Trial by Fire: Babylon 5 A Call to Arms Battle Report
Kalora rubbed her temples as she finished reading the last of the avalanche of crew evaluations, readiness reports, damage reports, and many others. Her hand went reflexively to her new insignia marking her as an Executive Director. It meant she lost direct command of the Emissary, but her new quarters were 25 percent larger than her old ones, and she had been able to make a few changes to her management team.
Deputy Director Narik had been promoted to Director and given command of his own ship, it meant she would have to suffer the replacements aboard this ship. It was a small disruption though, and the Earth Alliance had been reticent to engage the Brakiri for the past few weeks.
She received a call from the bridge. 'Executive Director, we have just received a message from the Custodian. Message reads: Detected Earth Alliance and Pak'ma'ra ships closing on my position, estimate size of enemy force as twice my unit size. Am engaging. please confirm your ETA'
'Plot a rendevous course and get the squadron under way....' She responded
Story so far
The Brakiri Resha-Kar corporation discovered a brown dwarf star that had a small, but mineral rich, planetary system and staked a claim, naming it the Retaria system. After seeing off competing claims from the Earth Alliance and Pak'ma'ra, their plans to mine the asteroids in peace were disrupted by the Interstellar Alliance who determined that Retaria was under the gravitational influence of the Khilsiek star, and thus part of that system.
Fortunately for Resha-Kar, the system has a sapient species that is in the middle of a civil war and they elected to support one of the factions on condition that should they be victorious, they would grant Resha-Kar sole mining rights to Retaria.
As part of the agreement, Resha-Kar will provide weapons, technology and direct military support. This resulted in the annihilation of an Earth Force task group in the First Battle of Khilsiek and the capture of several Earth Ships.
With the first delivery of modern warships to Khilsiek imminent, Resha-Kar decides to secure one of the outermost Gas Giants as a base of operations for their allies. The small force that is sent is shadowed by an Earth Alliance patrol and tension starts to rise when a second force, this time Pak'ma'ra is also detected moving towards the Brakiri.
Mission
We decided to play 'On the back foot' This is a mission from Powers and Principalities and gives the attacker a large numerical advantage initially, and then allows the defender to bring on reinforcements later on into the game turning the tables on the attacker and giving them the numerical advantage.
It provides a host of problems for both sides to overcome and there is the possibility of both sides being defeated in detail at different points as the game progresses.
Brakir Sydicracy: Patrol Force
This is a tough scenario, and the only chance I have of winning is to be able to engage one of the 2 attacking forces and eliminating or degrading them sufficiently that the other force can't just roll straight over me. what is needed is ships that are fast and agile to get to grips with the enemy quickly. I also need to bear in mind that i will be facing Earth Alliance and Pak'ma'ra who have very different abilities. I could find myself being swarmed by fighters, and peppered with missiles and energy mines.
My force reflected this, I picked a Halik for the Escort and Anti-Fighter to ward off earth alliance, backed up by a pair of Haltonas with their beams. both EA and Pak'ma'ra have lots of interceptors so the effectiveness of Pulsars is degraded somewhat. Backing this up is a pair of Blitsi, a pair of Rakartas, and a Brikorta to provide fighters to support my capital ships acting as interceptors and hopefully taking the edge off any long range fire
1x Halik* Resha-Custodian
2xHaltona* Resha-Defender, Resha-Guardian
1x Brikorta, Resha-Carrier
2x Blitsi Resha-Lightning, Resha-Sprinter
2x Rakarta. Resha-Vigil, Resha-Watch
The Earth Alliance
The EA force has a lot of punch, and their ships are suitably fast. A pair of Hyperions and a pair of Artemis have a lot of firepower between them, and they are quite quick into the bargain. Beam weapons are no joke, and unlike the Brakiri versions, they aren't slow loading, so they will be effective every turn they are in range. A Pair of Hermes and an Oracle round out the fleet, and we agreed that the Oracles scout ability would apply to the Pak'ma'ra ships as well. They also sort of countered my Halik by not having very much in the way of fighter support, so the Escort ship will be far less effective than if there was a swarm of them.
