The AGC armada moved forwards in a trident formation, the faster ships moving out to the flanks, supported by countless strike craft, Mobile Suit Golems and over a dozen Mobile Suit Golems each. In the center, a wider middle prong of the attack was comprised of the heaviest ships in Arcadia’s military, once again supported by a great many fighters, bombers, MSGs and MAGs. As the two faster flanking attacks moved ahead, the middle advanced at a decent speed, laying down large amounts of fire from not only their Megaparticle Cannons, but also torpedoes, missiles and railcannons. In between each volley, the various fighters, bombers and the like would move towards the UGN forces, taking care not to get hit by the volley that was launched behind them.

The combined UGN and OCS fleet began to make distance between their ships, hoping that a less dense formation would help them avoid the oncoming storm of fire. While this did prevent some of the shots from connecting, it gave the strike craft and sapient machines a better avenue of attack. The UGN and OCS had managed to learn one thing about Arkhan’s forces, at least; they learned that Arcadia’s military relied quite heavily on strike craft to secure victory, and to do so without suffering damages or losses to their capital ships. To help fight against this, they invested in point defense and had manned guns in various places to try and counter Arcadia’s ace.

Unfortunately for them, the ships had been (mostly) designed not by people who knew what they were doing, but by the idiotic spoiled brats that made up the current UGN leadership. The refits, upgrades and improvisations definitely had the ships in their combined fleet looking damn spiffy, but a warzone is not a beauty contest, and having decorations and aesthetically pleasing ships does not make said ships more combat effective. The point defense guns had, rather than being placed to give adequate coverage, been instead placed in positions that were more pleasing to the eyes. Rather than true space-based warships, the UGN and OCS ships instead looked like they were modern Earthling naval ships that somehow had managed to get to space.

The guns were on the top of the ship, the bridge was exposed, the guns themselves only covered so much area, the gold, silver and copper decorations and flashy paint schemes made them stand out like sore thumbs in the blackness of space…

It was a fleet designed not to fight but rather to be on the parade routes, and therefore was a total waste of space on a battlefield.

The UGN ships had made space and turned to expose their flanks to the oncoming Arcadian fire. As they did so, the main guns on each of them swiveled into position and took aim, intending to engage in a broadside battle. As soon as they did so, the middle prong of the Arcadian offensive split in two. Half of the middle prong went up, while the other went down, turning the previously three targets into four. The two flanking attacks also split, going up and down before leveling out like the middle prongs had. The only ship still in the middle and not above, below or to the sides was the very ship Arkhan was on, his flagship, the Adeptus Deorum.

The plasma lances of the UGN/ OCS fleet fizzled out before reaching Arkhan’s flagship, all the while the Arcadian ships continued to lay fire into them. Yes, the Megaparticle beams often faded out before reaching the UGN/ OCS ships, but the initial volleys were not intended to hit the UGN and OCS fleet, instead being intended to force them to move and to hide the other types of incoming fire. By the time the first missiles, torpedoes and railcannon rounds struck home, the strike craft of the AGC, its fighters, bombers, MSGs and MAGs, had closed with the enemy.

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Four Z’od-iacoks fired their weapons at their foes while several ZZ Gundams and Full Armor ZZ Gundams unleased hell amongst the UGN and OCS fleets. Every single MSG and MAG with funnels, incoms or bits joined together in a combined their efforts for a massive ‘all-range’ attack, consigning over three hundred ships to the scrapyard. Old MSGs/ MAGs fought alongside the newer ones, with Doven Wolfs being backed up by old Perfect and High Mobility Zeongs and one of only a handful of Deep Strikers being supported by old GM IIs.

The joint UGN/ OCS fleet was thrown into confusion and then panic at the destruction that the Arcadian strike craft had wrought. Their point defense guns had been barely able to even down a handful of Arcadia’s bombers, and the fighters had been another matter entirely! The MSGs and MAGs would make nigh impossible maneuvers, forcing their pilots (although the UGN and OCS did not know that they had none) to experience what should have been terminal G-Forces. And yet, despite all of this, they (the UGN and OCS) continued to hold out.

…

Arkhan himself marveled at their willingness to throw their lives away for what they likely knew was a pointless cause. It was inevitable that Arcadia would triumph here and now, and yet they continued to flail against the insurmountable as though they could make a difference.

“If only they knew what I intended to do, they might have been willing to stand down. I did try to tell them before the attack, but they refused to even answer our hails.”

“You do know why, though.” Asharia said, “They honestly believe the garbage they have been fed. They no doubt expected you to butcher some people in front of them or demand that they surrender and face extinction. Some fools simply cannot be reasoned with, let alone taught the error of their ways in a single generation.”

“That is true,” Arkhan responded, “but I wish that they had simply allowed our plan to cripple their economy to reach fruition. Then we may not have had to deal with this at all. They would be too busy dealing with their own situation to worry about us.”

“The best laid plans of mice and men go oft’ awry.”

“Are you seriously quoting Shakespeare?”

…

The four prongs that made up Arcadia’s attack advanced towards their target. The two side attacks reached their intended position first and began to lay down fire into the sides of the UGN/ OCS fleet. The UGN and OCS ships tried to redirect some of their guns to face them, but they were now in range of all of the guns from the two middle prongs of the attack. The heavier and more powerful ships began to pour fire from above and below, actually twisting their position so that more guns could be leveled towards the enemy. Arcadia, unlike its opponent, was conducting a true ‘War in Three Dimensions’. Space allowed for all kinds of wild formations, and it would be idiotic to treat it as a flat surface.

As the four pincers closed in on the rapidly dwindling UGN and OCS forces, it became clear that they (the UGN and OCS) had no hope of winning this final engagement. Even as rounds from the Arcadian ships flooded the space that once held a mighty armada, the creations of Arkhan let their fury loose upon the foe that lay before them. By the end of the Galactic Day, the last hope of the UGN and the OCS was reduced to debris that was to be picked over by scavengers and scrap collectors.

The way was open to the final hold of the UGN, and no one among either side, not even the idiotic leadership of the UGN, held any delusions about who would emerge as the final victor any longer.