ACTION REPORT MEMORANDUM #6Date:14 July, 2135
Provided by:Commodore Alfredo Tinnel, Sol Defense Fleet & CVL-02 FNV Yamato
In Re:Fleet Contact with “Perkeleet” Aliens in Sol; Vesta environs
Per Request:Terran Federation Security Command & Terran Federation Space Command Board of Directors-Admiral
BACKGROUND: Contact was first made with HFE#618 in Epsilon Eridani system on 8th January, during routine geological survey activities by SS-06 FSV John Rolff, a Van Allen-class survey vessel, under the command of Cdr. Alma Spenst. The emission was tracked as a level 195 Thermal Emission by its THS100-12 passive thermal sensors with an inbound velocity of 5,622 kps. For the first time ever, instruments aboard a Terran Vessel had recorded confirmed contact with an object of unnatural origin. Unfortunately, as stated in Action Report Memorandum #1, the ship was lost and 37 of its 175 crew were killed. One of the survivors, a Finnish Midshipman, coined the aliens “Perkeleet”; or Devils.
Since that time, a further three contacts (see ARM#2-5) have been made with the Perkeleet, all hostile. The aliens refuse to communicate and attempted diplomacy has been meaningless. Tactical analysis of these incidents have revealed ample information about the psychology of these beings and the capabilities of their small but powerful craft. At the Battle of E. Eridani (ARM#4) on 6th March, an under-strength Federation Security response contingent of Ajax-class missile destroyers was able to leverage our highly maneuverable Angel scout fighter to distract the ship while the four missile-armed destroyers surrounded and closed to weapons range. On 5th July, the Reconnaissance Bouy left behind by that contingent was destroyed by a new Perkeleet craft of the same make, now known as the Ajonpaa-class Strike Craft. Following this incident, all Security Command fleet elements were placed on Alert Readiness Level Yellow, with Perkeleet forces now continuously appearing to pose a consistent threat to Federation Space Command and civilian operations.
INCIDENT REPORT:On 11th July at 0930h GST, Federation Space Command Local Signals Intelligence System #07 at Shackleton Base detected a thermal signal with an exact match to the Ajonpaa-class Strike Craft (Ajonpaa-03) inbound toward Terra at its full speed of 5,622 kps from the outer Asteroid belt in roughly the direction of Pluto. SigInt informed Sol Defense Fleet immediately of the hostile craft and provided SDF command with all relevant data via cybernetic uplink. Missile destroyers, having displayed success and versatility against the craft on their own, were immediately dispatched to defend civilian settlements at Mars. Corporate and automated settlements at Jupiter and Saturn orbit were told to maintain Alert Readiness Level Red and refinery operations were put on hold. All civilian and noncombat ships, as well as the four Akagi-class Carriers, were ordered to take up defensive positions behind the eleven operational Alden-class Destroyers. By 0932h GST Akagi scout craft Angel-05 “Akagi’s Eye” was outbound to the hostile’s vector with an order to make contact and trail the hostile at 300,000 km; this strategy had been shown to be safe and effective in the past (see ARM#3&4). Strikegroups Yamato and Akagi followed thirty minutes later (each comprised of 20 x FH-1 Arrow Heavy Fighters), with strikegroups Mutusuki and Watasuki (same composition) held at combat ready on deck in reserve.
The Perkeleet ship turns tail as Akagi and Yamato strikegroups close in.Despite a brief loss of contact at 1215h, telemetry on the Ajonpaa-03 was fairly consistent and Angel-05 made passive sensor contact at 1450h. At this time, as predicted, Ajonpaa-03 shifted course to make contact with the Angel scout craft, which nonetheless continued on a direct heading with orders to maintain position outside the strike craft’s weapons range and bait it towards the two squadrons. At 1530h, Strikegroups Yamato and Akagi made sensor contact with the hostile strike craft. Ajonpaa-03 then predictably made a 165 degree turn and began to flee in the rough direction of Vesta.
