Why a visible fleet does not settle its organization

Attempts to count Galaxy-class ships from screen appearances produce competing totals. A later dispute concerns whether the visible ships establish the size of a Galaxy wing, with no agreed definition reached. Television's limited running time leaves much of an organization unseen. Expanded fictional sources add detail but can contradict the films or one another. BattleTech's treatment of its cartoon as a simplified in-universe production offers a different way to handle such discrepancies. The point is to distinguish a depicted scene, an inferred organization, and a source's narrative purpose.