Gothic X Campaign

[AuroraSteve]

This is a test campaign for v3.0 and uses the full v3.0 ruleset.

In 2032, Earth was attacked without warning by an alien armada, which bombarded the surface from orbit. The aliens were apparently only interested in devastating the planet as there was no follow-up invasion. Only pockets of humanity remained, living in near-medieval conditions in a cold, irradiated wasteland. In the centuries that followed, some semblance of civilisation returned with the emergence of villages, towns and eventually small city states. Even though knowledge of the Fall was part of collective human memory in the form of myths and legends, humanity was fractured and small wars still broke out over territory or resources. One state, known as the Imperium, expanded as a result of conquering its neighbours with swift and effective military campaigns, while recovering ancient knowledge from whatever intact sources still remained. Propaganda from the Imperium, claiming that humanity must unite and prepare for another alien attack, was effective enough to bring some small powers into the fold without the need for military action.

Over centuries, the Imperium developed into the dominant state on Earth, becoming an economic, scientific and military powerhouse. Trans-Newtonian physics were discovered, leading to the construction of factories, research facilities and orbital shipyards. Primitive spacecraft were built, although they remained close to Earth to support combat on the frontiers of the ever-expanding Imperium. The Emperor, leader of the Imperium and a hereditary monarch with absolute power, prohibited any exploration beyond Earth orbit until humanity was ready to confront an external threat, especially due to his concern that the aliens had left some form of monitoring system to alert them to humanity venturing forth from its home.

By the dawn of the forty-first century, almost two millennia after the alien attack, Earth was united under the banner of the recently renamed Imperium of Man. Earth itself was named Terra in High Gothic, a derivative of Latin that had become the official language of the Imperium. The Emperor, and the wider Imperial family, were no longer simply the leaders of mankind, but the object of veneration for leading humanity from the ashes to the stars. The Imperial lineage stretched back almost a thousand years, with each Emperor trained from birth to lead mankind into the future. Across the globe, it was now a matter of faith that aliens, now known as Xenos, were an existential threat and that the Imperium had to be ready for their return. On the symbolic date of January 1st 4000, the Emperor gave the order for the first survey frigates to leave orbit.

This campaign uses the WH40k Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard as a guiding theme, with minor elements of the Space Marines. Ship classes mirror the general capabilities of classes of the Imperial Navy, based on the type of weapons specified for the ship classes in the Battlefleet Gothic board game, with the following exceptions. Survey ships don’t exist in BFG, so I chose a design and reduced weapons to allow room for the sensors. I also designed the carrier-hybrids, such as the Dictator, as full carriers, because ‘fighters’ are relatively larger in Aurora vs WH40k and it is the ‘carrier’ aspect that distinguishes those ships. I no longer require specialised jump-capable designs due to the changes in v2.4.0, so all ships of frigate-size or greater will have their own jump drive. Finally, there is a much wider variety of non-warships in Aurora compared to BFG so I created most of those from scratch using names appropriate to the theme.

For the Battlefleet Gothic ship lists, I am primarily using the Expanded Revised edition, plus I may use the Additional Ships Compendium for roles not covered by the standard ship lists. Ground forces will be based on the equipment of Imperial Guard, Space Marines and other Imperial forces from the WH40k 8th edition codices. In order to utilise the nomenclature of the Imperial Navy, railguns on major warships will be named weapon batteries, gauss turrets will become defence turrets, CIWS are commercial defence turrets, 10cm railguns on small craft will be lascannon, particle lances will be lance batteries, lasers will be bombardment cannon and missiles will become torpedoes. There are various attack craft in WH40k which are harder to replicate, but I will stay true to their intended roles.

To reflect the theme and to allow me to include all the listed weapons, I have ‘gone large’ with the ship design, with frigates at 15,000 tons, light cruisers at 30,000 tons and cruisers at 60,000 tons. This fleet doctrine and weapon mix will not produce ‘efficient’ ships, but good design is not the intention. This is a role-play campaign based on a WH40k Imperial Navy theme. There are fewer distinct classes than in previous WH40k games, due to the absence of specialised jump ships and the larger hulls, which allowed me to combine classes such as the Firestorm and Sword class frigates into a single design. I’ve also ignored gauss and lasers initially to allow for an initial RP spend on particle lances.

With all the above in mind, I made the following changes to the starting setup:
• Starting population is two billion with standard installations for that population size, except for 800 Maintenance Facilities instead of 600.
• Research Points are 2.5x normal to allow for the variety of starting weapons and modules, with a limitation of gas core engines.
• Starting Build Points are double normal, on the assumption the Imperium has been building up the largest army and fleet it can support before venturing into the galaxy.
• Shipyards are customised for the ship classes. This results in a larger than normal number of shipyards, but the Imperium doesn’t have the resources to use them all simultaneously.
• Ruin chance is increased from 20% to 25%.
• Enhanced Invaders, Enhanced Precursors, Enhanced Swarm and Raiders are active
• System Count is 40 for Raiders, 80 for Swarm and 120 for Invaders.
• NPRs can activate Precursors and Raiders
• Ten multi-system NPRs using 1 + 5 empire radius, maximum 100 systems each, 25-50 LY
• NPRs generate other NPRs with a 5% chance.
• NPRs encounter Precursors and Raiders
• Minor Races set to 40%
• Pre-Industrial Races set to 20%
• Industrial Races set to 20%
• Limited Research Admin
• Research speed 50% after game start
• Hostility Modifier +30
• Survey Speed 25%
• Min Raider Tech 500k
• Min Invader Tech 2000k

Terra Survey Report
Duranium: 365,850 1.00
Neutronium: 87,750 1.00
Corbomite: 114,750 0.90
Tritanium: 124,500 0.60
Boronide: 110,700 0.90
Mercassium: 118,050 0.40
Vendarite: 116,700 0.60
Sorium: 204,300 0.90
Uridium: 265,050 1.00
Corundium: 279,450 0.50
Gallicite: 130,800 1.00

Imperial Navy Warships
The Firestorm class frigate is a workhorse for the Imperium, capable of independent operations of up to one year, protecting commercial traffic or small colonies, functioning as part of a frigate squadron or providing an escort for capital ships. The main armament of the Firestorm comprises six Astaroth Kinetics AK-25 Weapons Batteries, with each battery firing four projectiles every fifteen seconds out to a range of 250,000 kilometres, supported by the same number of light weapon batteries for close defence. The single Gothicus-Caliban GC-18-225 Spinal Lance Battery is a slow-firing but devastating weapon that can penetrate the armour of capital-class warships, but is much less effective in terms of overall damage output against lighter targets and ineffective in a point-defence role. Passive defences include moderate armour and a single Valentinian-Stern VS-37 Void Shield. With a full suite of sensors, the Firestorm can locate hostile ships with her active augur array at over sixty million kilometres, detect incoming torpedoes and conduct passive searches with both thermal and electromagnetic augur arrays.

Imperial light cruisers lie halfway between true capital ships and frigates and are intended to form the core of a light task group. The Dauntless class has double the armament of the Firestorm, mounting twelve weapon batteries, twelve light weapon batteries and a pair of lance batteries. The lances are slightly smaller and less capable than the single spinal lance battery of the Firestorm, but fire every forty seconds instead of every minute. As the Dauntless is intended to operate in heavy combat, destroying hostile vessels at close range, it has substantially more passive defences than the Firestorm, with three times the shield strength and double the armour volume, plus a combat information centre to improve targeting.

In addition to its shipboard weapons, the Dauntless has boarding capability. A 500-ton boarding bay houses a company of forty-two Space Marines, genetically enhanced, trained in boarding combat, wearing heavy powered armour and carrying a bolter. They can be launched against slow-moving or crippled hostile vessels. The Dauntless has an improved sensor suite, adding seventeen million kilometres to active sensor range, compared to the Firestorm, and dedicating twice as much hull volume to passive sensors. A pair of fixed launchers for augur probes provide long-range detection capability.

The Lunar is the standard cruiser class of the Imperial Navy. With a hull twice the size of the Dauntless class, the Lunar has sufficient internal space to add six weapon batteries, six light weapon batteries, two lance batteries and eight torpedo launchers, with sufficient magazine space for sixty-four torpedoes and four small augur probes. Due to the benefits of a larger hull, the passive defences are focused towards shields, with a one hundred and seventy percent increase in shield strength compared to the Dauntless, but a twenty percent reduction in armour thickness. The MK I Cruiser Active Augur Array replaces the active augur array on the Dauntless, extending sensor range to a hundred million kilometres, while the passive arrays have been increased by fifty percent. Finally, the fuel storage, engineering systems and reactors have all been upgraded in line with the larger hull. The boarding bay for a Space Marine company has been retained. The Lunar has a six month deployment time, which is half that of the lighter warship classes, as it will remain close to fleet bases unless deployed for major operations.

The Dictator class carrier is based on the same hull as the Lunar, but with massive internal changes. All the weapons have been removed, along with six of the eight shield generators and a quarter of the armour. In their place is an expansive hangar bay, which holds a strike group of twenty-four Starhawk bombers, forty Fury interceptors and a single Aquila lander, plus sufficient magazine storage to reload the bombers twice. The Starhawk wing is capable of launching twenty-four standard torpedoes in a single salvo, while the interceptors can escort the bombers, provide anti-torpedo defences for the carrier or launch their own independent strikes against soft targets. The significant reduction in defences for the Dictator is based on a doctrine of launching carrier strikes from stand-off ranges, rather than operating with the battle fleet.

The Veritas Invicta class exploration frigate is based on the Firestorm hull. The light weapon batteries, shield generator, jammer systems and four of the six heavy weapon batteries have been removed and the armour reduced by a third. The freed-up interior hull space is dedicated to four gravitational and four geological survey sensors, improved passive sensors, a probe launcher, plus magazine space for thirty-five probes or buoys, and significantly increased endurance. The extensive crew accommodations, large engineering deck and considerable fuel capacity allow the exploration frigate to operate without support for up to five years. In addition to the deadly spinal lance battery and weapon batteries, the Veritas Invicta can use its probe launcher to fire light torpedoes. They are small and relatively slow, but have a large warhead for their size, plus retargeting capability, making them ideal for use against survey ships or commercial traffic.

Light Units and Attack Craft
The Faustus class Interceptor is a deadly mid-range interceptor, designed around the powerful Gothicus-Caliban GC-18-225 Spinal Lance Battery. It is generally deployed at colonies and provides high-speed interception coverage across the entire inner system. Unlike the much smaller, carrier-based Fury interceptor, which relies on overwhelming enemy vessels with superior numbers at point-blank range, the Faustus is designed for stand-off fire, using the 225,000 km range and high constant damage output of its spinal lance battery.

The Sentinel class Defence Satellite is essentially an engineless Faustus with much larger crew quarters, intended for long-duration deployments at jump points, primarily as a tripwire defence. Due to the sixty second reload time, it is likely to have only a single shot before any surviving hostile force destroys it, so the Imperium envisages deploying it in sufficient numbers to inflict crippling damage. While the Sentinel could be deployed to defend colonies, a ground-based lance battery is a superior option for that scenario. Due to its experimental nature, only six were available in January 4000, so stocks would have to be increased as resources allowed.

The Starhawk bomber is the primary long-range strike weapon of the Imperial Navy and is equipped with a launch rail for a standard torpedo. The Starhawk includes an integral active augur array and fire control system, allowing torpedo launch from maximum range. The bomber’s endurance is sufficient to attack targets five hundred million kilometres from its parent ship.

The Fury class Interceptor is a carrier-based attack craft that can perform three different missions; short-range interception of hostile targets, providing an escort for bomber attacks and fleet defence against torpedo attack. The Fury is armed with the MK I Lascannon, a small, rapid-firing weapon, and is equipped with an augur array capable of detecting torpedoes.

The Aquila class Lander is a multi-role, jump-capable small craft, used for scouting missions, investigation of sensor contacts, picket duty, jump point exploration and the deployment of buoys or probes. They can also be employed in a limited strike role, carrying two light torpedoes. The Aquila is usually planet-based, although one is carried by each Dictator class carrier.

Commercial Ship Designs
The Imperium requires a host of commercial-engined vessels to support the rebuilding of humanity’s interstellar empire. With the exception of space stations, all the commercial designs are jump-capable so the variety of different classes can be grouped into several distinct categories, based on hull size and jump drive type. The first group comprises the Jericho class colony ship, the Universe class mass conveyor and the Cetaceous class troop transport, which are identical 245,000-ton jump-capable hulls, except for their respective transport capacities of 500,000 colonists, 125,000 tons of cargo and 125,000 tons of troops.

The second category comprises various orbital stations. In terms of descending size, they are the Sangua Machina class Fuel Harvesting Station, Excavator Abyssalis class Orbital Mining Station, Exordium Mundi class Terraforming Station, Reparatio Ferrum class Repair Station and Arx Refectorium class Maintenance Station. Each comprises a structural shell, a suite of commercial sensors and their respective capabilities: fifty harvester modules, twenty-five orbital mining modules, five terraforming modules, 60,000 tons of repair capacity and twenty maintenance modules. The jump-capable Auriga Gravis tug, designed to tow the stations to their destinations, is of similar size.

The third category comprises ships that utilise the RC-90 Commercial Jump Drive, specifically the Sepulchre class Salvager and the Omnis Apertum class Stabilisation Ship. The Sepulchre can salvage a frigate-sized ship in approximately one week. The Omnis Apertum is intended to open up the galaxy for civilian shipping, which is not jump-capable. As the stabilisation ship is jump-capable, a pair of Omnis Apertum can work on either side of a jump point simultaneously.

The final category is a group of four designs using the RC-60 Commercial Jump Drive. The Carrack class freighter and the Orca class troop transport are light workhorse designs with a capacity one fifth that of their larger cousins, the Universe and the Cetaceous, while the Magistratus class replenishment ship is intended for resupply of both fleets and colonies. The Vector Alarum class Transport Carrier is intended to transport light naval units, the Faustus class interceptor or the Sentinel class defence satellite between colonies or jump points. In a short-term emergency, it could carry and deploy up to sixty Fury class interceptors against hostile forces.

Imperial Navy
4x Lunar class Cruiser: Imperial Wrath, Holy Flame, Iron Duke, Justiciar
2x Dictator class Carrier: Archon Kort, Ferrum Aeterna
8x Dauntless class Light Cruiser: Aegis, Bellerophon, Bloodhawk, Cerberus, Dauntless, Divine Crusade, Ravenor, Unbroken Vow
12x Firestorm class Frigate: Cape Wrath, Excalibur, Firestorm, Heroic Endeavour, Kraken, Medusa, Pegasus, Rubicon, Silent Fire, Valiant, Vengeful, Vortex
8x Veritas Invicta class Survey Frigate: Acta Sanctorum, Astra Fidelis, Crux Veritas, Custodia Lucis, Ordo Revelare, Sanctus Lux, Veritas Invicta, Virtus Aeterna
12x Faustus class Interceptor: Bellator, Carnifex, Corvus, Executor, Exidium, Faustus, Ferox, Raptor, Spiculum, Tormentum, Venator, Vindex
4x Cetaceous class Troop Transport: Bastion of Souls, Choir of the Fallen, Echo of Vengeance, Hymn of Sacrifice
6x Orca class Troop Transport
6x Sentinel class Defence Satellite

Commercial Shipping
4x Sepulchre class Salvage Ship: Cenotaph, Reliquary, Sarcophagus, Sepulchre
4x Omnis Apertum class Stabilisation Ship: Crux Apertura, Omnis Apertum, Porta Aeterna, Via Custodis
4x Magistratus class Replenishment Ship: Auxilium Divinum, Civitas Fidelis, Curator Ventus, Magistratus
4x Auriga Gravis class Tug: Auriga Gravis, Ferrata Spina, Onus Aeternum, Vigor Magnus
4x Universe class Mass Conveyor
4x Jericho class Colony Ship
6x Carrack class Freighter
4x Exordium Mundi class Terraforming Station
4x Sangua Machina class Fuel Harvesting Station
4x Excavator Abyssalis class Orbital Mining Station
4x Arx Refectorium class Maintenance Base
1x Reparatio Ferrum class Repair Station

Imperial Guard
The primary ground combat forces of the Imperium are known as the Imperial Guard, or more formally as the Astra Militarum. There are several different types of Imperial Guard formation, the largest and most numerous of which is the Imperial Guard Infantry Regiment. The standard infantry regiment requires 25,000 tons of transport capacity and comprises two thousand four hundred guardsman armed with lasguns, three hundred and sixty Chimeras (light vehicles armed with a bolter), two Vox Caster squads for liaison with orbital fire support, one hundred and twenty labourers assigned from the Departmento Munitorum to handle logistics and the Regimental HQ. A variant of the Infantry Regiment is the Heavy Infantry Regiment, which has the same composition, except that the individual guardsman wear heavy powered armour, making them more resistant to enemy fire.

The infantry-based formations are supported by the Heavy Armour Regiment, which comprises one hundred and twenty Leman Russ Battle Tanks, armed with a battle cannon and a heavy bolter, one hundred and twenty Leman Russ Exterminators, equipped with twin heavy bolters, two hundred and forty Departmento Munitorum labourers and a Leman Russ Command Vehicle. When multiple regiments are deployed together, they are organised into Corps formations. Each corps consists of up to four regiments plus corps-level assets including two hundred and forty heavy mortars, one hundred and twenty Departmento Munitorum vehicles, twelve construction vehicles and the Corps HQ. The corps assets require similar transport capacity to a regiment.

In addition to the ground combat formations, there are two surface-to-orbit formations; the Planetary Defence Regiment and the Planetary Lance Regiment. The former comprises twelve Weapon Batteries and twenty-four Light Weapon Batteries and is intended to guard colonies against hostile torpedo attack and engage hostile energy-armed warships attempting to bombard the surface. The latter is fifty percent more expensive to build and comprises twelve GC-18-225 Spinal Lance batteries with a sixty-second recharge time, intended to disable an enemy force with a single volley. Given the slow recharge rate, they are ineffective for sustained engagements and therefore deployed in conjunction with defence regiments when significant additional firepower is required. Four defence regiments and two lance regiments are in service.

In addition to the combat forces of the Imperial Guard, there are three other formations; the Ordo Xenos, the Ordo Mineralis and the Ordo Machinum, comprised of unarmed vehicles. The Ordo Xenos investigates any Xenos artefacts or ruins that are discovered during the re-survey of the galaxy, while the Ordo Machinum recovers any Xenos installations or other relics identified by the Ordo Xenos. The Ordo Mineralis follows up the work of the survey frigates, conducting ground-based geological surveys where there is evidence to suggest further mineral deposits may be located.

The ground force order of battle for January 4000 is displayed below. Each infantry corps had four regiments, named 1^st to 4^th based on their parent corps formation. For example, the 1^st Cadian Shock Troops, 2^nd Cadian Shock Troops, etc.. The single armoured corps had four independently named regiments and collectively was known as the 1^st Armoured Corps. Each surface-to-orbit regiment and Ordo formation operated independently.

Ground Forces
1x Heavy Armoured Corps: Armageddon Steel Legion, Jantine Patricians, Konig Armoured Regiment, Vostroyan Firstborn
2x Heavy Infantry Corps: Death Korps of Krieg, Vitrian Dragoons
4x Light Infantry Corps: Cadian Shock Troops, Caliban Jaegers, Lucifer Blacks, Mordian Iron Guard
4x Planetary Defence Regiment: Black Guard, Celestial Guard, Raven Guard, Storm Wardens
2x Planetary Lance Regiment: Grey Knights, Deathwatch
2x Ordo Machinum
2x Ordo Xenos
2x Ordo Mineralis

[AuroraSteve]

History of the Imperium
Although the Emperor was a monarch with absolute power, he could not effectively rule the entire Imperium. A bureaucracy, the Adeptus Terra, controlled the day-to-day activity of the population, stretching into every aspect of Imperial life. A ruling council, known as the ‘Lords of Terra’, or Senatorum Imperialis, governed the Adeptus Terra under the guidance of the Emperor. In January 4000 it had twelve members, five senior and seven junior, although that would grow over time as the Imperium expanded.

The senior members comprised Lord Admiral Marcus Calgar, commander of all naval forces, Lord General Militant Argent Septimus, commander of all ground forces, Administrator Lucifer Carinus, the governor of Earth and head of the Adeptus Administratum, Academian Samuel Octavian, representative of the scientific establishment, and Academian Ethan Diomedes, commandant of the Imperial Academy. Although there were two scientists within the senior element of the ruling body, that was a temporary situation as the leadership of the Academy moved between service branches, depending on the needs of the Imperium.

The junior members comprised the current heads of the Adeptus Astronomica, responsible for exploration and survey, the Adeptus Logisticae, responsible for all transportation and colonisation, the Adeptus Statio Imperialis, responsible for the industrial stations that conducted mining, fuel refining, terraforming, maintenance and repair, the Adeptus Technicum, responsible for the stabilisation of jump points that would open the galaxy to civilian traders and the recovery of xenos technology by salvage vessels, the Navis Imperialis, or Imperial Navy, responsible for the naval combat forces of the Imperium, the Ordos Imperialis, responsible for the activities of the Ordo formations, and the Astra Militarum, or Imperial Guard, responsible for all ground combat forces.

While the junior members all reported into either High Admiral Marcus Calgar or Lord General Militant Argent Septimus as part of the overall chain of command, within the council chamber they were expected to voice their opinions, even if they disagreed with their superiors. In turn, the senior members were expected to ignore any disagreements within the council chamber when dealing with subordinates as part of their day-to-day duties.

The first task of the eight survey frigates assigned to the Adeptus Astronomica was a complete geological and gravitational survey of Sol. This yielded positive early results with the discovery of substantial, accessible mineral deposits on both Mercury and Io, one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter. Colonies were established on both bodies in January and March 4000 respectively, with the Adeptus Statio Imperialis allocating the four Exordium Mundi stations to Io.

