For reference:
Orlanth Rex Emperor battleship
Hammer of Faith Mars battlecruiser
Cypra Probatii Improved Overlord battlecruiser
Moon of Aaron Dictator carrier
Moon of Esau Dictator carrier
Peesch Dictator carrier
Scourge of Heresy Dominator cruiser
Spuhn Gothic cruiser
Crom Lunar cruiser
Danae Dauntless light cruiser
Dragon Dauntless light cruiser
Absalom Grau Dauntless light cruiser
Targa Florio Dauntless light cruiser
Squadron Orbis Swords
Blue wing Swords
The senses were assailed on all sides at once, the smell of the incense, the golden light reflected from the golden Ikon and the battle honors and trophies surrounding the Altar of Heroes, the uplifting words of the hymns and the tangible presence of the Emperor in the hearts of all the officers present. Of all those present, in many ways, Commodore of Division Vladimir M’Dhu was the most affected. For him it was a true honor to be here and the fervor with which he sung the Hymns of Praise and Thankfulness was much greater than was his custom. Indeed, the Emperor did Provide.
His command and flagship for the past twelve years, the Hammer of Faith , was undergoing extensive repairs after being badly damaged in an ambush involving Chaos and Traitor forces. He had shifted his pennant to the Scourge of Heresy . It too had suffered some minor damage and that had been repaired at the Caldur space docks but, caught in a fierce Ion Storm while on training maneuvers, defects had been found, and the entire starboard power distribution had fused. This too could be fixed, but not immediately. Accordingly, he had shifted his pennant to the Cypra Probatii , an improved Overlord class battle cruiser. But that was a little like referring to Lord Admiral Ravensburg as a mere improved fleet commander. The Cypra Probatii was one of the most famous ships in the Gothic sector, with more battle honors than some fleets. It was a veteran ship commanded by a crack captain, and it had plenty of actual battle experience, something no training could ever duplicate. The Cypra Probatii had been damaged in a Warp Storm while on patrol, where the rest of the squadron was only the Emperor knew. It had limped to Caldur and its damage had been repaired. Now it was temporarily attached to the Caldur sub-sector fleet on a shakedown cruise. Captain Ulgar Thrack was not going back to the Gothic sector until he had checked the efficiency and effectiveness of all the repairs.
Merely having such a fine vessel under his command was an honor, but it was not the chief reason for his mood. No, that reason was revenge!!!. Thousands of his crew had died on the Hammer , and tens of thousands more in the command of the mad Admiral Bandini. His former flagship, the Salvation of Praxis , had been recovered as a hulk drifting in space. There had even been a few of the crew still alive, although they could hardly have been said to have survived. Their bodies and minds twisted by the power of the foul gods. However, they were not beyond use. The Inquisition had Interrogated them and much useful information had been uncovered. Commodore M’Dhu had been ordered to make a sweep of the Marxos system, site of his ambush, and disperse any Chaos forces or determine their strength and raid them if in force.
His much depleted cruiser division had been reinforced by a cruiser wing under the command of Captain Senioris Haygood. The Haygoods were from Cadia, guardian of the Cadian Gate, and although the family was more well known for its record in the Imperial Guard where among many, Colonel Jay Haygood commanded the 95th Cadian Regiment on Norcross III, some members instead joined the Imperial Navy. Captain Haygood was an unknown quantity. His wing had spent the last three years on detached service, chasing Chaos raiders, in which he had been quite successful. Captain Haygood’s wing consisted of his own ship, Peesch , a Dictator class cruiser, the Crom a Lunar and the Spuhn a Gothic. Supporting this was the Makon Squadron , now down to four Cobra destroyers in strength. Commodore M’Dhu’s own force consisted of the Cypra Probatii , the Moon of Aaron , a Dictator and the Danae , a Dauntless class cruiser. The three Swords of Orbis Squadron provided close escort. Between the two wings, he had a powerful, if small force, but significantly less powerful the force that he and the traitor Bandini had been allocated. A man must do the best with what he had.
From a sudden stiffness in Division Commissar Krenk he could tell that his reverie had been noticed. However his thoughts were his own and planning the defeat of the enemy was no insult to the Emperor. He would make up for any perceived lapses by an especially grand Service of Victory. Victory services were always better.
