Y2516On the fifth of January, the survey frigate Constantia arrived in Taranis. Captain Ventris ordered her captain, Commander Ignatius Varvanus, to take his ship to the area around the Galen jump point and check for a previously undetected jump point that had recently ended its dormant phase. Ten days later, Battlefleet Prometheus, minus the three frigates left at Endymion Base, arrived in Taranis and joined Battlefleet Terra. By this point, Battlefleet Terra had also been reinforced by three Cobra class destroyers detached from various frigate squadrons. The combined force massed nine hundred and sixty thousand tons and comprised four battlecruisers, nine cruisers, fifteen light cruisers, sixteen escort-class vessels and fifty-six Starhawk bombers. The fleet was refuelled by a newly arrived tanker.
Captain Gaius Caliban, Victor of Procyon and holder of the Macharian Cross, had arrived with Battlefleet Prometheus and was now the senior officer in the system. On his command, Battlefleet Terra proceeded to the inner system, arriving in orbit of Taranis I on January 21st. There was no sign of the Tyranid troop transports. Three days later, the eleven Tyranid fast attack craft that had visited the system in November Y2515, returned and moved into orbit of the ex-Imperial colony on Taranis II, apparently ignoring the Imperial fleet sixteen million kilometres from their position.
Captain Caliban ordered the fleet to close and attack with shipboard torpedo launchers. The maximum range against such small targets was less than one point three million kilometres. As the Imperial ships drew closer, the Tyranids attack craft held their position in orbit of the fallen colony. A single wave of standard torpedoes was launched, with six torpedoes directed against each enemy ship. As the standard torpedo had a speed of 20,400 km/s and the alien attack craft all had maximum speeds in excess of 12,000 km/s, the chance of a hit was low even without hostile point defence. Eight targets were struck with a total of twelve torpedoes. There was no point defence fire. Eight attack craft immediately broke orbit and headed for Battlefleet Terra at maximum speed, leaving three more, apparently disabled, in orbit of Taranis II. Caliban ordered the fleet to retreat and hold the range open as long as possible. Given the lack of point defence, He also ordered his torpedo-armed ships to fire a second salvo against the same targets, launching when ready rather than waiting for a concentrated salvo. No further torpedoes would be launched as the Imperium had a very limited supply of ordnance. Any survivors would be engaged by energy weapons.
The closest eight ships suffered another twelve hits, enough to disable two of them. The other six remained at full speed. Five of the Imperial warships were armed with the recently developed Particle Lance; the only ships that were refitted before the new crisis began. The three Dauntless III and two Firestorm III class ships did not have the new engines and were an interim design for test purposes. The imminent clash would be the first combat test for the new weapon.
Dauntless III class Light Cruiser 18,000 tons 520 Crew 3,026.7 BP TCS 360 TH 1,440 EM 2,970
4000 km/s Armour 5-61 Shields 99-330 HTK 118 Sensors 6/8/0/0 DCR 12 PPV 90.32
Maint Life 2.38 Years MSP 1,261 AFR 216% IFR 3.0% 1YR 305 5YR 4,570 Max Repair 284.7 MSP
Commander Control Rating 2 BRG AUX
Intended Deployment Time: 16 months Morale Check Required
Ravenor Drive Systems RDS-480 Ion Drive (3) Power 1440 Fuel Use 35.00% Signature 480 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 810,000 Litres Range 23.1 billion km (66 days at full power)
Valentinian-Stern VS-33 Void Shield (3) Recharge Time 330 seconds (0.3 per second)
Dominus-Varnus Defence Systems DV-2 Defence Turret (1x6) Range 30,000km TS: 16000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 30,000 km ROF 5
Valentinian Precision Armaments V12-240 Particle Lance (2) Range 240,000km TS: 4,000 km/s Power 37-5 ROF 40
Astaroth Kinetics AK-20 Weapons Battery (6x4) Range 160,000km TS: 4,000 km/s Accuracy Modifier 100% RM 40,000 km ROF 15
MK I Defence Turret Fire Control (1) Max Range: 64,000 km TS: 16,000 km/s 84 69 53 38 22 6 0 0 0 0
MK I Energy Weapon Fire Control (2) Max Range: 256,000 km TS: 4,000 km/s 96 92 88 84 80 77 73 69 65 61
R17 Stellarator Fusion Reactor (2) Total Power Output 34 Exp 5%
MK I Light Cruiser Active Augur Array (1) GPS 11520 Range 77.1m km Resolution 120
MK I Torpedo Detection Array (1) GPS 16 Range 6.4m km MCR 695.1k km Resolution 1
MK I Electromagnetic Augur Array (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
MK I Thermal Augur Array (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 19.4m km
Firestorm III class Frigate 7,500 tons 225 Crew 1,344.4 BP TCS 150 TH 600 EM 990
4000 km/s Armour 3-34 Shields 33-330 HTK 56 Sensors 6/0/0/0 DCR 4 PPV 38.4
Maint Life 2.28 Years MSP 448 AFR 112% IFR 1.6% 1YR 117 5YR 1,752 Max Repair 284.7 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 15 months Morale Check Required
Ravenor Drive Systems RDS-300 Ion Drive (2) Power 600 Fuel Use 44.27% Signature 300 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 415,000 Litres Range 22.5 billion km (65 days at full power)
Valentinian-Stern VS-33 Void Shield (1) Recharge Time 330 seconds (0.1 per second)
Dominus-Varnus Defence Systems DV-1 Defence Turret (1x3) Range 30,000km TS: 16000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 30,000 km ROF 5
Astaroth Kinetics AK-20 Weapons Battery (2x4) Range 160,000km TS: 4,000 km/s Accuracy Modifier 100% RM 40,000 km ROF 15
Valentinian Precision Armaments V12-240 Particle Lance (1) Range 240,000km TS: 4,000 km/s Power 37-5 ROF 40
MK I Defence Turret Fire Control (1) Max Range: 64,000 km TS: 16,000 km/s 84 69 53 38 22 6 0 0 0 0
MK I Energy Weapon Fire Control (2) Max Range: 256,000 km TS: 4,000 km/s 96 92 88 84 80 77 73 69 65 61
R7 Stellarator Fusion Reactor (2) Total Power Output 13.8 Exp 5%
MK I Frigate Active Augur Array (1) GPS 4800 Range 51.3m km Resolution 100
MK I Small Torpedo Detection Array (1) GPS 4 Range 2.9m km MCR 310.9k km Resolution 1
MK I Thermal Augur Array (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 19.4m km
Before the mobile attack craft could enter range, the three Tyranids ships still in orbit of Taranis II were struck by the second wave torpedoes and destroyed. They were far easier to hit as stationary target. Particle Lances on the Dauntless IIIs opened fire at 220,000 kilometres without scoring a hit. Every other lance battery in the fleet fired at 178,000 kilometres, inflicting seven strength-4 hits. Two attack craft were left dead in space. At 136,000 kilometres, the massed weapon batteries of Battlefleet Terra opened fire. Fifty-six strength-1 hits were scored, disabling two more attack craft, along with a strength-12 particle lance strike from the frigate Harrower that skewered a Hormagaunt and blew it to pieces. The cruiser Justicar was struck once, causing minor shield damage. The final three mobile attack craft made it to 54,000 kilometres before being destroyed by massed energy weapon fire. Given the total firepower of Battlefleet Terra, it was concerning they made it that far. The fleet reversed course again and picked off the Tyranid cripples.