Mercury Survey Report
Duranium: 9,431,693 0.70
Corbomite: 4,301,476 1.00
Tritanium: 4,610,468 0.10
Mercassium: 402,463 0.30
Vendarite: 2,917,264 0.80
Sorium: 4,301,476 0.90

Io Survey Report
Duranium: 1,658,021 1.00
Corbomite: 1,578,767 0.30
Boronide: 1,966,081 0.90
Mercassium: 2,868,044 0.80
Sorium: 1,815,864 0.80

On March 15th 4000, the survey frigate Sanctus Lux discovered two jump points; one inside the orbit of Venus and the other outside the orbit of Saturn. Her sister ship Veritas Invicta transited the former two days later, emerging a billion kilometres from the sol-like G2-V primary of the Alpha Centauri binary system. In total, the primary and the orange K1-V companion star had ten planets and over ninety moons, although none were of particular note. Only one body had surface ice, while five had atmospheres that were either Venusian, or composed of nitrogen and methane. Veritas Invicta began a survey. Eight days later, Crux Veritas probed the second jump point. She discovered Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky of Terra, orbited by two terrestrial worlds and four moons, all of which were far too hot to support human life.

Sanctus Lux discovered two more jump points on May 30th, both within three hundred and fifty million kilometres of the planet Uranus. All four known jump points had now been found by the same survey frigate. She was ordered to investigate both of them, finding the systems of Proxima and Wolf 359, each of which comprised a red dwarf primary, orbited by a single planet.

Geological surveys of the systems surrounding Sol revealed two bodies with great potential for mining. The sole planet in Proxima was a barren world, 5000km in diameter, with a surface temperature of over 400C. However, as it was tide-locked there was a more temperature zone that had an Imperial Colony Rating was 3.17, which meant that the Adeptus Terra would have to allocate three hundred and seventeen units of infrastructure to support one million colonists. Alpha Centauri-A I was a similar, slightly smaller world, albeit with a surface temperature of ‘only’ 240C, giving a colony rating of 2.00.

Alpha Centauri-A I Survey Report
Duranium: 139,392 0.90
Neutronium: 3,415,104 0.80
Boronide: 234,256 0.30
Mercassium: 379,456 0.10
Corundium: 4,276,624 0.40
Gallicite: 2,509,056 1.00

Proxima Centauri I Survey Report
Duranium: 1,531,250 0.70
Neutronium: 422,500 0.10
Corbomite: 1,322,500 0.50
Tritanium: 4,730,625 0.20
Boronide: 3,062,500 0.80
Uridium: 600,625 1.00

A gravitational survey of Wolf 359 was completed in June 4001, revealing three outward jump points. The survey frigate Acta Sanctorum became the first human ship to enter a system two transits from Sol, finding herself at Lalande 21185, a planetless red dwarf star eight light years from Earth. So far, all five extra-solar systems were within a few light years of Sol, suggesting that jump points were likely to connect to systems that were nearby in real space. That pattern continued a few days later when Sanctus Lux arrived at Ross 128, a red dwarf orbited by a single Venusian world.

Given that ‘star catalogue’ names, such as Wolf 359 and the two systems most recently discovered, were hardly inspiring waystations on humanity’s journey to dominate the stars, the Emperor decreed that the nomenclature for future systems, without an already well-known name, would need to invoke something more memorable. He left it to the Lords of Terra to handle the details, which in turn delegated that task to Rear Admiral Dante Tridon, junior member of the Lords and commander of the Adeptus Astronomica. The three catalogue systems became simply Wolf, Lalande and Ross to avoid confusion on existing reports and charts, while the third outward system from Wolf, a planetless red dwarf discovered a few days later, was named Acheron, after one of the rivers of the Greek underworld.

The orbital shipyards of Terra continued to construct new ships after the expansion into the wider galaxy, mainly warships, colony ships, mass conveyors and industrial stations. The carrier Ultima Praetor was completed in October 4001, along with a full strikegroup, followed in the subsequent months by the Lunar class cruiser Agrippa, the light cruisers Havock and Vengeful Martyr and the survey frigates Clavis Obscura and Gloria Mundi.

The number of Exordium Mundi terraforming stations increased to seven by early 4003, all of which were deployed in orbit of Io to gradually warm the moon, although that would take significant time. The colony on Io had a population of almost two million by March 4003, with a slightly larger colony on Mercury. Both colonies had benefitted from infrastructure and settlers transported by the three ships of House Arcadius, the first civilian shipping line. The colony ships and mass conveyors of the Imperium itself had focused on the Centauri Colony, with a population of twelve million, and the Proxima colony of one point five million. Both worlds required extensive terraforming but Io was the priority in the medium term. The light cruiser Divine Crusade and the interceptor Bellator were both stationed at the Centauri colony.

A fifth colony of just 100,000 settlers had been established on a tiny, frozen moon in the Helican system, three transits from Sol, to provide the necessary recreational facilities for a small naval base. The parent gas giant of the moon had almost a million tons of accessibility 0.9 Sorium in its atmosphere and was the location of six Sangua Machina class fuel harvesting stations. A maintenance station at the naval base provided port facilities for the frigate Cape Wrath.

By this point, known space had expanded to twenty-four systems, albeit with little so far to compare to the mineral discoveries in Alpha Centauri and Proxima. Many of the new systems were either planetless or barren. That changed in April 4003 with two discoveries on opposite frontiers. Altair, a bright white, A-class sub-giant and one of the brightest stars in the Terran sky, was reached by the survey frigate Custodia Lucis three transits from Sol via Alpha Centauri and Barnard’s Star. It was orbited by seven planets and over fifty moons. One of the planets and eleven of the moons had colony ratings under three, with most of them at 2.00.

Given the relative youth of the star, the Lords of Terra had high hopes for the mineral resources in the system, which were further reinforced after the survey of Altair II revealed mid-to-high accessibility deposits of ten different minerals. Unfortunately, Altair II had a highly eccentric, nine-year orbit which meant the normal colony rating of 2.00 would increase to over 7.0 for a brief period seven years hence, when the planet reached perihelion, the closest point to the sub-giant star.

Altair II Survey Report
Duranium: 1,843,200 0.70
Corbomite: 173,056 1.00
Tritanium: 1,806,336 0.90
Boronide: 831,744 1.00
Mercassium: 1,478,656 0.40
Vendarite: 802,816 1.00
Sorium: 2,560,000 0.80
Uridium: 313,600 0.50
Corundium: 2,310,400 0.60
Gallicite: 495,616 0.40

On the far side of known space, three transits from Sol via Sirius and Luyten’s Star, the survey frigate Virtus Aeterna discovered the ruins of a xenos city on the only terrestrial world orbiting a red dwarf star. As a result, the system was named Necropolis. Two gas giants were closer to the primary, so the ruin was on Necropolis III, a frozen world with a thin atmosphere of nitrogen and methane and a landscape dominated by hydrocarbon dunes. Whichever race built the city at some point in the distant past, they represented a very different evolutionary path than humanity. An expedition was immediately organised to investigate the ruins.

Just two days after the discovery on Necropolis III, a survey frigate found another ruined city on Carpathia II, three transits from Sol via Proxima and Epsilon Indi. This world was closer to human tolerances, with a thin nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, a small ice sheet, expanses of cold steppe and a temperature of -37C. Two identical expeditions departed for Necropolis and Carpathia, each comprising a forward detachment of two light cruisers and a replenishment ship, followed by a pair of Cetaceous class transports carrying a light infantry corps, two Ordo Xenos formations, an Ordo Machinum formation and a planetary defence regiment, escorted by a frigate. That deployment committed all four available Cetaceous transports and all available Ordo Xenos and Ordo Machinum formations. Further formations would be trained as a priority.

A survey of the ruined city in Carpathia was completed in October 4003, with one hundred and twenty-four sites identified for recovery operations. The xenos civilization that once inhabited the city was known as the Theocracy of Jinzhou and appeared to be at a similar level of development to the Imperium. Why they had vanished and the city left in ruins was unknown, although Imperial xenoarchaeologists theorised that the same race that attacked Earth would have eliminated any other potential rivals.

With only one Ordo Machinum formation available, plus the construction vehicles from the corps assets of the Caliban Jaegers, recovery operations were slow. In the first four months, only twenty-two sites were cleared, resulting in the discovery of two ground force construction centres, several other installations and eight thousand tons of stored Duranium. On Necropolis III, the xenoarchaeology survey was still underway as the xenos language and symbology was proving harder to decipher. On February 15th 4004, without any warning, xenos ground forces, comprised of man-sized combat bots and larger, tank-sized mechs, emerged from underground vaults beneath the ruins on Necropolis III and immediately advanced toward the Lucifer Blacks Imperial Guard corps.

There were thousands of combat bots and mechs, with a total signature of almost 200,000 tons, almost double that of the Lucifer Blacks, although the latter were at least in basic fortifications. The Imperial Guard also had to protect the three Ordo formation and two planetary defence regiments. Three Imperial Navy ships were in the system; the cruiser Iron Duke and the light cruisers Havock and Vengeful Martyr, all of which were under the command of Lord-Captain Cyrene Vipus on the Iron Duke. They had been holding in orbit of Necropolis I, but with the appearance of the xenos horde, they moved to aid the ground forces.

As they drew close to the planet they came under fire from two dozen surface-based weapons, believed to be bombardment cannon. All three ships returned fire with their primary weapon batteries. The xenos surface-to-orbit weapons were exposed on the rolling, empty landscape of hydrocarbon dunes that made them easy targets, especially as they were not yet fortified. Two volleys from the warships was sufficient to eliminate every xenos weapon. After taking fire from another battery at 90,000 km, the three ships pulled back out of range and wiped out the second battery as easily as the first. While the swift destruction of the xenos STO weapons was gratifying, it also highlighted the vulnerability of the Imperial planetary defence regiments on the same planet. The three warships moved into orbit and each contacted a separate light infantry regiment on the surface, working with the respective vox caster squads to direct their orbital fire support as the xenos army approached the Imperial defence line.

The vast wave of combat bots, perhaps seven or eight thousand, crashed into the Lucifer Blacks, killing hundreds of guardsmen and wrecking more than fifty Chimeras. A hail of fire from the defenders, fortified as well as they could be in the xenos landscape, scythed through the ranks of the bots, named Warriors by the Guardsmen, killing perhaps fifteen hundred in the first few hours, but the much larger mechs were extremely resistant to the light weapons of the infantry. Two out of every three bots struck by the Guardsmen’s lasguns, or the bolters of the Chimeras, were destroyed, but the kill rate against the mechs was less than one in a hundred.

There were at least three different types of mechs. The most numerous was designated as the Praetorian and was armed in a similar way to a Leman Russ battle tank, with a large cannon and a anti-personnel weapon comparable to a heavy bolter. A second, dubbed the Deathmark, was armed with a pair of medium cannon, which made it most suitable for attacking light vehicles, while the third was rare and apparently some form of leadership mech, called simply a Lord. Given the battle was happening on Necropolis III, the Guardsmen referred to the robotic xenos troops as the Necrons.

Although the light weapons of the guardsmen were not suited to fighting the Praetorians and Deathmarks, the three ships in orbit had far more powerful weapons. In coordination with the vox caster squads, they killed almost as many mechs as the entire light infantry corps. Even so, only fifty were killed in total during the first assault and there were more then five hundred in the Necro army. Two further assaults were launched by the Necrons during the remainder of the day and they suffered similarly massive losses among the warriors, plus around a hundred and fifty Praetorians and Deathmarks destroyed. The warships continued to account for half the mech losses while the infantry massacred the combat bots. Losses were still heavy among the Imperial Guard, but falling steadily as the Necrons expended themselves.

By the second day, the number of warriors had fallen to around five hundred, which meant more fire was directed against the mechs. Over a hundred Praetorians and Deathmarks were killed in a single dawn assault against the Imperial defensive position, along with most of the surviving warriors. The result of the battle was no longer in doubt as the Necrons continued to mount ever-smaller attacks. On the third day, the Imperial Guard went on the offensive and wiped out the survivors, including three of the leader variants. Despite the shock of the Necron attack from beneath the surface of the planet, the Imperial Guard were victorious, although they suffered almost thirteen hundred infantry casualties, with over a hundred Chimera light vehicles destroyed.

With the immediate threat over, the three Imperial Navy warships, officially designated as Battlefleet Necropolis, took up position in orbit of the planet’s tiny moon, which orbited at 87,000 km. If further Necron forces emerged, they would close enough to help without being within point-blank range from any surface-to-orbit weapons. In Carpathia, where a similar assault had to considered a possibility, a pair of mass conveyors were ordered to move any recovered installations from the ruined city to the third planet, from where they would eventually be transported back to Terra.

Less than a month after the battle in Necropolis, a second xenos race made an appearance. The survey frigate Custodia Lucis was in the Damocles system, four jumps from Sol via Alpha Centauri, Barnard’s Star and Altair, when she detected active emissions from a xenos ship, designated as Moray class, moving directly away from her at 4227 km/s. Custodia Lucis engaged her own active sensors, but the xenos ship was just out of range, so she launched an augur probe along the same course, although at 4500 km/s the probe was barely faster than the Moray.

Next door, in the Altair system, a small colony had been established on the seventeenth moon of Altair III. While Altair II had far better mineral deposits, the Mars-sized moon had several factors in its favour as the first colony location in the system. Firstly, it already had a thin atmosphere of nitrogen, with a trace of methane, and small seas covering a quarter of the surface, which meant it would be relatively easy to terraform into an ideal habitable world. It had twenty million tons of accessibility 0.7 Duranium, so it was still a useful mining location, while the parent body, Altair III, had a relatively stable orbit so there would not be the same three hundred degree temperature range as Altair II. Finally, and most importantly, Altair III had eighteen million tons of accessibility 1.0 Sorium in its atmosphere, making it by far the best location in known space for a fuel harvesting operation. Two harvesters were already in orbit, with two more en route.

Altair III - Moon 17 Survey Report
Duranium: 20,917,512 0.70
Neutronium: 88,209 0.60
Corbomite: 5,035,536 0.10
Uridium: 69,696 0.20
Gallicite: 6,796,449 0.10

Altair III Survey Report
Sorium: 18,225,838 1.00

The colony on the seventeenth moon had a population of one million, with a further million scheduled to arrive within three months, but no installations except infrastructure and a tracking station. A tug towing a maintenance station was already in Altair, but would take forty-five days to make the almost eight billion kilometre trip from the Barnard’s Star jump point to the moon. Given the xenos contact in the adjacent Damocles system, the colony would assume a much higher priority for expansion.

In Damocles, the xenos ship held position after Custodia Lucis engaged her sensors, so the probe closed in rapidly and confirmed the size of the ship as 10,644 tons, smaller than the Imperial Navy survey frigate but potentially better-armed as the Veritas Invicta class emphasized survey capability and endurance over weapons. Once the probe moved closer, its thermal sensors could detect the Moray’s engine emissions and determine it had military engines. Custodia Lucis held her position in orbit of Damocles II, where she was conducting a geological survey. As the planet orbited toward the position of the Moray, the xenos ship moved away, maintaining the same range, but responded to hails from the Imperial survey frigate in an apparent effort to establish communication.

Five days after the appearance of the Moray in Damocles, a Necron ground force appeared from under the ruins on Carpathia II. After the events in Necropolis, mass conveyors had been moving the recovered installations to a temporary colony on Carpathia III. Unfortunately, the Necron emergence caught two of the 245,000 ton ships in orbit. They were instantly blown to pieces, which was a significant blow to Imperial logistics capabilities.

Battlefleet Carpathia, comprising the Lunar class cruiser Justiciar and the Dauntless class light cruisers Aegis and Bloodhawk, was in orbit of Carpathia III. They immediately broke orbit to assist the Caliban Jaegers infantry corps and the other Imperial ground forces on the surface of Carpathia II. They were engaged by twelve bombardment cannon, only half the number of weapons faced by the Imperial warships in Necropolis. Two volleys was enough to account for the surface-to-orbit defences, exposed and unfortified on the open steppe, then the ships moved into orbit to provide support for the ground forces.

The Necron ground force was about sixty percent smaller than on Necropolis III, but behaved in exactly the same way, charging the defensive positions of the Caliban position in mass attacks. The Guardsman met them with a hail of small arms and bolter fire, carving swathes through their ranks, while the orbiting warship blasted them from above. Over four hundred Guardsmen died in that first assault, with forty Chimeras destroyed, but they broke the back of the Necron force. The two follow-up attacks launched later in the same day did not even get close to the Imperial defence. The remaining Necrons were almost wiped out for the loss of only forty Guardsmen.

As the defenders of Carpathia II were congratulating themselves on their imminent victory, total chaos erupted in orbit of Necropolis III. Five 18,500-ton Necron warships suddenly appeared above the colony. Later analysis would show they had emerged from the deep Aether, the dimension that was the foundation of all Trans-Newtonian space travel, using some technology unknown to the Imperium. Three were the same type, designated as Cryptek class, while the other two were a Khopesh and a Spyder.

On the surface was the planetary defence regiment known as the Storm Wardens, which comprised twelve AK-25 weapon batteries and twenty-four AK-10 light weapon batteries. They were supported by the Deathwatch, a planetary lance battery with twelve GC-18-225 spinal lance batteries. Both formations reacted within seconds of the Necron appearance. The Storm Wardens attacked one of the Crypteks with their AK-25s, inflicting massive damage, while the light weapon batteries split their fire between the Khopesh and a second Cryptek, peppering their armour with strength-1 impacts. The Deathwatch also split their fire, inflicting two penetrating hits each on an undamaged Cryptek, the Khopesh and the Cryptek badly damaged by the Storm Wardens. The latter exploded. Only the Spyder was completed unharmed.

Ninety thousand kilometres away were the three warships of Battlefleet Necropolis. Lord-Captain Cyrene Vipus ordered all his ships to fire at will, striking the first available target. The Deathwatch would not fire again for sixty seconds, so it was now down to the Storm Wardens and Battlefleet Necropolis to defeat the Necrons. Three of the Necron ships headed directly away from Battlefleet Necropolis, leaving the Cryptek that had taken two lance strikes remaining in orbit, probably with disabled engines. The Spyder and the other Cryptek had a speed of 5,272 km/s, while the Khopesh was at half that speed, presumably with at least one engine out. All four ships launched size-8 torpedoes, one hundred and fifteen in total, with thirty-one the maximum from any single ship. The Necron torpedoes had a speed of 30,000 km/s.

The Storm Wardens could only fire their light weapon batteries, as the larger AK-25s had a fifteen second recharge time. They targeted the Khopesh and Spyders, scoring a few minor internal hits. Iron Duke fired her lance batteries and weapon batteries at the Spyder, missing with all four of the former but scoring almost forty strength-2 hits with the latter, ten of which penetrated the Necron armour. The two light cruisers were slower and had yet to open fire.

Iron Duke was the target of all the Necron torpedoes. The point defence of Battlefleet Carpathia was completely overwhelmed, with only eleven torpedoes shot down, along with two dozen decoys. The other one hundred and four torpedoes all struck the cruiser with strength-9 warheads. Unbelievably, she survived, but only just. Her shields were instantly flattened and eighty percent of her armour destroyed, allowing almost half the hits to inflict internal damage. All four engines were disabled, along with seven of her eight shield generators and most of her weapons. Forty percent of her crew was killed. She retained a single fire control and three weapon batteries, plus three torpedo launchers, although her magazine was destroyed so she only had the torpedoes in the tubes.

The light weapon batteries of the Storm Wardens targeted the Cryptek in orbit and the Spyder, which had fallen to half speed, scoring numerous strength-1 hits but not destroying either ship. The Imperial Navy light cruisers had used their weapon batteries for point defence, rather than engaging the Necron ships. One of the Crypteks was still at full speed, although it had suffered armour damage earlier in the battle, and was opening the range. With Iron Duke unable to launch more than three torpedoes, if the Necron warship moved out of weapon range it would be able to launch its entire stock of torpedoes without response, probably destroying all of Battlefleet Necropolis. Lord-Captain Vipus, stood within his miraculously intact bridge, ordered the two light cruisers to pursue the Cryptek as their highest priority.

The main weapon batteries of the Storm Wardens recharged and blew the crippled Cryptek out of the sky above Necropolis III, while the light weapon batteries struck the Spyder again, leaving it dead in space. None of the three warships opened fire, as the crew of Iron Duke was understandably shaken, while the two light cruisers were waiting for their weapon batteries to recharge. The Khopesh and the full speed Cryptek continued to run. A few seconds later, the light batteries of the Storm Wardens fired again and the Spyder exploded. So far, the planetary defence regiment had inflicted far more damage on the enemy than the vaunted warships of the Imperial Navy. Iron Duke, miraculously still in the fight, struck the fleeing Cryptek with her three surviving weapon batteries, then launched her only three torpedoes.

Vengeful Martyr finally joined the battle, scoring ten strength-2 hits on the Cryptek from 118,000 kilometres, one of which penetrated its armour, then the battle finally turned in favour of the Imperium. The light cruiser Havock opened fire from 125,000 kilometres and struck the fleeing Necron warship seventeen times, with seven armour penetrations. Its speed dropped to 2,636 km/s, which meant it could no longer move out of the range. The Storm Warden batteries fired at the same moment, with six more hits causing internal damage. Both light cruisers opened fire on the damaged Khopesh as they drew close enough to use their light weapon batteries.