**********
Hardly had the swirling clouds of the Warp disappeared when the alarms rang all over the ship. Commodore M’Dhu’s force had arrived at Marxos and it had been expected. He had dropped into normal space as close to Marxos as he dared, only about 100,000 away, in the hope of surprising any patrolling forces. Well, it had seemed a good plan at the time. In orbit around Marxos, the surveyors and augers detected a substantial Chaos force already leaving orbit and advancing to meet him. Identified, with the speed and precision that Commodore M’Dhu had come to appreciate, were a Styx heavy cruiser carrier, a Acheron heavy cruiser lance ship, a Devastation attack carrier, a Carnage and two Slaughter battery cruisers and four Infidel escorts. They were in a compact, self-supporting group. This was not the case with Commodore M’Dhu’s fleet. Owing to distortions in the Warp, inefficient navigation, or pure willfulness, Captain Haygood’s wing had arrived over 50,000 to starboard, outside effective support range. Commodore M’Dhu had barely arrived and already he was in danger of being defeated in detail as the Chaos force boosted directly toward him.
Commodore M’Dhu stared at the tactical display on his command lectern, carefully examining the vectors and ranges. The logic engines’ cogitators were analyzing the same information and, in time, would provide a recommended action. Time was something that Commodore M’Dhu did not have. Ships were so massive that every second spent in changing their vector was a second closer to tactical advantage. Having examined his display, the Commodore sat back, upright, in this command chair. The bridge crew waited expectantly for orders. They had heard of M’Dhu from the base personnel, but like any close force of veterans, they were not prepared to take any of this information at face value.
‘Signal wing to close on the enemy, attack plan FINGER FOUR.’
‘Captain Haygood, close on enemy’s flank and support my attack.
While Flag-Lieutenant Hogar composed and transmitted these orders, Captain Thrack was already bringing up the attack plan. He had been told that Commodore M’Dhu was both decisive and subtle, if a little unorthodox. Decisive he had seen, but the subtlety escaped him. FINGER FOUR was a headlong rush through the enemy forces firing at point blank range, then passing through and disengaging. Not what he expected for a fighting Commodore either. Still, orders would be obeyed and the Cypra Probatii would not be the cause of failure.
Although lost mostly in an analysis of the situation, a small portion of Commodore M’Dhu’s mind was impressed by the efficiency on the bridge. Hardly any orders seemed to have been issued, yet everything was going to plan. Confessor Tauban even had time to pronounce a brief Blessing.
The lead elements of the Chaos force, two Slaughters, the Acheron and the Carnage, were boosting under full power directly toward him, covered by the four Infidels to their port. The carriers were advancing to, but more slowly, launching waves of fighters and bombers. It seemed clear that their plan was to smash his wing, then turn on Captain Haygood. Hot times were ahead.
The times were hotter even for the Danae . The light cruiser was targeted by every weapon that the enemy could bring to bear, and even braced, blast doors shut tight, she took heavy damage to the bow and port and starboard forward galleries. The damage repair crew must be working frantically, but the Danae was clearly crippled in a single volley.
Commodore M’Dhu was about to speak when he was pre-empted by Captain Thrack.
‘Engineers to all batteries.’
‘Activate the battery cogitators’
‘Fire pattern GAMMA’
‘Steer port 15, up 3.’
‘Salvo on my command.’
Captain Thrack was one who believed in gunnery salvos. Instead of firing every gun as it came to bear, the Captain preferred a sledgehammer blow of concentrated firing. There might be fewer shots, but the concentrated blast could completely overwhelm whole sections of the target. He had the battle honors to prove that his views were correct, at least for the superbly trained crew of the Cypra Probatii . Commodore M’Dhu was about to countermand this, when he too remembered the battle honors. The Captain knew his ship. The Commodore would have to trust his judgment. Simultaneously, the Moon of Aaron launched four squadrons of defensive fighters. And the whole wing, even the crippled Danae closed up for mutual defense.
‘NOW!!!’
