A/n: First time fic, please rip out my heart in the reviews. Warhammer belongs to Games Workshop, Mass Effect belongs to BioWare, only time I'm gonna say that.
Sentinels are often deployed far from Imperium supply lines, deep within enemy territory. When operating a autonomous units, the pilots of Sentinel squadrens are ofter forced to use their own initiative - a quality not generally fostered in Imperial soldiers. As a result Many Sentinel pilots have acquired a reputation as insubordinate hotsho mavericks.
M40.998 Battle over Elysium, Imperium of Man Fortress World.
Alroy Thrast was wound up and annoyed. He had been sitting in the Valkyrie transport for over an hour now waiting, while completely tense, for the outcome of the battle that waged outside. While he had no doubt that the Impirium would win the conflict sooner or later, he was worried that his troop ship would be noticed and destroyed by the Chaos forces; and he would'nt be able to do a thing about it.
What frustrated Alroy the most, however, was the conversation going on between his Sentinel's handler and himself.
"And I said you should release the grav shute at 1500 feet, the margin for error is too small at 1000 feet!" the Enginseer was nearly screaming at this point, her Mechadendrites waving all over the cramped area, causing the two door gunners to dive for cover, lest they be brought into the argument in a very physical sense.
"1500 feet would be comfortable, if I was still in training. If I activate the grav chute at that height, the enemy triple A will swat me right out of the sky," Alroy was calm despite what was going on all around him because he knew how his sister would get when the safety of her machine was in question.
Alroy and his Handler, Ailbe, were twin brother and sister, who, in an almost impossible chance, were given the same assignment by two different organisations. That assignment was as the pilot and Handler team of an Elysian Drop Sentinel, respectively. Having a pilot was obvious, but the Handler's job was a lot more finicky, for the Machine Spirit of a Sentinel was often reckless and a handful. The comparison could be made that, while the many tanks and support vehicles were easy to work with, almost like cattle, a Sentinel's spirit was wild and restless, requiring dedicated time for each, even more so for the Elysian's Drop variant.
Both of the siblings were very close, and it was joked by the crew of their Valkyrie, the Downpour of His Fury, that the two were a married couple, and their child was the Sentinel, Bertha, that was the current topic of the argument at the moment.
"Sorry to end the bickering you two, but I just got clearance to launch," the voice of the "Captain", Warrant Officer Paul Gugner, interupted over the vox.
As Paul pulled the ship out of the hangar of the transport, Alroy, Ailbe, and the two heavy bolter gunners, Sam and Rickshaw, all strapped into their stations. Alroy got into Bertha as the three others sat down in each of their stations, Sam by the port door, Rickshaw by the starbord, and Ailbe by the monitering equipment that would let her know when Alroy and Bertha needed an extraction from the battlefield.
"Emperor protects!" was suddenly heard over the vox, "Those filth brought a Space Hulk here!"
All eyes on the Downpour of His Fury were instantly glued to their displays. The Hulk was huge, almost the size of the planet they would be landing on. The ship was eaisily one of the largest most of the fleet had seen, and what was worse was that it was still operational, and quite deadly. Paul and his weapons officer, Kara Riket, could clearly see the beams of energy that were lashing out at the much smaller craft of the Imperial fleet from the cockpit of the Downpour. As one of the beams skewered a rather large Cruiser, both shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
"To all craft anywhere within a 24 kilometer distance from the Space Hulk, evacuate, I repeat EVACUATE, the Hulk is making a Warp Jump, and the wake will pull you in if you do not evac in time."
The warning was too little too late, however, as half the Imerial fleet, thinking it was safe to advance, were caught in the sphere of of Warp. All of the larger ships, which had Gellar fields, would be safe (a relative term when it came to Warp travel), but the wave of Valkyries that had just been launched would have no such joy.
As realization dawned on the pilot, Paul shut down the external moniters and closed the adamantium blinds of the cockpit, doing what little he could to shield the crew of the Downpour's minds from the insanity of the Warp. As the armada of small vessels were devoured by Hell itself, every person resigned to their fate, all the lips of the damned were intoning a prayer to Him on Earth.