M'tok Union (mostly occupied version).
Shazka Homeworld System.
At the Hyperlane exit, a dozen or so warships stumbled out of the lane, their speed dropping sharply.
As the blue glow of their Hyperdrives faded from around the ships, battered hulls emerged beneath it.
These were the ships of the M'tok fleet that had managed to escape the battle.
Without question, the battle that had staked the futures of both nations had ended in a crushing defeat for the M'tok Union. Stabbed in the back by the Community Security Fleet, the M'tok fleet had suffered devastating losses, with only these few dozen ships making it home.
Among them was just one destroyer. None of the other destroyers had escaped.
The destroyer's armor was riddled with gaping holes where it had melted and solidified again. A deep dent marred its forward hull, while the rest of its plating was buckled and warped.
It had been positioned at the edge of the battlefield. After coming under concentrated fire at the outset, it had fallen back to provide support from the rear.
The destroyer's captain was quite a character, too. The moment the Community Fleet turned traitor, he had abandoned the leader he served and fled in disarray, making his destroyer the only one to return alive.
Without question, the M'tok Union was finished. Not only had it lost this war, it would likely lose the vast stretch of territory south of its Homeworld System as well.
This was no game, where one had to spend influence to lay claim to a system, then wage a war to seize those claims before acquiring an enemy nation's systems.
In reality, winning a war was enough to force the opposing empire to sign an unequal treaty and cede vast swathes of territory. There had been a