2nd Alpha Centauri Campaign
26th April 2038
A new contact of the Commonwealth of Bigdish is detected in Barnards Star, one jump from Earth. Commonwealth ships have now been detected in Barnards Star, Ross 154 and Alpha Centauri. Both the Federal Council and Fleet Admiralty are extremely concerned by this development. The only known jump point in Barnards Star is the one leading to Sol, while Alpha Centauri and Ross 154 are also only connected by Sol under current astrogation knowledge. The possible implications of this are extremely concerning and with the impending offensive this comes at an extremely bad time. Either there are undetected jump points all throughout known space or Commonwealth ships have been able to pass through Sol undetected for some time.
Thankfully the Commonwealth seems to be peaceful but the fighting in Alpha Centauri shows they have a strong military which, by the number of wrecks alone, outnumbers Fleet. Even more worrying is that almost a dozen of the wrecks are shown to be of 12900tons – almost 400tons heavier than the Fleets main combat unit. The only silver lining appears to be both the numbers in which they have been destroyed and the slow speed of those active vessels currently detected, showing the Earth may still have a technological advantage.
The Federal Council decides that Fleets priority is two-fold – firstly the planned offensive into Alpha Centauri, the planning and preparation of which has taken almost 10 years, must go ahead. The colonisable worlds in Alpha Centauri must be secured for humanity to provide both room for expansion and as a defensive buffer for Sol and the preponderance of wrecks in the system is a veritable smorgasbord of intel if the Fleet can salvage them. The second objective for the Fleet is to again begin upgrading its capabilities. A new, heavier main fleet combatant must be designed and a second series of cruiser hulls must be laid down. In addition once the campaign into Alpha Centauri has been completed the existing fleet units must be upgraded to modern standards to maintain Earth’s apparent technological advantage.
9th July 2038
The Fleet transits into Alpha Centauri and begins its sweep of the A-component.
11th July 2038
A new hostile contact is detected in Alpha Centauri at a range of 400mkm, a 6650ton ‘Ilmatar’ travelling at 7517kps. The ‘Ilmatar’ is a new class for the Centauri and was not detected on previous excursions into Alpha Centauri or Ross 154. At 1750 2 more Centauri vessels are detected on approach. Both are Loviatar-class vessels previously seen in 2028. The Fleet changes course to keep the oncoming alien vessels at a range of 45mkm.
By 0246 the range has dropped to 50mkm. Both Nelson-Class CA’s lock-on to the Ilmatar and open fire with their ASM-N5-StarburstB’s. Due to the Nelson-Class have a fire control range of over 100mkm they are able to engage the Centauri vessel at the maximum range of the missile. Both cruisers launch 6 volleys of 6 missiles and then cease fire. The effects of the first 72 missiles will be assessed before launching more.
A flight of 7 size-3 missiles are detected at 1. 8mkm and the 4 Resolution Mod1 destroyers begin launching AMM’s. Worryingly the incoming missiles have a speed of 43895kps against the AMM’s top speed of 36000kps. Even so the first wave of AMM’s are able to completely destroy the incoming missiles. Unfortunately only 3 missiles of the 2nd wave are intercepted, but destroyed by the 3rd wave of AMM’s. Disaster then strikes when 2 volleys of AMM’s completely miss the 3rd incoming wave. The AMM’s attempt to chase the incoming missiles but fall behind due to the incoming missiles higher speed and run out of fuel. All 7 missiles breach the point-defence of the fleet and strike the second Churchill-Class jump cruiser whose armour is almost breached but prevents any internal damage. Fortunately after 5 volleys the incoming missiles cease and no more hits are suffered.
At 0309 the first volley of 12 StarburstB’s reach the Ilmatar and 8 intercept. The second volley of 12 missiles also scored 8 hits and reduce the thermal signature from 1000 to 875. The third and fourth volleys see the vessels speed drop down to 3759kps, indicating severe internal damage. The lower speed allows all 12 missiles of the 5th volley to intercept dropping its speed to 1879kps and deactivating the vessels active sensor. The 6th volley proves to be enough the Ilmatar is smashed to wreckage.
Next both Nelson-class Cruisers target the approaching Loviatars. Despite the enemy ECM they are able to target them at 50mkm and again launch 6 salvos at each target and destroy both. Neither Loviatar class launches any missiles, confirming earlier suspicions that they may be armed with only short range weapons. A fleet collier is dispatched from Sol to reload the fleets magazines.
22nd July 2038
Performing a sweep of the A-component of Alpha Centauri the Fleet detects strength-10 thermal contact on A-IV.
5th August 2038
The fleet completes a full sweep of Alpha Centauri and encounters no further contacts. The fleet heads back to A-IV and takes position in orbit over the ground contact while the 1st Survey Group and the salvage group are deployed to Alpha Centuari.
8th October 2038
The resurvey of Barnards Star by the 2nd Survey Group is completed, with no new jump points discovered. Meanwhile in Alpha Centauri the salvage operations continue. The 49th Brigade is deployed to A-IV and recovers 3 tracking stations.
20th October 2038
Recovery of wrecks assumed to be as-yet-unseen Commonwealth warships in the 12900ton range reveal infrared lasers, pebble bed reactors and nuclear pulse engines – all currently 2 generations behind Earth. The initial assumption that the Commonwealth is behind the Terran Federation in terms of technology seems to be proven out.
5th December 2038
Fleet transports infrastructure for a colony on planets A-I and A-IV in Alpha Centauri. Meanwhile the Destroyer and FAC groups are sent back to Sol for resupply and refuelling. The cruiser group remains on guard in Alpha Centauri along with both Survey Groups.
1st February 2039
Research into Active Grav Sensor Strength 28 is completed, putting any new sensors designed on par with Centauri models. Research is begun into improving planetary tracking sensor strength while more stations are built for Sol and Alpha Centauri.
5th February 2039
As expected salvaging discovers evidence of geological survey sensors are discovered on Houjian wrecks
24th February 2039
The gravitational survey of Alpha Centauri is completed, revealing 6 jump points. The survey groups will now focus on geological surveys of the A and B components.
7th May 2039
A Commonwealth Houjian-class geosurvey vessel is discovered in Sol by planetary tracking stations. Fleet Command is increasingly concerned about the penetration of Commonwealth units throughout Terran space as they now have units in nearly every system with a Federal presence. The Federal Council however is blasé about any possible threat, citing the Fleets success against Centauri forces in the last 2 engagements and the apparent technological advantage the Federation possesses. For the time being they are content to allow Commonwealth forces free passage so long as they do not deploy in any large numbers and do not activate any active sensors in Federation systems.
17 August 2039
Salvage operations in Alpha Centauri are completed. 30 wrecks have been recovered, the majority appearing to belong to the Commonwealth. Even so several advanced engines, lasers and sensor arrays have been recovered from Centauri vessels, the disassembly of which will provide a boost to Terran research efforts. The Commonwealth technology recovered meanwhile will be scrapped for minerals and wealth. In all three Centauri outposts were secured and Terran ground forces have secured 8 deep space tracking stations.
