I'll start the ball rolling on speculation, with it being awhile since I last watched the series, and have none of the manga/novels to fall back upon. Feel free to call me baka. The 'opening' battle was of 60K FFP vs. 40K Imperial, right? (Do I need spoiler space for commenting on the BEGINNING of the series?) Both were major fleets, but not the bulk of either forces. And, I believe the Imperial forces are described as larger in total than the FFP. Is the fleet berthed at Fortress I ever enumerated? WILD, wild guess: FFP committed half it's forces, and the Imperial have twice as many ships(many dedicated to home worlds policing); 120K FFP vs 240K Imperial. Let the flames begin. The_Beast -Douglas J. Evans, curmudgeon One World, one Web, one Program - Microsoft promotional ad Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer - Adolf Hitler