Preamble

First things first.

Legal and copyright stuff.

I do not own either Mass Effect or Warhammer 40K. They are the properties of their respective companies EA/Bioware and Games Workshop (along with their lawyers). Any and all canon characters, lore, and technical jargon belong to them as well. All OC's within the story are available to be used, I just request that you ask, and give a shout out if used.

Shout outs to Broken Trident for The Mission Stays the Same, BKGeno for The Warhammer Effect: Collateral Misfortunes, Colonel-Mustard1990 for Hammerhand along with its sequel Angels of the Storm, Dantegrey for Wulfen Effect, The Incredible Muffin for Honor-Bound, Puppetmaster24 for Mass Exodus, and Solaris-Prime199 for Upon the Wings of Eagles. You all have influence me for this piece either in ideas or simply hours of pure entertainment, and for that you all have my eternal thanks.

Now that the legal rubbish has been dealt with and the much more important (in my opinion) shout outs handed out. Of Shepards and Imperials is an AU of both 40K and ME universes, so something's will be adjusted or changed to suit the story. The majority of the story will be in the ME universe, with some more mystic themes cropping up than normally seen. As for whom besides the first set of 40K characters will appear in the ME universe I will leave somewhat open. However if it does happen it will most likely be Aeldari/Harlequins (no Farseers/Rangers however) but don't hold me to that. One of my main goals (besides writing a coherent plot) is to do my best to avoid copying other authors on this site. Other than that this is my first time writing for pleasure much less for an audience, so it maybe a little rough around the edges. As such Constructive Criticism is appreciated.

Chapter 1 Reflections and Premonitions

The First Chronicle of the Emperor

Who am I? That is a question so inherently human yet it is more than that. It is what separates all sentient life from animals. Who I am is a long story. I have held many names over the span of my life, along with many titles. I was born over thirty eight thousand years ago on the continent of North America on the world of Terra. The Cradle of Mankind. Of the titles I have held the ones which hold any meaning to me are Brother, Father, and Emperor. I was blessed with five siblings over the span of years before year zero by the Imperial calendar. One of my siblings would emerge from each remaining inhabited continent across the world. The first was a sister born on the plains of what would one day be called China, the second a brother from the island if England, the third was again a brother from the southern tip of Africa, a second sister arose from South America and, and finally a third sister came from the continent of Australia. These were not however siblings by birth or even related in the slightest by blood, no we were siblings by fate, and by nature.

The six of us were Perpetual's born like any normal man or woman yet blessed or cursed, depending on your point of view, with eternal life, the ability to recover from practically any wound, and as our bodies just seemed to stop at a certain age, which varied between us, we retained our youth and vitality. We all became accomplished leaders of our respective peoples, yet none of us felt satisfied with our lives, we were restless, prone to wandering far from what was expected, or even considered proper. Yet eventually our calling to move on overcame our desire to rule, we all said good bye to our peoples and wandered, some east, others west, one traveled north, while one ventured south. Around the year three thousand Before the Common Era, we all would finally meet at the old shamanistic site of Stonehenge. None of us knew what had drawn us from so far away to meet at such a place or even what the strange feelings of kinship we felt for each other meant. It took us nearly two moons to be able to understand each other. Over that time we managed to put together what made us different from our peoples, what made us brothers and sisters. Each of us had out lived several generations of family and friends. Eventually we decided to accept each other as family, because while the people around us would wither and die we would always have someone to turn to.

We shared tales for several more moons yet we were unwilling to stay within Stonehenge after dark for almost half a year after we had arrived. On the night of the Winter Solstice we agreed to stand within the ancient circle and face whatever lurked within. I don't think any of us knew what to expect but what happened caught us all by surprise. As the last rays of sunlight started to fade into night and a thick fog rolled in unannounced, we all saw our northern brother stiffen, suddenly his eyes were scanning the whole of the site with what little daylight we had remaining. I can still feel the tenseness within his voice when he said quietly yet clearly. "We are not alone." We scoffed at first there was no one in sight but us. A few moments later we stopped laughing. For we could suddenly see what he had been referring to, they appeared slowly like spectres from the fog, which I guess they were in reality. They stood in a half circle within the inner ring of Stonehenge. They then beckoned to us to come and join them. We were wary of course, after all who wouldn't be, yet we couldn't feel any malicious intent from them, so we approached, all six of us, side by side, as a family facing the unknown.

Once we had entered the inner circle the shades greeted us by name. They knew who we were, they had always known who we were, and they had been waiting for us for centuries. Over the next half a year they told us many secrets, some pleasant, others extremely dark. They were the last echoes of the ancient shamans. For lifetimes they had watched and guided the fledgling humanity, but in the end even they ran out of time. Eventually they spoke of what they called the Aether, to them it simply was the place where they drew the strength to perform the necessary tasks to help their people, from calling rain, to ensuring the herds of wild beasts continued to thrive. They learned to late that it was not that simple. In the years before the total disappearance of the shamans their numbers had been dwindling, they had grown accustomed to their resurrective immortality, thus this loss troubled them deeply, so they spent time trying to understand why, what had changed. It took them decades but eventually they uncovered the truth. It turned out that the Aether was inhabited by beings, predators, who sought to devour the souls of the dead. Mankind had been fortunate, we had escaped their notice for thousands of years, but that had changed. We as a species had grown enough to attract attention to ourselves and the entities within the Aether had started to prey upon us. Without the shamans this would have gone unnoticed possibly for millennia. As it was they noticed and took action before it was too late. They had, over six thousand years ago all gathered in this place, and collectively drank poison in a bid to overwhelm the predators within the Aether. They had been trying to create a single individual with all the collective power, and knowledge of mankind to that point. A powerful, immortal, individual to lead mankind, to be a light against the darkness. According to them they had both succeeded and failed at the same time. They believed they had failed because instead of one individual they had six. I was the first born, the one blessed and cursed with that power that was their success. Their plan had for me to meet them and for them to educate me, and help me unlock the powers which were currently dormant within me. Finally they would have joined their fellows within me to act as a collective guide. Now however they faced a challenge. There were six of us and five of them. In the end their choice was not easy but they made it instead of my receiving all the five remaining spirits they each went to the one who came from their area of the world. The only one who was left out was my brother from Europe but they did give him a gift. His ability to sense spirits was empowered along with as we would eventually learn was an eidetic memory. He eventually would make a good living as a homicide detective incidentally but it made war hell for him. Not that he ever refused the call if he thought it was needed. However that is not important right now. The dawn following our final night at Stonehenge we all swore to each other put our best efforts to protect and guide mankind from the shadows, to avoid the temptations to have a direct hand in adjusting the world, unless we all agreed it was necessary. We went our separate ways after that we would reconnect ever fifty years to a century to see how everyone was getting along. What happened during those meetings is a tale for another time.

