Star Ship Girl Era: My Shipgirls Are Too Overpowered

Chapter 293: Targan Rell’s Surrender

Targan Rell quickly understood that he had no bargaining power left.

After signing the surrender order, he tried to act as if he were still a useful noble who could be negotiated with, but the illusion did not last long.

The March already controlled Nhalis orbit, the starport, the two mining systems, and the sealed routes out of the Serrow Belt.

His hidden fleet was gone, his officers were being questioned, and the Vaelari workers he had once treated as property were beginning to speak with March officials instead of lowering their heads.

By the next morning, Targan had changed his approach.

He became helpful.

Not out of remorse.

Aurelian doubted the man even understood the word in a useful sense. Targan simply realized that a living prisoner with information had better prospects than a proud prisoner who had nothing left to trade.

He provided access codes, confirmed the locations of hidden storage sites, identified officers most likely to resist, and sent messages to several stubborn local units ordering them to surrender.

It worked.

A few Kharov commanders still hesitated, but none wanted to be the last fool fighting after their own lord had already given up.

Some surrendered out of fear of the Arcturus family. Others surrendered because they feared the Vaelari if the March stopped protecting them.

Aurelian noted that part carefully, because it said a lot about how Nhalis had been governed.

Fear sat under every stone here.

By the end of the second day, Nhalis was stable enough that Aurelian could return his main fleet to the Black Crown and leave the immediate occupation under Darian’s command, with March officers and Arcturus family specialists supporting him.

The sealed relic cache beneath the northern starport annex remained untouched except by drones, and Eirenne had placed enough locks around it that even looking at the door wrong would probably generate a report.

Meridian and Lysara were already reviewing the remote scans from Helion Bastion Twelve.

Lysara’s first answer was not comforting.

The components were partly Vhaloric in design, but not entirely. Some pieces resembled old containment rings used to study unstable space phenomena, while others looked as if someone had modified them after the fall of the Directorate. That made the cache less predictable, not more.

Aurelian decided that was a problem for later.

Not because it was unimportant, but because the only safe next step was not touching it.

Nhalis itself demanded more immediate attention.

The first population report arrived through Eirenne while Aurelian was in the Black Crown’s briefing room with Astra, Rhoswen, Neris, Astercourt by remote channel, and Darian from the starport.

"Nhalis has an estimated population of seventy-two million," Eirenne said. "The Vaelari account for roughly forty-one million. Kharov settlers and their descendants account for approximately twenty-six million. The remaining population is a mix of imported labor groups, technical migrants, and military families from other Kharov-held systems."

Aurelian looked at the numbers for several seconds.

"So the Vaelari are still the majority."

"Yes," Eirenne replied. "But their numbers were once much higher. Four centuries ago, before Kharov settlement became dominant, estimates place the Vaelari population above three hundred million."

The room went quiet.

Rhoswen’s expression changed first. "They lost that many?"

"Yes. War, forced relocation, labor attrition, disease mismanagement, and birth restrictions. The Kharov records do not describe it as extermination, but the effect is clear."

Astercourt’s remote voice became colder. "Slow erasure with forms."

"That is one way to describe it," Eirenne said.

Aurelian leaned back and stared at the map of Nhalis. The planet was not heavily populated by Alliance standards, but it had been squeezed for centuries.

Industrial islands sat like hard knots across its oceans. Vaelari communities had been pushed into controlled districts near ports, refineries, and aquaculture centers.

Kharov settlers held the higher land, the protected cities, the military routes, and nearly all political offices.

It was not hard to understand.

A small occupying population had arrived with starships, mechs, and orbital weapons. The native population had been pre-industrial then, with local sailing states, coastal kingdoms, and some simple energy arts that might have mattered in a fair war but meant almost nothing against orbital fire. The Kharov had not wiped them out because they were useful.

Useful workers, useful symbols, and useful bodies.

Aurelian looked toward Darian’s feed. "What is the mood at the starport?"

"Careful," Darian said. "The Vaelari are listening to us now, which is better than avoiding us. The Kharov civilians are frightened and angry, though most are too frightened to be loud. The overseers are trying to rewrite their own records before we find everything."

Astercourt answered immediately. "They will fail."

Darian smiled slightly. "I assumed that."

Neris spoke next, her voice sleepy but practical. "Food will be the first pressure point."

Eirenne nodded. "Correct. The Vaelari districts depend on ration channels controlled by former Kharov offices. If we remove those offices without replacing distribution quickly, people will suffer."

Astercourt sighed. "Meaning we need to keep some local clerks working while investigating whether they were monsters."

"Yes," Eirenne said.

Aurelian looked at Astercourt’s projection. "Can we do that?"

"We can, but I will complain the entire time."

"That means yes."

"It means yes with paperwork."

Rhoswen frowned. "Is there a version without paperwork?"

Astercourt stared at her through the projection.

Rhoswen wisely stopped talking.

The next hours were spent shaping the first occupation order for Nhalis. It was not glorious work, but it would decide whether the planet would become stable or explode in revenge and fear.

Vaelari labor restraints would be removed in phases. Food distribution would be placed under March supervision.

Kharov military families would be disarmed but not expelled. Former overseers would be separated from ordinary administrators.

Vaelari elders would help identify local leaders, but they would not be allowed to form revenge mobs.

That last part caused tension.

Aurelian knew it would.

When he met the Vaelari elders again later that day, the oldest among them, a man named Sovan Il, listened to the rules with a face that betrayed little.

His bioluminescent markings had dimmed since the first meeting, which Eirenne quietly explained could indicate tiredness, age, or emotional strain.

"You will not let us judge them ourselves," Sovan said.