The bridge of the Gemini Civilization's Ranger.
"Reporting, Captain. Landing Craft recovery complete!" the Sea Race Ranger's AI Core reported.
"Good! Let the team get some rest." The Winged Race captain nodded, then asked, "When will the mech squad engage the enemy?"
"The enemy space fighter formation has reached Callisto and is moving at a constant speed in high orbit around B5. In approximately half an hour, its trajectory will intersect our mech squad's. The intersection will be at coordinates XXX, XXX, XXX!"
"Good! Excellent. There are far too many of them. Have our squad keep its distance and use long-range attacks first. Until we've established the enemy's capabilities, full engagement is forbidden!"
"Yes!" the AI Core replied.
The Sea Race captain had no objections to this arrangement. "But isn't their fighter formation a little too large? Even our light carriers only carry five thousand craft.
"Can a frigate-sized ship support the logistics for a force that size? Could their warship be some kind of carrier?
"And that way of carrying them... doesn't it look completely impractical?"
Two thousand space fighters, carried as an "overloaded external payload," no less. Never mind routine maintenance-even charging them would be a problem!
Open-air maintenance and all that... yeah, that really was a bit ridiculous!
"Yes, that's what I can't understand either. Unmanned fighters are much easier to maintain than crewed ones, but a ship that size simply couldn't support so many fighters!
"The more advanced a machine, the more complex its maintenance requirements. That would definitely limit the number of craft it could carry. And there's another problem.
"Launching these fighters is relatively simple, but... how do they recover them?"
Before launch, the fighters could indeed be attached to the hull like external armor. But recovering returning fighters required approach lanes, deceleration systems,