To be fair, when it came to the firepower of capital ships, one standard astronomical unit really wasn't an absolutely safe distance. But this convention had existed since the early days of the Great Interstellar Voyage, and had even been codified under international law. Put simply, Earth just wanted to make a show of resolve.
Lieutenant Colonel Horatio Wayne maintained a polite, restrained, yet utterly unwavering expression as he stared at King Soluka on the other side of the light screen.
Perhaps because of signal transmission, the image of the Great Elector on the stretched screen wasn't very clear, as if veiled by a faint haze of light. Yet this only seemed to imbue her peerlessly beautiful features and chilling bearing with a profound, imposing divinity.
On the Commonwealth side, the crews aboard all four destroyers were following the call. Through the screen, they all felt as if the Dragon King from the Galactic Empire were looking down at them, as though they were nothing but ants.
Indeed, Earth's side had only three Fletcher III-class destroyers and one Trapper II-class destroyer. They could happily pounce on the remnants of a Marauder force and tear into them, but the other side had more than a hundred of the Empire's newest high-speed warships. How were they any different from ants?
Forget the gold-and-jewel-encrusted Titan, not to mention the mass of fast battlecruisers and carriers. Even just the few reconnaissance cruisers nearby were enough to wipe out their entire force three or five times over.
The Earthlings had little chance of escaping, either. Destroyers were fast, light warships, but the Imperial fleet on the other side also consisted of fast warships. More importantly, no matter how fast a ship was, it couldn't outrun a shell. If the other side fired a dense barrage