A foreign fleet dropping into a sky controlled by the Kharov didn’t feel like help to anyone watching from below.

It felt like the start of something worse.

Most people down there had never seen a rescue before. They didn’t have any reason to think something good would come from ships they didn’t recognize.

So when the sky dimmed and unfamiliar hulls appeared overhead, their first reaction wasn’t relief.

It was fear.

Some thought the Kharov had finally decided to end things. A full wipe. Quick, brutal, and final. No more half-measures, no more control. Just erase everything and move on.

Others thought it was a different enemy. Another force entirely. One that didn’t care who was in charge and who wasn’t. One that would kill everyone the same way.

No one knew what was actually happening.

And when people don’t know, they panic.

Across the settlements, things broke down fast. People started running without a clear direction.

Some tried to hide wherever they could. Some just stood there, stuck, like their bodies refused to move.

Years of being controlled had taught them how to react to orders, but not how to think when there were none.

Up above, the Kharov forces weren’t handling it much better. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

They reacted badly.

And slowly.

At the same time.

Their systems lit up with messages. Requests for orders went out, but answers didn’t come back fast enough.

Officers started shouting, trying to pull things together, but the chain of command was already messy, and this only made it worse.

Ground vehicles started moving toward the edges of the settlements.

Gun platforms turned upward, trying to lock onto targets they didn’t understand.

Local defenses tried to activate all at once.

But nothing lined up cleanly.

Nothing felt ready.

Then Solenne started the bombardment.

It wasn’t a massive or wide attack, nor was it reckless; instead, it was a controlled bombardment.

The first missiles hit the right places. Garrison centers. Command posts. Vehicle depots. Surface weapons that could interfere with what came next.

Each strike landed where it needed to.

No wasted shots.

No hesitation.

Across every settlement, it followed the same pattern. Military compounds were hit first.

Buildings that had been used to control the population disappeared in fire and shockwaves. Storage areas went up in tight bursts.

Heavy guns were taken out almost as soon as they powered on.

And right next to all of that, the civilian areas were left alone.

That was when things started to change.

At first, people didn’t understand what they were seeing.

They watched the places that had ruled their lives for years get wiped out in seconds, while their own homes were still standing. It didn’t make sense right away.

The fear didn’t go away.

But something else started to slip in.

Something small.

Something unsure.

Hope.

By then, Solenne had already entered the atmosphere.

Her massive hull moved low across the sky, steady and calm, like she wasn’t worried about anything down there.

That alone made people stop and stare.

Dropships started launching from her lower decks.

Combat frames followed right after.

They spread out quickly, heading straight for the parts of the garrison that were still standing after the first strikes. They didn’t slow down. They didn’t stop to regroup.

They already knew what they were doing.

Vaeren moved with one of the forward teams.

Not because Solenne needed him to fight.

But because the people on the ground needed someone they could understand.

Someone who looked like them.

When the first gates were broken, and people started gathering, confused and unsure, he stepped forward and raised his voice.

"Hurry," he said. "Move. If you stay still, you die where you stand."

Some people just stared at him.

A familiar face in a moment that didn’t make sense.

Some moved right away, not even thinking about it.

Others hesitated, like they needed a second to believe this was real.

A few didn’t move at all until another explosion hit somewhere nearby and forced them to react.

It wasn’t a clean operation in any sense, as it wasn’t organized, but people were moving.

And that was enough.

The fighting on the ground didn’t last long.

It was messy.

Close.

Fast.

But short.

The Kharov soldiers stationed there weren’t ready for something like this. They had spent years controlling people who couldn’t fight back, which made them lax about everything.

They knew how to threaten.

How to punish.

How to keep people in line through fear.

But that’s it, they didn’t know what to do when the enemy is so strong that they are able to breach the space defense and attack them on the ground before they could get anything out.

And with no way to communicate or get any commands from their leaders, they are like headless flies.

Some of them tried to hold their ground.

Some tried to regroup.

Some tried to run.

None of it worked.

Every time they tried to form a line, it broke apart before it could settle. Every time they tried to fall back, something hit them before they could get there.

The difference between the two sides was too big.

By the time the largest stronghold on the surface went down, the outcome was already decided.

It just hadn’t finished yet.

Back on Larkspur Haven, Aurelian ended his training session.

The gravity field around him slowly powered down, and the pressure eased off his body bit by bit until the room felt normal again.

He stood there for a moment, letting everything settle.

Sweat ran down his back, but he ignored it.

His attention had already moved on.

Astra had queued the reports before he went in. He hadn’t looked at them yet, but he already had a good idea of what they would say.

He already knew how this would go from past fights with the Kharov. The strike would run smoothly, the fleet would break early, and the ground phase would stay on schedule. Extraction routes would open, and Solenne would handle her role without issue. That was enough.

He walked out, reading reports as they updated. There were still details to check, but the bigger picture was clear.

This couldn’t be a one-time move. If he wanted to grow, it had to become routine. Break their control, pull people and resources, and keep pressure steady.

If it kept working, something new would take shape.

And once it did, others wouldn’t be able to ignore it.