Fittingly, the death blow for the Cryptek was delivered by the three torpedoes from Iron Duke, arriving moments later and detonating their strength-25 warheads. Simultaneously, the light cruisers fired again on the Khopesh and it exploded. The space around Necropolis III was finally clear of Necron ships, although the damage to Iron Duke was massive and she would be out of commission until she could spend time in a shipyard. Fortunately, the damage to her engineering deck was relatively light compared to the rest of the ship, so she was able to repair an engine and get underway.

The appearance of the Necron ships did not bode well for either Necropolis III or Carpathia II. It was very likely that ships would appear at the latter, given the ground battle still underway, and there was a strong possibility that further ships would appear at the former. With two systems under threat from the Necrons and a new xenos race in Damocles, the Imperial Navy was becoming very stretched, especially with four of the ten light cruisers in overhaul, after being stationed in the Necron systems until recently, and a fifth guarding the Centauri colony.

A few hours after the battle in Necropolis, the last of the Necron ground forces on Carpathia II were hunted down and eliminated. For the moment, the only active threat was the Moray class xenos vessel in Damocles. That did not last long. Sixteen hours later, eight more Necron ships appeared in orbit of Necropolis III. Fortunately, they were only 984 tons each and four were immediately blown to pieces by the surface defences. Vengeful Martyr and Havock were in orbit of the moon, ninety thousand kilometres away, so began moving toward the planet.

Two more of the ships, designated as Glyph class, were destroyed by the light batteries of the Storm Wardens. The other two each launched five size-8 torpedoes, with a speed of 45,000 km, and began to move away. Vengeful Martyr and Havock shot down two of the missiles, then the latter absorbed eight strength-6 detonations on her shields. Why these torpedoes were faster and had smaller warheads than those launched by the larger Necron ships was unknown. The two remaining Glyphs did not get far and were picked off by the Storm Wardens. Even so, the appearance of another Necron force so soon after the previous attack was extremely worrying.

Back in the Damocles system, Custodia Lucis completed her survey of the second planet and headed toward Damocles III, a cold desert world with a thin nitrogen-ammonia atmosphere. The Moray continued to shadow her movements from sixty-five million kilometres away. She detected a colony with thermal and EM signatures of 327 and 328 respectively, suggesting perhaps a population of one or two million, plus a ground forces contact of 20,000 tons. After reporting the discovery, she was ordered to survey the planet and continue communication attempts.

[AuroraSteve]

Two more Necron ships appeared in Necropolis, just twenty-eight hours after the Glyphs. They were both 37,000 tons and of two different types, designated as Scarab and Tesseract classes. Most of the surface-to-orbit fire from the Storm Wardens and Deathwatch was directed at the Scarab, which exploded within seconds but not before launching a wave of thirty size-3 torpedoes, with a speed of 63,000 km/s. The Necrons seemed to possess a wide variety of torpedoes models. The Tesseract suffered armour damage from light weapon batteries and two penetrating hits from lance batteries.

Vengeful Martyr and Havock were in orbit of the small moon of Necropolis III, while Iron Duke was still making her way to the Luyten’s Star jump point, gradually repairing whatever she could with her remaining maintenance supplies. The light cruisers set course for the planet. All thirty of the small missiles headed for Havock. Point defence fire accounted for half of the inbounds, which were fast but had no decoys. The rest impacted on Havock’s shields, each with a pair of strength-1 warheads. Light weapon batteries on the surface struck the Tesseract, which was starting to raise shields, and scored a few minor internal hits. In response, the Tesseract opened fire with a massed array of light bombardment cannon, with almost a hundred shots targeting Havock. Fortunately, only eleven strength-2 hits impacted her shields, possibly because the range was 67,000 km and the weapons were intended for short-range combat, perhaps as point defence.

Lord-Captain Vipus was monitoring the combat from the iron Duke and ordered the two light cruisers to maintain their current range. The Tesseract was showing no engine signature, so it was likely some form of defence station and could not leave orbit. However, with that firepower it could massacre the vulnerable planetary defence forces which had been key to holding the planet. Havock still had fifty percent shields, so she could withstand another attack, although neither ship could return fire as their light weapon batteries were out of range and their AK-25 batteries and lance batteries were recharging after being used for point defence. The latter was a mistake and the two commanders would learn from it.

The Tesseract continued to fire on Havock, scoring thirteen hits while the light weapon batteries of the Storm Wardens continued to grind away its armour and occasionally penetrate. A second volley, with eighty-eight shots, managed only six hits on Havock, reducing her shields to twenty-three percent. At the same time, the surface AK-25 batteries recharged and fired, inflicting massive internal damage and triggering a small secondary explosion. Moments late, both light cruisers opened fire simultaneously and blew the crippled base to pieces.

So far, the Imperium had been lucky. Iron Duke had been hit extremely hard but survived, albeit with the loss of seven hundred and fifty crew, while the Storm Wardens and Deathwatch had remained untouched, despite their exposed position on the hydrocarbon dunes. Any strikes against the light cruisers had been absorbed by their shields. However, if the Necrons improved the coordination of their arrivals, or simply had a larger force inbound from the deep Aether, that run of luck could end very suddenly.

In Carpathia, the planet with the ruined city did not have a moon, so the nearest warships were in orbit of Carpathia III, tens of millions of kilometres away. While they could be stationed directly in orbit of Carpathia II, a large Necron force could theoretically inflict serious damage at point blank range before they could respond. Losing temporary control of the planet, even with forces on the surface, was seen as a lesser risk than losing a cruiser and two light cruisers. Instead, another planetary defence regiment was dispatched from Terra, although it would take three months to arrive and The Lords of Terra were concerned Carpathia probably didn’t have that long.

That prediction was proved accurate. A week after the battle in Necropolis, two Tesseract and two Scarab class bases appeared in orbit over Carpathia II. The planetary defence regiment on the planet was the Celestial Guard, which targeted one of the Tesseracts with its AK-25 weapon batteries and half its light batteries, directing the remainder against a Scarab. The former suffered significant internal damage, with only armour damage on the latter. Also on the planet was the Grey Knights, a planetary lance battery which engaged the same two targets. plus a second Tesseract. The three bases were sitting targets and each was skewered by four particle lances. All four bases survived though, one completely intact, and there were no nearby ships to draw fire.

The two Scarabs launched a hundred and forty-five missiles, including eighty-two launched by the undamaged base, while the two damaged Tesseracts fired over a hundred shots at the surface with their light bombardment cannon. Seven particle lances were destroyed. Collateral damage from the attack wiped out a small colony of 50,000 settlers, delivered months earlier by a civilian colony ship to take advantage of infrastructure recovered from the ruins. The light weapon batteries of the Celestial Guard retuned fire but barely penetrated the armour of their targets.

All one hundred and forty-five missiles detonated on the surface, destroying all the main weapon batteries of the Celestial Guard, half their light batteries and all the remaining infrastructure. The Tesseracts wiped out the remaining particle lances of the Grey Knights. In response, the twelve remaining light weapon batteries scored almost fifty strength-1 hits on a Tesseract, but only two penetrated its armour. Another exchange of fire with the Tesseracts five seconds later resulted in the destruction of four light batteries and nineteen internal hits on a Tesseract, which presumably had massive armour damage by this point. One more exchange of fire, including the detonation of twenty missile warheads, was all it took to eliminate the remaining weapons of the Celestial Guard, without any significant additional damage to the Necrons.

Given the number of missiles launched by the Scarab class bases, it was unlikely the three warships of Battlefleet Carpathia could approach the planet for an energy-range engagement without being destroyed. The cruiser Justiciar could launch eight torpedoes, but they were equally unlikely to penetrate the Necron defences. More ships were needed from Terra, but a strong fleet comprising a cruiser, the carrier Archon Kort, a light cruiser and two frigates was already en route to Altair to defend the system, against the recently encountered xenos race in Damocles. Iron Duke was crippled and her replacement Holy Flame was two weeks from Necropolis. The last available cruiser, Agrippa, was in Terra orbit but the homeworld could not be left without at least one capital ship in orbit.

Therefore, Ferrum Aeterna, one of the two carriers in Terran orbit was dispatched to Carpathia, along with a pair of Firestorm class frigates. They would arrive in thirty days. In the meantime, Battlefleet Carpathia was ordered to fall back to the Epsilon Indi jump point to avoid being caught if a major Necron fleet appeared in orbit of Carpathia II. There was nothing that could be done for the Caliban Jaegers or the Ordo Machinum formation still on the surface of the planet, but the Necrons declined to attack them. On March 31st, three days after the victory of the Necrons in Carpathia, a single 37,000-ton Necron ship of a new type, designated as Wraith class, appeared over Necropolis III and was immediately blown out of the sky by the Storm Wardens and Deathwatch.

Eight days later, six new Necron ships joined the four Necron bases in orbit of Carpathia II, detected due to their sensor and shield emissions by a tracking station on Carpathia III. Four were designated as Monolith class and had strength-357 shields, stronger than those on the Lunar class cruiser. The other two were Scythe class, with shields of strength-88. Even with the reinforcements on their way to Carpathia, the situation was rapidly deteriorating and the Lords of Terra began to consider that Carpathia might have to be abandoned to the Necrons until the Imperial Navy could gather a more substantial force. The survey frigate Clavis Obscura was also in Carpathia and in the midst of a gravitational survey. So far, she had located outward jump points to Kodiak and Obsidia, both planetless red dwarf stars.

In Damocles, Custodia Lucis had completed her survey of the system’s three planets, without finding any mineral resources. It was possible the xenos colony on Damocles III was a military outpost, although there was no sign of any other ships except the Moray. Custodia Lucis headed back towards the Altair jump point, but the Moray continued to shadow her. Rear Admiral Dante Tridon, commander of the Adeptus Astronomica did not wish to reveal the location of the jump point, so ordered the survey frigate conduct a gravitational survey of Damocles. In Necropolis, the cruiser Holy Flame and the frigate Kraken joined Vengeful Martyr and Havock in orbit of the moon of Necropolis III.

In Carpathia, the carrier Ferrum Aeterna and the frigates Pegasus and Rubicon joined Battlefleet Carpathia at the Epsilon Indi jump point. After refuelling from the replenishment ship Auxilium Divinum, the fleet headed sunward. Two new Necron ships had arrived in recent days - a Shroud with a shield strength of 237 and a Wraith with a shield strength of 476, the most powerful so far – taking the total number of ships to twelve. Lord-Captain Cassius Omegus, commanding the fleet, did not believe his own force was likely to prevail in a stand-up fight, so he decided to conduct a carrier raid. Three of the Necron bases that destroyed the Imperial planetary defence units had been damaged, so they would be the targets.

Battlefleet Carpathia
Lunar class Cruiser: Justiciar
Dictator class Carrier: Ferrum Aeterna
Dauntless class Light Cruiser: Aegis, Bloodhawk
Firestorm class Frigate: Pegasus, Rubicon
40x Fury class Interceptor
24x Starhawk class Bomber
1x Aquila class Lander

Battlefleet Carpathia halted two hundred million kilometres from the planet. Ferrum Aeterna launched her entire strikegroup, including the Aquila class lander as it had the best sensors, which headed toward the planet, preceded by an augur probe launched by the light cruiser Aegis. The probe had a theoretical active sensor range of four million kilometres, but only detected the Necron ships at two point eight million, which meant they were all equipped with sensor jammers. The four Monoliths were all cruiser-sized, at 55,646 tons, the two Scythes were 18,541 tons and the other six ships – two Tesseracts, two Scarabs, a Wraith and a Shroud – were approximately 37,000 tons. Why the Wraith had a greater shield strength than the larger Monoliths was a mystery. The probe was destroyed by a size-3 light torpedo just over a million kilometres from the planet.

The MK I Standard Torpedo had a range of ten million kilometres, so the strikegroup had to move within at least that range to launch. The other restriction was the fifteen million kilometres range of the Starhawks fire control, but that was less likely to be an issue. Unfortunately, fourteen million kilometres from the planet seven Necron ships broke orbit on an intercept course, leaving behind the Wraith and the Scarab and Tesseract bases. Given that distinction and the incongruous shield strength, it seemed likely the Wraith was also some type of base. The Furies and Starhawks could outrun the Necron warships, but not the slower Aquila, which immediately broke formation and ran back toward the jump point. The rest of the strikegroup attempted to move around the approaching ships so they could still strike the damaged bases.

The strikegroup carried out a wide sweeping turn around the planet, never allowing the pursuing ships closer than seven million kilometres, while the Aquila continued to run. Once within nine million kilometres of the planet, on the opposite side from which they approached, they launched twenty-four standard torpedoes, with six directed against the Tesseract that took the most damage in the original battle and the other eighteen against a damaged Scarab. One point six million kilometres from the planet, defensive detonations began and the Imperial torpedoes began to vanish.

The Necron light torpedoes that missed their interceptions reversed course and continued to pursue their targets. They apparently had the same type of retargeting capability as the standard torpedoes themselves. They proved to be exceedingly effective and only a single Imperial torpedo reached the planet, where it was shot down by one of the Tesseracts. Despite the bravery and ingenuity of the Imperial Navy attack craft crews, the attack was a complete failure. The bombers and interceptors outran their pursuers, which returned to Carpathia II, then set a course for Battlefleet Carpathia, returning safely twenty-eight hours after they departed. Once the attack craft had been recovered, the battlefleet returned to the Epsilon Indi jump point, with nothing to show for their efforts except the expenditure of fuel and twenty-four torpedoes.

Given that the Necron ships had pursued the attack craft rather than launch missiles, they were either armed with energy weapons, or their torpedo fire controls could not engage small targets at seven million kilometres. Neither scenario helped the Imperium. For the foreseeable future, the Necrons would retain control of the Carpathia system and the Caliban Jaegers would be trapped on the surface of Carpathia II. There was also a research facility, a ground forces construction complex and a dozen other installations on Carpathia III that had been moved there from Carpathia II. As the planets were only sixty million kilometres apart. It was unlikely they could be recovered. The only small light in the darkness was that the Necrons seemed entirely focused on the planet and had shown no inclination to explore the rest of the system.

Six weeks passed with no incidents in either Carpathia or Necropolis. In the latter system, the salvage vessels Sarcophagus and Cenotaph, each accompanied by a pair of Carrack class freighters, had began to recover the Necron wrecks. On June 21st 4004, a new squadron of Necron ships, comprising a Spyder, a Khopesh and three Crypteks was detected in Carpathia, all of which were known to be armed with torpedoes. Unlike the others, these broke orbit and conducted a sweep of the inner system, before heading out toward Carpathia III and entering orbit. A few minutes later, a wave of thirteen missiles was detected heading straight for Carpathia III from the main body of the Necron fleet in orbit of Carpathia II

The research facility, ground forces construction complex and several of the other installations stored on the planet were destroyed by strength-9 detonations. Thirty minutes later, a second wave eliminated the remainder. With the loss of the recovered installations, the cost-benefit of the Carpathia operation was very much on the negative side. Ninety-five identified recovery sites remained on Carpathia II, so the Ordo Machinum formation on that world was ordered to cease all recovery operations, to avoid attracting attention.

A few days after the loss of the Carpathia system to the Necrons, full communication was established with the xenos race in the Damocles system. The Moray was still shadowing Custodia Lucis as she carried out a gravitational survey of Damocles, so the two ships had been working on translating each other’s language. The xenos referred to themselves as the Tau and their polity as the Tau Empire. Both sides were cautious in the amount of information they were prepared to reveal, but it appeared the Tau had a caste system, with some physical differences between those castes. The leadership caste was humanoid, tall and slim with blue-gray skin and a vertical slit instead of a nose. So far, the only known Tau assets were the 10,600-ton Moray class ship and the small colony on Damocles III.

On August 29th, two months after the loss of Carpathia III, the survey of the ruins in Necropolis was completed, revealing one hundred and thirty-four recovery locations. Unfortunately the race who had inhabited the planet seemed relatively primitive and in the early stages of Trans-Newtonian development, so it was unlikely that the ruins would yield any useful technical data. Given the disparity in the xenos races who had established colonies in Carpathia and Necropolis, it seemed odd that the Necrons would be present in both locations. The best theory of Imperial Naval Intelligence (INI) was that the Necrons had destroyed both colonies and left forces behind to ambush anyone exploring the ruins.

Given the modus operandi of the Necrons, it did not seem reasonable to assume they were the race who attacked Earth in the 21st Century. That meant there were at least two genocidal xenos races at large in the galaxy. It was also possible the Tau Empire was hostile too and the only reason the Moray had not attacked Custodia Lucis was because it was unarmed, although at least the Tau had shown interest in communication, unlike the robotic Necrons. Even so, precautions were necessary. Despite that, the Imperium build-up in the adjacent Altair was slow, given the distance from Sol and the necessity of establishing closer colonies for future mining operations. More than half the mineral deposits on Terra were below their original accessibility and some were close to exhaustion, so near-term economic issues were starting to overshadow an unrealised xenos threat on the frontier.

On September 13th, a second Tau Moray was detected in Damocles. Custodia Lucis, now accompanied by a new survey frigate named Terra Incognita, had found two outward jump points in Damocles, although the survey was only half complete. Both had been probed and led to the systems of Pythos, a planetless K-class star, and Antioch, a red dwarf with four planets and forty-three moons, none with any features worthy of note. Custodia Lucis had emplaced Auspex buoys on both sides of the new jump points, which allowed detection of the Moray as it entered Damocles from Pythos. A week later, the second Moray was detected again by a buoy on the Damocles – Antioch, at least until it destroyed the buoy with bombardment cannon.

The incident caused both consternation and puzzlement for the Lords of Terra and the Adeptus Astronomica. Plainly the Moray was armed after all, but a sister ship had been following Custodia Lucis for months with no sign of hostile action, although at the time of the buoy’s destruction it was not on sensors. Imperial Naval Intelligence theorised that the Tau might allow a survey ship to operate in Damocles, but drew the line at the Imperium emplacing buoys or other signs of ownership.

A brief exchange with the Tau colony confirmed that theory. The Tau warned that any buoys detected in their territory would be eliminated and that continued use of buoys would harm diplomatic relations. Within twenty-four hours, the original Moray was detected again shadowing Custodia Lucis but making no attempt to close the range, despite its far superior speed of 4227 km/s. Whatever the rationale of the Tau, the warships of the Imperial Navy and the survey frigates of the Adeptus Astronomica were ordered to treat any Tau ship attempting a close approach as hostile.

That order was tested on October 16th 4004. Custodia Lucis probed a third outward jump point in Damocles in early October, finding Jericho, a red dwarf with five planets and two dozen moons. Jericho II had an ice sheet and a thin nitrogen – oxygen atmosphere so she moved in-system to investigate. The shadowing Moray did not follow but a week later it transited into Altair. A dozen Sentinel class defence satellites were stationed on the Altair side of the jump point, just thirty thousand kilometres from the Tau vessel. The Moray did not make any attempt to engage, although it would be suffering jump shock for a short time.

This was not the same situation envisaged by the recent standing order, so Captain Josiah Loken, commanding the satellites, requested permission to engage. The senior officer in Altair was Lord-Captain Darius Merrick, a calm and professional officer commanding Battlefleet Altair from the cruiser Imperial Wrath. Rather than start a war with a xenos race who had never attacked an Imperial vessel, he ordered Captain Loken to hold fire. With a carrier, light cruiser and two frigates to back up his cruiser, plus the Raven Guard planetary defence regiment on the surface of the colony now known as Altair Station, he felt the system was protected against a single frigate-sized vessel.

Battlefleet Altair
Lunar class Cruiser: Imperial Wrath
Dictator class Carrier: Archon Kort
Dauntless class Light Cruiser: Dauntless
Firestorm class Frigate: Excalibur, Firestorm
1x Aquila class Lander
24x Starhawk class Bomber
40x Fury class Interceptor

Merrick recommended to his superior, Admiral Rhadamanthys Talos, commander of the Imperial Navy and junior member of the Lords of Terra, that a diplomatic solution might be a better option in the short-term, at least until the Imperium had some idea of the size and power of the Tau Empire. Talos agreed and convinced the rest of the Lords. For now, the Imperium would tolerate the Moray. Within a few hours, it transited back into Damocles and was detected a few days later by a buoy at the Antioch – Damocles jump point. Interestingly, the Moray did not destroy that buoy, leading Imperial Navy Intelligence to theorise the Moray was probing Antioch in the same way as Altair and did not consider it Tau territory.

Twelve days later, the second Moray transited into Altair. Following their recent orders, the defence satellites held their fire. Five seconds after transit, the Moray moved away from the jump point and fired on one of the satellites from 100,000 km, inflicting four strength-1 hits on its armour. Lord-Captain Merrick, now regretting his earlier caution, ordered the satellites to return fire and dispatched his two frigates to support them at the jump point. Despite giving the xenos every chance to live in peace, the Imperium of Man was now at war with the treacherous Tau Empire. Ten of the twelve satellites responded within five seconds of the open fire order and half of them hit the target. The Moray was skewered by five strength-18 lance strikes and exploded.

As a result of the outbreak of hostilities with the Tau, Lord Admiral Marcus Calgar, commander of all Imperial naval forces, made some urgent changes to his dispositions. The Lunar class cruiser Iron Duke, recently repaired and overhauled after her battle in Necropolis, was dispatched to Altair, along with a light cruiser and a frigate, as reinforcements for Battlefleet Altair. However, Altair Station was a long way from Terra, with a seven month round trip for commercial-engined shipping, so sustaining a large fleet over the medium term would be difficult.

The two maintenance stations and ten maintenance facilities already on site would only sustain eighty thousand tons of military shipping, while Battlefleet Altair was already one hundred and eighty thousand tons before the arrival of reinforcements. Increasing the colony size and maintenance capacity was now a priority but it would be a slow process. Six fuel harvesters were already in orbit of Altair III, so fuel would less of a problem, especially as the number of harvesters increased.

