A war on two fronts is almost never a good idea. The best case you can get is that one side folds quickly and without much hassle, allowing you to focus on the other side. The worst-case scenario is that you fight a war of attrition against two foes that are just as, if not more powerful than you. Thankfully, the UGN, unlike the Angelus Holy Union, was a paper tiger. If the AHU was able to give Arcadia some trouble due to their technology alone, the UGN, which had less advanced tech, was really nothing to worry about.

While Arkhan and Arcadia had only just started the process of advancing technologically, Arcadia more than made up for it with numbers and maneuverability. Surprisingly, the thrusters used by Arcadia’s Space Force were better than modern UGN thrusters, but only by terms of speed. This did have the drawback that such speed made it hard to stop suddenly without harming the crew, but that was only due to the fact that the eggheads had yet to fully reverse-engineer the artificial gravity devices on board the ships they had captured or sunk.

So, Arcadia has speed and numbers, but what else?

Another advantage Arcadia had was the usage of strike craft. Space combat had long been the domain of large ships with big guns. For millennia there had been little to no improvement by any group in the field of space-borne fighters and bombers. This was due to the long-standing belief that such small craft would only take up space and keep the warships that housed them from actual combat. Another reason was that they feared the loss of material if such craft were shot down.

So, the rest of the galaxy would try and close to just within effective range of their big guns and let loose everything, ignorant to the fact that they could take out a ship from farther away and with less damage to their own ships by fielding smaller, cheaper fighters and bombers. Therefore, Arcadia also had a range advantage as well, and if you added in the MSGs and MAGs lack of a need for sleep or sustenance you had a military that could stay nearly at 100% efficiency at all times, with almost all hands ready for combat at all times.

Arcadia clearly had some big advantages, but it lacked experience and more advanced weapons and shields. The I-Fields were powerful, and the Minovsky Particles that could be spread were effective at deterring missiles, but the hulls of Arcadia’s ships were far inferior to the armor of most other ships and they lacked any shielding other than the I-Fields. Also, Arcadia’s military doctrine was heavily focused on carriers and carrier support, so if something managed to get through it would be able to run wild. This was something that was being addressed, but that would take time to deal with, and there was a war to wage.

The UGN was quite hesitant to throw all their power against anything, as it would endanger their own image if they failed and they already had a war of annihilation with the AHU going on. With these reasons being foremost in their minds, fighting a nation that was now acting as a bulwark between them and the Angels was not very high on their priorities, despite the money and influence that the Omniconpro Corporate Sector flung about. Besides, there were recordings of the meeting between their ambassadors and the Queen of Arcadia, and any sane person who saw the sheer number of ships and war machines at Arcadia’s disposal would think twice about fighting them.

Ultimately, if the OCS wanted their land, they would have to get it themselves.

…

“Wonderful. It seems that they aren’t as dumb as we thought.”

Arkhan and Asharia were reviewing the footage taken from the ‘battle’ from just a few days prior in the newly claimed and renamed Solomon System. The system only had one inhabitable planet that was currently uninhabitable due to the Angels. This planet was being xenoformed, but a small error in the xenoforming equipment was turning this planet into something the Angels would not have wanted. Mountains were rising high and the planet was slowly becoming an Alpine world, with a surface mostly covered in towing peaks and cavernous ravines.

Some construction was already underway in that system and on that planet, as it was being transformed into a massive system-spanning fortress and a potential last holdout in the event of catastrophe. No one foresaw such a scenario as likely, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Solomon Prime’s atmosphere was being filled with Atmospheric Fortresses and other stations while the system’s barren planetoids and other, truly uninhabitable worlds were being exploited for raw materials.

Everything was going fine.

Up until the UGN decided to show up to try and have one more go at diplomacy.

Arkhan was not pleased and neither was Asharia but fighting a two-front war was not something they wanted, so they made arrangements for the diplomats to be taken care of. Neither of them wanted to deal with this right now, as they wanted solely to focus their attention on the Holy Union and see it destroyed. For the past few weeks there had been vicious fighting all throughout AHU space as their fleets had rallied to the defense of their nation and left the rest of the galaxy to try and heal.

The fighting was brutal, and while their ships did not mount Anti Summoned Being weapons, they still did a sizable chunk of damage to Arcadia’s military. Roughly 28 % of Arcadia’s ships had been destroyed, 36% were damaged and the rest were lucky to emerge unscathed. As for Arkhan’s creations, they too did not emerge from these past few weeks unharmed. Almost every type of MSG and MAG had lost between 10-20% of their numbers in the fighting, and when several billion of troops lose roughly 10-20% of their number, you can tell things got brutal. Even the named units were not above being taken down, and several dozens of them had been destroyed.

The death toll was immense, but it was worth it. The Angels only had a few systems left to call their own, unless you counted the fact that none of their planets had been occupied even as of that moment. Arcadia wept for the fallen, but the tears it shed were filled with just as much hatred and anger as they were with sorrow. The next few battles would be even more costly, but all of this was needed to secure their survival. So long as the Angelus Holy Union existed, they would never be safe.

…

“Ultimately, I may have to be glad that they showed up.”

Arkhan spoke to Asharia as they waited for the shuttle to take them to an Asteroid Fortress in their home system.

“Why?”

“Because, this gives us the perfect opportunity to show them how we are not to be taken lightly. These will be the final battles of this war, and after that we can begin ‘Operation: Fallen Down’. They will witness our might and likely they will attempt to stop us out of some idiocy or another, but they will lack the power to prevent what must be done.”

“Don’t you want to avoid doing this?”

Arkhan nodded as he accepted his own feelings about what was to come.

“Yeah, but the most terrible of choices require the strongest of wills. They must be dealt with, lest they one day wipe us all out. Besides, everything is already in position and everyone is chomping at the bit for this. You know just how much they have been demanding we do this ever since the war began. I have my misgivings, but sometimes we must cast aside ethics and morality to secure survival. I don’t like it nearly as much as they do, but we have no other options.”

Asharia gave a small nod.

“Then ‘Operation: Fallen Down’ will commence after the final battle?”

“Yes.” Arkhan said. “They wanted a war of extermination, so they will get it. If only they had Chicken Little running things, they might have been prepared. But soon enough the sky will fall, and they will go to meet their god, whether It be real or merely fictional.”