Second Battle of Kopt Dara

This article is about a battle in the /tg/ Heresy project, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40k universe.

Second Battle of Kopt Dara
Date	418/811.M30
Scale	planetary system
Theatre	Kopt Dara, Destoona System
Status	Decisive Imperial Victory
Belligerents
Imperium of Mankind	Osroene Empire
Commanders and Leaders
Hektor Cincinnatus Orion Mucius Zorr Yenser	unknown
Strength
3rd Expedition Fleet Void Conclave Yenser	Osroene "Combined Fleet"
Losses
Outcome
Osroene void power broken

The Second Battle of Kopt Dara was a major void battle fought during the Parthorum Xenocide. Although initially outnumbered, the Imperial fleet managed to outmaneuver their Osroene foes until reinforcements arrived, then entrapped and destroyed the Xenos ships.

Background

After the victory at the First Battle of Kopt Dara the 3rd Expedition Fleet had begun occupying worlds in the Southern Theater of the Parthorum Sector. First Phalanx under Erasmus Sergius had seized the Hucrov subsector, while Lysimachos Fabius led the battle brothers of the Second Phalanx to victory in the Scomia subsector. From the operations center deep within the Monarch of the Void, Hektor Cincinnatus monitored the progress of his forces. While pleased with the valour of his gene-sons, the Primarch was concerned that much of the time won at Kopt Dara had been expended securing just a handful of worlds. To speed up his Expeditionary Fleet, Hektor had his Astropaths signal Mars and request more warships from Kalkas Tygian, securing an agreement from the Fabricator-General to dispatch a squadron to the Destoona System. Hektor then directed his reserve forces to secure Destoona ahead of the Martian reinforcements.

The Osroene, reliant on courier ships for their communications, only received news of the First Kopt Dara weeks after the event. Factions within the Imperial Court divided on a response. Some argued for evacuating the Osroene population to the homeworld, Sevoold, and using the remaining fleet to guarantee their defence. Hawks recommended that the full strength of the Imperial fleet be ordered to Destoona to avenge the defeat. Empress Etuili Sevoold forged a compromise, sending her fleets at Sevoold and Udoya to Destoona while recalling those at the northern stations of Kuniat and Sulas to the homeworld.

The fall of Jeglora

The Primarch's bodyguard and warships signaled their safe arrival through the warp at 331/811.M30 and began to move towards the inner system and the fortress world Jeglora. Black Joke remained in hiding behind Kopt Dara. While en-route, the Primarch received signals from First and Second Phalanx announcing the arrival of forces in the Asturus and Ublade subsectors. Hektor bade his Phalangiarchs to carry out their operations with all haste, even as the men under his direct command prepared for battle.

The limited voidship support available to the Chrysaspides made a gunnery duel with Jeglora's orbital stations a suicidal prospect. Rather than throw his voidships into a battle they could not win, Hektor relied on his finest warriors to carry the day themselves. At 370/811.M30, the Monarch of the Void launched a wave of boarding torpedoes to carry the Primarch and a few handfuls of his bodyguard to a station they knew only as Jeglora Orbital B. The station's primary hull was breached, but the torpedoes struck far from the small pressurised section. Although their position allowed the Chrysaspides to disembark peacefully, it also gave the Osroene security teams time to mobilise. Cassandor Honorius psychically signaled the Monarch of the Void that the situation was less than ideal but instructed the flagship to remain out of range and trust in Hektor. Such trust was well-placed. Disdaining the use of explosive charges, Hektor Cincinnatus tore open the first airlock the boarders sighted and led his men into the orbital's secondary hull. Many of the defenders died convulsing as their environment depressurised. Others, already wearing sealed encounter suits, held on to face the wrath of a Primarch and his chosen men. The skirmishes were never in doubt and within an hour of landing the First Legion teams had slaughtered the whole complement of the station. Such was the speed and fury of their assault that self-destruct protocols were not enacted.

Seizing Jeglora Orbital B had opened up a safe approach vector for the Imperial ships. Jeglora Orbitals A and C scrambled assault shuttles and hastily dispatched boarding teams to reclaim the fallen station, but Hektor was confident enough in his Chrysaspides to order the advance of the fleet. While the Primarch and his men held off Osroene warriors, Orion Mucius slipped his ships into planetary orbit. Superior torpedo designs allowed the Imperials to fire their munitions over the horizon and safely cripple Jeglora Orbital A, while the commander of the C station struck his colours before taking serious damage. Unaware of the slight Imperial forces above, the planetary government surrendered to Hektor without an Imperial soldier setting foot on Jeglora.

