The Hunt for the Drone Beacon

a NGC40k Mission in Two acts

The Narendra Mining Companies have fallen to all but ruin, a few fragments of independent contractors remain. When patrolling the Mercian debris belt in the Jordaan-Yarr-Lathekin-Narendra Cluster a captain might be surprised to find a Narendra Combing Tug still operating in the belts. These tugs were once a quite common sight in these areas as they used massive machined arms to pluck resources from spinning asteroids in the vast belt of planetary remains. Currently, most local ship operation units take it as common knowledge that almost all of these NCTs have been stripped of any operational machinery and set adrift as a part of commercial austerity enacted by the Narendra Corporation 150 years ago. Gangs of rebels from both Lathekin separatists and the most industrious Jordaan sometimes have acquired transport to these scuttled hulks and eek out an existence aboard these freezing echo chambers. During a recent encounter with some of these pirates, the Marines Errant from JYLN-55 discovered one such Tug inhabited with some remnants from the Klaeser uprising holding out on hopes of a full-scale rebellion against the Imperium. The Klaeser loyalists had raided a few shipping lanes heading out from the Tau systems surrounding Bor'do and had accumulated a small cache of Fire Caste weapons and technology they had little hope of using correctly. These sad creatures, starved to the point of almost ritualistic cannibalism, had no knowledge of the downfall of the Tyrant Klaeser and the subsequent takeover of all governmental operations by House Ecale, and were rightfully surprised when boarded by three tactical squads clad in void-hardened armor. Before detonation of the Tug with all of its inhabitants subdued, incarcerated or incinerated, the Marines secured as much Tau technology as possible.
One particular Klaeser loyalist, Dern Hacke, was a 48 year old male from a long line of Jordaan brawlers. He activated a tau distress device in a vain attempt to contact his fellow rebels (which he had been misled to believe were numerous and strong) and stowed the three-foot radius disc into a pod jettison hold. Dern Hacke then ran to the cargo holds where the Marines had entered the airlocks and subsequently suffocated in the access tunnels when the Errants drained all the docks of all breathable gases into space.
Upon detonation, the pod jettison hold automatically opened and burst forth the KTR-72 Tau Signaler like a pustule, spilling trash and the signaler into the debris field. It was fully an hour later that the Errants detected the single pulse being sent from the Tau device and started in pursuit. Due to the complexity of the field and a small amount of bad luck, the captain of the Entract sent a communication to JYLN-55 Command: the device was plummeting to the surface.
The signal was like a blinking light in a field of darkness. It must be recovered quickly.
Little did the Errants know, someone else had also detected the signal. Someone who had already been looking for the Tau, someone who cared little for local politics, drawn lines or territories. When the Errants and their unannounced visitors encounter each other, they initially ignored each other, focusing on the mission at hand.

ACT ONE
Each player will field 500 points.
The board will be set up with numerous "sections" of terrain; buildings, woods, etc. There should be *at least* two sections of terrain in each quarter of a 4 x 6 board.
Players will roll to see who deploys and goes first, and roll randomly for deployment type.
During act one, each player may not fire any weapons at any enemy unit, nor may they declare an assault against an enemy unit.
Players may move, run, and cast psychic powers as normal.
Searching units: Units "with arms" may search an area of terrain they are currently standing in not moving or participating in any shooting or assault phase. Players will come to a consensus of what can search an area of terrain: a tactical marine or hormagaunt could, a predator tank or ripper swarm could not. Whatever the cases players will have a few units at least that can search terrain.
There is no Turn Limit to Act One. Players will search until the Relic is Found.
Every time a unit searches a piece of terrain the player will roll a D6, one at a time, for each unit. This value will be added to any other Search rolls. Wargear held by models may be used to increase the value of die rolls by 1 if fluff supports it (Auspex and the like). If the value of this total is 20 or more, the Tau Signaler has been found, it will be immediately placed anywhere in the terrain section that the player chooses and in base contact with the unit that "found" it. The player that finds the Relic will score a single victory point. Play will be immediately halted and move to ACT TWO.
A piece of terrain may not be searched twice by the same player. If a player actually searches every piece of terrain on the board and the Relic has not yet been found, enact the "FULL SECTOR SCAN" rule.

FULL SECTOR SCAN: If a player achieves the almost insurmountable task of searching every terrain piece without achieving a Search Score of 20, his HQ will immediately call in for help in finding the relic. The player will score an immediate one victory point. Then, the player will pick any six terrain pieces on the board. Each terrain piece will be assigned a number from 1-6. At the beginning of the player's next turn, if the Relic still has not been found he will roll a D6 and the relic will be placed anywhere in one of those pieces of terrain, yet not in base contact with any model. Act Two will begin when a player comes into contact with the Relic.
Act One should accomplish the goal of spreading out the units in a fashion that becomes an interesting and fluffy form of deployment. It should be noted that a player could not search for the Relic, and simply position himself for Act Two, in a sort of "let's watch them and see what they do," gambit. Furthermore, the "order" in which one searches can be used to one's strategic advantage.

ACT TWO

The player that is not in control of the Relic will go first unless the other player seizes the initiative.
Play will very closely follow the mission The Relic from here on out, including victory point conditions and game length.
The first turn of Act Two will be TURN ONE.