With the gauntlet well and truly laid down, the newly formed battle groups set off in different directions. 

The Tindrel planetoid capital ship quickly began charging toward the asteroid belt where their objective was located. Instead of using FTL to jump straight into the battle, it used powerful sub-light drives to gradually build up unstoppable momentum. A helical formation of Human, Rothian and QV ships orbited around it.

The enemy fleet currently besieging the densely packed asteroid belt and factory complex quickly picked up on the incoming hostiles. There were many more individual enemy ships than the joint battle group, but they were spread out across a large area. Closest to their approach were three battleships and a carrier. The battleships launched dozens of plasma torpedoes with bright blue trails. The carrier turned to face the aggressors and fired its primary energy projector, sending a long stream of plasma through space to burn through any ship it touched.

The QV supercarrier adopted an entirely different approach. Its target was surrounding an enormous ring-like installation, the surroundings of which were relatively open. The QV battle group jumped to maximum firing range as a stationary mass of weaponry, then unleashed a barrage of energy projections and plasma torpedoes before the enemy fleet had a chance to bring their own guns to bear.

The gas giant was obviously of strategic value to the invaders. In addition to glassing settlements on its largest moon, they were deploying dozens of orbital rail cannons around the other three moons. They all opened fire the minute the Rothian battle group appeared in range.

The central grouping of enemy forces was staggering. A dozen troop landers were supported by two dozen cruisers and even more smaller ships. The centrepiece was a vast [url=https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/images/databank_tradefederationbattleship_01_169_fc5458ce.jpeg?region=0%2C0%2C1560%2C878&width=1200]circular command ship[/url], which began launching drone bombers by the dozen.