I'm currently writing a story arc to follow on from Oblivion's Edge, that will also tie in (loosely) with TEP. Current plan is for the Extraction mission to be part of the OE story, but once that is all done and the Deathwatch Battle barge arrives at the end, the Magos will turn out to be a heretic from Samech, who was behind the attraction of the Hive Fleet to Avalos (and in fact was stuck there due to a failure in his original plan.) I intend for him to sabotage the Gellar field/otherwise cause a mid-warp distraction while he makes his escape (and sets up the next part of the story where the team have a choice between tracking him down, and investigating anomolous signals in a different system similar to those identified previously eminating from a tracking station near Avalos.)

My issue is - how should i run the ship-board element? Is there any fluff about how many levels a battle barge has, or even if it is possible for the Marines to get the ship to leave warp space without specialist knowledge? I'm trying to avoid a deux ex machina where a Navigator etc just saves them from nowhere at the last minute, but am not sure if the canon makes this possible. (And the team have no Techmarine or Librarian.)

I believe that if the Geller field drops, ships tend to leave warpspace immediately. Doubtless they'll be some extra passengers when they do. With pseudopods.

Another warning: I suspect FFG will have its own story arc wrt to the nids and whoever drew them to Avalos.

Alex