By skillful maneuvering, Commodore Hennard managed to bring the firepower of his entire flotilla against the two isolated traitor cruisers. Within an hour, both traitor ships were destroyed.

“Speakeman! Those idiot ships have fallen behind. They’ve betrayed me and cost me the battle. If they weren’t doomed, I’m have their captains up for court martial. Order all ships to the Mandeville Point. We’ve failed. Oh, the shame of it.“—Commodore Gadea Hennard, commander of Flotilla Dozaria Relief One (DR-1)

* * *

Continued from Part 1 . . .

Despite the loss of two cruisers, Hennard recognized that both combatants remained evenly balanced, and he intended to strike a second blow against the traitors, Wythe said. But first, he needed to shake off the pursuit of the enemy and maneuver to a more favorable position.

To that end, Hennard ordered all ships to continue at maximum thrust in order to put distance between himself and the enemy.

Most of the flotilla promptly obeyed, but the enemy fleet had begun broadcasting scrap code—heretical and dangerous machine language that interfered with communications between Imperial ships. Two Imperial cruisers, the Dictator-class cruisers Purity of Heart and Glorious Death, failed to receive Hennard’s order and, until they saw their comrade ships accelerating away, continued forward at cruising speed.

Although the Imperial flotilla destroyed two isolated Chaos ships as planned, the enemy fleet managed a successful hard turn to port and brought two Imperial cruisers and two destroyers under fire. All four ships were lost. (Click map for larger image.)

The two cruisers were isolated from the rest of the flotilla, and the Terminus Est and another traitor cruiser managed to accelerate into firing range. The traitors’ initial fire was ineffective and, for a time, it appeared the two Imperial ships might escape.

It was not to be, Wythe said. The Terminus Est and the traitor heavy cruiser, the Blightlord,  launched a mix of fighter and bomber squadrons at the Imperial ships and followed up with lance strikes.

One of the cruisers, the Dictator-class Purity of Heart, took severe damage from the lance strikes and, once the traitor bombers reached it, the ship was engulfed in explosions, lost power, and went silent.

The broadcast of scrap code by the traitor fleet disrupted communications and caused two Imperial cruisers to fall behind the rest of Flotilla DR-1. The Terminus Est led its fleet directly at these two vulnerable vessels.

A Deadly Race

The second trailing cruiser, the Glorious Death, struggled onward even as the rest of the Imperial flotilla sped away.  “The position of the enemy made it impossible for Hennard to turn to the Glorious Death‘s assistance,” Wythe explained.

Due to the trajectories of individual ships, more traitor cruisers managed to enter into extreme firing range against the cruiser and, after an hour of long-range bombardment, it became clear that Glorious Death‘s could not escape.

“A lucky lance strike penetrated the shields of the warship and damaged its thrusters,” Wythe said. The ship’s engineering crew attempted to repair the damage but, over the next 40 minutes, the enemy clawed its way into effective firing range, opening with a salvo of weapons batteries and launching another round of bombers at our cruiser.”

The enemy bombers did not reach the Glorious Death. A salvo from the Blightlord struck the center of the Imperial cruiser, breaking its back and leaving it powerless and leaking atmosphere.

With the enemy to their rear, Imperial ships were forced to flee in hopes of gaining room to redeploy for a second round of combat. Alas, the traitor fleet stayed on the Imperial trail, and Hennard had to order a cruiser and two destroyers to fall back, draw enemy fire, and allow the rest of the flotilla to escape.

Chaos Ascendant

With four cruisers lost, Flotilla DR-1 was down to a battleship, two cruisers, and four destroyers—against a battleship, four cruisers, and one destroyer.

“Commodore Hennard realized the battle was lost and his greatest responsibility was to save what ships remained,” Wythe said. “That was particularly true as the Imperium cannot afford to lose a Retribution-class battleship.”

The enemy was aware of this reality, and it made every effort to stop the battered flotilla from reaching the system’s Mandeville Point and escaping, he added.

“The enemy fleet turned toward the Covenant of Hope and opened its thrusters to full power,,” Wythe said. “the enemy’s intent was obvious.”

What followed was a tense race that forced Hennard to sacrifice one of his remaining cruisers and two destroyers.

“The Dictator-class cruiser Wings of Glory was equipped with fighters and bombers, which were launched at the pursuing enemy with support from two destroyers,” Wythe said. “These attempted to bomb, shoot, and ram the enemy. They were not successful in damaging any of the enemy ships and, in fact, were destroyed.”

Soon after, the Wings of Glory was damaged by lance strikes and torpedoes and fell behind, ultimately being destroyed by the advancing enemy. The Covenant of Hope, along with a cruiser and two destroyers, managed to escape.

+ + + END BROADCAST + + +

Click here to return to Part 1 of this fight.

The remains of Flotilla DR-1 flees for the system’s Mandeville Point, a shadow of its former glory and shamed by its defeat.

TheGM: Well, I’m surprised. When the Chaos fleet was forced apart by the Imperial torpedo spread, I thought Hennard had utterly outwitted the Terminus Est.

(Of course, I’m pretty sure Hennard (myself) made a mistake. If I’d waited another turn to fire, those torpedoes would have struck home immediately, and several enemy ships could have been crippled. So, I’m rethinking my “brilliant” tactical decision.)

But, with the Terminus Est likely commanded by no less than Typhus himself, it’s no surprise the worshipers of Nurgle were able to manage a perfect “Come to New Heading” in the early rounds of battle, and just barely bring the flank of the Imperial fleet into weapons range. And their fire was exceptional.

Still, it looked like the Imperials had a shot. They quickly killed two enemy cruisers themselves, and the order to “All Ahead Full” order allowed most of Hennard,’s command  to easily break away and get enough space to regroup for a second round of battle.

Except . . . those two unlucky Dictator-class cruisers failed to get the order to “hurry up.” They fell behind, with the Chaos fleet on their tails, and they paid the price.

Now outnumbered 2-to-1, and with the Terminus Est undamaged, Hennard had no choice: He had to run. And he had to sacrifice another cruiser to manage it.

This is going to affect the ground fighting on Dozaria. No Imperial reinforcements are coming. No supplies. No new Astartes support. 

And what if the Terminus Est decides to just bomb the Imperials from orbit? Things are not looking good for the planet.

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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.