Battle of P'Jem

The Battle of P’Jem was the a military engagement during the Xindi Conflict, fought on 28 December 2153, after the Coalition planned to intrecept the Xindi attack fleet inbound to the Vulcan colony of P'Jem.

The Coalition devised a plan to ambush the Xindi destroyers on their approach to the planet, and a fleet of 31 destroyers and two cruisers under Commodore Do’tn and frigates commanded by Commodore Pera’tol was dispatched. They were supported at longer range by an additional six light cruisers commanded by Admiral Noxen, and five battlecruisers commanded by Vice Admiral Ger’varin.

The entire Xindi Fourth Fleet was destroyed, 1,240 killed. The Coalition suffered one light cruiser and three corvettes destroyed, 9,420 killed and 14,070 wounded.

Prelude
The battle took place four months after the war against Xindi began.

The Xindi Fourth Fleet under command of Commander Dreon, had expected that the Coalition would be unaware of the strike, and had prepared by launching their most advance elements as a 'test' on the largely pacifist planet of P'Jem.

The Coalition discovered the plans when the UES Enterprise captured the XSS Rilik near Andoria on 22 December 2153. With only six days warning the Coalition quickly began to two destroyer battalions and two cruiser brigades to add to the frigate squadrons assigned to defend the colony.

Andorian Empire

 * IAG Dhulikh
 * IAG Ghorah
 * IAG Raj
 * IAG Itahari

Confederacy of Vulcan

 * VCS Avaris
 * VCS Mas'ade
 * VCS Me'Badr
 * VCS Mhar'eh
 * VCS Pano'iti
 * VCS Tel'Bamal
 * VCS Toish'Shakh

Cylon Imperium

 * CAS Beta-2045
 * CAS Beta-2639
 * CAS Delta-2300
 * CAS Delta-3152
 * CAS Delta-3450
 * CAS Delta-3481
 * CAS Delta-3566
 * CAS Delta-4154
 * CAS Delta-4290

Principality of Denobula

 * HMDS Daegd
 * HMDS Elaxe
 * HMDS Uxmerta

Taiidan Republic

 * TRS Silwan
 * TRS Sur Baher
 * TRS Unsdorf

Twelve Colonies of Kobol

 * BS Anemoi
 * BS Enyo
 * BS Flora
 * BS Auloniad
 * BS Thebe
 * BS Fortuna
 * BS Lares
 * BS Ops
 * BS Pales
 * BS Selene

United Earth

 * UES Coto
 * UES Nairobi
 * UES Nightingale
 * UES Perugia
 * UES Tokyo
 * UES New York
 * UES Kansas
 * UES Hastings
 * UES Trafalgar
 * UES Normandy

Romulan Civil States

 * RCS Abran
 * RCS Nappoc
 * RCS Sheron
 * RCS Nauwo
 * RCS Monman
 * RCS Cruken
 * RCS Lenool
 * RCS Rinabl
 * RCS Beueyn

New Xindus Cooperative

 * XSS Main’sma
 * XSS Coo’oln
 * XSS Ar’ned’ria
 * XSS Biir’Twen
 * XSS Keen’Zano
 * XSS Zaar’aana
 * XSS Veon’neem
 * XSS Laam'aana
 * XSS Doon'maen
 * XSS Cuue'tuun
 * XSS Ni'jam
 * XSS Hotho'hu
 * XSS Yena'aami
 * XSS Raen'hott
 * XSS Tren’Aone
 * XSS Boon’staan
 * XSS Phoo'neim
 * XSS Sett’son
 * XSS Ollk’errn
 * XSS Gurr'thres
 * XSS Fel’rauen
 * XSS Rass’barga
 * XSS Dan’zig
 * XSS Kar’lund

Course of Battle
Two Coalition officers believed they had determined an opening to carry the war to the Xindi fleet. Commodore Pera’tol commanded a squadron of long-range frigates that regularly patrolled P’Jem, while Commodore Do’tn commanded a destroyer patrol, operating from Tellar Prime.

