Fleet Action

Recap

The Arak system is a Red Supergiant with a mass of 200 x1030 KG. Eight planets that make up the solar system surrounding the Red Supergiant. The planets have a preliminary designation of 1-8; four have moons (10) large enough for designation. For example, 4-alpha, 4-beta, 4-gamma, etc.
The Arak system also has a diffuse nebula nearby (5 light years) which fills most of their night time sky. It also affects, even at that distance sensor readings. Therefore, preliminary attempts to probe the Arak System using long range sensors failed, so a probe was sent into the system for a preliminary look.
What the probe found was devastation. Arak 4 had until recently, been a thriving, insectoid-based civilization it appeared. However, TR Archeologists found a world devastated by massive planetary bombardment-and it was quite apparent the Arkains had not done it to themselves.
So the word went out immediately for a tactical alert to the "Hand of God" and her accompanying ships.

Update

The task force entered the system in Terran Navy standard "V" formation with the battle cruiser "Sheffield" on point surrounded by the destroyers "Achilles" and "Santa Ana", and destroyer escorts "Adams", "Reagan", and "Washington". On the battlecruiser's flanks were the light cruisers "Hanson" and "Victory" and the destroyer escorts "Swordfish", "Niger", "Cartwright" and "Jackson". Next came the "Hand of God". She was given a wide berth by the rest of the task force for not only an adequate defensive fire perimeter, but also to not impede flight operations for her fighters, bombers, and other support craft. Running parallel to either side of the "Hand of God" were the battlecruisers "Rogers" and "Eugen", the destroyers "Rio de Janeiro", "Romanov", "Grant", and "Arleigh Burke". Outward from the cruisers and their destroyer screen were the destroyer escorts "Stevenson", "Shepard", "Armstrong", "McAuliffe", "Jackson" and "Fujimora". Finally, bringing up the blunt end of the "V" were the battlecruiser "Vostok", the destroyers "Bonne Richarde" and "Churchill", and the destroyer escorts "Halsey", "Kennedy", and "Ticonderoga".
Such a large fleet makes for tough maneuvering within a planetary system, so Admiral Chaen, the Task Force Commander, ordered the task force to shift from the standard "V" to a diamond pattern. The downside of such a formation is the ships on station running the length of the diamond must cover larger gaps in the defensive screen. However, tactically, it had proven the most defensive posture under the circumstances.

