Battle is joined
The battle between the Tau and Imperial fleet began early on 2501.019M42. Admiral Swiftstar was almost due for retirement, and the old tau commander had serious reservations about attempting to fight the imperial fleet in close proximity to the surface of Hexis. Nevertheless the tau fleet formed up into a tight formation attempting to use the planet as cover from imperial nova cannons. Meanwhile Kanin split his fleet into divisions, with the nova cannon equipped Sevastopol on his left flank, and the other nova cannon vessels on his right, with his flagship Leipzig in the centre.
The early action was inconclusive. In contrast to Stark’s success with the long range imperial weaponry, the nova cannons from Kanin’s vessels were largely inaccurate, doing little if any real damage to the tau. Kanin kept the range however, denying Swiftstar the ability to quickly close and deliver a powerful first strike on his fleet.
Swiftstar, seeing that the tyrant class cruiser Konary was about to enter low orbit, detached a protector - Red Moon - from his cruiser force, and with the Castellan escorts providing cover for his right flank, decided that he would lead the defence of the tau base on Hexis to his flagship and its multiple wings of attack craft. The battleship Vigilance, accompanied by Red Moon, followed Konary, leaving his remaining ships to deal with Kanin’s remaining vessels.
The tau suffered a set back early on, as Sun Sword got herself out of position. Facing the combined firepower of the imperial fleet she was quickly crippled and unable to disengage, became the first casualty of the battle. Now the main fleet action pitted the hero class Longstride and the protector Guardian against Kanin’s flagship and two cruisers. The tau however could call on escort support, while Kanin’s own sword class vessels, unused to his command on loan from another battlegroup, had suffered at the hands of tau torpedo waves and been forced to disengage.
Fleet actions above Hexis
The imperial fleet quickly lost their advantage in ships above Hexis. Sevastopol was still far to the rear and now unable to fire her nova cannon as the tau cruisers slipped behind the limb of Hexis. Then, Cape Sarych was forced to break out of the imperial line as she came under focussed fire from the tau fleet and waves of torpedoes and mantas.
The Tau cruisers now saw an opportunity, closing on Leipzig as she approached an asteroid field. Longstride and Guardian, supported by six tau escorts now delivered a barrage of close range firepower, with Longstride’s volleys proving deadly in their accuracy. Kanin’s flagships shields were overwhelmed, and tau munitions punched through her armour, destabilising her plasma drive generators. The imperial flagship then disappeared in a cataclysmic explosion, leaving the imperial fleet leaderless and throwing debris thousands of kilometres at tremendous speeds.
The tau cruisers were caught in the blast wave, and Guardian took heavy damage. The damage to Longstride was lighter, but now the hero class faced a new threat, as the cruiser Kirpen closed with the tau vessel, intent on boarding her to get revenge for the loss of their flagship. Unfortunately for the imperium however, the turrets of Longstride proved an effective defence, and the human cruiser was crippled at close range by the tau short range firepower.
Kirpen did not disengage however, and now Longstride was two imperial cruisers alone, as both the tau escort squadrons had been forced to disengage, losing four out of six vessels. Faced with an impossible situation, the tau cruiser disengaged, leaving admiral Swiftstar and his two vessels alone against three imperial cruisers.
Low orbit action
The battle in low orbit began shortly after the Vigilance and Red Moon followed Konary into the buffeting atmosphere of Hexis. By now the air war was in full swing over the planet, but Swiftstar wanted to catch the imperial cruiser while it was vulnerable. Unfortunately the atmosphere of the planet proved difficult and neither side was able to land a telling blow. Lances from the planet flashed up, adding to the chaos but eventually the Konary was crippled and began to slowly fall towards the surface.
After nearly an hour in low orbit the imperial cruisers that remained in the system came to the Konary’s aid. It was too late for the tyrant class, but the Sevastopol, still undamaged, began targeting the Red Moon with her nova cannon. The tau were appalled as the imperium recklessly engaged their most dangerous weapon in the atmosphere of a world, and their horror was proved justifiable, as the stray first shot impacted with the planet itself, immolating thousands of imperial guardsman in a heartbeat. Swiftstar did not get time to rejoice however, as the second shot proved deadly. The Red Moon evaporated as the huge energies of the imperial super weapon ripped apart the protector class cruiser. As the wreckage fell to the ground, another devastating explosion caused even more carnage amongst imperial formations on the surface.
