In space, no one can hear you explode...

> At 15:52 5/5/98, John Leary wrote:
[snip]

> A few thoughts:
[more snippage]

I would think that rescue ships would be a small portion of a fleet's supply
train. The comments concerning the vast size of space are entirely
on target, and almost no planet-based rescue operation is going to
arrive in time, or have an easy job of finding survivors.

If we assume that the ships use their personell shuttles for rescue ops
-
or have a dedicated rescue ship trailing for large enough fleets - then
it would be in their best interest to pick up all survivors, friends and enemy
alike.

This way you can have prisoner exchanges to get your crews back - ala
1800's.

Actually, there's some pretty interesting scenario ideas right there:
1) Rescue operations interrupted by a couter-offensive.
2) Prisoner exchange gone wrong - or "crashed" by a third party