Legacy of the Void Fleet

Rhogar's voice cut through the tense silence of his flagship's command bridge. "All ships, all forward batteries... on my mark."

The silence lasted for only a few seconds, yet it felt like minutes. Rhogar had been waiting for this moment. He bellowed with all the force he could muster, "WEAPONS FIRE!"

A blinding storm of light erupted from the formation of over 200 ships. Energy weapons roared in a synchronized discharge as plasma bolts, pulse weapons, and even kinetic slugs shot forward. The recoil shook the bulkheads of almost every ship, and some hulls cracked under the immense strain.

Seconds later, missile tubes burst open. With a thunderous whoosh, thousands of warheads streaked into space, rattling their ships as they joined the storm of energy beams already on the way.

Sound had no place in space—yet to the Minotaur, it felt like a symphony of war, a living chorus of destruction surging toward their enemy.

The combined firepower crossed the void, racing towards the enemy's right flank. The enemy—a swirling cloud of icons on the tactical display—remained steadfast. They didn't even flinch at the scale of the attack hurtling towards them.

Then, a shimmering wall of light bloomed in front of them, swallowing the assault with a silent, hungry grace. The seemingly blue energy wall rippled as hundreds of thousands of attacks struck it. Plasma spears, pulse shorts, and kinetic slugs blasted into raging flames of devastating energy, causing the blue wall to ripple before the kinetic slugs vaporized the moment they touched the shields.

To the Minotaurs watching, it was as if they had fired into a wall of destruction that absorbed everything. It was like a black hole.

"What in the...?" Captain Rhogar muttered, his confidence taking a hit as the expression on his face turned grim.

"That's... that's not right," Rhogar muttered, the words tumbling from his lips. "What is that shield? How is it able to form on such a scale? And heck, how did it hold against such a concentrated attack?"

His XO, a young Minotaur, shook his head frantically. "It... it was expected that our initial volley wouldn't achieve much, but this... this is inconceivable. It's like they're able to neutralize all of our concentrated energy and distribute it, making our attacks completely ineffective."

The XO gestured at a tactical slate in his hand. "But that shield... it's not likely formed by the ships we were targeting. It's probably being generated by another ship." He pointed the slate toward Rhogar. "Look at this."

He zoomed in on the enemy's right flank. The blue shield was still visible, but as he concentrated, he saw a faint outline covering the full width of the enemy line. The source was a single dreadnought-class ship at the very center, one that was slightly bigger than even the flagship.

As if to prove his point, the enemy shield pulsed again with a dull blue glow. A new volley of missiles had just struck the shield. The increased intensity of the glow showed them how it was fully surrounding their enemy's line.

Rhogar's tactical officer, a wiry Minotaur with a nervous tremor in his hands, let out a choked gasp. "Incoming, Captain! Enemy fleet... high-density energy attacks. Hundreds of them—no, thousands at the very least!"

A swarm of red, green, and blue energy shots streaked toward them at a speed that would strike them in mere seconds.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Rhogar bellowed. "Starfighters at the forefront, quick! Release the Phantom decoy targets!"

Rhogar barked orders as if his life depended on it. The calm facade he had maintained since leaving the main battle line shattered like glass. He didn't care what his officers or crew thought of him now. He'd bite their heads off if they dared to question his dignity.

To hell with dignity, he thought. I don't know if I'll live to see the next hour, and you want me to be dignified in this situation? Get the hell out!

But nothing of the sort happened. The situation demanded action, not theatrics. They were all going to be obliterated if they didn't react immediately.

Unfortunately, his orders came far too late for their own good. The destroyers swerved and juked, and the starfighters came to intercept the fire, but it was useless. The first line of their formation, a screen of destroyers, bore the brunt of thousands of attacks.

The energy attacks reached them far faster than they could react. Upon coming into contact with the shields of the first destroyers, they detonated. Some of the more unfortunate starfighters who came into contact with the energy blasts were instantly obliterated. The energy attacks then raged against the destroyer's shields like a furious hailstorm.

The sheer volume of fire was so dispersed that it wasn't concentrated on any single point, which saved most of the destroyers. But a few were unlucky, taking heavy fire. In but a second, before they could even react, their ships' shields buckled and collapsed.

On the last line of the Minotaur formation, Rhogar watched it all happen, unable to react fast enough. On the main display, five green icons blinked and then turned red.

The Fang Star, One, Seven, Twelve, Thirteen, and Eleven.

"We've lost the shield!"

The front line comms were a cacophony of panicked shouts and blaring emergency alarms. The air on the bridge filled with the terrified cries of his fellow Minotaurs.

The Fang One, a proud destroyer that had served in countless wars, was hit by a barrage of ion, pulse, and other energy attacks. The volley broke its shields in a second, and the follow-up attacks struck its hull. For a brief moment, the ship's armor glowed with a sickly, yellow-white light. Then, with a shudder that rocked the entire vessel, a blinding blast of light erupted just over the hull of the Fang One, followed by an internal explosion.

Not far away, the Fang Seven was struck by kinetic attacks that resulted in the same fate. The other three destroyers met a similar end moments later, their entire sections ruptured. The hulls of some even bent to an unnatural degree, foretelling just how much power was behind those kinetic attacks. A bright, silent flash of light and flame consumed the rest of the vessels.

Rhogar's face was a mask of disbelief and fear as he watched the sight in front of him. He spoke, the words escaping his lips like a breath. "How… how did they do that? How did we lose five ships in seconds? The battle has just started. This was only the first round of exchange between us and the enemy, and yet we lost five of our destroyers, not counting the tens of starfighters in between."

He looked at the chaos on the display, then back at his XO. His knuckles tightened around the railing, and his jaw was set. The fear was a cold knot in his stomach.

I knew before the battle that we would incur some losses while trying to break their formation. But this… this is something I hadn't planned for. This level of destruction to our ships, and the enemy wasn't even taking us seriously. What will happen if they do?

Rhogar spoke the words to himself, but his voice was loud enough for those near him to hear.

"We can only hope they don't focus on us and remain like this. There's still a chance we can take advantage and somehow break their formation. And even if we don't, we need to ensure that our main battle line and whatever our commander is planning has enough time to make good on that plan."

"Our survival was never the point of this battle. The enemy clearly seeks to destroy us, even if not in a single strike. I knew this, but I'm realizing it now more than ever as we begin to understand our enemy."

He turned to his crew, his voice a steel-edged command.

"Fill the gaps in our formation with other destroyers. Tell those who are damaged and need time to recover to fall back. Have the others from the last line take their place. Have the frigates prepare for the enemy's next attack, so they have a chance to react quickly enough to not lose more vessels in the next engagement that will surely follow."

"As for the rest of them, reload your weapons systems and fire on your own initiative. We can't back down. Let's fight to the end."

Rhogar began to regain his confidence, even in this hopeless situation. He knew he might not be able to execute his original plan, but he had a new goal: to delay the enemy for as long as he could. And that is exactly what he was going to do.

And just like that, another skirmish with higher stakes began once again.

It wasn't just the left flank of the Minotaur's subgroup that had started, but the main battle line and the right flank also began firing at the First Battle Group, targeting their Vanguard.