Custer's Carnival - 2649

Custer's Carnival
Part of Terran-Kilrathi War
Date 2649.205 - .208 Location G'wriss system Result Kilrathi Strategic Victory Confederation Tactical Withdrawal
Belligerents
Terran Confederation	Empire of Kilrah
Strength
G'wriss Assault Force TCS Tiger's Claw	Defense Force
Casualties and losses
TCS Tiger's Claw heavily damaged Over fifty percent pilot casualities

Custer's Carnival was a 2649 rearguard action between the Terran Confederation and the Empire of Kilrah.

Confederation High Command on 2649.189, using information on Kilrathi fleets and deployments gained through their breaking of Kilrathi encryption methods, assembles a force consisting of 60% of the Vega Sector Fleet aimed at invading and occupying Kilrah itself. Given the overwhelming superiority in force and information as well as strategy, a victory seems well in hand to Confederation strategists.

Terran ground forces launch an attack on a fortified Kilrathi colony in the G'wriss system, only to be routed by unexpected Kilrathi fighter support. The TCS Tiger’s Claw is detached from its previous station and assigned to lead the relief operation to evacuate the ground forces back to Confederation space. The three day long delaying action eventually becomes known as Custer’s Carnival. Swarmed and badly damaged by Kilrathi fighters, the Tiger's Claw distracts Kilrathi forces long enough for the Terran fleet to evacuate and reach safety.

Despite the fact that three-fourths of its engines are destroyed and half its pilots are listed as casualties, the heroic efforts of the Claw’s crew allow the carrier to also make it back into Terran space. Two Gold Stars, one awarded to Lt. James Taggart, and numerous other medals - many of them posthumous - are awarded to the ship’s personnel. The carrier itself spends six months in spacedock for repairs and refitting.