In the frontier star system Cenadon, a Republic battle fleet is on maneuvers near a small Republic mining colony. The fleet is on alert, as there have been reports of unknown alien forces in the area. The colony starbase sends a priority message: unidentified vessels have entered the system. Vice Admiral Kolomoh, on the bridge of the RSS Agememnon, orders her science officer to hail the alien squadron and determine their intentions. The aliens send no reply, but accelerate their strange vessels towards the Republic battle fleet. Vice Admiral Kolomoh alerts her captains and gives the order to engage.

Contents
    Order of Battle
        Republic Battle Fleet
            Cruiser Squadron Three
            Patrol Squadron Nine
      Hegemony Strike Maniple
    Fleet Design Notes
    Battle Report
    Epilog

Republic Battle Fleet

Battlecruiser Agamemnon, Flagship. Vice Admiral Jennifer Kolomoh in command.
An even mix of weaponry, heavy missile armament and a well-armored hull.
BC-6502 Agamemnon BC-M4335F3-A00106-07809-0 MCr30926.04 30kdtns
Batteries:                        8  66 A   Crew=231.
Batteries Bearing:                7  55 9   TL=12.
Passengers=0. Low=248. Cargo=159. Fuel=10500. EP=1500. Agility=3.
Backup Model/3fib Computer. Onboard Fuel Treatment. 14 Pilots.
6 20dtn Gigs, 4 50dtn Assault Cutters, 12 20dtn Lifeboats. Marines=250.

Republic Cruiser Squadron 3

Consists of Cruiser Divisions 4, 5 and 6.

Cruiser Division 4

Strike Cruiser Medusa
Lighter hull armor frees up enough interior space for extensive particle weaponry.
CS-5602 Medusa CS-L4337F3-600106-07809-0 MCr26361.96 25kdtns
Batteries:                     5  5A 5   Crew=207.
Batteries Bearing:             5  59 5   TL=12.
Passengers=0. Low=156. Cargo=250. Fuel=9250. EP=1750. Agility=3.
Backup Model/3fib Computer. Onboard Fuel Treatment. 4 Pilots.
4 20dtn Gigs. 9 20dtn Lifeboats. Marines=100.

Strike Cruiser Siren (Medusa class)

Cruiser Division 5

Heavy Cruiser Heracles
The workhorse of the Republic navy, with a balanced mix of weapons and a heavily armored hull.
CH-5407 Heracles CH-L4335F3-A00106-07809-0 MCr20674.16 20kdtns
Batteries (All Bear):            4  44 8   Crew=162. TL=12.
Passengers=0. Low=146. Cargo=255. Fuel=7000. EP=1000. Agility=3.
Backup Model/3fib Computer. Onboard Fuel Treatment. 10 Pilots.
6 20dtn Gigs, 2 50dtn Assault Cutters, 8 20dtn Lifeboats. Marines=120.

Heavy Cruiser Perseus (Heracles class)

Cruiser Division 6

Missile Cruiser Centaur
A smaller ship with a heavily armored hull and powerful missile armaments for its size.
CM-4506 Centaur CM-K4335F2-A00106-07809-0 MCr10399.02 10kdtns
Batteries (All Bear):           3  11 5   Crew=90. TL=12.
Passengers=0. Low=62. Cargo=202. Fuel=3500. EP=500. Agility=3.
Backup Model/3fib Computer. Onboard Fuel Treatment. 3 Pilots.
3 20dtn Gigs, 4 20dtn Lifeboats. Marines=30.

Missile Cruiser Dryad (Centaur class)

Republic Patrol Squadron 9

Consists of Patrol Squadron Leader, Frigate Division 11 and Missile Boat Division 15.

Patrol Cruiser Grugach, command vessel. Captain Kevin Bridne in command of the Squadron.
A light, general purpose patrol vessel.
CE-8001 Grugach CE-D4336F2-600106-07809-0 MCr3982.136 4kdtns
Batteries (All Bear):           1  11 1   Crew=49. TL=12.
Passengers=0. Low=30. Cargo=29. Fuel=1440. EP=240. Agility=3.
Backup Model/3fib Computer. Onboard Fuel Treatment. 1 Pilot.
1 20dtn Gig. 2 20dtn Lifeboats. Marines=10.

Frigate Division 11

Frigate Lancelot
A light escort vessel.
FF-8234 Lancelot FF-B4335F2-600100-07009-0 MCr1887.04 2kdtns
Batteries (All Bear):               1  1   Crew=33. TL=12.
Passengers=0. Low=22. Cargo=51. Fuel=700. EP=100. Agility=3.
Backup Model/3fib Computer. Onboard Fuel Treatment.
1 10dtn Escape Pod. 1 20dtn Lifeboat. Marines=10.

