Destruction of the Alpha Battle Group
Original Air date: August 7, 2171
Channel: Galaxy History Channel (GHC)
Narrated by: AlexDonavon, Cmdr RAF, retired.
Ten years ago today the battle of the Bravo Tango Nebula occurred. The last RAF ship, the RAF Storm, engaged the Earth Force Battle Group with the designation ALPHA. The battle group in question was the spearhead of the Earth's fleet. It had the most advanced and powerful ships the Earth Force could muster. At its head was the Battleship, Zeus.
The battleship Zeus was twelve kilometers of armored death. It's armaments included the following:
Seven batteries of 800 meter particle beam cannons, effective range one hundred kilometers in space. Each one with the destructive power of a 300 megaton nuclear device.
Forty long range missile launchers. These missiles are capable of wiping out several city blocks in an instant. Typical payload: Anti-matter or nuclear warheads.
Three hundred medium range micro-wave laser turrets, effective range, fifty klicks.
One hundred phalanx automatic anti-aircraft guns. These guns turned the area around the Zeus into a veritable fence of lasers.
A compliment of twelve hundred variable dynamic fighters. Each with its own arsenal.
Defensively, the Zeus used standard Earth Force Armor, an Alloy of Titanium and Element Theta. The typical laser resistant coating that would deflect all but the heaviest laser fire. And a charge deflection screen used to deflect the brunt of Particle weapons fire. The phalanx screen was relied on to destroy missiles before they could intersect the ship's hull. Should any weapons fire make it through these defenses it would have to deal with the advanced defenses the Zeus's buffered, baffled and layered armor which measured twenty feet wide, was relied on to stop any damage breaching the internal hull.
The Zeus was powered by Sixteen 20000 Gigawatt anti-matter generators. To put his in perspective, her power system could power the entire planet of New Tirol fifteen times over and still have juice to spare.
Her FTL propulsion was a massive jump drive, one of the biggest ever constructed.
Her main propulsion consisted of six super-massive ion-torch thrusters. These could propel the massive Zeus to very high sub-light speeds, it was said she could travel from the Earth to Sol and back again in less then a week under full power.
The Alpha Battle Group also included four carriers, two super carriers, eight destroyers, four cruisers.
In command of the Alpha Battle Group, from the bridge of the Zeus, was Admiral Samuel Abraham Washington, veteran of the Forty System war, Battle for Tirol, Opreta, Praxis, Orion, the 2157 Alien uprisings, the 2159 Purge, and finally, the first battle he fought against the RAF, the battle of Icini 2. Human Descent.
One ship against a fleet, all that experience and that monster of a battleship? The battle of David vs. Goliath comes to mind. The Storm had a few technological advantages over the Earth Force ships that evened the odds.
The RAF battle group consisted of the RAF Storm, a highly advanced, experimental battle cruiser. Her armaments were as follows:
Her main cannon, a Graviton beam, in effect was a massive cutting torch that would shift the molecules of its target into and out of relatively massive gravity wells. Literally forcing the focus of the beam to tear itself to pieces molecule by molecule. Range, one hundred kilometers.
Her secondary weapons systems consisted of ten pulse turrets, based on an Invid design. These vicious rapid fire weapons fired super heated balls of quantum energy. Effective range, two hundred kilometers.
Storm was also equipped with anti-aircraft weaponry, in the form if micro-pulse turrets. There were twenty of these nestled through the ship's hull. Each capable of delivering a devastating barrage of fire at any fighter, or missile that could breach the Storm's fighter cover.
Finally the Storms hull bristled with missile launchers. Typical armaments included thermal anti-matter weapons. Not truly a thermal weapon, these missiles would do an admixture of highly energetic matter with highly energetic anti-matter. The resulting detonation was twice as powerful as a standard yield anti-matter device of the same size.
Her fighter compliment, was down to fifty from two hundred. Most of the fighters and pilots lost in the battle of Icini 2.