Two days after the engagement, a new and much larger force of Tyranid attack craft was detected heading for the inner system; thirty Hormagaunts, ten Termagaunts and four Zoanthropes. None of these ships had been detected before. Captain Caliban had discussed the strategic situation with High Admiral Verus while Battlefleet Prometheus refuelled at Terra and both agreed the primary threat was the larger Tyranid ships. While the attack craft were dangerous and hard to kill, they at least had to come within weapon range. The Behemoth and Carnifex class ships could wipe out an entire fleet by staying out of range and using their heavy energy weapons. Therefore, Caliban did not want to expend too many torpedoes on ships that presented a lesser, if still substantial, threat.
On the other hand, while the Starhawk bombers could deliver a long-range strike, they were actually slower than even the larger alien ships so it was unlikely they would deliver multiple strikes in a single battle. Therefore, Caliban decided to launch a single wave from his shipboard launchers, targeting all ten Termagaunts and four of the Hormagaunts with six torpedoes each, then use his Starhawks to launch a single follow-up wave of six hundred and seventy-two light torpedoes, with the targets dependent on the result of the first wave. The remaining attack craft would be engaged with energy weapons as they closed. The Termagaunts were the priority target due to their microwave-based weapons.
Ten targets were hit by eighteen standard torpedoes with strength-9 warheads. Three Termagaunts were disabled but none destroyed. Every mobile target struck by the first wave, plus an extra Hormagaunt, was targeted by the twelve light torpedoes of a single Starhawk. Twenty-four Hormagaunts were each targeted by two Starhawks. Due to the shorter range of the Starhawk torpedo fire controls, the wave of light torpedoes was launched when the range fell to 625,000 kilometres. One hundred and forty-five strength-4 warheads struck their targets. Only four attack craft fell out of formation, leaving thirty-seven still closing. Battlefleet Terra prepared for an energy-range engagement.
The particle lances opened fire at 220,000 kilometres. The light cruiser Divine Crusade scored a single hit and a Hormagaunt fell out of formation. Captain Caliban resolved in future to hold the particle lance fire until the targets were closer. They were effective when they hit, but the long range and high target speed was significantly reducing their effectiveness. As they only fired every forty seconds, a lifetime in a close-range engagement, he wanted to achieve the maximum results when they did fire. The standard lance batteries scored six strength-4 hits at 174,000 kilometres, without disabling any more targets. Return fire from the Tyranids inflicted nine strength-1 hits on the Lunar II class cruiser Justicar. As the cruiser was likely to be the target of further attacks, Captain Caliban, ordered her commander, Captain Maxima Bale, to start firing her torpedoes. The worst of all worlds would be to lose torpedoes that were still in their magazines.
Five seconds later, with the range at 133,000 kilometres, Battlefleet Terra opened fire with weapon batteries, inflicting one hundred and forty-one strength-1 hits. Only one Tyranid attack craft fell out of formation. Considering their small size, they were incredibly tough. Return fire was eleven strength-1 hits, reducing Justicar’s void shields to eighty-nine percent. The Tyranid weapons recharged much faster than their Imperial counterparts, with a cycle time of five second compared to fifteen for weapon batteries and twenty for lance batteries. The cruiser’s shields were struck again, falling to eighty-two percent. As the range fell to only fifty thousand kilometres, they were still thirty-four Tyranid attack craft closing at full speed. All the firepower of Battlefleet Terra had so far only been sufficient to disable ten attack craft. None had been destroyed. The Tyranid weapons improved rapidly in effectiveness as the range fell and Justicar was hit much harder, with her shields down to fifty percent.
Finally, just as Gaius Caliban experienced a kernel of doubt beginning to grow, the tide turned. The Tyranid attack craft moved to eleven thousand kilometres as Battlefleet Terra’s weapon batteries and lance batteries completed their recharging cycles. The fleet’s defence turrets were also within their thirty thousand kilometre maximum range. An overwhelming blizzard of fire engulfed the alien horde, inflicting more than five hundred hits, more than half of them strength-4 and the rest strength-1. Twenty-one Tyranid attack craft were blown to pieces. Counter-fire was directed at Justicar once again and her shields were at nineteen percent. Another seven attack craft died in the next few seconds. The defence turrets, intended as anti-torpedo weapons, were designed to track targets even faster than the Tyranids and had a high rate of fire. They tore through the already damaged alien craft. The four Zoanthropes, which had not been attacked as they were assumed to be scout craft, and the final two Hormagaunts, all tried to ram, fortunately without success. All six were quickly eliminated.
The swift conclusion to the battle was gratifying for the Imperial forces. The Tyranids had assumed an almost mythical aura of invincibility among many Terran officers and crewman. To see the Tyranid ships obliterated by a wall of Imperial fire shattered that aura and boosted Imperial morale. Battlefleet Terra picked off the Tyranid cripples with long-range lance fire then resumed its position in the inner system to await the enemy’s next move. In the outer system, the survey frigate Constantia continued its search for a jump point. Four days passed without incident, then the active sensor emissions of two Zoanthropes were detected heading in-system.
Battlefleet Terra moved to intercept and detected another force of fast attack craft, this time comprising six Hormagaunts, nine Termagaunts and three Zoanthropes, all of which had been detected previously in the engagements in Gothic and Nostramo. The Tyranids seemed determined to protect their new colony, but were committing their forces piecemeal; unless this was simply a tactic to wear down Battlefleet Terra before the arrival of their main force. Captain Caliban ordered a single wave of ship-launched torpedoes, with six launched against each Termagaunt and all but one Hormagaunt. As with previous engagements, this was an attempt to wear down the enemy, rather than a serious attempt to destroy them. Seventeen torpedoes hit. One Tyranid attack craft disintegrated in a huge secondary explosion and three more were left dead in space. The remaining fourteen continued to close. As with the previous wave, the attack craft inflicted shield damage, on this occasion to the battlecruiser Pax Imperium, before melting away in the face of massed fire weapon batteries.
