Firstly, Yay for the first Firefly/Warhammer 40K crossover. Secondly, I own neither of the afore mentioned series. Those belong to Joss Whedon and Games Workshop respectively. Thirdly, Please read and review. I would apprecicate feedback.


[Records Department: Lexmechanic Artesius]

[41M:043:05:21:19:45:55:231][Mil:YYY:MM:DD:HH:mm:ss:mil]

[Perimeter of Terra Deus System]

[Star-bound at 0.5c]

[Begin vid-file transfer]

Commander Ryspiten Halsyng stood at the side of his pilot, staring out at the system as it whooshed by. Whoever had found this system must have known something he didn't. Evidently, this system bore several dozen livable planetoids, many more than any other system he knew of. It had been rediscovered in the archives by an absent-minded lexmechanic who had been researching a new way to beat back the 'Nids, in the hopes that some of that information had merely been lost. Instead, the augmented boy had returned bearing the location of this lost system and an update request from the Adeptus Mechanicus lexmechanics.

He peered closely at the void outside the purple ripple of the Void-shields slamming into space debris. There was something out there, and he pointed at it, the pilot reacting with a wave of his own hand. Deep inside the elegant vessel, logic engines the size of large Titans turned the order over quickly, guiding the machine spirit to shift the course very slightly. Ryspiten gritted his teeth. It had been over seven thousand years since any Imperium vessel had set foot in this system, and he honestly had no idea how well their sudden reappearance would go over.

The vessel, as he now saw it to be, approached rapidly, and he ordered the pilot to slow down, and bring them to rest orbiting the smaller vessel. The pilot obliged, and the small, rotund vessel became even clearer, only to divide into two independent vessels tethered together by a flexible hose made of some sort of polymer. Auspex scans showed the broader of the two vessels to be almost completely devoid of life, barring a single person seated in what had to be the bridge. The smaller had a cluster of four inside the belly, and no-one in the bridge portion, which Ryspiten could see clearly atop the hawk-like nose protruding over a decent portion of the polymer corridor. That would make it slightly difficult to get their attention, as both vessels appeared to lack astropaths of any sort. His own head astropath merely looked confused after trying to ping both vessels. Perhaps a direct comm would work, if they even still used the same standard frequencies.

Suddenly, the vox crackled to life and a harsh, grating female voice cut through the static, "Unidentified vessel, please identify yourself and confirm designation, or you will be fired upon."

Raspytin leaned on the railing, "I see. They must have forgotten the might wielded by the Imperium. Draw a target lock on them, and forward the chimes to the bridge." He reached forward and pressed the comm-bead in his ear, "This is Arcanus Dragunov of the Imperium of Man. You are to stand down immediately, or you will be removed from our way as a heretical pest."

"Bullshi…" the voice cut off as the two smaller vessels rotated, putting the broad vessel's bridge view-port at an angle that gave what Ryspiten hoped was a nice, slow pan of the number of cannons bristling along the broadside.

"I repeat. Stand down," he left the channel open so the whine of the targeting beacons would echo across it for a few long moments.

"Pardon. We were simply claiming salvage on this wreckage," the female voice on the other side seemed slightly strange, and all but one of the life-forms retreated to the larger vessel, which rapidly broke off and peeled away, streamers of green radiation tailing behind. Ryspiten ordered a lone shot be fired at them, a warning, not that it would be particularly necessary to repeat the warning if the echoing explosion of a Gun-servitor whooping for joy was any indication.

"Wipe that servitor's memories before it starts getting intelligent again," not that it had been before. Most of the gun-servitors onboard the Dragunov were clone-vat stock, bred to be modified into whatever was necessary at the time. He leaned forward, peering at the Auspex scan of the smaller vessel, and the lone life-form struggling to reach the aft end, "Decimus, Valorius, To me. The human onboard that vessel requires aid."

The armored Apothecary and the Techmarine joined their commander beside the airlock. Their suits had a half hour of air, helmets locked, and they would probably wind up using most of it to make the round trip. The massive door sealed shut with a hiss and a release of cold steam as the air was evicted from the chamber, instantly evaporating the condensation that had formed on the interior surfaces. Calmly, the three gripped forearms, ensuring a firm connection before Ryspiten launched himself into the void, jump pack propelling them across the void far faster than he had realized it would. He was forced to release Decimus, who deftly snagged the hull with both massive paws, and halted his movement. The tether cable that had been strung between the three as a precaution drew taut and swung the commander face-first into what he assumed to be the airlock. The apothecary swept under and impacted the belly of the cargo hold, and another apparent air-lock, with a rather loud KLONG that left all three marines with ringing ears. Ryspiten wondered how the human inside the vessel was doing after that sound.