With additional forces deployed to Altair, the rest of the Imperial Navy’s commitments had to be reduced. The two frigates remaining in Carpathia were recalled to Terra, leaving only an auspex buoy on the Epsilon Indi jump point. So far the Necrons had shown no sign of leaving the system and it was two transits to the nearest Imperium colony in Proxima, so there would be some warning if that changed. Six months had passed since the last Necron ship had emerged in Necropolis, so the naval presence in that system was reduced to a single frigate, relying on the planetary defence regiments to handle any late-emerging Necrons.

After discussion with the rest of the Lords of Terra, the 1st Armoured Corps and the Death Korps of Krieg, a heavy infantry corps, were dispatched to Altair, along with another planetary defence regiment. They would form the core of any offensive ground operations. The light cruiser Bloodhawk was assigned to protect the two Cetaceous class ships, Bastion of Souls and Choir of the Fallen, that would transport the Imperial Guard.

A few hours after the battle, a third Moray was detected at the Pythos – Damocles jump point, shortly before it destroyed the buoy. As a result of that and previous Tau activity, Naval Intelligence believed that was the most likely direction to the Tau core systems. The Moray transited into Damocles, detected by the buoy on the far side, and set a course for the Altair jump point. Terra Incognita was still in Damocles, conducting a gravitational survey, while Custodia Lucis was one jump further out in Jericho surveying the inner planets in that system. Both ships were informed of the situation but ordered to continue with their current missions. On November 1st, Moray 003 transited into Altair and was blown to pieces by the twelve Sentinel class defence satellites, although worryingly it emerged over 100,000 km from the jump point, which meant the Tau Empire had jump drives with a much greater squadron jump radius than the Imperium.

Eight months passed without further incident, during which time the cruiser Thunderchild and the light cruisers Myrmidon and Spartan joined the Imperial Navy and the population of Altair Station grew to four point six million Six Arx Refectorium maintenance stations were in orbit by July, with thirteen facilities on the surface, giving the colony the ability to support 212,000 tons of military shipping. Battlefleet Altair had grown to 285,000 tons, so additional support was still required. In Necropolis, recovery operations were almost complete, with numerous installations awaiting transport to Terra, including three research facilities and six ground force construction complexes, along with a stockpile of fifty million litres of fuel and fifty thousand tons of minerals.

On July 7th 4005, a ship from a third xenos race was detected in Helican, three transits from Sol via Proxima and Erebus and four transits via a different route through Alpha Centauri, Bernard’s Star and Anvilus. A small colony, named Helican Station, had been established on the second moon of Helican III two years earlier to act as a naval base for ships protecting harvesting operations at the parent gas giant. However, the harvesters had all been moved to Altair, along with the colony’s maintenance station. No warships remained, so Helican Station was an isolated settlement of 140,000 colonists on a low gravity moon, relying on extensive infrastructure to protect them from the -185C temperature. A single deep space tracking station remained at the colony, which allowed it to detect the xenos ship

The ship, designated as Raptor class, was moving toward to Helican II at 7433 km/s, on a course that did not align with any of Helican’s jump points. Beside the two inward jump points to Proxima and Anvilus, Helican had a single outward jump point to Taranis; a unsurveyed red dwarf system with a single barren planet, on the edge of known space. All three jump points had auspex buoys that should have detected any transit into Helican. After briefly moving into orbit of Helican II, the Raptor changed course toward Helican III, arriving three hours later. The ship entered orbit of the gas giant, apparently ignoring the Imperial colony on the second moon, then moved away in the direction of Helican IV. The Raptor appeared to be conducting a rapid sweep of the inner system, without stopping to survey.

In response to the new contact, the light cruiser Unbroken Vow was dispatched from Terra to protect the colony, although it would take two weeks to arrive. The survey frigate Acta Sanctorum was in the outer reaches of the Anvilus system, after recently completing a survey. She would be in Helican in ten days. Contact was lost with the Raptor as it approached Helican IV. Imperial Navy Intelligence, and the Adeptus Astronomica, were concerned by the astrographic implications of the xenos presence. As no buoy had detected the ship using a known jump point, it must have used a previously dormant jump point, or had some other means of interstellar travel, or perhaps had been in the system before the buoys were emplaced. It was vital for the security of the Imperium that the method of entry was determined. Twenty-four hours later, the Raptor reappeared on a course for Helican III, except this time it moved directly toward Helican Station.

The Raptor entered orbit of the moon, but did not fire upon the surface. The colonists attempted to contact the ship and begin communication efforts, but the Raptor did not respond. A second light cruiser and two frigates were dispatched from Terra to support Unbroken Vow. Acta Sanctorum transited into Helican on July 17th, with Unbroken Vow still four days away. Despite being relatively lightly armed, and having only one third of the speed of the intruder, she set a course for Helican Station. The Imperial Navy did not abandon Imperium citizens in harm’s way. As Acta Sanctorum moved within sixty million kilometres of the xenos ship, it broke orbit and a set a course straight for her.

Acta Sanctorum engaged her active sensors, but could not achieve an active detection, despite the rapidly decreasing range. Even when the Raptor moved within the detection range of her torpedo detection array, there was still no contact. Either the xenos ship was very small, which seemed unlikely given the thermal signature of the Raptor was more than half that of the 15,000-ton survey frigate, or it had some form of technology that masked its cross-section. Finally, at just four point six million kilometres, Acta Sanctorum picked up an active signature of 1,279 tons.

Given the xenos’ refusal to communicate, it’s aggressive charge toward Acta Sanctorum, and the fact that every xenos race encountered so far was hostile, Naval Intelligence made the recommendation the Raptor should be treated as a threat. Lord Admiral Marcus Calgar, monitoring the situation from Terra, passed an order via Rear Admiral Nero Thule, recently appointed commander of the Adeptus Astronomica, to Captain Romulus Gordian, commander of the survey frigate; engage the enemy.

The Veritas Invicta class survey frigate had limited armour, but it did possess a powerful Gothicus-Caliban GC-18-225 Spinal Lance Battery, backed up by a pair of Astaroth Kinetics AK-25 Weapons Batteries. Given the rate of closure, the former would only get one shot, while the latter might manage two. The frigate also had eight light torpedoes for its probe launcher, but with a ten minute recycle time that launcher would only get one shot, the launcher fire control could only engage the small cross-section target at two million kilometres and the light torpedoes were commerce-raiding weapons, slow and easy to destroy.

Acta Sanctorum continued on a reciprocal course until she could launch a torpedo, then turned to keep the range open. The light torpedo had a strength-9 warhead, but was only twice as fast as the Raptor and had no decoys. It was destroyed by a strength-10 impact from an energy weapon, probably a bombardment cannon. There was no time to launch a second torpedo so Acta Sanctorum had to find the most effective range to use her lance battery. With a sixty second recharge, there would be no second chance. There was also the concern her crew might not react fast enough to the order to open fire and that the bombardment cannon of the Raptor might outrange the frigate’s weapons.

Therefore, Captain Gordian ordered his ship to come about and charge the Raptor. The range began dropping at 10,000 km per second. The Raptor fired six shots at 242,000 km, missing with all six, but confirming it was much larger than its cross-section might suggest. Captain Gordian waited until the range dropped to 143,000 km, then ordered his crew to return fire, assuming they would take a few seconds to respond. The two ships exchanged fire at just 93,000 km. The spinal lance scored a direct strength-18 hit, impaling the Raptor, and was accompanied by four strength-2 hits from the weapon batteries. The Raptor fired simultaneously, inflicting a pair of strength-4 hits that penetrated Acta Sanctorum’s armour, killing five of her crew and disabling one of her survey sensors.

The Raptor initially reversed course and began opening the range. Although it had apparently suffered engine damage, the Raptor’s reduced speed of 3716 km/s was still fifty percent greater than the now-pursuing survey frigate. After a few seconds it reversed course again and the range began falling once more. Both ships exchanged fire at 38,000 kilometres. Acta Sanctorum suffered three strength-10 hits that killed another fifteen crew, knocked out her jump drive and caused damage to her engineering deck and fuel storage. Considering the hits she had taken, Acta Sanctorum was extremely fortunate her combat capability was unaffected.

At the same moment, the Raptor suffered eight strength-5 penetrating impacts, as Acta Sanctorum hit with every shot from her two weapon batteries, and ceased all movement. The active signature of the xenos warship changed from 1,279 tons to 12,786 tons, so whatever device had been reducing its signature by ninety percent had been destroyed. Captain Gordian ordered his crew to begin opening the range, seeing no point in risking mutual destruction at close range when his particle lance would be effective at medium range against a stationary target.

Five seconds later, as she moved away, the Raptor fired a single shot that scored a strength-7 hit, causing more damage to engineering. The Raptor had fired six shots in previous volleys, but had only fired four at close range, followed now by a fifth. It was possible that it had reactor damage that caused one of its bombardment cannon to have a longer recycle time. Ten seconds later, with the two ships 75,000 km apart, the Raptor fired twice, inflicting a single strength-5 hit that penetrated armour but did no real damage. In response, Acta Sanctorum registered seven strength-2 hits, all of which caused penetrated armour. It appeared the Raptor had even thinner armour than the survey frigate.

At 112,000 km, Acta Sanctorum fired again, scoring a further six strength-2 hits. There was no response from the Raptor, so Captain Gordian decided to hold the range. Fifteen seconds later, the spinal lance battery fired for the second time and the Raptor exploded. There were no life pods. Acta Sanctorum had earned victory against a faster opponent with more advanced technology. Analysis after the battle showed the Raptor had second generation jammers, to go with its high speed and stealth technology. Acta Sanctorum was fortunate that her first shot from the lance battery scored a hit, or the battle might have gone quite differently.

Despite the loss of her jump drive, the survey frigate could return to Terra as all the intervening jump points were stabilised. While some of Acta Sanctorum’s internal damage could be repaired from her maintenance supplies, she had numerous holes in her armour that could only be rectified by a shipyard. As Unbroken Vow was less than four days away, she set a course for home. Over the next few weeks there was no sign of any more xenos ships, nor any indication of the origin of the Raptor. Unbroken Vow was stationed in orbit of Helican Station and joined by the reinforcements once they arrived.

Six weeks after the incident in Helican, a fourth Moray class ship entered Damocles from Pythos, detected by a buoy on the Damocles side, and set a course for the Altair jump point before vanishing from sensors. On August 26th, it transited into Altair was instantly blown to pieces by the defences. Twenty-four Sentinel satellites were in place, spread out in groups of six 50,000 km from the jump point and supported by two frigates. Three days later the survey frigate Terra Incognita entered Pythos to conduct a gravitational survey

[AuroraSteve]

Over a year passed without further incident, while known space grew to forty-seven systems. New colonies were established in Prospero, once known as 70 Ophiuchi, and the adjacent system of Orpheus. The former was due to two separate prospective mining locations. Prospero-B II, a dwarf planet, had over a million tons of accessibility 1.0 Duranium, plus large accessible deposits of several other minerals. While it was a frozen wasteland with a temperature of -155C, it already had water in the form of extensive ice sheets and was only 4000 km in diameter, making it relatively straightforward to terraform.

Prospero-B II Survey Report
Duranium: 1,411,200 1.00
Corbomite: 3,168,400 0.90
Vendarite: 4,000,000 0.30
Sorium: 1,440,000 1.00
Uridium: 313,600 0.60
Gallicite: 6,400 0.90

The moon had an even larger Duranium deposit, combined with almost a million tons of accessibility 1.0 Gallicite, but its parent gas giant had a highly eccentric orbit, resulting in a temperature range between -64C and 127C. That could be reduced to some extent, but it was also larger than the dwarf planet and had no water so it would be much harder to terraform. For the moment, it was earmarked for automated mining.

Prospero-B I - Moon 3 Survey Report
Duranium: 6,941,529 0.90
Tritanium: 279,832 0.90
Vendarite: 2,115 0.10
Sorium: 2,592,099 0.10
Uridium: 1,322,499 0.10
Corundium: 135,417 0.70

The colony in Orpheus, a red dwarf binary system, was on the second of three planets orbiting the companion star. There were minerals on the planet in vast quantities but at minimal accessibility. Orpheus-B II was chosen as a colony site for a different reason; the atmosphere was already breathable and oceans covered eighty percent of the surface. While the surface temperature was above the human tolerance range, varying between 53C and 63C, the planet was tide-locked so the colony rating was never higher than 0.17, allowing a relatively small amount of infrastructure to provide for a large population.

Orpheus-B II Survey Report
Duranium: 26,353,800 0.10
Neutronium: 39,312,900 0.10
Corbomite: 17,472,400 0.30
Mercassium: 95,844,100 0.10
Vendarite: 64,480,900 0.10
Corundium: 5,856,400 0.10

The Necrons were still in Carpathia, with the Lords of Terra still considering the best approach to remove them, while the Tau had shown no further interest in entering Altair. A survey of Damocles had been concluded, with three outward jumps points to Pythos, Jericho and Antioch. Two survey frigates were conducting a survey of Pythos, the system deemed by Naval Intelligence as the most likely route to the Tau core systems, with a third in Antioch. There had no been no further sign of the xenos race that sent the Raptor into Helican, so the Imperial Navy presence in that system was being slowly reduced. The wreck of the Raptor had been recovered but had revealed little except for scraps of data that suggested the name of the xenos race was the Eldar.

That changed on October 22nd 4006. The frigate Ordo Revelare was surveying the moons of Antioch IV, when it detected the approach of another Raptor. A buoy was in place on the Damocles jump point, with a second buoy on an unexplored jump point discovered during the partially completed gravitational survey, so once again a Raptor was appearing in a system without using the known points of entry. While there could still be other jump points to be found in Antioch, there would also need to be a chain of systems linking Antioch to Helican, which was over thirty light years away in real space. Evidence was mounting that the Eldar had some other means of interstellar travel.

Captain Kor Adramelech, commander of Ordo Revelare, had been briefed on the battle in Helican, so he adopted the same tactics as Captain Romulus Gordian of the Acta Sanctorum. He launched a light torpedo, which was shot down, then charged the Eldar ship. The Raptor opened fire at 241,000 km, scoring a single strength-1 hit from six shots. Adramelech held his course, closing the range while the Raptor recycled its weapons, then ordered his crew to open fire at 110,000 km. The lance battery missed, as did five of the eight weapon battery shots; the rest inflicted three strength-2 penetrating hits.

The Raptor fired at the same moment as Ordo Revelare and also scored three hits, although they were strength-3 and far more impactful. Ordo Revelare’s main drive was disabled and fifty-six of her crew were killed. The Raptor opened the range to 130,000 km and fired again fifteen seconds later and struck the frigate with four strength-3 hits, damaging fuel storage, crew quarters and engineering. Ordo Revelare returned fire without any effect.

The Raptor moved out to 158,000 km, stopped and fired again without inflicting critical damage, then moved to 190,000, where it stopped and fired for a fourth time, as if testing the range of the frigate’s weapons. Ordo Revelare struggled to register any hits at the longer ranges. This tactic continued until the Raptor reached 251,000 km, where its six bombardment cannon were still in range but Ordo Revelare could not return fire. The Eldar ship held that range and continued firing, but was also struggling to inflict any damage.

After multiple volleys without success, the Raptor reduced the range to 225,000 km, where both ships achieved a single strength-1 armour hit, then it held that range while continuing to fire every fifteen seconds. Only about one in twenty of Ordo Revelare’s weapon battery shots were hitting, compared to perhaps one in eight for the Raptor’s bombardment cannon, and her lance battery was out of range. Slowly, the survey frigate’s damage increased, as her armour was ground away and more systems were damaged by penetrating shots. Occasional hits on the Raptor, some of which penetrated, seemed to have no effect.

Suddenly, sixteen minutes after the battle began, the Raptor took a single internal hit, ceased fire and moved away at full speed toward the inner system, leaving Ordo Revelare dead in space. Her engine and jump drive were offline, many of her sensors were disabled and she had damage to many non-critical systems, but her weapons remained fully operational. With the range at 670,000 km, she launched a single light torpedo. The torpedo was slow at 15,000 km, with a correspondingly low chance to hit, but it had a retargeting system and the Raptor’s weapons appeared to be offline.

After forty seconds of repeated missed passes, the strength-9 warhead finally detonated. Although the explosion failed to slow down the fast-retreating Raptor, it did disable its stealth systems, which meant that Ordo Revelare could track and engage the Eldar ship at much greater distances. With the Raptor at five million kilometres, she launched a second light torpedo. Unfortunately, the Raptor managed to move beyond its nine million kilometre fuel range before it could attack.

Over the next twelve hours, the crew of Ordo Revelare repaired her engine and jump drive, after which she set a course for the Damocles jump point. The battle with the Raptor had effectively ended in a draw, with neither ship able to destroy the other. Even so, the personnel of the Adeptus Astronomica had performed well once again against an Eldar warship.

Less than two months later, a new xenos race appeared on the edge of known space. A sensor buoy on a jump point four transits from Sol, between Deliverance and Bleakfrost, detected the approach of a ship of 15,700 tons travelling at over 5000 km/s, designated as Dagger class. Deliverance was a partially surveyed system with two known jump points, one leading outward to Bleakfrost, a planetless, unsurveyed white dwarf system, and one leading inward to Circe, a planetless red dwarf binary, which in turn led inward to Ross, two transits from both Sol and Prospero in different directions. The Dagger moved to the jump point and transited into Bleakfrost, where it was detected by another buoy, before moving away toward the primary.

The survey of Deliverance had focused on the five planets and twenty-moons, none of which were of interest. When the survey ship assigned to the system had to pull back to Terra for overhaul, it had only covered four of the thirty gravitational survey locations, so Deliverance could have many more jump points. The Circe jump point and the far side of the Bleakfrost jump points had buoys, so the xenos ship had not entered Deliverance via either of those routes. A survey of the system was now a priority. In the meantime, the light cruiser Aegis and two frigates were dispatched from Terra to monitor the Circe jump point.

There were no new warships under construction in January 4007. Mineral output from the mines on Sol had been falling steadily for some time, while those colonies designated as new mining sites did not yet have the population to support a significant number of mines. The Centauri Colony was the largest, with a population of seventeen million and one hundred and forty mines in operation. However, it was a barren world of regolith plains and relied entirely on infrastructure to support that population, making it expensive to expand. Nevertheless it was the Imperium’s only substantial source of Neutronium, so some further expansion was necessary.

Terra Survey Report
Duranium: 200,212 1.00
Corbomite: 8,367 0.22
Tritanium: 32,955 0.36
Boronide: 6,856 0.20
Mercassium: 52,107 0.36
Vendarite: 27,264 0.33
Sorium: 63,590 0.60
Uridium: 102,843 0.80
Corundium: 196,631 0.50
Gallicite: 10,964 0.25

Alpha Centauri-A I Survey Report
Duranium: 132,043 0.90
Neutronium: 3,408,572 0.80
Boronide: 231,806 0.30
Mercassium: 378,639 0.10
Corundium: 4,273,358 0.40
Gallicite: 2,500,891 1.00

Io, one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, was the focus of the Imperium’s primary terraforming operation, with thirteen Exordium Mundi class terraformers. By 4007, the atmosphere was breathable and surface temperatures were moving closer to the human tolerance range, with a minimum of -34C. Water ice covered a sixth of the surface. As the colony rating dropped, the existing infrastructure became more effective, allowing a growth in population to eleven million. One hundred and thirteen mines were in operation. Within the relatively near future, Io would become a second ideal habitable world within the Sol system, allowing a much greater transfer of population and mines from Terra.

Io Survey Report
Duranium: 1,656,658 1.00
Corbomite: 1,578,358 0.30
Boronide: 1,964,855 0.90
Mercassium: 2,866,954 0.80
Sorium: 1,814,774 0.80

Mercury had a population of six million, with sixty-one mines in operation. A few terraforming installations on the surface had created a trace Frigusium atmosphere of 0.04 atm, which had minimal impact on the colony rating of 3.7, so the population was supported by extensive infrastructure, mainly supplied by House Arcadius, a civilian shipping line. It was not a high priority for terraforming due to the greater potential of other locations, such as Prospero-B II, where four Exordium Mundi class terraformers were in orbit. The terraforming operation had only recently begun and the overall task was on a similar scale to Io, except the planet had existing water ice. A tiny colony of 200,000 was in place, but with a temperature of -150C and colony rating of 5.7, it would be some time before that increased significantly.

Mercury Survey Report
Duranium: 9,430,633 0.70
Corbomite: 4,299,962 1.00
Tritanium: 4,610,316 0.10
Mercassium: 402,009 0.30
Vendarite: 2,916,053 0.80
Sorium: 4,300,113 0.90

Prospero-B II Survey Report
Duranium: 1,411,200 1.00
Corbomite: 3,168,400 0.90
Vendarite: 4,000,000 0.30
Sorium: 1,440,000 1.00
Uridium: 313,600 0.60
Gallicite: 6,400 0.90

The Imperium had three hundred and sixty automated mines in operation on Terra. As transport capacity became available and sufficient military forces could be freed-up to provide defences, they would likely be deployed on either Altair II, or the third moon of Prospero-B I. Both bodies has extensive mineral deposits, but also highly eccentric orbits, the former due to its parent gas giant, which made them difficult terraforming targets.

