Order of Battle

Imperial

Chaos  

Battle Fleet Results:

Carrion Squadron detected Golden Squadron in an asteroid field as well as dead fall torpedos ahead. Together with Khorne's Squadron their guns blaze and take out one of the Firestorms. Hand of Seth Squardon sweeps to the right flank behind a rogue planet. Anvil of Doom moves forward and launches a fighter wave to knock out the torpedo salvo and launches Dread Claw Assault boats at the Firestorms, boarding one and destroying it.

The Chaos escorts were thus bunched in when the Steel Will pops up from hiding and closes while a Cobra squadron ( Veritas ) surge toward the Anvil of Doom. Steel Will fires its Nova Cannon at the Chaos escorts, managing to destroy one Infidel. Torpedo run by Cobra's manages to destroy several transports ahead of the Anvil before hitting it. A fire breaks out from the hit but is quickly suppressed by fireteams...

Other chaos transports begin to arrive as the Chaos escorts scatter. Iconoclasts pursue the lone Firestorm while the Infidels engage the Cobras. Anvil moves and exposes port lance guns at the Dominator ( Steel Will ), scouring its shields. Idolators move to center for a torpedo run on Steel Will, the torpedos pass through shields and moderately damage the cruiser. Bomber waves from the Anvil fail to reach this turn.

The Steel Heart, a Dictator Class Cruiser, appears while the Lightbringer ( Gothic Class ) trails behind it. The Steel Will, intent on bringing to bear its broadsides at the transports, blunders into the path of the bombers from the Anvil - the ship is crippled and explodes as its hull is breached.

The ship's plasma engines explode, hitting an Idolator and destroying it in the blast. Cobras move past the Anvil and into the transports guns blazing and setting up another torpedo run. A Firestorm moves behind the transports.

Steel Heart torpedo run wipes out the Idolators, Lightbringer torpedo run hits Anvil inflicting only slight damage as turrets eliminate most of the torpedoes ( Its inexperienced loaders fail to reload the torpedos for the rest of the engagement ). Bomber waves from Steel Heart reach the Anvil but the sheer amount of flack spoils the aim of the bombers - no hits.

Transports instead of fleeing, converge on the Cobras and guns blaze destroy one. Carrion squadron stops pursuing the Firestorm and flips end for end to engage the Steel Heart with the help of the Khorne's Disciple squadron. Anvil exchanges broadsides with the Gothic cruiser, destroying its shield generators while its bombers direct their attention to the Steel Heart and succeed in crippling it.

The return lance shots of the Gothic ( Lightbringer ) finally cripple the Anvil. The Dictator turns towards the Anvil its port guns blazing at the rear of the Devastation, also hitting its shield generators. Assault boats pop up from hiding and hit the chaos transports that have been able to move ahead of the current battle. The lone Cobra and Firestorm continue to fire at the transports from the rear but it is ineffective.

Captain Barabas has had enough. He orders the Carrion Claw Squadron to cover his retreat. With his ship crippled he orders power cut and his ship blinks out of the Imperial scanners. The Iconoclasts manage to get behind the crippled Gothic. With its shields gone and it failing to brace for impact, the ship is reduced to a blazing hulk and drifts. The remaining Infidels swarm the Dictator.

The Steel Heart ignores the shots of the escorts and fires its one last torpedo salvo at the tranport in front of it. After this last defiant act, the Steel Heart withdraws with the remaining FireStorm and Cobra doing the same.

Aftermath :

Captain Okada takes full responsibility for the debacle at Raven's sky and is executed by Comissar Besarus for incompetence. The loss of the LightBringer and the Steel Will has cost the imperium deeply at a time when such ships could have been used better at the southern border. Already intelligence has uncovered reports of another Ork WAAGGHH buildup ahead of the 50 year estimate.The Imperial commander must stop the pirates soon before they get recalled to meet the Ork threat. If that should happen before the pirate's backs have been broken then they would control the shipping lanes in this area.

Captain Barabas is pleased. His host of slaves will do well for the sacrifices to Tzeentch, who needs human souls for its vile magiks. However because he fled just before the tide of battle turned to Chaos, several of his underlings questioned his ability to lead. A few slit throats silenced such criticism. His notoriety in this part of the sector has grown. A few more thousand slaves to capture and sacrifice and they would be able to resurrect one of the more powerful ships the Imperium has ever faced.