Recorded D195 Y149 M30 assigned Classification level Custodes

Classification level reduced to Standard by order of the Emperor on D200 Y149 M30

Reason logged. "WHAT THE FRAK ARE YOU FOOLS DOING?"

Classification level returned to Custodes by order of the Inquisition on D314 Y14 M31

Reason logged. HERESY! … ERROR … REBOOTING … Damage to Cogitator Screen detected … Alerting Adeptus Mechanicus … Repair request logged … Alert! … Bolter discharge detected within the Archive Wing of the Imperial Palace … Alerting Adeptus Custodes … Have a nice day.

Memories of Perpetual's

D Error Y Error M Error

Segmentum ERROR

Sector ERROR

Sub-Sector ERROR

System ERROR

Orbiting ERROR

Emperor

"What is important is the fact that, yes I do see him as a brother, yes I will take a side trip to retrieve him from the edge of the living hell, which the Long Night wrought upon mankind, and no this is not a debate, this is an ORDER!"

Darius

He had no idea just how long he had been fighting, but it felt like years, but he was grateful that he did not feel the urge to eat anything. Not that there was anything to eat. His mind wandered to how he had gotten into this particular fix. It took longer than normal but that is to be expected as he deflected an incoming sword swing from the latest demon in this batch. There was the memory, he had come this ancient federation factory world, to recover a copy of Men of Iron base code from after the rebellion's had begun, so he could try to figure out just what had gone wrong. Why so many had died. However it seemed that fate was very content in messing with him. Literally minutes before evacing with the code something had happened. A roar had torn through the Aether, the skies had suddenly turned a shifting miasma if colors, before seeming to settle on a violet pink mixture. Then the creatures started to appear large humanoid forms, resembling the demons of old, wielding swords which looked like tongues of flame had started appearing everywhere. Fortunately the world was still uninhabited save for him and the small support crew he had brought with him. Any hope of rescue had been shattered along with the corvette, as in the throes of shear madness the captain had plowed the vessel into the planet leaving a massive scar across the landscape, the support crew had fared no better. Now he was trapped to fight and die on this blasted hellscape of a planet. Every time one of the demons fell it was swiftly replaced by another of its fellows. Every time he fell, he would wake up faster than normal to be thrown back into the fray. The only rest he got was death. However something in him had changed. He could feel relentless hatred toward the demons who mocked him, that seemed to give him some solace. A flicker of a bulwark now and then, nothing impressive but it was getting stronger with every kill. Quickly ducking under a blow which would have torn his head from his shoulders he danced to the side and swung his own sword into the demon's leg sending it onto all fours. Before it could recover he side stepped again and brought the blade onto the back of its exposed neck, once, twice, thrice he swung finally severing its head, black ichors staining the soil even further. Spinning in place he brought the blade to block a treacherous swing, and got the angle wrong. The blade in his hand shattered leaving him around six inches of blade attached to the hilt. Taking an instant to stare at the shattered blade he looked up at the final demon of this wave. The demon's long tongue slithered out of its maw to caress its blade relishing its impending triumph as it moved in for the kill. In response Darius simply charged the demon catching it by surprise, ducking under a hasty, poorly timed swing he rammed his shoulder into where the diaphragm would be on a human sending it sprawling. The demon attempted to rise but before it could, he planted the sword hilt into its heart, tearing it out, stabbing it again in the throat ripping it free, before planting it firmly between the beasts eyes. Rising to his feet he scanned the immediate area for a replacement weapon. His eyes locked onto a few options before his musings were rudely interrupted.

"Well mortal, I am impressed, you have earned my favor, all you have to do is swear yourself to me, and power beyond your wildest dreams could be yours." Rumbled a demonic voice.

"GO! TO! HELL!" Shouted Darius defiantly grabbing a pair of hand axes which were nearby.

"HAHAHAHA!" Roared the voice in laughter "I so love your spirit mortal, but perpetual or not, even you have limits, and you will break eventually." Gloated the voice. Around the accursed arena more of these humanoid sword wielding demons appeared, blood-letters they were called according to the voices of unseen spectators who mocked him. "And when you do I will be waiting…"

"All right then. LET'S DANCE!" Snarled Darius twirling the twin axes.

Emperor

"Do we have a lock yet?" Demanded the Emperor.

"Not yet my Lord." replied a technician.

The Emperor glared at the technician. "It should not be this difficult." He stated in a dangerous voice.

The technician quailed under the Emperor's glare, before a ping at his station distracted him. "Wait psy burst detected. Should I lock on?" Asked the technician.

"DO IT!" Shouted the emperor as he moved to the teleporter.

"Lock on in three, two ,one…" Stated the technician, then the teleporter activated.

Darius

Darius was in the thick of it, cultist, mutants, and demons alike pressed in. The whole arena had turned into a gigantic free for all, blood flowed like water, corpses making sure footing difficult, his bulwark flared stronger than ever, blocking or deflecting strikes from demon and cultist alike. Sending one of his axes flying into the face of a charging warrior Darius parried and countered another fighter depriving him of his sword then splitting his skull with the second ax. Grabbing the blade he readied himself for more. Suddenly a crack of thunder and the smell of ozone filled the arena, momentary covering the sounds of pitched battle and the sickly stench of blood. A massive glowing golden figure stood tall within the center of the arena, the melee slammed to a screeching halt with the figures appearance. For the first time since this nightmare had started Darius grinned wolfishly, for he could see the fear in the eyes of the demons and it was glorious.

Emperor

He took in the scene before him in a glance searching for one figure out of all the tainted unfortunates and warp entities. He was close, so close. His eyes narrowed, there he was, grinning like an idiot, soaked completely in blood in the middle of a mob, taking heads without a care in the world. He sighed as a demon suddenly realizing it had a new foe charged him. With barely an effort he dodged and back handed the demon on its way past, it fell, its neck at an odd angle, never to rise. Drawing his own sword he waded into the fray to reach the side of the one being on this accursed rock worth a damn. "DARIUS!" He shouted to the one he sought.

Darius

Darius heard his name being shouted and recognized the voice which shouted it but not the figure who shouted it. The giant of a man at his side was over double his own height of almost six feet. "So brother. This is what you have been up to since the Long Night began? Stated the huge figure in a grim yet almost jovial tone.

"Oh you know me, going exciting new places, meeting new and unique cultures, getting in fights with them. However I would avoid buying property here, the neighbors are noisy and obnoxious." Replied Darius with a chuckle as he countered a particularly clever swing. "So what have you been up to? Other than being grossly incandescent?" He asked with a grin. His brother looked at himself before realizing that he was in fact radiating a bright golden light.

His brother shrugged before he replied as they continued to fight against the pressing horde. "Other than finding you? Since you went somewhere without telling anyone where you went."