2x Hyperion, EAS Taranis, EAS Ra
2x Artemis, EAS Apollo, EAS Aeneas
2x Hermes EAS Ben-my-chree, EAS Gypsy Moth
1x Oracle, EAS Cassandra
Pak'ma'ra
The carrion eaters have a very limited selection of ships, but they are powerfully armed. Long range missiles have tripple damage, and they have a plethora of forward firing heavy plasma guns. They can also easily deal with fighters with squadrons of ships able to shoot energy mines, and on top of that, the damage thresholds on their ships are incredibly high, and they have a 6+ save against all damage, all the time, not to mention Interceptors on most of their ships. The selection is quite easy therefore, A Halik can deal with fighters if they survive the onslaught of energy mines, and it is very well armed in comparison to the Brakiri version. 5 Ikortas provide a mass of missiles, and more heavy plasma, and a pair of Sunhawks are fast initiative sinks that also have missiles, and are fairly surviveable with their agility and dodge.
1x Halik** Ha'var
5x Ikorta, Ik'Shh, Ik'sal, Ik'pal, Ik'zish, Ik'tak
2x Sunhawk, Su'kal, Su'ha
Brakiri Relief Force
Coming to the aid of the ambushed Brakiri patrol, but only from turn 5 onward, I decided to fill out the fleet slightly. I took the opportunity to take an Avioki in its combat debut, a second Halik to deal with earth alliance fighters, and a Brokados for higher initiative and many fighters. Finally an Ikorta to board any enemy ships whose engines have been shot to pieces, and another pair of Rakartas
1xBrokados*** Resha-Emissary
1x Halik* Resha-Warden
1x Ikorta Resha-Bearer
2x Rakarta Resha-Bulwark, Resha-Captor
* Brakiri Haliks and Haltonas are being represented by Antophs
** Pak'ma'ra Halik is being represented by a Urik'hal
***Brokados is being represented by a Torsha
Deployment.
We randomly generated the Terrain, with dust clouds and a planet to my right, and open ground to my left. The Brakiri as the defenders had to deploy first, and it was the planet, with its large gravity well that was going to decide which direction my fleet would have to move. Whatever happened, I was going to have to go right, since the gravity well would give a boost in speed to that force a turn earlier than the one coming from the other direction. which would be very very bad. |
| The Brakiri Deploy in the center of the map |
Turn 1
The Brakiri frigates accelerated towards the gas giant as two seperate forces closed on their position. they would use the gravity well to accelerate their ships into the closing Pak'ma'ra ships, a single pass would see them get behind the carrion eaters, and hopefully they would be able to fend off the 2 enemy forces long enough for assistance to arrive. The Earth Force ships altered course to intercept them, but Narik was more concerned about the Pak'ma'ra. they were the immediate problem, and their ships were heavily converted Brakiri and Drazi designs and not to be underestimated. for their part, the Pak'ma'ra recognised what was happening, and their ships moved cautiously forward, the Humans though were also moving slower than expected. Narik would have diverted as much power to the engines as possible. They may have just given the Brakiri the time they needed.
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| The Earth Alliance maneuver cautiously as the Brakiri prepare to attack the Pak'ma'ra |
Brakiri 0-0 Allies
Turn 2
The Brakiri force split into 2 components, one was the Resha-Carrier and Resha-Lightning, and the other part was the remainder of the Brakiri force. While the Lightning and Carrier moved below the planet, the bulk of the Brakiri forces moved around the planet the long way, and used the gravity to pick up velocity and catch the Pak'ma'ra ships in the flank. as one, the Pak'ma'ra ships fired their weapons, combining their shots to blanket the area around the Brakiri ships in plasma. The Lightning and Carrier took the bulk of the fire, heavy plasma shots smashed into both and missiles pummelled the Lightning until it was a burning wreck hurtling towards the Pak'ma'ra fleet its reactors overloading as coolant vented out of massive holes in the hull and the emergency shutdowns failed, the carrier was not in much better condition, the hull was torn to pieces and fires raged out of control. the Resha-Defender, Guardian and Custodian also took fire as plasma hit them, The Ha'var directed its primary armament at the Custodian, the damage caused by the plasma blast was added to and the frigates starboard armament was seriously damaged by accurate fire, knocking the weapons out of action
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| The Lightning and Ik'shh are wrecked by the first exchange of fire and drift forwards |
The Earth Alliance ships diverted power to their engines and surged towards the engagement closing the distance but still being out of weapons range.
