spread through Karven Spire’s planetary network under tight control.

It did not convince everyone.

But it shook enough people.

Within an hour, three industrial districts contacted the occupation command and requested terms.

Two city garrisons asked whether surrendering meant their officers would be executed. A mining authority in the northern belt offered its production records in exchange for protection from former Kharov security units.

The loyalists also reacted.

Several hardline commanders declared the broadcast false and ordered all civilians to report to central gathering points for "planetary defense mobilization."

Eirenne intercepted enough internal chatter to understand what that meant. They wanted human shields, forced militias, and crowds that would make precision assault harder.

Aurelian’s expression darkened as the reports came in.

"They learned from Daskor quickly."

Astra’s voice remained calm. "Or they were always like him."

"Maybe."

Rhoswen spoke from the ground feed. "Let me take one of those gathering points."

"No," Aurelian said.

She looked ready to argue, then stopped herself.

He continued, "Not because I don’t trust you. Because this needs a different kind of pressure."

Rhoswen nodded after a moment. "Understood."

The first city to serve as a test was Kareth Hollow, a refinery city built within a dry basin south of the capital.

Its garrison commander refused to surrender and began forcing workers and families toward the central furnace district, claiming that the enemy intended to enslave them. It was a crude lie, but fear made crude lies useful.

Cassian assigned the operation to a mixed force of Arcturus ground troops, March observers, and local guides taken from freed labor groups. Aurelian remained in orbital command but followed the operation closely.

This time, the objective was not simply to destroy the garrison.

It was to prove the method.

Eirenne cut the city’s military network into pieces, leaving civilian channels open where possible.

Arcturus drones broadcast Daskor’s recorded order, then showed live footage of prisoners receiving medical treatment at the capital.

Elowen’s team added a warning that the black reserve had been a real hazard and that remaining near military stockpiles could be dangerous. It was not elegant propaganda. It was the truth delivered at a useful time.

Then the family mechs landed outside the city, not inside it.

They gave the garrison one hour.

The commander lasted thirty-eight minutes before ordering his troops to fire on civilians trying to leave the gathering zone.

That ended the negotiation.

The assault was short.

Not easy, but short.

Arcturus mechs breached the outer defense walls while drones disabled watchtowers and vehicle depots.

Rhoswen was not part of the first wave this time, but Aurelian allowed her to deploy with the second wave to block the garrison’s armored retreat route.

She did exactly that, standing in the middle of a refinery causeway with her shield raised while armored vehicles tried and failed to push through.

This time, she did not laugh.

She held the line until the civilians cleared.

Then she broke the hostile column.

Kareth Hollow fell before sunset.

More importantly, the city did not burn.

After that, the planet began to change.

Not all at once, and not everywhere, but enough. Some garrisons still resisted, but others opened talks.

Several local commanders decided they did not want to die for a captured governor who had tried to poison his own capital.

Industrial workers began feeding information to the occupying forces. Medical teams moved into the worst districts under escort.

Forced labor camps were marked, isolated, and prepared for controlled liberation.

Aurelian finally understood why Cassian had not rushed.

A clean fleet victory had given them the planet’s orbit.

Daskor’s madness had given them the first crack in his authority.

Now they were widening that crack carefully, without smashing the world they wanted to keep.

By the third day after the battle, Karven Spire’s orbital station was operating under Arcturus control. The relay deception had held.

To the deeper Kharov network, the system still appeared troubled but not fully lost. Eirenne fed them intermittent status updates suggesting a pirate disruption, internal sabotage, and technical failures after an accident in the relay core.

It was confusing enough to delay a clean response.

That was all they needed.

Aurelian visited Karven Spire’s surface on the fourth day.

Astra came with him. Rhoswen met them at the landing zone, still wearing light combat armor and looking more tired than she would admit.

The capital fortress loomed behind them, its outer walls scarred from the assault but still standing.

Below the ridge, the capital city stretched into the cold haze, dark towers and industrial stacks rising above crowded lower districts.

The air smelled of metal, ash, and old fear.

Aurelian did not like it.

"This place is ugly," Rhoswen said.

Astra looked across the city. "It was built for control."

Aurelian nodded. "Then we rebuild what we can."

Rhoswen glanced toward him. "All of it?"

"Not today."

That drew a faint smile from her.

They went first to the lower vaults beneath the fortress. Elowen’s hazard team had already sealed the contaminated chamber, and the first cleaning units were working under strict quarantine.

Elowen herself appeared through a remote projection from Larkspur Haven, looking tired but focused.

"The leak is stable," she said. "The reserve was meant for area denial, not wide planetary spread, but if it had entered the drainage network, the lower districts would have suffered badly."

"How badly?" Aurelian asked.

"Badly enough that Daskor deserves the trial your father promised."

That was the harshest thing Elowen had said in days.

Aurelian accepted it quietly.