Darius shrugged in response before saying. "I needed to find something and this was the place to find it. Besides no one was interested in what I was up to anyway. So what is your name this century? You were still Sinclair last time we spoke." He finished as he focused his bulwark to give them some breathing room.

Emperor

"Impressive." Was his only response to seeing the barrier of gold colored light form and repulse the mob. Seizing his chance he swiftly placed a large hand on Darius's shoulder before contacting his ship. "Technician two to teleport."

"One moment my lord. Getting some interference …" Then the device fired again landing both of them onto the bridge.

"Helmsman set immediate course for Earth!" Called the Emperor. "I will attend to my guest." As he steadied his brother whose adrenaline and spite were the only things keeping him standing.

"Yes my Lord!" Called the Capitan.

"Lord is it? Quite the promotion considering we all agreed to guide from the shadows." Came Darius's response surprisingly bereft of sarcasm.

"It has become necessary for us to take a more active role in guiding mankind." He answered with a grim tone as they departed from the bridge.

"Has it gotten that bad? Damn…" Sighed Darius as he allowed himself to be guided to the guest quarters which his brother had prepared for him.

"We have much to discuss once you have cleaned yourself up. Come and find me once you have made yourself presentable." He told his brother before leaving shutting the door behind him.

Darius

He looked around the small cabin before placing his sword on the desk by the door and scrounging up an old federation uniform still in its packaging. Nodding to himself he entered the small personal washroom and promptly dropped the clothes. His reflection in the mirror was staring back at him, beneath all the dried and matted blood and ichors, his face looked hollow, his eyes were sunken to an unhealthy degree. That was not the change which had shocked him however, he had understood that he looked like crap, but the change in his eyes was shocking. Where once he had met pairs of sky blue staring back at him, now they were a deep violet color, he spent a full minute looking at the reflection before giving an extremely deep sigh and starting to peel himself out of the torn, blood drenched clothing he had been wearing. Following one fairly long shower he got dressed; cleaned and examined the sword he had placed on the desk. It was a simple affair, a thirty inch blade with a plain cross guard to protect the hand but it was what he had. After tucking it into the belt he was wearing he exited the cabin and realized that he had no idea where to go, so he began to look for someone to point him in the right direction. Turning to his left he got a couple of paces before seeing an armsman walking toward him but before he got farther than opening his mouth to ask for directions the armsman cut him off.

"Darius, our lord as asked that I escort you to the meeting room. Please follow me." Stated the armsman in a crisp military voice before he turned sharply in place and marched down the corridor. Darius sighed as he shook his head before setting of after the man. Less than five minutes later they arrived at a large set of double doors. The armsman turned to face him and said. "He should be within, if not he will be shortly."

Darius nodded before replying. "Understood. You're dismissed armsman." With those words the man saluted before heading off. He inhaled deeply before entering the room, a single large table and chairs occupied most of the room, for a meeting room it was an extremely spartan affair, not that he really cared given the circumstances. He settled himself into one of the chairs surrounding the table and let his mind wander. It didn't get very far as the doors opened without a sound and his brother strolled in taking a seat across from him before staring into his eyes.

Emperor

After a few minutes of simply staring at each other, he spoke. His deep baritone voice shattering the fragile silence of the room.

"So Darius what were you doing on the federation factory world? And don't tell me it was nothing. I know you to well for that." The he queried.

Darius sighed in response resting his head in his hands before answering. "You know full well my part in their creation, and since everyone else who was remotely part of their creation is dead. It falls to me to understand what went wrong."

"I told you that only grief would stem from that project Darius. You refused to listen." He responded with a touch of sympathy.

"THERE WERE SAFE GUARDS BUILT INTO THEIR BASE CODE TO PREVENT THIS!" Darius shouted as he sprung out of his seat and began pacing the length of the room. This lasted about a minute before Darius took a deep breath, pinched the bridge of his nose and calmed himself. "Something happened, something changed and I owe it to everyone who died to find out what and why. So I need an air-gapped cogitator." Darius finished.

He studied Darius carefully before responding. "Very well however I want to know what you find and about any other projects which may currently reside on earth."

Darius nodded as he slumped back into his seat. "All right. You remember the vault project?"

He nodded. "Federation project focused on the preservation of various important historical, and cultural artifacts. Code Named Reliquary. What of it?"

Darius elaborated. "I was working on a separate but related federation project. Code Name Archive. Project Archive was a proposed doomsday project in the event of a total corruption of all existing federation data bases, technology, history, medical advances, you name it. Everything would be both transcribed onto paper and specially created hardened digital storage devices."

He cut Darius off at this point and in a hopeful tone asked. "Was it finished? Is all this knowledge just waiting for us on Earth?"

Darius sighed deeply before responding. "No we still trusted them at that moment. The Archive was torched as one of their first acts against us. As for the drives? They hadn't arrived yet so they could be anywhere. The only thing I can tell you about the drives is that they were supposed to be idiot proof, EMP hardened, and could sustain over an hour's worth of orbital bombardment from capital ship scale weaponry. I however never saw them."

He sighed as he massaged his temples. "That is unfortunate. However we will make do, we always make do." He paused before continuing. "We are heading to earth to pick up the others then we will be setting course for Molech."

Darius mused over the name of the world in silence before speaking again. "Molech? Wasn't that world under an indefinite quarantine? Something about rampant mutation among the local wildlife and fauna?" Darius asked.

He nodded. "That's the one." He replied in an almost cheery tone.

"…Oh this should be fun…" Darius said in an extremely resigned voice.

D271 Y653 M30

Segmentum Solar

Sector Solar

Sub-Sector Solar

System Sol

Terra, the Himalayan Mountains, Imperial Palace, System Command Center

"YOU SAID YOU DESTROYED IT!" Shouted the Emperor.

"No, I said I didn't know and I wouldn't know, until I got back to the lab I set up to grow and house her." Replied Darius.

"It's not a her, it's an it Darius, and now it's loose." Scolded the Emperor.

"It is not my fault that those cybernetic clowns in the Adeptus Mechanicus are incapable of waiting or following instructions. Also when are we going to convince them to stop treating you like a god? Since that flies in the fact of this, Imperial Truth you penned while you were on holiday." Responded Darius with just a hint of smugness.

"…How have you read that already?" Questioned the Emperor with more than a bit of irritation.

"You know me, I have my ways." Dismissed Darius.

"You're side tracking this conversation." Snapped the Emperor. "I want to know what you plan to do about a loose AI and…" He stopped suddenly and raised a hand to his communicator, listened for thirty seconds then his eyes went wide.

"What is it?" Asked Darius suspiciously.

"It appears your AI has just hijacked a mercifully, unstaffed Apocalypse class battleship." Stated the Emperor grimly.

