Editing First Battle of Kopt Dara

{{/tg/-Heresy-Battle}}

{{Infobox 40k Campaign
|title=First Battle of Kopt Dara
|image=[[File:Kopt dara.jpg|300px]]
|attacker=Imperium of Mankind
|defender=Osroene Empire
|commander1=[[Hektor Cincinnatus]]<br>Orion Mucius
|commander2=unknown
|date=094/811.M30
|scale=planetary system
|theatre=Kopt Dara, Destoona System
|strength1=3rd [[Expedition Fleets (Hektor Heresy)|Expedition Fleet]]<br>3 Grand Cruisers<br>11 Heavy Cruisers<br>6 Escorts
|strength2=Osroene "Southern Fleet"<br>3 Battleships<br>7 Cruisers<br>5 Escorts
|casualties1=1 Escort destroyed<br>2 Cruisers crippled<br>41,907 dead<br>12,823 injured
|casualties2=2 Battleships destroyed<br>2 Cruisers destroyed<br>2 Cruisers captured<br>casulaties estimated at 900,000
|status=Imperial Victory
|outcome= First Legion secure naval superiority in the Southern Theater
}}

The '''First Battle of Kopt Dara''' was the opening engagement of the [[Parthorum Xenocide]].  It was fought in the orbit of the gas giant Kopt Dara, in the outer system of Destoona.  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==
{{Main|Parthorum Xenocide}}

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 [[Heralds of Hektor|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==
[[File:Destoona1.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Simplified view of the Destoona system]]

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 and defeat them in detail.

The battle initially 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. 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 a lengthy delay on First Legion. A heroic salvage effort managed to make ''Mount Ararat'' and ''Blessing of Thunder'' Warp-worthy again, and prize crews were put aboard SFCA-4 and SFCA-5, but the fleet was hardly in condition to assault the fleet base at Jeglora, part of the inner system of Destoona. The Imperial ships and their prizes got underway again at 094/811.M30 and travelled out to their jump points 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.  

Jeglora remained a key strategic objective. Hektor would return to the Destoona system and seize the world later in 811.M30, before the arrival of Osroene and eventually Mechanicum reinforcements led to the decisive [[Second Battle of Kopt Dara]].

SFCA-4 and SFCA-5 would be repaired and granted to Rogue Traders as partial payment for their services in the Parthorum Xenocide. Adela Exard took possession of SFCA-4 and christened it the ''Fat Purse'', while Lord Captain Megasu Athon added SFCA-5 to his fleet as the ''Fortunate Son''.

==Order of Battle==

Data on the Imperial order of battle is somewhat incomplete.  Surviving figures on casualties do not differentiate between losses suffered by the Adeptus Astartes and those taken by Auxilia, but as there were no boarding actions it is likely that very few Space Marines died, or were even injured, in the battle.  