Since the batteries were salvo firing, there was no steady ripple of fire as the Commodore was used to, instead the was a huge lurch, greater even than the firing of a Nova Cannon. The Cypra Probatii vibrated as if it were a bell struck by a Titan. Without having to command it, his command lectern was showing port, forward and starboard opticon views. He stopped on the port view and watched as the port bow, galleries and batteries of the approaching Acheron completely disappeared in a torrent of plasma and macro-shell bursts. Through the almost blinding glow, the twin beams of the turbo-lances, as bright as suns, carved into the enemy. When the debris cleared away and the glow subsided the Acheron still came on. It bore no resemblance to the terrifying heavy cruiser it had once been. It’s prow was almost broken off, there were dozens of fires burning on it’s port quarter, all of its forward defense turrets seemed to be destroyed and two or three of it’s massive lance turret arrays seemed to have been completely blown off. There was no doubt that the Acheron was crippled. From the damage suffered it was a miracle that it was able to return fire at all.
To starboard, two of the Infidels were converted into blazing wrecks. Additional fire was absorbed by the enemy’s shields. Captain Haygood advanced, but still kept his distance. He had launched four squadrons of bombers.
There was a warning klaxon from the forward augers.
‘Boarding torpedoes on starboard beam’
‘Storm Troops to forward galleries, prepare to receive boarders.’
The defensive turrets opened fire scything through the torpedoes, spilling their crews into the vacuum of space.
‘Boarders in forward torpedo room.’
‘Forward Storm Squad to prow!’
A flurry of orders dealt with the problem apparently secure in the expectation that nothing serious was wrong.
Three things occurred almost at once, there was an emergency warning, a brilliant flash appeared on all opticons, and the ship rang to the crash of automatic blast doors. All the tactical displays went blank as the logic engines transferred input to undamaged sensors and recalculated the situation. The conflagration on the Acheron must have reached a magazine and finally disabled the plasma containment fields in the engine rooms. The blast was its passing. A few moments later the Cypra Probatii rolled suddenly and all but the emergency lights went out. Commodore M’Dhu could feel the impact of some massive object on the hull though the deck. The lights came back on as did the tactical display. Things were somewhat different now.
The Danae was now showing no sign of life, its bridge torn off by the blast, the lifeless hulk drifting onward. One of the three Sword frigates of Orbis Squadron was completely gone, its wreckage indistinguishable from that of the enemy. Damage control crews on the Moon of Aaron were repairing two heavy hits to the dorsal sensor array, and a huge piece of wreckage had torn off the outer half of the Cypra Probatii’s port stabilator. The enemy did not escape undamaged either. Both enemy Slaughters were hit, one with a blazing mass of wreckage imbedded in its port drive tube. All the nearby fighters, bombers and torpedoes had been swept aside like leaves before a cyclone. None of the nearby ships had a single functional shield.
The enemy were not deterred. Their engines burst to life.
‘Slaughter on Collision course!’
The Commodore looked again at the tactical display. There were several green patches showing logic engine interpolation covering areas of destroyed sensors, but even so, it was clear from the vectors that both Slaughters were racing to ram the Cypra Probatii and the Moon of Aaron . The enemy carriers were launching more bombers, they had no fighters to worry about now.
Captain Thrack stared at Commodore M’Dhu awaiting his orders. From their absence, he could tell what was coming.
‘Ramming Stations!!!. Prepare for Prow ram.’
‘Prepare to repel boarders on port side.’
‘Clear for action.’ The Cypra Probatii would meet the attack head on.
‘Port 3 on my command.’
Commodore M’Dhu was impressed. That was the same command he would have given. Starboard 5 would be the standard instruction, attempting to avoid the ram. By turning toward the ram, and the other enemy,the blow would still be softened, but on a vector the enemy should not expect. This could magnify the damage to them.
If the lurch from the Salvo had been bad, and the hit by the wreckage worse, the massive clang as the two ships rammed was something of an anti-climax. The enemy had anticipated a starboard course change, and had effectively been rammed by the Cypra Probatii instead of the other way round. The Adamantium reinforced prow carved into the enemy’s forward defensive turrets and prow galleries, shearing several of them completely off. The Captain of the Moon of Aaron had taken no action, or the wrong action, and the upper sensor mast and a part of the bridge wing was carried away as the enemy passed by.
The enemy had obviously prepared to ram and concentrated solely on this, because their fire was desultory and completely ineffective. Their bombers advanced forming a formidable phalanx ahead. To turn to port to avoid them was to be raked astern by the Carnage, to turn to starboard was to be raked by the Slaughters. Again Captain Track awaited for orders.
