Star Ship Girl Era: My Shipgirls Are Too Overpowered-Chapter 29: The Uneasy Governor And The Planetary Fleet Leaving the Port To Defend

Chapter 29: The Uneasy Governor And The Planetary Fleet Leaving the Port To Defend

Meanwhile, on Cinderleaf Star, Governor Halden Rourke was pacing in circles in the main sitting room of his official residence, looking like he hadn’t slept in a full day.

He’d been here long enough that the polished floors and quiet staff should’ve been comforting, but right now the place felt too clean, like it was pretending nothing was wrong, while his wrist screen kept buzzing with alerts that said the opposite.

Just minutes ago, a priority warning from the regional security network had landed in his inbox.

Possible Omnic incursion.

Heading toward inhabited systems.

One of the projected paths was Cinderleaf.

Halden stared at the message again and again, hoping he had misread it and that all of this was nothing but a nightmare.

"Omnics," he muttered, and the word came out like an insult and a prayer at the same time.

This is because Cinderleaf Star wasn’t some frontier mining rock with a few domes and a dream.

It was a real world, with cities, with export lanes, with planned infrastructure upgrades, and if things went well for a few more years, he might’ve gotten approval for a proper gate relay extension, the kind that turned a backwater into a stopping point that mattered.

He’d spent decades making sure the place ran smoothly, keeping budgets clean, keeping the wrong factions out of local politics, keeping trade flowing, and now some machine swarm decided to wander into his region like it owned the vacuum.

His mind ran ahead of itself, throwing ugly thoughts at him.

What if the outer routes were already compromised, and no one wanted to say it out loud yet? What if this wasn’t a stray vanguard, but the first crack in something bigger? What if the alliance response was slow, or worse, delayed by paperwork because Cinderleaf wasn’t "important enough" on the grand map?

For one stupid second, he even thought about asking his staff to prep a private shuttle, just in case.

Then he forced that thought down hard.

Running would buy him a few hours of life and cost him everything else, and if he showed up in the rear with nothing but excuses, the alliance would bury him under charges so fast he wouldn’t even get to defend himself.

What he really didn’t want to lose wasn’t his title.

It was his planet.

His people.

All the work that had finally started paying off.

He stopped pacing when the front doors opened.

The person he’d been waiting for finally arrived, stepping in like this was just another day.

Commander Jalen Merrick, the old man in charge of the planetary defense forces, walked into the room without looking rushed.

His uniform was simple, worn clean, and his face had that calm look veterans got after seeing enough battles that they could take any bad news with the same straight face.

Halden hurried forward anyway.

"How bad is it?" he asked, trying not to sound desperate and failing just a little. "Is the fleet ready?"

Jalen took off his cap, nodded once to the staff, and spoke in an even tone that made it feel like he was giving a report after a drill.

"The fleet is in decent shape," he said. "Morale is high enough, ships are fueled, crews are at stations, and your funding hasn’t been wasted. That part is fine."

Halden held onto that for half a breath.

Then Jalen continued.

"But if those alerts are accurate, our current strength is not enough to stop a focused Omnic strike if they break into the system. One Tier III Foundry Core would already be a serious problem for this world, and the warning says there were two."

Halden’s jaw tightened.

"So we’re doing surface defense," he said, more like a question than a statement.

Jalen nodded, not dramatic, not trying to scare him, just honest.

"Yes," he said. "If they reach orbit in force, we prepare for the worst case, and we hold until a reinforcement fleet arrives. We don’t get to pretend it won’t happen, not with Omnics because they are not organic beings, which means that they will destroy the planet and its inhabitants like the zerg."

Halden looked away toward the window, toward the calm skyline in the distance, lights still on, traffic still moving, people still living their normal lives because they didn’t know what might be coming.

"What are the odds we hold?" he asked quietly.

Jalen didn’t lie.

"We can slow them," he said. "We can buy time. That’s what planetary defense is for. But if the main body shows up before reinforcements, it gets ugly."

Halden swallowed, then forced himself to nod.

"Okay," he said, voice rough. "We declare a state of war. Full mobilization. Broadcast to residents. Evac routes. Shelter protocols. All of it."

One of the staff members nearby immediately moved to send the orders, face pale but focused.

Jalen put his cap back on.

"Good," he said. "That gives us a chance."

Halden watched him turn to leave, then blurted, unable to stop himself.

"If we’d had more ships," he said bitterly. "If the regional office hadn’t stalled our upgrade requests for years, we’d be better prepared."

Jalen didn’t stop walking, but his voice carried back, calm and firm.

"This is a disaster event," he said. "You don’t blame yourself for weather you didn’t create. You respond, and you survive."

Then he was gone, heading back to his fleet.

What neither of them knew was that the most immediate threat had already been crushed, and the ship that did it was on its way to Cinderleaf right now, cutting through warp as it headed towards them.

Back aboard Black Crown, the ship cruised smoothly, warp fields steady, internal systems quiet enough that the whole ship felt like it was holding its breath.

Aurelian stood in the command core with his arms loosely folded, reading through the messages that had come in after the battle report.

Some were automated acknowledgments from alliance outposts.

Some were requests for additional telemetry.

Then one message came through that actually mattered.

It was from the academy network, tagged with mission authority and direct fleet involvement, which caused Aurelian to smile a little as this meant that this situation was being taken seriously, which is a good thing.