The three Helicarriers were named The Punisher, Cross Rose, and Golden Lily. The Punisher was often used by the Praetorian Guard for missions, while the names of the other two alone revealed the Emperor's favor toward the Sisterhood. The three Helicarriers would only conduct joint operations under specific circumstances; otherwise, they maintained the standard arrangement of one on duty, one being refitted, and one under repair. This time, the Helicarrier deploying was the Sacred Guard's The Punisher, whose battle group included several small Missile Destroyers produced by the Mars Shipyard.
"Small" was only in comparison to ocean-going vessels on Earth. After its modifications, a Helicarrier was vastly larger than an Earthly Ford-class Carrier. By comparison, the Missile Destroyers and other ships that made up its battle group could only be called small. In future space fleet planning, Helicarriers shorter than one kilometer and incapable of hyperspace travel would serve only to conduct space combat between Earth and the Moon, as well as deliver unstoppable strikes against planetary targets within the Solar System.
Cross Rose was currently carrying out its voyage plan from Europe to the Middle East. The Missile Destroyers and Missile Cruisers carried by this battle group were Regent Victor von Doom's crucial force for enforcing nuclear deterrence. Every country in the world with Orbital Detection capability would see the Helicarrier and its battle group. The Regent believed this was the only force capable of keeping the Yugoslav Federation from being attacked after the Emperor left Earth. A drill not long ago had also proven that bombers stationed aboard orbital Helicarriers, designed specifically for space warfare, were fully capable of carrying out planetary-scale strikes that Earth's military technology could neither detect nor intercept.
Regent Victor von Doom's only concern was that the nation's military-industrial capacity was now overly dependent