Capital Fleet? The SCRA alone has them 2 SRP Osiris at least, I don't see how 3 Cruisers are the full Force.
Secondly yea as they stated, the thing was we had trouble in the past with Mollies. When we engaged BAF infront of mollys while Corsairs raided BAF, mollys got all mad and we realy had issues with them. So we did not want to make the same mistake and thought next time we'd just kill Sairs first and THEN Bretonia Armed Forces.
But yea as JayDee said, it's not defending any side, Coalition has always been a 3rd parti in every fights. They just engage as in oppurtuniy whise all targets, there isn't assisting this defending this unless it's an ally like Hessians or Mollies.