Raid of Lambda 04

The Raid of Lambda-04

Description

The Raid of Lambda-04 is the name of an incident involving a TFK hit-and-run attack against the WEC's H2 processing plant Lambda-04 on Europa, during which the facility was almost fully destroyed. This caused numerous fuel supply issues to arise within LKF fleets, and forced the WEC to join the Lunar War.

• Visual Aid: Space Engineers Cinematic - Raid of Lambda-04
• ↱ Other related article: WEC Wiki - Branch System - Aftermath: Raid of Lambda-04

Prologue

With the REC busy defending Terra and TFK being forced to retreat from Luna, TFK was now looking for alternative means of weakening the LKF's grip on Luna.

Thus, a strategy was developed:
TFK forces have been observing interplanetary shipping traffic, with numerous WEC hydrogen tanker vessels travelling between Europa and Luna. It was widely known that the LKF bought the majority of its fuel from the WEC, so this gave TFK the idea to weaken the LKF by destroying their fuel supply.

The plan was to attack the WEC - However, this would mean violating the Corporate Neutrality Treaty established shortly before the start of the Lunar War. TFK no longer cared about such treaties, and was now preparing their last fleet of jump-capable vessels for the attack.

The Raid

Lambda-04 was the internal designation for the WEC's primary hydrogen processing plant located on Europa. It operated by pumping water from Europa's surface, and electrolysing it into hydrogen & oxygen. This installation also served as the fuelling hub for ships operating around Europa.

At the time of the incident, the LKF Invictus-class corvette "Ajax" was docked and undergoing refuelling at Lambda-04 after frontline battles with REC vessels around Terra. The majority of the WEC plant's personell left the plant in the early morning hours, leaving only 2 WEC Engineers and 2 LKF Pilots at the plant.

A small TFK fleet consisting of a Vexor and Valrond-class frigate was spotted flying closely above the surface of Europa, avoiding long-range sensors. The fleet, spearheaded by 2 Strahl interceptors, opened fire on the Lambda-04 plant, taking out the communications array to prevent an SOS message from being sent by the WEC.

The local LKF pilots scrambled to undock the Ajax and attempted to engage the hostile fleet, but were quickly taken out by the TFK's immense firepower. In a quick hit-and-run attack, the processing plant was almost fully destroyed leaving only rubble.

The Aftermath

With the WEC involuntarily being dragged into the Lunar War, the WEC's CEO and Board of Directors declared a corporate state of emergency. It was almost unanimously agreed upon by all parties to quintuple the outdated WEC Security Force's funding and seek cooperation with LKF forces to design vessels for a corporate defense fleet.

Just a few weeks later, the WEC's first Risso-class patrol boats and Omura-class corvettes were being manufactured at shipyard facilities all around Mars & Europa, with larger vessels being planned, should this war escalate further.

The WEC was not going to let TFK get away with another attack like this.