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The war started for Alpha Centauri in late 2048 when the night of Alpha One suddenly erupted in a fury of light and heat. Whole cities disappeared in seconds with nothing but black and lethal columns of gas to mark their passing. The attacking force had been detected some hours earlier but Alpha, though realizing the significance of the fleet of ships, could not mobilize enough ships in time to even slow it down. Surface defences reacted quickly, managing to destroy a number of the enemy ships, but the evacuation of strategic targets had begun too late. Within hours of the first sighting the missiles hit.

Four years later the Proximans attempted the same exercise, but this time the target was Mars. In a lightning dash, a massive battlefleet struck through the outer defences of our solar system intent on destroying the great manufacturing plants supplying our forces. This time, however, it was a different story because, unlike our unfortunate allies, we were already in a state of war. Our Sentinel Majors and local defence interceptors were armed and in readiness for just this eventuality.

Nevertheless, it was a furious and closerun struggle. The Proxima ships were, for the most part, more modern and better equipped than the Status Two ships we retained for local defence. It was only the courage and determination of the crews and backup teams that prevented a repetition of Alpha's disaster. Although our losses were high, enough time was bought for our frontline squadrons to counterattack. Inevitably, some of the enemy's missiles got through and there are still areas of Mars which will be unapproachable for a considerable time.

The primary ground effect missile used on both these occasions was the Medusa, a 'dirty' thermonuclear device producing intense radioactive fallout which remains active for many hundreds of years. In size and destructive potential the Medusa was only slightly larger than the one carried by our Cyclops, but possessed a much more sophisticated guidance system, while its own generated defence field made it difficult to neutralize.

It was carried by one of Proxima Centauri's most sophisticated fighting machines, a long range planetary strike ship with a performance matching many contemporary interceptors. It was justifiably the pride of the Proximan fleet and fought in all theatres of the war in a variety of roles. As many of the enemy's ships were not equipped with warp drive due to its late adoption, many Goblins were adapted to mount an interceptor in place of the usual missile. When the Goblin emerged from warp at its jump target the interceptor was released to give support to the missile ships. Although this made it even more difficult for the Allies to seek and destroy the Medusa carriers, it at least meant one less missile to neutralize.

The Goblin was also one of the first warships to utilize the properties of the warp generator by creating a distortion of light reflected from the hull surface to form a ghost image of the ship slightly behind the real craft. This often fooled an attacker's gunnery computer long enough for the approach to fail.
After the war, all the Goblins were impounded by the Allies and served with the peacekeeping forces for some years.