The Storm's defensive systems and armor were impressive for a ship her size. Again drawing upon the knowledge of their Invid and Robotech Master ally's the RAF Storm's hull had an organic composition. It was grown over an energy absorbing weave. The organic hull was in effect an organism in its own right this meant it could learn and adapt. So the more you fired a weapon at it the better it could defend itself against future attacks. Combine this with fact it is twice as hard as the best Earth Force had to offer, you have an almost impenetrable shell. The energy weave the hull was grown on was able to able to absorb energy that was fired at it. In effect as an enemy fires weaponry at the Storm, they are in fact powering her capacitors. The ship's main power core could also produce what is now called a Gravity enhancing field, this field slows projectiles and energy passing over its area, in effect refracting much of the energy. If the field was up the Graviton cannon could not fire however and no missile or fighter launches were possible. Externally to that the ship also possessed a full energy shield that could stop all incoming attacks until the shield capacitors were dissipated.
To power the Storm's weapon systems, systems, drives, and FTL drives, she was given three different reactors. A protoculture based reactor, was responsible for powering the fold drive, main computer, and the sustaining the ship's hull. A conventional Anti-matter generator was used to power her shields, pulse cannons and other basic systems. The last system the Graviton Core will take a little more explanation here. Imagine taking a black hole, making it very very very tiny, then putting it in suspension, then using it to power a ship. The Graviton core, was named by its inventor, Captain Janice Sang, she called the energy produced by it Graviton energy. This energy was used to produce energy for the graviton shield, graviton beam weapon, and also provided propulsion for the Storm. Any one of these systems could power the basic systems of the ship.
Her FTL drives, yes drives, she had two, consisted of an experimental fold drive, designed to make travel faster, safer, and more efficient, much smaller than older versions. Her secondary FTL drive was a Jump drive, which didn't require the protoculture reactor to power it.
Her sub-light engines, well didn't exist. She had no thrusters. The graviton core she housed could be used to create a field around the ship propelling it forward at close to the speed of light if required. In effect the ship created a gravity tunnel and was pulled through it at high speed. Hard to imagine? I know, but Captain Sang told me to imagine it like a straw that the ship was sucked through. So in effect the ship had no real stern or aft, she could travel in any direction. This drive was so effective it could be used anywhere. If the ships logs are to be believed she even managed to escape the event horizon of a black hole once. The ship of itself of course was streamlined for less friction in atmosphere, and underwater. Yes you heard me, this ship could travel through water like she traveled through space.
Another note to make here, is the RAF's standard design philosophy, every RAF ship, and fighter built was equipped with its own sentient Artificial Intelligence. Yes, every one of our vehicles is self-aware. The ship's AI was named Ariel. She was transplanted from the REF Falcon, a casualty near the end of the Forty System war. She saw battle on several fronts against Invid, rogue Zendrati, and other savage races. These AI's are the reason the Earth Force could never capture an intact, ship or fighter.
Finally, and to me this is the most amazing feature the hull could camouflage itself, not turn invisible mind you, but much like the skin of a chameleon her organic skin could adapt itself to its surroundings. Combining this with the lack of thrusters, her heat and EM signature could melt into the background of space. Running quiet, she could be virtually undetectable by sensors, and damn hard to spot with the naked eye.
In command of the RAF Storm, Lt Cmdr Sarah Hunter. RAF Intelligence officer attached to the 202nd flight wing, the Fallen Angels. Callsign: Princess. Veteran of the battle for Icini 2, and several small skirmishes with Earth Force ships. Half-Zentdrati, great-great-granddaughter of the great Rick and Lisa Hunter.
The following Reenactment was developed through interviews with surviving crew, and ships logs recovered from both sides of the battle.
Sarah's tall shapely form stood at the command post her nimble fingers dancing through the holographic controls. She wore her purple hair in a ponytail. Her emerald eyes reflected the controls that floated in front of her.
