The Culture explores 40K II: Now With 100% more Fanfiction

[jseah]

Apparently, I have time for one post after all. Sleep is overrated. =D

part 6.5 - RT

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After the escape, the Rogue Trader rendezvoused with the three mercenary ships at the target uninhabited star system. After some consideration, he came up with the idea to attempt a raid on a normally warp-inaccessible planet.

The mercenaries protested that they would be unable to follow, and the Rogue Trader asked Aisha Meiro to make weaker copies of the FTL drive for them. Despite not technically having the hyperspace drive construction plans, we agreed to provide it quietly and humour his assumption that the nanobots came with the plans for hyperspace drives.

The four ships, the Rogue Trader's Dauntless class light cruiser, the mercenarys' Sword class frigate, Firestorm frigate and a Lunar cruiser, have set course for the warp-storm hidden system after some negotiation and demonstrations of its capabilities.
The mercenaries have agreed to take the hyperspace drive as pay for the mission and forgo any loot recovered. Despite the Rogue Trader's care to not demonstrate the full capacity of his more capable drive, the mercenaries were sufficiently impressed that they agreed easily to his terms.

The system in question had already been recently surveyed by a Culture GCU and passed over as an Eldar exodite world, which were not to be disturbed by agreement with the Eldar. We had no idea that this world was warp-inaccessible and the implications of warp storms or the more severe warp rifts. Research into this matter is considered of high priority.

Week 2
Once they arrived at the exodite world, the Rogue Trader made preparations to land and recover some Eldar artifacts but never managed to do so.
Six warships dropped out of the Warp at the edge of the system, which was unexpected as we had thought the system was not Warp-navigable and only the Eldar could reach it by teleportation gate.

These ships were immediately identified to be Chaos warships and they were broadcasting scrapcode. Despite precautions and data safety protocols, a minor crisis broke out on Golden Goose preventing its participation in the battle.
The Rogue Trader, although reluctant to engage, was at least willing to try to fulfill the mission Aisha had asked of him. His mercenaries were even more reluctant to engage but were eventually convinced that they held an insurmountable advantage in the tactical FTL speeds.

Order of Battle:
Chaos - Executor class cruiser; Hades Heavy Cruiser; Carnage class cruiser; Daemonship; 2x Iconoclast Destroyer
Rogue Trader - Lunar cruiser; Dauntless class light cruiser; Sword class frigate; Firestorm frigate

You can consider the Rogue Trader to be in de facto command since he pays the mercenaries, despite one of them having a bigger ship than he has. He's also been flying around in hyperspace for weeks so he's had rather longer to think about the tactical implications.

All of them are hyperspace capable. You can more or less assume that they can lap the system before anyone's guns can even reload.
The Culture agent isn't going to contribute tactical advice. She has also been told by the Rogue Trader to assist damage control efforts using the nanobots so his ship will be able to repair damaged or destroyed sections within hours.

How would you fight this battle if you were the Rogue Trader?

What would the exodite Eldar think of the soon-to-occur fireworks show?

EDIT: the Rogue Trader is also having his doubts about the SC agent. He isn't quite as clueless as she thinks he is; asking her to make hyperspace drives was a test.