I own neither warhammer or mass effect. They belong respectively to games workshop and bioware. The characters of Death Watch belong to the very talented Mr. Steve Parker.

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A man sat in an empty observation room, staring out at a dying sun. The light of the blood red star was the only illumination, casting the man and his pitch black suit in a sharp outline. He'd been on the same small station and in the same observation deck for a very long time, so long he'd stopped referring to himself by name. Perhaps that was for the best. It certainly preserved his anonymity. The few people he allowed to speak with him in person, and whom he could count on both hands, called him all kinds of names. He never concerned himself with his servant's opinion of him. Through them he controlled thousands of others, little pawns on a massive web, unaware of their own master's existence or identity. He tried to ignore the fact that in many ways he was as they were. His own masters kept him at a distance, shrouding themselves just as he did in secrecy and silence. He held a little golden two headed eagle between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand. He kissed the eagle heads and let the tiny medallion fall to hang from a thin gold chain around his neck. It irked him but he understood why his masters kept their work hidden even from him.

The Inquisition valued secrecy above all else. The Ordo Xenos valued it more than most.

A bright blue circle appeared in front of him, projected on the glass of the observation window.

A soft feminine voice echoed in the empty darkness.

"You have one new message."

The man rolled his neck, and raised a hand from the arm of his chair. A small screen flickered into life. "Identify user."

The man spoke in a smooth baritone. "User Sigma, two, seven, nine, four, eight."

"Access Granted. Greetings Inquisitor. Opening message."

A single line of text appeared.

Operation Hidden Tomb has been authorized by those on high. Available assets attached.

The man turned to a small table next to his chair, the only two pieces of furniture in the room, and poured a large helping of scotch into a glass.

"Open attached files."

"The file you have requested to open is an Ordo Xenos Deathwatch asset. Only the Inquisitor in command may access his assets operational files. Please provide Deathwatch access pass phrase."

"The blasphemy of the alien is such that only one solution exists, annihilation." The man intoned.

The small screen split into three, and a list of names began to scroll upwards.

The man sipped his scotch and watched the list.

"Stop." the list stopped moving. "Scroll back." the names began to move downwards slowly. "Stop. Open asset file four, seven, nine."

The file name blinked blue and opened, spreading across the glass.

The man scrolled quickly through the files. He didn't need to see much. He and Talon were quite well acquainted. He checked deployable status, medical records, and mental evaluation. Talon was green across the board, and ready for deployment.

"Open vox link to Inquisitorial Strike Cruiser Saint Nevarre."

"Link open." A new voice spoke, still feminine, but rough and hard. "This is Captain Redthorne."

"Captain, this is Sigma. I need to speak with Talon Squad."

Lyandro Karras drifted in the emptiness of space, his mind empty, his soul at peace. The astartes librarian stretched his mind to its largest expanse, shooting out beyond the hull of the Saint Nevarre, past the huge moon the Inquisitorial Strike Cruiser orbited, past the star at the center of the system, and outwards, racing towards the blackness of the open void. Astartes librarians meditation varied from space marine chapter, and Karras had learned many other methods of exercising his mind but nothing beat void flight. Another Deathwatch librarian, a Dark Angel, had taught him how to leave his body and float in the void, extending psychic tendrils to latch on to single molecules of matter and leap from one to another. It helped focus his mind, and strengthened his grip on the temperamental forces he had to control.

A long note echoed through his mind. With some reluctance he sped backwards. He opened his eyes to find himself in his cabin, kneeling on the floor. The long note was actually the high pitched beep of his vox link.

He answered quickly, to halt the sound.

"This is Talon Alpha." He grumbled.

"Sorry to disturb you sir." A tough woman's force growled. It was Captain Redthorne, the ship's mistress. "The Inquisitor called. He wants to speak with Talon Squad."

"I did not keep you waiting, did I?" Karras left his cabin, striding down a long corridor towards an elevator system. He checked his chronometer. His fellow battle brothers would be in Hold Four around now.