Contact

When the Task Force had just cleared the radiation belt surrounding Arak 7, tactical screens on the "Sheffield" and the point ships glowed with a massive swarm of targets.
The Sheffield report to the "Hand of God" was cutoff mid-report:
"Many unknowns... Taking heavy fire... Shields failing... 'Hanson' on fire and 'Victory' is gone-"
Admiral Chaen immediately set General Quarters and brought his remaining battlecruisers to the front in a flying wedge. All fighters and bombers on all ships were immediately scrambled and configured into four assault waves numbering 500 ships each.
Wave Alpha was sent in with two roles:
1. Report enemy strength and numbers
2. Locate and assist if possible, any TN survivors
Close behind was Wave Beta to engage the enemy and cover the extraction of TN survivors if possible.
After enemy dispositions and strength had been determined, Gamma and Delta Waves would be sent in to hit the enemy carriers and other targets of opportunity.
As Wave Alpha entered sensor range and started to feed data back to the Admiral, Chaen found himself staring at an Armada outbound from the inner worlds.
Tactical sensors were unable to identify the ships, but sizes indicated approximately 100 capital-size ships. Most likely they were equivalent to Terran dreadnoughts, battlecruisers, heavy cruisers, and light cruisers. The armada also had another 10 apparent carriers nearly as big as the "Hand of God", and over 500 escort and support vessels.
It appeared the Task Force had unwittingly sailed right into the middle of an invasion.
Chaen immediately adjusted his remaining ships to set up a staggered retreat. Fortunately, it appeared the alien armada had not seen or expected them initially either as recon vessels sent out to map the flanks and rear of the Task Force came back with no signs of the enemy ships.
Initial reports from Wave Alpha and Beta however, were grim:
"Sheffield" was a lifeless hulk spewing atmosphere into space.
The light cruisers "Hanson" and "Victory", the destroyer "Achilles", and destroyer escorts "Adams", and "Reagan" were just an expanding cloud of debris.
The "Santa Ana" and the "Washington" were heavily damaged and unable to continue the fight, so they were attempting to withdraw to the comparative safety of the Task Force.
The destroyer escorts "Swordfish", "Niger", "Cartwright" and "Jackson" were bravely throwing everything they had at the wave of enemy ships while attempting to cover the retreat of their damaged comrades, but were surrounded and taking a pounding.
Only the arrival of Waves Alpha and Beta pulled the enemy fighters and destroyers off of the surviving vessels long enough for them to escape the carnage.
Sensor logs also showed the alien armada, due to its size, was having to take their time maneuvering their larger capital ships around the Asteroid Belt and many moons associated with Arak 7 & Arak 8.
To take advantage of the chokepoints created by the gas giants, the moons, and the asteroid belt, Admiral Chaen split the Task Force into smaller groups built around his remaining battle cruisers to delay the armada. The chokepoints forced the enemy ships to run a gauntlet of missiles, torpedoes, and solid projectiles from the fewer, but well-positioned Terrans who made every shot count.
But sheer numbers soon overwhelmed the Task Force and Admiral Chaen was faced with a difficult decision regarding his dwindling forces: He needed to retreat with as many ships as he could while they were still capable of jumping.
When the chokepoint at Arak 8's Gamma Moon collapsed with the destruction of the "Vostok", Admiral Chaen pulled his remaining ships back to the perimeter of the Arak system and took stock.
The battle cruisers "Sheffield" and "Vostok" were gone. "Rogers" would never fight again and "Eugen" had lost most of her superstructure and main guns, but could still jump.
The light cruisers "Hanson" and "Victory" were also gone.
The destroyers "Achilles", "Santa Ana", "Rio de Janeiro", "Romanov", and "Grant" were gone. The "Arleigh Burke", "Bonne Richarde", and "Churchill" were all heavily damaged and their jump capability was in question.
The destroyer escorts "Adams", "Reagan", "Washington", "Swordfish", "Niger", "Cartwright" and "Jackson" were space debris. The "Stevenson", "Shepard", "Armstrong", "McAuliffe", "Jackson" were hulks and would need to be abandoned.
The "Fujimora", "Halsey", "Kennedy", and "Ticonderoga" were damaged, had large numbers of casualties, were low on ammunition and fuel, but were still jump-capable.
The "Hand of God" had lost over half her spacecraft, had a third of her superstructure open to space, and had lost one of her two weapons arrays on her belly protecting the starboard side of the ship.
Landing bays Alpha and Gamma were destroyed when one of a spread of ten anti-ship torpedoes got through her defensive perimeter and exploded between the two landing bays on her port side.
The carrier was also hulled in fifteen places and 35 percent of the ships was open to space. She had lost one of her main drives, however the jump systems were intact.
As the enemy fleet cleared the chokepoints and swarmed outbound towards the crippled task force, Admiral Chaen made a critical decision. He would offload as many crew members from the "Hand of God" as possible.
With a minimal screen of fighters, the destroyer "Churchill" and destroyer escorts "Kennedy" and "Ticonderoga", he would attempt to delay the enemy fleet so that the rest of the task force could get away.
What happened next would go down in Terran Naval History as the "Chaen Maneuver". With his escorts harassing the approaching fleet with long range missiles and torpedoes, Admiral Chaen suddenly executed a micro-jump that put him square in the middle of the enemy carriers.
Whereas most of the enemy carriers had only suffered slight damage due to the occasional torpedo, missile or fighter/bombers who broke through, now, suddenly, they had an enemy warship with teeth in their midst.
Admiral Chaen unleashed a broadside of missiles and torpedoes from his remaining functional tubes as well as a broadside from his six working sixteen-inch guns, eight functioning eight-inch guns, and 24 functioning five-inch guns. Two enemy carriers died instantly and two more drifted out of formation as they lost main power.
Before any weapons could come to bear on the "Hand of God", Chaen micro-jumped again, this time positioning himself squarely between two enemy dreadnaughts. Again, he repeated his broadsides and jumped away. Explosions bracketed both capital ships and one of the dreadnaughts started to drift as explosions tore through her superstructure.
The third time, however, was not a charm for Chaen. As he jumped back into the carrier group again, battle damage to the Hand of God caused the carrier to reappear at the same place as one of the enemy carriers.
Structural integrity on both ships failed as two solid objects of incredible mass came together at incredible speed. The Hand of God's motion dragged the hapless enemy carrier forward along it's flight path, driving the conjoined warships into a third carrier.
The resulting massive explosion took out all three ships as well as various fighters, destroyers and other ships within the blast radius. The shockwave heavily damaged three enemy cruisers, another carrier, and one of the already injured dreadnaughts--throwing the enemy fleet into disarray.
Seizing the opportunity, the "Churchill", "Kennedy", and "Ticonderoga" retired from the field at best speed. The enemy fleet did not pursue, seeming totally distracted by the lethal blow to their capital ships.
The battle at Arak was over--at least for now.
In the end, the Terran Republic lost three battlecruisers, five destroyers, twelve destroyer escorts and 1200 fighters, bombers and miscellaneous spacecraft and crew losses topped 75,000.
The Invasion fleet initially did not come out of the Arak system, instead retreating back into the Nebula. Attempts by TN Recon and Intelligence to ascertain what lay in or beyond the nebula were fruitless. It was also never released how many covert spy ships and probes were sent into the nebula--never to return.
However, a little over a month later, the aliens did come out and the Terran Navy suffered even more losses in that sector as a full fledged war with the Saurian Empire became known as the 'Dino-Man War'.