The two fleets crashed violently together, opening fire all at once!

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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.

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The first half hour devastated the Orc Empire. Their fleet lost fifteen corps and two hundred thousand astronauts, mostly on the side flanks, while the Federation fleet lost only five corps and seventy-five thousand astronauts. These losses were mostly from the central flank, creating a weak point in their formation.

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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.

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The Orcs fought viciously, but after an hour, it was clear that their defensive wall of a strategy was a failure.

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The Orc warlords had drawn their capital ships back from the frontlines, 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.

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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 corps which were poorly supported by capital ships.

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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!

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All in all, the Orcs' strategy just wasn't working.

***

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On his side, Grand Admiral Wesley, who had the exclusive command of the central flank, did his best to survive. The Orcs were hammering his flank much harder than the side flanks, which he had known would be the case due to his familiarity with Orc military doctrine.

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After all, as he had pointed out to that arrogant Azerof, Wesley 'did' have many years of experience as a Grand Admiral.

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Now he 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.

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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!"

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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, and once it collapsed, then the Orc fleet would penetrate the Federation backlines through its broken defenses, wiping out the enemy command in a short and brutal burst.

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But when Azerof almost immediately shored up his central flank with reserves, Regnier had to shift to one of his fallback contingencies

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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!

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Regnier had to react now! 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.

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Some of his intelligence sources had claimed the humans were acting honestly and sending their finest pilots and crews to the frontlines, 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.

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It seemed that the Federation had sent their renowned fighters to the combat after all. It was apparent that the average Federation ship and astronaut was much better than the equivalent which Regnier had fielded!

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To win, Regnier would need to act swiftly. He ordered the right and left flanks 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!"

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Azerof understood the danger. Even if he had broken the Orcs' left and right flanks, the central flank was far more important. Federation victory was far from assured.

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Thankfully, Azerof still had a trump card. He sent a message back to Wesley. "You must hold on no matter what. Do you understand? If your flank fails, you will activate our secret weapon. Is that understood, Grand Admiral?"

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Wesley, upon receiving his reply, could not believe his ears. Hatred burned in his heart towards Azerof

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But he had no choice. He served the Federation, and Grand Admiral Azerof was his commander at this time.

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Wesley would put duty before his own life.

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"Yes, Commander," he said stiffly, not allowing even a trace of his anger to show, then sent the message.

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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.

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As Grand Admiral Wesley had predicted, his last corps eventually disintegrated as Orc forces blew apart almost all its remaining ships.

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Azerof ordered everyone to withdraw

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Except Grand Admiral Wesley.

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The half-orc's capital ship charged at full speed towards the bulk of the Orc force.

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Great Warlord Regnier realized something was wrong immediately. "Every gun, fire upon that capital ship!" he roared, staring intently at the holo screen before him. "Fire, damn you!"

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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.

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By the time his ship, pushing doggedly through a maelstrom of laser and plasma, slammed into the Orcish center flank, Grand Admiral Wesley and his loyal crew had already died of heatstroke.

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An enormous ball of blinding light covered the battlefield, swelling and rumbling as incredible quantities of atmospheric gasses were blasted away at supersonic speeds, until the ball of light encompassed the entire Orc fleet.