Prospero-B I - Moon 3 Survey Report
Duranium: 6,941,526 0.90
Tritanium: 279,829 0.90
Vendarite: 2,115 0.10
Sorium: 2,592,099 0.10
Uridium: 1,322,499 0.10
Corundium: 135,415 0.70
Gallicite: 933,142 1.00

Altair II Survey Report
Duranium: 1,843,200 0.70
Corbomite: 173,056 1.00
Tritanium: 1,806,336 0.90
Boronide: 831,744 1.00
Mercassium: 1,478,656 0.40
Vendarite: 802,816 1.00
Sorium: 2,560,000 0.80
Uridium: 313,600 0.50
Corundium: 2,310,400 0.60
Gallicite: 495,616 0.40

As the mineral supply situation was in flux, with Terran supplies diminishing and the limited output of colonial operations, the recent industrial focus had been on commercial-engined vessels and industrial stations. Mass conveyors and colony ships were needed for colonists, infrastructure and installations. while terraformers made those worlds more habitable and fuel harvesters provided the life blood of colonial expansion. The Tau were quiet and the Necrons had shown no sign of leaving Carpathia, so after the launch of the fourth Dictator class carrier, Righteous Fury, in January 4006, no further warships had been built. The Imperial Navy’s major warship strength now stood at six cruisers, four carriers, twelve light cruisers and twelve frigates. Those could be supported by the twelve survey frigates and twelve Faustus class interceptors, but neither was suitable for sustained deep space combat operations.

Imperial Navy – January 4007
Lunar class Cruiser: Agrippa, Holy Flame, Imperial Wrath, Iron Duke, Justiciar, Thunderchild
Dictator class Carrier: Archon Kort, Ferrum Aeterna, Righteous Fury, Ultima Praetor
Dauntless class Light Cruiser: Aegis, Bellerophon, Bloodhawk, Cerberus, Dauntless, Divine Crusade, Havock, Myrmidon, Ravenor, Spartan, Unbroken Vow, Vengeful Martyr
Firestorm class Frigate: Cape Wrath, Excalibur, Firestorm, Heroic Endeavour, Kraken, Medusa, Pegasus, Rubicon, Silent Fire, Valiant, Vengeful, Vortex

Given the appearance of a fourth xenos race and the apparent ability of the stealthy Eldar to enter Imperial systems without detection, the Lords of Terra decided it was necessary to expand the fleet, even if limited resources meant that some industrial expansion had to be delayed. The first step was the laying down of Relentless, the seventh Lunar class cruiser and a trio of Firestorm class frigates. The Tridon Graving Dock, where the Dauntless class light was constructed, was left temporarily vacant so that a new Dauntless variant, intended for colony protection, could be designed. Two new survey frigates, Nova Revelatio and Cognitio Astrorum, were laid down to aid with the investigation of xenos-inhabited frontier systems.

While the ships of the Imperial Navy and the Adeptus Astronomica were moving toward Deliverance, the Tau made a new appearance. Imperial Naval Intelligence believed that Pythos, two transits from Altair via Damocles, was the likely route to the core of the Tau Empire. The frigates Crux Veritas and Terra Incognita had surveyed the system and found a single outward jump point to Solomon, a red dwarf system with five planets and over thirty moons. Solomon I and II were terrestrial worlds with surface water, temperatures in the human tolerance range and atmospheres of CO2 – nitrogen and nitrogen – methane respectively. Terra Incognita was in the outer system conducting a gravitational survey, while Crux Veritas was in orbit of Solomon III. The latter frigate detected active emissions from an approaching Moray at approximately one hundred million kilometres.

Four Morays, the only known Tau ship class, had been detected since first contact. This particular ship was Moray 001, the first to be encountered. The other three had all been destroyed. The Moray class was 10,600 tons and known to be armed with nine bombardment cannon. Despite being smaller and slower than the Eldar Raptor, with a speed of 4227 km/s, it was better armed and would be a difficult opponent for a survey frigate. Therefore Crux Veritas broke orbit and attempt to evade. Twenty minutes later, the Moray disengaged its active sensors and vanished from Imperial sensors for several hours. When it reappeared, it had moved past Solomon III and was on an obvious pursuit course.

Crux Veritas changed course and headed for the Pythos jump point. The Moray closed the range to sixty-five million kilometres, then held that distance and began shadowing the Imperium survey frigate. The light cruiser Dauntless, supporting the defence satellites at the Altair – Pythos jump point, entered Pythos and set course for the Solomon jump point. Five days later, Crux Veritas arrived at the jump point and continued past it, with the Moray still following. Once the Moray moved past the Pythos jump point, the survey frigate halted. The two ships stared at each other for over a week, then Dauntless jumped into Solomon.

She came under fire immediately from the Moray, 30,000 km away, taking nine strength-6 hits that reduced her shields to fifty-one percent. Fifteen seconds later, jump shock wore off and the two ships exchanged fire again at less than 10,000 km. Dauntless was left with minimal shields. The Moray was blown to pieces. Dauntless picked up the survivors and moved to the Pythos jump point to await the arrival of a salvage ship from Altair Station.

Two months after the initial contact with the new xenos race in Deliverance, a second xenos ship, designated Sabre 001, was detected on the same approach to the Bleakfrost jump point as the previous Dagger class. The Sabre was 10,600 tons and travelling at 4982 km/s. As with the Dagger, it transited into Bleakfrost and moved out of sensor range. By this point, the light cruiser Aegis and the frigates Firestorm and Excalibur were stationed on the Circe – Deliverance jump point, guarding against any xenos incursion toward the heart of the Imperium. The survey frigate Sanctus Lux was already in Deliverance, with a second frigate, Virtus Aeterna less than a day away from joining her.

A second Sabre transited the Deliverance – Bleakfrost jump point thirty hours after the first, then two days later Sanctus Lux detected thermal emissions from a new type, designated as Glaive class, in the Deliverance system. She engaged her active sensors to check the size of the ship and detected a second ship, a 22,849-ton Scimitar class, in company with the Glaive. The latter was 47,499 tons and had commercial engines. She also detected a stabilised jump point close to both ships, so she set a course to lay a buoy.

The two xenos ships held their course toward the Bleakfrost jump point and made no attempt to either run or approach Sanctus Lux. The survey frigate emplaced a buoy then transited the jump point, emerging two billion kilometres from the orange K-class primary of Prometheus, a system with seven planets and thirty-one moons. The first moon of Prometheus III was a Mars-sized body with a breathable atmosphere and an ice sheet, although that ice sheet would turn into oceans for part of the orbit of the parent gas giant due a temperature range from -47C to 26C.

Sanctus Lux deployed a buoy at the jump point, launched an augur probe at the moon, then began a survey of the system. Three days later, the buoy detected the entry of Sabre 002 into Prometheus. The probe required six days to reach Prometheus III, where it detected seventeen ships in orbit of the gas giant itself, but none in orbit of the near-habitable moon. Thirteen were Bardiche class ships of 150,000 tons, three more were 45,000 tons, two Halberds and an Assegai. The last was 18,000 tons and designated as Cutlass class. The xenos ships ignored the probe and made no attempt to destroy it. Meanwhile, the Glaive and Scimitar detected earlier by Sanctus Lux near the Deliverance – Prometheus jump point transited into Bleakfrost on March 26th 4007.

In June 4007, the Imperial Navy launched three simultaneous operations in different areas of known space. The first was an expedition to Cerix Magnus, a system four transits from Sol via Proxima, Erebus and Colchis, with a K-class sub-giant primary. A ruined colony had been discovered on the fifth of seven planets, a cold terrestrial world dominated by ice sheets and ethane lowlands, with a nitrogen – methane atmosphere. Cerix Magnus V had two small moons, the closest of which was at 80,000 km.

The Cerix Magnus Expedition comprised the Lunar class cruiser Holy Flame, the Dauntless light cruisers Vengeful Martyr and Havock, both veterans of Necropolis and two Cetaceous class transports. The latter carried the Mordian Guard infantry corps, the Storm Wardens planetary defence regiment, which was still understrength after the engagements in Necropolis, the Deathwatch planetary lance battery, two Ordo Xenos formations and two Ordo Machinum formations. The transports would deliver the ground forces and return to Terra, while the three warships moved into orbit of the inner system, creating a similar tactical situation to the victorious campaign in Necropolis.

Cerix Magnus III, another cold world with a thin nitrogen – methane atmosphere, had recently been surveyed and found to have massive deposits of accessible Duranium, Corundium and Gallicite. As the Empire was starting to experience shortages of both Duranium and Gallicite, this was a very welcome discovery. The colony rating was 2.9 due to the temperature of -80C, but the planet could be terraformed and already had sufficient water ice. Mass conveyors were already en route with the necessary infrastructure to establish a small colony.

Cerix Magnus III Survey Report
Duranium: 23,147,208 0.90
Tritanium: 11,289,600 0.10
Boronide: 1,764 0.10
Corundium: 13,351,716 0.70
Gallicite: 15,920,100 0.90

The second operation was in Damocles, one jump outward from Altair, which had a small Tau population on the second planet. A few weeks earlier, Crux Veritas had detected a Tau population on Solomon II, two jumps further out via Pythos, with an EM signature of 1035, a thermal signature of 752 and a ground forces signature of 1300 tons. Imperial Navy Intelligence already believed Pythos was the route to the Tau core worlds, so the Tau colony in Solomon strongly reinforced that belief.

The Damocles – Pythos jump point was seventy-three million kilometres from the system primary, so conquering the Tau colony on Damocles III, which orbited at forty-three million kilometres, and establishing a forward base on that world would create a much better defensive position than in Altair, where Altair Station was three billion kilometres from the Damocles jump point and never moved closer than one point two billion. It would also place an Imperial logistics node almost five billion kilometres closer to the Pythos jump point and the rest of the Tau Empire.

Battlefleet Damocles was formed from Battlefleet Altair and comprised the cruiser Imperial Wrath, the carrier Archon Kort and two frigates, leaving another cruiser and three light cruisers at Altair Station. The troop transports Choir of the Fallen and Bastion of Souls accompanied Battlefleet Damocles, carrying the 1st Armoured Corps and the Vitrian Dragoons heavy infantry corps, which were already deployed in Altair. The Altair Station colony had reached a population of seven million and had sufficient maintenance capacity to support the ships from both fleets. Once Damocles III was secure, some of that capacity would be relocated to the new base.

Battlefleet Damocles
Lunar class Cruiser: Imperial Wrath
Dictator class Carrier: Archon Kort
Firestorm class Frigate: Cape Wrath, Silent Fire

Battlefleet Altair
Lunar class Cruiser: Iron Duke
Dauntless class Light Cruiser: Bellerophon, Bloodhawk, Dauntless

The largest operation of the three was the reforming of Battlefleet Carpathia for a carrier raid into the Carpathia system. The carriers Ferrum Aeterna, Righteous Fury and Ultima Praetor were escorted by the Lunar class cruiser Thunderchild and the light cruisers Cerberus and Ravenor. After refuelling at a forward-deployed replenishment ship in Epsilon Indi, they would enter Carpathia and attack any targets of opportunity, including the Necron mobile forces. While the last raid had failed, this operation would have three times as may attack craft.

Battlefleet Carpathia
Lunar class Cruiser: Thunderchild
Dictator class Carrier: Ferrum Aeterna, Righteous Fury, Ultima Praetor
Dauntless class Light Cruiser: Cerberus, Ravenor
72x Starhawk Bomber
120x Fury Interceptor
3x Aquila Lander

Meanwhile, in orbit of Prometheus IV, Sanctus Lux detected a fleet of seven ships from the xenos race first detected in the Deliverance system. All seven were just under 23,000 tons, with two ships of the known Scimitar class and five of previous unknown designs; four were designated as Claymore class and the fifth as Gladius class. There was also a ground forces signature of 8000 tons but no signs of habitation. The planet itself was a frozen Mars-sized world with a nitrogen – methane atmosphere. Sanctus Lux entered orbit to begin a survey and attempt to establish communications with the xenos.

The xenos responded, but without any either side being able to understand the other. A few days later, Custos Alarum, an unusual Imperial Navy vessel, entered Prometheus. She started as one of two Vector Alarum class ships, intended for short-duration transport of defence satellites, interceptors or attack craft to colonies or jump points. When the Imperium needed a diplomatic vessel for contact with any non-hostile xenos, such as those in Prometheus, it was much faster to make a small change to Custos Alarum, replacing a small portion of her hangar deck with diplomatic facilities, than designing and building an entirely new ship. Her hangar space also allowed Custos Alarum to carry eleven defence satellites, which she had deployed at the Circe – Deliverance jump point before moving through Deliverance into Prometheus. Alternatively, she could have retained the satellites as a defensive option during her diplomatic duties.

Sanctus Lux completed her survey of Prometheus IV, finding a ruined xenos settlement on the surface, which explained the presence of the xenos ships and ground forces. There were no wrecks in the system, so if the xenos had fought the Necrons that battle was long over. Sanctus Lux emplaced a buoy in orbit then set a course for the inner planets. She detected another fleet in orbit of Prometheus I, a hot barren world of no apparent significance. There were nine ships of 68,700 tons, split between six Bayonet class and three Longbow class, both new types, plus two of the known Sabre class of 10,600 tons. Prometheus was plainly an important system for the xenos and while they had shown restraint regarding the activities of Sanctus Lux, there was no guarantee that would continue. Therefore, she was ordered to move to the outer system, where she was less likely to be detected, and focus on a gravitational survey.

[AuroraSteve]

Six days later, Battlefleet Carpathia halted a little over two hundred million kilometres from Carpathia II and launched its entire attack craft strength toward the planet, preceded by a sensor probe that confirmed the Necron fleet was still in orbit. The xenos fleet comprised two Scarabs and two Tesseracts that were known 37,000-ton bases, a similar-sized Wraith that was also believed to be a base, four 55,000 ton Monoliths and a 37,000-ton Shroud, with unknown armament, and seven ships of 18,500 tons, five of which were known to be armed with torpedoes. Three of the bases had been damaged in the past but, based on their shield signatures, at least two of them had been repaired to some degree.

The probe was destroyed short of the planet and contact was lost. The attack craft proceeded on course and soon detected emissions from two Cryptek class destroyers, known to be armed with torpedoes, on an intercept course. Even though they were within theoretical active sensor range, the Aquila that provided sensor coverage for the rest of the attack craft could not yet overcome their sensor jammers. With the Crypteks at twenty million kilometres and at least two Monoliths following in their wake, the Aquila detected a single inbound torpedo. Apparently the Crypteks could engage the attack craft at long range, unlike the Monoliths, Shroud and Scythes during the previous raid.

The torpedo was shot down by the escorting Furies, but the attack craft would have to get much closer before they could launch their own torpedoes. As the range fell, the leading Necron formation moved close enough for active detection, revealing that it comprised all five known torpedo-armed vessels; three Crypteks, a Spyder and a Khopesh. Shortly afterwards, the attack craft formation came under attack from seven waves of three torpedoes each, arriving five seconds apart.

One hundred and twenty Furies could engage the enemy, but with significant overkill against such small torpedo waves and with the chance of two waves arriving close together before their lascannon could recharge. Therefore they allocated a maximum of twenty-five shots against any single torpedo. That proved sufficient to eliminate the immediate threat without any losses. Two further sequences of seven waves arrived, with a single Starhawk struck and destroyed by a strength-9 detonation.

As soon as the attack craft closed within eight million kilometres of the leading Necron group, they opened fire, launching seventy-one torpedoes in total, spread between all five targets. Imperial Navy Intelligence did not believe the Necron destroyers had any point defence capability, while the standard torpedoes carried by the Starhawks had retargeting capability and onboard sensors. They would continue attacking until they struck their target, or would locate a new target if the original one was destroyed. Once the torpedoes were away, the attack craft reversed course, fending off more waves of Necron torpedoes as they retreated.

When the wave of seventy-one torpedoes arrived at the five Necron destroyers, twenty-seven detonated on the first pass, with thirteen hitting ship-launched decoys, thirteen impacting on shields and the last striking armour. Those torpedoes that missed reversed course and attacked again, with a further twenty-one hits spread between all five targets. The Spyder and one of the Crypteks were torn apart by secondary explosions, while a second Cryptek took four penetrating hits and ceased all movement. During the third pass, a Cryptek exploded, with penetrating hits on both the other ships, then the fourth pass destroyed the Khopesh. The last four torpedoes all acquired the surviving Cryptek, which was already dead in space, and blew it to pieces.

A single torpedo wave from the Starhawks had eliminated all five Necron destroyers, although unlike the previous raid the situation was much more favourable, with the destroyers separated from the rest of the Necron fleet and lacking any inherent point defence. The Aquila detached from the formation, allowing the other attack craft to accelerate to 8000 km/s and outrun a group of seven Necron warships four million kilometres beyond the wrecks of the destroyers. The slow speed of the Aquila made it ill-suited to the role of providing sensor coverage for the attack craft, so a new design would be created that was more suited to that task.

Unfortunately, the Aquila was unable to evade the second group of Necron warships, which had a 1200 km/s speed advantage, and it was destroyed by a salvo of three light torpedoes. The Starhawks and Furies returned safely to their carriers. Sixteen hours later, after the crews were rested and the Starhawks reloaded, they launched a second attack. This time, they were confronted by a squadron comprising the four 55,000-ton Monolith class cruisers, the 37,000-ton Shroud light cruiser and a pair of Scythe class ships of 18,500 tons.

Unlike the targets of the previous Starhawk attack, the Imperium had no intelligence on the armament of the approaching ships, beyond the light torpedo salvo that destroyed the Aquila, which suggested that one or more of the approaching ships would have a similar defensive capability to the Scarab class base. The larger ships also had substantial shields, so the attack was focused on just two ships. Forty-eight torpedoes were directed against the Shroud, with the rest targeting one of the Scythes.

Light torpedo detonations began one point five million kilometres from the Necron fleet and the Imperial torpedoes began to vanish. Two hundred and fourteen light torpedo hits were registered before the standard torpedoes reached their targets, where they were intercepted by a barrage of energy fire. Thirteen detonated but struck only shields or decoys. Twenty-seven remained active, with all the rest eliminated by the Necron defensive fire. After two more engagement attempts, only six more hits had been achieved, with two armour hits on the Scythe, one of which penetrated without apparent effect, and four shield impacts on the Shroud. The attack was a failure. The Shroud class was identified as the source of the defensive torpedo launches.

The attack craft and the Aquila all returned safely to the carriers, as the Aquila had broken away much earlier, allowing the rest of the strike to distract the Necron fleet before they moved out of range. So far, a hundred and forty-four standard torpedoes had been expended, with a cost not much less than a Dauntless class light cruiser, in exchange for the destruction of 90,000 tons of Necron warships. It was a tactical victory, but not a strategic one as the Necrons retained control of Carpathia. The carriers had enough missiles for one more strike, but the fleet commander, the grandly-named Lord-Captain Thanatos Anaxagoras, decided it would be a futile expenditure of valuable ordnance. The Necron light torpedoes were too effective at intercepting the Imperial torpedoes, so any fleet defended by them was too difficult a target for long-range attack. Battlefleet Carpathia set course for Terra.

On August 2nd 4007, a new 22,864-ton ship of the xenos first encountered in Deliverance, designated as Javelin class, transited from Prometheus into Deliverance and then into Circe, where the jump point was guarded by a light cruiser, two frigates and eleven defence satellites. So far, this particular xenos species had shown no hostile intent and the nearest Imperium colonies were three transits from Circe, so no action was taken. After a brief stay, the Javelin transited back into Deliverance. In Prometheus, the diplomatic ship Custos Alarum had moved into orbit of Prometheus IV to attempt communication with the xenos fleet already in orbit.

Less than a month later, full communications were established with the xenos, who referred to themselves as the Khrave and their polity as the Khrave Dominion. They appeared to be grey-skinned humanoids with white eyes, although it was difficult to determine their overall physical form as every Khrave that contacted Custos Alarum via video was apparently semi-encased within the machinery of their ship. Now that both sides could understand each other, the Khrave demanded that the Imperium should leave the Prometheus system immediately. Custos Alarum was unarmed, so she broke orbit and set course for the Deliverance jump point

On September 1st 4007, a survey of the ruins on Cerix Magnus V was completed, revealing seventy-one locations for recovery operations, which began immediately. Two weeks later, the survey frigate Crux Veritas entered one of five outward jump points in Solomon, a Tau system two transits from Damocles, and emerged in a planetless brown dwarf system, named Equinox. Eight Tau ships were waiting on the far side, the first Tau vessels to be encountered except for the Moray class ships. Two were 21,300-ton Barracudas, four were similar-sized Tigerfish class and the last two were 10,600-ton Starfish class. All four Tigerfish opened fire with bombardment cannon at point-blank range, obliterating Crux Veritas. She was the first survey frigate lost to enemy action.

The destruction of Crux Veritas increased the priority of establishing a forward base at the recently conquered Tau colony on Damocles III. However, there were also competing priorities to establish a colony in Deliverance to secure the system as a forward base against the Khrave Dominion and expand the Imperial presence in Cerix Magnus, both at the ruin site and at the new mining colony on Cerix Magnus III.

By January 4008, the recovery operations were well underway, with work completed at almost fifty sites. Twenty installations were on the surface awaiting collection, including a research facility, along with fuel and maintenance supplies. The understrength Storm Wardens planetary defence regiment was on the surface, supported by the recently trained Doom Legion. The Deathwatch planetary lance battery was on the surface of the inner moon, 80,000 km from the planet, with the cruiser Justiciar and the light cruisers Ravenor and Unbroken Vow in orbit of the same moon, placing them close enough to engage any emerging Necrons while remaining outside point-blank range.

Two Necron bases, a Tesseract armed with over a hundred fast-firing bombardment cannon and a Scarab armed with eighty-two torpedo launchers, appeared in orbit over Cerix Magnus V. The Tesseract attacked Magistratus, a replenishment ship that was in orbit loading maintenance supplies. Under the massive weight of fire it simply ceased to exist. The Scarab launched seventy light torpedoes. All three defence regiments opened fire, with the Scarab taking far more hits overall, including thirty that penetrated its armour, while the Tesseract received six of the eight particle lance strikes.

