(2)Battle of Cronos I

CRONOS I—PLANETARY SURFACE

In a split second, the dark sky of Cronos I ignited in searing white!

The Geoils who were following the confrontation on a hill outside their village all screamed, momentarily blinded—

Then a shock wave deafened them, destroying their ears and hurling them several meters!

The children wailed in pain, but their parents couldn't hear their cries, helpless to do a single thing in the face of such destruction.

The explosion's shock wave hit a third of the planet's surface, affecting it far worse in some places than the deafened villagers. Several cities directly beneath the explosion were leveled, and many Geoils even further away suffered severe burns.

A wave of panic spread across the planet as Cronos I's inhabitants imagined more and more weapons of this caliber exploding in their planet's atmosphere!

***

CRONOS I—PLANETARY ATMOSPHERE

Despite the Federation's attempts to flee the explosion, some of their closest ships were damaged or destroyed, though they'd managed to flee thousands of kilometers from the center of the blast.

This bomb was one of the Federation's most secret weapons, a prototype 1-megaton antimatter bomb. The Federation had never been overly intimidated by the immense military and economic superiority of the Orc Empire in large part because of this bomb's existence. The Federation knew that the Orcs were inferior in terms of military technology, so this was a weapon the Federation could use against them without fear of retaliation in kind.

In his flagship, Grand Admiral Azerof turned to his second in command. "Announce the Federation's victory. No, wait! Announce my victory."

His subordinate didn't react to this egomaniacal abuse of power, but only nodded to signal acknowledgement.

But as Azerof savored his victory, a surveillance officer shouted, "Enemy signals spotted! There were survivors!"

Azerof didn't let his shock show on his face. "Survivors? Deserters, more likely! Clarify at once!"

The officer's answer came slowly. "No... They're much too numerous! Hold on, collating telemetry from just before the explosion… The enemy flagship and the remaining ships never approached the front lines, Commander! There really are survivors in the Orc fleet!"

Azerof marched to the control station and stared at the holo display.

The officer's data was correct. The Orc fleet had suffered huge losses, but that was nowhere near good enough! The bomb was supposed to wipe them out completely! It seemed that Regnier had been so cowardly that he'd hung back very far from his fleet—and had ten corps with him.

One thousand Orc ships, still ready for battle.

Azerof immediately ordered all the remaining Federation ships to return to battle formations—

But the Orcs wasted no time! Rather than retreat, they immediately swooped into a spearheaded attack formation and surged across open space towards the thirty-four remaining Federation corps!

***

TERRA

Citizens filled the streets in celebration! They waved the flag of the Federation: a geometric eagle and stars upon a blue field. Everyone chanted Azerof's name, hailing their hero who had just dealt a crippling blow to the savage Orcs and, probably, stopped the war! In everyone's minds, Azerof was a true hero of the people.

In the presidential palace, far above the celebrating civilians, two men watched a huge holographic screen on the far wall.

These two were Supreme Chancellor Souley and General Ralfot, of course.

"Our next fight," muttered Ralfot, "will be against Grand Admiral Azerof himself. This new popularity will be extremely dangerous for us, and for the Federation as a whole. I propose that we set up a mission to eliminate Azerof immediately upon his return. Also, we should arrest all known Human Supremacists! They can't be allowed to overthrow the rule of law."

Chancellor Souley replied, "No. If Azerof and the Supremacists try to overthrow the government, they will be tried for their crimes. However, I don't want to start a civil war. That will happen if we commence such an operation, Ralfot.

"For now, please realize that Azerof and the Supremacists will be unprepared for the difficulty which the political spotlight will bring them. Politics crushes the soul and breaks down idealism, even that of the Supremacists."

But before Ralfot could reply, the holo feed suddenly erupted into action once more as the surviving Orcs attacked the Federation fleet!

***

Azerof was clever and cunning. The Orcs had begun a suicide mission, but he wouldn't be arrogant and simply throw all his ships at the enemy. Instead, he sent fifteen corps to fight the Orcs, leaving nineteen in reserve.

If Regnier had any tricks up his sleeve, this would allow Azerof the opportunity to counter Regnier's plan!

The two fleets made contact, their ships flying around one another and returning to a very standard battle. The Orcs, no longer able to make use of their usual strategies involving overwhelming numbers, seemed almost on the verge of panic! They were no longer able to have two corps flank a single enemy corps which strayed too far from its allies, but had to face more skilled opponents on equal footing!

Moreover, the morale of the Orcs was clearly broken. It was devastating to the psyche of any pilot to see almost all one's allies wiped from existence in a single instant… let alone to wonder whether what other similarly powerful weapons the enemy might be wielding!

These psychological disadvantages proved too much for the Orcs to handle. It seemed as though the Federation ships would wipe them all out, sending them after their dead allies—

Until an intense beam of red light exploded in the middle of the battlefield before collapsing again.

A dark gray humanoid, several hundreds of meters long and wielding a titanic sword of shining red crystal, floated in outer space.

His weapon pulsed in the light of the system's star, as though made of living blood. A red halo formed behind his head, giving the illusion of a bloody solar eclipse.

The giant creature was none other than Regnier.