This battle was a sweeping victory for the Great Khan. Although he had lost large numbers of small ships, he had almost wiped out the Community Fleet Cluster, effectively cutting off one of Xi Yan's arms.
All he needed to do next was find Xi Yan's battleship fleet and destroy it, and the Interstellar Human Military Junta would be finished!
In principle, that was true.
Over the years, Xi Yan had built nothing but battleships and defense platforms-not even half a ship of any other kind. Aside from the Community Fleet Cluster, he really did have only battleships left, along with a handful of Titans and cruisers.
But the Great Khan's smaller warships had suffered severe losses, allowing Xi Yan to attack his Galley Warships directly.
After the previous star system was occupied, two new star systems appeared beyond it, both connected to it by hyperlanes.
The Community Fleet Cluster had used an emergency faster-than-light retreat, so the fleet had vanished outright and could no longer be observed. They would return to the Cybrex Ring world in a little over six months.
Meanwhile, Xi Yan's battleship fleet continued retreating along the hyperlane.
The Great Khan split off his smaller ships to attack the other star system, while his Main Fleet continued pursuing Xi Yan.
The moment he entered the star system, an ocean of electrical arcs greeted him.
That familiar feeling-now this was more like it!
More familiar still was the report from the fleet in the other star system: they, too, had come under arc fire.
The first star system had used an ocean of arcs to wear down his fleet, dealing the Great Khan a brutal opening blow.
The second star system had used the Community Fleet Cluster to whittle down the Great Khan's smaller ships.
The third