The silence of the void was replaced by the screaming of sensors.
On the asteroid battlefield, Tom suffered an unprecedented and crushing defeat. It was a massacre of steel and circuitry.
Not only were all industrial facilities anchored to the rock completely destroyed, reducing years of construction to drifting dust, but the fleet losses were catastrophic. Out of a total of 1 million warships deployed to hold the line, less than 500,000 managed to limp away into the retreat vectors.
With the absolute failure on the asteroid battlefield, Tom's strategic depth evaporated. His only hope now rested entirely on the First Planet battlefield.
This was the final line in the sand.
Even if he could not further worsen the stellar environment—the star was already screaming in agony—as long as he could hold First Planet, the situation would still be under his control. He needed the ground. He needed the mass.
