From the fourteenth week onward, the Galaxy Defense War began in earnest.
The armies on every front evacuated threatened cities while dispatching fleets to strike back at the Void and establish footholds in the Fallen Zone.
They dared not fight a decisive battle, nor would it have been wise.
Their best option was to harass the enemy, draw out large swarms of Void monsters, then flee at full speed, fighting as they retreated, like flying a kite.
The Milky Way held countless civilizations and vast numbers of fleets. If each fleet drew off a large group of Void monsters, they could break up the enemy's forces and keep them chasing and skirmishing throughout the year.
That was the ideal. In reality, most fleets were wiped out within a week.
The Void had technology that used faster-than-light tachyon streams to disrupt curvature travel, slowing the Milky Way's fleets and forcing them to keep accelerating.
Constant acceleration consumed enormous amounts of energy every moment. Resupply became a problem.
As long as they kept drawing the monsters away, they could not stop. The moment they did, their pursuers would catch them.
They could sacrifice some of their people to buy time to resupply, or everyone could be caught and fight a desperate battle to the death.
And while traveling through the Fallen Zone, they might run into a flanking Void Army at any moment.
With their route blocked and pursuers behind them, they were as good as dead.
But war was that cruel. The civilizations had no choice but to grit their teeth and carry out the tactic.
When one fleet was destroyed, they sent another. When two were destroyed, they sent two more.
At first, many civilizations tried to reduce their losses with unmanned ships. Only each fleet's flagship had a crew;