He pressed the retract button on the cable, and his sides returned, gently gripping the surface magnetically as Decimus examined the hatch. A few taps and some barely audible words, and the hatch creaked open, folding downwards, like a ramp. This vessel must have been a landing craft of some sort. But then where was the cruiser? The three swept around the ramp and Decimus reeled it in, waiting for the telltale hiss before the inner doors creaked open, sliding into the floor and ceiling. The three untethered and began carefully trudging through the hold, each making his own assumptions about it.

Ryspiten was the first to come across the human, crawling back towards a tunnel too small for a marine to get through upright. He held up a hand and called out, "Halt."

The human did so, and rolled over, staring in shock at the gruesome mask the commander wore, rust red and streaked with black marks matching his every scar, in particular a black oval wreathing the left side of his helmet, "Ah, so that's what the reaper looks like. Can't say I expected that one. Thought you'd be shorter. And you know, female?"

"Apothecary, tend to this man! I believe he can survive, if you work quickly!" having a small group of planetary guard serving onboard his ship at almost all times had made him an excellent judge of what a human could survive, and this one was tougher looking than some of the men in the guard.

The human simply stared before holding up what appeared to be a part to a machine, "Engine! Needs this…" the human coughed blood onto the deck, "Save Serenity. Save my ship first!"

"Decimus! Get your ass in here!" The other two marines arrived simultaneously, and slipped past their commander, Decimus snaring the part from the human with a mecha-dendrite and a practiced ease. He was on his knees in the most undignified position his commander had ever seen, squeezing through the tiny hatch, but he fit, just barely.

Valorius drew out a stim-pak and deftly extruded the gray paste across the gaping wound in the human's abdomen, carefully pinching it closed so the artificially produced enzymes could knit the tattered flesh back together. There would barely even be a scar if the man was lucky. He nodded to the human, the movement barely registering in his skull-faced helmet, "No, he's not the reaper, you are? But then what is he?"

"My captain."

"No, no, no, Me Captain. My ship, Me Captain. I'm Captain," the human looked at the two marines as a loud hiss filled the chamber, and the human began breathing clearer. Evidently the oxygen concentration in the air had been low. They hadn't even noticed. "I'm the captain here. My name is Malcolm Reynolds. Welcome to Serenity. Sorry I couldn't greet you at the door, I was a bit busy dying. What the gorram hell did you do to me anyway?"

"You sought healing. I healed you. Simple as that."

"Captain Reynolds, I am afraid I must ask you some questions. This may take a few hours. I hope you…" he paused for a moment, hand sliding up to the side of his face as his comm-bead started chittering. He nodded a few times, absently repeating "Aff, Aff, Aff" for almost five minutes, concluded with a simple, "Negative Gunner. Do not fire on that shuttle or I will be adding your head to the rest of my trophies." He turned back to Captain Reynolds, "Captain, we have two incoming shuttles, both declaring to be part of the crew of this vessel. Is this true?"

"It is. But I didn't call them back…" He stood and started wobbling down the corridor towards the upper deck, where Ryspiten spotted another pair of airlocks, much smaller than the one they had entered through. There was a pair of loud clicks and the doors opened. People swarmed in just as Decimus returned from the engine room and stood. The three marines looked at the crew, such a motley collection, but they acted like family. He had the feeling that any one of them would die for another. Or that all of them would die to give just one a chance to survive. Tighter than his marines even.

Ryspiten cleared his throat loudly, causing all nine of them to turn. They seemed suddenly very surprised at the presence of an armored giant standing in their ship, until one of them, a young female, looked directly into Ryspiten's eyes from the catwalk, "Three soldiers. Three brains, but one mind. Black, white, and greys, they cloud minds." The girl paused for a moment, as if expecting a response to the nonsense, "Two-by-Two, must meet New."

The largest of the men in the group looked at the girl, "Are you insane! We don't even know those people!" He turned back to the three marines, eying the massive bolter pistol strapped to Ryspiten's hip, "Though they seems like my kinds 'o people. Why don't I do the diplomacy this time?"

