Legacy of the Void Fleet

Positioned behind the primary line of the Lance of the Void Grand Fleet, the missile cruisers opened fire, pouring out wave after wave of warheads.

A portion of these missiles rushed forward and detonated early, creating localized gravitational fields that bent and sucked in the Republic’s incoming energy fire and projectiles.

Meanwhile, other point-defense missiles fragmented into dense clusters, intercepting the charging enemy attacks head-on and neutralizing them in deep space before they could reach the fleet.

And just like that, the first exchange of fire between both forces occurred.

Before the Republic forces—composed largely of Tier 2 militia—could realign their weapon systems, stabilize their targeting matrix, and launch another barrage, the main vanguard of the Lance of the Void Grand Fleet opened fire.

While the Republic’s neutralized defensive salvos posed no real threat, the vanguard’s counterattack pierced through the outer nodes of the Republic’s grand defense grid like a hot knife through butter. One after another, the defense platforms were destroyed in almost synchronized chains of explosions that lit up the vacuum of space.

In under twenty minutes, the outer nodes of the defense grid—which theoretically could have held off most Tier 3 power attacks for years—were reduced to floating scrap drifting across space.

Inside the command room of the Bright Moon Republic militia forces, consoles were completely covered in flashing red system alerts:

[SYSTEM ALERT: Outer Grid Nodes 01 through 84 are all offline]

[SYSTEM ALERT: Sensor malfunction detected. Targeting mesh unstable.]

As the battle—if it could even be called one—progressed, the distance between the two forces shrank, and a massive dogfight erupted. Hundreds of thousands of Republic starfighters and pilot-driven battle mechs flooded out from the hangars of the Republic battle carriers, rushing toward the Lance of the Void fleet, which was steadily advancing and mounting heavy pressure.

The Republic pilots mainly sought to buy time for their command to stabilize the fleet’s targeting systems. Knowing what was at stake, these pilots charged with manic desperation, firing plasma cannons one after another at point-blank range toward the Lance of the Void ships.

Ritika, who was leading the vanguard, watched the desperate charge unfold. A faint smile tugged at her lips as she issued her commands: "Deploy our starfighter and mech squadrons to engage their Republic counterparts. Don’t let them close in on our ships. Meanwhile, I want all main vessels to keep mounting pressure on the Republic capital ships so they can’t lock onto our fighters and mechs."

"Yes, High Admiral," the officer replied.

Shortly after, sleek starfighters and mechs launched from the hangars of nearly every ship in the formation, rushing toward the incoming Republic squadrons in a single, fluid motion—a sharp contrast to the enemy’s chaotic charge.

The sleek yet powerful starfighters and light mechs darted through the dense volume of space fire, operating their weapon systems with near-instantaneous, telepathic synchronization as if the craft were extensions of their own bodies, and unleashed a devastating counterattack.

The true mechs, wielding phase-based cold weapons capable of bypassing star energy shields with ease, sliced right through the defenses of the Republic’s thrusters and pierced mech cockpits with an elegant yet terrifying precision.

Almost as if teleporting, a Lance of the Void mech flashed next to an incoming Republic starfighter. Moving faster than the blink of an eye, it breached the craft’s energy shield and disabled its propulsion engines before blasting it point-blank with its shoulder-mounted cannons.

Pew! Pew! BOOM!

The defenceless Republic starfighter instantly detonated into a ball of fire.

Scenes like this unfolded repeatedly across the chaotic dogfight. Meanwhile, the Void starfighters were not about to be outdone by the mechs. Maneuvering through the Republic’s dense missile barrages and weapon lines, they crisscrossed space, engaging enemy squadrons head-on.

One Void fighter, locked onto the tail of a small Republic strike team, easily dodged a salvo sent its way. It opened fire with its supercharged pulse cannons—Pew! Pew! Pew!—nearly simultaneously taking down three enemy fighters in quick succession.

Detecting four more Republic fighters dropping in behind its position, the Void pilot executed a tight pull-up, dodging an ambush just in the nick of time. Had it stayed on its path for even a second longer, it would have taken direct hits.

