NOTE: I do not own Warhammer 40k or Starfox, they are property to Games Workshop and Nintendo respectively.

Prologue – Darkest Dawn

"Who truly knows what the future holds in store for all of us? Frankly I believe that if we focus on what we don't want our future to be, its the same as laying a path in front of ourselves with a sign pointing down it saying 'damnation'," - Anonymous.

Captain Kale Thius walked calmly towards the helm of the Emperors Wrath, flanked by two other large armored figures. The one to his right was Chaplain Alexander, his old and wizened features betraying the fire in his chest that only got stronger with every breath he took. The Chaplain was clad in black armor which was in turn decorated with a series of seals and chains, studs placed along parts of his armor only stylised his image and complimented the golds and whites that laid proudly on his breast plate. At his side was his weapon of choice, and the universal icon of a Chaplain, the Crozius Arcanum. And around his neck was proof of his authority as a Chaplain of the Adeptus Astartes, the Rosarius. Its ornate surface shining under the fluorescent lights of the ship, the various chains reflecting light as they clanked across his black form.

The figure on the left was in blue armor, wearing a sort of robe over it. On his right shoulder pad was a skull over a rolled up scroll with lightning bolts crossing behind it. On his legs were pieces of parchment attached to his armor, with excerpts from battles, stories and even the Chapter motto chiseled on in a white ink onto his armor. Over his head was a psychic hood, a yellowish gold in appearance. Across his back was a sword, gothic symbols engraved into the blade and scabbard. On the white helmet which he held under his arm were yet more words chiseled into the sides. This was Brother-Librarian Jonas Aurian.

Kale was equal in height and figure to the two other Marine's in his armor. Though while Alexander's and Jonas' armor were colored differently, Kale's shared the color of their chapter. His armor was a deep red, recently repaired and polished from an engagement with Eldar on the planet of Kaora Prime, an engagement which they had won, albeit with heavy losses. His shoulder pads were trimmed with a charcoal black, as was his the right knee cap on his armor. He had short black hair, two service studs sitting proudly on top of his left eyebrow. He watched the faces and helmets of the marines and serfs along the way with a respectful nod to those who gave it to him. His eyes were always moving, their emerald optics never missing a detail in the confined spaces of the Space Marine Battle Bardge. His bleached bone helmet was clipped to his waist, while behind him underneath his cloak was his power sword, clipped to both sides of his waist and hanging just below his butt plate. The three marine's stood at an iron door, the silhouetted raven of the Blood Ravens displayed proudly on it's darkened appearance. As the door opened several figures stood at attention for a moment before turning and going back to what they were doing. Another Space Marine stood in front of a large chair dominating the room, his armor larger than Kale's even though it was of the same design.

Turning the marine smiled "Captain Thius, good of you to join me, have you checked the numbers on the amount of marines your company has been re bolstered with? I'm sure the numbers are adequate considering what you had after Kaora Prime,"

"Yes, the company is now at full strength, though the new marines are not as experienced as the ones I have already lost...they are ready for the trials to come," Kale returned the smile and nodded.

"Thats good news, have you orders yet?"

"Yes Brother-Admiral Veneri," Kale nodded "the co-ordinates are being sent to the navigators as we speak,"

"Excellent," Veneri looked over at the other two "Chaplain Alexander, Librarian Aurian," he bowed in a mutual respect.

"Greetings Admiral," Alexander returned the bow with Jonas as the Admiral addressed them.

"I trust your injuries are better?" Veneri asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yes, the cybernetics are keeping up better than I had thought," Alexander nodded and maintained a stance with a straightened back and hands folded behind his back, his head held high.

"And Brother-Librarian, I believe that the information you collected on the surface of Karoa Prime was everything you had hoped it would be?"

"Indeed it was Admiral Veneri, indeed it was," the normally silent marine nodded with a bright smile.

"Good, now, have we received those co-ordinates yet?" the Admiral asked the serf at the navigational controls.

"Yes my lord, putting them into the computers now and warming up the warp drive,"

"Excellent, inform all personnel that we will be jumping soon,"

The hum of the engines continued to get louder and louder as the engines began to charge for their jump.

"If I may ask Captain, what orders have you been given?" the Admiral asked turning to face Kale.

"The Great-Father has seen yet more relics left from forgotten ages in another system, Lylat from what we can gather," Kale crossed his arms "we, are to retrieve them,"

"I see, however I do not doubt that you are leaving details out of this discussion Captain,"

Kale gave a smile as he looked up at the Admiral, now sitting in his command chair "What I am 'leaving out' Admiral is that there is another force interested in these relics,"

"Chaos?"

"It would seem so,"

"So, are we to make those living in this Lylat system our allies or smite them with the fury of the Emperor?" Chaplain Alexander asked with a hint of anxiety in his voice.

"We shall see Chaplain Alexander, we shall see," Kale prepared himself as the count down hit zero. And the ship entered the warp.

Captain Tyler Johnson grunted as he hefted a box almost as big as himself onto a truck outward bound for another base on the planet Joutenheim, the name was chosen after a large pile of ruins were found and the word was deciphered by the archeologist's sent by the Cornerian Military. That was a little over twenty years in the past, and there were now a handful of military bases on the planet. The snow outside of the docking bay was raging, the wind blowing so hard that the snow coming down was at a nearly 180 degree angle. The planet was an ice ball. A couple of trees here and there, but otherwise just snow pile after snow pile that littered the tundra landscape. The fur on the back of Tyler's neck seemed frozen in place.

"At least my mohawk shouldn't have a problem staying up..." he chuckled as he let a shiver run through his body.

Tyler was born off world, on a planet that seemed to no longer exist to the Cornerian government. Hell he didn't even remember what it was like. It must have been similar to Joutenheim because the cold never seemed to bother him. Not to mention he seemed built to survive these conditions. He was after all a Timber Wolf. When combat wasn't a factor and he didn't need anything over his head he put up the fur on his head and neck into a mowhawk, the tips of which were dyed black, complimenting the brownish fur he had littering his body.

The day was unusually bright, the clouds that were commonly seen blocking out all sunlight were seemingly non existent. Though the snow replaced the cloud cover, there was a couple degree difference in the heat. Walking out he took a breath as he looked up at the sky. Things were going good, he hadn't seen combat in a few months, war was becoming seen less and less, now the military seemed to be just a more powerful form of police. At least for those in Lylat.

His eyes widened and his heart felt like it was going to stop when he saw hyper gate windows open in space. Usually this wasn't a problem, but there were two factors that concerned him. He didn't know of any ships coming into the airspace, and the gates were big enough to be seen in a blizzard. Either the ship was big, or it's engines were just that powerful.

He was snapped out of his trance as his com set began to ring, answering it with a shaky hand he pressed the answer key.

"Captain Johnson..."

"Get to the war room Captain, we have a problem,"