Darius's eyes suddenly widened as the full impact of this statement dawned on him. "Ok I'll admit that's bad. What's it doing?"

"Reports are it is making a hard burn away from Mars. It will not get far, the defense fleet is moving to intercept." Stated the Emperor as the pair turned to a Tactical Cogitator which swiftly brought up the situation. The large holographic table depicted the unfolding scene the fleeing ship now identified as the Fury of Sol was making a hard burn toward minimum safe jump distance from the shipyards of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The defense fleet was responding quickly, several cruisers with their frigate escorts were swiftly trying to bring their guns onto the retreating vessel. An information screen popped up informing the viewers of the Fury of Sol's current status.

"Let's see … engines are at full power, void shields are at maximum, no life signs detected, no life support detected, no energy build up detected within lance batteries, or the nova cannon, gellar fields … at full? ." Reported a slightly confused tactical officer.

"Energy spike detected within the Warp Drive." Called another tactical officer "The Fury of Sol will be in minimum safe jump range in thirty seconds."

All the spectators watched in silence as all the defense vessels currently in range opened fire. The battleship simply continued on its current trajectory, until one of the cruisers tried to physically intercept the fleeing vessel. Then the battleship did something unexpected, it fired its maneuvering thrusters to angle itself over the top of the intercepting cruiser successfully passing over the ship with no damage to either vessel.

"Curious…" Said one of the Mechanicus Captains. "If we could only analyze it, think of what we could learn!' Replied a second with an unhealthy amount of glee.

"Fifteen seconds to minimum safe distance." Said a third tactical officer. "Alert unidentified warp energies detected." The officer continued.

"ALL SHIPS BREAK OFF!" Shouted the Commander of the defense fleet.

"NO!" Came the partially synthetic voice of a Mechanicus Magos. "We must capture and examine it!"

"I will not risk a tenth of the defense fleet." Responded the fleet commander.

"YOU WILL DO AS YOU ARE ORDERED COMMANDER." Snarled the Magos.

"Yes sir…" Came a defeated response as it began to relay the order's to reengage.

The defense fleet once more started to intercept the retreating vessel but the short time they had spent breaking off pursuit had cost them, even with the extra five seconds the Fury of Sol had spent over shooting the minimum save distance to perform a warp jump. Everyone witnessed the portal forming and the reason for the strange warp energies was spotted. Instead of a shifting maelstrom of color and shapes which was typical of a warp portal, the shape was strangely stable circle and a peculiar pure white light shone from the rift. The vessel swiftly passed into the portal which collapsed behind it.

The room was silent for nearly a minute, as communications between various officers continued, heedless of the silence which was engulfing the small command center. Finally Darius breached the fragile silence. "Well all in all that could have been worse."

"WORSE?!" Shouted the Emperor incredulously turning to face him. "THIS HAS SET THE CRUSADE BACK AT LEAST FIVE YEARS! WE HAVE A LOOSE AI, WHICH IS IN CONTROL OF ONE OF OUR FINEST BATTLESHIPS, AND NO IDEA WHERE IT WENT. WHO KNOWS WHAT THAT AI WILL DO, IT MAY SIMPLY COME BACK AND ATTACK TERRA WHILE WE ARE AWAY!"

"Or she could simply wander and explore the galaxy, learning about other species and not attack us. She had a golden opportunity to do a lot of damage to mankind if she had wanted to." Responded Darius. "We simply don't know, we can't even tell what happened with that warp jump for all we know the ship may NEVER reappear."

"What makes you so certain that that THING is not a threat to Mankind?" Demanded the Emperor.

"Nothing, save the centuries I spent working with her. Do you know just how hard it is to teach a purely logical construct basic ethics?" Asked Darius crossing his arms. When the Emperor did not respond he continued. "It is bloody hard work, I fed her on everything, from logic, to ethics, Aristotle to Plato, the differences between communism and capitalism. How everyone is fallible in their own ways. In the end I wanted a thinker, a synthetic entity who could fully understand the sanctity of life, how personal freedom, without anarchy, was one of the most important concepts of being a sentient life form.

The Emperor rested his chin on his right hand and contemplated what his brother had said before replying. "So you sought to make an AI who could self determinate, make ethical judgment calls on right and wrong, respected sanctity of all life, and saw slavery as a crime against sentient life?" Summed up the Emperor.

"Something like that. You know I was up to my neck in the abolitionist movement in the nineteenth century, and you were Abraham Lincoln." Shrugged Darius. "Yes the loss of a battleship before we even began hurts, but you're planning on a crusade which will span all of the old federation territories and beyond so losses are, unfortunately expected. However we do have an opportunity. Something is clearly wrong with our vessels abilities to repel a cyber-warfare attack, better we learn now than when lives are on the line."

"Heh. Touché." Snorted the Emperor. Turning to the closest communication officer he ordered. "Put a line into Mars I want to know everything about what just happened."

Darius started to move toward the door so he could take a look at his now likely gutted and ransacked lab. The Emperors voice stopped him before he reached the door. "This conversation is not over Darius." Darius half turned to look into the eyes of his brother. "Perhaps but I still need to look at what remains within the lab." Before leaving the Command Center. The Emperor watched him go before snorting in annoyance and beginning to shout at the master shipwright who had finally decided to answer the blasted call.

Two Hours later.

Darius

He sighed as he entered the space which had been one of his workshops before the aptly named Age of Strife had begun. The space had been ransacked; even now tech-priests were scurrying about pulling apart panels in the walls seeking anything that could be of use. Fortunately they were too occupied with their scavenging to give him anymore than a passing glance, casually moving to a certain panel in the wall he took a furtive look around before he depressed the section. The panel slid back with a faint hiss as the old pressure lock disengaged. It was dark within the small alcove so he carefully reached into the space before laying hands on what he sought. He pulled out several small yet extremely high capacity data storage devices, giving them a quick glance to ensure there was no obvious damage or corrosion, he pocketed them and closed the panel behind him. Turning to leave, he suddenly found himself face to face with one of the Magos who had been overseeing the operation, and almost punched him in surprise. (How the frak did they move so quietly especially when they are mostly metal?) He mentally asked himself.

"Don't sneak up on people." He said tersely. "I almost hit you." The Magos gave something between a cybernetic chuckle and a wheeze of laughter.

"The only one that would have hurt would have been you." The Magos said flatly.

"Can I help you with something?" Darius asked as he crossed his arms. It was a rhetorical question of course; he knew what the Magos wanted.

"Those drives what is on them?" The Magos queried, almost succeeding in suppressing the eagerness in his mostly synthetic voice.

"Digital copies of historical documents, personal files and projects, among even less interesting things." Answered Darius casually, eyeing the Magos to try to gage his intent, which was a challenge considering most of his face was metal. However he could plainly see the gears both metaphorical and literal spinning within the Magos's mind.