Turn 3
The burning hulk of the Lightning drifted forwards, Pak'ma'ra ships detected that the ship was unstable and they directed power towards their engines and used the planet to accelerate away from the Brakiri ships. all but the Ik'zish managed to escape, but the Ik'zish wasn't so fortunate, with her engines smashed, the ship was powerless to evade the Lightning and as the Blitsi came to pieces the ship was hit by a shower of debris, the impacts wrecking what was left of the ships engines and leaving the ship a drifting hulk.
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| The Lightning explodes and wrecks the Ik'zish |
The Brakiri ships completed their maneuver, and had put themselves behind the Pak'ma'ra ships as they sped away, only a few ships were in range, but new targets presented themselves as the Earth Alliance ships arrived. The lighter units came in to the fray cutting between the brakiri ships and the Pak'ma'ra, the heavy Railguns opening up on the damaged Custodian, shots punched through the already heavily damaged starboard armour and smashed damage control stations and severed power lines, and missiles from the Hermes' also smashed into the ship. It lurched, spewing coolant from huge gouges that had been torn out of its hull. The Defender too came under fire, and weathered multiple hits. The primary targeting computer was blasted to scrap, but secondaries took over the load.
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| The Earth Alliance ships start to arrive and fire is exchanged |
As the two human heavy frigates continued their heavy bombardment, the Resha-Carrier suffered multiple hits and the ship almost broke in half, the primary hangar being shattered as the just last of the ships embarked fighters launched.
Return fire from the Brakiri ships smashed into the Humans, them being the best targets, and the EAS Ben-my-chree suffered the most, the small ship being raked by fire from bow to stern and put out of action, most of the crew being killed or injured. The EAS Apollo also came under fire, a lucky shoy snuck through the heavy interceptor fire and wrecked the primary defensive fire director.
With the Pak'ma'ra about to come about, and a pair of Hyperion Heavy Cruisers about to enter the fray, things looked precarious for the Brakiri. Reinforcements were still a turn away, and they were heavily outnumbered. On the plus side, their Graviton beams had now recharged....
Turn 4
The EAS Taranis rounded the gas giant looking for a suitable target, the EAS RA was heading the opposite direction in order to attack from a different vector. The pair of Artemis' maneuvered to put themselves in as good a firing position as possible as the Brakiri found themselves facing fresh opposition.
The EAS Aeneas started to fire on the Custodian as it closed, scoring hits on the ships prow that shattered the armoured hull like an eggshell, the gunnery officers delight turned to horror as the ship bore down on them.Director Narik on board the Custodian monitored the developing situation, things were very very bad, Damaged ships, facing fresh opposition, there was only one option open that could level the field somewhat. the Custodian was finished, the damage too severe, her engines still worked, and the redlining reactors were still generating power but another few hits would see the ship destroyed. He flipped the cover on the Abandon Ship alarm, hesitated for a moment, and then jabbed it forcefully with his thumb. Then, pushing the body of the helmsman from his position, he took control of the ship, diverting all power to the Gravitic drive and the thrusters.
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| Director Narik diverts power to engines and attempts to Ram the Custodian into the Aeneas |
Too late the captain of the Aeneas realised what was happening, and the firing of the thrusters had barely shifted the ships position as the Brakiri frigate plowed straight into them. both the Custodian and Aeneas disintegrated on impact sending debris in all directions. the death of the two ships was marked by a pair of explosions as the reactors on both ships detonated spectacularly. Debris smashed into the Defender and the much smaller Resha-Watch. EAS Aeneas and Resha-Custodian were gone with all hands still aboard.
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| Both ships are destroyed and debris hits nearby Brakiri ships |
The Brakiri Ships completed their maneuvers under intense fire and then sent their reply. The Defender and Guardian fired their Graviton Beams into the Taranis followed by a storm of fire from their pulsars. Taranis lost power and started to tumble, dead in space. The Apollo also came under fire, and with no interceptors, the ship was wrecked by the combined broadsides of the Haltonas, that ship too lost power as shots smashed the bridge, demolished the weapon batteries and engines, and left the crew with no option but to abandon ship.
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| More human ships arrive, but the Taranis and Apollo are destroyed |
Turn 5
The Brakiri ships were still in the fight and a wave of jubilation swept over them as their relief arrived. The Defender and Custodian moved rapidly to position themselves behind the Pak'ma'ra ships as the battlespace started to degenerate into a number of smaller engagements.