{|align=center border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="width: 95%"
|colspan=6 style="color:white; background-color:black" align=center|'''The Imperial Fleet at Kopt Dara'''
|-
|style=background:#FFFFF align=center style="width: 15%"|'''Name'''
|style=background:#FFFFF align=center style="width: 15%"|'''Class'''
|style=background:#FFFFF align=center style="width: 15%"|'''Commander'''
|style=background:#FFFFF align=center style="width: 15%"|'''Casualties'''
|style=background:#FFFFF align=center style="width: 15%"|'''Damage'''
|style=background:#FFFFF align=center style="width: 25%"|'''Notes'''
|-
|colspan=6 style="color:white; background-color:darkgray"|'''First Column'''
|-
|''Monarch of the Void''
|Repulsive Class Grand Cruiser
|
|98 killed, 440 injured
|Light damage
|Hektor Cincinnatus' flagship
|-
|''Monarch of Luna''
|Repulsive Class Grand Cruiser
|
|
|
|Isokratos Vivianus' flagship
|-
|''Zetal Heights''
|Crusade Class Cruiser
|
|
|
|
|-
|style="background-color:lightgray"|''Mount Ararat''
|Crusade Class Cruiser
|Syntagma Ophelos Potitius
|16,018 killed, 2,943 injured
|Secondary hull cracked
|Evacuated during battle
|-
|style="background-color:lightgray"|''Blessing of Thunder''
|Crusade Class Cruiser
|
|9,412 killed, 7,331 injured
|Plasma drive breached
|
|-
|''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
|
|683 killed, 212 injured
|Badly damaged
|
|-
|style="background-color:lightgray"|''Brother Nikanor''
|Havoc Class Frigate
|Syntagma Timaeus Aburius
|14,984 killed
|Destroyed
|Only sixteen survivors
|-
|colspan=6 style="color:white; background-color:darkgray"|'''Second Column'''
|-
|''Olympiad''
|Repulsive Class Grand Cruiser
|
|
|
|Orion Mucius' flagship
|-
|''Ankoresh''
|Crusade Class Cruiser
|
|
|
|
|-
|''Pilum''
|Boundless Class Cruiser
|
|
|
|
|-
|''Solstice''
|Luna Class Cruiser
|
|712 killed, 1897 injured
|Heat sinks compromised
|
|-
|''Scion of Mercury''
|Inferno Class Cruiser
|
|
|
|
|-
|''Brother Drakon''
|Havoc Class Frigate
|
|
|
|
|-
|''Brother Meliton''
|Havoc Class Frigate
|
|
|
|
|-
|''Brother Solon''
|Havoc Class Frigate
|
|
|
|
|-
|colspan=6 style="color:white; background-color:darkgray"|'''Support Ships'''
|-
|''Black Joke''
|modified Saturnyne Cruiser
|Ouragos Markos Priscus
|
|
|Owned by Adela Exard.  Did not engage in battle
|}


No Osroene records for the First Battle of Kopt Dara were recovered, so their story must be told through enemy eyes.  Imperial data shows that very few prisoners were taken at the First Battle of Kopt Dara.  Those that were taken are all identified as human crewmen from SFCA-4 and SFCA-5.  This is despite two enemy cruisers surrendering and the likely presence of escape craft from destroyed warships.  The most obvious conclusion is, most likely, correct - that the First Legion slaughtered the Xenos without mercy.


{|align=center border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="width: 95%"
|colspan=6 style="color:white; background-color:black" align=center|'''The Osroene Fleet at Kopt Dara'''
|-
|style=background:#FFFFF align=center style="width: 15%"|'''Name'''
|style=background:#FFFFF align=center style="width: 15%"|'''Class'''
|style=background:#FFFFF align=center style="width: 15%"|'''Commander'''
|style=background:#FFFFF align=center style="width: 15%"|'''Casualties'''
|style=background:#FFFFF align=center style="width: 15%"|'''Damage'''
|style=background:#FFFFF align=center style="width: 25%"|'''Notes'''
|-
|colspan=6 style="color:white; background-color:darkgray"|'''Battle Line'''
|-
|SFBB-1
|unknown class battleship
|
|
|
|
|-
|SFCA-1
|unknown class cruiser
|
|
|
|
|-
|SFCA-2
|unknown class cruiser
|
|
|
|
|-
|SFCA-3
|unknown class cruiser
|
|
|
|
|-
|style="background-color:lightgray"|SFBB-2
|unknown class battleship
|
|
|destroyed
|identified as flagship
|-
|style="background-color:lightblue"|SFCA-4
|unknown class cruiser
|
|
|light damage
|captured and granted to Adela Exard, renamed ''Fat Purse''
|-
|style="background-color:lightblue"|SFCA-5
|unknown class cruiser
|
|
|minor damage
|captured and granted to Megasu Athon, renamed ''Fortunate Son''
|-
|style="background-color:lightgray"|SFCA-6
|unknown class cruiser
|
|
|destroyed and deorbited
|
|-
|style="background-color:lightgray"|SFCA-7
|unknown class cruiser
|
|
|wrecked
|broken up for scrap in 812.M30
|-
|style="background-color:lightgray"|SFBB-3
|unknown class battleship
|
|
|wrecked
|used as a target ship in 813.M30
|-
|colspan=6 style="color:white; background-color:darkgray"|'''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
|
|
|
|
|-
|colspan=6 style="color:white; background-color:darkgray"|'''Support ships'''
|-
|SFMS-1
|unknown class courier
|
|
|
|
|-
|}