Prelude to battle
The battle of Destino had been coming for months. Before the end of 018M42 three imperial fleets had arrived in the system, led by admiral Hughes, to counter the threat of Cybixx’s new super weapon and to prevent the collapse and surrender of the loyalists at Destino I. However, Hughes, with his sub commanders Dreyer and Craddock, veterans themselves, did not aggressively force the issue, despite apparently having superior forces. Wary of blundering into a trap the imperial fleet stood off and blockaded the system, waiting to see if Cybixx would make a mistake.
This stance changed in 02.019M42 with the arrival of the Dark Angels fleet. The astartes were highly critical of Hughes stating “the enemy is in front of you. Fight him in the Emperor’s name”. Hughes took this as personal criticism, which it may have been, but with three imperial battlegroups and the arrival of the Dark Angels, the imperial loyalists surely had enough strength now to risk an attack.
The arrival of the Dark Angels was indeed fortunate, as Cybixx had spent his time looking for allies with which he might defeat the imperial forces now arrayed against him. His heresy now out in the open, the renegade arch Magos cast his eye far and wide in search of aid, and found many wishing to give the imperium a bloody nose. The orks known as the “Bork” readily agreed to lend their support for the excuse of a good fight, and had been fashioning their distinctive roks from asteroids for months since the arrival of their hulk. The Emerald Serpent arrived soon after, covertly, having secured a division of chaos vessels once loyal to Lorek himself. Finally, Cybixx managed to convince Vlokarion of the profit he could find in an alliance, and the Dark Eldar Archon detached one of his fleets to lie in ambush should any of Hughes’ divisions attempt to force an action.
Main action
The combined Imperial fleet approached the enemy fleet, still unaware of the strength of the newly formed Coalition until within a million miles of the invading force. Then, augur returns from picket ships detected the chaos and ork signatures, and admiral Hughes now knew he was facing more than the threat of just Cybixx and his heretical space station. The imperial fleet formed up with the agile space marines and escorts approaching the Coalition vessels in the centre, behind the cover of an asteroid field, while the Imperial fleet split into two major divisions, with the Dreyer's nova cannon focussed battlegroup on the right, and the rest of the Imperial heavy ships on the left. Then they surveyed the enemy deployment, and Hughes and the Dark Angel's commander smiled to each other over hololithic display. If all went to plan, victory was theirs.
The Imperium noted that the enemy force had deployed in a way they could exploit. The ork roks approached in a broad line in front of their hulk, with the ominous outline of the Mallem Cybixxem looming behind them. the dark eldar were detected on the ork left flank, but the chaos fleet were still some distance away, disconnected from the main Coalition force and moving in two divisions towards the flanks. This put the nova cannon division under no pressure, enabling them to fire with impunity, while on the left, Hughes' main battlegroup would be able to charge and deal with the inferior chaos force before the orks and dark eldar could react - so long as the Dark Angels were able to sufficiently delay the two xenos fleets without being destroyed.
At 13:40 the two fleets engaged, but the Mallem Cybixxem had the opening success, destroying six imperial escorts in one salvo and sending a wave of doubt through the imperial lines. However, as the battle progressed, the dark eldar ambush from behind the central asteroid field was effectively countered by the highly manoeuvrable astartes escorts, and by 14:30 a dark eldar cruiser had been destroyed. The furious battle in the centre of the battle saw thew xenos score their own successes, destroying the imperial swords of Craddock's battlegroup, but the Dark Angels were able to keep the xenos at arm’s length, while Dreyer's battlegroup poured in fire from the flank. Before long, Vlokarion decided to cut his losses and disengage.
Despite the loss of the dark eldar force, all was not yet lost for the Coalition, but at 16:20 Hughes delivered his aggressive strike against the chaos right wing. The imperial fleet ordered all ahead full, ramming the chaos cruisers and boarding one of the adeptus mechanicus vessels. In this action Phoenix was hulked at 16:47, and Firedrake crippled, but the blow by the imperium shattered the Coalition right flank, forcing the Emerald Serpent to flee. Now outnumbered, Cybixx similarly disengaged, leaving the Imperium to mop up any roks foolish enough to give away their presence by opening fire. The rest, and the space hulk, simply melted into the blackness of Destino's interplanetary space, and by 17:30 the battlefield was left in the hands of the Imperium.
Aftermath
The Imperium had achieved a decisive victory in the battle of Destino, but the Mallem Cybixxem had escaped. Cybixx had lost one capital ship, a mechanicum cruiser, which although a blow did not seriously reduce Cybixx's capabilities to conduct naval warfare. The ork losses were moderate, but the hulk had also not been destroyed. The rok fleet would be easily rebuilt. The Dark eldar had lost one cruiser - painful for a force which had such limited numbers at its disposal, but hardly a crushing defeat. Only the Emerald Serpent had suffered significant losses, losing three cruisers and several damaged. The chaos fleet lost by far the most of all the Coalition partners, in large part to their distant and separated deployment prior to the action.
Even so, the declaration of a "crushing victory" by Imperial propaganda was not entirely accurate. It was true that the combined imperial fleet had lost only one cruiser, the dauntless class light cruiser Phoenix. After the battle her hulk was taken in tow for salvage. Her sister, Firedrake, had also suffered heavy damage, but otherwise Hughes' capital ships were still in full fighting condition. However, over a dozen escorts had been lost, including a number of astartes vessels. The imperial fleet had not sustained serious losses, but the idea that the imperial fleet had escaped damage altogether was plainly false.
The Emerald Serpent had been the clear loser in the engagement, although the action itself meant the coalition fleet was broken up, and Cybixx had to abandon the Destino system in its entirety, leaving Hughes and the Imperium in a commanding position in the Foramen Minoris. Vandrax was still safe from attack, but many in the Imperium already began to consider Destino as the Coalition's "high tide", only weeks after its inception. This of course, was over confidence and hubris of a dangerous kind, and despite the fact the Imperial Fleet had met all its main objectives, the fact it had not delivered a fatal blow to the ability of the Coalition to wage war weighed heavily on Admiral Hughes' mind.
Coalition Losses
3 chaos cruisers
1 Ad Mech cruiser
1 Dark Eldar cruiser
Imperium Losses
1 Dauntless light cruiser
Over a dozen escorts
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