For the combined fleets, their gathering was deep in space, far from any settled planets. They had alerted both Earth’s government and any nearby planets that this exercise would be taking place, though it was still a rather substantial collection of military force. Keeping a respectful distance from settled worlds was simply courtesy to avoid causing any unease among the civilian population. 

For this exercise, the Rothian navy had deployed the 2nd Carrier Group from the Fleet of Vigilance. Compared to the rest, the Rothians had barely half as many ships participating, though that was to be expected for Rothian military doctrine. For their capital ships, the Rothian navy emphasized the highest quality possible in their vessels. On a galactic stage, technology was generally the Rothians’ greatest advantage, so they formed their military and its tactics to leverage that advantage to its greatest extent. For centuries, their ships had been built to modular designs with the intention of facilitating simple and relatively easy upgrades to integrate new developments into existing ships. Though some ships had bore the same names, and even some of the same crew, for centuries, there were none that had not, over time, been essentially rebuilt completely and retrofitted to modern standards. Smaller craft, like strikecraft and drones, tended to be automated and much more numerous. 

Among the 2nd Carrier Group, the majority of capital ships were cruiser class, similar in size to the Barbarossa, with some being specialized as battleships that sacrificed carrier space for greater firepower. The flagship of the battle group, the [i]Valiant[/i], was a heavy carrier, about fifty percent larger than a cruiser. The Admiral, Matir’Setla, commanded from the carrier. On his order, his plan for formations and maneuvering tactics had been sent ahead to the other gathered fleets as they awaited the scheduled start of the exercise.