The wave of seventy missiles was targeted on Ravenor. With all three ships focused on attack there was no point defence and all seventy hit their target, taking down her shields and inflicting minor armour damage. The base armed with bombardment cannon targeted the Storm Wardens regiment, taking out two heavy and four light weapon batteries. The regiment returned fire and destroyed the Tesseract, in conjunction with Unbroken Vow. Justiciar targeted and destroyed the Scarab. The battle lasted only ten seconds, thanks to the fast responses of both the warship crews and the defence regiments.

The Lords of Terra had hoped that the Necrons would not make an appearance in Cerix Magnus, as it was a smaller ruin than in Carpathia and Necropolis, but that hope was now dashed. How many more ships would appear and how quickly had become the primary concern. As the task was nearly complete, the Lords decided to press ahead and attempt to recover the remaining sites and remove all installations before any more ships appeared. The three warships moved into orbit of the planet in an attempt to draw fire from the commercial shipping, should any more Necrons appear.

In the next seven weeks, the Ordo Machinum formations on Cerix Magnus V recovered installations or materials at all but five sites. Several installations were removed from the planet, including the research facility, although a second facility was recovered and remained on the surface on March 21st, when a new wave of Necrons appeared. The five ships that appeared included a Spyder, a Khopesh and three Crypteks, which seemed to be the standard Necron grouping for a destroyer squadron. All five were known to be armed with torpedoes. The Khopesh and two of the Crypteks were engaged by the weapon batteries of the Storm Wardens and the Doom Legion, which achieved a few penetrating hits. The lances of the Deathwatch scored four hits across three ships. One Cryptek remained undamaged, with the Spyder taking a single lance hit.

The ships in orbit had been joined by the light cruiser Vengeful Martyr and were at point-blank range from the new arrivals. There was also an Orca class troop transport in orbit. Fortunately, four Universe class mass conveyors and a Carrack class freighter had recently departed. Moments after their arrival, the Necron ships launched a total of one hundred and ten size-8 torpedoes. The torpedoes were barely out of their tubes when Ravenor and Unbroken Vow opened fire, destroying the Khopesh and one of the Crypteks and inflicting internal damage on a second Cryptek and the Spyder. The Doom Legion took out the third Cryptek with a barrage of light weapon battery fire.

All four ships and the planetary defence regiments changed to point defence mode, excluding the primary weapon batteries of the ground forces and the two light cruisers that had just fired and were still recharging. Seventy-eight point defence hits were recorded, although only twenty-six of those were on torpedoes rather than decoys. The remaining eighty-four torpedoes all struck their targets with strength-9 warheads. Vengeful Martyr took fifty-seven of those hits, yet somehow survived with the loss of both engines, all three shield generators, her jump drive and most of her weapons. Ravenor lost her shields and suffered further armour damage, Together, Justiciar and Unbroken Vow took a dozen impacts on their shields. The lack of focus in the attack was probably because some of the torpedoes had randomly selected a target after the launching ship was destroyed. Revenge was swift, with both surviving Necron ships blown to pieces within a few seconds of the torpedo impacts.

All four warships would remain in orbit. Vengeful Martyr would have to repair her engine damage before she could leave and the supplies on the surface would help with that task. The remaining ships would cover her, including Ravenor - despite her armour damage. Operations continued on the surface and within the system, as freighters and mass conveyors continued to remove installations from the surface.

By May 4008, the Imperium was facing two major shortages; fuel and Gallicite. The stockpile of the former on Terra had been steadily reducing for some time, as consumption exceeded production. Fuel refineries on Terra were producing twenty-three million litres a year, while a fleet of eighteen Sangua Machina harvesting stations in orbit of Altair III contributed a further thirty-eight million litres per year. The main consumers of that production were eleven Jericho class colony ships and twenty-three Universe class mass conveyors, each of which consumed around one point-five million litres per annum.

Five Auriga Gravis class tugs were each consuming around two million litres per annum on constant operations, while many smaller ships, such as freighters and troop transports, added to the drawdown. Combat operations, while intermittent, drew heavily on fuel, as did the regular replacement of ships guarding colonies or jump points without port facilities. Survey operations were constant and forward bases needed their own fuel stockpiles. As the Terran fuel stockpile fell toward ten million litres, the situation was deteriorating and threatening to derail vital economic activity.

Additional fuel refineries were scheduled for construction on Terra, but manpower was also a problem. A number of shipyards had been towed into Lunar orbit to free up manpower for the increasing number of research facilities and ground force construction complexes. The only real long-term solution was more fuel harvesters at Altair III, but they took time to construct and a long time to move due to the distance from Sol to Altair. In the short-term, some operations would have to be curtailed until the fuel situation improved.

The dwindling supply of Gallicite was an even more serious problem. By mid-May 4008, the stockpile on Terra was down to 500 tons, with only a further five thousand tons left to be mined, with an accessibility of 0.18. There were two existing sources of Gallicite; the colony on Alpha Cenaturi-A I, which had two million tons of accessibility 1.0 Gallicite, and the comet Schaumasse in the Sol system, which had 31,000 tons at accessibility 0.6. The latter was being mined because it was small enough to support a dozen Excavator Abyssalis class mining platforms and also had a deposit of accessibility 1.0 Duranium.

The Centauri colony had a population of twenty-four million and almost two hundred mines in operation. While the Gallicite deposit was large, the Duranium deposit was barely more than a hundred thousand tons, so other colonies had taken precedence in terms of transport capacity and terraforming effort. Io had recently become an ideal habitable world, mainly because of its location in Sol and large, accessible deposits of Duranium, Boronide and Mercassium, but that did not solve the immediate crisis.

Io Survey Report
Duranium: 1,652,308 1.00
Corbomite: 1,577,053 0.30
Boronide: 1,960,939 0.90
Mercassium: 2,863,474 0.80
Sorium: 1,811,294 0.80

Alpha Centauri-A I Survey Report
Duranium: 128,945 0.90
Neutronium: 3,405,818 0.80
Boronide: 230,774 0.30
Mercassium: 378,295 0.10
Corundium: 4,271,981 0.40
Gallicite: 2,497,448 1.00

The terraformers from Io were gradually being moved to Cerix Magnus III, which had vast quantities of accessible Duranium, Corundium and Gallicite. The Lords of Terra considered the planet to be the most important long-term mining site in the Imperium. However, it was some distance from Terra and had a colony rating of 2.0. Until the terraformers could improve the environment, the population required infrastructure before any mines could be moved, so it was a slow process. In May 4008, that population was just three million.

Cerix Magnus III Survey Report
Duranium: 23,147,143 0.90
Tritanium: 11,289,593 0.10
Boronide: 1,757 0.10
Corundium: 13,351,665 0.70
Gallicite: 15,920,035 0.90

Cerix Magnus III was also seen as the potential destination for more than three hundred automated mines still on Terra. Until Cerix Magnus was surveyed, the main candidate was the third moon of Prospero-B I, which had better accessibility Gallicite plus a deposit of Tritanium. Forty-one automated mines were already in operation. However, as the parent planet had a very extreme orbit, it would be difficult to establish a manned colony. Given that Cerix Magnus III had much larger deposits, was only marginally worse in terms of accessibility and would eventually support a major naval base, it was a much more attractive long-term option. In the meantime, the Lords of Terra ordered the movement of the available automated mines to the Centauri colony. It was much closer and would help with the Gallicite problem in the short term. As capacity became available, they would be moved to Cerix Magnus.

Prospero-B I - Moon 3 Survey Report
Duranium: 6,941,047 0.90
Tritanium: 279,350 0.90
Vendarite: 2,061 0.10
Sorium: 2,592,045 0.10
Uridium: 1,322,445 0.10
Corundium: 135,042 0.70
Gallicite: 932,610 1.00

By the end of August 4008, operations on Cerix Magnus V were complete. All the recovered installations had been moved to Cerix Magnus III, or transported to Terra. The Mordian Iron Guard, which had not faced any Necron ground forces became the garrison for Cerix Magnus III, along with the Doom Legion and the Deathwatch. The survivors of the Storm Wardens and the Ordo formations all returned to Terra. There had been no further sign of any Necron naval forces, so the colony was officially abandoned on August 29th. Unbroken Vow was assigned to Cerix Magnus III until a permanent fleet presence could be established at the colony, while the other warships refuelled at the colony and then headed home for resupply, repair and shore leave.

On November 2nd 4008, a new ship type of the Tau Empire transited into Damocles from Pythos. Designated as Dolphin class, it was approximately 7000 tons, equipped with military engines and had a speed of 3560 km/s. A dozen Sentinel class defence satellites had been moved to the Pythos jump point from the Altair – Damocles jump point, three which opened fire and destroyed the Dolphin with their spinal lance batteries.

Even with all the other activity within the Imperium, the point of contact with the Tau was deemed high priority. Therefore, by early November 4008 the orbital maintenance bases that orbited Altair station had been moved into orbit of Damocles III, giving it a port capacity of 256,000 tons. The fleet known as Battlefleet Damocles was expanded after the conquest of the planet and comprised two cruisers, a carrier, a light cruiser, a frigate and two Cetaceous class troop transports. The 1st Armoured corps and the Vitrian Dragoons corps remained on the planet, ready for offensive ground operations within Tau territory. The fleet at Altair Station was reduced to a pair of light cruisers.

Battlefleet Damocles
Lunar class Cruiser: Imperial Wrath, Iron Duke
Dictator class Carrier: Archon Kort
Dauntless class Light Cruiser: Bellerophon
Firestorm class Frigate: Silent Fire
Cetaceous class Troop Transport: Bastion of Souls, Choir of the Fallen
24x Starhawk class Bomber:
40x Fury class Interceptor:
1x Aquila class Lander

Once the resources shortages that plagued the Imperium were brought under control, the base would be used as the forward logistical node for a campaign against the Tau Empire. The two million Tau found on Damocles III were transferred to a new penal colony on Alpha Centauri-A I, where they would be organised into labour camps to mine Gallicite. Two million colonists from the Imperium were on Damocles III, making use of the infrastructure provided by the Tau Empire.

In mid-November, the Eldar returned to Helican. A Raptor had previously been encountered in the system in July 4005 and was destroyed by the survey frigate Acta Sanctorum. After that incident a small task group had been deployed to the system, but with no further sign of the Eldar and intelligence that suggested they could potentially appear anywhere in the Imperium, the defence forces had gradually been withdrawn. The population of 140,000 on the frozen second moon of Helican III remained an anachronism from the time when the Imperium deployed fuel harvesters to the gas giant.

The new Eldar contact was also a Raptor, the third such ship to be detected by the Imperium, and appeared in orbit of Helican I when it briefly engaged active sensors. This time there was no nearby survey frigate to heroically intervene, so the Firestorm class frigate Valiant was dispatched from Terra. The voyage required sixteen days, during which time there was no further sighting of the Raptor. Finally, in January 4009, the Raptor appeared once more, heading outward on a course that would pass close to Helican III. Valiant moved out to meet it.

The Raptor turned and ran as soon as it detected Valiant. Captain Vladimir Domitian, commanding the frigate, decided to take his ship through the nearby Taranis jump point, in an effort to lure the Raptor back toward his ship. If, as suspected, the Raptor used a different form of interstellar travel, Captain Vladimir Domitian reasoned that its crew might not even have a concept of jump points.

Remarkably, the ploy worked, at least in the sense of drawing in the Raptor. Whether the result would be as desired remained to be seen. The Eldar raider headed directly for the jump point, presumably to investigate, from the perspective of its crew, the sudden disappearance of the Imperial Navy frigate. The tracking station at Helican Station monitored its approach, until it was detected on active sensors by the jump point buoy. The Raptor fired on the buoy from 175,000 km and destroyed it, then continued moving closer. Captain Domitian waited until the Raptor was virtually on top of the jump point, then ordered his helmsman to transit Valiant back into Helican.

Valiant immediately came under fire at 22,000 km. Six strength-10 impacts flattened her shields, tore through her armour, knocked out one of her two reactors and killed four crewmen. She responded within seconds, skewering the Raptor with her spinal lance battery, then blowing it to pieces with concentrated, point-blank fire from her weapon batteries. While his own ship had taken damage, the skill and ingenuity displayed by Captain Domitian in luring the faster and more advanced xenos raider into a position where his ship could deal a decisive blow was recognised in the first award of the Macharian Cross, a medal intended for recipients who demonstrated tactical brilliance.

On April 27th 4009, an Eldar Raptor was detected in Sol, close to the orbit of Terra but on the far side of the sun and heading for Venus; the same Raptor that was damaged by Ordo Revelare in Antioch, five transits from Sol. Given its speed, the only Imperial Navy forces capable of running down the Raptor were attack craft from the three carriers in Terran orbit and six Faustus class interceptors. Four of the interceptors and a dozen Starhawk bombers were dispatched to intercept.

After pausing briefly at Venus, the Raptor set a course for Mercury which was home to a population of ten million Imperium citizens. The colony was originally established as a mining outpost but was quickly superseded by better prospects elsewhere. House Arcadius, a civilian shipping line, took over the colonisation of Mercury and became the primary source of infrastructure and settlers. Sixty-one mining complexes and eight terraforming installations were operated by the colonists. A regiment of the Adeptus Arbites, which acted as a police and security force for the Imperium, was on the surface, but there were no ships in orbit and no surface-to-orbit weapons. An oversight that would be corrected urgently. Fortunately, the Starhawks and Faustus were in position to intercept before the Raptor reached the planet

Mercury Survey Report
Duranium: 9,429,275 0.70
Corbomite: 4,298,021 1.00
Tritanium: 4,610,122 0.10
Mercassium: 401,427 0.30
Vendarite: 2,914,500 0.80
Sorium: 4,298,366 0.90

The approaching interceptors and bombers were detected twenty-four million kilometres from the Raptor, which initially ran directly away from them, then came about and set a head-on course. Due to the small cross-section of the Raptor, an active contact was only achieved at 770,000 km. Six of the twelve Starhawks launched their torpedoes, then all the bombers held the range open while the interceptors continued to close. They were not required. One torpedo was shot down and three more missed. The others detonated their strength-25 warheads, which was followed by two massive secondary explosions that tore the Raptor apart.

Thirty-two hours after the battle, a group of four Eldar ships appeared in the same general area as the first, which was the first time that more than a single Eldar ship had been detected. The group included three Raptors, plus a ship with a similar-strength thermal signature that was designated as Talon class. An Orca was halfway from Terra to Mercury with the Deathwatch, the only available surface-to-orbit battery, while the light cruiser Unbroken Vow was moving to the comet Schaumasse, where thirteen orbital mining platforms were at work. The salvage ship Sarcophagus had just departed Terra to recover the wreck of the first Raptor.

Schaumasse Survey Report
Duranium: 134,975 1.00
Boronide: 6,112 0.60
Gallicite: 28,830 0.60

The carriers Ferrum Aeterna and Ultima Praetor launched their entire strikegroups toward the intruders, while Unbroken Vow changed course to protect Mercury and the civilian freighter in orbit. The four Eldar ships headed directly for the wreck of the Raptor, then changed course slightly toward the approaching wave of attack craft, or possibly Terra, which was on the same bearing. With Terra itself now in the frontline, Lord Admiral Marcus Calgar took personal control of the engagement. He ordered the Starhawks from Ferrum Aeterna to launch six torpedoes against each Eldar ship as soon as they were in range, holding the Ultima Praetor Starhawks in reserve.

After the experience of the battles in Carpathia, the Imperium had recognised the limitations of the Aquila class lander in providing enhanced sensor capability for a strike wave. Therefore, the Aquila had been replaced in carrier strikegroups by the faster and more capable Corvus class Scout, built on a Starhawk hull. As soon as the Corvus from Ferrum Aeterna engaged its active sensors, the Eldar ships reversed course and ran.

The attack craft had only a 567 km/s speed advantage, but that was enough to gradually reduce the range. The Eldar moved out-system, passing through the orbits of Venus and Terra, beyond the point where they had been first detected. The attack craft were less than two million kilometres astern, which was close enough for the minimal thermal sensors of the Corvus to maintain contact. Halfway to the orbit of Mars, the Starhawks of Ferrum Aeterna launched twenty-four torpedoes.

As they made the final attack runs, the torpedoes came under fire from the Raptors using their bombardment cannon, but there were also a larger number of strength-1 energy impacts, which could only have originated from the Talon. The new type was some form of escort vessel for the raider squadron. It wasn’t very effective however as the Talon and one of the Raptors vanished in massive secondary explosions, with a second Raptor dead in space. Thirteen torpedoes missed their first pass and attacked again. The damaged Raptor was blown to pieces and the last ship crippled.

Lord Admiral Calgar ordered the bombers to self-destruct the last four torpedoes, then instructed the cruisers Holy Flame and Justiciar to depart Terran orbit and conduct a boarding operation. The cruisers were selected because their higher shield strength would protect them if the Eldar raider retained its weapons. That proved a wise precaution, as Holy Flame came under fire at 252,000 km from three bombardment cannon. After four more volleys that did not seriously trouble her shields, the two cruisers landed the 3rd and 4th Space Marine companies on the hull of the Raptor, then retreated out of weapon range.

The xenos crew, tall slim humanoids clad in silver armour, fought tenaciously, but were overwhelmed for the loss of two space marines. The Raptor design was two generations ahead of the Imperium in engine technology, using magneto-plasma drives while Imperial scientists were still studying ion propulsion, and the cloaking technology was well beyond the capabilities of the Imperial Navy. The Imperium had the edge though in weapon technology, with both weapon batteries and lance batteries superior to the bombardment cannon of the Eldar. The captured ship would be towed back to Terra and repaired, although given its advanced technology and limited self-repair capability, Terran scientists believed that process would take from two to three years.

[AuroraSteve]

The first Endeavour class light cruisers, Endeavour and Leonid, joined the Imperial Navy in August 4009. They were based on the Dauntless design, with a third of the weapon batteries replaced by four standard torpedo launchers. The Endurance also gained a MK I Light Naval Detection Array, but had an intended deployment time of nine months compared to twelve for the Dauntless. Given the increasing number of threats facing the Imperium, the Endeavour was created to provide colonies with more flexible protection, rather than serve as part of a fleet offensive. The eighth Lunar class cruiser, Relentless, and three Firestorm class frigates were also completed in the preceding months.

In March 4010, a Dolphin class ship of the Tau Empire entered Damocles and was instantly destroyed by the defence satellites on the jump point. Forty-seven crew members were rescued and delivered to the recently-established naval headquarters on Damocles III. Interrogations revealed their knowledge of a system unknown to the Imperium, which had a Terra-sized planet with perfect environmental conditions for the Tau. It was almost certainly their home system. However, it lay much further out in real space terms than any known Imperium system, with the closest being Equinox in known Tau space, where the survey frigate Crux Veritas was destroyed, and Mu Cassiopeiae – later renamed to Taros - which was in a completely different part of the jump point network

A year passed with relatively little incident. Two more Dolphins were destroyed trying to enter Damocles, but otherwise there was no alien contact. The population of Io grew quickly and by February 4011 it had passed one hundred million, with almost eight hundred mining complexes in operation. Alpha Centauri had a population of thirty million, with two hundred automated mines, two hundred and fifty manned mining complexes and twenty-five mining labour camps, operated by the Tau population from Damocles III. The terraforming of Cerix Magnus had made the atmosphere breathable and was slowly increasing the temperature, with the colony rating at 1.7 and falling. Three hundred mines were on the planet, half of which were automated and the rest operated by the population of seventeen million. The only other mining colony was Mercury, with a population of twelve million and sixty mines.

The populations of the colonies in Altair and Orpheus had both grown beyond ten million, the former now a base to protect fuel harvesters and the latter hosting financial centres and acting a hub for civilian mining operations in the system. The fleet base at Damocles III, on the Tau border, had a population of three million and could host an Imperial Navy fleet of up to 300,000 tons, mainly through orbital maintenance bases. Prospero-B II was being developed as another civilian mining hub and had reached a population of two million, as had the almost forgotten colony in Proxima, once seen as a future mining outpost but long since overtaken by better prospects.

A colony had also been established on Deliverance I, a planet almost identical in size, environment and orbital eccentricity to Mercury. Its only redeeming quality was location, as it bordered the Prometheus system claimed by the Khrave Dominion. Deliverance had a second outward jump point to Bleakfrost, a planetless white dwarf, which in turn had a single outward jump point to the dead-end, planetless system of Typhon. Dominion ships had been encountered in both systems, but all had since transited back into Deliverance, although not all had been tracked entering Prometheus.

On February 16th 4011, the Deliverance colony had a population of one point six million and hosted a tracking station and a single terraforming installation. The frigate Valiant was in orbit, along with four Universe mass class conveyors that were unloading further terraforming installations and infrastructure. Another four mass conveyors were en route and scheduled to arrive by April. The buoy at the Deliverance – Prometheus jump point detected the transit of three 32,000-ton Khrave ships, designated as Pike class. They held position on the jump point and were joined thirty hours later by a further four ships of the same type and a few hours after that by an eighth Pike. Whether they were warships or commercial vessels was unknown. As the Pike class ships showed no sign of leaving the Prometheus jump point, the diplomatic ship Custos Alarum moved from its previous position at the Bleakfrost jump point, with the intention of improving diplomatic relations with the Dominion.

During the previous year, while the Imperium was expanding the boundaries of known space, it had discovered three ancient xenos constructs of unknown origin. The first was on the innermost planet of Aeolus, a red dwarf system one jump outward from Orpheus and five transits from Sol. Aeolus I was a high temperature, high pressure Venusian world, with gravity too high for humans. Analysis of the xenos construct determined it was designed to facilitate research into sensor technology, boosting the output of such research by around seventy percent. While the planet could not be colonised, long-term plans were laid for a small orbital colony to further study the construct.