The Chase

Simplified view of the Destoona system

While the First Expeditionary Front of the Kondrus Aeroguard landed on Jeglora to carry out compliance actions, Hektor's squadron in orbit scuttled the planet's defence stations. The Primarch himself was busy in the operations center of the Monarch of the Void, taking in reports from the rest of the 3rd Expedition Fleet and issuing directives to the Legion headquarters on Luna. Confident that his offensive was gaining momentum, Hektor ordered the dispatch of additional Compliance Groups to provide garrisons in the wake of his Space Marines. The governors of Carlisar and Kondrus both signaled that fresh regiments would embark immediately, but were told that the transports should wait at jump points until provided with destination coordinates. Whether Hektor gave this order out of uncharacteristic caution or his trademark boldness was a subject of lengthy debate among analysts until the Parthorum Xenocide's campaign records were sealed to all but the most trusted Imperial agents. It is certain, however, that Hektor was correct to urge his men to make all haste. Fifty Osroene warships broke warp at Destoona at 418/811.M30. According to the legends of the First Legion, Logis Blessrad Dirz reported to Hektor that the Imperial squadron was now out-numbered six to one in ships and conceded even more in megatonnage. Dirz calculated a 0.68% chance of survival against the newly-arrived Osroene forces. The Primarch's famous response - "Calculate the odds of victory instead!"

Logis Dirz's rejoineder went unrecorded, but it is unlikely that the tech priest shared his master's optimism. Regardless, the Master of the Void and her escorts got underway promptly, taking a vector away from the enemy fleet. Hektor and Navarch Isokratos Vivianus considered their options as the chase began. Attempting to change course and go cold was ruled out almost immediately. The Xenos warships were numerous and long-range scans had detected launch bays for attack craft capable of scouring the void for drifting vessels. Nor were there good prospects for escape. Despite the Osroene's primitiveness in interstellar travel and communications, their ships were handy in the void and the Xenos front-runners would run down the Imperials before a jump could be safely made. Settling on the least bad of their options, the Navarch issued orders to his squadron to make for Kopt Dara while Hektor studied the gravity fluctuations around the gas giant in preparation for a battle.

The Imperial vessels entered orbit around Kopt Dara at 442/811.M30 with the Osroene hot on their heels and began to move towards the dark side of the planet. Once over the horizon and out of sensor contact with the enemy ships, Vivianus ordered a short burn to boost his vessels back out of the gas giant's gravity well. This maneuver wrong-footed the Xenos fleet as they entered orbit, but vessels in their rear picked up Hektor's fleet moving promptly away from Kopt Dara and relayed instructions for the escorts in the front to accelerate to escape velocity. Unfortunately for the Xenos vanguard, this sent them crashing into a minefield laid at Hektor's order by the Rogue Trader cruiser Black Joke. Four vessels took critical damage and deorbited, while three others suffered less severely but still had to check their pursuit to implement damage control procedures. Although Osroene attack craft quickly fanned out to find Black Joke, Adela Exard's ship was an old Saturnyne design purpose-built for deft maneuvering in the gravity well of a gas giant and her complement had spent weeks familiarising themselves with the conditions around Kopt Dara. The Rogue Trader vessel slipped the Xenos net and darted away to join Hektor's vessels as they vectored out of system. The Osroene fleet reformed at Kopt Dara but resumed pursuit at 443/811.M30.

Not long after the Xenos got underway, the balance of forces was decisively changed. Archmagos Prime Zorr Yenser's flagship Mechanical Precision broke warp at 445/811.M30, leading a powerful Martian taskforce. Hektor immediately contacted the Mechanicum commander and quickly began issuing orders to his much-strengthened fleet. Thanks to the arrival of Yenser's heavy ships and the Black Joke's mine attack, the Imperials had only a slight numerical disadvantage and near-parity in megatonnage. Their problem was now combining and bringing the Osroene to battle before the enemy could escape. Yenser began to move in-system immediately, but Navarch Vivianus and the Xenos ships chasing him remained on course at first. However, by 447/811.M30 it was clear to all three forces that the Osroene's loss of fast ships to Black Joke meant that they lacked the ability to engage Vivianus while their main body caught up. More striking to the Xenos was that the big Mechanicum warships were surprisingly quick through the void. In a flare of plasma contrails, the alien vessels began to come about. But the efficiency of First Legion's signals allowed Vivianus to have his ships turned about and moving to attack the Osroene before the aliens had completed their course change. This prompt maneuver caused confusion and led to the Osroene adopting a sub-optimal escape vector. Yenser's fleet, though still distant, made a course correction and projections showed that the tech priests would bring their enemies into gunnery range days before the Osroene had reached a safe jump point. For the second time in the battle, a commander determined that their last remaining option was to head to Kopt Dara.

The Battle

Hektor Cincinnatus did not hesitate to order his scattered fleet to change course. However, noting that the Xenos would arrive in orbit ahead of his own vessels, the Primarch held a holo-conference from the Monarch of the Void to discuss strategy. Noting that the Black Joke had drawn first blood in the running engagement, Hektor invited Adela Exard to open the discussion.