If the Starfurys survive to get within knife-fighting range, they can dumb-fire their missiles (which they can carry, four to the fighter) without needing target lock-ons. Say a single Poseidon escorted by two Novas and a trio of Hyperions and engages a trio of Sharlins. Using AoG's numbers, that would be a total of 162 Starfurys versus 72 Nials. That's a better than two to one ratio for the fighters. The Novas and Hyperions aren't enough to stop the Sharlins if they decide to move in, but they're enough to slow them down while the Poseidon escapes to hyperspace and that's what escort ships are for.
Now let's speculate for a moment. The Earth ships decide to send their Starfurys in to try to get into knife-fighting range and launch their missiles. The Starfurys suffer, for the sake of argument, 66% losses on the way in. That's STILL 54 Starfurys that get close enough to dumb-fire their missiles at the Sharlins. If they spread themselves evenly, that's 18 Starfurys per Sharlin and 4 missiles per Starfury or 72 missiles. Just a guess, but I'm thinking even a Sharlin's going to suffer a bit under that kind of fire.
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