Badab War - Betrayal at Grief (906.M41): After the Vyaniah campaign there was a brief lull in the constant fighting, an impasse that was unexpectedly broken by the Secessionists with a remarkable proposal. Personally sending his emissaries to the Loyalists, Lufgt Huron offered a temporary ceasefire and honourable parlay with the magister millitum in order to avoid further bloodshed between the two parties.Despite the Inquisitor Legate's strong objections, Lord High Commander Ortys agreed to the meeting, trusting Huron's word as a fellow Chapter Master to maintain the truce. Ortys had also equally promised to show his intention to remain iron in his resolve to carry out the judgment of the High Lords of Terra.The parlay was arranged to take place on an abandoned way-station in the orbit around the gas giant Shedim in the outer reaches of the uninhabited Grief System. Reconstructed from damaged and recovered records, what occurred next remains a point of contention and stubborn enigma to the present day. The void station was located on an asteroid mass, abandoned some centuries before due to solar flare activity. Each party consisted of their respective leaders and their chosen honour guard, which was deposited on the asteroid by Thunderhawk.Upon the opening of negotiations, it was readily apparent that it quickly devolved into an acrimonious and volatile atmosphere. Lufgt Huron, who was in an imperious mood, commenced by ranting against the Maelstrom Warders' supposed contravention of Imperial law. He also went into a ranting diatribe against his enemies and their perceived enormities and insults.Master Sartaq of the Mantis Warriors was also present with Huron's party, who swiftly accused the Fire Hawks Chapter of perpetrating wanton crimes of genocide. For his part, Lord High Commander Verant Ortys stood firm, reiterating the Legatine write of authority and the unassailable right of summons. Soon an adjournment was called for, as the talks became heated, and both parties withdrew to separate compartments on the void station to confer with their fellows. Matters of record regarding the following incident becomes muddled and contradictory.Loyalist communications to their strike cruisers was suddenly cut off as three unknown vessels attacked from concealed positions deep within the thick atmosphere of the gas giant Shedim. These attackers assaulted the asteroid base before either Loyalist or Secessionist vessels could respond, raking the way-station with a devastating salvo of weapons fire before boarding with a raiding party comprised of Heretics, mutants and other Renegades.In the ensuing melee, the Loyalist delegation, including Lord Commander Ortys was killed, and several members of Huron's party including Chapter Master Sartaq of the Mantis Warriors were also slain. During the three-way space battle around the way-station, the Red Scorpions' Chief Librarian Sevrin Loth valiantly launched a counter-attack and recovered his fallen Chapter Master's remains, the Red Scorpions clashing with both the raiders and Huron's Astral Claws before both sides broke free from the disintegrating asteroid base to avoid certain death.Sevrin Loth had saved the honour of his Chapter against all odds and in doing so wrote an enduring legend for himself despite the bitter blow the Red Scorpions had suffered. During the resultant chaos, the Tyrant of Badab had somehow made his escape early on, and what hand he had in the deaths of Lord Commander Ortys or even Chapter Master Sartaq cannot be confirmed.In the aftermath this incident, which became to be referred to as "The Betrayal at Grief," many within the Loyalist ranks blamed Huron's perfidy for the attack, claiming it as rank treachery, while the Secessionists lay the blame at the feet of the Inquisition as a plot to assassinate the Tyrant of Badab by covert means.Inquisitor-Legate Jarndyce Frain concluded that the incident may have been due to the possible intervention of third parties of malefic design who wished to benefit from the continuation of the war as the whole region descended into bloodshed and anarchy. Frain also didn't rule out the possibility that the plot was carried out by Lufgt Huron himself, in order to assassinate his erstwhile ally Chapter Master Sartaq of the Mantis Warriors. Ortys' death merely served to seal the assassination in a shroud of doubt for friend and foe alike.Evidence from that tie had been the uncovering of growing disquiet among the Mantis Warriors in their support for the Secessionist cause. Committed as they were to protecting their fellow Maelstrom Warders from outside aggression and defending their sacred independence and rights of the Adeptus Astartes, they still saw the direct judgment of the High Lords of Terra as something not to be disregarded. Rumours concerning the rule of the Astral Claws within their own domains had begun to circulate and had been the cause of disquiet for some time.Sartaq's death more than likely served to ensure the Mantis Warriors' resolve, particularly if it could be laid at the feet of an enemy Chapter. So much the better if that enemy would blame the Mantis Warriors for the death of their own. Now that the possibility of rapprochement between the two opposing sides had been effectively destroyed, the war soon escalated even further with no quarter given by the Red Scorpions or Astral Claws. Soon secrets would be uncovered that would lend the cause of the Secessionists an even darker hue.