With a hostile alien force in a system just two jumps from Earth, the first priority for Fleet Admiral Thomas Shaw, the head of the Federation Navy, was to secure the safety of any unarmed vessels near the combat area. Two groups of government-owned colony ships were in Proxima Centauri, one heading back from the recently established colony on Proxima II and the second en route to Minerva. The three Jamestown class ships in the second colony fleet were ordered to return to Sol immediately and unload their colonists on Mars. The Proxima II colony would have to be out of bounds to commercial traffic as well as it was just sixty-three million kilometres from the Proxima - Alpha Centauri jump point. Three Genesis class terraformers were in orbit of Proxima II so they were ordered to pull out and head back to the Sol system. Unfortunately, at 652 km/s, they couldn't run very fast. All eleven Atlas class freighters, two jump gate construction ships and a Gateway class freighter were in the chain that comprised the systems of Barnard's Star, 70 Ophuichi and Kuiper 75 so they were all out of harm's way. The third jump gate construction ship was in Lacaille 9352, building a jump gate connection to Proxima. As the gate was one third completed, the ship was ordered to remain on station. Five of the eight survey ships were in overhaul while the others were deployed in Struve 2398 and Gliese 674, adjacent to Proxima and Alpha Centauri respectively. Both systems were outside the limited jump gate network and therefore outside of communication range.
Three of the five destroyer squadrons were on training exercises in the inner Sol system so they were all ordered to return to Earth for refuelling and resupply. The Fourth Destroyer Squadron was at full strength and in Earth orbit but the four ships had never trained together so Fleet Admiral Shaw regarded their deployment to Alpha Centauri as risky, while the Fifth Destroyer Squadron still lacked a jump cruiser. The First and Second Squadrons had the most experience so they would be sent to Alpha Centauri with the Third deployed to Proxima II as a reserve force. The Fourth and Fifth would guard Earth.
At 11:42 on August 17th, nineteen hours after the destruction of the colony ship, a new disaster struck. The three Genesis class terraformers had only moved forty-five million kilometres from Proxima II when they came under missile attack. The unknown and unseen aliens were now in the Proxima Centauri system as well, just one jump from Earth. The first salvo destroyed one of the huge 57,000 ton terraforming ships. 186 survivors made it to the life pods out of a crew of 561. Two minutes later a second salvo arrived and a second Terraformer exploded. The remaining ship continued to run blindly, not even aware of the direction from which the missiles were arriving. For two and a half hours, the ship held her course and the crew held its collective breath. Then, at 14:17, two active sensors were detected by the Terraformer's extremely limited EM sensors at a distance of just six million kilometres. Strangely, the two alien ships appeared to be on a direct course for the lifepods from Genesis 002 rather than attempting to intercept the surviving Terraformer. Even more than the fate of the lone surviving Terraformer, the great concern for Fleet Admiral Shaw and his staff was the speed of the alien ships. At 5833 km/s they were almost fifty percent faster than the Federation Navy's own warships. Their size and full capabilities were still entirely unknown.
[attachment=3:1a8ach5p]Proxima001.GIF[/attachment:1a8ach5p]
[attachment=2:1a8ach5p]Proxima002.GIF[/attachment:1a8ach5p]
The brief contact with the alien sensors was lost at 14:34. At 14:37 the beacons of the Genesis 002 life pods ceased transmission. Apparently the aliens had picked up the 134 survivors, although whether the alien motivation was some misplaced sense of honour or a desire to find subjects for interrogation was purely conjecture. Five minutes later, the Genesis 003 life pods vanished from sensors as well. The flight of Genesis 001 continued and still the mysterious aliens did not interfere. At 19:41, eight hours after the loss of her two sister ships, the first Federation Navy warships entered Proxima from Sol. The Third Destroyer Squadron comprised the jump cruiser Haruna, the Agincourt class destroyers Balaclava and Crecy and the Guardian class escort Defender. Instead of her original mission to stand in reserve at the Proxima II colony, she was now ordered to hold at the Proxima - Sol jump point to warn of any intruder. Once the First and Second Destroyer Squadrons arrived in Proxima, they would advance toward the colony as a combined force.
[attachment=1:1a8ach5p]proxima003.GIF[/attachment:1a8ach5p]
At 09:37 on August 18th, with the Terraformer still making slow progress toward the Sol jump point, the eight ships of the First and Second Destroyer Squadrons left the Third Squadron at the jump point and set their course for Proxima II. Fortunately, both the Proxima II colony and the Minerva colony had been either ignored by the aliens or somehow remained undetected. Commanding the overall force was Commodore Cornelius Hilgendorf, of the Second Destroyer Squadron, from the destroyer Waterloo. The First and Third were under the command of Commodore Robert Rowley and Commodore Alexandra Perry respectively.
Because of the alien attacks, the financial restrictions on production were lifted and construction work began on a pair of Caernarvon class Planetary Defence Centres, each of which had the firepower of an Agincourt class destroyer and two-thirds of the defensive firepower of the Guardian class escorts. Although in the longer-term, specialised PDC-specific systems would be designed and built, in the crisis atmosphere after the attacks in Alpha Centauri and Proxima, the decision was made to go ahead with an design based on existing and therefore immediately-available systems.
Caernarvon class Planetary Defence Centre 5950 tons 522 Crew 895.4 BP TCS 119 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 8-29 Sensors 1/96 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 34
Magazine 706
Mk 2 Guided Missile Launching System (10) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Mk 1 Guided Missile Launching System (6) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
FN/SPG-10 Anti-Missile Fire Control (2) Range 960k km Resolution 1
FN/SPG-8 Missile Fire Control (1) Range 76.8m km Resolution 80
RGM-1A Falchion (90) Speed: 20,000 km/s End: 50.5m Range: 60.6m km WH: 5 Size: 4 TH: 66 / 40 / 20
RIM-2A Sentinel (346) Speed: 24,000 km/s End: 1.6m Range: 2.3m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 176 / 105 / 52
FN/SPS-7 Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 7680 Range 76.8m km Resolution 80
FN/SPD-9 Missile Detection Sensor (1) GPS 96 Range 960k km Resolution 1
The First and Second Destroyer Squadrons passed the outbound Terraformer at 09:30 on August 22nd. Six hours later, at 15:08, the huge FN/SPY-11 Area Search Sensors on the jump cruisers Kongo and Kirishima detected six alien ships, all of which were 9550 tons and therefore sixty percent larger than the warships of the Federation Navy. They were located just eighteen million kilometres beyond Proxima II but there was still no sign of any attacks against the colony. Confronted by a faster alien force that out-massed his own, Commodore Hilgendorf could be excused for exercising discretion and pulling back his ships or at least calling for reinforcements. However, he knew that the defences of Earth could not be reduced and that Fleet Admiral Shaw would not uncover the Proxima - Sol jump point in case a second alien force was lurking nearby. Furthermore, there were 680,000 colonists on Proxima II and another 1.7 million on Minerva, located beyond the jump point to Alpha Centauri. Finally the fact that the third Terraformer had been allowed to flee the area suggested the aliens could be short of ammunition, so he elected to advance to within the sixty million kilometre range of his missiles, assuming the aliens would let him, and open fire.
[attachment=0:1a8ach5p]Proxima004.GIF[/attachment:1a8ach5p]
to be continued...