Chapter 113: Plans To Rescue Vaeren’s People
Even so, Aurelian did not stop to allow the planet’s inhabitants to adapt to the changes.
As he knew that he was currently in a predicament where stronger forces could come at his doorstep at any time, he needed to be extra careful.
Still, the changes were real.
The rain Elowen had helped prepare, mixed with the Whiteheart’s sap and additional treatment agents, had done what direct battle could not have done in a reasonable time.
The lower infected broke down in huge numbers after exposure. The stronger ones were weakened enough that Astra’s mech forces and the local defenders could finish them far more efficiently than before.
The tide on the surface had finally stopped being endless.
By the end of those weeks, several great cities were already being rebuilt from the inside out, though only the stronger surviving zones had truly begun.
Weaker countries and smaller states had suffered too badly. Some had lost so much manpower that even finding their survivors was slow work.
Astra did what she could from orbit and through the mech net, but there were only so many machines and only so many hours in a day.
The lack of trained scientists became the next obvious problem.
The people of Larkspur Haven still had engineers, scholars, and technical workers, but not enough of them, and not at the level needed for the kind of jump Aurelian intended to force onto the world. Most of the new technologies brought in from the family side would still have to be learned from scratch.
The translation chips helped with language and learning assistance, but they could not turn a local citizen into an Alliance-trained specialist overnight.
That was where the captured Kharov auxiliary personnel became unexpectedly useful.
Among the surrendered groups and their attached civilian staff were a number of oppressed humanoid specialists, including many from Vaeren’s own people.
They had lived hard lives under Kharov’s rule, but they knew enough science and engineering to matter.
Aurelian had them screened, settled under supervision, and then they were put to work.
They helped restructure what Larkspur Haven still had left.
And from that, another idea began to grow in Aurelian’s mind.
If he relied only on Larkspur Haven’s surviving human population, then the system would recover, yes, but slowly. Too slow for the shape of future plans forming around him.
But if he expanded the population base under his control by bringing in more of these oppressed humanoid groups, especially those already mistreated by the Kharov, then that speed could change.
The idea stayed with him until he finally called for Vaeren again.
Vaeren arrived with the same controlled caution he always wore now. He had settled into his role well enough, but he still understood that his future depended on remaining useful.
Aurelian did not waste time.
"I want to know more about your people," he said. "The ones still under Kharov rule."
Vaeren blinked once, then sat straighter instead of shrinking.
That alone told Aurelian this subject mattered to him more than most.
"The Kharov do not value us," Vaeren said plainly. "They keep us divided. They don’t leave entire populations on a single world if they can avoid it. They mix us with other subject races, keep us under watch, and make sure no one place grows strong enough to unite."
His voice stayed controlled, but the bitterness underneath it was obvious.
"We are useful enough to exploit and not important enough to protect. We are educated just enough to serve, yet blocked from rising higher. Our birth rates are low, our status is lower, and over time we have only declined."
Aurelian listened without interrupting.
Vaeren then marked the nearest relevant holding world on the star map.
It lay around fifteen light-years from Larkspur Haven, across four systems.
Although it was not close, but not impossible either.
According to Vaeren, several Kharov divisions maintained order there, along with a patrol force outside the planet to prevent anyone from leaving or entering without approval.
He also added something else.
"Many of my people would come if they believed they had a real chance to leave," he said. "You may not even need to force much. You only need to arrive stronger than the Kharov and make it clear that staying is no longer their only future."
That made Solenne, who had been listening in, sigh softly as she understood why Vaeren said that, as she had seen similar situations before.
"So I get to fly out and steal an entire population?"
Aurelian’s mouth twitched.
"Rescue, not theft."
That earned a quiet snort from Rhoswen, who clearly found the whole thing less morally complicated than Solenne did.
The tactical reality, however, was simple.
If he wanted to pull something like that off, Solenne was the obvious choice.
She was the fastest ship he had for that kind of operation; she had the space to carry evacuees in large numbers, and her carrier groups could cover withdrawal while transport runs were underway. More than that, the Kharov lacked effective warp-interception tools in this region.
That meant speed and surprise mattered more than brute numbers.
So Aurelian made the decision.
Solenne would take the mission.
Vaeren would provide the guidance and choose a handful of trusted assistants from among his people to help identify the right targets on the ground.
And before she departed, he fitted her with one of the newly acquired nullfield warp jammers.
After the leveling and calibration work, its effective control range was sufficient to lock down a whole star system’s meaningful transit corridors when used correctly. That alone changed the entire nature of the battlefield.
The remaining warp jammers were distributed more conservatively.
One would stay close to Larkspur Haven as a protective measure.
The last would be held in reserve.
With that done, the battlefield in Aurelian’s hand felt firmer than before.
He had a planet he could call his own, and he was able to use the advantages of the ship’s controls to make sure that they had the surface stabilizing.
He had engineers building.
He had Elowen healing two worlds at once, in different ways.
He had a fast carrier about to make the Kharov lose another piece of their frontier without understanding why.