A second construct was discovered on a super-terrestrial desert world in Nocturne, a red dwarf binary two jumps out from Altair via Tenebris. Once again the gravity, pressure and temperature were too high for humans. This construct was dedicated to defence technology research, but with an estimated forty percent boost. The Ordo Xenos believed it was built earlier, or with lesser technology, than its Aeolus equivalent. It was accompanied by the remnants of a destroyed alien outpost that had yet to be surveyed.

The most recently-discovered construct was in Aexe Cardinal, four transits from Sol via Alpha Centauri, Bernard’s Star and Augury. This was a far more interesting system than the others for several reasons. It was a binary , with an orange K-class primary and a red dwarf companion, moving between four and ten billion kilometres during a three hundred year orbit. The second planet of five orbiting the primary had oceans, extensive forests and a breathable atmosphere, making it an ideal habitable world for a portion of its five month eccentric orbit. At perihelion the temperature rose to 180C, causing a brutal cycle of evaporation and condensation. Aexe Cardinal-A III also had a breathable atmosphere, but was a colder world with an extensive ice sheet. Neither had mineral deposits worthy of extraction.

The construct was on Aexe Cardinal-B II, a Mars-sized world of ice and boreal forests, with a thin nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere. In addition to the construct, the planet was home to a partially intact alien colony of unknown origin. Lesser ruins had been guarded by the Necrons, so the Lords of Terra assumed this would be no different. The Death Korps of Krieg, a heavy infantry corps, had been deployed to Aexe Cardinal-B II, along with the Brimlock Dragoons heavy armour regiment, part of the recently-formed 2nd Armoured Corps, and a pair of newly trained planetary defence regiments, the Fire Angels and the Mantis Warriors. An Ordo Xenos expedition was studying the ruins and the construct, but had yet to complete its survey of either one.

Aexe Cardinal-B II had no moons, so a fleet designed Battlefleet Cardinal was in orbit of the third planet. Given the ruin had almost twice the extent of the ruined city in Carpathia and that the Necrons still held that system, it was deemed important to combat any Necron appearance as soon as possible. However, the Necrons were known to employ surface-to-orbit weapons so the fleet could not remain in orbit where it might be ambushed. Once any ground force had appeared and been eliminated, the fleet would consider a deployment into orbit of the second planet.

Battlefleet Cardinal comprised the Lunar class cruisers Agrippa and Thunderchild, the carrier Ferrum Aeterna, the light cruisers Vengeful Martyr and Myrmidon and the frigate Medusa. Also present were the transport carrier Vector Alarum and the diplomatic ship Orator Alarum. The latter was a modification of the former with a similar commercial hangar capacity. Between them they carried seven Sentinel class defence satellites and a dozen of the newer Warden class defence satellites, armed with weapon batteries. Once any Necron ground force had been defeated, they would also be deployed in orbit.

A study of the construct on Aexe Cardinal-B II was completed in May 4011, revealing that it would double the output of any research into defensive technologies. A few weeks later, Custos Alarum passed a message from the Lords of Terra to the eight Pike class ships of the Khrave Dominion still holding position on the Deliverance – Prometheus jump point, asking them to leave the system as it was Imperium territory. They refused, claiming that the system was important to the Dominion, which meant the potential for a clash with the Khrave had increased considerably.

At Terra, a different and more urgent problem had arisen. Research into Ion engines was completed in mid-4010, leading to a series of updated designs for warships and commercial vessels. Shipyards were retooled and by mid-4011, the first ships were being refitted. This resulted in a high demand for Gallicite, just as the Gallicite deposit on Terra was exhausted. The primary locations for mining Gallicite were the Centauri Colony and the colony on Cerix Magnus III, which had become known as Cerix Prime. In total, they had over eight hundred mines of various types, but the demand on Terra quickly outstripped the available stockpile and the output of the two colonies was insufficient to replenish it. Shipbuilding, refits, ordnance production and maintenance production were all seriously curtailed at the worst possible time, especially as the pause of many tasks left eight warships, including two precious cruisers, tied up in shipyards and unavailable for deployment.

On June 29th 4011, the map of known space was redrawn when the survey frigate Cogito Astrorum transited the first of two unexplored jump point in the Penumbra system, four transits from Sol via Wolf, Lalande and Aurelia. She emerged in the Sol system, close to the orbit of Neptune. The new connection meant the Imperial Navy had to consider potential threats to Sol from an entirely new direction, especially given that there was an unexplored jump point in Penumbra itself, a second in Aurelia and seven more in the three systems outward from Aurelia.

Exploration of those jump points became a high priority, starting with Penumbra. Cogito Astrorum transited the system’s remaining unexplored jump point on July 7th and discovered Valhalla, a binary system with a G0-V primary, similar to Sol, an orange K7-V companion, nine planets and fifty moons. Valhalla-A III had thin nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere and ice sheets covering a third of the surface. Cogito Astrorum began a survey.

On July 30th 4011, a large Necron ground force emerged from beneath the surface of Aexe Cardinal-B II, massing almost 120,000 tons. The other three regiments of the 2nd Armoured Corps had recently arrived on the planet, so the Imperial Guard out-massed their higher technology opponents and were already fortified. Before the Necrons could organise and mount an offensive, the Lunar class cruiser Relentless and the light cruisers Myrmidon and Vengeful Martyr arrived from Aexe Cardinal-B III and engaged almost forty surface-to-orbit weapons that were within the Necron force. Once that threat was eliminated, they moved into orbit to provide support to the Imperial Guard.

An hour after the warships arrived, around six thousand warrior bots and several hundreds combat mechs threw themselves at the Imperial Guard, which were well entrenched within the planet’s boreal forests. The ensuing combat proved very one-sided, with over a thousand warriors and perhaps forty mechs destroyed in the first attack, while the Imperium losses were a hundred Guardsmen and four tanks. Subsequent attacks fared no better and the Necrons expended their entire ground force within two days. Total Imperial losses were three hundred and forty Guardsmen, sixty Chimeras and thirteen Leman Russ tanks.

Despite the relatively easy victory, the appearance of the Necron ground forces meant that waves of bases and ships would soon follow and they would not so easy to defeat. Vector Alarum and Orator Alarum moved into orbit of Aexe Cardinal-B II to deploy their seven Sentinel and twelve Warden defence satellites, armed with lance and weapon batteries respectively, then headed for Terra, escorted by the frigate Medusa. The three warships that had supported the ground forces rejoined the carrier Ultima Praetor in orbit of Aexe Cardinal-B III.

Twelve days after the ground battle, two Necron bases - a Scarab armed with light torpedoes and a Tesseract armed with fast-firing light bombardment cannon – appeared in orbit of Aexe Cardinal-B III. The Tesseract opened fire on the defence satellites, destroying six of the Sentinels and crippling the seventh and a Warden. The two planetary defence regiments on the surface both attacked the Scarab with their AK-25 weapon batteries, blowing it to pieces, and used their AK-10 light batteries to inflict considerable armour damage on the Tesseract.

All but four of the Wardens opened fire within a few seconds, joining their fire with that of the fast-firing AK-10s in the planetary defence regiments to destroy the Tesseract. They paid for that with six of their number, plus the crippled Sentinel, killed by the bombardment cannon of the Necron base. Only six defence satellites remained, but their sacrifice had drawn the Necron fire away from the planetary defence regiments, which remained completely intact.

On July 17th, a week after the arrival of bases, three new Necron ships appeared. Two were Scythe class frigates, a known 18,500-ton ship armed with thirty light bombardment cannon serving a similar purpose to the Tesseract base. The third was a new 36,780-ton type, designated as Reaper class, armed with thirty bombardment cannon that inflicted strength-16 hits on the defence satellites, plus a larger weapon that registered a single strike more than twice as powerful. The Wardens were instantly destroyed by the broadside from the new arrivals. At the same moment, the Fire Angels and the Mantis Warriors destroyed one of the frigates with their primary weapon batteries and caused armour damage to the other two ships with their light batteries.

The two remaining Necron warships engaged the surface batteries as they began moving away from the planet. The Scythe received several penetrating hits from light weapon batteries, destroyed an AK-25 and an AK-10 and then moved out of AK-10 range. The AK-25s recharged and fired again, scoring fifteen penetrating hits on the Scythe, dropping its speed from 5264 km/s to 2632 km/s, and four more hits on the Reaper. The larger ship was a real concern because its bombardment cannon would likely soon out-range the surface batteries. In orbit of Aexe Cardinal-B III, Ultima Praetor launched her forty Furies and twenty-four Starhawks.

The damaged Scythe ceased fire and reversed course toward the planet, presumably trying to draw fire so the Reaper could move out of range. It was destroyed by the light weapon batteries as soon as it moved within their range, but the AK-25 batteries could only manage four strength-1 penetrating hits on the Reaper, which was at 160,000 km and starting to raise shields.

Those shields absorbed most of the next attack from the surface, with only a single strength-1 hit penetrating the armour, then the Reaper was out of range. Strangely, the Reaper had not returned fire though since its opening salvo, almost a minute earlier, and appeared to be on course for Aexe Cardinal-B III. It was possible what appeared to be minor internal damage had hit a critical system. After reaching a point two million kilometres from Aexe Cardinal-B II, it suddenly came about on a curving course that took it around the planet, well out of weapon battery range, then directly away from the approaching strikegroup, or more likely Battlefleet Cardinal.

The attack craft rapidly closed the range, due to their 2700 km/ speed advantage. Once they moved within six million kilometres, Lord-Captain Arbalan Verus, commander of the Relentless and Battlefleet Cardinal, ordered all the Starhawks to launch their torpedoes. The shields of the Reaper had increased to strength-216, so nine hits would be required just to reach the armour.

The weapons of the Reaper proved to be fully functional, but it only managed to kill only one of the twenty-four standard torpedoes, with the other shots either missing or hitting decoys. Twelve torpedoes hit on the first pass, three of which were distracted by ship-launched decoys. The other nine flattened the shields. The remaining torpedoes continued to engage, with three hitting on the next pass and penetrating the armour, followed by two more hits that caused a strength-124 secondary explosion. Somehow the Reaper survived, although it lost all motive power. The remaining six torpedoes all struck at once, destroying the Necron ship.

While the elimination of the Reaper was gratifying, it was also concerning for Lord-Captain Verus just how much damage the Necron warship had absorbed. The strikegroup headed back to Battlefleet Cardinal, where Verus now had a decision to make regarding how best to engage any future waves of Necrons. With all the defence satellites eliminated, he either had to repy on the two planetary defence regiments, which were still close to full strength, or take his ships into orbit, where they could come under point-blank attack with no warning. He decided on a compromise. Battlefleet Cardinal took up a position 100,000 km from Aexe Cardinal-B II, following the planet in its 44-day orbit. The entire orbit was 140m kilometres, so the fleet had sufficient fuel to maintain that position for some time.

Nine days after the battle, the three Ordo Xenos expeditions on the surface of Aexe Cardinal-B II completed their survey of the ruins, revealing two hundred and eighty-four recovery locations. Three days after that, a single 37,000-ton Wraith class appeared in orbit, which was suspected to be a base armed with torpedoes. It was blown out of the sky by the planetary defence regiments before it could take any action. A third planetary defence regiment, the Vindicators, was delivered to the planet on September 2nd 4011.

Twenty-one hours after the arrival of the Vindicators, ten new Necron ships appeared above the planet. Four were 37,000-ton Shroud class escort cruisers, known to be armed with light torpedo launchers and filling a similar role to the Scarab class base. The other six were a new type of 104,000 tons, designated as Phaeron class, which had commercial engines so they were unlikely to be warships. As soon as the ships appeared, they moved away from the planet and the Shrouds launched one hundred and fifty-eight light torpedoes with a speed of 63,000 km/s. In response, the planetary defence regiments opened fire, destroying a Shroud and a Phaeron and causing armour damage to a second Shroud.

Battlefleet Cardinal was 100,000 kilometres away. Ultima Praetor immediately launched her Starhawks, with orders to fire on one of the Shrouds, and her Furies, which would stay with the fleet and provide point defence. Due to the threat posed by massed light missile attacks, the bombers were instructed to launch as soon as each individual attack craft was ready and not wait for a coordinated strike. Their mission was as much to distract the Shrouds as to damage them. The cruiser Relentless and the light cruisers Vengeful Martyr and Myrmidon assigned their light weapon batteries to point defence, then each targeted a different Shroud with their primary batteries.

The Necron torpedoes arrived before Battlefleet Cardinal could open fire. Nine were shot down by the Furies and nine more by the light weapon batteries of the fleet. The remaining one hundred and forty all targeted Vengeful Martyr and detonated their twin strength-1 warheads. Ten months earlier, the light cruiser had undergone a refit to the Dauntless I-B design, which upgraded her lance battery and reactors, doubled her shield strength and reduced her armour thickness by forty percent. The new shields resisted three quarters of the torpedo impacts, while the rest blasted away a quarter of her armour, but did not cause any internal damage.

Relentless fired on the ship designated Shroud 002 from 100,000 km, scoring thirty strength-2 hits with her weapon batteries plus a single lance strike that penetrated the target’s armour. Vengeful Martyr inflicted similar damage on Shroud 004, despite having fewer weapons than her larger sister. Myrmidon was not as fast to react and had yet to open fire and the same was true for six of the Starhawks. The rest launched a wave of eighteen standard torpedoes. On the planet, the three defence regiments all fired their light batteries at Shroud 005, causing substantial armour damage and penetrating with seventeen shots. Lord-Captain Verus ordered his fleet to close on the Necrons, which were turning and moving away at just 460 km/s. He also sent the Furies ahead at full speed to attack the three Shrouds, as their point defence contribution did not justify keeping them out of the fight.

The torpedoes from the Starhawks arrived within four seconds of launch and struck the Shroud that had been damaged by the planetary defence regiments. Eight detonated on target, with three more hitting decoys, which proved sufficient to destroy the Necron escort cruiser. All three planetary defence regiments targeted Shroud 004, which vanished in a massive strength-200 secondary explosion. The remaining Shroud fled at 3950 km/s, leaving the five Phaerons in its wake, just as Relentless launched eight torpedoes.

Four of six torpedoes remaining from the Starhawk wave each attacked one of the Phaerons, although none were slowed down. The other two, along with eight more from Relentless attacked Shroud 002, with three detonating on target and a fourth hitting a decoy. The Shroud came to a half just in time for Myrmidon, half of the Fury interceptors and all of the defence regiment weapon batteries to open fire, completing obliterating the Necron cruiser. Even in the moment of its destruction, it still managed to launch thirty-five light torpedoes, but they all lost tracking after the ship was destroyed. Lord-Captain Verus ordered the remaining torpedoes to be self-destructed and the attack craft to land, then sent Vengeful Martyr and Myrmidon after the five Phaeron class ships, so they could begin boarding operations. Relentless and Ultima Praetor resumed their previous position, following the planet at 100,000 km.

Vengeful Martyr and Myrmidon launched the 14th and 17th Space Marine companies against the first of the Phaerons. Two space marines were lost in a brutal battle that last six minutes. Both ships moved in to recover their marines and send over a skeleton crew, which would take approximately three hours, so that the other ships could be captured in sequence. The Phaeron itself was a fuel harvester. While the Imperium was still suffering from a fuel shortage, it was more likely the ship would be scrapped so that Imperium scientists could examine the magneto-plasma engines.

Over the next sixteen hours the remaining Phaerons were boarded and captured, then dispatched toward the Augury jump point at painfully slow speeds. The space marines took significant losses and both companies were near to half strength. Vengeful Martyr and Myrmidon rejoined Relentless and Ultima Praetor despite the armour damage of the former. Reinforcements had been dispatched from Terra but they were five weeks away and the Necron attack waves were arriving at shorter intervals. The real concern for Lord-Captain Verus was that if the Necrons had included six fuel harvesters in the defence force assigned to Aexe Cardinal-B II, they were presumably expecting enough ships to require that much fuel.

On September 18th, eight Glyph class fast attack craft appeared in orbit of Aexe Cardinal-B II, four of which were immediately destroyed by the surface forces. A few seconds later, the rest were eliminated by the warships of Battlefleet Cardinal. Six days passed, then a destroyer squadron appeared, comprising three Crypteks, a Khopesh and a Spyder, all of 18,500 tons. One Cryptek was blown to pieces by the Fire Angels, while the Mantis Warriors and Vindicators crippled a second. Lord-Captain Verus ordered Ultima Praetor to launch her strikegroup, then all four ships moved toward Aexe Cardinal-B II.

The three undamaged destroyers moved away from the planet at 5272km/s and launched ninety-three size-8 torpedoes. A further thirteen were launched by crippled Cryptek. The Relentless was slow to respond, leaving it to the two light cruisers to fire on the retreating Necron warships. All three suffered strength-2 hits from the Imperial weapon batteries, with the Khopesh and the Spyder receiving six and two penetrating hits respectively, plus a single lance strike each. The planetary defence regiments destroyed the crippled Cryptek in orbit, inflicted armour damage on the last Cryptek and added to the internal damage of the Khopesh, causing it to come to a halt.

The Furies, which had began closing on the Necron squadron, fell back to the fleet to provide point defence but they were not enough. Vengeful Martyr was struck by over fifty torpedoes with strength-9 warheads, collapsing her shields, smashing through her badly damaged armour and wreaking havoc on her internal systems. She suffered a large secondary explosion and disintegrated. Two Starhawks were destroyed by retargeting torpedoes launched originally by the crippled Cryptek. While Battlefleet Cardinal was focused on defence, the planetary defence regiments attacked the three Necron destroyers, causing massive damage to the crippled Khopesh and a few penetrating strength-1 hits on the other two ships.

The AK-25 weapon batteries of the defence regiment recharged and opened fire. The Khopesh was blown apart, while the other two ships suffered crippling damage. Unfortunately, the cripples were outside of AK-10 range, but that only delayed their demise. Myrmidon opened fire with her own AK-25 weapon batteries and destroyed the Spyder, then the forty Furies from Ultima Praetor swept into range and strafed the last Cryptek until it exploded. Five Necron warships had been destroyed, but the Imperial Navy had paid with the loss of Vengeful Martyr and the two Starhawks. Three days later, another eight Glyph class FACs appeared. They survived long enough to achieve fourteen torpedo hits on Myrmidon, but did not penetrate her shields.

[AuroraSteve]

In mid-October, Battlefleet Cardinal was reinforced by the cruiser Iron Duke, the carrier Righteous Fury and the light cruiser Havock. Command of the fleet passed to Lord-Captain Rogal Belisarius of the Iron Duke, the second most senior Lord-Captain in the Imperial Navy. Belisarius was a more cautious officer than Lord-Captain Verus, so with two carriers under his command, plus the combined sixteen torpedo launchers of his cruisers, he decided to pull back to a quarter of a million kilometres from the planet, let the planetary defence regiments fight the initial engagement and then use his attack craft to eliminate any Necron survivors.

Battlefleet Cardinal
Lunar class Cruiser: Iron Duke, Relentless
Dictator class Carrier: Righteous Fury, Ultima Praetor
Dauntless I-B class Light Cruiser: Myrmidon
Dauntless class Light Cruiser: Havock
2x Corvus class Scout
46x Starhawk class Bomber
80x Fury class Interceptor

On November 3rd, five Necron ships appeared in orbit over Aexe Cardinal-B II. Three were 55,600-ton cruiser-sized ships of a new type, designated as Thanatos class. They opened fire on the light cruiser Havock with powerful bombardment cannon, with each ship mounting forty-eight weapons of 25cm calibre, plus a single much larger weapon. Despite the range of 250,000 km, they reduced her shields to sixteen percent with over thirty strength-3 hits. The other two ships were also new, a 37,000-ton type designated as Catacomb class, armed with thirty-two turrets mounting small, fast-firing bombardment cannon. They opened fire on the surface, killed a pair of AK-25 weapon batteries and destroyed several newly recovered installations, including a research facility.

Simultaneously, the planetary defence regiments attacked the ships in orbit, achieving multiple penetrating hits on a Catacomb and a Thanatos and slowing down the smaller ship by approximately twenty-five precent. Lord-Captain Belisarius ordered the defence regiments to focus on the Catacombs, then took Battlefleet Cardinal away from the planet, trying to draw the Necron warships toward him, limiting the damage they would inflict on both his own fleet and the planetary defence regiments and allowing time to launch attack craft and torpedoes.

Instead, the Necron fleet moved away in the opposite direction and the Catacombs continued to target the planet. Four light weapon batteries and two more AK-25s were destroyed, along with several more installations. Return fire from the planet targeted the slower Catacomb and destroyed it, but Battlefleet Cardinal was out of energy weapon range and the Starhawks were trying to coordinate a torpedo launch with the two cruisers. Lord-Captain Belisarius ordered the fleet to reverse course and chase the Necrons, except for Havock which continued moving away.

The Necrons moved out of light weapon battery range of the planet, but the light bombardment cannon of the remaining Catacomb were still in range and killed another three surface-based batteries. The planetary AK-25s fired again and achieved a couple of penetrating hits on the Catacomb, but lost another three of their own number. Battlefleet Cardinal still hadn’t launched torpedoes and remained outside energy weapon range, 280,000 km from the Necron fleet. Belisarius ordered the eighty Fury class interceptors to break formation and close the range, while urging the cruiser Relentless and several Starhawks to confirm their readiness to launch. So far the battle was not exactly going to plan.

The Necron Thanatos class ship fired on Myrmidon from 280,000 km, but she was one of the few light cruisers to receive the B-refit and her shields lost only a quarter of their strength. Fortunately, the Catacomb had moved out of weapon range of the planet, so no more surface batteries were hit. Finally, twenty-five seconds after the arrival of the Necrons, Battlefleet Cardinal launched a wave of sixty-two standard torpedoes, targeted on the three Thanatos class cruisers. However, the escorting Catacomb was still virtually intact, which would reduce the effectiveness of the strike.