They observed that Xindi destroyers had adopted a regular pattern of reconnaissance, the vessels would jump into extreme positions in threes, then triangulate a closer position for heavier capital ship units to jump in at point-blank range and strike.

Do'tn and Pera'tol decided to cluster the defense frigates together, to draw the destroyer's attention and the eventual cruiser's attack.

Three Coalition frigates would hold position in orbit of P'Jem to draw the destroyers attention while a larger Coalition force of 33 destroyers accompanied by five frigates would attack the moment the cruisers jumped in. Other ships would wait for any larger Xindi ships attempting to break away.

Pera’tol impressed Admiral Maxwell Forrest by the daring of his plan, which was adopted but not without changes.

Pera’tol and Do’tn requested support for their operation, in particular bringing the Coalition First and Second Fleets and the support of the squadron of six light cruisers commanded by Admiral Jonathan Noxen.

This was refused by the Chief of Staff— Vice Admiral Dopeete—who instead agreed to place only lighter forces; "Cruiser Force Kappa-481" under Rear Admiral Arnulfo Merle consisting of two battlecruisers, the UES Nightingale and UES Perugia, and "Cruiser Brigade Theta" a squadron of five cruisers— CAS Beta-2045, BS Selene, IAG Ghorah, BS Enyo and VCS Mas’ade.

The frigates were to leave to take up their positions on 26 December, while Pera’tol would travel on the destroyer Valley Forge. The ships would depart at dawn on 27 December. Do’tn—aboard the brand new light cruiser BS Anemoi—would command the Third Flotilla of 16 modern destroyers, whilst his subordinate, Command Administrator Program Jonah—aboard the light cruiser CAS Beta-2639—would command the First Flotilla of 16 destroyers. Do’tn had for some time been requesting replacement of his previous cruiser UES Coto because she was too slow to keep up with his destroyers, but BS Anemoi did not arrive until 26 December. Her crew were inexperienced, and it was discovered that her main energy weapons jammed when fired.

Unknown to the Coalition, the Romulan Civil States had been silently been observing the situation and had been monitoring the moving Xindi, Emperor Donatra quickly determined that the Xindi were shuffling to attack P’Jem. Romulan Admiral Nemvar immediately requested permission to send reinforcements to defend the system and bring the Romulans into the Xindi Conflict on the Coalition side and received permission only to send a flight of battle cruisers in support. He dispatched Vice Admiral Ger’varin with the battlecruisers RCS Abran, RCS Nappoc and RCS Sheron, and Admiral Noxen with the First Light Destroyer Squadron, made up of the destroyers RCS Nauwo, RCS Monman, RCS Cruken, RCS Lenool, RCS Rinabl and RCS Beueyn.

Nemvar dispatched a message advising Do’tn that he should expect reinforcements, but this was delayed at Tellar and never received due to a shipping accident. Do’tn did not discover the additional forces until Noxen’s ships arrived, leading to immediate concern whether they were friend or foe at a time when he was expecting to meet only enemy vessels.

A number of Coalition frigates were deployed. UES New York, BS Thebe and IAG Itahari were ordered to attack reinforcing or retreating Xindi vessels. BS Auloniad, UES Kansas and UES Hastings were positioned for further out to draw the Xindi destroyers out to space. UES Normandy and UES Trafalgar were stationed behind P’Jem’s moon of Suvir to attack reinforcements should they come from that direction.

Battle
At around 07:00, BS Anemoi, moving towards its final patrol point sighted three Xindi destroyer, XSS Boon’staan, Phoo'neim and Gurr'thres. Accompanying the Anemoi were the six destroyers under stealth.

