After Action Report
Despite initial reports from Jiangwei that Commonwealth ships had been encountered by our survey force in Yunan, the follow up reports from her sister ships Jiangwei II and Jianwei III revealed an entirely different situation. They entered the Yunan system on November 23rd 2153 and immediately detected life pod beacons from the three Manchurian survey ships. A badly wounded Commander Guo informed them that all three ships of his squadron had been hunted down and destroyed by alien vessels, each equipped with four 15cm lasers and strength-20 shields and capable of speeds up to 4900 km/s. He warned the unarmed Jiangwei?s not to attempt a rescue but to inform New Beijing as quickly as possible. Commander Guo also believed the aliens had picked up survivors from one of the other life pods and most likely interrogated them or dissected them to learn more about humans..
Once news of the alien attack reached New Beijing, a battle squadron was assembled comprising four Manchu class battlecruisers, two Xian area defence cruisers, two Luda class destroyers and my own ship, the Han class jump freighter Emperor Gao. This squadron included two thirds of our major warships but the Emperor was determined to avenge the loss of our ships and punish the aliens most severely. Details of the ship classes involved are shown below:
Manchu class Battlecruiser 10000 tons 1170 Crew 1680 BP Signature 200-780
3900 km/s Armour 1 Shields 50-300 Sensors 6/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0
Replacement Parts 10
Ion Engine (13) Power 60 Engine Efficiency 0.70 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 92.6 billion km (274 days at full power)
Gamma R300/14 Shields (25) Total Fuel Cost 350 Litres per day
Fusion Torpedo Launcher (7) Range 200,000km TS: 3900 km/s Power 15-4 ROF 20 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
Fire Control 128K-3200 (2) Max Range: 256,000 km TS: 3200 km/s 96 92 88 84 80 77 73 69 65 61
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (4) Total Power Output 36 Armour 0 Exp 5%
High Resolution Thermal Sensor HRT2-6 (1) Strength 6 Detect Signature 100: 6m km
Xian class Area Defence Cruiser 10000 tons 1003 Crew 1492 BP Signature 200-780
3900 km/s Armour 1 Shields 42-300 Sensors 15/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0
Replacement Parts 10
Ion Engine (13) Power 60 Engine Efficiency 0.70 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 92.6 billion km (274 days at full power)
Gamma R300/14 Shields (21) Total Fuel Cost 294 Litres per day
Triple 15cm Laser Turret (3x3) Range 240,000km TS: 12800 km/s Power 18-9 RM 4 ROF 10 6 6 6 6 4 4 3 3 2 2
Area Fire Control System (1) Max Range: 256,000 km TS: 12800 km/s 96 92 88 84 80 77 73 69 65 61
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (3) Total Power Output 27 Armour 0 Exp 5%
High Resolution Thermal Sensor HRT5-15 (1) Strength 15 Detect Signature 100: 15m km
Luda class Destroyer Escort 6400 tons 648 Crew 1016 BP Signature 128-540
4218 km/s Armour 1 Shields 22-300 Sensors 1/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0
Replacement Parts 10
Ion Engine (9) Power 60 Engine Efficiency 0.70 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 96.4 billion km (264 days at full power)
Gamma R300/14 Shields (11) Total Fuel Cost 154 Litres per day
Triple 12cm Laser Turret (2x3) Range 64,000km TS: 13250 km/s Power 12-12 RM 4 ROF 5 4 4 4 4 3 2 0 0 0 0
Fire Control 32K-12800 (1) Max Range: 64,000 km TS: 12800 km/s 84 69 53 38 22 6 0 0 0 0
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (3) Total Power Output 27 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Han class Jump Freighter 10000 tons 725 Crew 1223 BP Signature 200-780
3900 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 15/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0
Cargo 25000 Cargo Handling Multiplier 10 Replacement Parts 5
J10000(3-50) Jump Drive Max Ship Size 10000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Ion Engine (13) Power 60 Engine Efficiency 0.70 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 400,000 Litres Range 246.9 billion km (732 days at full power)
High Resolution Thermal Sensor HRT5-15 (1) Strength 15 Detect Signature 100: 15m km
The fleet left New Beijing on December 7th 2153 and arrived in the Yunan system on January 27th 2154 via a jump point five hundred million kilometers from the primary; a planetless A4-IV sub-giant five million kilometers in diameter and seventy times brighter than Sol. All three survey ships were destroyed within the planetary system of the companion star, twelve billion kilometers away, so the majority of the fleet immediately set off across the intervening void at 3900 km/s, leaving my own ship at the jump point. On February 26th, the fleet was still almost two billion kilometers from its destination when three 18,000 ton contacts were detected on an intercept course at a distance of over two hundred million kilometers. These were obviously much larger than the alien ships that attacked the survey ships, although they were only moving at 4056 km/s, much slower than the smaller alien ships but still slightly faster than our own fleet. Vice Admiral Zhao decided to continue onward as his larger ships could not outrun the aliens and he was confident his own fleet would still prevail. He still had a tonnage advantage, despite the larger individual size of the aliens, and his Manchu class battlecruisers carried Fusion Torpedoes which would outrange and outgun the 15cm lasers used by the aliens.