At the same moment as the torpedoes were launched, the Necrons came about, turning perhaps a hundred and twenty degrees and moving within 80,000 km of the planet and 248,000 km of Battlefleet Cardinal. Relentless and Iron Duke tried a long range shot with their weapon batteries, but achieved only a couple of strength-1 hits that were easily absorbed by the growing shield strength of the Necron ships.

The Necron ships continued on their new course, moving within 70,000 km of the planet so the Catacomb could resume firing. It killed another AK-25, but the remaining AK-25s had recharged and opened fire on the Catacomb, triggering a strength-125 secondary explosion that blew the Necron escort to pieces. It was excellent timing. Five seconds later, the wave of standard torpedoes reached the three Thanatos class ships. Twenty-six detonated, eleven of which killed only decoys. The rest blasted down the fledgling shields and scored a total of seven penetrating hits across the three targets. Iron Duke followed up with two lance strikes against Thanatos 003, which dropped it to half speed, while the light cruiser Myrmidon achieved twenty strength-1 hits against Thanatos 002, three of which penetrated.

The remaining torpedoes continued to attack, so the Necron ships used their main armament as point defence, but to little avail as fourteen more detonated on target, causing engine damage to all three ships. In the chaos, the Thanatos had moved within light battery range of the planet, so they came under fire from the three defence regiments. At the same moment, the eighty Furies moved within range and began strafing the least damaged ship.

Seeing little point in risking his ships at closer range, Lord-Captain Belisarius reversed the course of Battlefleet Cardinal, leaving the Necrons to the remaining torpedoes and the Furies. One Thanatos was dead in space, a second was underway at 877 km/s and the third was at half speed. They were easy targets. The first took a further nine strength-25 torpedo hits, then was destroyed by the light batteries of the Fire Angels. Three torpedoes hit the second, which somehow maintained its speed, while the third ceased all movement after eight torpedoes and another strafing run from the Furies. The defence regiments, aided by the Furies killed the cripple. The last Thanatos fired a defiant volley at Myrmidon, which had moved out to 220,000 km and easily absorbed five hits on the shields, then the Furies tore it apart.

Despite the concerning start to the battle, Battlefleet Cardinal and the defence regiments had emerged victorious, vindicating the pre-battle deployments of Lord Captain Belisarius. There were two concerns however. The three regiments had lost eight of their original thirty-six weapon batteries and nine of their light batteries, plus the carrier Ultima Praetor could only rearm eight of her Starhawks. The carrier Ferrum Aeterna was dispatched from Terra as a replacement. In the meantime, Ultima Praetor would remain with the fleet. A further problem was the destruction of recovered installations before they could be removed. Therefore recovery work was halted until it was deemed safe enough to continue.

Giving the historical mix of torpedo-armed and energy-armed Necron warships, Lord Captain Belisarius suspected the next Necron fleet might be the former. The Monolith class ships in Carpathia, the armament of which was still undetermined, were the same size as the recently-encountered Thanatos class, so Imperial Naval Intelligence theorised they would be the torpedo-armed variant of a Necron cruiser. Given the tendency for the Necrons to deploy bases, followed by smaller ships, then capital ships, it was possible a fleet of Monoliths could appear in Aexe Cardinal too, although it was really just an educated guess. Deploying against the threat from large torpedo-armed ships and instead encountering close combat energy warships would be a fatal mistake.

Belisarius decided to hedge his bets. The two Lunar class cruisers moved to within 80,000 km of the planet, outside the effective range of fast-firing bombardment cannon, but close enough to engage with reasonable effectiveness. The carriers and light cruisers held back at 150,000 km, from where the Furies could reach the planet in fifteen seconds and a Starhawk torpedo strike would arrive six seconds after launch. Meanwhile, the salvagers Sepulchre and Reliquary had arrived and began the long process of recovering the wreckage scattered around the Aexe Cardinal-B solar system. They would be extremely vulnerable to attack if the planetary defenders were overcome.

On November 25th 4011, Cerix Prime because an ideal habitable world. The end of the long terraforming effort, with twenty-three stations in orbit, came quickly when the ice caps covering much of the planet finally melted, moving the climate into a temperature range, similar to Terra. A significant portion of the Imperium’s transport capacity had been devoted to moving the necessary infrastructure to support the colonisation of the planet. As mines were moved to Cerix Prime, that infrastructure would be brough back to Terra for re-deployment. The terraforming stations would remain for some time as only five tugs were available and there were many demands on their time.

Less than a day later, another Necron fleet appeared in orbit of Aexe Cardinal-B II, with exactly the same composition as the previous wave; three Thanatos class cruisers and a pair of Catacomb class escort cruisers. The latter attacked the surface, destroying three weapon batteries, while the cruisers ignored the two Imperial Navy cruisers at 80,000 km and instead targeted the light cruiser Havock at 150,000 km, inflicting massive damage and leaving her dead in space. The planetary defence regiments reacted swiftly, focusing on one of the Catacombs and destroying it utterly.

Lord-Captain Belisarius ordered his two cruisers to close and open fire on any target. The light cruiser Myrmidon and a pair of ion-engined Firestorm II frigates that had recently arrived were told to leave the carriers and do the same. Every Fury launched with orders to close and attack, while those Starhawks with torpedoes were ordered to launch and attack individually as soon as they could. The carriers began to pull back, leaving Havock in their wake. This was a far more chaotic response than the previous engagement, but Belisarius knew he had to destroy the Necron cruisers quickly and he was almost certainly going to take losses while doing it.

The four Necron ships fled in the opposite direction to the approaching Imperial Navy ships, with the Catacomb firing on the planet and destroying another four weapon batteries. The light batteries on the planet responded and inflicted considerable armour damage on the Necron escort cruiser, albeit with only four strength-1 armour penetrations. The warships of Battlefleet Cardinal, instructed to fire at will, scattered their fire against all four enemy ships, except for Myrmidon and the frigate Achilles which were slow to select targets. The weapon battery fire was fairly ineffectual, with approximately twenty strength-2 hits on the armour of each Thanatos. However, five lance strikes, spread across the three Necron cruisers, was sufficient to slow them all to 4388 km/s. Both cruisers and nineteen of the thirty-two armed Starhawks launched their torpedoes.

Ten of the first wave torpedoes detonated, three of which struck decoys. Two of the remainder caused internal damage to the Catacomb, slowing it to 1315 km/s, with the other five split between two Necron cruisers, including a single penetrating hit. All but one of the remaining armed Starhawks launched their torpedoes to add to those coming about to make a second pass.

The Catacomb was plainly badly damaged by the torpedo attack, as it only managed a few shots that destroyed an approaching Fury interceptor before it was destroyed by the light weapon batteries of the planetary defences. The frigate Achilles joined the battle by skewering a Thanatos with its spinal lance battery from 150,000 km, then added a dozen strength-1 hits from its weapon batteries.

The three Necron cruisers continued to run. Thanatos 004 took a single strength-25 torpedo hit, with two more hitting Thanatos 005. Seven torpedoes slammed into Thanatos 006, four of which caused internal damage and slowed it to 2632 km/s. The light cruiser Myrmidon fired from 160,000 km and achieved hits with both of her lance batteries on Thanatos 004, resulting a similar drop in speed, then the surviving AK-25s of the planetary defence regiments recharged and fired from 70,000 km/s, scoring eighty strength-3 hits on Thanatos 004, causing a further slowdown to 1755 km/s. The Necron cruisers had yet to fire a second volley, but only fifteen seconds had passed since their emergence.

Rather than engage the Imperial Navy ships, the battered Necron cruisers used their main armament against the deadly standard torpedoes. It wasn’t enough. Thanatos 006 took fourteen penetrating strength-25 hits, although somehow still retained a speed of 1755 km/s, then four more torpedoes struck Thanatos 004 and the cruiser stopped moving. Iron Duke opened fire and destroyed the latter with her weapon batteries, while Relentless and the frigate Destiny’s Hand pounded Thanatos 006, bringing it to a halt. Thanatos 005 continued to live a relatively charmed life among the carnage, still moving at 4388 km/s with the last five torpedoes in pursuit.

Three of those torpedoes struck Thanatos 005, followed by the first strafing run from the Fury interceptors, with multiple penetrating hits. The cruiser Relentless destroyed Thanatos 006 from only 45,000 km. Another torpedo hit the last Necron cruiser, following by another strafing run from the Furies and heavy weapon battery fire from both Iron Duke and Myrmidon. Despite over a hundred penetrating hits within a few seconds, the Thanatos still survived. Although the Necrons had been overwhelmed by the firepower of the Imperial Navy, their ships were incredibly tough, even when caught without shields.

Appropriately, the last torpedo struck and destroyed the last crippled Thanatos. While the Imperial’s Navy’s standard torpedo was expensive, and consequently not to be expended lightly, it had proven to be an extremely valuable weapon against the Necrons, particularly in tying up firepower that would otherwise have been directed against Imperial warships or the planetary defence regiments. Even so, the latter had suffered significant attrition so the Vindicators regiment was disbanded and its batteries assigned to the Fire Angels and Mantis Warriors, giving them a combined strength of twenty-six AK-25 batteries and fifty-eight light batteries.

The light cruiser Havock survived the battle, despite being crippled in the opening moments. A Fury had been lost and another forty-eight torpedoes expended. Even so, it was a small price to pay for another significant victory. Battlefleet Cardinal was reformed and a deployed in a similar way to before the battle, with the exception of Havock, which repaired an engine and then retreated toward the replenishment ship Auxilium Divinum, holding position a hundred million kilometres away.

On December 23rd 4011, almost a month after the latest battle, a new planetary defence regiment, the Scythes of the Emperor, was delivered to Aexe Cardinal-B II. The cruiser Agrippa and the carrier Ferrum Aeterna had also arrived, allowing Relentless and Ultima Praetor to head back to Terra for replenishment, shore leave and overhaul. With the threat from the Necron ground forces apparently ended, the Cetaceous class transport Hymn of Sacrifice had loaded the 2nd Armoured Corps and was on its way back to Terra.

Over the next three months, there was no sign of any further Necron fleet, which led the Lords of Terra to consider the possibility that Aexe Cardinal-B II was finally secure. Recovery operations had restarted and many of the wrecks in the vicinity had been cleared by Sepulchre and Reliquary. On March 30th, the single Caravel class colony ship delivered 100,000 settlers to the planet, as the first step in establishing a research colony to make use of the ancient construct dedicated to defence research.

On April 9th, a Raptor class raider of the Eldar was detected in Nocturne, two transits outward from Altair and six from Terra.. The system was home to an ancient construct on the innermost planet, a high gravity desert world with a dense nitrogen – ammonia atmosphere, where the remnants of a xenos outpost had also been discovered. The only Imperial forces in the system were an expedition of the Ordo Xenos on Nocturne I, the survey frigate Astra Fidelis in the outer system and the stabilisation ship Omnis Apertum at the Tenebris jump point. The ruin had been surveyed some time previously and recovery operations completed. Three mines, a tracking station, 13,600 tons of Duranium and 4800 tons of Gallicite had been found, all of which remained on the surface. The nearest military force was two Dauntless class light cruisers in orbit of Altair Station, thirty days travel away. The Raptor briefly moved into orbit of Nocturne I, then set a course for Nocturne II and vanished from sensors.

Nine days later, a new Eldar ship was detected. Designated as Venom class, it was a new type, detected due to the thermal output of its commercial engines, and the first non-military Eldar vessel to be encountered. Twenty-seven hours after initial detection, it moved into orbit of Nocturne I and unloaded ground forces, comprised of at least a thousand infantry in heavy powered armour. The vehicles of the Ordo Xenos were unarmed and quickly eliminated, leaving the Imperium outpost in the hands of the Eldar.

The three mines were not worth the cost of taking them back, but the eighteen thousand tons of Duranium and Gallicite were extremely valuable. The Death Korps of Krieg, recently returned to Terra, was loaded on the transport Choir of the Fallen, which began the long voyage to Nocturne in the company of the refitted cruiser Justiciar. In Altair, the light cruiser Bloodhawk broke orbit and set a course for the Tenebris jump point. She arrived in Nocturne on May 17th 4012 and headed for the occupied colony under emissions control, with shields and active sensors off. A hundred million kilometres from her destination, she detected thermal emissions from the Raptor previously detected in early April, at a range of eighteen million kilometres.

The Raptor was on a reciprocal intercept course. Bloodhawk waited until the range fell to five million kilometres then engaged her sensors and started to raise shields. She immediately detected the Venom, which was still in orbit of Nocturne I. The Raptor continued to close the range, despite the difference in size between the two ships, but the Eldar had never previously engaged a Dauntless class light cruiser. Bloodhawk had a speed of 4000 km/s, compared to 7433 km/s for the Raptor, so she could not catch the Eldar ship if it ran. Her only option was to draw it within effective range.

The Raptor opened fire at 210,000 km, without scoring a hit. Bloodhawk continued on course, allowing the range to drop to 40,000 km when the Raptor fired again, achieving six strength-10 hits that dropped Bloodhawk’s shields below 50%. She fired at the same moment, completely obliterating the Eldar warship with her weapon batteries, without revealing their maximum range. With the Raptor eliminated, she continued toward the planet and the Venom. As she moved within six million kilometres of the planet, she detected a ground forces signature of 29,000 tons, which probably indicated a force at least three times that size. The Venom, which was 52,000 tons, made no attempt to run before Bloodhawk entered weapon range and destroyed it. Bloodhawk took up position in orbit and waited for the Imperial Guard to arrive.

The Death Korps of Krieg, comprising four heavy infantry regiments and the corps assets, landed on August 26th and launched an assault on the Eldar. The infantry within the enemy force were similar to the Space Marines of the Imperium, heavily-armoured infantry armed with weapons equivalent to bolters. Initial estimate placed their numbers at around fifteen hundred, supported by anti-tank teams. The initial casualty rates favoured the already-fortified Eldar in absolute terms, but they were significantly outnumbered by the Death Korps.

Even while the battle raged, the survey frigate Astra Fidelis completed a survey of Nocturne and explored the single outward jump point. It led to the known system of Erebus, two transits from Sol via Proxima. Nocturne I was now closer to Terra, just over eight billion kilometres, then to Altair Station, although the overall route from Sol to Altair was still shorter via the original route. Even so, the map of known space had to be redrawn to account for the new internal connection, which made access to Nocturne far easier than before.

On Nocturne I, despite their technology and the quality of their troops, the Eldar were wiped out within three days. The Death Korps lost six hundred men and sixty Chimeras, but the installations and mineral supplies were all recovered intact. A Carrack class freighter waiting in orbit loaded the Gallicite and a portion of the Duranium, then departed through the recently discovered jump point en route to Terra.

On December 25th 4012, recovery operations on Aexe Cardinal-B II were completed. There had been no sign of the Necrons for over a year, so the system had been declared safe. Six million colonists were already on the planet, with thirteen research facilities already in place, some of which were from Terra and the rest recovered from the ruins. There was a variety of other installations at the colony, most of which would be transported to Terra or other colonies. Minerals gathered from caches in the ruins, or from the wrecks of Necron ships, had finally eased the Gallicite crisis, although it was a temporary solution and the shortages would return unless the known sources of Gallicite were sufficiently exploited.

Components recovered from the ruins or the wrecks advanced the technical knowledge of the Imperium in several areas, including fire control systems and stellarator fusion reactors, and contributed to ongoing research into shields and bombardment cannon. The fruits of this research would result in eventual improvements in ship capability beyond those in the small number of already refitted classes. As a result, there would be a period where several different variants of the same class were in service until they could be brought up to the same standard.

An Eldar Raptor was detected in Deliverance on February 16th 4013, on the border with the Khrave Dominion. By this point, the Imperium colony on Deliverance I had grown to a population of four point three million and hosted eighteen terraforming installations, two tracking stations and a refuelling station. A maintenance station was in orbit, providing sufficient port capacity for the light cruiser Ravenor. Despite the Dominion rejecting Imperium ownership of Deliverance, the Khrave fleet that had previously held position on the Prometheus jump point had departed without incident and there had been no Dominion activity in the system for several months. The Raptor was a hundred million kilometres from the colony, on a course toward Deliverance III.

Ravenor deactivated her shields and active sensor, trying to lure the Raptor into range. The Eldar ship paused only momentarily in orbit of Deliverance III, then set a direct course for Deliverance I. However, once within thirty million kilometres, it reversed course and conducted manoeuvres around the inner system for a few hours, before eventually disappearing from sensors. There was no point in Ravenor pursuing, given the far superior speed of the Raptor. Two days later, a fleet of three Raptors and a Talon class escort appeared from a direction opposite to that of the original contact. Ravenor moved out to meet them.

Ravenor had been refitted to the Dauntless II standard, so she had improved shields, longer-ranged lance batteries and a speed of 5000 km/s. In comparison, the Eldar had a much higher speed of 7433 km/s and out-massed the lone light cruiser by seventy percent. Once the range dropped below 600,000 km, Ravenor reversed course toward the colony to reduce the rate of closure.

The three Raptors opened fire at 254,000 km, outside the range at which Ravenor could respond, but without scoring any hits. A few seconds later, she fired her AK-25 weapon batteries at 242,000 km, achieving a single hit. Given their slow rate of fire, the two lance batteries were held in reserve. The Eldar fired at 217,000, missing with all shots, then Ravenor responded at 205,000, penetrating with one of nine strength-1 hits. The Eldar were not dissuaded and the range continued to fall, with the xenos registering five strength-5 hits at 181,000 km. Both sides continued to score hits, with Ravenor’s shields absorbing damage and the targeted Raptor taking further internal damage. Ravenor fired her particle lances at 156,000 km, missing with both.

The damaged Raptor maintained its speed despite numerous hits, although by the time the Eldar fired at 108,000 km, it was down to two bombardment cannon. Ravenor received eleven strength-3 hits, which finally had a noticeable impact on her shields, reducing them to 77% strength. Her response was a devastating volley that inflicted twenty-six strength-2 hits and triggered a large secondary explosion, destroying the Raptor.

Despite their loss, their rest of the Eldar remained in pursuit of the Imperial Navy light cruiser, with another volley from their bombardment cannon striking her shields from just 72,000 km. Five seconds later, Ravenor responded from 60,000 km and destroyed a second Raptor with a single volley. Lord-Captain Lazlo Adamantis, commander of the Ravenor, believed the remaining two ships would run now that they were out-massed, so he ordered a course reversal. In case he was wrong, he ordered his weapon crews to target the Talon escort, which would be deadly at close range.

His prediction proved correct, as the Eldar reversed course virtually in formation with Ravenor. By the time the weapon batteries of the light cruiser recharged and fired again, the range had opened to 96,000 km. The Talon took thirty-one strength-2 hits, then disintegrated in a colossal secondary explosion. A single Raptor remained. It continued to fire on Ravenor, with limited effect as the light cruiser’s shields were above sixty percent. Ravenor returned fire at 132,000 km, but her weapon batteries could only inflict strength-1 hits. Four penetrated with no obvious effect. A few seconds later, her lance batteries fired and missed. After two more ineffectual exchanges of fire, the damaged Raptor moved out of weapon range. Ravenor returned to the colony, while the Eldar raider vanished into the outer system.

At the far side of known space, the survey frigate Custodia Lucis, was exploring a jump chain that extended from Damocles into Tau space through Pythos, Solomon, Arconar, Gethsemane, Grendel and Avernus, with another half-dozen unexplored systems connected to the main branch. In terms of travel distance, Avernus was the furthest point from Sol in known space, over thirty billion kilometres away, but the chain actually curved back toward the Imperium’s core systems in real space. A survey of Avernus II, a super-terrestrial ocean world with a breathable atmosphere but gravity beyond human tolerance, revealed a ruined city, an ancient construct and vast deposits of ten minimal accessibility minerals.

Given the distance and the potential for encountering Tau warships as well as Necrons, exploiting the ruins would be a considerable undertaking. Nevertheless, the Lords of Terra authorised an expedition, with the jump-off point in Damocles and a planned logistical node on a dwarf planet in Arconar, halfway between Damocles and Avernus. It would take some time to establish the logistical support before any warships were committed to the operation.

On November 18th 4013, a threat appeared much closer to home. A 12,700-ton ship of a previously unknown xenos race was discovered in Barnard’s Star, a key crossroads system with six jump points in the heart of the Imperium, located between Alpha Centauri and Prospero and only two transits from Sol, Aexe Cardinal and Orpheus. The Centauri colony had a population of forty-four million, with five hundred manned and automated mines. Prospero had recently become an ideal habitable world, with a population of ten million and eighty mines. Aexe Cardinal was host to thirteen research facilities, although the population of eleven million could yet man them effectively, while Orpheus was a near-habitable world with a hundred and sixty financial centres and a population of sixteen million. Within Barnard’s Star itself were two colony fleets, a stabilisation ship and a tug, all en route to different jump points.

The most concerning aspect of the xenos appearance was that all six jump points in in Barnard’s Star had buoys on both sides, so the xenos ship, designated as Bobcat class, could not have originated outside the system. It detected by a sensor buoy on approach to the Augury jump point, a planetless system that lay between Barnard’s Star and Aexe Cardinal, which mean that unlike the Eldar, this new race was aware of jump points.

An emergency resurvey of Barnard’s Star was immediately authorised and a strong force from Battlefleet Terra was dispatched to the system. The Bobcat approached the jump point at 3300 km/s and transited into Augury, where it was detected by the buoy on the far side. A pair of House Arcadius colony ships were already in Augury, en route to Aexe Cardinal, which lay beyond the only outward jump point. After a couple of days, the Bobcat transited back into Barnard’s Star and disappeared toward the inner system, where it was briefly encountered by the tug Fulcrum Magnum.