XSS Boon’staan immediately turned towards P’Jem, signaling Rear Admiral Yu’enette Maa’ess, commander of the Xindi destroyer squadron of only light defenses, unaware of the other Coalition ships in stealth. Maa’ess informed Commodore Khalan Co’laa who commanded the Xindi battlecruiser squadron. Co’laa was unaware of the scale of the attack, but suspicious at how the Anemoi wasn’t making active sensor pings following the sighting of the Boon’staan, ordered the light cruisers XSS Sett’son and XSS Fel’rauen to defend the destroyers. Six other light cruisers were ordered to join as soon as they could: XSS Main’sma, XSS Rass’barga, XSS Coo’oln, XSS Ar’ned’ria, XSS Kar’lund and XSS Ollk’errn.

In the interim, the VCS Me'Badr sighted the destroyers XSS Biir’Twen, XSS Keen’Zano and XSS Veon’neem had jumped into orbit and were calculating a close range jump for the cruiser XSS Zaar’aana.

Do’tn ordered four destroyers to detach and attack the cruiser XSS Zaar’aana and its escorts. The move alerted the remaining Xindi destroyers, turned to intercept. Before they could complete the turn, they were the Coalition destroyers commenced firing.

The trailing destroyer XSS Tren’Aone was hit from behind, since her shields had largely been concentrated on her bow, the impact vaporized the entire craft in four successive hits, followed by the interceptor XSS Keen’Zano and XSS Biir’Twen in close succession. XSS Zaar’aana was damaged by the resulting explosions and her port shields failed, resulting in fatal direct hits before they could be raised. The craft lasted another thirty-seconds before its reactor cores melted down and she exploded. XSS Veon’neem managed to get off a warning before it too was destroyed.

At 07:26, Do’tn turned and sighted 10 Xindi destroyers which he chased through for 30 minutes until the ships reached P’Jem and he was forced to turn defensive when the crafts entered the atmosphere and began to release drop ships, nearly six-hundred soldiers planet-side. Do’tn managed to destroy seven of the ten ships, the XSS Laam'aana, XSS Doon'maen, XSS Cuue'tuun, XSS Ni'jam, XSS Hotho'hu, XSS Yena'aami, XSS Raen'hott before at 07:58, Sett’son and Fel’rauen arrived, reversing the situation so that the Coalition cruiser was obliged to retreat. Sett’son covered the three remaining Xindi destroyers XSS Narm'arm, XSS Teen'olan, XSS Snoa'yaon, but Fel’rauen was engaged by BS Anemoi.

While BS Anemoi was theoretically the better armed ship, two of her ten guns jammed, while another was damaged by weapons fire. Fel’rauen—armed with ten guns—was able to cause considerable damage before a shell from one of BS Anemoi’s two guns destroyed her, though she scored a direct strike on the Anemoi's CIC, killing 37 including Commander Chin Mckee, and forcing Colonel Agathon to take command and ordered her to withdraw. Although badly damaged, the Anemoi would ultimately survive the battle.

Romulan Entry
At 08:15, Pera’tol—with UES Valley Forge and UES Nightingale—sighted two cruisers. Still unaware that the Romulan ships had been sent to support the action, he signaled UES Perugia that he was chasing two Xindi cruisers. In fact they were the Romulan destroyers RCS Rinabl and RCS Beueyn.

Pera’tol, seeing he was now being chased by four more enemy cruisers attempted to lead them towards UES Perugia and UES Nightingale, reporting them as enemy ships. Eventually, Pera’tol recognized RCS Nauwo, and the ships attempted to rejoin Do’tn. However, the danger to Noxen's ships was not over, since the Coalition frigates were still unaware the additional ships were present. At 09:30, one of the Coalition frigates attacked RCS Nauwo with two torpedoes, missing and in turn escaping when RCS Nauwo tried to ram. RCS Rinabl and RCS Beueyn remained out of communication range, and separated from the rest of their squadron took no further part in the action.

At 08:17, six Xindi destroyers, the XSS Tren’Aone, XSS Boon’staan, XSS Phoo'neim, XSS Sett’son, XSS Ollk’errn and XSS Gurr'thres turned to flee but quickly turned back. The Xindi ship had seen two cruisers, RCS Beueyn and RCS Rinabl from Noxen's squadron ahead of her and turned back in the hope of harrying them by surprise. This was partially successful in severely damaging the RCS Beueyn, but the entire destroyer group was surrounded by the RCS Sheron, RCS Nauwo, RCS Monman and RCS Cruken and destroyed.