Rolling into a sharp dive, the Void fighter flipped upside down, charging straight toward the four Republic craft and unleashing its main plasma cannons head-on. Caught completely off-guard by the maneuver, all four enemy fighters were wiped out before they could react.

While the Lance of the Void mech and fighter squadrons dominated the dogfight, the overwhelming 1-to-10 numerical disparity was still severe, and a few of their own units began taking hits under the sheer volume of enemy fire.

No matter how effectively the Grand Fleet of the Lance of the Void suppressed the Republic forces, it was impossible to neutralize every threat given the sheer scale of the enemy’s numerical advantage. After all, standing on one side was an armada—not a mere fleet—comprising well over two hundred thousand ships.

No matter how much of a patchwork armada it was, or how chaotic its formation appeared, the sheer destructive power it could unleash could not be ignored. As strong as the Lance of the Void vessels were, they were still unable to completely avoid taking hits or entirely prevent the Republic armada from targeting their mech and starfighter squadrons.

Because of this, scenarios like Republic homing missiles chasing down Void starfighters were far from uncommon. One Void starfighter found its energy shields flickering under immense strain after absorbing a barrage of enemy fire. Having already endured numerous hits like this, the fighter’s shields finally collapsed, leaving its hull exposed to the next incoming salvo.

Even though the pilot successfully evaded several missiles and plasma bolts, a few attacks slipped through his defenses. An explosion struck one of the starfighter’s wings, the blast shockwave nearly causing the pilot to lose control of his craft for a split second.

A barrage of follow-up attacks slammed into the damaged vessel. Even though this single pilot had already downed roughly two dozen Republic fighters, the sheer volume of enemy fire proved overwhelming, shearing off his fighter’s winglets.

"Dammit!" the Void pilot gritted his teeth, glancing at the dashboard where the emergency warp countdown hit zero.

Manipulating the control console directly with his mind, he activated the light-speed module. With a sudden burst of acceleration, the starfighter vanished from its position—just a second before a heavy beam from a Republic cruiser far in the back vaporized the space where he had been floating.

"A few moments too late, and I would’ve been done for..." the pilot exhaled, looking back at the glowing, superheated space left behind by the blast.

A cold shudder ran down his spine as he guided his heavily damaged craft through the drifting debris of destroyed Republic ships, heading toward the automated repair stations stationed far behind the Grand Fleet’s main battle line.

Scenes like this unfolded repeatedly across the front lines. Whenever the starfighters or mechs of the Lance of the Voidfaced overwhelming fire, sustained severe damage, or found themselves surrounded, they engaged their emergency light-speed modules.

The system granted them a micro-burst of light-speed velocity, allowing them to break away from lethal engagements and retreat safely toward the rear repair docks.

The emergency module could be triggered either by the pilot’s mental command or automatically by the craft’s internal AI upon detecting critical danger to the pilot’s life.

Because of this sophisticated emergency system, casualties were completely avoided—without it, even the elite Lance of the Void forces would have suffered losses by now.

All the while, within the one and only medium-sized Fortress—a giant cone-shaped behemoth with a radius of 200 kilometers and a length of nearly 500 kilometers—the Republic command center stood heavily guarded.

Loaded with various weapon systems of all sizes, it served primarily as a support platform and lacked true weapons of mass destruction, but it was still a formidable base of operations.

Inside the command bridge sat the Republic’s highest-ranking leaders in the Selene star system.

They were elite members of aristocratic families and nobles clad in pristine uniforms, pushed into ranks of Admirals and higher by their families who foolishly believed the battle was already won.

These nobles had no true concept of the Lance of the Void Grand Fleet’s actual power, nor did they possess real combat experience; they knew tactics only as abstract theories taught in military academies.

Only a handful of veteran officers and hardened commanders with genuine battle experience stood among them—watching in sheer horror as the situation unfolded over the course of an hour.

Everything they threw at the enemy—no matter how strange the tactic or who proposed it, good or bad—failed completely. The officers felt as if they were hurling their forces into a giant meat grinder; whatever they sent was crushed into scrap within minutes.

Every offensive strategy was effortlessly dismantled by the Celestial Void Fleet with terrifying efficiency. Even when the Republic managed to land a few direct hits, the attacks did nothing against the enemy’s impenetrable energy shields.