By JUSTIN LEWIS, SolarNet News Staff Writer
Posted Sunday, 24 Apr 2146

TDS GALAHAD — The Terran Defense Force withdrew from the Alpha Centauri system two days ago, after a brief but brutal engagement with a numerically superior Tau Ceti task force. The attack has disrupted TDF operations in the Alpha Centauri system and cut off communications between the Terran government and the Republic of Kentaurus.

Combat commenced at approximately 12 p.m., Terran Standard Time, when the Twelfth Skirmisher Squadron, attached to the Twelfth Space Superiority Wing, engaged forward elements of a Ceti task force which consisted of three carrier groups, twenty light cruiser and destroyer escorts, and their attendant picket craft. Other elements of the 12th SSW scrambled from spaceports on Kentaurus Prime to defend the starships of the TDS Galahad's carrier group, which lay in orbital drydock facilities.

The TDS Galahad suffered an indirect hit from a Ceti fusion torpedo, killing her captain, Christopher Brooks, and destroying Galahad's bridge. The light cruiser TDS Bucharest was destroyed in combat, with all hands lost. Terran forces lost contact with the light cruiser TDS Sekhmet and the destroyer TDS Somerled during the evacuation: both ships are listed as missing and presumed destroyed. Fighters of the 12th SSW scored multiple torpedo hits against two Ceti cruisers, destroying both vessels.

The Terran forces completed their withdrawal to the Proxima Centauri system by 1:30 p.m. From there, the surviving starships of the Galahad carrier group returned to Earth.

The status of the Kentauran government or the world of Kentaurus Prime is unknown at this time. Officials at the Kentauran Embassy could not be reached for comment. Officials at the Fleet Admiral's office have said that a strategy to retake the Alpha Centauri system is already in the planning stages, and that the Ceti occupation will not impact the ongoing space station construction in the Proxima Centauri system.