After what seem like decades the Magos nodded with a whirl and a clicking noise. "Very well." As he moved aside. Darius wasted no time in leaving the lab, once safely out of sight he shuddered, the tech-priests always unnerved him. "Well time to get back to work." He told himself as he headed for the transport.

Earth

Meanwhile, one reality away on an alternate version of Terra, the year is 1969, local time 5:34.

The man who was currently the President of the United States of America was rudely awakened by the rigging of his telephone. Grumbling slightly he rolled over and reached for the phone.

"Hello?" He asked groggily.

"Mister President." Came the strong voice of one of his Air Force General's. "We have a situation."

(Of course we do, I would not have been woken otherwise.) Thought the President. "I'll be in my office shortly." He said to his General. "I will meet you there sir." Responded the General, before he hung up. The President sighed as he placed the phone on the receiver. "Just another day in the office." He muttered to himself.

Dressing swiftly he paused only long enough to have a pot of coffee sent to the Oval Office. He headed to his office as quickly as possible. At the door to the outer office he spotted a figure in a grey robe with a long carved rowan staff on his back. The figure turned toward him at the sound of his approach.

"Mister President." Greeted the Shaman.

The president was taken aback for a moment. This Shaman was younger than the one he was used to working with.

"Good morning Shaman." Replied the President. "Where is…" He started.

"He was called suddenly to attend to some crisis within the Inner Circle, and before you ask, no I don't know what." Shrugged the Shaman.

"Shall we?" Asked the President motioning toward the door.

"After you mister President." Nodded the Shaman.

The pair entered the Oval Office and were greeted by the aroma of fresh coffee. An Air Force General who had been reviewing a series of images rose and saluted. "Mister President, Shaman." The Shaman swiftly saluted the General in turn.

The President raised an eyebrow as he saw the Shaman salute the General. "At ease gentlemen." He said as he motioned them to sit on the couches. "What is today's emergency General?" He questioned in half jest as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "Coffee anyone?" Gesturing toward the pot.

"Please." Nodded the General as he pondered where to begin. The shaman started pouring two cups of the hot beverage. "Thank you." Commented the General when the Shaman handed him a mug. He sighed looking into the depths of the pure black coffee, before looking up into their faces. "Gentlemen at one thirty-four this morning, the Stargazer caught something interesting." Gesturing toward the set of images he had been studying when they had entered. "We're lucky the telescope was pointed at Mars at the time otherwise we would have missed it." The President and Shaman started to look through the images as he spoke. They clearly showed the red planet for the first few images then in between two photos a circle of glowing white appeared followed by half a dozen others as a strange silhouette emerged from the portal which then collapsed once it exited it, but that was not the end of the slides, the object managed to create a second portal which then jumped it toward earth. The object came into focus as some form of space vessel; it lingered for nearly a dozen photos before coming about and performing another of its jumps vanishing from the telescopes sight. Silence ruled the office while they all digested what they had just viewed.

The President buried his head in his hands with a groan. "Now I need a drink and it's barely six in the morning." Taking a deep steadying breath he looked up and stared into the Generals eyes.

"What do we know?" He asked with much more confidence than he felt.

"Sir. I'm afraid you're looking at it." Stated the General grimly. "I had a few people I trust look at those images, they believe that ship is around eight kilometers long, appears to be heavily armored and armed to the teeth."

"That is not what I hoped to hear General." Said the President. "We could have an alien race performing reconnaissance on our world, without any way to stop them."

"I'm not so sure that it is an alien vessel Mister President" Cut in the Shaman. Both the General and the President looked at him like he was crazy. He was holding one of the clearer images along with a magnifying glass, attempting to bring something into focus, coffee monetarily forgotten.

"What gives you that impression Shaman?" Demanded the General.

"This writing on the outer hull, it looks like Latin of all things." Explained the Shaman looking up at them.

"What does it say?" Both the President and General asked simultaneously.

The Shaman said a phrase in Latin before frowning. "Fury of Sol. Well that's not ominous in the least." He said with a touch of sarcasm.

Despite the seriousness of the situation they all found themselves chucking at his comment. "Well what do we tell the public? That the Stargazer had a malfunction and bury the whole thing." Queried the General.

"I think that would be best. I will however need to report this to the Circles. I dread to learn what future could require such a monster." Nodded the Shaman in a resigned tone as he put down the image he had been examining, and reached for his now lukewarm coffee.

"What about NATO?" Asked the General.

"What about NATO." Countered the Shaman a little more sharply than he should have. "I honestly doubt telling them about this will do any good save cause a panic. No we bury this and keep our eyes on Mars for the time being." Finished the Shaman.

The President and General nodded. "All right we'll play it safe for now. I'll mark these for special access classification only. I just hope we're making the right call." Finished the President.

"We all do sir." Said the General as he and the Shaman finished their coffee and rose to leave.

After the pair had left the President looked at the images again, before muttering to himself. "God help us all…"

Citadel

2469 G.S. (Galactic Standard) Calendar Serpent Nebula, Citadel, Presidium, Consort's Chambers

17:50 Galactic Standard Time

Sha'ira

She was done for the evening, no more clients. She was free to settle down for the rest of the day and rest with a cup of tea and a good book. Sha'ira sighed as she mentally reflected on the last twelve hours, so many souls coming to her for comfort and advice trusting her with their secrets. Grabbing the last of her possessions off of the desk in the corner of her chamber she turned to leave, she suddenly found herself grabbing for her desk as unbidden a series of images flashed through her mind. An undiscovered garden world, a mighty space vessel of unknown origin, a fleet idling in darkness where no stars shone. A moment later it was over, Sha'ira sank to the floor with a sigh, pressing her back to the side of her desk for support. What this series of images meant. She had no idea. Such was her curse. All she knew for certain was something had just changed but for good or ill? Only time would tell. With another sigh she pulled herself off of the floor and realized her hopes of a quiet evening were firmly dashed, she needed to present what she had seen to the counsel of matriarchs. One way or another.

Citadel

2500 G.S.

The Batarian Hegemony succeeds in petitioning the Citadel Council for exploration rights past Relay 314. Less than a month later a Subjugation err "Exploration and First Contact" Fleet sets out toward the relay. They are never heard from again. The last reported transmission following a short comm. blackout.

Admiral Ghak'retor: "Everything is under control. Situation normal."

Hegemony Fleet Command: "What happened?"

AG: "We had a slight communications malfunction but everything's perfectly alright now. We're fine. We're all fine here now. How are you?"

HFC: "… We're sending another fleet."

