Battle of Vega

The Battle off Vega, also known as the Action off Vega or the Action of 4 August 2153, was a naval battle in the Vega-system, in orbit of the United Earth colony of Surajkund, during the Xindi Conflict where a Surajkund Defense Brigade squadron and the United Earth Starfleet flagship UES Enterprise engaged the Xindi cruiser XSS Gurr’vak, which was raiding Surajkund for its high lead deposits, a necessary material for Xindi-Reptilian shipbuilding. The United Earth forces attacked and destroyed the Xindi cruiser. Heavily outgunned, the Xindi force attempted to flee and then fought a desperate and ineffective action against the United Earth force.

Prelude
After the opening Xindi First Strike the Xindi ordered the Xindi cruisers XSS Gurr'vak, Huyy'nal and Yunn'nir to raid the local colonial holdings of United Earth, Confederacy of Vulcan and Andorian Empire in order to distract the local powers as the New Xindus Cooperative 78 warships and 200,000 troops through the Northland Relay.

At 02:15 the Gurr'vak arrived in the Vega-system and began to deploy sensor drones to gage the military disposition at Surajkund. However the impatience of the Gurr'vak of Corporal Dendev, the cruiser's commanding officer, ordered the the ship in to begin raiding.

At 03:50 Surajkund Orbital Standard on 4 August 2153, the automated freighter Alpha-Gamma-34 was outbound from Surajkund to Savitri Station,  Savitri Station with a load of hydrogen when it encountered the XSS Gurr'vak. The Xindi cruiser, attempting to maintain operational silence destroyed the freighter. However due to the comm. uplink to Savitri Station, the sudden lose of contact with AG-34 caused suspicion. The  Surajkund Defense Brigade dispatched three cutters to investigate, anticipating it to be Nausicaan raiders. Captain Usama Latif abroad the SDB Yousaf Raza Gillani and being accompanied by  Rawalpindi and  Lahore intercepted the Gurr'vak at 04:25 near Vega VI.

The SDB ships made an attempt to challenge the approaching Xindi ship however a phaser spread from the Gurr'vak severly damaged the  Rawalpindi  and  Lahore, requiring  Captain Latif  brought  the  Yousaf Raza Gillani to come about to assist.

A distress call from  Captain Latif  to  Surajkund Defense Brigade Headquarters alerted them that a hostile military unit was in-system. A general alert was issued by Surajkund Prime Minister  Ahmed Khan for all civilian ships in-system to scatter and a tight-band subspace message for immediate assistance.

Order of Battle
United Earth New Xindus Cooperative
 * UES Enterprise - Captain Jonathan Archer (Fleet CO)
 * SDB Asola
 * SDB Timur
 * SDB Aravalli
 * SDB Anogeissus
 * SDB Yousaf Raza Gillani
 * SDB Rawalpindi
 * SDB Lahore
 * XSS Gurr’vak

Course of Battle
At 04:50 the UES Enterprise, making best speed back to Earth following the Xindi First Strike, rediverted to assist. During the interim SDB Asola under command of Commodore Muhatarma Begum, along with the Timur, Aravalli and Anogeissus began to harry the Gurr'vak in order to buy time as ground-side Brigade forces began to mobilize and the sole major city on Surjakund, Peacock City, began to evacuate civilians to emergency bunkers. During the interim period of 04:50 to 05:30 the Gurr'vak made no attempted to engage the Surjakund vessels, instead focusing on disabling the automated freighters Beta-Beta-3 and Delta-Gamma-35.

By 05:45 the Enterprise began to approach, the Gurr’vak realized the approaching vessel was a true military vessel when the Enterprise shot down the Xindi sensor drones at the system's edge.

The Gurr'vak attempted to flee while Enterprise opened fire upon the nearest cruiser. This Xindi vessel managed to dodge the incoming fire from Enterprise by changing course but by doing so lost enough speed that the United Earth cruiser caught up with them.

Timur and Asola withdrew from heavy damage, while the combined fire from Anogeissus, Aravalli, and Enterprise damaged Gurr'vak so badly that the cruiser's entire bridge was blown off the deck of the vessel, killing Corporal Dendev and shifting command to Lieutenant De'nino in main engineering. Meanwhile, SDB Timur and Asola engaged the Gurr'vak, disabling her steering gear and causing the Xindi vessel to circle. Asola's fire was so effective at this point that, as had occurred with Gurr'vak, gutted the main habitation areas, killing most of the Xindi abroad.

Despite the damage the Xindi cruiser still refused hails to surrender and vainly continued the action.

The Gurr'vak then made an attempt at engaging Enterprise with torpedoes. Despite the torpedo attack, Enterprise was able to outmaneuver the Xindi ship and remained unscathed. Coordinating fire with the Anogeissus and Aravalli, the trio pulverized the Gurr'vak steering mechanism and with three remaining torpedoes from the Enterprise forced the Xindi cruiser into the atmosphere, destroying the craft and ending the battle.

Aftermath
The Battle of Vega was the first 'official' combat of the Xindi Conflict resulted in the first combat death for the Enterprise, Crewman Taylor Jane Taylor, along with the loss of a Xindi cruiser with all 60 hands.

Losses & Casualties
United Earth New Xindus Cooperative
 * Freighter Alpha-Gamma-34
 * Freighter Beta-Beta-3
 * Freighter Delta-Gamma-35
 * XSS Gurr’vak