Frigate Percival (Lancelot class)

Missile Boat Division 15

Missile Boat Jon Pellian
The fastest ships in the Republic navy, their only protection is their agility.
FM-9212 Jon Pellian FM-A4367F2-000000-00009-0 MCr1049.335 1kdtns
Batteries (All Bear):                     1   Crew=17. TL=12.
Passengers=0. Low=0. Cargo=17. Fuel=370. EP=70. Agility=6.
Onboard Fuel Treatment. 1 10dtn Escape Pod.

Missile Boat April McCallister (Jon Pellian class)

Missile Boat Rajat Bangar (Jon Pellian class)

Hegemony Strike Maniple

(Note: As the aliens never communicated with Republic forces, the names shown are code-names applied to the attacking vessels by Republic tactical officers during the battle.)

Heavy Meson Frame Alpha Heavy
Carries the heaviest Meson weapon known to Hegemony science.
MH-1100 Alpha Heavy MH-P7358F3-091106-800K0-0 MCr71422.5 60kdtns
Batteries:                      W   7 F  1    Crew=618.
Batteries Bearing:              Q   6 C  1    TL=12.
Passengers=0. Low=0. Cargo=86. Fuel=22800. EP=4800. Agility=5.
Troops=60. 2 50dtn Cutters. No onboard fuel treatment. No Marines.
6 pilots. Substitutions Q=24 W=30.

Light Meson Frame Alpha Light
Escorts for the Heavy Meson Frame, carrying a lighter Meson weapon.
ML-1200 Alpha Light ML-L7359F3-091106-800C0-0 MCr31000.5 25kdtns
Batteries:                      C   4 7  1    Crew=264.
Batteries Bearing:              B   4 6  1    TL=12.
Passengers=0. Low=0. Cargo=108. Fuel=9750. EP=2250. Agility=5.
Troops=25. 2 50dtn Cutters. No onboard fuel treatment. No Marines.
4 pilots.

Light Meson Frame Bravo Light (Alpha Light class).

Light Particle Frame Gamma Light
Light escort vessel.
PL-2100 Gamma Light PL-C7359F2-091100-80800-0 MCr3585 3kdtns
Batteries (All Bear):           1     1 1     Crew=49. TL=12.
Passengers=0. Low=0. Cargo=38. Fuel=1170. EP=270. Agility=5.
No onboard fuel treatment. No Marines. Troops=3.

Light Particle Frame Delta Light (Gamma Light class).

Squadron Refueling Ship Alpha Tanker
TT-9800 Alpha Tanker TT-L6356F3-090006-80000-0 MCr17355.82 20kdtns
Batteries (All Bear): 5 1 2 B Crew=169. TL=12.
Passengers=0. Low=0. Cargo=109. Fuel=11300. EP=1200. Agility=5.
2 50dtn Cutters. Onboard fuel treatment. Troops=20. 4 pilots.

Fleet Design Notes
Both fleets come to pretty much MCr159000.

The Republic fleet is built so each ship can do gas giant refueling, and has a requirement that all ships carry lifeboats with enough low berths for the entire crew. The Republic also doesn’t build any weapons except for bay weapons – they don’t think that anything smaller is worthwhile in space combat, and don’t think the larger weapons are cost-effective. They also don’t have Meson technology as of yet, even though they are otherwise tech level 12. All ships are Agility-3, and they don’t buy any maneuver drives more powerful than the normal agility they can afford. Armor is moderate to heavy on all ships.

The Hegemony Fleet is tech level 12, and built with a squadron ocean refueling requirement (which they attain with a tanker). Hegemony warships are all built with dispersed structure hulls, agility-5, the biggest weapon they can carry and not much else. While Hegemony ships will use Repulsors, Sandcasters and Beam Lasers, they will only have one main weapon – either a Meson spinal or (for smaller ships) a single Particle Beam bay weapon. Missile weapons are not used by this culture.

On to the battle!!

Pre-Combat Step:

The Republic commander places all ships in the line – one Battlecruiser, the six Cruisers of Cruiser Squadron Three, and the six smaller ships of Patrol Squadron Nine. Throughout the battle, the ships will work with their divisions to coordinate fire. Patrol Squadron Nine concentrates all fire on targets selected by Senior Captain Bridne on the Patrol Cruiser Grugach.

The Hegemony commander places the Tanker in the reserve, where it will remain for the entire battle. All five Battle Frames (one Heavy Meson, two Light Meson and two Light Particle) join the line of battle.

