the tau naval command notices the battle going on in orbit of t'au and mobilizes what ships are available.
Luckily the Gal'Eath and Manta have returned from Tutamen so they are refueled, rearmed, and sent itno the fight.
We send a message to Tomcat's fleet asking if they would like assistance
"We're landing on your planet, unknown forces arrived in ramshackle ships and started to attack us. All of our ships are heavily damaged, it'll take until next year (next page) to repair them. We do need assistance, both in battle, and in reconstruction, will you assist?"
What if 2 species combined are making ships together? do you just combine the brooding rates?
Well, you combine the amount of ships you're making. A minimum of 4 ships can be made each brood cycle, the 4 requiring no resources. The resources you gather - 4 = amount of surplus ships you can make. So, without resources, two nations combined can make 8 ships, add more with resources.