"Ariel, you're sure all systems are green?" Sarah double checked the readings herself.
"I assure you Captain all my systems are functioning within normal parameters." Ariel, the ships holographic AI stood behind Sarah. Ariel was about five foot six, and chose an avatar that wore an RAF commander's uniform. Her hair cropped short in a red bob cut.
"You said that last time, and we blew six power couplings when we jumped to hyperspace." Sarah glanced at Ariel.
"Mistakes are bound to happen when you rebuild a ship in the middle of a temporal distortion field, Ma'am." Ariel sounded the slightest bit hurt, Sarah grimaced, it always amazed her how these artificial constructs could show so much real emotion.
"Mistakes?" Sarah grumbled under her breath, then looked to her command crew. "Thompson, bring the power cores on line, start with the Graviton core, and this time, bring it up slowly, and for the love of the ancients, make sure you get the containment field's polarity right this time." Sarah turned to Ariel. "Do you realize I just ordered them to make a black hole in the center of my ship, do you know how insane that sounds?"
"No more insane then teleporting a ship thousands of parsecs at a time, Ma'am." Ariel folded her hands behind her back.
"Aye ma'am, powering Graviton Core." Sarah felt the ship start to shudder, she grabbed onto her command console. The ship calmed down shortly thereafter. And a few minutes later, Thompson nodded to her.
"Ariel, are we green to start weapon tests?" Sarah tapped through her holographic display bringing up a schematic of the ships power systems.
"I would advise against it, Ma'am, I'm picking up a battle group of Ships, IFF indicator shows them to be Earth Force." Ariel pointed and brought up a display.
"Thompson switch on the EM suppression systems." The Ensign tapped at his console in response.
"Aye, Stealth mode engaged, Ma'am." The Ensign went back to reading the power displays.
"How many, and did they see us?" Sarah looked to Ariel.
"They are maneuvering to intercept, our location, they must have read the power signatures as our cores started up. There are 19 ships in the battle group. I've matched all 19 to designs recorded by Captain Sang. One Battleship, four carriers, two super carriers, eight destroyers, four cruisers. Sgt. Miers has intercepted communications between the ships. According to those intercepted comms, the Battleship is the Earth's Flag ship: Zeus. And that would make this Battle Group Alpha, it led the fleet that attacked Tirol." Ariel brought up an image of the massive black battleship. "One of those ships was involved in the battle at Icini 2 as well, according to our database recognition."
" Move us into the atmosphere of the gas giant, Rosolov. Thompson, check weapon status, charge capacitors, ready shields on my mark." Sarah's gaze grew steely.
"Ma'am, what are you doing? You just finished fixing me, you can't possibly be thinking of engaging a full Earth battle group...right?" Ariel's voice was almost a squeak by the end.
"That's exactly what I'm going to do, last time they ambushed us, Tirol had no defenses up, and when they attacked us at Icini 2, neither did we, time to show these Earthlings we mean business." Sarah smiled, she punched the key on her holographic console. "The Earthlings thought they could get away with attacking us when we had our pants down, they thought they could wipe us all out and they wouldn't face any retaliation, twenty thousand kilometers from here there is a battle group of Earth Force ships, at its head is the Flagship of the Earth fleet. The Zeus, we're going to destroy her. Her smoldering wreckage will be a sign that nothing they hold dear is safe. That we can strike at will, when and where we please. This is when the RAF strikes back. Man your Battle Stations, all pilots report to your fighters. May the ancients have mercy on their souls, for we shall show them none." Sarah finished her battle prayer, and leaned back from her console.
"Ma'am, we haven't even tested our weapons, or shields, we don't even know if they'll turn on for certain." Ariel folded her hands behind her back and began to pace.
"You we're green to go, if you've changed your mind tell me now. I mean, if what you're saying is that your scans and repairs that you had done are flawed, I'd like to know. It's alright, I can't expect you to perform well after all the decades you've been in service..." Sarah reached her hand out to cancel the Battle Stations alert.
