First Battle of Kopt Dara
 This article is about a battle in the /tg/ Heresy project, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40k universe. |
| First Battle of Kopt Dara | |
| |
| Date | 094/811.M30 |
| Scale | planetary system |
| Theatre | Kopt Dara, Destoona System |
| Status | Imperial Victory |
| Belligerents | |
| Imperium of Mankind | Osroene Empire |
| Commanders and Leaders | |
| Hektor Cincinnatus Orion Mucius |
unknown |
| Strength | |
| 3rd Expedition Fleet 3 Grand Cruisers 11 Heavy Cruisers 6 Escorts |
Osroene "Southern Fleet" 3 Battleships 7 Cruisers 5 Escorts |
| Losses | |
| Outcome | |
| First Legion secure naval superiority in the Southern Theater | |
The First Battle of Kopt Dara was the opening engagement of the Parthorum Xenocide. In this clash between voidships, Imperial forces drove through a Xenos broadside to create a deadly melee. Although the attackers took considerable damage, they were able to inflict a severe defeat on the Osroene.
Background
In planning the Parthorum Xenocide, Hektor Cincinnatus determined early on that the Osroene's voidfleets were of pivotal importance. The Xenos relied on a strategy of containment and counter-attack, using planetary forces to slow down attackers until their fleets could arrive. Rather than fight on the enemy's terms, Hektor intended to bring their fleets to battle and destroy them, allowing his First Legion free reign throughout Osroene space. Due to the Xenos' overall material superiority, the Primarch planned to deal with their empire in sections. Rogue Traders had identified the patrol area closest to Sol, a region of space about 50 light years in diameter, and it was within this "Southern Theater" that the First Legion would begin their operations.
Conscious of the need for intelligence, Hektor's first order dispersed the Rogue Traders under his command to monitor the systems of Southern Theater. As was usual practice, a Space Marine officer held formal command of each vessel, but the vessel's original captain took the role of ship's master and guaranteed its smooth running. The sight of Solar-built vessels raised little alarm among the Xenos, who had become accustomed to the presence of Rogue Traders during the preceding months. But despite their innocent appearance, the Imperial vessels were hunting for concentrations of Osroene naval power. Adela Exard's Black Joke, now under the command of Ouragos Markos Priscus, found the Xenos' Southern Fleet docked in the Destoona System at 057/811.M30. Priscus immediately ordered his Astropath to signal the First Legion's HQ that their quarry had been discovered.
The battle
The arrival of Hektor Cincinnatus' naval force at Destoona's jump points is timed to 073/811.M30. If the presence of the Black Joke had not aroused suspicion, the Osroene reacted promptly to the arrival of a group of seemingly hostile warships. The Southern Fleet made haste for the outer planets of the Destoona System, taking up station at the gas giant Kopt Dara. From this position, the Osroene believed themselves well-sited to plot intercept courses against the invaders. Meanwhile, within the operations center of his flagship, Monarch of the Void, Hektor Cincinnatus held a holo-call with the Legion's senior void commander, Navarch Basileus Orion Mucius. The commanders anticipated that their enemies would draw up in a line formation, using the gas giant to guard their flank while presenting a broadside to approaching vessels. To counter this strategy, they agreed on an aggressive approach. Hektor and Monarch of the Void would lead a large column of Imperial ships to break up the Xenos line roughly in its center. Mucius, aboard the Olympiad would take a smaller column into the enemy's rear. By this tactic, the Third Expedition Fleet's commanders hoped to divide their opponents' forces defeat them in detail.
The battle developed as Hektor and Mucius expected. Although the Xenos were not entirely naive to the Imperial tactics and had deployed a reserve line of escorts in a lower orbit, the speed of advance caught them off-guard and gaps opened up as their ships hastily tried to tighten their formation. Despite their confusion the Osroene mustered a ragged broadside at the oncoming Imperial vessels. The Monarch of the Void was the first ship to come under fire at 094/811.M30, but she withstood several salvos before breaking the Xenos line just ahead of the battleship identified as SFBB-2. Olympiad also took some damage in her approach, but she stayed in control and passed between the Osroene cruisers SFCA-6 and SFCA-7. As the Imperial columns poured into the breach and came about into fighting positions, two semi-connected melees ensued.
At the rear of the Osroene line, Orion Mucius' five cruisers and three escorts faced three Xenos capital ships. Initially, the battle swung heavily in favour of the Imperials. Olympiad's heavy guns ripped open the magazine on SFCA-6 and the resulting explosion not only disabled the cruiser's drive but sent her out of orbit to be torn apart by Kopt Dara's gravity. Ankoresh and Pilum pounded SFCA-7 into scrap, with Pilum taking minor damage in return. However, as Solstice moved to cross SFBB-3's bow, a freak shot damaged her heat sinks and left the Luna-class Cruiser drifting hot for seven desperate Terran minutes while her tech priests battled to seal the gap. Scion of Mercury and the three agile Havoc-class Frigates at the tail of the column darted behind SFBB-3 and raked her stern, doing serious damage but not crippling the Xenos warship. SFBB-3 was able to come about and exchange a broadside with Scion of Mercury, temporarily disabling the cruiser's weapon batteries, before falling prey to a close-range torpedo spread from Olympiad.
