Prologue

999.M41, Ultima Segmentum, Vegzet 1, A Daemon-World

They had been so close. They had been dropped to the world to aid the Adeptus Mechanicus - the Machine Cult of Mars - to retrieve an artifact the Explorator had located. Located deep within the Ultima Segmentum, it had been a hazardous flight. Daemons, Chaos-worshipers and natural hazards has plagued their ships as they made their journey. And now, retrieving the artifact was proving to be equally deadly.

They were a combined force of Mechanicus and Terra soldiers, united in arms on this frozen desert world. A contingent of Tech Priests and Cadian troopers, they were dropped to the hostile surface of Vegzet 1 on the united order of the Explorator and Commissar General. Those who orders they followed spoke with the authority of the God-Emperor of Mankind and the Omnissiah. In turn, they themselves were merely pawns with which the Emperor could assert his will.

One Cadian regiment was locked in a heated battle with Chaos-worshippers – beings who had once been men, they willingly sacrificed their humanity to become something more, something corrupted, something twisted. Their bodies changed. The Chaos gods – Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, and Tzeentch – all had different ways of manifesting their favor on their followers. To the forces of the empire, the followers of Chaos had a very simple name: heretic. It was just the luck of these Imperial soldiers that the heretics they were fighting were followers of Tzeentch. Not only did they need to fight through the oppressive firepower of the enemy, but they had to further keep their guard up against the attacks of those enhanced psykers.

The Cadian regiment was drawing the fire of those heretics away from their Mechanicus brethren. Commissar Kasia Poltava was a younger commissar - a Vostroyan in her early forties - assigned to this Cadian regiment to "keep morale" during the mission. Her presence was not one entirely wanted. Often, there was a deep divide between commissars and their men. The commissar's served to keep the sharpened blade of the Imperial Force swinging true against the enemies of mankind, killing those who would invite corruption from within. Guardsmen, on the other hand, merely wanted to live to see another day. If they so much as sneezed in the wrong direction, many worse commissars could perceive such an action as a prayer to Papa Nurgle, god of disease, and rightly end that guardsman's life. With such "trigger-happy" commissars in the ranks, some guardsmen did find ways to discreetly "lose track" of their commissars, thus preserving their own lives.

It was Commissar Poltava's first battle with these Cadians. Their bonds untested, the Cadians didn't trust her, and, frankly, she held no keen love for them, either.

Kasia stood while riding on the Chimera designated to her regiment. No sooner had she put her torso did a shot tear through her arm. She winced, biting down the pain. Her men must not see her falter. That would be heresy.

Instead, she steeled her breath. "Forward, men! The relic must be secured!" she bellowed, her strong voice carrying over the sounds of chainswords, bolters, and missiles firing. The Cadians under her charge mustered their strength for another push of force against the heretics. As they pushed forward, Kasia looked up too late to stop it. Some Chaos Psyker had been conducting some ritual. A guardsman noticed and shouted a call, directing fire to its location. It was too little, too late.

They accepted death. They knew their fates. It was the very basics of their service to the Emperor. However, they had not expected to be thrown into the Warp.

AN: Let's go on an adventure, shall we? My knowledge of the 40k universe is small, but I'm reading the books and things as I write this, so my competency will grow. I just really enjoyed some of the other fanfic currently out there of basically "40k people appearing where they shouldn't." The one's I've seen focused on either individuals or entire ships getting thrown. I think there was one Mass Effect crossover that's still in progress where a small Inquisitorial band and some Eldar suffered Warp shenanigans. I want my story to focus on what would happen if the little guys got the short-end of the Warp. Would they blend into the regular world? Would they resist? Would the Warp continue to screw things up for all parties involved?

I do not own Marvel, the Avengers, Warhammer 40k, GW, etc. This is a fan work purely for fun, and is in no way canon or representative of the source materials.