"No, of course my scans are perfect, how dare you say...I...I am functioning perfectly, there are no errors in my code, nor is my ship flawed in any way!" Ariel was shaking with anger.
"Then there should be no problems right?" Sarah smirked. "Thompson when they get in range, wait until they lower their deflectors to launch fighters then blast the two super carriers with the pulse cannons. Hit those four ships in formation with the Graviton Cannon. Attack pattern Hunter-Theta-4 for the missiles, target the carriers, high yield. Do not target the Zeus, I want the good Admiral to know what hits him." Sarah pressed a key and her command chair came out of the deck she leaned back in it, waiting for the fireworks to start.
Meanwhile on board the Zeus...
Admiral Washington sipped his coffee as he surveyed the bridge of his flag ship. She was a marvel of technology, just retrofitted with modernized weapons, deflectors and all new computer systems.
"Sir, I just had some peculiar energy readings from Bravo Tango six." Ensign Simons, a new recruit piped up, his voice quivering.
"What makes them so peculiar son?" Admiral Washington put down his coffee mug and walked over to the sensor station, folding his hands behind his back.
"Well sir, it, well seemed to be a gravity well forming, then it vanished, then it looked like an Invid power grid, then it's gone, but that's imposable, we wiped all the Invid out.", the young Ensigns hands shake as they punched in commands at the science console.
"Hmm, and they're gone now? Did you get anything on your long range optical scanners?" Admiral Washington stroked his graying beard.
"Yes I...well yes they're gone, if they even existed in the first place, and no, we didn't show anything on our optics, Sir." Simons, sunk into his chair as the Admiral gave him a withering glance.
"Boy, you either saw something, or you didn't, my coffee is getting cold, so which is it?" Admiral Washington glared at Simons. Simons swallowed hard.
"I saw something, sir." Simons nodded
"Very well then." Admiral Washington walked back to his command chair and sat down, nursing his coffee. "Comms notify the fleet, Yellow Alert, Helm full ahead, put us in orbit at Bravo Tango six. Bring us in slowly."
The crew made ready to implement the admiral's orders. Yellow Alert on an Earth Force vessel indicated charge weapons, power deflector screens and put fighters on alert.
"Sir, nothing on scanners, standard gas giant." Simons shook his head.
"Well let's make sure, Deck Commanders launch your alert fighters. Maintain Yellow Readiness." Admiral Washington stroked his beard and leaned forward from the command chair.
"Ma'am they're lowering their fields to launch fighters." Thompson looked up from his console.
"Let's hope you're ready for this." Sarah looked at Ariel, then to her bridge crew. "Time to bring a reckoning, Launch fighters, weapons free engage at will. Open fire gunners." She stood at her command console, the ships bridge was designed so the commander stood during battle.
The RAF Storm lifted out of the upper layer of green clouds of Bravo Tango Six. Majestic as she was deadly. Flashes of violent energy erupted from her, and the missile trails parted. They tore into the hulls of the Zeus's escort. Tearing through superstructure and rending its crew. Their deaths were violent and quick. Within seconds of the battle beginning twelve of the Earth ships blossomed into fireballs, leaving only wreckage behind, twenty thousand men and women gone in a flash. Two of them the Super Carriers, their fighter compliments destroyed with their ships, or shortly thereafter when the carrier's antimatter cores detonated.
"What the hell is that?" Admiral Washington's coffee lay spilled as the Zeus was buffeted by the chain reaction of the fleet's cores. "Damage report!"
"Minor damage, no direct hits by the enemy." Simons scanned his displays. "I still can't get a lock on the enemy ship sir"
"There." Admiral Washington pointed at the view screen. "It just flickered when it fired."
"Sir, we've lost over half the fleet and the rest are reporting heavy casualties and damage. Whoever it is could have taken us out, why didn't they?" Simons looked down at what had to be the worst case scenario he'd ever seen in a fleet action.
