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The Scopuli was a Martian light transport freighter registered on Eros that was in service to the OPA. One of its crew was Julie Mao Books • TV and it was attacked by the stealth ship Anubis Books • TV. It was later used as a lure in the ambush and destruction of the Canterbury Books • TV.



History[]

Eros Incident[]

Main article: Eros incident (Books)
The Scopuli was used by the Outer Planets Alliance for an unknown mission prior to the events of Leviathan Wakes. Among its crew was Julie Mao.

During its mission, the Protogen ship, the Anubis, boarded the vessel taking the surviving crew prisoner. They subsequently turned the Scopuli into a trap. Mooring the Scopuli on the non-Belt asteroid CA-2216862, they planted a Mars-made radio in the vessel emitting a distress call, which was answered by the mining ship the Canterbury. While the latter's shuttle, the Knight, investigated the call, Protogen destroyed the mining vessel leaving the shuttle's crew as eyewitnesses and making it look like a Mars/MCRN attack against an Earth Corp ship. The ruse was intended to ignite a war between the two governments which would distract the system from the Eros incident that they were about to unleash.

The entire surviving crew of the Scopuli, as well as of the Anubis, perished after a protomolecule infection ran loose on the attackers' ship, although Julie Mao survived long enough to escape to Eros and alert the OPA and the crew of the Rocinante of the protomolecule's existence.

It is unknown what happened to the Scopuli after the Eros incident and is likely still adrift near CA-2216862.

Eros Incident[]

Main article: Eros incident (TV)
Julie Mao had discovered information of the pending transfer of an unknown weapon from Phoebe Station to Eros on board the Anubis. She petitioned Anderson Dawes to arrange for the Anubis to be intercepted and for the unknown weapon to be commandeered as, at least, a safeguard protecting the Belters and a weapon to be used by the OPA to that end if need be. Fred Johnson commissioned the Scopuli for the mission while Dawes provided the crew and boarding party mercenaries. They proceeded to lie in wait by asteroid CA-2216862.

Julie, on the Scopuli's bridge, soon detected the Anubis burning past right on schedule but noted that something was off. However, she okayed the assault, readying boarding parties, and Scopuli broke cover to pursue the passing ship. As the freighter closed to board the Anubis, however, it turned and revealed itself to not be an unarmed civilian science vessel as expected, but a fully armed stealth gunship.

The Anubis quickly turned the tables on the Scopuli, launching a breaching pod and flooding the ship with troops who killed or captured its crew. Of the survivors, at least one was spaced, and another severely beaten for information. Julie detained in the storage locker as she was a "complication" due to being the daughter of Jules-Pierre Mao, whose companies were responsible for the protomolecule conspiracy. The captain of the Anubis then confirmed that the Scopuli was turned into bait to lure the Canterbury, so that "Earth and Mars are at each other's throats and take their eyes off Eros". This would allow the protomolecule experiments to proceed unchecked.

The Canterbury then arrived and dispatched a small crew led by X.O. James Holden aboard the Knight shuttle to investigate. They got to the ship's bridge, having found no one on board, but when they found the distress signal transponder they realized, too late, that they had been lured into a trap. Holden and his team quickly evacuated to the shuttle as the Anubis appeared and fired four missiles, vaporizing the Canterbury. This caused a deadly "splash" of moving debris. As the Knight fled the area, a heavy piece of the Cant's wreckage smashed into the Scopuli, snapping the freighter in two, although it did not explode due to its reactor having long been powered down.

Its wreckage assumedly became part of the ever-expanding debris cloud and was likely damaged further, forever lost to the void of space.

Media[]



Trivia[]

  • A possible meaning is derived from Greek Mythology. The "Sirenum Scopuli" were the rocks upon which the Sirens lived and lured sailors to their deaths using their song. This is quite fitting since the vessel Scopuli was used to lure the Canterbury to its destruction using a false distress signal.
  • It is possible that the vessel was named after a region near the north pole of mars, Ultimi scopuli, the "last cliffs". The latin Word scopulus (sing. of scopuli) has a whole range of meanings, from the literal cliff and its metaphorical use as something to be overcome, to defiant or hard-hearted when referring to personalities.
  • Scopuli can also mean the destroyer when referring to a person, as in the destroyer of Rome.
  • Its fan estimated length is 153 meters.[1]

References

  1. TheExpanseShipsSeason1-2


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