[Starhawk]

2409.6
The Sol Coalition light cruiser had hovered around the Gaia system ever since it had destroyed the colony ship at the warp point and Governor Averato was unwilling to dispatch the single destroyer that remained in his system after HMS Hydra went missing.
Finally with the construction of HMS Trafalgar the Gaia system had a ship strong enough to face off against the Sol warship.
The Captain and crew of Trafalgar never even got the chance to do a shakedown cruise, they immediately proceeded directly from port on a course to intercept the enemy warship.

“Captain Peters, this is governor Averato, if you believe that taking on that ship gets too dangerous for you I want you to fall back to Goin and join up with the Victory is that understood?” Averato’s baritone voice sounded odd to Captain Peters’ he had never known Averato to sound worried but this time, there was fear in his voice.
“Yes sir, but if Trafalgar can’t take that ship on I doubt Victory will be able to help us much.” Peters frowned at the face in the com screen “Well sir that just means my crew will have to even better doesn’t it?” His frown quirked slightly until he was grinning.
“Captain if you take out that ship I’ll give you a thousand crowns to buy your whole crew a drink!” Averato smiled before cutting the com.

“Tactical, time to intercept?” Peters looked across the large bridge and felt a swell of confidence, this cruiser was a magnificent warship, 500,000 tons of raw power with a crew of 2,100 of the best spacers in the galaxy. But still they were facing a ship that was only slightly less powerful then they were and it had unknown weapons and shield capabilities.
“Five-zero minutes sir, possibly less if they turn about to intercept us.” The tactical officer replied, she was young and green but then again almost everyone was green, Peters himself had only been an ensign back on HMS Saber when she first launched almost ten years ago but most of the navy was fresh out of the academy when they were given ships. Captains were drawn from the original crews of the first three ships to have launched from Icara but even they were new to command.

“Sir, they are turning about to intercept us!” the tactical officer shouted just twenty-five minutes after her initial assessment. “Revised time to intercept is one zero minutes, we’ll meet them just outside of Gaia seven orbit.” her voice calmed but the excited tone was still there, and Peters could hardly blame her his own excitement was almost painful.

The Icaran cruiser closed on the Sol Coalition Light Cruiser with amazing swiftness and finally they closed to weapons range.
“Alright guns, open fire!” Peters had to force himself not to shout as he watched the gunnery crews lights signal their readiness.

The six phased poloron cannons tore across space, to the shock of all gunners all but one beam missed it’s target by a wide margin, and the single beam that struck it’s target was blocked easily by the Sol light cruiser’s shields.
“What happened guns?” Peters asked coldly as he watched the enemy ship continue to advance on his ship
“Sir I don’t know, we are getting all sorts of sensor ghosts from that Solaran and she’s got phased shields.” the gunnery officer simply shrugged at his captain and turned back to his station.
Just as Peters looked back at the main display screen two thin orange beams raced out from the enemy warship and the shields of his cruiser flashed and flared as if they had been struck by some divine wrath. Peters expected damage alarms to start howling or collision alerts but instead he just heard the confused voices of his tactical and executive officers.
“What is it?” his voice was harsh as his tactical display showed his cruiser’s shields simply disappear, it was impossible by what the Icarans knew about shields, when shields collapsed a portion of energy that had dropped the shields would carry through the hull and cause damage to the ship’s hull, yet there were no damage reports.
“Incoming, three zero five by niner two!” The tactical officer shrilled, but it was already too late, by time the sensors had detected the incoming shell it had already impacted on the unshielded hull.
An explosion rent a massive hole into the portside of the Icaran cruiser and flames spouted out into space for a nanosecond before the vacuum consumed the flames.
Damage and collision alerts began sounding throughout the ship as if the cruiser were a wounded beast howling in pain.
“Phase cannons five and six are gone, neither crew made it out, 14 dead, engine five gone, portside fire control gone switching to starboard, reactor room two is gone, 20 confirmed dead, we’ve got damage control parties trying to seal the breach sir.” Chief Daine’s voice was strained as he finished listing the damage sustained by a single high yield cannon shell.
The battered cruiser returned fire and almost miraculously all four shots hit the enemy ship and finally brought down the enemy vessels shields and causing a burn through that destroyed two engines.

The return fire was brutal however and another shot tore another gaping hole in Trafalgar destroying another engine and killing over a dozen crewmen. The Icaran cruiser limped forward defiantly, she brought her cannons to bare again but this time all four shots missed, and she rocked under the devastating shell that was spat back at her by the enemy cruiser.
“Sir if we take any more hits like that structural integrity is going to fail!” The executive officer breathed in sharply as he saw two of their own shots impact on the enemy ship’s hull and it’s shield generators exploded.
“Captain, the sensor ghosts are gone I’ve got lock!” The gunnery officer shouted triumphantly as his gunnery crews achieved positive locks.
Another enemy shell came screaming towards Trafalgar and Peters expected to die this time around but jus as it closed in on them the shell continued on into the void of space before exploding 100 clicks off the Icaran’s battered port side.
“Oh thank God and all the Saints!” Peters’ exec sighed in relief, that shell could have done vast amounts of damage if it had hit the battered port side of the cruiser.
The Trafalgar closed to point blank and loosed another volley with her four remaining cannons, without those ghosts every single shot hit right where it was aimed and this time the Solaran light cruiser suffered, whole sections of it’s hull melted away before the devastating energies unleashed upon it, internal explosions lit across the shattered hull and finally the enemy starship flared into a brilliant ball of light and wreckage before winking out of existence along with 1200 of it’s crew.
Trafalgar had suffered her own losses however, 500 personnel had died and another 250 wounded, she was limping home at 2/3 speed and her supplies were almost completely destroyed when her portside supply hold was blown out by the enemy ship, but she had emerged victorious and saved the Gaia system from even more deaths.

2409.8
Admiral Tyson Babcock Given Command of 1st Fleet (Stationed out of Icara Naval base)
Admiral Yu Hing Pe Given Command 3rd Fleet (Stationed at Handra Base)
Rear Admiral Patrick Raley Given command 2nd fleet (Stationed in Gaia system)