"Maybe our shields or hull are too strong for it to even get through with an ambush. Most of those are smaller weapons, I haven't seen any particle beams, just missiles, and they won't get through our defense barriers they waited until we launched fighters to attack. And Zeus never dropped her barriers." Admiral Washington stroked his beard. "Bring all weapons online we might not be able to see it but maybe we can smoke it out. Open fire with all batteries the minute you have a hint of visual conformation."
"Drop the stealth field." Sarah kept her eyes on Zeus.
"Ma'am?" Thompson looked at her like she was crazy. "We'll be sitting ducks!"
"I gave you an order corporal, follow it or step down from your post!" Sarah glared at him. Thompson swallowed hard and tap a spot on his console.
"Aye Ma'am, Stealth field disabled." Thompson reported. The bridge crew grew silent.
"Power the energy grid, Ready the graviton field, and deflector field. When the Zeus opens fire let the initial volley hit the hull. Then when she drops deflectors and launches missiles thinking we have no shields fire everything at it aim for the biggest weapons, then engines. Then put up all defensive barriers." Sarah swept the holographic display of Zeus I front of her and tapped targets out for her gunners.
"Sir, we can target the ship!" Simons almost yelled from his console.
"Hmm, their stealth may have been cancelled by the antimatter from the core breaches." Admiral Washington paused for a moment, the ship seemed familiar. The organic outline. "It's an RAF ship, I've seen it before. We'll sort it out later, fire all batteries, hold missile launches they may still have screens."
The energy weapons opened up as pin points of light and leaped from the Zeus towards the seeming vulnerable Storm. They impacted the Storm's hull violently shift her back towards the gas giants orbit.
"Several direct hits sir! They didn't even try to avoid them." Simons reported. "They don't seem to have any engine power. Maybe they're dead in space."
"We're not going to take any chances lower deflectors, launch missiles, fire the main particle beam cannons." Admiral Washington sat back in his chair and tugged on his jacket.
"Fire!" Sarah hollered to her bridge staff and the weapons systems lite up across the board. "FIRE!" Sarah said again ordering a second volley. "Raise defense screens! Evasive action don't let those particle beams hit us."
David and Goliath exchanged fire dueling at range. The Zeus slow and ponderous shook with the vicious strikes from the Storm. Pieces of hull and weapons floated away from her she has gaping holes near several of her weapon emplacements.
"Commander: Report!" the Admrial picked himself off the deck where he had been thrown from the violence of the Storms assault. Among the dead lay several of his bridge crew, wires still crackling with energy hung from the bulkheads.
"Reporting casualties on all decks, we've lost forward missile launchers and all particle beam cannons. Also long range communications are down. We still have full deflectors and nothing they've fired so far will get through those." Thompson reported from his still working console, one of the few.
"Get medical teams up here." The Admiral sat back down in his command chair. "Whoever it is caught us with our pants down, is the ship showing any damage from our attack."
"Negative sir, it seems like our initial volley charged their deflectors for them, their energy readings increased! And our second volley nothing hit she maneuvered out of the way." Thompson focused on his screen trying to ignore the screams of the dying around him. If they didn't do their jobs things could get much worse.
"Any damage to report?" Sarah glanced at Ariel.
"No ma'am, all systems reporting green. Two overloaded capacitors from the initial volley but redundant systems have taken their place." Ariel stood impassively with her hands folded behind her. There was quite the hint of pride in her voice.
"See Thompson? Now we have power for our deflectors and didn't cost us anything from our reserves. Engage stealth mode they got a look at us, but let's not make ourselves easy targets." Sarah searched the holographic display of the Zeus in front of her. "Ariel, if there is any logic to their ship design and it hasn't changed since we were briefed on their ships, that ship must need a massive amount of antimatter to power herself. And the stores would need to be close to their generators which I place here." She slid her finger along the hologram marking out several energy hotspots.
