Given their apparent indifference to the rest of the fleet so far, it was a pleasant surprise when the Tindrel commander began to take charge and give direction. With the swiftness of the enemy’s surprise attack, it had been unavoidable that their battle group had taken losses. A few of the Outreman ships, including one cruiser, had been taken out of the simulation, and several more had registered hull damage before being able to retreat into the asteroid field. Of course, the enemy had also suffered similar damage in the exchange, and they now had the opportunity to get to some measure of cover and try to replenish the shields on their more vulnerable ships. 

The Rothian cruisers deeper in the asteroids were eventually able to bring their ships around and rejoin the battle. Now that the enemy was exclusively on one side of them, they could face their armored crests towards the threat to greatly improve their own durability, though the current situation called for them to advance forward quickly and try to take pressure off of their allies. For the power they had, their greatest weakness was that there were only three of them. The battlefield was wide enough that, no matter how they were distributed, there was a large part of it they simply could not influence. In the parts of the battle in which they were present, though, they could be an impactful asset. For now, the cruisers pushed forward and joined some of the Outreman ships in trying to rescue the retreating Qalian-Vosh vessel. The ranking Rothian captain marked the closest cruiser to their ally, prompting all three to converge fire upon it from their main batteries. Fusion cannons were powerful on their own, but the version the Rothians were using now were stronger than any the Rothians had revealed before. They ripped apart the enemy shields at blistering speed, only to shift their focus fire to a different target once they had exposed the vulnerability on the first. 

Rather than take the time to finish off the enemy cruiser themselves, the Rothian captain instead marked the vulnerable ship as a priority target for the Outremans. Their rail cannon was a dated weapon as far as naval technology was concerned. Powerful, but slow to fire. Volleys of high energy projectiles, or sustained beams, were more efficient at depleting energy shielding. Still, the Rothians calculated that a single, well-placed shot should be sufficient to disable or destroy an unshielded hostile vessel. 

[hr]

The ship’s deep scans had picked up what appeared to be a settlement, though deep underground beneath a massive mountain range covered in the Morgrawal. “A settlement, it looks like.” Enha, the Rothian xenoanthroplogist, remarked. “It looks to be native, not alien. Though it is quite remarkable for a native settlement at this level of technological development. I normally would not expect them to be able to maintain such an organized settlement in such a challenging environment.”