Ryspiten did a quick height comparison, this human was certainly taller than his captain, but he was still almost two feet shorter than the marine, and those height differences made the man seem to shrink slightly as he approached, "Uh, hi. My name's Jayne Cobb. I'm sorta the diplomat around here, so I guess it's my job to introduce my captain and crew."

The commander nodded, "Well met Jayne Cobb. I am Ryspiten Halsyng, Commander of the Arcanus Dragunov, Strike Cruiser in his Imperial Majesty, The God-Emperor of Mankind's service. These are my Apothecary, Valorius Tuukar," Valorious nodded, arms crossing his chest and forming the Aquila, "and my second and third hand, Decimus Gellar." Decimus crossed his own arms and nodded as both marines, in perfect stereo, quoted, "Well met. Emperor willing, this day you have found great allies."

Jayne nodded and looked at the three again, "I believe you already know Captain Reynolds?" at a nod of confirmation, he continued, "The one who doesn't make much sense is River Tam, our little sister. The fancy boy beside her is her older brother, Simon Tam. He's the only doctor we've got aboard this ship. The old guy with the book is Shepherd Book, our preacher. Skinny white boy's Wash Washburn, best gorram pilot I ever saw. The big black lady's his wife, Zoe. The quiet one is Kaylee Frye, our mechanic. And lastly, the lady in the back with her hands all over the Captain is Inara. She's a 'Registered Companion'" Ryspiten could actually hear the quotes around the words "but Mal just calls her a whore."

Captain Reynolds hollered down from the catwalk, "I'm the only one allowed to call her that!"

"Anywho, that's the crew, plus Serenity, our home," Jayne smiled what he hoped was a harmless looking toothless, totally peaceful smile.

The marine nodded at him, "I see. Captain, Your ship is in desperate need of parts and repairs. My vessel has the facilities to assist, if you accept. During your stay aboard the Dragunov, you will be treated as my guests, and will not want for anything I do not." Considering the food-stores he had seen in the hold, he figured that they had maybe a day and a half left of ration-bars before they starved to death slowly.

Captain Reynolds leaned over the railing slightly, "Are you certain you will have enough room?"

That was almost insulting. That a vessel of the Dragunov's stature could not house an extra nine baseline humans for a month or two was unfathomable, as Inquisitors often would bring entire entourages of a dozen or more scribe servitors, lexmechanics, and their own personal astropaths, and stay on for much longer. "Indeed Captain, I believe you will find our facilities quite comfortable." He wasn't entirely sure though. What he had seen of this ship, it had a fairly comfortable medical bay, though the tables simply would not support the weight of a brother.

Captain Reynolds looked at him, "Ookay. So where is your ship then?"

"Up there," Ryspiten pointed out the front at an upward diagonal, and the crew rushed to the bridge to see if they could spot it. He thought he heard one of the females exclaim "Shiny!" but he couldn't be totally sure, as he was almost certain there was nothing shiny about the rust red paint beneath the hazy void-shields.

Captain Reynolds rushed back out of the bridge, "How the hell are we going to get on that thing!"

"I'll help you steer it in, of course," the marine commander was getting tired of this game. He would have to wait until he could get the nine into a room with a history servitor to really educate them, but it really didn't seem that hard to get such a dinky little craft into the hold of the immense strike cruiser. After all, it wasn't much larger than a bomber, and there was at least three of those sitting in the hold right at that moment.

"No offense sir, but you won't fit in the cockpit."

"Of course not. And until I have seen your pilot flying, I will assume he does not have the control necessary to plant this craft inside the hangar without crashing it. Decimus and Valorious will be riding your wingtips, and I will be giving corrections via hand signals through the view-port," the captain sighed and pointed at the hangar door.

)))))oooo(((((

"I'll let you out," he sighed again and slid down the railing to the control panel. The doors opened, and Captain Reynolds stared, awestruck, as the immense figures stepped through the open doorway in perfect step-lock. The inner door closed, and the outer door opened with a hiss of released air. The three marines took up their positions, trudging along the hull via magnetic boots.