The second batarian fleet along with a turian patrol who had responded to a distress signal found nothing but a sea of drifting hulks and a still inactive relay. In the aftermath of this revelation the Council wasted no time and declares relay 314 off limits again. At the Councils request the salarian Special Tasks Group allots a fair amount of resources and personnel to attempting to find out what happened to the fleet. Over the next few decades multiple slaver and pirate bands seemingly vanish or are confirmed wiped out by an unknown force. Neither the STG nor the Spectres ever find anything save ghosts and rumors, eventually funds dry up and personnel get reassigned to more pressing issues then legends. Eventually the whole thing falls out of common thought and becomes the obsession of various conspiracy theorists.

Emperors Dreams

D? Y? M?

For over ten thousand years I have resided within the Golden Throne. During that time I have watched in despair as the dream I work so hard for, sacrificed so much to achieve, has fallen into ruin. Where once I envisioned a united mankind dedicated to reason, science, and knowledge, at peace with ourselves, along with what alien species who posed either no threat to us, or accepted our rule, now mankind is ruled by paranoia, fanaticism, rampant xenophobia, and brutality on a scale I never feared possible. There are bright lights still, certainly, but they are dimmer than I could have imagined, could have feared, the reality of their existence slowly strangling what little good resides within the Imperium. Parts of my consciousness roamed far into the depths of the warp where not even the four willingly go, seeking some way to save the innocents which have lost all hope. What I found instead was not what I hoped or even expected.

In some long forgotten corner of the warp, I found a fracture so small, to almost be unnoticed in the vast emptiness surrounding it. Reaching out mentally I pushed against it, what I saw then troubled me greatly. I saw mankind, still in its infancy yet it was not the mankind I knew or remembered, but that was not what shocked me to almost relinquish the contact. I could feel the stillness of the warp, their warp. Whereas the warp as I have know it for all of my life is a constant maelstrom of emotions which ebbs and flows, filled with malicious predators. The warp I felt for a brief moment felt dead, no dead is not the right word calm is more appropriate, it lacked all the raging currents which I am so accustomed to, while there were beings within this alternate warp they seemed harmless, in a don't bother me, and you won't get hurt sense. This place felt eerily familiar, I quickly shrugged the feeling off that was not possible I had never been here before; I would have remembered if I had. Casting my senses toward where Terra should be I suddenly received yet another shock. I felt the presence of shamans for the first time in my life, not the long dead shades which addressed us so long ago, at Stonehenge, but living breathing shamans. What I could tell was that the year was around two thousand of their current era, and that they were still decades if not centuries away from exploring their home system.

As I started to pull away I felt something seize my attention, a lost soul floating on one of the almost imperceptible currents. Reaching out, I made contact, and in a flash I saw. The soul was old, it, no, he had forgotten much, like who he had been, but not what, he also remembered his demise, and I witnessed his final, desperate hour. I saw the bridge of what his people the Prothean's had termed a "dreadnought" class vessel, a pitiful ship in reality, only a little over two kilometers in length. I heard through his ears as a sensor officer grabbed his attention.

"Admiral something is happening to the Citadel!"

"On Screen" Was my, no his only response. On the view screen I saw it. A fairly large space station almost like a flower in shape. A circle with five petals spaced evenly around the inner ring which was currently glowing bright blue color. We stood and moved toward the view screen

"It's glowing like a relay…" His, my, our first officer commented. We felt a growing feeling of dread as the impact of the words sank in.

"SIGNAL THE DEFENCE FLEET! ORDER THEM TO COME AROUND FACE THE CITADEL!" We shouted at our communications officer.

"Admiral?" Came the confused response.

"DO IT NOW!" We roared at the officer.

"Yes Admiral!" She replied with trepidation and began to relay the order's to the fleet. It did no good. She had barely finished when the first of them appeared from the center of the ring. They were all identical with one exception, the flagship of the invading fleet was almost a kilometer longer than its brethren. Nearly four hundred strong they moved with a calculated precision. An eighth of the newcomers led by their flagship descended onto a tower like structure which jutted toward the center of the ring. The remaining ships simply open fire. We were out flanked in the seat of our power, most of our ships were simply shot in the rear where their shields were weakest, their drive cores rupturing tearing hulls apart, dooming all souls aboard to the cold, uncaring void of space.

"Bring us about!" We shouted to our helmsman

"I want all weapons primed NOW!" We shouted to the stunned bridge crew.

"SEND THE EMERGNCEY SIGNAL TO ALL THE FLEETS WE CAN'T LOSE THE CITADEL!" Was the next order we roared. The enemy was becoming clear now they looked like … Squid? Giant Mechanical Squids which were tearing apart some of the finest Prothean ships like they were nothing. While the bulk of its fleet engaged the defenders the enemy flagship simply settled onto the tower which surprisingly held under the mechanical monstrosities attentions.

"Admiral! Incoming transmission from the patrol fleet!" Shouted the communication officer.

"Put them through!" We responded.

"Admiral! The relay just shut down! We're trapped!" The Commander of the patrol fleet informed us with an edge of terror creeping into his voice.

"WHAT!" We roared at him. Then we understood, the Citadel tower held the power to control the relay network, and we had just lost it. Unless we could take it back the whole Empire would be cut off, easy targets for any invading force. The odds of us retaking the tower were getting slimmer by the moment as one of the three dreadnoughts within the system was hit amidships and simply cut in half, before exploding in a massive shockwave which engulfed a cruiser, along with a pair of frigates, destroying them instantly. Then the enemies numbers simply tripled as more of them jumped into the system.

"WHERE ARE THEY COMING FROM?!" Exclaimed the Capitan of a Cruiser just moments before one of the invaders guns silenced him and his crew forever.

"ALL SHIPS OPEN FIRE ON ONE AT A TIME" We ordered.

"WE CAN'T STOP IT! IT'S GOING TO…" Came the scream of a frigate Commander just as one of their leading ships rammed into her own, ending her resistance. Suddenly all the communication frequencies went dead, and a new voice roared from every speaker on the ship.

"WE ARE HARBINGER!"

"WE NEED COMMS BACK NOW!" We shouted in desperation at the communications officer, while we watched as the fleet now unable to coordinate its efforts began picking targets at random, while they were being quickly picked off by return fire. Barely a quarter of our ships were left. We watched in horror as a second dreadnought went up in a blue explosion.

"Only one choice…" We quietly muttered to ourselves.

"HELMSMAN! ENGINES TO MAXIMUM! SET COURSE FOR THE CITADEL TOWER! I WILL NOT GIVE THESE INVADERS THE SATISFACTION OF TAKING IT INTACT! FOR THE EMPIRE!" We shouted these orders in desperation. If there was any objections on the crews minds they did not voice them. They knew what was at stake, a mood of grim determination settled across the bridge.

