Imperial Swords patrol consisting of Strike Cruiser "Murasame" and several frigates picked up a distress beacon deep in space. Fearing that history would repeat itself, the Imperial Swords took extra precaution to avoid the tragedy that struck their chapter half a century ago.
Brother Sergeant Zheng Ho, agreed to volunteer his frigate for the scouting mission. Approaching the coordinates, they discovered that it was a derelict space hulk orbiting close to a brown dwarf in a desolate star system devoid of any planets. Adjusting the frigate to compensate for the gravity of the brown dwarf, a few brave space marines including Brother Sergeant Zheng Ho prepared to board the space hulk.
Performing a initial scan of the vessel, they found that the vessel had sustained significant damage, with the structural integrity of the space vessel compromised with several areas of the ship unaccessible. It would require an arduous and time consuming process of using mag boots to traverse on the exterior of the ship to access the areas that are closed off. They also discovered some parts of the ship that is still emitting power signatures, some which are beyond their reach.
The Sergeant then led this team onto the space hulk. Upon entry, they discovered that there has been a battle within the vessel itself. The corridors were strewn with debris and wreckage floating in the weightless environment. The walls were also riddled with many holes that could only have been caused by boltgun shells. Scorched sections of the wall with metal fused together indicated that plasma and melta weaponry was also utilized.
Assessing the risks and the time that they had. The Sergeant decided to led his team towards the closest and most accessible area still emanating the power signature. After plowing through the wreckage, they came across the bridge. Within it was the corpse of several Space Marines encased within Black Power Armor along with their the human support staff floating in the weightless environment. Most of them still clutching to their weapons. Yet no sign of the attackers or remains of the attackers were found.
It turns out the power signature detected was actually the distress beacon. The remaining power signatures lay beyond the reach of the team. Realizing that they will need more time and additional support to conduct a thorough investigation. Brother Sergeant Zheng Ho led his team back to the frigate to report to his superiors.
Not long later, the frigate was joined by the rest of the patrol along with the Strike Cruiser "Murasame". Together they begin the process of towing the derelict space hulk away from the brown dwarf's gravity field to another location which the Imperial Swords can conduct their investigation safely.
Now with additional support, the Imperial Swords renew their investigation on the derelict space hulk. The 1st team was sent back to the bridge to try and extract any data from the ship's logs as well as act as command point. The 2nd team explored the areas within the space hulk to gather as much information as they could. The 3rd team used their mag boots to traverse to areas emanating power signatures that are inaccessible from within the space hulk itself.
Not too long after the 2nd and 3rd team begin their exploration into the space hulk, they begin to encounter strange creatures that they have no seen before. The creature is a massive bulbous head with multiple tentacles, upon sensing the Space Marines it unleashed devastating psychic attack on them. Soon the radio was filled with combat chatter, sounds of boltguns rattling off and impact explosions caused by the bolter shells. More and more of these creatures appeared out of nowhere and begin to assail the Space Marines.
After several hours of battling the unknown xenos, the Imperial Swords took severe casualties. Most were scouts that have completed their training and received their power armor for the first time.
Eager to prove their worth despite their relative inexperience, the Space Marines fought on bravely.
Eventually reinforcements from nearby frigates was dispatched to support the 3rd team while the 1st team moved to aid the 2nd team. Accompanying the reinforcements were Chief Librarian Davros Gremmell, who used his psychic abilities to bolster the psychic defense of his brother marines.
The tide eventually turned and the strange xenos was eradicated. The Imperial Swords are finally able to continue their investigation.
After several days of investigation the Imperial Swords discovered that the space hulk was battle
barge "Blades of Redemption" belonging to their predecessor chapter the Sword Angels. According to Imperial records, the Sword Angels Space Marine chapter existed some 1000 years ago and was stationed near the Eye of Terror.
The Chapter sustained significant casualties throughout the years and was already considered under typical chapter strength. The "Blades of Redemption" was actually en-route from Mars to Sword Angels fortress monastery "The Cathedral of Swords" carrying gene seeds to rebuild the chapter before disappearing completely. And the alien xenos that the Imperial Swords encountered are the deadly aliens known as the Enslavers.
Piecing together bits and pieces of information found in the space hulk and the ship's log. The investigators surmise that the "Blades of Redemption" was attacked by unknown assailants while traveling back to the Fortress Monastery. The crew aboard the "Blades of Redemption" entered warp jump prematurely before the Gellar field could be activated. Which allowed the Enslavers assume psychic control of the crew aboard the vessel.
What happened next became evident. The Enslavers and their possessed slaves fought against those who were not possessed. Causing even more damage to the space vessel and subsequently causing it to be lost in the warp. Eventually the "Blades of Redemption" was thrown out of the warp into an unknown and unpopulated region of space. And has been drifting in the void of space ever since then.
However this was not to be all... The 3rd team had managed to venture into an area of the space hulk still emanating power signature. There they discovered, ten Space Marines that are placed in stasis as well as the stock of gene seed that was intended for the Sword Angels still meticulously preserved.
Amongst the ten space marines remaining, one of them is the techmarine Codon Corix responsible for keeping the machines working. The other was Salrun Elm, the apocthecary responsible for ensuring gene seeds are properly preserved and recovering the gene seeds from those battle brothers who died in the battle aboard the "Blades of Redemption".
Considering that the Sword Angels was already declared lost or destroyed some 500 years ago. The Imperial Swords absorbed the remnants of their predecessor chapter into their ranks. The newly acquired gene seed will mean more recruits for the Chapter.
While the surviving Space Marines tasked with the investigation has also grown stronger through combat experience.
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