Taros Campaign - Hunt for the A’Rho: Demand for the Raptors' assistance in the ground war on Taros meant the War Talon was forced abandon her hunt, and Admiral Kotto had to commit the Righteous Power to the A'Rho 's pursuit. Lord Commander Gustavus' decision was that the ground forces would get priority use of the Space Marine allies. The War Talon withdrew from the hunt and returned to orbit above Taros, ready for the Raptors' deployment during Operation Comet. She was immediately replaced by the Righteous Power. The flagship's great engines slowly pushed the venerable battlecruiser out of Taros' gravity well and Admiral Kotto instructed Captain Rymus to set course to rendezvous with the Hammer of Thrace and Novem squadron. Like hounds on the scent, the Imperial Navy would relentlessly pursue their quarry.After a long pursuit and several skirmishes, the Custodian-class carrier A'Rho and her Castellan escorts where finally run to ground. She had led her pursuers on a fourteen-day dance around the system. Eventually, the renegade Tau starship and her escorts pressed in close to the system's dazzling yellow sun, through the mercurial zone and deeper into the thickening radiation clouds. For the Imperium's ships tracking their target here would be difficult, and although out-classed by two Imperial capital ships, the big Tau vessel would have her best fighting chance in here. The fleet action around Taros was approaching its climax amidst the thick, irradiated dust clouds and coruscating solar flares which shimmered pink, yellow and purple in dense skeins throughout the inner flare zone. It was an eerie place for a battle. Navy rating and deck hands have many old superstitions about flying so close to the sun. After three days of relentless pursuit directly into the inner flare zone temperatures soared and scanner equipment was burning out. Officers in shirt sleeve order and topless men sweated on every deck as the sun loomed ever larger and larger in the view screens. Eventually it filled the screens with a blinding glare that the reactive photo-chromatic view ports struggled to keep out. The vessels were all bathed in a bright light as they rumbled deeper and deeper into the gas clouds. Only now did the A'Rho chose to turned and fight.The A'Rho powered up her forward deflectors and launched her Wardens, Mantas and Barracudas. The Tau escorts formed into line abreast and opened fire with a salvo of Railgun rounds. Despite having the advantage in firepower, this would be no easy victory for the Imperial Navy. With the sun's huge glare directly in their faces their scanner equipment was malfunctioning, the Tau vessels became ghostly images dancing upon the sensor screens. Shooting at the small escorts and bombers would be like trying to hit a flying sparrow with a boulder. The Imperial vessels returned fire, lance turrets firing furiously as the ships manoeuvred to bring their broadside guns to bear. The Hammer of Thrace narrowly threaded a spread of Tau missiles, close defence turrets blazing in all directions as flights of Mantas and Barracudas swarmed close to her, bombing and strafing. The Castellan escorts tore into battle like a pack of rabid dogs unleashed. They tangled with Novem squadron, guns booming left and right. Quickly two of each side's vessels became drifting wrecks.Shells from the Righteous Power's big port batteries impacted against the A'Rho 's prow, the Deflector Shields absorbing the energy. Return fire buckled the battlecruiser's armoured apron. One Ion Cannon blast burrowed into the forward lance turret, destroying it in a blossoming explosion and killing all the gun crew inside. The Hammer of Thrace followed her flagship in, shells and plasma bolts flying thick and fast from her broadside guns. The A'Rho was taking damage, hits on the port launch bay disabling it. Wounded but unswerving the Tau vessel gave as good as she got, hammering out Railgun and Ion Cannon rounds which punctured great rents in the Lunar-class cruiser’s starboard side. Deep inside the decks of the Imperial cruiser started to burn. After that pass, the first engagement of the battle was over and both sides limped apart to assess the damage and lick their wounds.Every ship was now damaged in some way, the Hammer of Thrace worst of all. Attacks by the Mantas had silenced her lance batteries, Ion Cannon hits had set fires in the lower decks and she was listing heavily, 80% of her manoeuvring thrusters had been shot away. For two hours the great starships eyed each other warily and drifted on through the thickening radiation clouds. On board each vessel the crews worked feverishly to repair battle damage and contain fires. The second engagement of the battle began only when the Righteous Power’s damage control teams had completed their work. Satisfied that his battlecruiser was still battle-worthy, Admiral Kotto ordered Captain Rymus to go directly at the A'Rho. The A'Rho responded to the aggression with new, if reduced, waves of Mantas and Barracudas. The Righteous Power’s first spread of torpedoes was intercepted and destroyed in detail. Without their own fighter protection, the Imperial ships were exposed to the Tau's return fire. Drone missiles swooped in, followed closely by the smaller Tau escorts. No longer able to avoid the incoming missiles, the Hammer of Thrace was hit again, this time several missiles piling through her starboard flank before exploding within. Multiple explosions broke the back of the already weakened cruiser. She fell silent, crippled, drifting and out of the battle.The survivors of Novem squadron accompanied their flagship, and again tangled with the Wardens and Castellans. More escorts died in a great conflagration. By now the Righteous Power had fallen upon her foe, closing to point blank range and swinging hard to starboard to expose her broadside batteries. At short range the firepower was awesome, tearing into the A'Rho, round after round pummelling her flanks. The Tau's return fire could not match the battlecruiser's big guns, and the A'Rho attempted to disengage and flee. But Admiral Kotto was driven by vengeance for his lost ships, and would not let his prey go now when he had them firmly in his sights. The battlecruiser came round in her tightest arch and raked the Tau vessel with a second broadside. The damage inflicted was terrible. The starboard wing of the Custodian was torn clean off, slowly drifting away from the hull in a cloud of debris. The bridge was destroyed. Fires burned along her length. The A'Rho was racked by internal explosions and helplessly drifting. She was dead, there would be no survivors. The remaining Tau escorts, just two Castellans and a single Warden, fled.The battle was over and both sides had paid a heavy price. The Hammer of Thrace and three Firestorm-class Frigates of Novem squadron had been destroyed, leaving just the battle scarred Righteous Power and a single escort to return victorious to Taros. The threat of the A'Rho might have been eliminated, but meanwhile the other Tau vessels had continued their convoy raiding.