"Only twenty minutes sir." The captain's voice was friendly, but Karras was sure she'd spent those twenty minutes swearing at her vox link and leaning on the call button. Captain Redthorne was a very impatient woman.

"Inform Sigma Talon will be with him in five."

"Yes sir." The link went dead.

Karras took the elevator down. As it descended, he began to hear loud crashing rumbling upwards from the hold below.

The crashing got louder and louder, and when the elevator's blast proof doors opened, he could see its origin.

"Too slow Prophet!"

A space marine hurtled into the hold wall, bouncing off into a stack of supply crates with a tremendous crash. Another marine stood in the center of the hold, pale skin soaked with sweat, long black hair pulled back into a ponytail, a broad smile on his face.

"Hello Scholar." the marine waved. "You're just in time. I'm teaching our brother the finer points of unarmed combat." In hand to hand combat, Siefer Zeed of the Ravenguard was the most deadly man Karras had ever seen, and his nickname, Ghost, was a tribute to his almost impossible speed and agility. It was Zeed who was responsible for the plethora of nicknames in Talon Squad. Karras had been given one by Zeed early on during initial training in the Deathwatch. As a librarian, Karras had spent much of his time in the Deathwatch archives, poring over tomes on psychic power and the manipulation of warp energy. His bookishness had won him that genial, if unoriginal, pseudonym.

"To the Eye with you Ravenguard." from the supply crates rose a livid Prophet. Formally named Ignatio Solarion of the Ultramarines, he was Talon Squad's marksman and scout. A master of the bolter, tutored by possibly the most talented Astartes marksman to ever wield a bolter, Solarion was a deeply proud man, and had begrudged Karras being made Talon Squad's leader. His name, Prophet, was due to his habit of constantly picking and correcting the decisions of other Talon Squad marines. He and Ghost shared a healthy dislike for one another, Prophet finding the capricious Ravenguard too relaxed and ill disciplined, and Ghost finding the prideful and stuffy Ultramarine an easy victim of fun.

"You'll never win." Zeed cackled. "I'm too fast for you brother. Are all Ultramarines this slow?"

Solarion roared angrily and charged. Zeed sidestepped almost lazily, giving the Ultramarine a push and sending him careening into another stack of crates. Karras had to bite back a laugh.

There was a loud crash. Two huge munition cases shook on the deck as they fell from a pair of scarred and callused hands. Maximmion Voss rolled his shoulders and rose from his makeshift lifting bench. Unlike most space marines, Voss was well under the usual nine feet. Unusually short, the Imperial Fist compensated for what he lacked vertically for what he had horizontally. Voss was immense, his already super human musculature pushed to an almost unbelievable size. After several modifications to his battle armor, Voss had been ordered to restrict his growth by the captain of his company and by his chapter's command. At least that was the story. Besides his strength, Voss was a gift on the battlefield. He was able to operate just about any machine, technological asset, vehicle, or weapon system. It was because of this wide breadth of technical knowledge that Talon called him Omni. Ghost often joked that the only thing Omni couldn't do was fit through doors.

"You'll never improve by toying with him Ghost." Voss rumbled.

"He'll never improve by charging me like an angry grox." Zeed retorted with a laugh.

"Not all foes are Brother Solarion." Talon Squad's fifth battle brother grunted. Darrion Rauth of the Exorcists hung by his hands from a support bar, a pool of sweat on the deck below him. He did another pull up, the four, hundred pound tires swinging from the chain that descended from the marine's waist. "Arrogance will kill you." Rauth let himself fall to the deck.

"That is wisdom for you brother." Karras nodded in agreement. "You should listen to Watcher."

