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Enduring Blade

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The Enduring Blade was an ancient Emperor Class Battleship, which served the Emperor faithfully for millennia, that was commanded by Lord Admiral Benedil Constantine and was the flagship of Battlefleet Ultima Primus.[1b]

History

As the Enduring Blade patrolled the Ultima Segmentum, it was contacted by Meyloch Severus, the Planetary Governor of Dolumar IV, with a request that he claimed would benefit the Imperium. Severus needed help in capturing a T'au Ethereal from the nearby colony of Kuu'lan, which would allow the Governor to study what he believed was their psychic abilities. The Enduring Blade had two companies of Space Marines stationed aboard it: Captain Ardias of the Ultramarines Third Company and Captain Mito of the Raptors Fifth Company. Knowing by their reputation that they would be more inclined to help, Severus asked Captain Mito for his assistance. Mito agreed and a squad from his Company attacked the nearby colony of Kuu'lan and captured the Ethereal Ko'vash, who was then delivered to Dolumar IV's vast prison complex. Once word reached the T'au, they retaliated by attacking Dolumar IV and freeing Ko'vash from the prison complex.[1b] While the T'au attacked his world, Severus contacted the Enduring Blade for help and it brought Battlefleet Ultima Primus.[1a] Once there, the fleet attacked and then boarded the Tau warship Or'es Tash'var, in order to capture the ship and the recently freed Ko'vash.[1b]

To the Imperial Navy's surprise, their boarding attack was beaten back by the T'au and a large group of T'au warships arrived, attacking them and their outnumbered fleet. With momentum on their side, the T'au boarded the Enduring Blade in large numbers[1c] and Lord Admiral Benedil Constantine was pressured to open diplomatic talks. The Ethereal Ko'vash came aboard with an armed escort to begin the diplomatic talks, but they didn't get far before Governor Severus barged into the room and declared there would be no peace talks between the T'au and Imperium. As the Admiral tried to get him to be quiet, Severus, secretly a heretic, killed a nearby Stormtrooper and used his blood to complete a Chaos ritual. A Warp portal appeared and a Chaos warhost materialized and began wreaking havoc aboard the Enduring Blade.[1d]

As the Chaos Space Marines and Daemons of the warhost overran the battleship, Captain Ardias declared that the Enduring Blade was lost and ordered its evacuation of all surviving Tau and Imperium forces.[1d] When the last of the escape pods launched from the doomed battleship, Captain Brunt of the Retribution Class Battleship Purgatus (part of Battlefleet Ultima Primus) opened fire upon the Enduring Blade, destroying it and bringing an ignoble end to its illustrious career.[1e]

Sources