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| The Brakiri Relief force arrives, just in time |
The Brakiri ships concentrated their fire onto the Ik'sal and Ha'var, causing significant damage to both and the Su'kal had its luck run out as the ship found itself heavily damaged and with most of it's weapons out of action
The Pak'ma'ra admiral gave the order to scatter to his ships, and the EAS Ra, Cassandra and Ben-my-chree all opened jump points and withdrew, with the exception of the Ha'var, which was chased down by the Brakiri fleet, they were let go.
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| With losses mounting, and facing fresh ships, the Earth Alliance and Pak'ma'ra elect to withdraw |
Brakiri 34-23 Allies
Brakiri Victory
Magnetic clamps activated as six Tobraki assault shuttles slammed into the Pak'ma'ra Frigate, their boarding ring contacted the ship and explosive charges blasted holes through the armoured hull. Heavily armoured troopers waited a few seconds as gravitic grenades cleared the immediate area of the breaches and then followed them into the frigate.
The Boarders moved swiftly through wrecked corridors strewn with detritus. resistance was light, and swiftly dealt with. The Brakiri were not taking chances and their rifles wrecked everything they fired at.
Team 1 quickly arrived at the sealed security door leading to the ships bridge as confirmation that the other teams had secured their objectives poured in.
'Engineering Secure'
'docking bay Secure'
'CIC Secure'
The leader of team 1 nodded to his troopers and explosive charges were set on the door. a blast reverberated through the deck as the door was torn to pieces, shrapnel filled the bridge area, slicing through the bridge crew and control panels as the sharp red hot projectiles ricocheted around the confined room the boarding team stormed through the breach, their heavy armour deflecting the debris with ease, with their leader following the leading troopers. there was no firefight, the bridge crew had been torn to bloody shreds, a single pak'ma'ra, his insignia marking him as the captain reached up a mangled hand as it's blood poured out of its torn spacesuit and boiled away in the vacuum. The Assault Director drew his sidearm and put a single shot into the disgusting creatures faceplate, liquifying the head inside the helmet.
'Assault Director to command, vessel secured'
Conclusion
That was a close run thing. The Brakiri only just managed to eke out a victory there. On the Back Foot places both attackers and defenders in a tricky situation. On the attacker side, they initially outnumber the defender by quite a margin, with 8 points versus 5 which ordinarily would be a fairly easy victory. the forces are split though, meaning the defender has an opportunity to try to overwhelm one of the smaller forces before the other can catch them. If the attacker can leverage their initial advantage then when the defenders reinforcements arrive, they will be outnumbered. otherwise, the attackers will be on the back foot.
There were several key moments in the game. the first was the first turn when the Earth Alliance moved at normal speed rather than charging forwards as soon as possible. this left the pak'ma'ra to deal with the Brakiri largely on their own for the first three turns. had they moved with a little more urgency on the first turn, then they could have brought more force to bear earlier. the key was the Gas giant giving ships a boost to their speed, and left some EA ships 'just' out of range to take advantage of it going into turns 3 and left them feeding in their ships piecemeal.
The second key moment was the ram on turn 4, the Brakiri Halik was just about done, and the Artemis provided a brilliant opportunity to try to level the field, trading a crippled ship with very few hit points for an intact Artemis was just too good an opportunity to pass, and a little luck in the opposed crew quality check meant that both ships were eliminated.
It was a close run thing going into turn 4, but the ram combined with some focused fire on the Taranis really pushed the advantage to the Brakiri when the reinforcements arrived. The Brakiri fleet was badly mauled by the end though. One Haltona was badly damaged, the Blitsi and a Rakarta were crippled with the Blitsi unable to move, and a Rakarta left on 1 damage remaining, with 2 more reinforcing Rakartas both close to being crippled.
'Assault Director to command, vessel secured' She grinned, it could have been worse, Kalora told herself. The Patrol had been badly mauled, only half the ships had survived, and those with varying degrees of damage. but they had made the Humans and Pak'ma'ra pay for it.
The boarding parties had orders to secure the Halik and eliminate the crew. She clenched her fist, Narik would have made a good mate, she smiled as she looked at the massive life insurance payout his family would now be receiving, in addition to the generous death in service benefits, his investments had been well thought out as well. If they gave her the chance, she was going to make the Humans and Pak'ma'ra pay for his death.
'Assault Director to command, no survivors among the crew, and Director? the ship is a new build...'
Ship STL's by Tyrel Lohr
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