Indeed, the Outreman commander’s concerns about potential losses were absolutely valid. The mission’s success relied not only upon the success of each individual objective, but their ability to mount a successful attack against the primary objective afterwards. Collectively, they needed to have enough forces remaining to be able to defeat the enemy’s key ship. Calling in for reinforcements was absolutely an option on the table, though it was an option that only one battle group would likely be able to take. 

The enemy, as it stood, had focused their strategy on avoiding the planetoid to focus on the rest of the battle group. They scattered as much as they could from the planetoid’s projected path, though some would still be in range of its broadside once it completed its maneuver. The rest were, at least, being pushed towards a combination of Outreman and Rothian ships. With a lack of specific orders, the Rothian cruisers had elected to give their support to the Outreman command ship to ensure their overall lines maintained their organization. The QV ship had, finally, been surrounded and overwhelmed away from allied lines, while two enemy cruisers managed to break through to start bombarding the “Bertha” rail cannon. The Rothian and Outreman cruisers together, however, comprised a powerful core of ships that could output heavy firepower on anything being pushed towards them. 

In response to the Outreman commander’s request, an array of pings appeared on their screens to mark the points where their reinforcements could jump in to the battlefield. The other battle group would be able to drop in to the battle at close range, and without a doubt would immediately shift the balance of power sharply into their favor. With an entire extra battle group, their numbers would almost double the enemy, and they would be able to take this objective with few additional casualties. However, should they make the call for reinforcements here and now, that would deny the option to other battle groups, should they need it. Their reinforcements were ready to jump in right now; they were just waiting on final confirmation from the commander to decide if this was where they wanted to commit them.

[hr]

Vreta did not so much as attempt to understand whatever it was that the scientists were doing with their scans. There had been a time in his life where he had been involved in research, but that had been centuries in the past. For now, he focused on what he could meaningfully influence. The communications from the other faction of Humans was something more in his domain. 

“This is a stealth vessel.” Vreta remarked. “I say that we recommend to the Admiral to ‘throw them a bone’, I think is the expression. Move the battle group a bit farther from Psi-Helios, away from the demilitarized zone. But this ship can continue its objective undisturbed. Earth would need to have technological prowess beyond that of even Outremer to be able to detect us.”