Hmm. A big boom attack from a ship that can neither dodge nor tank return fire. That's a bad tactical decision in conventional warfare. But these are aliens, and something is likely to be non-conventional.

Random speculation:

Could be a "ratio attack" as practiced in drone warfare: The Dawn is considered to be many times more valuable than the asset expended to take it out. This means the thing they've just hit is lower-value than expected: All the intel is backed up elsewhere, all the hardware is "cheap" in terms of what else they can deploy, all the wreckage left is expected to be of no value or minimal value to Human and Raharran interests and intelligence.

Possibly to protect or distract attention from a larger asset elsewhere. If people think they've found "the" ghost base or eliminated "the" ghost threat, they won't look for another. But that means the people doing it are making some false and deeply insulting assumptions about the way Humans and presumably also Raharrans think regarding potential threats.

The attack on Dawn could be intended to protect a secret, by setting off a Kessler cascade that will stop humans from getting off Earth to investigate the site within the next ten centuries. Plenty of time for them to come eradicate whatever they want to keep secret (or eliminate the witnesses). But this would be useless unless there is also some incipient attack that is expected to wipe out or permanently confine the Raharran presence as well.

Possibly part of the reason this Raharran shot seems to have such a devastating effect is that we're looking at deliberate secondary explosions triggered specifically to vaporize any advanced tech they don't want to share. But they didn't need the Raharrans to shoot them to accomplish that.

Possibly damage to the asset is much more limited than it appears. The "ship" that has just been destroyed is a temporary amalgamation of devices 75% of which are still unharmed despite the shot that has just vaporized or wrecked about 25% of them. The smithereens that fall to the lunar surface are active devices expected to subsequently spread, entrench, rearm, regroup, and prepare to protect other assets on the ground and resist occupation. The "explosion" we're seeing is only a boost charge intended to spread them further.

Hmmm, speculation is fun.

And so humanity gets into its first taste of space battle!

Reminds me of a Hellbore. Great art BTW!

... am I the only one to wonder, after the speedy maneuvers in panels 3+4 and him not having buckled up previously, out of which smashed piece of furniture we'll hear the voice of cpt. Kas ask "... so, did we land a hit?"? Maybe the tactical desk he said he wanted the enemy ship to be "wiped off" of, perchance?

HECK YEAH, blast the ghosts! Man I hope the habitation modules haven't been hurt too much on the Dawn!

I'm so invested in this webcomic, makes me look forward to Mondays!

I see a number of visible guns on that big warship that aren't firing. Must be point-defense guns that don't have the requisite range for this fight?

... stupid question, now that the Alliance mil-ships have emptied their big guns, are we quite certain that they failed to detect just one enemy ship under the regolith?

...And this kiddos is why never fire first without checking that those you attack can't wreck your arse with return fire. Especially when it involves space battles with those who can travel interstellar distances, because if they can, they likely can build rail guns etc and kill you with dumb metal. Or worse, like antimatter weapons, GRASER's or more exotic things.

Or say dive in, do a 180° turn and use their engine's exhausts to completely wreck your ship. Because any sufficiently powerful drive is a weapon in the right hands. And any ship with one can be turned into a missile as well, potentially.

Interesting that the Ghosts made a suicidal act of hostility, but didn't simply self-destruct, either before or after blasting Dawn. It buys them the worst of both worlds, effectively declaring war on the Alliance while still leaving analyzable wreckage.

I'm confused ... if the "tungsten shell"s travel at "only" 0.002 c, shouldn't they arrive at the Moon ~500 seconds after laser shots, still well after particle beams, etc.? Or is that blue beam hitting the Flying OnePunchMan first one of the latter ones? If those can cleanly punch through the ship, that's a bit of a glass chin ...

I count two blue and one orange hit on target - with, so far, unclear effect. (The ship banking might be an evasive maneuver.) And the Alliance's aim seems to be good enough for Kas and his cruiser to be safe.

... the sortie's surface team, driver possibly excepted, ought to be a complete loss now, though.

They shot my friends, that's why I made sure they'd never shoot anything else again. Those worried about the moon, get over yourselves. There is debris from the solar system and interstellar debris hitting it all the time. Sheesh.

THE MOON! They're trashing the surface of our Moon, those savages!

Fair and reasonable reaction. That makes me think that the Ghost ship certainly could have escaped if they had floored it right away, but they chose a hostile action that they must known would immediately seal their fate.

But as I recall the Azinarsi lore, "death" is just a minor inconvenience for them, barely more than losing a disposable drone, so yeah, make sens.