Round One

Hegemony initiative. The Hegemony fleet agility advantage is countered by the larger size of the Republic fleet. Range is automatically Long for the first round.

All ships open up at long range. Vice Admiral Kolomoh aboard the Battlecruiser Agamemnon is killed almost instantly, along with her entire crew, as the largest alien vessel blasts her ship to wreckage in one shot. (Crew-3 hit by four separate Crew-1 hits, plus a "Ship’s Troops Dead" critical hit, not to mention a Fuel Tanks Shattered hit and enough computer hits to leave the ship computer-less.) Agamemnon manages to put some telling missile shots into the medium sized alien vessel code-named Bravo Light before she takes her fatal blast.

The largest alien ship (code-named Alpha Heavy by Republic tactical officers) is fired upon by Patrol Group Nine and the two Missile Cruisers of CruDiv 6. The combination of the alien vessel’s high agility and extensive anti-missile defenses result in no damage whatsoever.

The Strike Cruiser Medusa narrowly avoids Agamemnon’s fate, as Alpha Light misses her with a Meson spinal shot. Medusa’s armor belt absorbs some incoming laser fire. Medusa’s sister ship in CruDiv 4, the RSS Siren, is not so lucky…Bravo Light blasts her with Meson fire, almost wrecking her maneuver drives and causing massive crew casualties from explosions and deadly radiation. Of the 207 crewmen on the Medusa, fewer than ten are left alive and none are uninjured. Assistant Drive Hand Jane Deveroux, last one alive on her drive deck, manages to activate secondary controls and send Siren out of harm’s way at a crawling maximum of one-third speed.

The mysterious aliens do not get off unscathed, though. While Alpha Heavy’s agility and defenses held off the massed fire of eight vessels, the concentrated firepower of CruDiv 5 (Heracles and Perseus) and the shots fired from Agamemnon (before death claimed her) managed to overwhelm the defenses of Bravo Light. Even as Bravo Light crippled the Strike Cruiser Siren, it suffered massive damage – bridge destroyed, jump drive disabled, weapons damaged, and the entire crew wiped out by concentrated nuclear missile fire.

In a mere few minutes of combat, the Republic battle fleet had suffered almost 700 casualties and seen two of its seven capital ships taken out of the fight. The aliens had lost some 250 beings and one of their light Meson weapons, but they surged forward to close with the Republic starships.

Round Two

Hegemony initiative. The Hegemony commander closes range to improve the efficiency of his Meson weapons. Bravo Light drifts out of formation, dead in space.

Agamemnon drifts dark and silent. Siren creeps into the reserve, the few wounded who can make it to her medical deck start to rouse the Frozen Watch. The Watch is too few to get Siren to full crew, but at least there will be people to care for the wounded and, if necessary, begin evacuation.

As the alien fleet moves into close quarters with the Republic formation, Senior Captain Michael Corvalez aboard the Strike Cruiser Medusa takes operational command. Seeing how nimble the enemy ships are, and how effective their point defense has been, he gives the order to his captains to concentrate all fire on each enemy ship in turn, from the largest to the smallest. His plan is to overwhelm their defenses, but it will take some time.

The entire Republic battle fleet opens fire on the largest target, the Heavy Meson Frame Alpha Heavy. Hits are scored all across the board, especially by the Missile Cruisers Centaur and Dryad in CruDiv 6 – they score an amazing 80+% hit rate. Alpha Heavy’s point defenses and able maneuver officer manage to avoid some of the damage, but a devastating five particle beam weapons and fourteen nuclear missiles pound it to wreckage. 500 crewbeings die, its fuel tanks are shattered…but moments before Alpha Heavy’s giant Meson gun goes silent, it speaks a final time…smashing the Strike Cruiser Medusa. Senior Captain Corvalez is vaporized along with his command bridge, as a series of explosions rock the vessel. Fuel tanks shattered, weapons and drives badly damaged, nearly all of her crew dead or gravely injured, Medusa hangs near-lifeless in space. CruDiv 4 is completely out of the fight.

As the Heavy Cruiser Heracles pounds on Alpha Heavy, the smaller Meson gun on Alpha Light lines up a shot…and fires. While damage to ship systems is relatively light (Jump-2, Weapon-4 on the PAW mounts), the deadly radiation burns through the Republic vessel. More than a hundred crewmen are killed, and the main medical bay is devastated…there will be no frozen watch replacing the dead and wounded on Heracles. Perseus also takes some minor damage, from the light particle weapons on Gamma Light and Delta Light.

