A Luukri-Hok-class battleship had collided with the Plague Titan warship! And it was a warship bearing the blue-and-white paint scheme and hexagonal emblem of the Confederacy of Independent Systems! Reinforcements had arrived.
Its 3,170-meter-diameter ring-shaped hull slammed viciously into Plague's side, knocking Plague askew. The Luukri-Hok-class battleship fared even worse: at least a quarter of its ring had snapped apart, spilling countless personnel and cargo into space.
The entire region of space occupied by the Blade Fleet was now utter chaos.
The fighters on both sides had split into two groups and were locked in separate melees. One fought around the Blade Fleet, while the other fought around the remnants of the Republic fleet. Their numbers were roughly equal. Most of the Fourth Civilization's fighters were outdated Z-95s, but they also had 300 stealth Wraith fighters, leaving the dogfight evenly matched.
The warships of both sides were scattered haphazardly together, every vessel firing madly. The Republic had more warships, but they had suffered grievous losses during the earlier ambush and their subsequent assault on Plague. More than half had already sustained heavy damage.
The Fourth Civilization's Grey Horse-class escort carriers and Homeworld-class escort carriers remained far away, merely watching the show. Their only warships capable of artillery combat were the six Dreadnought-class heavy cruisers, Plague, and five Cobalt-class heavy frigates that barely counted for anything.
Thus, the fleet battle remained impossible to decide for the moment.
Some of the Dreadnought-class heavy cruisers had already been seized by the Republic Marines. Following Shen-Jon's final orders, they first activated the weapon systems, allowing the ships' turrets to fire and offer at least some support to the battlefield.
The situation aboard Plague was even more complicated. Shen-Jon's Hunter Class Battlecruiser had already pulled alongside Plague, but under Plague's point-blank barrage, it had begun