Captain Caliban was aware his task force out-massed the total of all three Tyranid attacks by almost twenty-to one and, in hindsight, realised he probably did not need to expend Battlefleet Terra’s torpedoes, even in the limited quantities he had. Even so, he knew the fleet’s morale would be boosted by the three quick and cost-free victories. However, despite those victories, the threat remained high. The real danger was the Tyranid Behemoth and the Carnifex class cruisers, which had yet to make an appearance in Taranis. The Imperium could only keep Battlefleet Terra in the system for a limited amount of time before maintenance concerns forced a return to the Sol system, at which point Alpha Centauri became vulnerable. The battle against the most powerful alien forces had to fought soon or the short-term successes might be rendered meaningless.
A secondary concern was the fate of the Taranis Colony. Twelve million colonists and over a hundred mining complexes were under alien occupation. A ground invasion could be mounted now that the Imperium had control of the system, yet the casualties involved would be considerable. The alien forces that now occupied the colony wiped out an entire Imperial Guard regiment in twelve hours while suffering minimal losses. With six Cetaceus class troop transports in service, the Imperium could land an invasion force of twenty Imperial Guard regiments and six armoured regiments, supported by orbital bombardment. That force would inflict more damage than the single regiment on Nostramo, but it was no means certain it would prevail, especially against the larger Tyranid creatures. Even if it was successful, the collateral damage would probably destroy the colony anyway.
A final consideration was the million-ton deposit of accessibility 0.7 Gallicite on Taranis II. Until the Tyranid invasion that was the primary source of Gallicite for the Imperium. The only other large Gallicite deposit that was both accessible to manned mines and located on the same world as a substantial Duranium deposit was at the recent colony on the third moon of Gryphonne II and that was only accessibility 0.5, plus the moon was still being terraformed. After a difficult conversation between the Emperor and High Admiral Verus, they reached the conclusion that removing the Tyranids from Taranis II was more important than the fate of the colonists, the recovery of the industry or the short-term environmental consequences. Humanity faced an existential crisis and had to act accordingly. If the planet could not be liberated without massive damage in any scenario, it would be better to bombard the alien forces from orbit to reduce their numbers substantially before sending in a ground invasion. Captain Caliban was instructed to use his ships’ weapon batteries to attack the Tyranid ground forces, regardless of Imperial civilian casualties.
Gaius Caliban was a loyal officer, so despite his personal reservations he ordered all warships of light cruiser size and above to open fire on the surface. After just two volleys he ordered them to cease fire. Over a thousand craters scarred the surface, mainly from strength-4 impacts. The best estimate of his tactical officers was that while they had killed a handful of Tyranids, the civilian casualties were in excess of two million and around forty installations had been destroyed. The amount of dust thrown into the atmosphere was sufficient to reduce the temperature by almost two degrees. It was already clear that the firepower required to wipe out the invaders using area bombardment would render the planet completely uninhabitable. However, as a result of examining the ground forces signature during the attack, Imperial Intelligence observed that the signature seemed too low for the same total force that attacked Nostramo. In fact, it was a little less than half what had been expected.
Ultimately, the strategic value of Taranis II lay in the Duranium and Gallicite deposits and if those could not be mined, that value was lost. After hearing Captain Caliban’s report on the ineffectiveness of bombardment and the estimate that the Tyranid had a smaller force than previously believed, the Emperor reversed his decision and gave the go-ahead for a ground invasion. The Imperium had demonstrated the Tyranids could be defeated in space. Now it would demonstrate they could be defeated on the ground.
In late February, the survey frigate Constantia completed a resurvey of the area around the Taranis – Galen jump point without locating any dormant jump points, leaving the Galen jump point itself as the most likely arrival point for the Tyranids. Captain Caliban was reluctant to simply send the frigate through the jump point without support, but equally did not want to send Battlefleet Terra into the system without some form of reconnaissance. The first Vigilant class Recon Craft, a Starhawk-sized vessel with a top speed of 10,000 km/s, was under construction on Terra so Caliban decided to wait until that was available. It was swift enough to run from the larger Tyranid warships, although it was still outpaced by the Tyranid attack craft. The main drawback was a maximum fuel range of six billion kilometres. The Vigilant would be able to conduct a probe of the Galen jump point from the position of Battlefleet Terra, but for any investigation further down the chain, a mothership would be required.
Vigilant class Reconnaissance Craft 477 tons 13 Crew 113.7 BP TCS 10 TH 96 EM 0
10058 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 HTK 4 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.12 Years MSP 14 AFR 18% IFR 0.3% 1YR 4 5YR 62 Max Repair 48 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Ravenor RDS-96A Attack Craft Drive (1) Power 96 Fuel Use 722.96% Signature 96 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 115,000 Litres Range 6 billion km (6 days at full power)
MK I Frigate Active Augur Array (1) GPS 4800 Range 51.3m km Resolution 100
Vigilant 001 arrived on March 22nd, after refuelling en route at Centaurus colony and again at a tanker at the Alpha Centauri – Taranis jump point. The recon craft refuelled once again from an Orion class support vessel acting in direct support of Battlefleet Terra, then headed for the Galen jump point. Six hundred million kilometres from the jump point, Vigilant 001 detected A Tyranid fleet comprising two Tervigon class troop transports, two Hive Guard class escorts and a Carnifex class cruiser. Captain Caliban ordered the commander of the small craft, Lieutenant Commander Palatine Abnett, to shadow the Tyranid force.
Whether the Tyranids could detect Vigilant 001 was unknown, but they remained stationary. Caliban decided this would be an ideal opportunity to test the effectiveness of a Starhawk strike, so Battlefleet Terra left its position in orbit of Taranis I and headed for the Tyranids. The risk was that the alien force resisted the attack, as the Carnifex was faster than the Imperium ships and had longer-ranged weapons. For that reason, the Carnifex would be the primary target. Battlefleet Terra halted a hundred million kilometres from the Tyranid ships and launched all fifty-six Starhawk bombers. While the bombers could have been launched from much further away, the alien ships were actually faster than the Starhawks so Captain Caliban wanted to be close enough for the bombers to land before they were caught.