As Coalition ships attempted to rescue survivors, the Xindi light cruiser Sett’son approached and opened fire, forcing the Coalition to abandon the rescue, leaving behind Coalition sailors. The Coalition frigate UES New York had observed the action and launched a torpedo at Sett’son, but missed. Sett’son attempted to ram the ship, which managed to use the kinetic force of its phaser cannons to push itself out of the way, while doing devastating damage to the Sett’son, resulting in the Xindi abandon and scuttling the vessel.

By now, Coo’oln, Rass’barga and Ar’ned’ria had arrived at P’Jem, while Main’sma and Fel’rauen approaching from a different direction. Admiral Maa’ess was still unaware of the nature of the attack, so spread his ships in search of the enemy. Rass’barga was first to find BS Anemoi and attacked with shells and torpedoes, but was driven off by torpedo attacks from the Coalition destroyers. As Do’tn turned away, Coo’oln—with Admiral Maa’ess—approached and was destroyed by the combined Romulan-Coalition forces. Do’tn signaled Ger’varin requesting reinforcements, and four cruisers remaining with him came to assist.

At 11:30, Do’tn's squadron came upon another Xindi cruiser, Main’sma. The ships engaged for 20 minutes, before the arrival of Noxen caused Main’sma to attempt escape. Noxen gave chase, but in attempting to lose him Main’sma came back across the path of BS Anemoi and her destroyers. Her steering was damaged, causing her to turn back into the path of Noxen's ships and she was hit by shells and torpedo. At 12:20, her captain ordered his ship to be scuttled and the crew to abandon ship. Pera’tol had now joined the main body of ships and brought UES Valley Forge alongside Main’sma to take off the crew. Three Coalition destroyers, BS Ops, TRS Sur Baher and CAS Delta-3566, had been seriously damaged in the engagement.

Rass’barga, Ar’ned’ria and Fel’rauen, along with the destroyers XSS Dan’zig and Kar’lund managed to disengage and escape when the cruisers approached. But cut off from attack and heavy damage to the main drive engines of the cruisers, escape from the system was impossible. Commander Asser’nam of the Ar’ned’ria ordered the cruisers to make ballistic runs towards P’Jem and for all crew to abandon ship, intent on moving to a guerilla warfare on the planet.

The five remaining Xindi ships were destroyed by orbital defenses, but their wrecks and speed managed to protect over 600 Xindi to make planetfall.

Aftermath
The battle was a clear Coalition victory. Xindi had lost the the entire Fourth Fleet, 24 vessels. Xindi casualties were 1,242, including Rear Admiral Maa’ess, and 336 prisoners of war. The Coalition Fleet had lost three ships and only 350 men killed, with 40 wounded.

Guerilla warfare on the planet continued for nearly six days, the largely pacifist colony was decimated by the attack and only the mountain terrian of P'Jem prevented any large-scale troop movements on the enemy side.

New Xindus Cooperative

 * XSS Main’sma
 * XSS Coo’oln
 * XSS Ar’ned’ria
 * XSS Biir’Twen
 * XSS Keen’Zano
 * XSS Zaar’aana
 * XSS Veon’neem
 * XSS Laam'aana
 * XSS Doon'maen
 * XSS Cuue'tuun
 * XSS Ni'jam
 * XSS Hotho'hu
 * XSS Yena'aami
 * XSS Raen'hott
 * XSS Tren’Aone
 * XSS Boon’staan
 * XSS Phoo'neim
 * XSS Sett’son
 * XSS Ollk’errn
 * XSS Gurr'thres
 * XSS Fel’rauen
 * XSS Rass’barga
 * XSS Dan’zig
 * XSS Kar’lund

Resolution
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