"The immediate frontier worlds nearest Haven are not the best targets," she said. "They matter too little. If we hit them, the Kharov will react locally and then look outward. They will not panic. They will simply tighten."
That was exactly what Aurelian didn't want.
If the Kharov stayed calm, adjusted, and locked things down, then all he would do was make his own position harder without gaining anything real.
Small strikes that didn't force a reaction weren't worth the risk, especially now that he was starting to build something larger.
"What about the labor route worlds?" he asked.
Vaeren answered this time, his tone steady and practical.
"Some of them are useful if you're extracting people," he said, "but not for a major strike. They don't matter enough. Most of them are poor, lightly defended, and easy for the Kharov to replace. If you hit them, you hurt the people living under Kharov rule more than you hurt the Kharov themselves."
That wasn't good enough either.