Rauth gave Karras a look. The Exorcist disliked his monicker. Unlike Solarion, Voss, or the rest of Talon Squad, Rauth had been attached to address an internal problem Talon could face in the field. The Exorcist training rites were designed to prepare the initiates for combatting psychic monstrosities, daemons. The rites left their battle brothers without a psychic presence, and made someone like Rauth perfect for dealing with psychic opponents. But the psychic threat was not exclusively external. Psychic power came from the Warp, and anyone who meddled with the Warp risked death and the worse fate of possession. To wield his powers, Karras had to make contact with the distilled madness that it was built from. Should Karras lose control, Rauth would do what was necessary. He'd almost done it once before, and only Karras having saved Rauth's life in battle stopped the dour marine putting a bolter round through the librarian's skull. Rauth's nickname, while accurate, was a reminder of a cruel reality that neither Rauth nor Karras liked.

"None of you can outshoot me." Solarion growled irritably, glaring daggers at the laughing Ravenguard. "I'd like to see you beat me at the bolter range."

"I don't know brother." Voss winked at Zeed. "You don't shoot all that well."

"He has a point brother." Zeed nodded sagely as the Ultramarine spluttered in outrage. "You are slipping a bit."

"It took him two shots to bring down that Eldar sniper on Tanithus." Voss stroked his granite like chin thoughtfully.

"I'd like to see you make that shot!" Solarion snapped.

"I don't claim to be trained by the best marksman in the Ultramarines brother." Voss replied.

"Rauth took out the other with only a single shot." Zeed snickered. "Watcher may be overtaking you." Solarion rounded on Zeed as the Ravenguard mock clutched his left heart. "Oh the shame! Poor Sergeant Telion will have to resign his command when word of this gets out!" Solarion snarled in wordless fury, striding forwards to hammer Zeed into a paste. Zeed grinned hungrily, gesturing for Solarion to come at him. Karras quickly got between them before Zeed's goading led to real blood.

"Enough!" Zeed fell back, suitably mollified by the presence of his team leader. Solarion glowered, anger and violence still in his eyes.

"Ghost, you will apologize for offending the honor of a battle brother and a storied warrior like Sergeant Telion." Zeed mumbled something, and Karras glared. "Properly brother."

"I am sorry for offending the honor of Ultramar." Zeed said quickly. For a moment Solarion glared over Karras's shoulder, but then he fell back.

"Accepted brother." The Ultramarine growled. "Remember it."

"I said enough!" Karras poked Solarion in the chest. "Let it go." Solarion raised his hands in surrender.

"Yes brother."

"Sigma wants us. Report to the communications chamber."

The five marines stood around a glowing vox platform, a short pillar like device, projecting the flickering face of Talon Squad's handler above it.

"Glad you could find time to speak with me Talon Alpha." Sigma drawled. "The noble astartes are known for their punctuality. I am gratified to know that such stories are based in fact."

"I apologize for the delay Inquisitor." Karras replied. "We were delayed."

"No matter, you're here now." The Inquisitor coughed. "I have a mission for you."

The Inquisitor's face disappeared, to be replaced by an image of a gargantuan ring, rippling blue energy pouring from it's center.

"Do you know what this is?" Sigma asked.

"That is the Jericho Maw Warp Gate." Voss leaned forwards to get a better look. "I've only seen picts."

"Just so. It is becoming a serious concern."

"There's a crusade in the vicinity isn't there?" Karras asked.

"Indeed there is." Sigma replied. "Which is exactly why the gate is proving problematic."

The gate vanished, replaced by a crumpled metal husk.

"What in the Emperor's name is that?" Zeed asked. "What happened to it?"

"That is a xenos of unknown origin, an abominable AI, known to the guardsmen who encountered it as an Iron Man."

"Iron man?" Solarion's voice was grim. "It is like those things man warred against in the Dark Age?"

"Similar, but not nearly as dangerous." Sigma's voice calm, passive. "It is not capable of the same feats of power as its namesake. However, reports are coming in that significantly larger versions of this Iron Man are appearing in the proximity of the Gate." The Gate reappeared. "These AI are easily dispatched by Imperial forces, but other xenos have begun to appear."

A strange avian creature with a hole in its chest appeared followed by a strange blue skinned tentacle haired woman, and then a four eyed monster.