At seventeen million kilometres, they launched a wave of six hundred and seventy-two light torpedoes, all of which were targeted on the Carnifex. Caliban was prepared to risk overkill as he wanted to see just how much damage was required to destroy the high tech Tyranid warship. The speed of the Carnifex meant each torpedo had slightly higher than a thirty percent chance to hit. Thirty-two torpedoes were hit by strength-3 energy weapons, three more by strength-24 energy weapons and one by a strength-53 energy weapon. One hundred and seventy-three light torpedoes hit the Carnifex and it vanished from Imperial sensors. Unlike the ships of the Necrons and the Imperium, Tyranid ships left no wreckage when destroyed.
Trans-Newtonian vessels travel almost completely within the Aether, a dimension co-existing with normal space, that has fluidic properties and is much more compressed in terms of distance between objects, allowing much higher effective speeds in normal space. When a ship is destroyed, the wreckage loses that integrity and emerges completely from the Aether, making it easy to detect. For some reason the Tyranid vessels appeared to move deeper into the Aether when destroyed, making it impossible to salvage their ships. Some Imperial scientists believed the Tyranids were either native to the Aether or came from a third co-existing dimension. In fact, there was a growing body of opinion that the Tyranid ships might even be ‘alive’ in some sense.
As the Starhawks broke away to return to their motherships, the four remaining Tyranid ships began moving toward the Galen jump point at 7800 km/s. Battlefleet Terra was outside shipboard torpedo range and much slower than the retreating alien vessels. Captain Caliban ordered Vigilant 001 to shadow the Tyranids and took his ships back toward the inner system to cover the planned invasion of Taranis Colony. Twenty-four hours later, the four Tyranid ships transited into Galen, confirming that as their entry point into Taranis. For the first time, the Tyranids had retreated from an Imperium fleet. Caliban instructed Commander Abnett to take his recon craft to a picket position within a million kilometres of the jump point.
On April 14th, two weeks after the departure of the Tyranid force, a Carrack class freighter unloaded a deep space tracking station on to a comet that was midway between the Galen jump point and the inner system. Listening Post #1, as it was designated, would provide early warning of any approaching Tyranid fleets if anything unfortunate happened to Vigilant 001. Two weeks later, a second Carrack unloaded a tracking station on Taranis I to cover the inner system.
On May 16th, the Cetaceous class troop transports Cadia, Elysia, Mordian, Tallarn, Valhalla and Vostroya dropped twenty Imperial Guard infantry regiments and six armoured regiments on to the Taranis Colony. The infantry regiments were organised into five corps-level formations; the Cadian Corps, the Elysian Drop Troops, the Mordian Iron Guard, the Tallarn Desert Raiders and the Valhallan Ice Warriors. In total, the infantry forces included fifty thousand guardsmen, two thousand four hundred Chimera light vehicles, five hundred heavy mortars and a variety of supporting forces. The six armoured formations, the oversized Konig Armoured Regiment, the Krieg Armoured Regiment, the Magdellan Tank Regiment, the Minervan Tank Legion, the Palladius Armoured Regiment and the Teutonian Armoured Regiment, included over four hundred Leman Russ battle tanks and Annihilators, sixty of which were the new Leman Russ IIs with upgraded armour. In orbit, the warships of Battlefleet Terra were ready to provide orbital bombardment support.
The Tyranid forces had demonstrated their deadly ferocity on Nostramo and their technology was far more advanced than their human opponents. Fifteen hundred warriors formed the core of their ground forces, supported by one hundred and fifty of the huge six-limbed snake-humanoid Raveners, sixty of the tank-equivalent ankylosaurs known as Reapers and approximately fifty Biovores, another monstrous creature bred for both ground and anti-air combat. The Imperial Guard had two advantages; vastly superior numbers and the willingness to use them. The Tyranid horde advanced rapidly toward the Imperium forces. The Imperial Guard infantry began digging in while the armour charged straight at the oncoming enemy.
As expected, Casualties were heavy. In the first six hours a thousand Guardsmen were killed, along with over a hundred lascannon teams. Ninety-six Chimeras and twenty-one Hydra flak platforms were destroyed. The 3rd Elysian Drop Regiment was the hardest hit, suffering about forty percent of Imperial casualties and losing its regimental headquarters. The headquarters of the 3rd Mordian Regiment was also overrun. The twenty infantry regiments and their supporting corps assets were very hard–pressed, especially as the Tyranids were very resistant to their light weapons. As they withstood the assault, they killed sixty Tyranid warriors and a single Biovore, the latter being hit by the heavy mortars of the Elysian corps.
The heroic stand of the infantry allowed the massed Leman Russ battle tanks of the six armoured regiments, supported by the Hellhounds of three light armour companies, to smash into the flank of the Tyranids and break their lines. The primary cannon of the Leman Russ tanks and the twin cannon of the Annihilator tank destroyers proved far more effective against the Tyranid armour. Twenty-one of the formidable Reapers were killed, plus seventeen Biovores, thirty-eight Raveners and more than a hundred Tyranid warriors. Orbital support accounted for two more Raveners and eight warriors. The Konig Armoured Regiment led the way, as it did on Procyon, inflicting over forty percent of the kills scored by Imperium armour.
The pattern of the battle was set. The infantry stood firm against the Tyranid horrors, despite their inability to harm the larger creatures, while the armoured regiments cut through the Tyranid ranks with cannons blazing. By the evening of the first day, half of the larger Tyranid creatures were dead and a quarter of the warriors. Losses among the infantry regiments continued to mount. By the morning of the second day, as the Tyranid losses finally thinned their ranks, several infantry regiments began to mount local counterattacks. By the evening, the hard-charging armour had killed all but a handful of the non-warrior Tyranids. The infantry regiments came out of their half-dug trenches like a tidal wave, forcing the warriors into small groups that could be surrounded and overwhelmed. As the sun rose on the third day, the last of the invaders were slaughtered by the victorious Imperial Guard.
A famous victory had been achieved on Taranis II. The Tyranid ground forces had been regarded with the same terror as their warships. The guardsmen on Taranis had faced that terror and defeated it. Casualties were high, although not as bad as feared before the battle, or even after the first few hours of combat. The key to the victory was the use of massed armour, which had sufficient firepower to defeat the largest of the Tyranid creatures. In recognition of bravery during the battle, Bronze Stars were awarded to Colonels Gaius Ortan, Julius Agemann and Ciaphus Rachmiel, commanding respectively the 2nd Cadian Regiment, the 1st Valhallan Regiment and the 1st Mordian Regiment. Every officer in Taranis was awarded the newly-created Taranis Combat Ribbon to recognise their contribution to the defence of the system and the liberation of Taranis II.
