Pham’s armada executes a rapid assault plan across the Namqem system: landers to Namqem, mass cargo and relief to Maresk, and a coup against Tarelsk’s governance. Recon shows Tarelsk has imposed ubiquitous law enforcement, converting every embedded system into a control tool. Pham opts for least-time attack, ordering pulse bombs to blind automation and diggers to flood cores with Qeng Ho systems.

As the thirty ships skim Namqem at torch max toward Tarelsk, a sabotage alert from Sura’s agents at Maresk arrives—and immediately multigigaton detonations erase Qeng Ho fleets and Maresk’s billion-plus inhabitants. Moments later, nukes strike Pham’s thirty at close range. With torches out and ramfields down, Far Regard and the fleet are crippled and descend uncontrollably toward Tarelsk.

Far Regard plows through domes and stacked city levels, coming to rest amid devastation and casualties. Pham orders landing crews out. Dispersed teams encounter lethal automation driven by the governance’s control net; pulse bombs and Qeng Ho automation become the only way to move. Sammy’s group, deliberately aimed near the Polytech, finds survivors and links with Sura’s people, who possess core utility maps and recent software changes.

Armed with this intelligence, Pham opens comms with the governance: panicky, uniformed leaders claim victory at Maresk and self-sufficiency on Tarelsk. The brief exchange reveals network nodes. Using off-line Qeng Ho hardware and local expertise, Pham’s teams breach the control layers and roll up the regime within Ksecs.

With Tarelsk’s rulers dismantled, the shooting ends and the hardest phase begins: organizing survival and relief for a shattered moon and a system reeling from mass murder.