Legacy of the Void Fleet

The hangar bay, which was a designated primary target, was the first to bear the brunt of the destructive attack firsthand, and it was where lives were lost in a brutal fashion.

As turbo lasers of various categories, along with many Annihilation-series energy attacks and metal projectiles containing vast amounts of kinetic energy, immediately dispersed upon connection, a burst of fire rained down into the crowded hangar bays.

These open docking stations of the mushroom-shaped space station were vulnerable; the attack easily destroyed the feeble shielding systems like paper.

Passing through the atmospheric shields, the projectiles hissed as they tore through the barriers before slamming down on the hard floor, walls, and ships. Vessels that were currently being fueled, or even those that had just taken off, were slammed by the powerful kinetic energy and burst into flames.

Debris fell onto those below, killing them before the compartments violently decompressed, sucking the fallen wreckage and the people—those who were either badly injured or had barely survived—out into the vacuum. Just like that, hangars throughout the space station turned into a hellhole. Those areas that decompressed had been totally cleared of people as they were sucked out into open space.

In that first round of fire alone, tens of thousands perished, or perhaps even more. While the majority were of the Minotaur race, there were thousands of others—Gnomes, Orcs, and Beast-kin—caught in the crossfire who also died gruesome deaths.

Their bodies were either vaporized by the intense heat of the attack or destroyed to bits by the intense kinetic force. Some were crushed under the weight of falling ship debris, while many others were sucked into space, freezing to death.

Those who miraculously survived the first volley were given no reprieve, as the second round of fire followed instantly. Ships docked in the bays that had survived the first round of attacks acted as secondary bombs, their fuel cells rupturing and melting under the heat of the laser lances while others burst into flames as the intense kinetic force directly tore through them.

Above them, the massive reinforced ceilings of the hangars buckled and fell after bearing the kind of attacks they were never supposed to withstand, crushing everything—and everyone—beneath millions of tons of superheated, half-destroyed metal.

In but a few minutes, all the hangars were thoroughly destroyed. Only then did the ships of the First Fleet shift their focus and begin attacking the rest of the space station. They did not focus on any particular area, instead bombarding it as if there were no tomorrow.

Because the space station was a civilian planetary installation managed only by the local government, rather than a military base, it was not protected by high-level technology. Its hull had never been designed to bear the brunt of a heavy-level attack—certainly not one so indiscriminate and relentless.

Soon enough, at a speed visible to the naked eye, the outer hull was visibly destroyed in just the first round of fire. Countless craters formed, and where the destruction was heaviest, the inner structures were exposed. The following round of attacks easily penetrated these destroyed outer sections, invading the interior and causing the entire station to tremble. Without pause, the internal structures were shattered by kinetic rounds that distributed their force upon impact, while other sections melted and exploded under the heat of energy weapons.

Inside, those who had been unable to reach the hangar bays in time hid within highly reinforced bunkers. With fearful expressions, they screamed as the station rocked every second and the sound of explosions drew closer.

One individual from a different species cried out in panic, ”Why... why is the sound of the explosions getting closer?” The realization of his words caused a fresh wave of panic to ripple through the bunker.

Nearby, a member of the cat-folk species wept. ”Why? Why did I come to this hellhole? Why—!”

Her voice was cut short as the bunker collapsed in on itself. An explosion followed instantly, engulfing everyone within.

In this manner, many decks were bombarded and breached. Marketplaces, civilian sectors, and living areas were turned into zones of continuous fire. Structures either collapsed or fell from above. Under the relentless bombardment, the space station began to collapse from within as its skeleton suffered severe harm. Fires fed on the oxygen lines, doing nothing but further weakening the station’s structure and accelerating the demise of everyone trapped inside.

And even then, the attacks from the First Fleet ships never stopped. Their batteries continued cycling one after another without pause, as if they were hell-bent on completely erasing the structure down to its very last fragment.

Meanwhile, aboard the elven frigate Vivian Celeste, over fifty crew members, along with more than forty ships belonging to other factions and species, watched this level of slaughter and destruction unfold. And still, it continued.

They could not help but swallow hard in fear. At the thought alone, they realized that had they remained on that station for even a few seconds longer, it would not have mattered whether they were related to the Minotaur race—whom the humans of the Void Fleet were clearly determined to eradicate—or not. They would have died all the same, just like the thousands of others, or worse, in whatever manner their race might have suffered.

Celeste could not help but mutter, her voice just loud enough for those nearby to hear, ”What have these Minotaurs done to be slaughtered like this? This kind of massacre... I have not seen anything like it in my hundred years of life.”

She was unexpectedly answered by the trembling voice of another crew member.

”Vice-Captain... could this be related to the incident that has drawn the attention of almost the entire galaxy here?” the speaker asked. ”There are words on the Galactic Net—vague ones—talking about a Holy Region, and the Minotaurs being a native species in this corner of space.”

He hesitated before continuing. ”And their closeness with the Star Empire, which has deployed one of its top fleets into this star system... a system that belonged to this race...”

His voice lowered further. ”Could all of this somehow be connected to what we’re seeing now?”

This drew Vivian’s attention.

She stood frozen, eyes wide, staring at the falling space station, which had now fractured into almost two pieces from the middle. Explosions bloomed across its surface, erupting here and there along what little remained of its outer armor. Attacks still rained down upon it, though their intensity had considerably lessened.

What possible connection could there be between all of this?

It was hard to believe that humans could possess such a level of might. They were a species known for having no visible high talents, and yet here—right before her eyes—they had unleashed such brutal destruction upon a space station that had housed millions of Minotaurs and thousands of others. All of it done without hesitation, in such a short span of time.

Vivian voiced the thought aloud, though it echoed the turmoil within her mind. The situation felt absurd, yet it was undeniably real—something she found difficult to accept even as it unfolded in front of her.

Another voice answered her, this time the ship’s captain—an elven woman. Though not as striking as Vivian or Celeste, she still possessed her own quiet beauty.

”You may be right, Vice-Captain,” she said calmly. ”The word is that the Minotaurs were the ones who first discovered the Holy Region... and that they intended to take it for themselves, while deliberately hiding its existence from the rest of the galaxy.”

”Oh...” Celeste muttered.

Vivian spoke at the same time. ”Too much greed.”

The captain nodded and continued. ”But who could have known that within the so-called dead Holy Region existed a mysterious power—one that not only resisted but completely obliterated one of the Minotaurs’ proudest forces, the Seventh Light Fleet. The entire fleet was wiped out.”

She paused briefly. ”I don’t know how much of that information is true,” she admitted, ”but it came from a friend within the Asura Imperium. He spoke of a power originating from this very region.”

”Oh... the Asura Imperium?” Vivian said softly.

”That young empire had risen rapidly in status, already possessing the strength to stand toe-to-toe with many Tier Two nations within the Galactic Ring. You mean that same power?” Vivian asked, her voice carrying a hint of hope.

”Yes, Captain. They are the same ones I spoke about,” the elven woman replied with a simple nod.

Hearing this, Vivian turned to Celeste and asked openly, ”What do you think? Is there any credibility to this?”

Celeste nodded slowly. ”It could be true—if it really is them. Word has it that within the Azure Imperium there is a seer... and they also possess a vast information network. So it’s possible this information is accurate, though that depends entirely on who it came from.”

As she spoke, Celeste turned her gaze toward the white-haired woman, Amber.

Vivian followed her lead, also looking at Amber, clearly wanting to know the source of the information.