As the alien fleet moved within sixty million kilometers, three smaller 5000 ton contacts were detected, estimated by Vice Admiral Zhao?s intelligence staff to be the same type of ship previously encountered. While this shifted the odds a little toward the aliens, our squadron pressed on and began to raise shields. The aliens responded and it quickly become apparent the shields on the larger alien craft, designated as battleships by the Admiral, had a strength of eighty, sixty percent greater than those of the Manchu class battlecruisers. However, as the battleships were eighty percent larger than the Manchus, that didn?t necessarily indicate any advantages in shield technology.
At fifty million kilometers, the alien ships surprisingly hailed our fleet in Mandarin and demanded to speak to its commander. Vice Admiral Zhao agreed to accept the voice-only communication. The alien commander, who introduced himself as Caliph Userhet, demanded that Zhao immediately surrender his ships for violating the sacred space of the Agar Imperium or be destroyed. In response, Zhao demanded to know the fate of the Manchurian survey crews lost in the unprovoked attack by Agar warships on unarmed ships. The exchange apparently deteriorated from that point. Although I do not have a complete transcript due to later events, the Agar Imperium appears to be strongly influenced by religion and their primary historical prophet declared that all infidels must be brought into the faith by force. The Agar admitted to taking some prisoners and learning Mandarin but then killing them after they rejected the offer to join the Agar state religion. With such a divergent worldview to our own, it is unsurprising the conversation ended with mutual death threats.
Obviously wary that the Agar had missile technology similar to that of the Commonwealth and United States, Vice Admiral Zhao initially deployed his destroyers ahead of the main body as a screen but once they closed within 300,000 km with no sign of missile fire, the destroyers were recalled on the assumption this would be an energy weapon battle and it made no sense to give the Agar easy targets. The first exchange of fire came at 236,000 km, as the two fleets charged each other at a combined speed of almost 8000 km/s. Each Agar battleship unleashed a spread of twelve fusion torpedoes, the same primary weapon as our own ships but with at least 18% greater range as our own torpedoes cannot hit targets beyond 200,000 km. The only Manchurian ships able to respond were the two Xians, using their 15cm laser turrets at extreme range. However, it soon become apparent that the aliens had some type of electronic countermeasures system that reduced the Xian?s targeting systems to impotence. Fortunately, the aliens? long range fire was terribly inaccurate and only two torpedos, each with strength-6 warheads, struck Xian II?s shields. Five seconds later, our Manchus responded with their own volleys of fusion torpedoes, hitting the lead battleship twice, and one of the Xians scored a single laser hit. The Agar destroyers joined the battle at 157,000 kilometers, inflicting six minor hit on Xian IIs shields.
Realising that given roughly equal technology, the Agar battleships were going to recharge their torpedoes first and that they would be be at very close range by that point, Vice Admiral Zhao ordered his fleet to reverse course and keep the range open. As they came about, the two Xian?s fired again and reduced the lead battleship?s shields to strength-64. Twenty seconds after their first volley, the alien battleships launched another salvo of torpedoes, this time with much greater accuracy. Xian II was struck seventeen times in rapid succession and exploded in a massive fireball. As soon as the aliens fired, our fleet changed course again to close the range before their own weapons recharged.
