So. The attack on the »peacekeeping¹« force: It is called »unprovoked« but the sequence of events is:

• The Earth force shows up and takes up an attack formation
• They start some probing of the other side’s ships’ systems that can be seen as aggressive
• The other side fires one shot, damaging one Earth ship
• All Earth ships start firing back with multiple weapons
• The other side start firing with all their weapons

That isn’t quite as one-sided as the characters (and the author?) want as to believe it is.

OK. The aliens shooting up the survivors is quit aggressive. But they haven’t signed the Geneva Convention.

1) The peace they keep is very much a pax romana: keeping the subjugated colonial folks down in their place with the threat of force.