Wash began easing the vessel in, listening to the bleed-over chatter as he watched the massive figure standing firmly atop the nose of Serenity like some bizarre hood ornament. He guided Wash in smoothly, and the pilot dropped into a pattern as his brain became removed from the pilot's seat and joined Kaylee, marveling at the gaping maw of the vessel. Quite honestly, he was still scared shitless of those guys, because he didn't know if they were Alliance or not, but he was fairly confident that they weren't, after all, Alliance vessels couldn't stand to be that particular shade of rust-red.

The Firefly transport eased into the bay and settled comfortably, dismounting the riders as though they had practiced the move, which, looking at the other vessels in the hangar, they might have. Captain Mal took up a stance at the cargo-bay door, Zoe on his right, Jayne on his left holding Vera tightly in a passive ready pose. The door opened with a soft hiss of pressure stabilization, musty metallic tasting air rushing in and raising the pressure by a subtle but not insignificant amount. Standing before him was Ryspiten and his two men, backed by an aisle between two rows of men as big as the commander, wearing similar armor. Rust-red, streaked with black. In the larger area, with over two dozen repeats, Mal could clearly see that they all bore a matching pauldron, a four-spoke cog with the spokes covered by large rifle-bullets that looked so real he felt like he could pull them out. The opposite pauldron differed more though. Not everyone had differences, but there was enough for him to tell that those were probably squad emblems. The commander bore one that looked like a double-headed eagle, a noble emblem to indicate command, "Zoe, when we get back to our happy life, remind me to get one of those pauldrons." Valorious wore the universal logo of the medical field, the intertwined serpents, printed in tar black. Decimus bore a cog with a pair of crossed wrenches embedded in place of the spokes, again so realistic that he felt he could just grab the tools out of the plate.

)))))oooooo((((((

"Welcome, Captain Malcolm Reynolds of Serenity, to Strike Cruiser Arcanus Dragunov," he threw up both arms, gesturing to the immense hold and the rack after rack of drop-pods, Thunder-hawks, Chimera tanks, and Land-raiders. In step, every marine behind him began stomping their feet, rocking the deck, and nearly knocking Mal and his sides over. "Gentlemen, and Lady, right this way, and we will get you situated," he began walking as Decimus and Valorious returned to their normal posts.

"The Dragunov is one of the finest ships of the class in the Astartes Mechanicus Division, boasting three hundred hell-cannons, fourteen void-slayer missile launchers, and triple-redundant void shields. Two thousand of the Emperor's Finest serve aboard her, of those, Two hundred loyal Astartes, Ten Apothecaries, Ten Tech-marines, Ten Armiger Marines, One hundred and sixty Tech-adepts, Twenty-four Enginseers, Ten cooks, Twenty-six Astropaths and assorted Sanctioned Psykers, One thousand assorted Servitors, Five hundred Guardsmen, and Fifty aspirants. She has stock for three thousand, should it be required, for up to seven years, and rooming for One thousand and Twenty-four beings," Ryspiten stopped at a door nearly big enough for Serenity to fit through, etched with the same double-eagle as his pauldron, waiting patiently as it opened slowly but surely.

"But that leaves you nine hundred and seventy six bunks short," Zoe looked at him, wondering how they solved that problem. It was an interesting issue, one that had never come up in the 'Verse before, because every ship had enough bunks for all of its crew to use and personalize.

He smiled grimly beneath his helmet, "We rotate. Two shifts. Twelve hours each," he continued walking, attempting to slow himself to a pace these shorter humans could maintain. The ship was after all, a full kilometer and a half in length, and half a kilometer wide and tall. If not for the hold occupying the entire first quarter, it could probably support more crew like some of those scout cruisers out there. He finally reached the lift, a massive cable-drawn platform that used gravitics to ease the effort it needed. The commander turned his back to the wall and spoke, clearly and loudly enough that Mal and Zoe actually flinched. Jayne just pointed to the ear-plugs embedded in his ears and grinned. "Lift. Level Beta Alpha."

The massive platform began rising, rocketing towards the deck. From level Romeo Charlie to Beta Alpha was a rise of nearly seventy floors, which the lift traversed in slightly more than a minute, during which the three humans carefully stood back to back, avoiding the walls shooting past them at a little over five meters per second like their life depended on it. Which, since that was a little over their normal running speed, and the walls were somewhat pointy, it probably did. A belt-sander was what came to Mal's mind as he watched the spikes rush past, a very rough belt-sander.