At 108,000 kilometers, Manchurian lasers and torpedoes tore into one of the Agar behemoths, shredding its powerful shields but not penetrating to the armour. The response from the three alien destroyers was feeble, hitting the remaining Xian with only two of their combined twelve lasers. Obviously the Agar considered the fast firing Xians to be more of a danger than the torpedoes of the Manchus. The rapidly falling range also brought the two Luda class destroyers into the fray. At 28,000 kilometers their 12cm lasers combined with the 15cm lasers on the Xian to rip deep into the alien battleship, dropping its speed to 2700 km/s and presumably inflicting considerable internal damage
At this point in the battle, the charge of the Imperium battleships seemed very strange, as their weapons were designed to function effectively at long range. Their purpose become apparent as they revealed their secondary armament of six 20cm Plasma Carronades, which proved brutally effective at point blank range. Supported by the Agar destroyers, each battleship targeted a different Manchu class battlecruiser, firing their torpedoes and carronades simultaneously in one cataclysmic volley. One Manchu was obliterated, a second reduced to a burning hulk and a third suffered serious internal damage, losing three engines and three torpedo launchers. Only the 12cm lasers of the two Ludas managed to respond, causing more damage to the crippled alien battleship. Vice Admiral Zhao made it to a lifepod before the destruction of his flagship but was obviously not able to continue in command, which now devolved on to Vice Admiral Lu.
Admiral Lu ordered the Xian to fire on the crippled battleship while the Ludas and his two effective battlecruisers targeted the Agar destroyers, believing they would fire again before the battleships, although the recharge rate of the carronades was unknown. The crippled Manchu had lost all its weapons and was ordered to retreat at its best speed. One alien destroyer was overwhelmed and exploded and a second suffered significant damage. The battered battleship still survived but was barely moving and began to retreat toward the planetary system. Complete chaos reined as both sides began targeting the surviving enemy units without time to calculate the most effective pattern of fire. The destroyers of both sides exchanged fire, wreaking further havoc on the wounded alien destroyer and removing the shields from the third alien destroyer and one of the Ludas. The crippled Agar destroyer turned to run at a meagre 1600 km/s while the other held its ground alongside the two undamaged battleships. The Ludas switched their fire to the undamaged Agar DD and gutted it with their lasers, leaving it motionless and out of the fight, while Xian targeted a battleship, dropping its shields to forty percent. Simultaneous return fire from the carronades of the battleships destroyed a damaged Manchu and blasted the shields of the only undamaged battlecruiser down to twenty percent.
The combat effective Manchurian force now comprised one undamaged Manchu with twenty percent shields, a Xian with seventy-five percent shields, an undamaged Luda and a shieldless Luda that had lost one engine. The alien fleet comprised two undamaged battleships, one of which was at forty percent shields. A crippled Manchu was retreating toward the jump point while a crippled battleship and two crippled destroyers retreated toward the Imperium?s planetary system. None of the cripples appeared to have any combat capability.
With their five second recharge time, the two Luda class destroyers kept up their ceaseless attack, knocking down the shields of the second battleship and causing minor internal damage. Even as they fired, twenty-four fusion torpedoes streaked out of their tubes on the two battleships, ripping into the intact Manchu and the surviving Xian class cruiser. Both ships suffered heavy damage, with the Manchu losing half its engines and four out of seven fusion torpedo launchers and the Xian being reduced to one triple 15cm turret and taking a critical hit to her Area Fire Control system, rendering her combat ineffective. Admiral Lu ordered the Xian to withdraw as the Ludas fired again, accompanied by three torpedoes from the Manchu. Explosions ripped through the damaged battleship and it began to withdraw, leaving the sole intact Agar ship to stand against our surviving ships.
With only one battleship left in the fight, the Ludas changed target and their fast-firing lasers started to chew through its shields, reducing them from strength-80 to strength-36 within a few seconds. As its shield strength fell, the battleship responded with a volley of carronades that blew the damaged Manchu apart and wrecked the weapons of the shieldless Luda, leaving just one destroyer to face the huge alien warship. The destroyer had time to fired two defiant salvos, taking down the battleship?s shields, before being annihilated by a volley of twelve fusion torpedoes.
Several of our crippled ships were running for the jump point but the remaining battleship had fully intact engines and it quickly ran down every ship and destroyed them without mercy. Vice Admiral Lu was killed during the destruction of ship and although Vice Admiral Zhao and Rear Admiral Zheng made it to the life pods, they will only last fourteen days unless they are rescued. The Agar Imperium lost only one destroyer in the battle, although a second was dead in space and it is possible she had to be scuttled. All three battleships survived, two of which suffered crippling damage. My own ship was obviously too far away to pick up any sensor readings after the last Manchurian ship was destroyed, but it seems reasonable to assume the aliens retreated to their base to repair the damage to their ships. On the orders of Vice Admiral Zhao, I immediately set course to New Beijing to report the battle.
Captain Lin Meng Lin