The emergency beacon was from the Cryotrays. It appears that the aliens did not kill all of us. Not yet at least.

Cryotray #3 was registering damage from multiple impacts. Echo squadron had just launched after refueling, and was joined by the Mercy-class corvettes Stitches, Patches, Quiltwork, Assistance, and Solitude. Telemetry from Echo squadron revealed five alien vessels, frigate-class, were firing plasma-based weapons and mass driver rounds at the cryotray. The tube was reporting that its hull had been breached, and cryopods were suffering damage.

These alien ships appeared to be a different design than those we encountered at the Khar-Toba. Tactical has raised the possibility that these aliens are a different species from those at the Khar-Toba. The location of what we believe to be the ship’s bridge on a fin in the center of the ship, while the alien carrier’s bridge was located in the rear of the vessel. There was a fin on the front of the vessel which we suspect contains the ship’s sensor array. Weapon systems consist of four large long-barreled mass drivers on turrets and a pair of fixed launchers that fired a plasma-based weapon with limited tracking ability. The frigates are a little bit smaller than the Sandstrike, but significantly faster and more maneuverable.

Echo squadron immediately activated afterburners and engaged the alien frigates. While the enemy frigates were unable to accurately target the Arrows, Lieutenant Jenalle Soban’s Arrow was clipped by a mass driver round, and crashed into the engine section of one of the enemy frigates. This craft had apparently suffered damage prior to the attack on the Cryotrays and was already venting plasma; the collision apparently disabled the maneuvering engines for the frigate, and it began to drift above the Cryotrays.

Wasp squadron had finished refueling, along with the corvettes of Beta squadron, and they launched to escort the Rogue and Water Thief to attempt a capture of the enemy frigates. The Assistance broke off of its repairs of Cryotray #3 (which had stabilized despite the incoming fire; the corvettes induced rotational motion into the Cryotray so the aliens couldn’t concentrate their fire on one section) and moved up to support the two Porter corvettes.

In response, two of the remaining four alien frigates broke formation and moved to protect the damaged frigate; considering there were several Porter Mk.2 corvettes in Kharak’s fleet, it’s likely the aliens realized our intentions to capture the alien ship. The Rogue and Water Thief sustained fire from the pursuing corvettes, but were unable to prevent the corvettes from latching onto the alien frigate. Directed EMPs and capture protocols were successful in knocking out the frigate’s drive systems, and the two corvettes dragged the alien ship away from combat. The Solitude detached from Cryotube #3 and moved up to support the Porters while the Assistance docked with the Rogue and began on-site repairs even as the alien corvette was dragged toward the Mothership.

Wasp squadron engaged the pursuing frigates. The squadron remained in a tight formation and focused firepower on the rear quadrant of one of the frigates, which began to vent plasma from the hull breach. An examination of fighter telemetry suggests this frigate had also been damaged in the previous battle with Kharak Missile Command, and had sustained further damage from Echo squadron. Wasp squadron focused fire on the damaged hull section on their return pass and succeeded in damaging something vital; plasma vented uncontrollably through the vessel and it was vaporized in the resulting explosion.

No escape pods were launched; it isn’t clear if these ships possess any escape mechanisms. It is something we’ll have to look into with our own frigate designs, and in redesigns of strike craft and corvettes. Our world is gone. Every life is precious now, and must be protected.

The remaining frigate continued to pursue the Rogue and Water Thief around the Mothership; our own mass drivers engaged the enemy frigate and provided the Porter corvettes with sufficient cover to drag the enemy frigate into the Mothership’s docking bay. Sobani Marines cut their way through what we believe are hatches and engaged the enemy, but are encountering fierce resistance from the alien crew. Their orders are to try and take some of the aliens alive for interrogation.

Unfortunately, orders to keep the Water Thief and Rogue from launching again failed to reach the corvette captains before they left the Mothership. The alien frigate was waiting for them, and immediately shifted fire from the Mothership to the two corvettes. Rather than flee, the Water Thief closed with the second alien frigate, and after receiving sustained fire from the frigate, the Rogue joined her. After disobeying an order to flee the frigate and latching onto the frigate, Captain Merlef Jolaasien of the Water Thief radioed in and explained his actions; he stated he felt the frigate would destroy his corvette before the Water Thief and Rogue could escape around the Mothership.

This frigate had sustained far less damage, and the subversion protocols took significantly longer to knock out command systems on the frigate. Fortunately, one of the first systems that went off-line, which allowed Wasp squadron to break off their attacks on the alien vessel and dock with the Mothership for refueling. During this time, the aliens tried an EVA boarding of the Water Thief and the Rogue; Lt. Kensar Soban hadn’t yet docked with the Mothership and was able to strafe the alien marines; while the Water Thief sustained minor hull damage from the strafing, none of the aliens survived.

While the crews of the Water Thief and the Rogue disobeyed orders, I have decided they were not at fault. The combat situation had changed after the initial order to destroy the frigates. Further, it was unlikely either corvette could have escaped the aliens by flight or by returning to the Mothership. Upon gaining control over the alien frigate, Captain Jolaansien requested further orders from Fleet Command. After a brief consultation with Tactical, I recommended to Karan that we should capture the second frigate.

Due to the ongoing battle between Sobani Marines and the crew of the first frigate we’d captured, and the chokepoints in the frigate’s design (undoubtedly meant to prevent easy capture of the ships), and to avoid further possible loss of life, we voided the atmosphere of the second frigate. Combat teams then boarded the vessel but found no survivors; it is likely that the alien marines were wearing the only spacesuits, and had died in their assault against the two Porter corvettes.

Karan ordered the Water Thief and the Rogue to the edge of the battle between the remaining two alien frigates and Echo and Beta squadron. Two of the corvettes in Beta squadron had sustained heavy damage during the fight, so Karan ordered the Patches and Quiltwork to assist in in-flight repairs.

Both alien frigates turned their guns on the approaching corvettes. The Quiltwork was struck by four plasma torpedoes, two of which struck the cockpit, melting through and killing the pilot, Lt. Mahan Kaalel and medic Solya Manaan. Emergency bulkheads slammed down and kept the remaining atmosphere from escaping. Engineer Eleia Somtaaw, managed to shut down the fusion drive before it overloaded, saving the ship. Medical telemetry reveals she was badly hurt; she is not answering comms and the Quiltwork is tumbling in space.

The Patches was struck by over a dozen shots from the alien mass drivers, damaging the maneuvering engines and breaching the engineering compartment. The Patches managed to limp away from the battle, followed by Beta squadron. It is obvious that the Mercy corvette is ill-suited for combat operations; once we reverse-engineer the alien frigates, we’ll have to design a dedicated repair/refueling frigate.

By this time, Echo squadron was running on fumes, having fought using afterburners through much of the battle. Several Arrows had sustained damage, though fortunately none were destroyed. Wasp squadron’s return to battle allowed Echo to retreat to the Mothership for repairs and refueling. Capitalizing on the damage inflicted on the alien frigates, Wasp squadron managed several hull breaches on one of the remaining frigates, which began to tumble. The Rogue and Water Thief took advantage of the distraction and moved in to capture the lightly-damaged frigate; the aliens only managed to get a couple of shots off before the Porter corvettes latched onto the vessel. Sustained weapons fire to hull breaches resulted in the final frigate’s destruction.

Much of the damage inflicted on Cryotray #3 has been repaired. It appears Cryotray #4 has also sustained damage; the Assistance and Solitude are docking with it now to determine the extent of the damage and repair any damaged power systems.

Engineers report they have recovered telemetry from the captured alien frigate. It’s time to see what happened to Kharak.