“The Emperor is master of the galaxy, but the captain is master of his ship.“—A popular naval saying

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Imperial Voxcast (3 521 743.M41)—Imperial citizens across the Sculptor System are abuzz at news that Fleet Corvus has been reinforced by one of the most powerful military voidcraft in the Imperial Navy—a battleship.

The deployment of the Covenant of Hope was a closely guarded secret, say military officials—until it was mentioned in a naval report about the recent clash between Fleet Corvus and a Tau fleet near the agri-moon of Dar Sai.

Details of the battle suggest, say some military analysts, that the mere appearance of the battleship was enough to send the xenos fleeing from the battle.

“It could only have been a terrible shock to the xenos to see an eight-kilometer-long warship–bristling with formidable weapons—closing on their fleet,” suggested Khrysdam Alrod, a retired naval officer and military scholar who teaches naval cadets at the Nguyen Naval Base.

The Hope of Covenant in orbit above the agri-moon of Dar Sai.

“The Covenant of Hope is a Retribution-class battleship, boasting a huge array of gun batteries, a dorsal lance battery, and a formidable number of torpedo tubes,” he added. “What’s more, it’s heavily armored and designed for close-in fighting, a style of warfare that the Tau avoid at all costs.”

The battleship was constructed at the Jovian Shipyards in M37 and took approximately 70 years to complete. Its first-recorded action was at the Siege of Ignition, a promethium-rich world invaded by the World Eaters in 492.M37. During a battle with the traitors’ fleet, the Covenant of Hope traded broadsides with a World Eater battle barge for 32 hours.

The battleship engaged in multiple war zones over the millennia, most notably leading a fleet against Waaagh! Grimdakka in 809.M39. In that campaign, the vessel distinguished itself by destroying eight Terror ships over the course of a week-long battle in the Traitora System.

The Covenant of Hope first entered the Corvus Cluster in 738.M31 and has served as the flagship of Admiral Hansu Dinoloa, senior naval commander in the Corvus Cluster and admiral-in-command of Battlefleet Belliose.

But the powerful warship recently was redeployed, said Captain Marcus Speakeman, a public liaison officer with Fleet Corvus.

“Given his immense responsibilities overseeing all naval resources in the region, Admiral Dinoloa decided that keeping the Covenant of Hope in orbit over Belliose III was a waste of the ship’s immense military potential to destroy the Imperium’s enemies,” he said.

“He decided to transfer command of the vessel to Commodore Hennard for the foreseeable future, so that he may counter the growing xeno naval presence in the Sculptor System.”

It’s clear that the commodore wasted no time putting his new flagship in action. The vessel only arrived in-system three weeks ago, and it was deployed on the night side of Dar Sai to keep its presence unnoticed by the various xeno naval forces endangering the system.

But Hennard immediately took the ship into battle as soon as the Tau fleet made its approach to Dar Sai. Alas, despite its powerful weaponry, the Covenant of Hope was unable to use its close-in fighting ability to good use.

“Due to the greater maneuverability of our destroyers and frigates, they were the first to trade fire with the enemy,” Speakeman said. “But the Covenant of Hope, along with a number of cruisers, managed to engage the xenos with long-range fire.”

The naval officer, however, disagreed with assessments that the battleship’s presence alone led to the xeno’s retreat at the end of the battle.

“The Tau are veteran naval fighters, and I doubt they panicked at the sight of the Covenant of Hope ,” he said. Still, a faint smile visible on his lips, he added, “But I’m certain that the sight of a Retribution-class battleship, suddenly appearing from behind the asteroid cloud—with four other capital ships in formation—had some influence on their tactical decision to withdraw.”

“Praise be the God-Emperor.”

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The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our gaming adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.