Star Ship Girl Era: My Shipgirls Are Too Overpowered-Chapter 90: Reaching Larkspur Haven

And while the situation was tense, with the inhabitants on the brink of extinction, Aurelian’s fleet regrouped near the dead system marker that hid the Pale Wound Corridor, and this time he was not here just to confirm routes or record coordinates.

He had come to cross it.

This is because of careful planning, which led him to understand that he already has enough shipgirls to go on this trip.

And because he knows about the situation from the system, which gave him a detailed description of what will happen, and he knows now is the right and only time to go for it with the least amount of effort.

For this expedition, he brought every ship that was already stable enough to move with him, not leaving anything useful behind.

Black Crown is the core.

Crimson Bulwark is the forward hammer.

Elowen for ecological and support work.

Neris for supply.

Astercourt for fleet administration and internal coordination.

And Solenne, whose arrival had finally given his fleet the long-range reach it had been missing.

It was not a large fleet by the standards of old families or academy veterans, but it was balanced and, more importantly, every ship in it was commanded by a shipgirl.

That alone made the whole thing far sharper than a larger fleet made of ordinary hulls, more responsive and easier to direct.

When the six ships gathered near the ruined marker, Aurelian finally informed the girls of the mission in a little more detail.

Not everything.

Only what they needed.

That there was a colony world far from the Alliance lanes.

That it was already in trouble.

That he intended to intervene, seize the opportunity, and if things went well, make that world the first real foothold of his future territory.

The reaction on the bridge was quieter than most people would have expected, no sudden excitement or panic.

Astercourt only adjusted her glasses and asked for updated logistical estimates, already thinking ahead.

Neris looked a little sleepier than worried, though she still listened carefully, not missing anything important.

Elowen, on the other hand, seemed openly pleased. A new world meant real work for her, and by now, Aurelian had already figured out that she liked having a purpose far more than resting, something steady to focus on.

Rhoswen looked ready to ram something on principle, her reaction simple and direct.

Solenne simply smiled as she’d just been promised something fun, as if the situation itself was something to look forward to. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Astra stayed the same as always, calm and steady beside him, already preparing without needing to say much.

The fleet passed through the narrow corridor carefully.

The Pale Wound Corridor was not beautiful.

It was tight, ugly, and unstable-looking, with the kind of warped light and dead silence that made even experienced people uncomfortable, like something that should not exist but did anyway.

But it held. The route was exactly where the earlier scan had said it would be, and after a tense passage, Aurelian’s fleet emerged into the distant star system on the other side without incident.

Larkspur Haven was in the distance, a pale blue world that looked calm from afar, almost untouched.

Too calm, really.

And near it, there were dots, lots and lots of them.

But they were neither debris nor commercial merchant ships; instead, they were warships.

A lot of them, grouped as a formation covering the entire planet’s outer space.

Aurelian’s expression didn’t change as he saw these warships, as he understood that something else was going on, and these warships just confirmed that.

"Looks like another civilization is hard at work," he said.

Astra’s radar arrays were already operating at full power, scanning and filtering simultaneously.

"Unknown fleet signatures confirmed," she said. "There are also smaller units scattered further out. Hard to classify at this range."

Aurelian looked at the planet again, then at the cluster around it. A world in crisis, a hostile fleet in orbit, and no sign of orderly local traffic, no normal movement.

That was enough to tell him the clue had been right, and that the situation had already moved past simple trouble.

"Do not rush in," he said. "We gather information first."

He had Solenne send out reconnaissance craft while Astra launched a mech recovery unit toward another signal that had just been detected nearby, something separate from the main cluster.

It was faint.

Damaged.

Drifting.

Whatever it was, it had probably survived some kind of battle and barely done even that, holding together just enough to send a signal.

The mechs brought it back quickly, not giving it time to drift further.

It was a humanoid frame, heavily damaged, scorched, and missing whole chunks of armor. The life signs inside were weak but still there, barely holding on.

Aurelian had the pilot brought to Elowen’s ship and placed into the Nanoforge Recovery Pod without delay.

The result was almost immediate, faster than most medical systems would have managed.

The pod healed the pilot quickly, repairing what it could, stabilizing what it had to, and bringing the man back from a near-death state. Aurelian still found it a little absurd how useful the thing was, even after seeing it more than once.

A short while later, the man woke.

He looked around with the dazed, sharp confusion of someone who had expected death and got a clean room instead, his thoughts clearly not caught up yet.

Aurelian was already there when the chamber opened, waiting for that moment.

The man sat up too quickly, eyes jumping to the unfamiliar walls, then to the people in front of him.

He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties, dark-haired, worn down, and tense in the way only soldiers got after too much combat in too little time, his body still carrying that strain.

Then his expression shifted.

He had heard Aurelian speak.

And he understood him.

That surprise showed on his face immediately, simple and clear.

"You’re... human?" he asked, voice rough. "And you can speak our language?"

Aurelian shook his head once, keeping it straightforward.

"I’m human, yes. As for the language, no, instead a universal translation chip was installed while you were being treated. That is why you can understand me now."

The soldier blinked once, then again, processing it more slowly than the shock of waking up alive.