The Tarask-class Merchantman Priano
The Tarask-class Merchantman is a stout, versatile and dependable little Imperial merchant vessel with a spacious cargo hold (for its size) and an innate simplicity of design and maintenance. It has been used by the Navis Imperialis, the Adeptus Mechanicus and countless trading guilds of the merchant fleets, planetary defence forces and pirate fleets for millennia.
This class of merchentman is easy prey for Ork pirates and Renegades throughout the galaxy. It has sprouted numerous variants and been subject to countless modifications in the ongoing battle to stay one step ahead of the pirates and deliver its cargos to their destinations.
Notable Tarask-class Merchantmen
- Priano - During the interdiction of the Ruis System, a merchant transport flotilla led by the merchantman Priano was set upon by an Ork Kill Kroozer attempting to pick them off one by one. Undaunted, and in an amazing show of courage, Ship's Master Paris turned his vessel and went to full speed to ram the massive Kroozer amidships. Though his ship was destroyed in the process, the Kroozer was badly damaged and unable to target the other transports before the escort squadron arrived to drive the crippled vessel off. This suicidal act earned Paris a place in the vast Chamber of Heroes in the Imperial Palace on Terra.
- Son of John - When a merchant convoy moving into Port Maw early in the Gothic War came under attack by a Chaos Slaughter-class Cruiser that had slipped past the escort screen, the Tarask-class Merchantman Son of John engaged the ship at close quarters and succeeded in distracting it long enough for the other transports to escape. Its puny guns firing to the last, the Imperial vessel was destroyed, but its heroism and sacrifice shone like a beacon in the dark days that followed.
Sources
- Battlefleet Gothic Magazine 4, pp. 11-12
- Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook, pg. 114