“The Terminus Est is an abomination against the Emperor, an open wound that has never healed, a constant reminder of betrayal and treachery. That it still stalks the stars is a dark omen sent by the gods, a reminder that while our lives are fleeting, the power of Chaos is forever.”—Fleet Admiral Horst Palye, Battlefleet Solar (Executed for Heresy 127.M39

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Continued from Part 1 . . .

Powers of the Warp

As van Strafe commanded, the fleet avoided targeting the Terminus Est and focused on the enemy’s other capital ships. The first target was a Devastation-class cruiser, which boldly broadcast its name: The Unforgivable.

All four Imperial cruisers and two frigate squadrons opened fire with a combination of prow lances, nova cannons, prow weapons batteries, and torpedoes.

Multiple hits were recorded against the ship—more than sufficient to disable the vessel. Scanners revealed swathes of Warp-tainted growth on the ship’s hull were burned or blown away, but there was no evidence of damage to its hull, weapons systems, or power plant.

Having discussed the reputation surrounding the Terminus Est‘s durability, many ship captains observed the limited impact of the entire fleet’s fire on a single cruiser with some dread.

Meanwhile, as the enemy fleet closed, it also fired with everything it had. Although each traitor warship chose its own target, the sheer amount of fire resulted in multiple hits on Imperial ships. The frigate, Celestine’s Wrath, was gutted; the destroyer, Emperor’s Grace, exploded; and the destroyer, Hyperion, lost power and went adrift.

As the battle continued, Imperial ship captains began to report their augurs and other sensoriums were struggling to lock onto the enemy ships. The closer the two fleets came, the more problems they reported.

Close-in fighting

With the enemy closing within 2 million kilometers, van Strafe finally ordered his battlegroup to advance. At close range, the orbital defense stations would have plenty of targeting opportunities, and he knew that his ships needed to get up to speed so as to maneuver in close quarters.

Meanwhile, the effectiveness of both fleets’ weapons grew as firing ranges closed. An enemy lance beam caught the Gothic-class cruiaer, Sword of Orion, in the stern and crippled its engines, and Van Strafe’s flagship, Zealous Loyalty, destroyed two enemy Iconoclast-class destroyers that maneuvered too close to the Tyrant-class cruiser.

While the capital ships of both fleets advanced as slow-moving fire platforms, an entirely different battle was taking place among the escort ships of both sides.

On both flanks, Cobra-class destroyers and Firestorm frigates maneuvered like a cloud of flies against Iconoclast destroyers and Infidel-class raiders. Each ship’s powerful weapons systems struck at the relatively lighter armor of its opponent, and casualties mounted far quicker than seen amidst the larger ships.

The capital ships also launched fighters and bombers, and in the growing confusion of so many targets in so little space, these ordinance-class craft managed to be a threat to one another as well as capital ships.

Indeed, one Imperial bomber squadron advanced relatively unnoticed to strike at an enemy cruiser, The Soulless, and take out its port shields. This enabled two Imperial cruisers, Saint Kaendra’s Spirit and the Zealous Loyalty, to fire broadsides into the traitor ship until half the ship was in flames as its internal atmosphere escaped through massive rents in its hull.

Despite such successes, the larger Chaos fleet was winning the day. Warpcraft clearly was at work. The Terminus Est‘s weaponry was uncannily accurate, and it was inevitable that some Imperial ships would feel compelled to ignore orders and fire back. But, as augurs revealed, a miasma of warp-spawned flies created an obscuring cloud around the Chaos flagship, and Imperial targeting systems simply could not lock onto massive vessel.

Death of an Admiral

The Terminus Est proved as formidable as its reputation. Having single-handedly wiped out an entire squadron of escort ships, the Chaos flagship turned and accelerated toward van Strafe’s Zealous Loyalty.

The Imperial flagship had no choice but to face down the abomination, and within 20 minutes, both warships were trading broadsides.

Both ships were well-suited to close-in fighting, but the Terminus Est‘s larger guns and durability made it an uneven fight. Although the Chaos warship lost half its starboard weapons batteries, the Zealous Loyalty saw its hull ripped open in several places, its shields collapse, and its engine room damaged.

Maneuvering within a minuscule 10,000 kilometers of the stricken ship, the Terminus Est launched a score of boarding torpedoes. Anti-ordinance turrets destroyed several, but the rest slammed into the ship’s flank and, no doubt, released scores of traitor marines and other horrors into the Imperial ship’s interior.

As Imperial ship captains struggled to survive against mounting odds, garbled messages from the Zealous Loyalty reported the crew indeed was fighting traitor Space Marines in the ship’s corridors. One message warned of “Neverborn” aboard the ship. [Neverborn is an officially forbidden expression to describe daemons.]

The last message was from Von Strafe himself, who reported the traitors were breaking down the armored hatch to the ship’s bridge—and what was left the fleet was to break away and escape.

A Bitter Defeat

In the end, one cruiser and six escorts managed to make their escape to the system’s Mandeville Point and enter the Warp on a course for Belliose III.

The traitor fleet appeared to take no notice of the Imperial retreat, instead turning their attention to the planet’s orbiting defense stations. These were all destroyed and, just before the battlegroup left the system, traitor ships took up position in orbit over Dozaria.

I sent a final message to High Marshall Mikhail Botha, supreme commander of Imperial troops on Dozaria, expressing our regret that our battlegroup proved inadequate to the task of defending the system.

I also expressed confidence that an Imperial relief force would return at the earliest opportunity. From the tone of the high marshall’s voice, I’m confident he didn’t share my optimism.

+ Report Ends, Captain Selaina de Lyonall, Saint Kaendra’s Spirit, acting commander of Battlegroup Dozaria +

TheGM: Yikes. The war on Dozaria had settled down to a “pleasant” stalemate, allowing the Imperium some opportunity to tackle other threats in the Corvus Cluster.

But, with a Chaos fleet in orbit, the defenders of Dozaria will have no new reinforcements and no off-planet supplies to bolster their war effort. It’s imperative that Admiral Dinola organize another large fleet to relief the planet.

But where to find them? Weaken the blockade at the Dyrillian Quarantine Zone and allow Necron ships to run free? Strip Fleet Corvus as it defends the Sculptor System from orks and Tau invaders? And (spoilers) what about when the Tyranids finally make their presence known in the Ultima Segmentum?

This is getting exciting.

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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.