The lift finally came to rest and Ryspiten stepped forward, past the three guests, and across the small gap in the floor-plates, bidding them to follow him down the corridor. Off to either side were doors that stood floor to ceiling, three meters tall. Ryspiten came to a halt outside one door that bore a subdued and stylized 'I', topped by a grinning white skull. The door opened, and the Commander stood aside, "I hope this chamber is to your satisfaction."

The interior was immense, nearly twice the size of Serenity's cargo hold, and from the looks of it, designed to be used by multiple people. There were leveled bunks, each with an individual platform on the wall side and a fabric curtain made from some sort of blood-red fabric that resembled silk in the texture, but Kevlar weave in weight and tension. It was actually a braided mylar/ carbon-fiber blend that would stop a knife or a las-rifle, even a point blank range. It appeared that there were sixteen of these bunks, stacked two high, and four long, with what appeared to be a communal bathroom in the middle. Not too different from Serenity's wares, though the bunks were accessed differently, and there were more of them.

Mal's first thought at the sight was, "Does this come in a collapsible form?" If it did, packing an extra few bunks in the hold of Serenity would be worth charging an extra dozen credits for the more private rooms in the back.

Zoe looked around, "Are there any built for two?"

Jayne smiled, "And one of these is mine?"

Ryspiten took the three questions in, and answered calmly, "No, We have one in the lower left for larger inquisitors, it should fit two of your size, and yes, for the duration of your stay." The Commander stood by the doorway, on the outside, as the three explored the chamber, "Now, Mass is at 0430. Do NOT be late, or Brother-Librarian Zecharius will be very cross with you."

Jayne decided to respond, "Book gets mad at us all the time, what's so different about this 'Brother-Librarian'?"

"His mind, for one. Good evening. I shall see you at Mass," the commander walked away, closing the door behind him, parting words slipping past, "Your crew will be up shortly with Brother Jakyyle and Brother Quartyrmyn." Ryspiten returned to the bridge, as his backup would be turning in for the night cycle, and no longer be available to watch the ship for him.

He reached the railing and tapped his Co-commander on the shoulder, "Brother-Commander Halsyng, I believe it is time for you to turn in for the night."

The other marine turned, revealing the matching, but opposed black ovoid across his face. A mirror for the one on Ryspiten's face from when the two brothers, the only actual blood-brothers on the ship, and the only pair of twins in this part of the galaxy to both become marines, had tagged a Carnifex with a pair of chain-swords, and it had responded in kind, biting off the inner parts of their faces in a single bite. As it confused most of their superiors to have identical last names, the two often used their first names instead, even with each-other. But only over private channels. Some subordinates didn't even know there was two Commander Halsyngs.

"Raspytin. These newcomers, they will not be trouble?"

"No Doryin. They will not. Besides, if they are, treat them like the Inquisitorial staff."

Doryin smiled and walked down the long corridor to the captain's quarters. It was the only room in the entire ship that had no security systems protecting it. No-one would dare enter the room though, locks or not, because of the immense Carnifex skull that covered the back wall of the room, bearing the initials of both brothers carved with chainswords. It was the very same Carnifex that had taken their faces, and every man aboard knew how Brother-Commander Halsyng had lost his face to it, before returning the favor. Few knew that it had been both Commander Halsyngs who had performed the act, a detail they both made sure to leave out. It raised the opinions of them together, and had gained them their shared position.

The Inquisitorial staff quarters door was hanging open when Doryin passed it, and he paused, peeking in. The data-burst that Ryspiten had tossed over to his armor's machine-spirit helped him identify the nine occupants of the room, besides the two he already knew, Brothers Jakyyle and Quartyrmyn, the alchemist and the sniper. Nearly inseparable those two. Even now, actually, especially now, after almost a century of watching each-other's backs, the invisible cord that bound the two was so thick that any Psyker who looked at it would believe they were the same person. They had even come to the proving grounds bearing the same first name, one having changed it legally before they had been recruited. No records could tell which one it had been though. And now, even a century later, the Hyde brothers continued to conceal that information.

The nine newcomers seemed to be settling in comfortably though, dividing into specific groupings and bunking up for the night. He said nothing, and continued walking, reaching the captain's cabin quickly and turning in for the night, laying atop a slab of steel that matched the back of his armor well enough to keep his back straight. The armored neck held his head up in position as he began the lengthy process of shutting down his brain for the night and hibernating.


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