"I WANT OUR MAIN GUN FIRING EVER INSTANT IT IS ABLE!" We were going to die that much was clear, but maybe our unseen sacrifices would save some of our people, give them a chance to vanish, be over looked. Even without communications the rest of the fleet picked up on our plan the instant our ship, the flagship of the Prothean Navy began to move. We had less than twenty ships left including our own, less than a tenth of what we started with. It would have to do. No. It had to do. The frigates and cruisers formed a wedge with us at the center, we were shielded as best as they could. As one formation we rushed into the fray trying to blast our way to the Citadel tower.

For a moment it looked like we were going to make it, we managed to cripple or destroy, several of the invaders in our mad rush. However that hope proved to be a false one. The invaders figured out our strategy and began to compensate, and our few remaining ships simply started to die. They sold their lives dearly, each one throwing themselves into the line of fire to give us the chance to save our people. By the time we were in position to fire on the Citadel tower only our ship along with two cruisers were left.

However fate chose that moment to abandon us. Our main gun was still loading when the invaders flagship simply, almost lazily, raised two of its tentacle mounted weapons and cored both of the remaining cruisers. Seeing our main gun was ready once more, we shouted.

"ALL GUNS! OPEN FIRE!" This was the last command we ever gave. A lucky or simply well aimed shot from the enemy flagship met the accelerating round in the barrel, the sudden conflicting forces violently tearing the ship apart. On the bridge consoles overloaded and violently exploded sending shards of glass along with other materials ripping into any flesh which had the misfortune to be in its path.

We stood alone in the center of the bridge surrounded by our dead and dying crew. We the Prothean's had failed. We had walked into a trap tens of thousands of years, if not longer in the making. We fell to our knees, as we watched helplessly as thousands of similar ships poured through the Citadel relay heading toward the smaller relay out of the system, ready to continue their slaughter. They were Reapers not of grain but of souls and civilizations… Those were his last thoughts before darkness claimed him.

Releasing the soul back to its endless journey across the currents of the Sea of Souls I was forced to realize that the sudden demise of this species did, in fact trouble me. If what this Prothean had realized with his last breaths was true then the version of mankind which existed within this alternate reality was in jeopardy, maybe not at this moment but it could be at anytime in its future, and that is unacceptable, something needed to be done, something had to be done.

Emperor

Mentally returning to the throne room of the Imperial Palace I swiftly began locating the one I required at this instant. The souls of my dead sons were never far and even then they shone like torches within the masses of spirits who resided within this part of my Palace. Striding through the masses of human and space marine souls, each of them in turn kneeling in my presence, I had long since given up telling them that it was unnecessary, as they took it as a test of faith, much to my annoyance. Eventually I found who I sought; high on a pillar reclining in a beam of sunlight was my ninth son. He lay basking in the sunlight, seemingly asleep, totally at peace. As much as I loathed waking him, I needed him for the task ahead. "Sanguinius." I called softly to the resting figure.

Sanguinius

He heard his name being spoken softly, that was enough. The Primarch's sapphire blue eyes snapped open, clear and bright, for he knew who was calling him. He responded instantly diving from his perch, gliding gracefully on his pure white feathered wings to the floor of the Throne Room, his mane of golden blond hair flowing behind like a gilded river. He landed softly before his father, careful not to land on anyone by mistake, planted the tip of his sword in the floor and knelt. "Father." He said in a clear musical voice. "You called me?" "Yes my son." His father replied. "Now rise and walk with me. We have much to discuss." "Yes father." He stated as he rose to his feet and sheathed his blade across his back.

Emperor

The pair traveled swiftly to a spot where they could talk, despite dead men and women telling no tales, he did not want to risk anything, this was simply to important.

"What is bothering you father?" His son asked sensing his pensive mood.

With as sigh he told Sanguinius what he had seen, about the small crack to another reality, the impending threat to another version of humanity. Sanguinius simply listened with interest as his father laid out his concerns. Once his father had finished he asked the question which was starting to bother him. "What do you plan to do about this and why do you need me?" The Emperor opened his mouth the respond but before he could he was interrupted. Suddenly deep within the depths of the warp, beyond the boundary of the Imperial Palace, came a scream of rage, which seemed to shift between the extremes of masculine, feminine, and some point in between, often all three at once. "CEGORRAAAAAACCCHHH!"

"Someone sounds angry." Chuckled the Emperor, as the scream of rage stopped echoing off the palace walls.

"We're going to have to play host to more clowns aren't we?" Asked Sanguinius with a sigh of resignation, as he glanced at a corner of the room, where a small number of harlequin spirits entertained the souls of a crowd of human and eldar children.

"We both know they can't go anywhere else." Replied the Emperor grimly looking toward the group.

"I know, it's just some are not happy with their presence. Most likely because they were killed by eldar, their harlequins, or they knew someone who was." Sanguinius nodded.

"Understandable. They also must realize eventually that we are all in the struggle against the dark forces of chaos together. We need them as much as they need us." Returned the Emperor as he waited for his guest to arrive.

In a flash of bright prismatic light and an explosion of confetti which blanketed most of the room the most eccentric of all the god's appeared. With a flourish and an extravagant bow Cegorach greeted the Emperor. "Greetings great Emperor! How are we this fine day?" The harlequin exclaimed.

In spite of himself the Emperor smiled. "I am well Cegorach. How are you?" He responded.

"We are fantastic! Your followers were wonderful! They should be along shortly." Cegorach declared. Almost on queue two squads of Raven Guard appeared, more than a few of them supporting the haggard looking souls of several eldar, from shadows cast by a bolter shell General Creed emerged still chewing on his cigar. Swiftly the returned imperial souls saluted and returned to their comrades, while Creed went to catch up with Color Sergeant Kell, leaving the eldar to relax in the presence of one of their few remaining deities.

"I take it Creed was a help?" The Emperor asked the god of harlequins.

Cegorach beamed at him "Oh he was magnificent! The great fat one never saw it coming, and poor, dear Isha gets fresh tea and cakes!" He exclaimed with uncontrolled glee.

The Emperor chuckled momentarily before sighing and shaking his head. "I will admit that there are times I wish we could do more for her." Then his mood shifted as he clapped his hands together. "But we have things to discuss Cegorach, if you could be parted from your people for a while?"

The harlequin nodded as he motioned the new arrivals to join the small handful of their kin who had been granted sanctuary within this realm. Before turning back to the Emperor and the Primarch, cocking his head to the side Cegorach spoke. "So what is it that we must discuss?" Voicing the question which was on Sanguinius's mind as well.

The Emperor nodded as he took a final look around to check that there were no eavesdroppers before explaining to Cegorach what he had witnessed, and his concerns. The harlequin digested his words in silence for a few moments before Sanguinius voiced a comment.

"You have told us what you saw, and that it concerns you, but not what you plan to do about it."

"You are correct my son. My plan for starters is for you to watch over them for the time being." The Emperor explained.