‘Defense plan LAVOISIER’
Captain Thrack hesitated for a moment. This was a new plan loaded into the logic engines from Commodore M’Dhu’s own flagship. He had not had time to study it fully. Commodore planned to disperse the enemy bombers with concentrated supporting close range turret fire. An interesting plan that Captain Thrack hoped to survive.
‘Defense plan LAVOISIER’
‘Full power to all defense turrets.’
There were a series of warning hoots as the surviving Swords and the Moon of Aaron closed up beyond really safe distance to add their defenses. Captain Thrack muttered a very brief Prayer of Protection as the Cypra Probatii waded into the sea of enemy assault craft. There was an explosion on the starboard stabilator as it was hit by a salvo of plasma missiles, neatly evening up his ships ragged profile, otherwise, all twelve squadrons of bombers were destroyed or dispersed, and all without fighter protection. Mark up one for Commodore M’Dhu’s subtlety.
The Aaron launched bombers of its own to launch a counter attack.
‘Engineers to all batteries.’
‘Activate the battery cogitators’
‘Fire pattern GAMMA’
‘Steer starboard 10, zero, zero.’
‘Salvo on my command.’
Again there was the massive hammer blow of a timed salvo, fired at point blank range into the Slaughters on either side. This time there was no warning. The Cypra Probatii writhed like a wounded Land Shark, the artificial gravity failed, and those crew members not strapped down were flung about, crashing into equipment. Even though strapped in, the Second Gunner had the gunnery implant torn from his skull, his blood fountaining over the whole gunnery section, strangely surreal with the red emergency lighting.
The damaged stabilators slowly righted the ship. The various displays came back to life, one at a time, like a host of eyes awakening from a deep sleep. The artificial gravity returned but at only three quarters strength, and it had a curious pulse to it which made it seem as if the ship were speeding down a washboard. The Commodore’s tactical display was over half green now, and the uncertainty vectors would make the logic engines almost useless. Lucky he did not use them much. The Cypra Probatii was in good condition, for someone in close proximity to a Warp Drive failure, there was much damage, but it was all minor. The Moon of Aaron was not so lucky. It had taken the brunt of the blast and it’s entire port side was wrecked and blazing. The ship was heavily damaged and crippled, but still managed to hold station, although all its weapons were silenced. The Danae was completely gone, its own plasma reactors having exploded, leaving no identifiable wreckage, its entire surviving crew snuffed out in a moment. All the bombers, fighters and torpedoes nearby had again been swept from the face of space, as if they had never existed. In a miracle that could only be direct intervention of the Emperor himself, both Swords had survived unscathed.
If the damage to Commodore M’Dhu’s force was bad, that to the enemy was worse. The remaining two Infidels had been destroyed, their hulks smashing into the Carnage, staving in most of its starboard batteries. The other Slaughter had bits of wreckage smashed into its hull to that it appeared to be covered in spines of fire. It was crippled. Even the Devastation had been hit. There were many blackened spots on its starboard side.
As the only surviving capital ship in the wing, Captain Thrack new what to expect.
‘Brace of Impact.’
‘Close all Blast doors’
‘Full power to the shields.’
Even through the wobbly gravity, the thud of closing doors could be felt. Most of the opticons were off-line, and with the blast doors shut many sensor channels were also cut, so there was very little information for the logic engines to work with. Commodore M’Dhu did not need it. He could read what was happening from the damage control reports flooding in. Both shields had been knocked down, and some minor damage done to the outer hull, but the massive blows he expected never came. It appeared that Captain Haygood’s squadrons had launched an attack on the enemy flagship, but no damage was inflicted. Some fire from the enemy destroyed one of the four Cobras of Makon Squadron .
Commodore M’Dhu had survived and more. His wing had passed entirely through the enemy formation. The Danae had been lost, the Aaron badly damaged, but the Cypra Probatii was still fighting with full effect, as the salvoes it poured into the enemy as it passed showed, supported by the two surviving Swords. Captain Haygood had engaged the very flank of the enemy and knocked down some shields. Return lance fire at long range damaged the prow of the Peesch , his own ship.
In exchange for this damage, two Chaos cruisers and four escorts had been completely destroyed, and all of the remaining ships damaged to some extent, the Slaughter crippled. It would now be a simple matter to regroup, turn back and destroy the enemy’s survivors with the two undamaged cruisers.
Victory would be his. So would REVENGE!!
