The continued inaction from the lesser phase lords eventually broke the back of alien opposition.
Despite transmitting repeated requests for relief, their gods had turned their gazes away from their faltering phasefighters and warships.
To many alien soldiers, the complete lack of empathy and courage shown by the lesser phase lords practically caused their faith to collapse.
Without faith, how could they possibly muster enough motivation to persist in this battle?
The aliens began to withdraw.
As soldiers, they attempted to organize their retreat as orderly as possible, but that did not last very long.
Many aliens just wanted to put as much distance between them and the deadly human mechs and warships!
It did not help that their human counterparts immediately smelled weakness.
"The aliens have lost their will to fight! Press harder! Do not give them a chance to catch a breath! The stronger our attacks, the faster their remaining cohesion will crumble!"
There was a big difference between an orderly retreat and a complete rout.
The goal of the human forces was to trigger the latter. Not only would the total breakdown in order make it a lot more difficult for the native aliens to reorganize and reform their ranks, but it also made every enemy asset a lot more difficult to defeat!
The alien phasefighters and warships were several times more difficult to defeat when they covered each other's backs and employed sophisticated tactics.
Once they became so panicked and desperate to flee the battlefield, they could no longer pay attention to such operations.
This was exactly what was happening!
The native aliens attempted to withdraw by assigning a rear guard to buy time for others to make an escape, but they had made a critical error!
The forces under the command of the Protector of Karnak lorded over the other forces.
While there was a lot of logic in sacrificing the more disposable assets to preserve the more valuable ones, the aliens were not pawns that could be discarded at will.
If their native god personally ordered their raiding fleets to form such a rear guard, then they may obey this order without question just because they had been conditioned to absolutely obey their deity.
However, the order came from the commanding officers of the forces that defended the Screed Tanner System.
They weren't even gods. They were merely mortal juregs that had reached a high rank by earning the trust of the Protector of Karnak. There was still an enormous gap in status between the two. Even if the former spoke with the backing of a god, that was still not as good as the real deal!
Besides, it was very doubtful that the native aliens were willing to obey the orders of a jureg greater phase lord.
The juregs were fanatically loyal to the phase whales and had always been associated with the Red Cabal.
The phase whales recognized the usefulness of having these stupidly loyal aliens by their side.
Due to these dynamics, the juregs therefore cultivated a reputation for being the bullies and enforcers of the Red Cabal, especially in the last decade when the organization was forced to become a lot more prominent.
Therefore, other major races generally disliked the pompous juregs who constantly tried to persuade alien populations to worship the phase whales before their local gods.
Suffice to say, the juregs did not endear themselves to the orvens, nunsers, zzamayels and etcetera due to causing so many religious disputes!
The trusted jureg commanders therefore generated so much hatred and animosity that the remnants of the alien raiding fleets did the complete opposite!
They not only refused to form a rear guard in order to hamper the human pursuit forces, but they split up and fled in different directions!
What a clever decision!
This naturally made it a lot harder for the human forces to catch them all. The Premier Fleet and the Bluejay Fleet did not field a lot of mechs and warships, so splitting them up would cause them to lack the strength to complete their missions.
There was even a risk that the native aliens would suddenly turn around and launch a counterattack against their pursuers!
Therefore, the best decision that the pursuing human mech forces could make was to follow the largest group which happened to consist of combat assets that still answered to the Protector of Karnak.
The greater phase lord may have become too distracted to pay much attention to the state of his fleet, but he was still able to recognize how it got pulled into a disaster.
Now, the greater priority of this faltering collection of phasefighters and warships was to retreat to Screed Tanner VI-F.
There, the alien soldiers could rely on the fortified space station and other fixed defenses to stall any attack attempts.
Depending on how quickly the humans were able to dismantle the defenses, the subordinates of the Protector of Karnak may judge that it would be better for them to cut their losses and run.
"Come on, fellows! These jureg-led aliens have little to no faith left. It will not take too much of a brow to make them lose resistance!"
A squad of Dracoloid mechs flew towards an alien frigate that was already showing signs of stress.
They were immediately met with intercepting fire from the alien ship's point defense guns.
Many of them had been installed relatively recently. It became clear that the native aliens placed more emphasis on smaller and compact weapons that could effectively intercept both ordnance and incoming strike craft.
The Dracoloid mechs therefore endured a high frequency of attacks. Their azure energy shields immediately took a toll, yet they put their trust in shield link technology as well as Casella's Command Field.
Since the Dracoloid enjoyed both advantages, this mech model was able to show off such amazing combat power.
Yet it was undeniable that it was not the most valuable reward.
The Omega Threshers maintained their distance from other forces and got credited for blowing up a lot of stuff.
"This is so easy! The Omega Laser Cannons are so powerful, and the Phase Disintegrator Guns always succeed in stripping the vessel of their energy defenses."
There was little chance the native aliens will slow down and fight us to death, so the combatants quickly grew hyper aggressive!
More and more aliens had been pushed to the brink of exhaustion. Their reaction speeds slowed and their ability to respond to danger had atrophied.
More alien assets began to show flaws.
Numerous phasefighters accidentally crashed into each other and forcibly connected them to the chamber. This was a catastrophe that should have never taken place!
Several alien frigates had decided to band together in order to reduce the pressure, but only ended up stabbing each other in the back.