Total losses comprised:
2109x Guardsman
173x Lascannon Team
167x Chimera
50x Hydra Flak Platform
37x Supply Vehicle
9x Heavy Mortar
4x Regimental HQ
2x Land Crawler Construction Vehicle
1x Vox Caster
1x Leman Russ Battle Tank
The available replacements on Taranis II were assigned to the Cadian Corps, the Elysian Drop Troops and the Tallarn Desert Raiders, bringing their regiments close to full strength. The three corps would remain on the planet to provide future defence, while the Mordian Iron Guard and the Valhallan Ice Warriors returned to Terra, which, due to the need to send the maximum strength invasion force to Taranis, was protected only by one full and one partial corps, with a total of six infantry regiments. The Konig Armoured Regiment, the Krieg Armoured Regiment and the Magdellan Tank Regiment, along with the three light armour companies, would also return to Terra, leaving the Minervan Tank Legion, the Palladius Armoured Regiment and the Teutonian Armoured Regiment to support the twelve infantry regiments on Taranis II.
Collateral damage was far worse than the combat casualties. Approximately five million civilians were killed during the three-day battle and all but sixteen mining complexes had been destroyed. The Emperor had decided that unleashing the full firepower of the Imperial Guard and supporting warships was a necessary evil and the collateral damage was the price paid by the Imperium to secure Taranis II. Five point three million civilians survived however and would form the core of a new and better defended Taranis Colony. Most importantly, the Duranium and Gallicite deposits on the planet were once again available to the Imperium
Taranis II was the subject of a major terraforming effort between Y2511 and Y2514. After the terraformers departed, the colony cost continued to fall as water condensed out of the atmosphere. The planet finally became an ideal habitable world during the Tyranid occupation. The dust created by the bombardment and subsequent ground combat did not shift the environment outside the habitable range, so new colonization could proceed rapidly. After consulting the Emperor, High Admiral Verus declared that Taranis II would become a ‘Fortress World’ with a large assigned fleet and surface-to-orbit defences. Work would begin immediately on shipping in the required maintenance facilities and population. The ships that provided the defences would initially come from Battlefleet Terra, although designs for orbital bases were requested from Imperial shipwrights.
Exploration continued on the frontiers of the Imperium. In late May, the survey frigate Vita Brevis was conducting a gravitational survey of the Scarus system, home to a new Imperial colony and planned mining site. The survey was partly completed and two jumps had been discovered so far. The first led to Menazoid, an unremarkable white dwarf system with four planets. The second was probed on May 30th, revealing a red dwarf system with three planets, designated as Cerix Magna. The second planet was an Earth-sized world with gravity of 0.89G, a breathable nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere of 0.8 atm, extensive oceans and a surface temperature of -47C. Cerix Magna II was tide-locked, which restricted the maximum population but meant the impact of the low temperature was minimised, resulting in a colony cost of 0.30. As the jump point was just over two hundred million kilometres from the star, the captain of Vita Brevis, Commander Dimitri Kolea, decided to conduct a geological survey of the three planets before returning to Scarus to continue the gravitational survey.
Vita Brevis had only covered forty million kilometres when she detected four Necron warships fifty million kilometres ahead. Commander Kolea immediately gave the order to run. The Necrons were twice as fast as the frigate but also twice as far from the jump point. Thirty minutes after the initial contact the hopes of escape were dealt a severe blow when fourteen thermal contacts were detected closing at almost 30,000 km/s. Two more waves followed, but the first was enough. Only thirty of the one hundred and eighty-nine crew made it to the life pods. Commander Kolea was not among them. Vita Brevis was of fairly recent construction, being completed in Y2512. Unfortunately, her operational career matched her name.
The late return of the survey frigate was soon cause for concern, as Scarus was a relatively busy system. There were a million Imperial colonists on Scarus IV, several terraforming ships in orbit, three Universe class mass conveyors delivering fifteen mining complexes to the new colony, a Delphinus class troop transport that had recently landed the 2nd Ordo Mineralis on a moon of the eleventh planet and a Goliath tug leaving the system via the Sanctum jump point, where the Gateway class stabilisation ship Ishtar Gate was at work.
What the Scarus system lacked was warships. The closest naval forces were two frigates in the Arcadia system, six transits away, and Battlefleet Prospero, also six transits distant and reduced to two light cruisers and two frigates due to detachments to Battlefleet Terra in Taranis. Unfortunately, none of those forces were jump capable and none were equipped with torpedo launchers that could fire augur torpedoes if they detected wreckage. There was an unarmed Empyrean class jump tender one jump away in Sanctum but that was allowing commercial traffic to pass through the Sanctum – Scarus jump point until stabilisation was complete. High Admiral Verus authorised the deployment of the jump frigate Flamberge from the Sol system, eight jumps away, to Scarus with orders to probe the Cerix Magna jump point and check on the status of Vita Brevis. The Cobra II class destroyer Omnis Arcanum was ordered to move from Taranis to Sol, via Alpha Centauri, and take augur torpedoes on board in case she was needed to conduct recon operations in Cerix Magna. The situation highlighted how stretched the Imperial Navy had become and also the need for a dedicated, long-range scout ship design.
Meanwhile, in Taranis the recently-constructed Vigilant 002 arrived to join its sister craft near the Galen jump point. On June 7th, Captain Caliban ordered Lieutenant Commander Cassius Tal, captain of the new arrival, to probe the jump point and report any Tyranid presence. As the jump point was not stabilised, the jump frigate Spatha was on hand to open up the jump point for Vigilant 002. The small recon craft transited and did not return. The obvious conclusion was that the Tyranids were waiting on the far side of the jump point. While they might have given up on their attempts to conquer the Taranis system, at least for the moment, they were not prepared to allow Imperium forces into Galen. Caliban ordered Spatha to retreat to Taranis II to join Battlefleet Terra, while Vigilant 001 remained in its picket position a million kilometres from the jump point. Once the situation in Taranis was more stable, a more forceful attempt to probe into Galen could be mounted. Until then, neither Captain Caliban, nor High Admiral Verus, was prepared to risk the loss of valuable warships in a blind assault.
