Legacy of the Void Fleet

Against such raw, absolute power, superior numbers meant nothing. The sudden collapse of the frontline shattered what little morale remained. To make matters worse, the already battered Republic fighter divisions took another thirty percent loss in the chaos.

Over the three grueling hours since the engagement began, the Republic armada had failed to inflict any meaningful damage on the Void Humans. Morale plummeted to absolute rock bottom. Without a miracle, no tactic Kai implemented could turn the tide—at best, it would only delay the inevitable by a few fleeting minutes.

And that was precisely how it played out.

The saturation bombardment launched by thousands of Republic missile cruisers briefly slowed the Void Humans’ flanking maneuvers on the port and starboard sides. But the respite was short-lived.

While the flanks were slightly delayed, the Void Fleet’s central line pushed forward unimpeded, driving its strike craft directly into the disorganized heart of the Republic fleet before the midline reinforcements could arrive.

Republic fighters and mechs managed to buy a few brief moments of momentum by ducking out from behind capital ship hulls to execute surprise attacks.

However, the Void pilots adapted almost instantly.

Using similar tactics, they wove between their own ships, ruthlessly hunting down the remaining Republic strike craft.

At the same time, Void strike units began making point-blank strafing runs against the Republic’s smaller vessel classes—specifically frigates and assault craft.

Knowing they couldn’t penetrate the heavy shielding of larger capital ships in time, the Void fighters bypasses them, targeting propulsion engines, command bridges, and exposed power reactors through gaps in their shields.

Over the next ten hours, the Lance of the Void demonstrated the full extent of its terrifying power.

In the first three hours, the Void flanks completely crushed the Republic’s side formations, compressing the remaining ships into a suffocatingly tight pocket.

Cut off and panicked, individual Republic captains began acting like isolated combatants, firing their weapon batteries at random—frequently striking friendly vessels and adding to the chaos.

Over the following four hours, the Void Fleet’s Star Destroyers and Super Star Destroyers finally moved into aggressive positions.

They unleashed focused, devastating bombardments on the Republic’s super battleships and Fortresses.

Puncturing shields and heavy armor plating in concentrated bursts, their Nova-Annihilation weapon batteries ignited continuous, blinding sun-like explosions that stripped away the Republic’s heavy line.

In the final three hours, the last semblance of military order vanished entirely along with most of the Republic armada.

The aristocratic commanders broke down completely. Desperate to save themselves, they attempted to lead their surviving family ships toward FTL jump vectors and gaps in the enemy formation, seeking to flee the hellscape the battlefield had become.

Instead, they were torn to shreds by waiting Void battleships that had anticipated the route and set up an intercept web.

Only a handful of veteran captains, led by Grand Admiral Kai, managed to escape—using the fleeing noble ships as literal shields to cover their retreat before slipping into hyperspace and vanishing into the dark.

The remaining vessels of the two-hundred-thousand-strong armada had nowhere left to run. They were rapidly swallowed up by the relentless, systematic bombardment of the Grand Fleet.

Finally, after sixteen full hours of continuous warfare, the space within the Selene star system fell dead silent once more.

The grand vanguard of the Bright Moon Republic—tasked with holding the line and inflicting heavy casualties on the invader—had failed completely. In its place lay a vast, frozen graveyard of shattered hulls drifting through the dark void.

Meanwhile, the Grand Fleet of the Lance of the Void stood almost completely untouched, save for a few hundred ships that had sustained minor hull damage or weapon strain—all of which were already undergoing automated mid-battle repairs.

The Grand Fleet of the Lance of the Void did not linger in the ruins of the Selene star system for long. Within an hour, all automated repairs were fully completed, and the fleet jumped back into hyperspace—heading directly toward the Moon Star System, the heart and central hub of the Bright Moon Republic.

There, they knew the Republic’s remaining forces awaited them: a fleet no smaller than the massive armada they had just annihilated at Selene.

"The battle ahead will be even more grand—and far tougher on us," Mav said as they finalized their strategic plans on the command bridge. "I want everyone to pay total attention to this."

