Eldar Light Cruisers
Killers in the Void
Aurora Class Light Cruiser
Size: 4 KM long, 1.4 KM abeam at widest point
Crew: 48,000
Max Acceleration: 8.6 g
Defences: Wraithbone armour, Holofeild.
Standard Main Armament: 2 Pulsar Lances, 4 Torpedo Launchers (all frontally mounted)
Standard secondary Armament: Missile Banks and Shuriken Cannons (broadside, belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary Craft: 4 Nightwing fighters, 4 Vampire Raiders
Lore: Very little of the Aurora is known for certain beyond its terrifying firepower and incredible speed.
Prior to the Gothic War, the only encounters with what would be identified as the Aurora where short and brutal, very little surviving to tell the tail of the attack: no trace of the ship itself left behind as it slipped away into the murky depths of the void before any Imperial ship could hope to catch the raider.
The armament of the Arora consists of Pulsar Lances and Torpedo launchers, the perfect armament for delivering crippling blows very quickly following a successful ambush, even the largest of Battleships being susceptible to such a lethal punch.
The Aurora's mysteries where somewhat cleared up during the Gothic War, as the Imperial Navy operated in close cooperation with the Eldar Corsair fleets in the Gothic Sector, the Imperium learning of its deployment and class name. The Aurora made a full display of its capabilities at the Battle of Gethsemane. Following a brutal exchange between Von Ravensburg's battleships and the bulk of the Chaos Armada, many Eldar rushed from behind Imperial lines and out of Ambush positions to assail the now broken and fleeing Chaos fleets. At first many Imperial captains assumed they had merely broken positions and where running to a swift demise, only the large number of Auroras among the Eldar formations where swiftly able to obliterate Chaos capital ship after Chaos capital ship, with no return damage seemingly taken.
The Eldar made several passes and flanking manoeuvres throughout the remainder of the battle, sealing the fate of the vast majority of Abaddon's once mighty assembled Armada, as the Chaos ships where separated with an unstoppable sledge hammer ahead; and uncatchable assassins all around.
The Aurora is the heavy hitting ambush cruiser of the Eldar fleet.
Solaris Class Light Cruiser
Size: 4.2 KM long, 0.4 KM abeam at widest point
Crew: 55,000
Max Acceleration: 8.4 g
Defences: Wraithbone armour, Holofeild.
Standard Main Armament: 6 StarCannons, 1 Hangar Bay (all frontally mounted)
Standard secondary Armament: Missile Banks and Shuriken Cannons (broadside, belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 16 DarkStar Fighters, 8 Eagle Bombers, 30 Nightwing fighters, 20 Vampire Raiders, 10 Phoenix Attack Craft and 10 Vampire Hunters
Lore: The Solaris is very similar to the Aurora in all but armament, many Imperial captains mistaking the Solaris for the much feared Aurora: leading to many tactical errors and Morales breakages. Her armament in weapons may not be as powerful as the Aurora, so she can not deliver the same lethal punch, but the Solaris is by no means the weaker of the two.
Her Carrier capacity, although limited, yields some of the strongest Strike Craft known to the Imperium. No Ordnance gets by a Solaris, and very little escapes its bomber assaults, as well as its powerful StarCannon armament being capable of tearing through even the thickest of sip hides with seemingly effortless ease.
The ship was first identified by the Imperium by Battlefleet Gothic in M40 during one of the first major engagements with Prince Ilmarth and the Soul Reaver's Eldar Corsair fleet. Battlefleet Gothic, dramatically underestimating the power of eldar ships, launched an all out assault on the Yurol Nebula that the Eldar fleets where basing from. The plan being simple: two fleets comprising of larger battleships and Battlecruisers would flank the nebula while flotillas of cruisers and escorts would push into the Nebula and force the Eldar onto the Heavy Guns.
The Solaris came into its own in this battle. The Imperial ships, already hampered by low visibility, where haunted by a group of Eldar Solaris CLs and Strike Craft squadrons. Ship after ship suddenly going silent as a Solaris and its lethal Ordnance emerged to claim their lives, and disappear before a retaliation could be mounted. Several cruisers and countless Light Cruisers and escorts fell to Solaris attacks before Imperial admirals finally called off the attack; the newly discovered Light Cruiser earning a reputation as a ruthless killer and a true nightmare for less capital ships and escorts to deal with. The Class would also later resurface in the Gothic War, where they proved instrumental in helping to turn the tide against the Chaos carrier fleets.
The Solaris is the Light Carrier of the Eldar fleet.