On July 8th, Flamberge transited into Cerix Magnus and detected the wreck of Vita Brevis. Another threat on the frontier was the last thing the Empire needed. High Admiral Verus authorised Omnis Arcanum to move to Cerix Magnus and launch augur torpedoes to probe the inner system. Flamberge remained on the jump point. Verus considered ordering an evacuation of Scarus, which was intended as the mining location that would replace Taranis when that latter system was considered lost to the Tyranids. However, the logistical resources of the Imperium were stretched as much as the Imperial Navy, so he wanted to confirm the seriousness of the threat before making a final decision. It was possible this was a new Necron ‘Tomb World’ system, similar to Procyon, Prometheus and Praetoria. The Necrons in Procyon had been defeated, while the larger forces in Prometheus and Praetoria had shown no inclination to leave the systems they were apparently guarding. Liberation of those systems was on hold until the Tyranid threat had been neutralised. There was also the question of the Olympia system where Covenant had been destroyed shortly before the encounter with the Tyranids in the adjacent Gothic system. It was generally assumed that Covenant had been lost to an earlier Tyranid attack, but as the Tyranid forces appeared to enter Gothic from Tyran, it was still possible that Olympia was a Necron system or home to a third alien race.
Eight hours after Flamberge arrived in Cerix Magnus, she detected an active sensor emission from a Necron Cairn class destroyer. Flamberge transited back into Scarus and remained on the jump point. There was some relief that Cerix Magnus contained a probable tomb world which, based on past experience, was a relatively low threat to Scarus. Even so, High Admiral Verus had to provide some cover beyond Flamberge and Omnis Arcanum. He ordered Battlefleet Prospero, now reduced to the Dauntless II class light cruiser Bellerophon and the frigates Medusa and Mariatus after the recent redeployment of the light cruiser Bloodhawk to Terra for a refit, to move to Scarus. Verus could not leave Prospero uncovered for long, so he detached the frigates Sabre and Silent Virtue from Battlefleet Terra in Taranis and sent them to Prospero via Sol. Battlefleet Terra had been on station for eight months, so it was better to send the frigates to Prospero, which had maintenance facilities, while Battlefleet Prospero would be able to remain on station much longer in Scarus.
Battlefleet Terra itself was slowly shrinking due to detachments. A trio of frigates had been deployed to the Taranis – Alpha Centauri jump point to guard against any Tyranid stragglers or survey ships entering Alpha Centauri while the light cruisers Dauntless and Vigilant had returned to Terra for a refit. Within the last few days, the light cruiser Aegis and the destroyer Honoured Prophecy had been detached for an overhaul. Both ships had been in space for over two years. Omnis Arcanum, Sabre and Silent Virtue had all been detached as a result of the situation in Scarus. All the capital ships remained on station but their time was running out. Establishing a significant fleet base on Taranis to support its new ‘Fortress World’ status was now the number one priority for the Imperium.
To make the situation worse, the Imperium was running out of minerals, which had crippled production for almost two years. Or, more accurately, the Imperium’s mining complexes were in the wrong places. Terra had long been the industrial heart of the Imperium but its Trans-Newtonian deposits were almost exhausted, with the exception of Duranium and even that was becoming less accessible, yet there were still five hundred and sixty-five mining complexes on Terra, scraping what they could from the rapidly-deleting deposits. Mining colonies had been established on Taranis and Aurelia to meet the needs of Terra, but the former was captured and virtually destroyed by the subsequent liberation, while the other was under threat from Tyranid forces advancing from Nostramo and therefore could not be expanded beyond the sixty complexes already in place.
Terra Survey ReportDuranium: 175,509 0.85
Corbomite: 1,462 0.11
Tritanium: 3,448 0.14
Boronide: 1,641 0.12
Mercassium: 80,752 0.55
Sorium: 8,527 0.18
Corundium: 2,707 0.13
Gallicite: 3,670 0.16
The Imperium was counting on five locations for future mineral supplies; Centaurus, Gryphonne, Scarus, Taranis and Phaeton. Centaurus Colony was an ideal habitable world, the seventeenth moon of Alpha Centauri-A II and, with almost sixty million in habitants, the second largest population in the Imperium after Terra. With six million tons of accessible Duranium, plus substantial mid-to-high accessibility deposits of six other minerals, it was an ideal location for both mining and production. The colony was home to two shipyards, thirty-eight construction factories, one hundred and eighty-two mining complex and sixty maintenance facilities. It had housed a number of fuel refineries but those had recently been moved back to Terra to free up manpower for an increase in maintenance facilities. Centaurus could support up to 120,000 tons of warships. Alpha Centuari was home to six civilian mining outposts, four of which were sending minerals to the colony. The main disadvantage was an almost total lack of Gallicite. There was none on the colony and only a single deposit of 2000 tons on one of the mining colonies. Any shipbuilding at Centaurus would require Gallicite to be shipped in from outside.
Centaurus Colony Survey ReportDuranium: 6,094,657 0.90
Neutronium: 39,267 0.70
Corbomite: 458,772 0.50
Vendarite: 1,288,699 0.60
Sorium: 193,402 0.80
Uridium: 1,918,319 0.30
Corundium: 754,792 0.50
Phaeton was in a chain of six generally unremarkable systems that lay beyond Athena’s second jump point. The system was five transits from Sol via Bernard’s Star, Colchis, Athena and Medrengard and had two further jump points. One led to the unexplored system of Sepheris, while the other led to Voltoris, a planetless brown dwarf connected to two further unexplored systems. The area was in need of further exploration, but survey ships were in short supply and demand was high. Phaeton had a red dwarf primary, three gas giants, one of which had twenty-two moons, and a good-sized asteroid belt. The third moon of Phaeton III was home to large accessible deposits of eight minerals, although again lacking Gallicite. As the moon was completely inhospitable, lacking air or water and with a temperature thirty degrees above absolute zero, it was home to one hundred and fifty-four automated mining complexes. A Carrack class freighter made a continuous run between Terra and Phaeton, unloading a single automated mine and returning with the latest supply of minerals. For the moment, Phaeton lacked both defenders and a deep space tracking station. Due to its importance, that would be corrected once the necessary resources were available.
Phaeton III – Moon 3 Survey ReportDuranium: 619,325 0.80
Neutronium: 107,725 0.80
Corbomite: 858,010 0.70
Tritanium: 70,525 0.80
Boronide: 102,994 0.60
Sorium: 184,741 0.90
Uridium: 87,241 0.90
Corundium: 712,657 1.00
Taranis II was an ideal habitable world with large Duranium and Gallicite deposits, both at accessibility 0.7, plus smaller and lower accessibility deposits of Neutronium and Boronide. Given the near-universal shortage of Gallicite, the presence of such a substantial, accessible deposit on the same world as a similar Duranium deposit made Taranis II a vital location for the Imperium, especially as one was only one transit from Alpha Centauri and two from Sol. Unfortunately, the recent conflict in the system and the ongoing security situation meant that the planet would remain unexploited for the moment.