Sanguinius blinked with surprise at those words, before voicing a single word as a response. "What?"

"You heard me, my son, I need you to be who you are, a protector, a steadfast guardian for those who still live free from the horrors of the warp."

Sanguinius nodded slowly before answering. "Very well. I will do as you ask father, and I shall leave at once." He then turned and headed away from the pair of deities.

Cegorach turned to watch Sanguinius leave before turning back to the Emperor voicing his question in a more serious tone. "And what do you want from us?"

"Mostly for you to be yourself but I would like to see you step up the harassment of the ruinous powers. I don't want them to bleed into this new reality which is not ready for them." The Emperor responded.

Cegorach pondered the request for several moments before he nodded. "We can do that. We have a few pranks that we have been wanting to try."

The Emperor raised an eyebrow there was no way it would be that easy. "But?" The Emperor prompted.

"But we want to know how you accomplish this feat. So we can attempt to save some of our own people." The harlequin clarified.

The Emperor nodded, he had expected this request. "That is agreeable."

Cegorach grinned in pure delight. "Then let the games begin!"

Citadel

2647 G.S.

The batarian Admiral Asako Dhamgodah activates and leads a small fleet through what will be known as the Shanxi-Theta relay, discovers and attacks the Earth Systems Alliance colony of Shanxi. The fledgling Earth Systems Alliance Navy manages to repel the batarians and chase the survivors back through the relay, but choose not pursue them further due to losses and await reinforcements. While the batarians regroup and plan their next move, the citadel council having detected a relay activation redirects a turian patrol fleet to investigate the matter. Meanwhile the Earth Systems Alliance Navy having been reinforced by the second fleet tentatively starts scouting beyond the Shanxi-Theta relay only to be met by the patrol fleet which was ordered to investigate when the relay came online. Due to communication failures, translation issues, along with mistrust on both sides contact with the turian patrol fleet and Earth Systems Alliance Navy is slow going but manages to make enough progress to effectively communicate until the batarians response fleet jumps into the system. Seeing the return of the invading forces the Systems Alliance Navy requests help from the patrol fleet as they move to blockade the relay citing the previous attack on Shanxi, while the batarians complain to the patrol fleet claiming that they were attacked without provocation and use fabricated evidence to demand assistance as according to the citadel treaties. The turians knowing the batarians reputation orders them to leave without any success. The patrol fleet is forced into the conflict as the batarians start pushing for the relay and open fire on the Systems Alliance Navy. The joint forces of the Systems Alliance Navy and the turian fleet destroy most of the batarian vessels, including Admiral Dhamgodah's flagship, sending the survivors once again fleeing for their own space, but not without casualties. Nearly a third of the human and turian ships are damaged or crippled but none were outright destroyed. The patrol commander managed to message the citadel and formal first contact proceeded from there despite the batarians efforts to sabotage the proceedings. The truth about Admiral Dhamgodah's actions soon comes to light with the aid of the salarian S.T.G., and the Batarian Hegemony is quick to disavow any knowledge of his actions. Unable to prove otherwise the citadel was hesitant to level any sanctions against the Hegemony leaving relations between the Batarian Hegemony and the Earth Systems Alliance tense to borderline hostile.

Arcturus Station

2150

Jonathan Shepard and Hannah Wise marry.

2151

July 24th

Alexander Shepard is born.

Citadel

2154

April 10th

While on leave the Shepards are ambushed Jonathan Shepard is murdered, and Alexander Shepard is kidnapped by unknown assailants. Hannah Shepard is severely wounded. Witness reports describe a "golden angel" shielding Hannah Shepard during the attack. She is rushed to a hospital.

April 11th

Elisabeth and Isabelle are born via emergency c-section shortly afterward then their mother is rushed into surgery. The twins are discovered to have heterochromia.

April 12th

Hannah Shepard leaves surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.

Following a sweep of the station, no sign of Alexander Shepard is found.

The Systems Alliance Naval Intelligence Office continues to search.

2662

One of Edan Had'dah's survey teams discovers a strange ship orbiting an uncharted world.

2663 G.S.

The Leviathan of Dis is discovered on Jartar before subsequently vanishing.

The Leviathan of Dis slowly starts indoctrinating batarian scientists and officials encouraging them to step up their attacks on humanity which leads to an increase in slave raids.

2665 G.S.

The Earth Systems Alliance embassy opens on the citadel with Ambassador Anita Goyle along with Shaman Draven Knight representing humanity.

While attempting a mission on Camala to rescue Kahlee Sanders and bring in Dr. Shu Qian for illegal AI research Lieutenant David Anderson and SPECTRE Saren Arterius are ambushed by several platoons of the batarians Special Interventions Unit under the orders of Edan Had'dah. While Anderson and Saren are able to defeat one of the S.I.U. platoons saving Kahlee Sanders in the process, the remaining platoons manage to secure Dr. Qian and his research before sabotaging the refinery and escaping. An explosion severely injures Saren and Kahlee but with Anderson's help they all escape with their lives. However the workers in the camp surrounding the refinery were not so fortunate. The Batarians deny any S.I.U. involvement and the council decides against investigating further, despite Sarens report on what happened, the mission is ultimately judged by the counsel to be a failure, preventing Anderson from being elevated to the position of SPECTRE. Through Had'dah the Batarian Hegemony learns the location of the Reaper Nazara.

Authors Note One.

Setting the stage.

I felt that giving the reader a general overview of the differences within both realities was called for.

(You can put those pitchforks and torches away lore fans.)

However I didn't want to change too much about the 40K universe as it stands because let's face it. We all love it just the way it is.

On the redone First Contact War

For starters. Yeah I pushed it up 10 years so Elisabeth and Isabelle could be born on the Citadel. Don't worry there is a small plot involving that.

Second of all. The First Contact War always sort of bugged me. Why would the commander of a patrol fleet be so damn trigger happy to open a first contact situation with gunfire? The fact that a patrol fleet has such a high possibility of engaging in first contact situations, at any moment, with people who had no reasonable way of knowing citadel law means that the officers assigned to the fleet would be under a bleeding microscope. So the gung-ho commander which attacked the alliance and Shanxi in canon, would have been reassigned unless he was very good at bullshitting his psychological examinations.

Also CREED LIVES! While I admit to toying with the idea of having Creed end up with Shepards team at some point just so he can pull his trademark Tactical Genius on Harbinger and the rest of the Reapers. Having Harbinger out flanked by a couple of fleets hiding behind an asteroid and watching him logic bomb would be priceless. Most likely not going to happen but it amuses me.

Finally my muse is very fickle so I can't promise a constant update schedule, and the next two chapters are going to be very combat heavy, chapter two being 40K and the crossover event, while chapter three covers Eden Prime.