"Each of these creatures appeared around the Gate, and in greater numbers. Most recently, an entire ship came through." A shattered spacecraft appeared. "This information has reached as high as the High Lords of Terra. I need not emphasize how concerning this is."

The Inquisitor certainly didn't. Karras knew the dangers posed by the xenos on the Imperiums borders. Any one of them could destroy untold millions of humans before being stopped. Random attacks from something like the Jericho Gate would be unstoppable, and could cripple Imperial infrastructure and supply lines. Billions would die.

"After some initial reconnaissance, it has become clear that the Jericho Maw Gate is not a single portal like other Gates found within Imperial Space." A map appeared, small golden dots shining brightly. "My superiors have managed to send craft through the Jericho Maw to seven other Gates, previously believed to not be connected to the Jericho Reach."

Sigma paused.

"This Gate connects the entire Imperium. Every Segmentum and every major region can be accessed in an instant."

"This changes everything." Karras said softly, staring in amazement at the star map. "It would be possible to reinforce any world almost instantly."

"Defense capability would be expanded exponentially." Voss nodded.

"Response to heresy could be instantaneous." Rauth murmured.

"Exactly so." Something bothered Karras about Sigma's voice. It sounded...agonized.

"What's the problem Inquisitor?"

"The High Lords want the Gate destroyed." Sigma replied. "The problem with the Gate is that it also connects to other places, other gates beyond Imperial Space, perhaps beyond the galaxy itself. It has been deemed too great a threat to allow to exist."

"This Gate is too great an asset!" Zeed cried. "The change it could have, for trillions!"

"I am aware!" Sigma barked. Karras felt shock shoot around Talon Squad. Sigma almost never shouted.

"I have made that case again and again to my superiors." Sigma sighed. "They have given me authorization to attempt to seal the other gates and preserve the Jericho Maw and the other Imperial Gates. Should I fail, the Jericho Maw will be destroyed."

A new Gate appeared. "This Gate has been determined to be the point of entry into the Gate network. Control has been established on the other side of the Gate, and there is suitable infrastructure available for your kill team to complete its mission. More information will be delivered after you pass through the Gate."

"Once we pass through the Jericho Maw Gate, how will we communicate with Deathwatch, or with Inquisition assets?"

"You will be the primary point of communication Talon Alpha. Psychic communication is uniquely secure on the other side of the Gate."

Karras blinked. "On the other side?"

"I have already crossed over." Sigma's face replaced the Gate. "I have committed all my resources to this Deathwatch. Failure is not possible, not here, not now. The Imperium needs the Jericho Maw Warp Gate." The Inquisitor's eyes gazed at each Astartes in turn.

"You are the best Talon, you were chosen because no one else can accomplish this task. What the Emperor now asks of you is nothing less than to secure the future of His Imperium. Your names shall be spoken across a million worlds." The Inquisitor's voice was flush with emotion, and Karras could see his brothers draw themselves up a little straighter. He could feel pride swelling in their hearts and in his own. Talon Squad would not fail. "You will be counted amongst your chapter's greatest heroes. Do not fail me or the Emperor in this Talon Squad."

"We will not fail." Karras snapped. He was surprised at how harsh the words were when he said them. It was unlike him. His brothers growled agreement.

"I know you will not. Your orders are already with Captain Redthorne. I will contact you when you are through the Gate."

Sigma fell silent for a moment. "One last thing. Once across, my operatives will know me as the Illusive Man. You should as well. Good luck Talon. Ave Imperator."

The vox link blinked out.

The Saint Nevarre made excellent time in its journey to the Jericho Reach. Captain Redthorne had clearly grasped the urgency of her orders, and remained on her command throne for the entirety of the two week journey, stepping down only to eat briefly and take a sleep supplement. When the cruiser arrived, she had retired to her cabin, shivering with exhaustion. Karras had made contact with a small Imperial Station orbiting the Gate, managed by a solitary Inquisitorial agent. The agent had given Karras an encoded message from Sigma with scarcely a word, and had immediately retired to the depths of the station.