Vigilance was still in good shape, and by now despite the arrival of the other heavily damaged cruiser, the tau weapons batteries finally finished off the Konary. The imperial cruiser crashed to earth in flames, this time impacting in the region of chaos forces, wiping out regiments of the southern army.
Swiftstar believed by now that the battle was lost. Unable to do anything with Vigilance other than power away from the grip of Hexis’ gravity, the tau admiral’s legendary temper showed itself once more as he raged about the bridge of his flagship, powerless as the two remaining imperial vessels pummelled his ship. However, the Vigilance was able to power clear of the planets surface and escape into the depths of the Lysis system, where he regrouped with his damaged cruisers, finally learning of the total destruction of the imperial flagship.
The air war over Hexis
The battle of Hexis was not only fought between mighty capital ships. Admiral Stark had ordered his naval assets on the ground to assist with the destruction of the tau base in line with Kanin’s attack, and had been given the chaos base as a secondary target. Meanwhile, prior to the battle, Stahl himself had been tipped off that the imperium would be sending their naval forces to the planet, by the tau. Swiftstar made an arrangement with the forces of chaos. He would not take any aggressive actions against the forces of chaos, leaving Stahl’s forces a free hand against the imperium. Swiftstar kept to his word, and for once so did Stahl.
The arrival of Konary in low orbit was the signal for imperial bomber wings to strike the tau base. The tau, forewarned, immediately launches their own fighters to protect their ground assets. However, the imperial forces took the shortest route towards the tau - over chaos held territory. This was met by an immediate response from the traitor forces, and squadrons of helldrakes shot down or drove off the first imperial bomber wave.
Sensing a plot, or collusion between the alliance and chaos, the imperial commander on the ground switched his main target, and the second wave launched against the chaos base instead. Assault boats launched from Leipzig then entered the battle, taking out the formidable lance defences Stahl had built up around the chaos zone. The second bomber wave got through, although their attack was largely ineffective. In the meantime, the chaos forces had sent their own strike forces towards the imperial base.
Hours of air battles followed, but the imperial defences held, and the damage to their bases and installations was slight. Stahl’s bases faired far worse, with wave after wave of imperial bombers pounding warehouses, ammunition stores and the landing grounds in the shifting sands. The chaos base was finally put out of action by a nova cannon strike from Sevastopol, before the imperial cruisers retreated back to deep space late on 2701.019M42. Meanwhile the tau launched one half hearted assault against the imperial base, which was unsuccessful. With the imperial fleet leaving low orbit, the air battles died down, leaving the chaos base a smoking ruin.
Aftermath
Initially Admiral Swiftstar, ever the pessimist, believed he had lost the battle of Hexis. The facts were however that the imperium has lost their emperor class battleship and a rear admiral, as well as a tyrant class cruiser. Only one imperial capital ship had escaped with light damage and although the tau had lost two of their own capital ships, they could better make good their losses.
On the ground the imperium had lost thousands of men due to explosions and falling debris, while the chaos base was a mass of wreckage and destroyed supplies. The alliance had suffered almost no casualties on the ground and later in the day Kanin’s remaining ships, now under the command of Commodore Sergey Gorshkov, were forced to make the jump back to imperial bases in the Hadron Expanse. The tau fleet had taken a battering, but would soon be relieved by federal vessels.
Admiral Stark’s gamble had not paid off, although the destruction of the chaos base was a strategic success. However the alliance remained in fighting condition and Stark knew he would not get the chance to deal another blow to Swiftstar’s fleet before the arrival of the federal battlegroup. He had lost an Emperor class battleship and a rear admiral, the latter being fortunate as it was Kanin who would take the blame for what was an imperial defeat.
No comments:
Post a Comment