Aeris - Guardian Force - 6. Interlude 1: After Action Report

Prometheus After Action Report

Filed by: Admiral Jules Franks

Date: February 13, 2214

Report: At 18:14 hours, on February 12, 2214, we received word from the Search and Rescue team that Commander Aeris and battlefield promoted Warrant Officer William Jeffers were in contact and were about to come out with an ally. No details were given about who this ally was, at the time, but since then it turns out he was a Thorian Specialist whose name was Zirsi. Commander Aeris then proceeded to send orders to us to expect Hostiles in Orbit, and start searching for a specific energy source. (See attached voice files.)

I immediately ordered the scan and started to detect signatures in our scan radius. Most were small drones, recon in nature, but one significant contact was found to of been park in geo-sync orbit of the moon’s polar region. We were already at combat readiness Charlie, but I ordered full battle stations upon locating the moon target. The alien ally Zirsi, while en route to the ship with Commander Aeris, and the S&R team, had sent us specifications on the “scout ship’s” capabilities, along with suggested modulations for our weapons. Some of the modifications, we were able to do in time for the engagement.

The landing shuttle and the short range fighters were recalled to the hanger and were safely taken on board. It was then, that the Alien Scout Ship broke orbit for an intercept attack course. We are assuming they disobeyed Zirsi and were still watching their planetside drones and saw that he left with Aeris and Jeffers. We broke planetary orbit, engaging both sublight, and Gravimetric drive engines. Our course was to get us to a point that the subspace engines could be deployed, and a jump to subspace. The a.i. Linda estimated a total of 15 hours before we cleared the gravity well of the star and planet enough to do so. However, the scout ship would be on us in less than 8 hours. We attempted several times to communicate with the Alien Scout Ship, to no response each time.

The engagement started at 02:00 on February 13, 2214. I had ordered short shifts, so First Watch was on the bridge at the time of the action. As we can within missile range, the Scout Ship sent in a volley of six missiles. Tactical predicted their targets were the command tower and the drive section of the ship. I ordered our defense shields on and had Tactical-Defense to concentrate the pin-point shielding to the targeted areas. Our point-defense system was turned over to computer control, while Tactical-Weapons plotted a firing solution, and we launched our own volley of ten missiles. The alien’s missiles were smart warheads and were able to dodge some of the point-defense fire, but not all. Five of the missiles were destroyed before impact, the last one connected with the defensive shields, around the aft engine compartment. There was minimal damage from the first contact. The aliens launched another volley of six missiles and had engaged some sort of supplemental drive, in order to close range. Zirsi later reported that it was a limited speed boost spell that Scout Craft and other small craft can do as part of their Magitech.

The missiles were coming in faster, and four managed to impact the starboard side of the ship; two more aft, one a mid, and the other on the command tower. Command tower suffered minimal damage but rocked us well. CT Deck 2 reported several injuries, and our bridge Marine Guard went sailing from not being properly restrained. Aft damage this time, was more moderate, as the missiles penetrated the shielding, and impact the reinforced hull armor. Our Sublight drive was compromised, and speed was reduced by 15%. Midship damage was much more significant, due to the less defensive shielding. Hull breaches on decks five and six were reported. Power disruption to a good portion of the Starboard Midsection, on all decks, was reported from damage control.

By this time, our volley of missiles had reached the Alien Ship. Due to the speed increase, half our missiles overshot the target, and with these being Fire and Forget (FnF) missiles, we remote terminated those five. The other five scored direct hits, to the hull along the port side of the ship. Sensors reported mild damage, as their shields held.

We were now within gunnery range of the Alien Ship, and I ordered our Starboard Weapons to fire. We launched a broadside attack on the Scout Ship, with the Laser and Particle Beam cannon batteries. With the modulations modifications, we had to use manual control on the weapons. The battery crews were superb in their actions, and in their targeting. We scored multiple hits, through their shielding, and must have hit the power core, as the Scout Ship exploded. (Please see attached Computer Logs, Assessments, and Reports.)

Damage control immediately went to work to repair the damage. It took them 10 hours to seal the hull breaches and is still working on interior damage. Power was restored after 3 hours. We lost 60 crew members due to explosions, decompression, and the initial impacts in total. Another 200 crew were injured, with 20 of those considered critical. The starboard hanger system was completely shut down.

If it wasn’t for the alien ally Zirsi, I feel we would not have successfully left the engagement. His modulation schematics for the Laser and Particle Beam Cannons is what saved this ship, and I am positive about that. I do not think we could have pulled a win off, under normal circumstances. Zirsi states that next time, they will be ready for such tactics.

Signed: Admiral Franks, February 13, 2214 @ 18:00 hours.

Attached Files:

Voice and Text Communication Logs

Damage Logs

Combat Logs

Sensor Reports

Duty Officer Logs