"Yes ma'am, they stored their antimatter in magnetic containment aft of the generators. Using the ships engines to power the containment." Ariel marked a spot on the hologram for Sarah.
"Thompson, bring the graviton cannon online and prepare to fire it on my mark." Sarah tapped the targeting grid for her gunners.
"Aye powering Graviton cannon." Thompson tapped a few commands into his console. "Power shunted and ready for your orders ma'am, but we'll lose stealth and graviton field if we fire it."
"That is fine. If we hit our target the Zeus is going to have far more to worry about then us. Besides the main cannon is the only thing that will get through her deflectors." Sarah looked to her comms officer, Ensign Phillips. "Phillips open a channel to the Zeus."
"We've lost the target again sir!" Simons tried to require targeting telemetry on the Storm to no avail.
"I see, they were toying with us. Do we have anything that will pierce a deflector left?" Admiral Washington stood up and began to pace.
"No sir, only anti-fighter weaponry left." Simons shook his head.
"Damn it what are they waiting for, they have us by our short and curlies!" The Admiral punch the arm rest of his chair.
"Sir, we have an incoming communication from the enemy ship." Simons looked up at the Admiral. He waved toward the view screen, which was cracked but by some miracle still working.
The Admiral was greeted by a bridge full of aliens that should have been on containment camps, or extinct. Their Captain was a woman known to him, she was one of the most wanted war criminals in the entire galaxy. For use of biological weapons on civilian populations, and wiping out an entire system with an artificial black hole. It was Commander Sarah Hunter.
"I should have known you didn't die in your ill-conceived attack on our fleet with your black hole device." The Admiral growled.
"You attacked us first, we were on a peaceful mission of exploration when YOUR fleet attacked us. The Renown survived I see, well her crew was punished for their unprovoked attack." Sarah folded her hands behind her back to conceal her burning rage. "Just the first of a series of murderous genocidal attacks ordered by your Emperor."
"How dare you!" Admiral Washington was glaring at the view screen. "That ship was responsible for the deaths of 1 billion colonists with biological weapons and you accuse us! And insult our glorious leader!"
"There were no biological attacks Admiral, lies and propaganda to start an unpopular war." Sarah glared right back at him. "But none of that matters now, your fleet is in tatters your ship might as well be an oversized weaponless garbage barge, I'm showing you the mercy you never gave my homeworld or my crew. Surrender and you will come to no further harm."
"Surrender! Preposterous. You have nothing that will get through our deflectors, and we can keep you in the gravity well until help arrives. It is YOU who should surrender, you will surely get the death penalty but your crew, will survive." The Admiral stroked his beard.
"My crew will survive in your containment camps until they become death camps. No, I think we'd all rather die than rely on the mercy of your Emperor. Last chance there must be what, 40000 people on that monstrosity? Are you willing to sacrifice all their lives for foolish pride?"
"They would gladly die in service to the Emperor, as would I, but today is not that day." The Admiral snorted.
"Have it your way. Good bye Admiral. Thompson fire the main gun." Sarah strolled back to her command position.
"She's crazy, you're crazy." The Admiral stared at her.
"Admiral, tell me, are your antimatter storage containers secure?" As Sarah finished her statement a beam of energy launched from the core of the Storm struck the Zeus aft of her reactors. The graviton beam tore through the deflectors and hull of the Zeus as if through butter. The armor tore itself to shreds and then so did the containment fields for the antimatter storage.
"Aban-." The Admiral's words were cut short as the antimatter contained in storage reacted with the matter around it and the Zeus blew up with a brilliant flash of light.
"Advise search and rescue to recover any enemy crewman, put them on whatever wreck can still support life, and send a tight beam communication to Earth advising them of their predicament, then get us out of here. Secure stations from Red Alert."
Of course word of this decisive defeat never reached the airwaves. The Zeus officially was a victim of substandard construction by a colony firm that built her antimatter storage, this took her fleet with her.