Strikegroups Akagi and Yamato enter weapons range of the Perkeleet shipAll Fighter Task Force elements were instructed to maintain orders and pursue Ajonpaa-03 past fuel return limitations if need be, with the expectation that the fighters would overtake and overwhelm the strike craft and that secure recovery could be provided. By 1700h the Heavy Fighter strikegroups had passed the sole Angel scout craft, which had slowed to maintain its 300,000km follow radius. At 1720h plus 30, the Ajonpaa-03 made weapons contact with the Akagi strikegroup, scoring a single strength 1 hit from its railgun at 134,000 km. The Heavy Fighter strikegroups were ordered to brace for damage and continued to overtake the Perkeleet strikecraft, which began to fire its quadruple railgun at 15 second increments.
Damaged fighters trail the Scout Craft as the fighter squadrons endure the alien ship's fire.Its second shot missed, but over the next minute and twenty seconds Ajonpaa-03 was able to able to score nine consistent, low damage hits against the FH-1 Arrow heavy fighters at 6410 kps. Arrow-001, -002, and -003 of Strikegroup Akagi were each disabled within two to four hits. All Strikegroup and Scout Craft elements were ordered to maintain current orders and brace for casualties and open fire at point-blank range.
By 1722h plus 25, the two Strikegroups had entered within 40,300 km of the enemy strikecraft Ajonpaa-03. At this threshold, damage increased considerably with three or four rather than one railgun shots consistently hitting the Arrow Heavy Fighters. The lightly armored fighters were no longer able to survive hits from the railgun, and one fighter was lost to enemy fire every 15 seconds from this point forward. Five fighters were destroyed, with an average crew survival rate of 12.3%. In total, Ajonpaa-3 dealt a total of 28 damage.
A trail of wrecked fighters in the wake of the beleaguered Akagi and Yamato strikegroups as the Scout Fighter keeps a cautious distance.At 1723h plus 25, Strikegroups Akagi and Yamato made simultaneous weapons contact with Ajonpaa-03 at point-blank range. As the enemy strikecraft was still recharging its railgun, the vessel was unable to return fire. Arrow-09 through -035 scored 70 hits of 1 damage each, with 57% penetration and 64.8% accuracy. At this point, the Perkeleet vessel suffered catastrophic decompression and broke apart. Strikegroup Alpha and all damaged but motile fighters were recalled to hangar, while Strikegroup Yamato and Angel-05 “Akagi’s Eye” remained behind to rescue survivors and ensure no other hostiles were present in the combat area. 24 hours later they were ordered to return to their carriers as well.
The Perkeleet ship is torn apart by fire from the Terran Fighters' railguns.TACTICAL ANALYSISObservations regarding Perkeleet tactics continue to shed light on their peculiar psychology given their total silence to diplomatic overtures. Notably, Ajonpaa-03 was seen to favor retargeting disabled vessels, hitting Arrow-03 at 52,000 km and again at 134,000 km when other craft may have provided a more prudent firing solution. This opens the further possibility of baiting the Perkeleet into a fleet with a wounded bird as being as effective as or more effective than doing so with an unarmed scout craft.
One Arrow-01 was lost within the Arrow fighters’ maximum weapons range. Judging by the low damage of the fighter railguns and the 67% accuracy at point blank range due to enemy jamming and other factors, it is determined that opening fire at maximum range would have had a marginal effect at best. Future Arrow strikegroup commanders should consider giving the order to fire immediately before point blank range, preferably within 4000 km, taking into account enemy weapons' recharge patterns. Fire by the FH-1 Arrow against the Ajonpaa class strike craft is judged to be ineffective based on the evidence.
Considering that Ajonpaa-03 was able to inflict only 28 points of damage between weapons contact at 143000km and point blank range with considerable accuracy, it is deemed inadvisable to attack Ajonpaa class strikecraft with Fighter craft. An agile scout such as the Angel has been shown to easily maintain position just outside firing range and confound the Perkeleet attempts to attack the unarmed target as ship-of-the-line vessels such as Missile Destroyers maneuver around and trap the vessel. This maneuver was successfully demonstrated at the Battle of E. Eridani by the meritorious actions of Cpt. Unruh and the Bombardment Squadron.
