Reading book a second time after many years, so remember just but not all details of story

First question,Captain Yao has six unidentified ships flying towards the Donnager Even though Donnager is a battleship and should handle anything, wouldn’t a prudent captain use the corvettes and frigates to scout the unknowns? I can’t imagine a capital ship commander flying headlong into an unknown situation without a screen.

Second question, there are over 2000 plus MCRN sailors and marines on the Donnager. Most ships seem to have one or two dozen people tops. To board the Donnager, won’t you need at least 200 to 500 boarders to have any chance. So what ships where used to carry large number of troops? Later books reveal all the MCRN gear stolen, but don’t remember large ships stolen.

Finally, where do you find enough mercenaries trained in close quarters ship battle willing to most likely to die. I don’t think Marcus is around yet in numbers to pull off op.