Given that we have, in either universe of BP canon, never seen more than one Lucifer per universe, it could be very much a unique ship. In that case, the escorts don't matter when compared to its safety, and when the escorts are beaten it withdraws to avoid a useless push. The Lucifer becomes, in effect, the gold-standard when the currency being exchanged is effective combat capability. As soon as the Orestes battlegroup over draws its line of credit (makes a tactical error of significance), the Lucifer comes to collect.
The engagement the Lucifer actually fights is probably the worst one it could have asked for; head-on into the Orestes and escorts' fire, giving them time to reorient for maximum effectiveness and deploy extra fightercraft, doing all possible work with its own beams rather than offloading any responsibility to bombers, and with no other ships to provide a damage sump.
Aside from, you know, the Demon that's also participating in the fight. I'd hardly call a second destroyer "no other ships", and given what we see in "Curse of Prescience", that positioning would have led rather quickly to the Orestes and battlegroup's total defeat in a matter of minutes had the Vishnans not intervened.
All of which leaves aside the possibility that the Lucifer didn't pick that particular fight. There isn't a set turn order to combat, especially not on the scale we see throughout AoA. Just because the Lucifer initiated the first engagement, or the first two, or the first
eight doesn't mean the Orestes can't turn the tables.