While the fleets in both the Selene and Moon systems originally numbered around two hundred and fifty thousand ships each, there was a vast difference in their actual combat capability.

The armada at Selene had been composed mostly of private aristocratic factions and hastily assembled guild militias.

Though large in number, it lacked true military cohesion and battle potential—a weakness Mav and his officers had recognized early on, which was why they hadn’t felt the need to push as hard as they could have.

The force waiting for them now in the Moon system, however, was a battle-hardened military machine.

These veteran fleets had spent years fighting ruthless alien horrors pouring out of the massive wormhole located within the Republic’s domain.

That wormhole was a double-edged sword: a huge source of rare spatial resources, but also a constant galactic threat. In fact, that very threat was why Mav had avoided striking the Moon system first, choosing instead to dismantle the Republic’s outer territories before dealing with the core.

It was a desperate gamble by the Republic’s President to pull those hardened veteran fleets away from guarding the wormhole to make a final stand. While Mav had anticipated the move, it still troubled him deeply.

If an alien tide suddenly breached the wormhole while the defense fleet was away, even Mav and his forces didn’t know how they would handle it. With their current supply lines and mounting fatigue, they certainly couldn’t hold off an alien swarm alone.

Because of this, Mav knew they had to finish this upcoming battle as fast as possible while keeping their ships in optimal condition.

They needed to crush the Republic’s remaining forces rapidly so they could prepare to hold the line at the wormhole until their own main reinforcements arrived.

But that was far easier said than done. After all, that armada was no joke—it was a truly formidable military force.

It was anchored by at least three massive Moon Fortresses and another six medium-sized space fortresses, alongside a dense core of peak Tier 3 heavy-class warships.

Flanking these behemoths were over fifty thousand low-to-mid Tier 3 vessels, backed by a massive vanguard of more than a hundred thousand peak Tier 2 battleships—most of them heavy-class variants built for brutal frontline combat.

On top of that stood an additional system defense fleet numbering another hundred thousand ships, bringing even more raw firepower to the table. This was not even taking into account the central star system’s heavy defense grid, which was the most advanced and heavily fortified installation the Republic possessed.

Taking this star system would be significantly harder, and the fight ahead was guaranteed to test their fleet to its absolute limit. Mav knew this, Ritika knew this, and Ritik certainly understood the gravity of what lay ahead.

Yet while the pressure would be immense, victory was far from impossible—and certainly not beyond their reach.

The three exchanged glances, the exact same fiery intent gleaming in their eyes at the same time.

"The bigger they are, the more grandly they will fall against our might and superiority," they spoke together, a confident smile breaking across their faces as the words echoed through the bridge.

Mav chuckled and added, "Indeed, that is the case, but caution must be maintained no matter what. For all we know, they might very well be our toughest enemies yet, and the battle ahead will reflect that."

He spoke seriously, shifting the atmosphere back to a quiet, focused stillness. Ritik, Ritika, and the other admirals nodded in agreement.

"Still, that’s not our primary concern, is it, Grand Admiral?" Ritika stated. "What truly concerns us are time and variables, isn’t that right?"

Mav could only nod, as these were precisely his thoughts—specifically regarding time.

Seeing his confirmation, Ritika continued, "Especially those entities from the wormhole inside the Radiant star system of the Bright Moon Republic. And then there are potential third parties. Now that we’ve let a few survivors escape from the previous battle, even though not much time has passed, it should be more than enough for others to learn of our operation. Who knows what might come racing toward us?"

Ritik, who was lounging casually in his chair flipping a stick-like object between his fingers, picked up where his sister left off. "Doesn’t that mean we need to make quick work of the battle ahead?"

"Indeed, that is the plan," Mav agreed, declaring his intent to finish the engagement as rapidly as possible. "Our approach will be different this time around, much like how we opened earlier. Leveraging our long-range advantage, we will systematically dismantle their defense systems—which, as we know, are exceptionally heavy."