Taranis II Survey ReportDuranium: 987,691 0.70
Neutronium: 277,267 0.30
Boronide: 17,701 0.60
Gallicite: 1,045,035 0.70
Scarus was a system of potential, rather than being of immediate benefit to the Imperium. Discovered in April Y2515, it was seen as a possible replacement for Taranis in the weeks after the Tyranid invasion of that system. Scarus IV had mid-to-high accessibility deposits of every mineral except Mercassium, including over eight hundred thousand tons of accessibility 0.9 Duranium. While Scarus IV was a colony cost 2.00 world that lacked air or water, it was a dwarf planet only twenty-four hundred kilometres in diameter, making it relatively easy to terraform. By July Y2516, four Gaia class terraforming platforms were in orbit with a fifth en route. So far, the atmosphere was a combination of water vapour and Aestusium at 0.08 atm and the surface water was at 2% coverage, but that would grow over the forthcoming months. The terraformers already in place were capable of adding 0.3 atm per year. Sufficient infrastructure was in place to support the population of one million and the first fifteen mines had arrived. The two downsides to Scarus IV were a maximum population of eighty-five million, although that would not be an issue for many years, and the limited Gallicite deposit.
The fifth moon of Scarus VIII also had deposits of ten different minerals, including two hundred and forty thousand tons of accessibility 0.8 Duranium and one hundred and fifty thousand tons of accessibility 0.9 Gallicite. The moon had a diameter of three thousand kilometres, larger than Scarus IV and with a colony cost of 7.83, due to the temperature of -189C, it would be much harder to terraform. Even so, the Gaia platforms would be towed to the moon after their work on Scarus IV was completed.
Scarus IV Survey ReportDuranium: 839,786 0.90
Neutronium: 278,767 0.70
Corbomite: 1,192,447 0.70
Tritanium: 646,401 0.60
Boronide: 3,583 0.70
Vendarite: 501,249 0.60
Sorium: 374,529 0.60
Uridium: 41,604 0.50
Corundium: 435,575 1.00
Gallicite: 20,716 0.80
Scarus VIII – Moon 5 Survey ReportDuranium: 238,050 0.80
Neutronium: 230,400 0.40
Corbomite: 81,225 0.40
Tritanium: 22,500 0.60
Boronide: 632,025 0.30
Mercassium: 90,000 0.90
Vendarite: 1,742,400 0.40
Sorium: 230,400 0.60
Uridium: 497,025 0.30
Gallicite: 152,100 0.90
High Admiral Verus believed the Gryphonne system had the greatest potential and he knew the Emperor shared that view. Gryphonne was six transits from Sol via Bernard’s Star, Regulus, Graildark, Endymion and Davin, with a secondary route from Graildark via Solstice and Calderis. Gryphonne Prime was a super-terrestrial world with a diameter of twenty thousand kilometres and gravity of 1.6G. Vast ice fields covered two-thirds of the surface, due to the temperature of -69C. The nitrogen – oxygen atmosphere was breathable and the planet was tide-locked, reducing the effect of the low temperature and resulting in a colony cost of 0.49. Because of the size of Gryphonne Prime no serious terraforming effort had been undertaken, although a Gaia class platform had recently been towed into orbit and was adding trace amounts of Aestusium to the atmosphere. The population was seventeen million, supported by infrastructure. A shipyard with a single slipway of eighteen-thousand-ton capacity was in orbit, while on the ground were sixty-five construction factories, twenty-four mines and fifty-one maintenance facilities, plus refuelling and ordnance transfer stations. Gryphonne Prime had one hundred and sixty million tons of accessibility 0.8 Duranium, plus eight other mineral deposits, two at mid-level accessibility and the rest minimal accessibility. All the deposits except Mercassium were in the millions of tons and would provide at least some mineral supplies for decades to come.
Gryphonne Prime Survey ReportDuranium: 158,419,315 0.80
Corbomite: 2,889,914 0.10
Tritanium: 5,759,486 0.60
Mercassium: 9,914 0.10
Vendarite: 47,609,914 0.10
Sorium: 88,359,914 0.10
Uridium: 24,009,914 0.10
Corundium: 57,759,657 0.40
Gallicite: 62,409,914 0.10
Where Gryphonne Prime had an advantage over the other colonies was in the mineral deposits elsewhere in the system. The third moon of Gryphonne II, known as Gryphonne Secundus, had over a million tons of accessibility 0.9 Duranium and a similar quantity of 0.5 accessibility Gallicite, plus several other mid-accessibility deposits. The high density of the moon, only two thousand two hundred kilometres in diameter, resulted in a gravity of 0.21G, allowing Gryphonne Secundus to be terraformed. That operation was well underway, with seven Gaia class terraforming platforms in orbit. The aestusium-oxygen atmosphere was already breathable so the terraformers were working on raising the temperature from -31C. With eighteen percent ice coverage, which would soon melt and form oceans, and more water vapour condensing from the atmosphere, Gryphonne Secundus was close to becoming an ideal habitable world. The colony cost was already down to 0.86. The population was three million with more colonists en route and forty mines were already in place. More would arrive as the population increased. Mass drivers were sending the minerals mined on Gryphonne Secundus to Gryphonne Prime.
Gryphonne Secundus Survey ReportDuranium: 1,219,613 0.90
Corbomite: 211 0.71
Tritanium: 495,445 0.50
Boronide: 302,260 0.70
Mercassium: 26,985 0.70
Uridium: 979,894 0.60
Gallicite: 1,209,829 0.50
There were three civilian mining colonies in Gryphonne, with a total of eight civilian complexes. All were sending minerals to Gryphonne Prime. Finally, the Solomon class mining platforms that were moved from Malagant in the face of the Tyranid invasion had been towed to Gryphonne’s asteroid belt. They had been joined by two newly constructed platforms and all seven were in orbit of the asteroid on which the Omegus Ores civilian mining company was located. Together, the Solomon platforms had the same output as one hundred and seventy-five mines. There were several other asteroids with mining potential.
