Prior to the battle, Ivran Gresev, top military commander of the Srav Federation, had secured power in a coup against Srav leader Jasef Yuiln on the grounds that Yuiln was not fit to rule. Having secured himself by claiming that Yuiln had been killed by enemy assassins, Gresev began to step up Srav military campaigns, now that he could commence his heavy-handed tactics unhindered. He selected the planet of Guay, which was near Srav territory, for attack, as it was occupied by the Death's Tongue Militia, against which the Sravs had been stepping up their campaigns. Assembling a force, Gresev sent forward intelligence-gathering recon probes and moved out.