Karras had reviewed the message in the private of his cabin, and then called his battle brothers together. They met in the hold, standing together in pitch black battle plate, girded for war. Voss had spent hours down in the hold, working feverishly to awaken Chyron of the Lamenters, the sixth and final member of Talon Squad. This sixth battle brother was housed in a massive Dreadnought, a terrible war machine that doubled as a life support system, and although he was certainly a warrior of great and terrible skill, he was a monstrously uncooperative machine.

"I do not understand why this idiot was allowed to conduct the awakening rites." Chyron rumbled angrily when Karras entered. "A servitor would have done a better job."

"There were time constraints Brother." Karras offered. "Our task is of great importance."

"Time was, young fools like you would have shown more respect to an old veteran." The dreadnought shifted, making the whole hold shake.

"Time was, you weren't so grumpy Old One." Karras gave Chyron's sarcophagus a pat as the Dreadnought squawked angrily. Zeed sniggered. Karras faced his brothers and smiled grimly.

"We all know our task brothers." He began. "Sigma has given Talon Squad the task of personally ending the xenos incursions into the Jericho Maw. We will be alone in this. Should we fail, there is no other team to make a second attempt."

"We won't fail." Zeed retorted. "We're the best."

"The Emperor will guide us brother." Voss nodded.

"Well said." Solarion snorted. "For once."

"I have new information from Sigma." Karras passed a small data slate to Solarion who stood next to him. "Pass that around." Solarion grunted in affirmation. "Our mission is to shadow and protect a priority asset which will be the actual tool for sealing the gate."

"We will not be taking the Saint Nevarre into the Gate?" the Ultramarine asked, passing the slate to his left.

"It is too large, and Sigma does not want more operatives than necessary." Karras gestured. "This ship has a few hundred crew. Not all would be reliable. We will be taking a small stealth frigate into the Gate, specifically outfitted for our needs." Karras looked at Voss. "Omni, you will be responsible for piloting us through. Once on the other side, a ship borne logic engine is programmed to guide us to a drop off location where we will receive further orders."

"How will we be transporting supplies?" The Imperial Fist asked, glancing over a data slate scan of the small ship. "This things hold is big enough for Chyron and thats about it."

"Munitions will be waiting for us. The stealth craft is to be destroyed when we rendezvous with Sigma's operative on the other side. They will have larger transport ready."

The slate came back to him, and Karras returned it to his belt. "Sigma wants me to emphasize the delicacy of this operation. We are being inserted into a galaxy that is not uninhabited. Deathwatch are deadly but we cannot fight a war on our own. Under no circumstances are we to engage targets unless it is to prevent detection. Also, and this is important, Sigma's agents report the presence of human civilization on the other side of the gate." He felt a brief flash of excitement. "Non imperial." The excitement soured to distaste. "Our orders are to avoid contact, but several of Sigma's operatives are recruited from this population."

"Will we have to work with these pagans?" Voss growled. "The Inquisitor asks much."

"Any interaction will be limited." Karras replied. "And for what we will achieve, he does not ask much at all."

Voss bowed his head briefly. "I stand corrected brother."

"This is the Emperor's work brothers." Karras tapped the Imperial Eagle that embossed his breast plate for emphasis. "Ours is the fist of the righteous." the last sentence was the first part of an old Deathwatch prayer Karras was fond of.

"In the Emperor's name," Solarion growled.

"For the Imperium of Man," Zeed's hands glowed a brilliant blue as his lightning claws flickered to life.

"To honor the chapter and primarch." Voss' voice distorted angrily through his helmet comm as it sealed over his glowering face.

"For our brothers who have gone before us." Rauth's eye slits shone a furious red, turning the dour marine into the snarling demon on his chapter's heraldry.

"Suffer not the xenos to live." Chyron boomed, his voice a thunderous wall of sound.

Talon Squad would not fail.