Asteroid #179 (Omegus Ores) Survey ReportDuranium: 12,189 1.00
Neutronium: 5,014 1.00
Tritanium: 884 0.47
Mercassium: 292 0.26
Sorium: 3,071 0.88
Corundium: 884 0.47
Gallicite: 5,790 1.00
The twin challenges facing Gryphonne were astrography and security. Despite its importance, Gryphonne was very much a frontier system. In addition to the Davin and Calderis jump points, which led back toward the heart of the Empire, Gryphonne had jump points to Hagia and Tigrus, two unremarkable red dwarf systems with no mineral deposits. Neither system had undergone a gravitational survey, so a threat could appear with little to no warning. The adjacent Davin system, with an Imperial population of one million on the second planet, had ten jump points, eight of which also led to systems without gravitational surveys and one of which, Praetoria, was home to a Necron Tomb World. Endymion, two jumps from Gryphonne via Davin, had a population of twenty-seven million on a large asteroid that had been terraformed into an ideal habitable world and was two transits from the Necron Tomb World in the Prometheus system. Two survey frigates, Morning Star and Tempest, were en route to Gryphonne to begin pushing out the frontier.
Battlefleet Gryphonne had been stripped of ships for the conflict in Taranis and was down to the Dauntless II class light cruisers Advocate and Cerberus and the jump frigate Claymore. Battlefleet Prometheus, at Endymion Base, was in even worse shape with just two Firestorm class frigates and another jump frigate. As the situation stabilised and refits were completed, warships would return to both colonies. In the meantime, because of the industrial potential of the Gryphonne system, the Emperor designated Gryphonne Prime as the first ‘Forge World’, a planet dedicated to providing the Imperial Navy and the Imperial Guard with the tools to liberate the galaxy. As the population grew and more installations and shipyards arrived, the output of the system would increase and Gryphonne might one day be sending newly-built ships to defend other colonies.
In early August, two Phoenix class salvagers and a pair of Universe class mass conveyers returned to Sol after salvaging all the Necron wrecks in Procyon. In addition to several thousand tons of minerals, they unloaded a variety of ship components recovered from the wrecks. Disassembly of the components, mainly fire controls, sensors and torpedo launchers, yielded a quantity of technical information that would reduce the research effort required for improvements in those technologies.
On August 10th, the destroyer Omnis Arcanum arrived at the Scarus – Cerix Magnus jump point. The jump frigate Flamberge was on station and opened the jump point for Omnis Arcanum to transit. The Cobra II class destroyer arrived in Cerix Magnus to find the thermal signatures of four Necron ships at point blank range; a 20,000 ton Phaeron class escort cruiser plus three 10,000 ton destroyers – a Cairn, Dirge and Khopesh. Within moments, Omnis Arcanum detected thermal signatures from twenty-one probable anti-ship torpedoes and twenty-three of the Necron anti-torpedo torpedoes. Omnis Arcanum was built before the Imperium left orbit of Terra and had a very well-trained crew. Commander Colm Eisenstein ordered his helmsman to retreat immediately. Fortunately, Flamberge was holding the jump point open and Omnis Arcanum transited to safety before the arrival of the Necron torpedoes. It would be a busy day for the destroyer’s laundry department.
Fortunately, the remainder of the year passed without any further contact with either the Necrons or the Tyranids. Both alien races were presumably still guarding the points of contact but had made no effort to send forces into either Taranis or Scarus. How long the status quo would last was unknown. The problem for High Admiral Verus was that a substantial force was required in Taranis in case the Tyranid Behemoth and its escorts entered the system, but Battlefleet Terra had been on station for a year without maintenance facilities and was suffering from an increasing number of system failures. The Galaxy and Orion class support ships were transporting supplies to the fleet, but it comprised the bulk of the Imperial Navy and the Imperium was starting to run out of maintenance supplies. Four light cruisers had been pulled back to Alpha Centauri and several other ships, including a pair of Lunar class cruisers, had returned to Terra. Even so, Battlefleet Terra still comprised 730,000 tons of warships.
By the end of the year, sufficient maintenance facilities were on Taranis to support 110,000 tons, but that was nowhere near enough and there were still no maintenance supplies on the surface. An Orion class support vessel was en route to deliver the first supplies, at which point Battlefleet Taranis would be formed to guard the planet. Given the success of the Starhawk strike on the Tyranid Carnifex, the priority would be to base a number of Starhawk squadrons on the planet. The first twelve Starhawk III bombers, equipped with magneto-plasma engines, had been built on Terra and would be shipped to the planet once it was ready to support them. A second new type of small craft, the Fury class Interceptor, was armed with the MK III Lascannon, a smaller version of the weapon batteries on Imperial warships. Four had been constructed.
Starhawk III class Bomber 498 tons 8 Crew 86.2 BP TCS 10 TH 96 EM 0
9638 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 HTK 2 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 0 PPV 30
Maint Life 2.32 Years MSP 10 AFR 20% IFR 0.3% 1YR 3 5YR 38 Max Repair 48 MSP
Magazine 30
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 0.4 months Morale Check Required
Ravenor RDS-96A Attack Craft Drive (1) Power 96 Fuel Use 722.96% Signature 96 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 2.5 billion km (3 days at full power)
Starhawk Torpedo Launcher (12) Missile Size: 2.5 Hangar Reload 79 minutes MF Reload 13 hours
MK I Light Torpedo Fire Control (1) Range 26.5m km Resolution 100
MK I Light Torpedo (12) Speed: 24,880 km/s End: 14.2m Range: 21.2m km WH: 4 Size: 2.5 TH: 82/49/24
MK I Starhawk Augur Array (1) GPS 800 Range 20.9m km Resolution 100
Fury class Interceptor 500 tons 23 Crew 124.1 BP TCS 10 TH 96 EM 0
9608 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 HTK 4 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 0 PPV 3
Maint Life 5.04 Years MSP 31 AFR 10% IFR 0.1% 1YR 2 5YR 31 Max Repair 48 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 0.5 months Morale Check Required
Ravenor RDS-96A Attack Craft Drive (1) Power 96 Fuel Use 722.96% Signature 96 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 54,000 Litres Range 2.7 billion km (3 days at full power)
MK III Lascannon (1x4) Range 40,000km TS: 9,608 km/s Power 3-3 RM 40,000 km ROF 5
MK I Fury Fire Control (1) Max Range: 64,000 km TS: 10,000 km/s
R3 Stellarator Fusion Reactor (1) Total Power Output 3.1 Exp 5%
MK I Fury Augur Array (1) GPS 160 Range 9.4m km Resolution 100