Things are looking bad for both sides – the largest Meson gun is down, but the Republic has lost another two capital ships – can Perseus, Centaur, Dryad and the small ships of Patrol Squadron Nine throw back the alien invaders?

Round Three

Agamemnon still drifts, crewless and powerless. Siren finishes waking up her frozen watch, but it is insufficient to even begin effective damage control. Medusa hangs dead in space, her few survivors attempting to awaken a frozen watch that will be just as inadequate as Siren’s. Heracles, with some fifteen effectives out of a crew of over 160, limps into the reserve.

Alpha Heavy and Bravo Light also hang dead in space, the few surviving crewmen of Heavy preparing to abandon ship in the cutters on its boat deck.

Hegemony maintains initiative, and keeps short range.

Captain Lynn McCrady, aboard the Perseus, takes operational command following the death of Senior Captain Corvalez aboard the now-crippled Medusa.  She orders her surviving ships to focus all their remaining firepower on the last surviving Meson-armed alien vessel.  Alpha Light manages to evade or fend off all the incoming missiles, and only takes some moderate (though eventually significant) hits to its Meson weapon from Perseus’ very accurate particle accelerator fire. The Missile Cruisers of CruDiv 6 only manage a single particle hit, while the light vessels of Bridne’s Patrol Squadron Nine fail to connect at all. Things are looking bad for the Republic, as Republic firepower seems too much reduced to have much of a chance against Hegemony defenses. Captain McCrady proves luckier than her predecessors, as a Meson strike from Alpha Light barely misses the Perseus. Perseus does take some minor damage from the particle weapons of Gamma Light and Delta Light. Had Perseus been crippled here, there is a very good chance it would have been all over for the Republic fleet.

Round Four

Situation nearly the same as the previous round.

Republic gains initiative for the first time. Captain McCrady has her captains increase the range to long, both to reduce the accuracy of Alpha Light’s Meson fire and to increase the effectiveness of Republic missile barrages.

Perseus is hit by Meson fire from Alpha Light. Captain McCrady’s luck still holds, as the lightly damaged Meson weapon merely fries her jump capacitors (Jump Drive critical hit) – the jump drive is out of commission, but her crew is safe and her ship is still in the fight. The two Hegemony particle-accelerator armed vessels chip away at Perseus’ missile weapons.

With the longer range working in their favor, Republic missile gunners strike home. Most missiles hit Alpha Light, as do several particle weapons. Though Alpha Light’s point defense manages to stop half the incoming missiles, the damage is still devastating…crew dead, bridge destroyed, drives knocked out, Alpha Light joins the other two Meson-armed alien vessels in silent drift.

It’s effectively over. The three surviving Hegemony ships prepare to jump.

Round Five

Republic initiative, range remains long.

Captain McCrady orders her surviving captains to split their fire between the two surviving enemy warships. With any luck, she can get them both and have a shot at capturing the tanker as well. Centuar, Dryad and Bridne’s Patrol Squadron Nine fire on Gamma Light, while Perseus fires on Delta Light. Gamma Light is pummeled to death – crew dead, bridge destroyed, computer knocked out, jump drive trashed. Patrol Squadron Nine’s missiles were most telling, scoring three critical hits (one each for Grugach, Lancelot and Percival). Perseus was less successful, only managing two missile hits – Delta Light managed to jump away with only some minor weapon and drive damage, and the support ship code-named Alpha Tanker managed to jump away as well.

Two cutters, carrying evacuees from the crippled Alpha Heavy, attempt to escape by acceleration. The missile boats of Patrol Squadron Nine are able to outmatch their maneuver drives, and are about to capture them when the two cutters ram into each other in an apparent suicide move. The battle is over.

Epilog

Captain Lynn McCrady wryly surveyed the damage. Hundreds dead and maimed, five capital ships out of action…but at least the colony and the frontier were safe for the moment. The four captured alien vessels still orbited the moon of Cenadon where they’d been towed, their bizarre structural members like some twisted abstract art against the stars, waiting for the scientists from Homeworld to come and look at them. She idly wondered if she’d make Senior Captain for this, or if she’d be the one blamed for the deaths. "Ah, Jenny, Mike, how convenient for you that you’re dead, they don’t make you sit through courts of inquiry when you’ve already gone to your rewards." The wounded were in medical low, except for some walking wounded that were filling positions on Heracles. Percival had been dispatched with news and a request for reinforcements. Meanwhile, recovery crews continued the cruel tasks that awaited them aboard Agamemnon, Medusa, Siren and Heracles.

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