The Battle of Cadia (I)

The Eye of Terror, a scar in the Warp located in the heart of the Segmentum Obscurus. This massive Warp Storm, born from the emergence of Slaanesh, renders the surrounding star systems saturated with the power of Chaos. This is the domain of the Chaos Gods, a sanctuary for daemons and the damned.

Deep within the Eye of Terror, Chaos vessels weave through the Warp storms like phantoms, their sights set on the material universe—the gateway between humanity's Imperium and the Warp.

The Great Reaver Abaddon stands upon the bridge of his flagship, the Glorious Queen-class battleship Vengeful Spirit, his gaze fixed like a torch upon the Warp rift ahead.

His topknot rises high, and his eyes burn with an endless hatred for the Imperium. He knows that this Black Crusade is his chance to prove himself the true successor to Horus.

"Enter the material universe!"

Abaddon's voice echoes across the bridge as he issues the command. Following his order, the Warp drives accelerate, and the Chaos Warlocks begin chanting ancient incantations; their power resonates with the Warp storms, gradually tearing open a passage into the material universe.

Thousands of Chaos ships, like a pack of starving wolves, surge through the rift of the Eye of Terror, scrambling to enter the material universe.

However, the light of the Astronomican illuminates almost the entire galaxy, and this light is not friendly to all vessels. Ships too heavily corrupted by the power of the Warp become weakened by the Astronomican's radiance; as the light touches them, they wither like vampires scorched by the sun, their hulls beginning to corrode while the daemons bound to the ships or their equipment shriek in agony.

Fortunately, this has almost no effect on Peter's five ships, as they are neither corrupted by Chaos nor do they have daemons bound within them; they lack even obvious Chaos markings, allowing them to deactivate their Gellar Fields upon entering the material universe.

It is only that the Rogue-class freighter and the armed freighter among Peter's five ships have been "requisitioned" by Grand Commander Valicar and positioned at the very front of the fleet formation.

"Hold formation!"

Grand Commander Valicar of the Black Legion, the nominal "commander-in-chief" of the Chaos fleet, has a cold light flickering in his eyes. He knows these losses are inevitable; the deeper one's contact with Chaos, the harder it is to enter the material universe—which is one of the reasons why the Great Reaver Abaddon and the Black Legion's high command choose not to ascend to daemonhood.

The crusade must continue. Most Chaos ships are small vessels, with few dedicated warships. These ships were modified within the Eye of Terror, their hulls covered in daemonic runes, their turrets and weapons reinforced by the power of Chaos. Although they cannot match the quality of the Imperium's main battle fleet, their numbers are incomparable to anything the Imperium possesses.

As the fleet surges out of the Warp, a fortress world on the edge of the Eye of Terror appears before the leaders of the various war bands.

Cadia—if the Eye of Terror is a wound in the material universe, then Cadia is the scab over that wound. It is the Imperium of Man's first line of defense against the Chaos incursion. Its orbit is crowded with defense platforms and batteries, while its surface is covered in countless fortresses and defensive works.

The defenders of Cadia, composed of Cadian Shock Troops and the Imperial Navy, stand ready to meet the Chaos onslaught. This is no surprise; Abaddon sent out his challenge far and wide, and even Peter in the Maelstrom received it, so there is no reason for the Imperium to be unaware.

The Imperium's alert system sounds the moment the Chaos fleet appears. The Imperial fleet, commanded by Imperial Navy Admiral Cassian Waldo, assembles rapidly to engage. Waldo's flagship, the Retribution-class battleship Indomitable, leads a mixed fleet of frigates, battleships, and cruisers, having already secured a favorable tactical position.

Furthermore, many ships bearing chapter markings are mixed into the Imperial Navy fleet; it seems many chapters have joined this defensive battle, with the black and white cross markings of the Black Templars being the most numerous.

The Chaos fleet is led by the Vengeful Spirit, a cursed Glorious Queen-class warship whose decks are stained with the blood of two Primarchs.

The Warmaster of the Black Legion is Abaddon, but the naval engagement is commanded by Abaddon's "Izekarion" and Grand Commander Valicar Hane; he is a cold and ruthless warrior, a master of naval warfare, and the "Lord of Fleets" for the Black Legion.

Of course, none of this concerns Peter; for now, their fleet remains behind the Chaos fleet, following them forward.

The Black Legion uses long-range auspex to scan the Imperial fleet's vessels and movements, attempting to obtain a complete fleet composition, and it is believed the Imperial Navy is doing the same.

Considering the absolute advantage in the number of Space Marines they possess, Valicar chooses the tactic most favorable to the Black Legion: a frontal assault, with capital ship fire support and boarding parties launching an all-out attack.

Valicar uses the Vengeful Spirit as the spearhead, with cruisers and frigates on the flanks providing support, followed by a massive mixed fleet. He intends to let this fleet of disparate ships charge forward!

As the two sides gradually close in, countless lances and macro cannons erupt in the void, and both sides begin their first probing attacks. However, both fire at the extreme edge of their range, and neither side achieves any results or losses from the first volley.

As both sides continue to close to within lethal range, the Imperial Navy fleet opens fire, turning a cluster of small ships at the front of the Chaos line into sparks in the void. This includes Peter's armed freighter and Rogue-class freighter.

Valicar is completely indifferent to this; if those small ships are destroyed, so be it—they were never going to achieve much anyway, and they serve well to draw fire. His tactical focus is on boarding; after all, they have an absolute advantage in the number of Space Marines. Once boarding begins, with swarms of boarding torpedoes and gunboats raiding the Imperial fleet, they can secure victory.

Valicar believes that most Imperial warships have no Astartes stationed aboard to prevent boarding. Since the number of Space Marines is already low, it is impossible to distribute the few available Astartes across every ship; the Imperium's only choice is to concentrate its forces.

He intends to turn the boarding action into a hook, embedding it deep within the Imperial fleet and pulling hard to tear the enemy's guts out.

The fleet's flight trajectory has been calculated. He communicates with each major war band, and the entire fleet pushes toward the projected path of the Imperial Navy, with the fleet gradually increasing the output power of their Main Plasma Drives.

The attack path is transmitted to all Chaos ships via psykers, along with fire distribution and boarding vessel assignments.

Which ships are to attack which enemy vessels, and which war band is to board which ship—all is coordinated to prevent multiple war bands from boarding the same ship while another enemy vessel remains untouched.

The two fleets gradually close in, cannons firing in unison. Finally, the naval battle of the first Black Crusade begins.