Star Ship Girl Era: My Shipgirls Are Too Overpowered-Chapter 91: Caelan Voss

The man stared for a second, then slowly looked down at his hands as if trying to process the fact that he was alive, healed, and talking to strangers from the stars, all in the same minute, his fingers flexing slightly as if he expected something to be wrong.

Aurelian didn’t waste time.

"What is your name," he asked, "and what is the current situation on Larkspur Haven?"

The man took a slow breath, steadying himself, and answered properly this time.

"My name is Caelan Voss. I was one of the commanders of the Haven orbital knights."

That alone matched what Aurelian had guessed, both from the mech frame and the way he carried himself even now.

Caelan looked past him for half a second, toward the view panel where the distant planet could still be seen, and his jaw tightened, the reaction instinctive.

"We fought in orbit," he said. "The fleet that came in wasn’t ours. Kharov Synod. They hit the station after we lost contact with the surface. We were already blind when they arrived."

He stopped there for a second, clearly replaying it, the memory not clean.

"We lost," he said flatly. "Most of us died buying time. I only remember the breakout."

Aurelian nodded once. That much, at least, fit the picture.

But the next part mattered more.

"And the ground?"

Caelan frowned. "We lost contact before the orbital battle started. We thought it was a system failure at first, then a major emergency. We didn’t know what it was."

Aurelian, who knew what it was, said it without trying to hide it.

"It was a biological attack," he said. "The meteor wave was the delivery system."

Caelan went still.

For a second, he just stared, not reacting in any way as he tried to process.

Then the meaning of it landed all at once, and his face changed into something darker, the kind of realization that came too late.

"No," he said quietly. Then again, harsher. "No wonder the planet went dead silent right after the shower."

His hand tightened against the side of the medical pod, gripping it harder than needed.

"They did it first," he muttered, half to himself. "They poisoned the ground first so we wouldn’t dare break the station."

Aurelian didn’t interrupt, letting him reach that conclusion on his own.

Caelan clenched his jaw hard enough that his whole face looked strained. Regret, anger, helplessness, all of it was plain.

But unlike a fool, he didn’t stay trapped in it for long, forcing it down instead of letting it take over.

He looked back up.

"What now?" he asked.

That was the right question, and it came without hesitation.

Aurelian met his gaze without pretending anything.

"Now I hit the Kharov force, take control of this system, and pull your world back from the edge if it’s still possible."

Caelan’s eyes narrowed slightly, not in doubt, but in thought. "And after that?"

Aurelian answered him plainly.

"After that, Larkspur Haven becomes mine."

There was no point dressing it up or trying to make it sound better than it was.

"I’m not here to help you like a hero," he continued. "If I commit my fleet, save your world, and secure your orbit, then this planet becomes my territory. Your people live under my rule. I won’t slaughter them, and I won’t let the Kharov Synod have them, but I will not lie to you and make you think that I do not have any other motives other than saving your civilization."

Caelan held his stare for a few seconds, weighing that without looking away.

The anger was still there, but now it was aimed in the right direction, not at Aurelian.

He had no station.

No fleet.

No planet could he even contact.

And the people who had done this to his home were still in orbit over it, still in control.

In the end, the choice before him was not really a choice at all, not with the situation as it was.

"I understand," he said at last, the words steady.

Then, after a short pause, he added, "If those are the terms, then I’d rather see Larkspur Haven in human hands than under theirs."

That answer made Aurelian relax just slightly, not visibly, but enough to matter.

Caelan was not stupid, and that would make everything after this easier, less resistance where there did not need to be any.

"Good," Aurelian said. "Then come with me to the flagship and tell me everything you know about their numbers, their station capture, and your world’s defense layout."

Caelan nodded and pushed himself properly upright, testing his balance as he stood.

He was still weak from everything that had happened before he recovered, but the pod had done its work well enough that he could stand on his own now, even if not at full strength.

As the two of them left the medical chamber, Aurelian glanced once more through the view panel toward the planet, his attention steady.

Larkspur Haven was still there.

And still bleeding, even if it looked calm from far away.

But now he was here, with a real fleet behind him and a local commander in hand who knew the shape of the battlefield, someone who could fill in the gaps.

That was enough to begin, enough to move forward without guessing everything.

When they stepped onto Black Crown’s bridge a short while later, Astra already had updated recon data waiting, Solenne’s scouts were returning, and the women of his fleet had gone from curious to fully focused, the shift in mood clear.

Aurelian took his place at the center and looked once at the world that might soon become his first true territory, letting the image settle.

Then he spoke in the same calm tone he used before every real fight, nothing rushed, nothing raised.

"Let’s see what kind of fireworks these people deserve."

The bridge remained quiet for a moment after that, not from hesitation, but from readiness.

No one asked unnecessary questions.

No one broke formation.

The fleet had already shifted from movement to action, and everyone on it understood that the next step would not be small.

Aurelian gave one last look at the incoming data streams, then focused forward, letting everything else fall into place around that.

It was time to begin.