Of 32 Fighters that made it to point blank range, 24 (60%) of them were required to fire in order to destroy the ship. This would imply that our fighters are only just on the margins of capability to defeat this type of enemy in the given strikegroup configurations. Dispatch of two strikegroups for each Ajonpaa-class seems correct and in order.
OFFICER RECCOMMENDATIONSFirstly, it should be noted that exactly two carrier strikegroups were required to take out a single Ajonpaa vessel at point blank range. Dispatching one Arrow strike group to attack a single Ajonpaa-class vessel is likely insufficient considering it could take upwards of 50% casualties en route and possibly even more at close range. While victory could be achieved, the estimated success of such an attack would be about 33% the casualties involved would be pyrrhic for our carrier forces. As such it is imperative that even in the (hopefully remote) event of a simultaneous incursion our strikegroups perform a massed assault of more than one at a time.
A more prudent future strategy for SDF as it exists today would be to hold Fighter strikegroups in reserve and attack with Destroyers. These vessels are fast enough to overtake the Strike Craft, their powerful 15 cm lasers are able to inflict more damage at range, and their heavy armor will minimize fleet casualties.
I also recommend that Security Command consider dispatching DDG-06 FNV Spence with a complement of at least 30 missiles even while on Recon Buoy Deployment missions. With our newfound status as an interstellar species, we cannot allow these Perkeleet “raiders” to take us unaware at any time. Any ship that can be armed, should be (in my humble opinion).
While an attack on Terra is indeed worrying, and the method by which the Perkeleet have evaded our sensors is unknown, it should be noted that apparently the SDF is currently equipped to deal with up to four separate incursions by these vessels at once. Although I leave the strategic decisions to those more informed than myself, it is my personal opinion that our focus must be on individual vessel speed and survivability. Additionally, I have three further recommendations regarding future avenues for development:
1) A Strike Craft or Corvette type system defense craft which is capable of 6000-7000 kps sustained for at least 24h, which can be deployed in numbers from Terra so that our eleven Destroyers and five (or six if we are counting a combat outfitting for Spence) may be able to render assistance to our new colony on A. Centauri II.
2) I second Cpt. Unruh’s suggestion for enlargement of our Missile-grade Active Sensors such that strike-craft type vessels can be targeted from further away, and hope these sensors can be fitted to our other ship-of-the-line vessels as well.
3) Any further miniaturization improvements to our Fighter craft, especially such that crew size can be minimized. I understand the machinery of these highly advanced craft is difficult to maintain, but the idea of losing 13 crew with each fighter is as unbearable to me as an Officer as it is to me as a feeling human being; and I’m sure our naval academies feel the same about the potential stress on their recruiting rolls.
Space Command and the Board of Executives once again has my deepest gratitude for offering us this space to make recommendations and I look forward to being part of a continually improving Space Command. We are the best Terran society has to offer; even if nothing changes in ten years I could not be more proud to fly with such a dedicated, intelligent, and courageous group of people from the Star-Marshal himself to the lowliest Ensign.
MERITORIOUS CONDUCTThe bravery of our Fighter flight crews are to be commended with the highest esteem. While I was grateful to receive a promotion to Commodore, it is their courage and heroism that won the day. I cannot say for certain any individual pilot conducted themselves above and beyond the rest; but given the “visions” myself, Cpt. Unruh, and others in Security and the broader Space Command organization experienced during the time distortion event prior to the Battle at Eridani it is obvious that thousands of lives were saved by their bravery. We bridge commanders owe all our victories to our crewmen and officer corps. Therefore, in addition to the obvious participation ribbons, I only request that Space Command board of Directors-Admiral, the Terran Federation Board of Executives, and our Elected Officials honor the brave pilots of Akagi and Yamato squadrons by taking into account my above recommendations, presented with utmost thought and humility, in future planning for TF Space Security Command.
handwritten note image attached to file:
congrats on making Admiral, Cleo!
i’m going to check in on Alma at the psych
ward as soon as I can get away from all
this press. will you come? she needs to
know she didn’t let us down, it’ll mean a lot
to her. ~Alfie
