"Reinforcements! Our reinforcements are here!!"
"We're saved!!"
Jubilant voices filled the Galactic Republic fleet's communications, like a drowning man clutching at the last straw and being dragged ashore.
From the look of things, it was as though they had not come to invade the Yag'Dhul system, but were instead the side being passively defended.
Even Fleet Commander Gideon Tarkin's forehead was covered in cold sweat. He knew he had miscalculated. He had misjudged the strength of the Separatist fleet, their determination to attack, and, above all, the fact that the initial rout had actually begun with the Galactic Republic's strongest fighter formations.
They could hardly be blamed for their lingering fear. They had truly walked through the gates of hell.
If the reinforcements had arrived even an hour later, they might really have been wiped out completely!
This was no joke! By then, the Swarm Drones had already seized total control of the situation. They had destroyed the Galactic Republic's fighter formations, disrupted the Republic fleet's formations, and drawn the fire of the Republic warships. The Duchy of Dawn's main fleet, following close behind, had already begun concentrating fire on the Galactic Republic warships!
The Hypermatter Railguns of the Kohl-class Battlecruisers and the Particle Beam Lances of the Calamity-class battlecruisers would become increasingly terrifying as the distance between the two fleets closed. The latter in particular was nearly impossible to evade at a distance of around one light-minute!
Under Particle Beam Lance attacks, a Hunter Class Battlecruiser could withstand at most five hits, but in actual combat, it was often destroyed before taking even five.
Defeat and destruction had seemed almost inevitable.
But...
The reinforcements had arrived!
Forty Hunter Class Battlecruisers and one hundred medium and small warships!
Governor Octavian Grant of the 20th Republic Army, stationed in the rear,