The two fleets crashed violently together, opening fire all at once!
Thousands of fighters and corvettes streamed from their battleships and darted around each other, spewing laser fire, while the larger battleships and cruisers unleashed their high-rate-of-fire plasma cannons.
The first half hour devastated the Orc Empire. Their fleet lost fifteen corps and 200,000 astronauts, mostly on the side flanks, while the Federation fleet lost only five corps and 75,000 astronauts. These losses were mostly from the central flank, creating a weak point in their formation.
Azerof reacted quickly and sent two of his reserve corps to strengthen the fleet's center, shoring up its weakness before the enemy could take advantage of it.
The Orcs fought viciously, but after an hour, it was clear that their defensive wall of a strategy would inevitably fail. The Orc warlords had drawn their capital ships back from the front lines, creating a distance of several kilometers between them. These capital ships supported the rest of the Orc fleet with long-range weapons, but their ability to react quickly to the Federation spearhead was limited.
With so many troops available, the Orcs had intended to sacrifice their weaker ships to protect their larger, more important ones. They succeeded at this goal, but were completely unprepared for how happily the Federation would take advantage of this sacrifice and slaughter their poorly supported frontline corps.
Since there were relatively few Federation ships, the Orc warlords had intended to hold on until the Federation ammunition reserves were depleted. However, they had grossly underestimated how efficient the well-trained Federation astronauts were with their weapons! It wasn't often that the Orcs took a defensive position, and this lack of experience became more apparent with every passing minute.
All in all, the Orcs' strategy just wasn't working.
***
Grand Admiral Wesley, who had the exclusive command of the Federation's central column, did his best to survive. The Orcs were hammering his group much harder than the side flanks. He'd known this would be the case, due to his familiarity with Orc military doctrine.
This had nothing to do with his race, but with his accumulated skill and wisdom. After all, as he'd pointed out to that arrogant Azerof, Wesley did have many years of experience as a Grand Admiral.
Now Wesley was hard-pressed to use all that experience to survive! With what felt like an endless stream of Orc warships attacking the weaker central flank, time was against Wesley and his corps. Even if the Orcs' defensive posture would eventually break, they would likely keep pummeling the center column under Wesley's command until they broke completely.
However, at about an hour into the battle, Wesley's military instincts began to tingle. "Something's happening!" he barked at a subordinate officer. "Regnier's changing his formation! Prepare to react!" His pulse rose as his mind swiftly calculated the most likely outcomes from this point.
Indeed, Great Warlord Regnier was quickly forming a new strategy. He'd hoped that Azerof, who was known to have little experience commanding a fleet of this size, would fail to notice that his central flank was crumbling. Once it collapsed, then the Orc fleet would penetrate the Federation back lines through its broken defenses, wiping out the enemy command in a short and brutal burst.
But Wesley understood Regnier's strategy almost at the same time that the Great Warlord concocted it. In response to Wesley's communications, Azerof almost immediately shored up his central flank with reserves.
Regnier ground his teeth in fury behind his mask. He had to shift to one of his fallback contingencies—
Then a shudder of motion on the holo display caught Regnier's eye, and he realized, even before his officer reported it, that the Federation had just gained an advantage on the right flank!
Regnier had to react at once! Fortunately, he still had his twenty-five reserve corps ready to surge into battle! It was a good thing, too. He'd been unaware, at the start, of the quality of astronauts which the Federation had sent into this battle.
Some of his intelligence sources had claimed the humans were acting honestly and sending their finest pilots and crews to the front lines, while other sources suggested the humans had sent a dummy fleet to distract the Orcs while they prepared an ambush of elite fighters to attack the Orcs fleet while they weren't looking.
It seemed that the Federation had sent their best fighters to the combat after all. It was apparent that the average Federation ship and astronaut were much better than the equivalents which Regnier had fielded!
In space, at least. The result would be very different if this was a ground war.
But this wasn't a ground war.
Regnier ordered the right and left flanks of his fleet to hold their positions until death, then sent fifteen reserve corps to the central flank. He was calling Azerof's bluff, sending thirty-nine Orc corps to obliterate the mere eight who guarded the Federation's center column!
***
Grand Admiral Wesley saw this maneuver and gritted his teeth. He sent Azerof a video message. "Commander, situation critical! The Orcs will overwhelm us in under an hour. The central flank will collapse without support! I await your orders!"
Azerof understood the danger. Even if he'd broken the Orcs' left and right flanks, the central flank was far more important. Federation victory was far from assured at this point.
Thankfully, Azerof still had a trump card, and he was prepared to use it without a shred of hesitation. He sent a message back to Wesley. "You must hold on, no matter what. Do you understand? If the central column fails, you will activate our secret weapon. Is that understood, Grand Admiral?"
Wesley, upon receiving his reply, could not believe his ears. Hatred burned in his heart towards Azerof…
But he had no choice. He served the Federation, and Grand Admiral Azerof was his commander at this time.
Wesley would put duty before his own life.
"Yes, Commander," he said stiffly, not allowing even a trace of his anger to show, then sent the message.
If Wesley died soon and this transmission was the last anyone ever saw of him, they would see only a complete professional, a man who had served his nation honorably till his last breath, even though his commander had abandoned him.
***
Another thirty minutes passed.
As Grand Admiral Wesley had predicted, his last corps eventually disintegrated as Orc forces blew apart almost all its remaining ships.
Azerof ordered everyone to withdraw…
Except Grand Admiral Wesley.
The half-Orc's capital ship charged at full speed towards the bulk of the Orc force.
Great Warlord Regnier realized something was wrong immediately. "Every gun, fire upon that capital ship!" he hissed, staring intently at the holo screen before him. "Fire, damn you!"
But Wesley had diverted all systems to engines and forward shields, disabling even life support and climate control to ensure his ship would penetrate deep into the Orcish frontline.
By the time his ship slammed through a maelstrom of laser and plasma and into the Orcish center column, Grand Admiral Wesley and his loyal crew had already died of heat exhaustion.
An enormous ball of blinding light covered the battlefield, swelling and rumbling as incredible quantities of atmospheric gasses were blasted away at supersonic speeds.
The ball of light grew until it had swallowed the entire Orc fleet.