McAuliffe Ambush - 2634
The McAuliffe Ambush was a major battle that took place in 2634 between the Terran Confederation and the Empire of Kilrah, the first large-scale engagement of the Terran-Kilrathi War.
On 2634.228, Ches M. Penney partially decoded the current Kilrathi cipher. An intercepted message indicated that a fleet was preparing to attack McAuliffe and Alexandria. Terran Confederation High Command dispatched an ambush fleet twice as large as the reported invasion force. On 2634.235, the Kilrathi fleet arrived at McAuliffe, but four times the expected size, an intelligence failure resulting from an incomplete translation. The battle raged for several days, ending with the remnants of the Kilrathi strike fleet retreating so that they might regroup and continue their offensive. Meanwhile, the Confederation Space Navy was nearly obliterated in the opening volley as many of its ships, among them the fleet carrier TCS Coral Sea were destroyed by torpedoes and numerous fighter wings. The Confederation was forced to retreat in an effort to reorganize its surviving forces.
After reeling from their tremendous losses in the opening stage of the battle, the Confederation fleet attacked McAuliffe again on 2634.236. In a surprise offensive led by the fleet carrier TCS Ark Royal and the cruiser TCS Concordia, the Confederation launched several wings of fighters to attack the Kilrathi fleet as it began to invade McAuliffe's surface. These fighters attacked a single Kilrathi fleet carrier and then spun around the planet to attack the troopships en route to McAuliffe's surface. During this offensive, the Ark Royal herself sends in bombers to destroy the same fleet carrier. These bombers also flew around the planet to launch a follow-up attack on the next wave of troopships. However, the Confederation is forced to retreat soon after the bombers finish their run, and the Ark Royal fled the system while the Concordia fell to enemy fire. However, in the chaos of the battle, pilots Geoffrey Tolwyn and Vance Richards managed to kill one of the Empire's finest pilots: Ratha nar Kiranka, Prince of Kilrah.
The Kilrathi ultimately prevailed and for years McAuliffe remained under Kilrathi control. The battle was a terrible loss for the Confederation as their fleet was nearly destroyed, a loss that badly weakened humanity in the decades of warfare that followed after the battle. However, the Kilrathi offensive failed to crush the Confederation resistance as they had demonstrated an unexpected ferocity in the face of an invading enemy, and continued to resist the Kilrathi invasion whenever possible.
The death of Prince Ratha nar Kiranka was a severe blow to the Kilrathi Imperial family, as he would have been the immediate heir to the throne upon the coronation of his father, Crown Prince Gilkarg nar Kiranka. Thus, Ratha's younger sibling Thrakhath nar Kiranka became the next heir to the Kilrathi throne, and would subsequently rise to be one of the most brutal commanders of the Kilrathi armada.
