Varren goes to orbit the battle and try to take out the second threat, while the Explorer, which is very heavily armored, moves to take out the smaller ship that is obviously ready to battle. Explorer's most forward sections are the most heavily armored; there are no shield arms, just some really thick plates of advanced armor. The kind of armor that you wouldn't destroy with a couple hits, mind you. 

And, I didn't quite expect to have so much damage done by the particle cannons/lasers, that was Kyelin's doing. The Explorer is more to keep fighting, despite all damage taken, but not to dish out so much damage.

Sorry if that's too op for you. They would have better tactics, but they just now had to fight anything. They've been reclusive for hundreds of years; they've had nothing to fight against, no reason to develop advanced tactics.