The second, larger part of the battle took place at more even odds. Monarch of the Void raked SFBB-2's bow and her sister-ship Monarch of Luna crippled the Xenos battleship with a broadside to the stern. However, unlike at the rear, the Osroene escorts were in position to counterattack the Imperial line breakers. Hektor's Grand Cruisers, together with the Crusade-class cruisers Zetal Heights, Mount Ararat and Blessing of Thunder came about sharply to face the Osroene vanguard and were exposed to a rear attack by the enemy escorts. Mount Ararat and Blessing of Thunder received concentrated fire that left both ships crippled and adrift in the void. Syntagma Ophelos Potitius was forced to order an evacuation of the Mount Ararat when her secondary hull began to fail, while repair crews aboard the Blessing of Thunder worked desperately to avoid a catastrophic failure of the stricken voidship's plasma drive. Meanwhile, Hoplon, Eclipse, Scion of Venus, and Scion of Mercury fell upon SFCA-4 and SFCA-5 and began to hammer the isolated cruisers. From the end of Hektor's column, Brother Demokritos , Brother Eusebios, and Brother Nikanor sharply accelerated to intercept the Osroene escorts and put an end to their flank attack. This timely intervention still left Monarch of the Void, Monarch of Luna and Zetal Heights facing a trio of Xenos cruisers while SFBB-1 slowly turned ahead of them. But the ships ahead of Hektor had little stomach for the fight after seeing the destruction already wrought. SFBB-1 aborted its maneuver and left orbit, while the cruisers remained for a brief exchange of fire before they fled. The battle of the escorts had gone poorly for First Legion, with Brother Nikanor destroyed and Brother Eusebios badly damaged, but the remaining Osroene light ships broke off and followed the vanguard. Only SFCA-4 and SFCA-5, sandwiched between Imperial cruisers, were left behind and these ships promptly surrendered in the face of a hopeless situation.
Aftermath
The action was over in less than a Terran hour. Following salvage and scuttling efforts, the Imperial fleet was underway again at 094/811.M30, moving out to jump points and then back through to warp to Sol. Only Black Joke remained in system, hiding behind the great bulk of Kopt Dara and monitoring the system via satellites. Victory at Kopt Dara gave the Imperials void superiority in the southern portion of the Parthorum Stream. Although the Osroene had more warships to reinforce the weakened theater, their high command would not receive a request for reinforcements until months later. By that time events would have already overtaken their effort to respond. However, the damage incurred at the First Battle of Kopt Dara forced the First Legion to spend precious weeks travelling back to Mars to repair their warships.
Later in 811.M30, both sides would commit more ships to the Destoona system and fight the Second Battle of Kopt Dara.
Order of Battle
Imperial Fleet
First Column
- Monarch of the Void (Repulsive Class Grand Cruiser). Hektor Cincinnatus' flagship
- Monarch of Luna (Repulsive Class Grand Cruiser)
- Zetal Heights (Crusade Class Cruiser)
- Mount Ararat (Crusade Class Cruiser), Syntagma Ophelos Potitius.
- Blessing of Thunder (Crusade Class Cruiser)
- Hoplon (Boundless Class Cruiser)
- Eclipse (Luna Class Cruiser)
- Scion of Venus (Inferno Class Cruiser)
- Scion of Vulkan (Inferno Class Cruiser)
- Brother Demokritos (Havoc Class Frigate)
- Brother Eusebios (Havoc Class Frigate)
- Brother Nikanor (Havoc Class Frigate)
Second Column
- Olympiad (Repulsive Class Grand Cruiser). Orion Mucius' flagship
- Ankoresh (Crusade Class Cruiser)
- Pilum (Boundless Class Cruiser)
- Solstice (Luna Class Cruiser
- Scion of Mercury (Inferno Class Cruiser)
- Brother Drakon (Havoc Class Frigate)
- Brother Meliton (Havoc Class Frigate)
- Brother Solon (Havoc Class Frigate)
Support ship
- Black Joke (modified Saturnyne Cruiser), Ouragos Markos Priscus
Osroene Fleet
Battle Line
- SFBB-1 (unknown class battleship)
- SFCA-1 (unknown class cruiser)
- SFCA-2 (unknown class cruiser)
- SFCA-3 (unknown class cruiser)
- SFBB-2 (unknown class battleship)
- SFCA-4 (unknown class cruiser)
- SFCA-5 (unknown class cruiser)
- SFCA-6 (unknown class cruiser)
- SFCA-7 (unknown class cruiser)
- SFBB-3 (unknown class battleship)
Reserve Line
- SFES-1 (unknown class escort)
- SFES-2 (unknown class escort)
- SFES-3 (unknown class escort)
- SFES-4 (unknown class escort)
- SFES-5 (unknown class escort)
Support Ship
- SFMS-1 (unknown class mailship)