Purging the Tethytheria

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Purging the Tethytheria was a mission undertaken by Inquisitor Drake and others, to investigate a distress signal sent by the Imperial Freighter Tethytheria. The ship appeared to be a battleground between Raven Guard Astartes defending the bridge and engenarium and a Heretic Astartes who had persuaded the common crew to revolt. Ultimately Ashar Lear and Praetus Jaxx killed the Heretic Astartes and Inquisitor Drake restored order to the ship.

Mission

  • During a return trip form Samalut IX to Cetus Major a distress signal was received from the Imperial Freighter Tethytheria specifically requesting the Ordo Hereticus
  • The ship was in empty space between Diaphone and Cetus Major
    • Hauling chalcopyrite (copper ore) to Baeten from Hethron’s Gift (a planet in the Trailing Sector)
    • Captain Septimus Flever
    • Ship owned by House Queln
  • Ship communications tower was destroyed but the Trojan managed to make contact by point-to-point light signals
    • Communications were difficult, causing much suspicion
  • Team boarded via the small docking bay near the bridge, finding a scene of carnage and slaughter, many crewmen killed by boltguns
  • Met upon the bridge by Sergeant Colfaen of the Raven Guard, wearing mkVI power armour
    • Drake insisted Colfaen remove his helmet, revealing the characteristic white skin and black eyes of the Chapter
    • Colfaen informed them that they were in pursuit of a Heretic Astartes and had boarded the ship just in time to avert mutiny
    • The Raven Guard had lost one Marine to an ambush
    • They were now guarding the bridge and engineerium to protect from further mutiny
    • The Heretic Astartes had boarded the ship at Ankrah in the colours of the Thousand Sons, but did not display evidence of being a sorceror
  • Just before Drake's investigation, the tech-priests in the enginerium reported large power drains had started throughout the ship
    • It was unknown where the power was being directed

Investigation

  • Drake, distrustful of the Raven Guard, started his own investigation away from the bridge
  • Team captured and interrogated a pair of crewmen who were stripping the ship of wires and components
    • The crew was working for "An Angel" (standard Imperial Cult belief of Adeptus Astartes as angels of the God-Emperor)
    • The angel had ordered them to gather components, they did not know why
    • The angel was dressed in black armour with a white bird on his shoulder and red trim but no face grill (i.e. Raven Guard livery but not mkVI)
    • The angel had informed them that the ship's officers had been turned to evil by daemons disguised as other angels
    • Despite assurances that the team were also working for the Angel, the crewmen began to get distressed by not being permitted to return to their angelically assigned duties
  • Upon their release, Marech Cadiz joined the crewmen disguised as another crewman and infiltrated the mutineers
    • The rest of the team followed along at a distance, keeping in range of wireless communcation
    • Several times they had to evade other groups of crewmen, working and patrolling
  • Marech infitrated his way into Cargo Hold A, at the very front of the ship, which had been emptied and was now the site of a huge electro-mechanical construction that was highly charged with electricity, fed by many cables coming in from every doorway
  • Marech had to leave again, to avoid the suspicions of a crewman, but located 'the angel' on the upper gantry and reported his location back to Drake and the team

The Assault

  • The team, along with the Stohlbard Dragoons, positioned themselves to enter the cargo hold
  • Marech murdered a crewman, brutalised his body and then started yelling about Deamon attack, thus causing a huge distraction
  • The team burst in on the cargo hold, only to find the Astartes already leaping down from the upper gantry towards the commotion below
  • Drake fired warning shots, and ordered him to halt in the name of the Inquisition, but his response was to fire back and Drake
  • Jaxx took an expert shot, hitting a black armoured moving target in the dark directly in the head, cracking his helmet and stunning him momentarily
  • Ash took advantage of this momentary pause, and shot him with her plasma pistol, again in the head, killing him
  • Max Drent recognised the construction from his criminal days as an EMP bomb on a colossal scale
  • Rosa Richter offered to blast the now rioting crewmembers off the ladders they were now using to approach the team, but Drake told her to stand down
  • Drake then alternately persuaded and threatened the crewmembers into surrender
  • Marech, still disguised as a crewmember, assisted this by agitating from within their ranks

Cleanup

  • The EMP bomb was disconnected from the the ships power and then evacuated into space
  • The body of 'the Angel' was recovered and examined with the assistance of Sergeant Colfaen
    • The armour was identified as mkVII
    • The paintwork was scraped off to reveal many different colours, but the bottom layer was the blue-green of the Alpha Legion
    • Colfaen removed the geneseeds of the Marine, taking one for himself to return to Deliverance, and offering one to Drake
      • He was extremely insistent that Drake understand this geneseed should never be used, although Drake was concerned by some of the language he used
    • Colfaen estimated the age of the Marine to be less than 100 years subjective, but pointed out that this was a guess only
  • During this examination Marech, explaining to the less experienced team members, likened the Alpha Legion to the Raven Guard, starting something of a diplomatic incident
    • Colfaen was mostly restrained, but did imply some potential threat to Marech
    • Drake was mostly conciliatory, but did express some frustration in his dealings with the Raven Guard to date
    • Marech was mostly relieved, knowing how bad (and perhaps terminal) a response such a comment may have received from less reserved Chapters
  • The Tethytheria was towed back to the Cetus Major system where the crew, whom Drake judged to be loyal but misled, could be examined for Heresy and the ship refitted

Parting Ways

  • Drake showed some trust in the Raven Guard by granting them passage back to Cetus Major aboard the Trojan, but warned them that he would be watching them closely
  • Colfaen accepted and offered that he and his men would stay aboard their Stormeagle for the duration
    • The Stormeagle had been mentioned but unseen during the mission, eventually discovered to have been hiding attached to the outer hull of the Tethytheria, for the same reason Drake had ordered his shuttle to leave as soon as the team had been deployed; to prevent the mutineers trying to capture it
  • Upon departing, Colfaen thanked Drake for his trust, and offered a gift as his own show of trust
  • A small wooden box contained three items, an identity card, a data chip and an unknown electronic device
  • The Raven Guard then left, with no further explanation

Aftermath

Personnel Involved

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