No matter how carefully you plan something, the moment you implement it, the unpredictable always happens, usually in response to the other side’s actions.
The same was true when Dreznor launched his fleets. While they succeeded in disabling the mana-powered long-distance communication nodes for more than half of them, a few of them managed to send out SOS signals before being neutralized.
“Keep it quiet for now and gather as much intel as possible. We can’t afford the embarrassment of losing control of a star system without even mounting a defense,” was the general sentiment shared among the leaders of the civilizations that received the distress messages. Their immediate strategy was to contain the situation, keep the takeover hidden, and buy time to figure out a solution.