When the Peloran made Contact, we used rocket ships.  Orbital elevators were our only cheap way into space.  We had no control of gravity the way we do now.  Then the Peloran Battle Squadron flashed into existence before our very eyes, deep inside our hyperspace limit, and their gravtech battleship maneuvered more easily than one of our fighters.  They could have wiped us out in a day and we wouldn’t have scratched their hulls.  Thank God they were here to help us.