Second fleet action at Mordecai

Admiral Stark had managed to call even more forces to his banner at Mordecai as 04.020M42 began. With the action at Hexis no longer relevant, the concentration of force at Mordecai continued to increase despite the warp storms afflicting the region. Now, Stark had elements of Gorshkov's battlegroup to hand, including the rear admiral himself, as well as ships from Admiral Hughes' fleets from the western Aleph sector.

 

On 0204.020M42 Stark conceived an operation to take the initiative away from the forces of chaos. Gorshkov was given a bombardment mission on Mordecai Secundus to help Kutuzov, approaching the planet by way of the solar corona region. Although dangerous to his escort vessels, the move would force the chaos fleet to either intercept on imperial terms, or allow massive damage to occur to their attempted defence of Mordecai Secundus.

 

The Emerald Serpent confronted Gorshkov's fleet in the solar flare region of the Mordecai system. Even in this volatile region of space the imperial admiral risked his bomber pilots and escort crews, and the gamble paid off. Bomber waves tore into the chaos vessels who were surprised at the recklessness of the imperial admiral. Two carnage class and two devastation class cruisers were put out of action or even beyond repair, although exact information on whether the ships would ever be salvaged was difficult to obtain due to the confusing solar glare. The chaos battleship handled the situation badly, and it's position meant it was unable to contribute to the battle in the critical moments, resulting in the heavy losses suffered by the remaining chaos fleet.

 

The Imperium suffered almost no damage and no losses, although the dangerous environs of Mordecai's star did take their toll as the imperial luck ran out. Three sword class escorts were obliterated and their crews irradiated as a solar flare happened to erupt directly in their path.

 

The boldness of Gorshkov's action had delivered a decisive victory for the Imperium, and the fleet was even able to continue to Mordecai Secundus to deliver an orbital bombardment of chaos installations, before their ammunition ran low and the battlegroup prudently returned to their supply vessels further out in the system.