Chapter 1: The Beginning of The End

Disclaimer: Every work included here belongs to their respective owners, for I simply write this story. Credits to the authors of Emergence (betapike) and the Swarm of War (VexMaster) for inspiration and all of the scenes.


{? - Somewhere in the Warp}


"..." The eldritch existence far beyond mankind's capability to even understand is currently rapping their metaphorical fingers against a physically nonexistent desk (making the same noises over and over again), having absolutely nothing to do. In short, they are utterly, completely bored out of their minds.

"...!" After quite some time of silent thinking, the being finally had a flash of idea, an eureka moment, of how to alleviate their boredom. To them, it is a truly ingenious plan. To others not of their caliber (namely mankind), well... Not so much.

What is this so-called "ingenious plan" do you ask? Simple; they'll cause an apocalypse scenario, give humanity an escape route (read: highway to hell), give them some equipment, and have them flush out the pests and rodents that littered their safehouse. Though, if they failed in this task, they will either die or be subjected to a fate worse than death. Though it's not like the god would allow them to have such fate.

They had known humanity for quite some time. They had even met their predecessors before escaping to this universe. Yes, they came from another universe. Because how the hell would a somewhat literal "rocks fall everyone dies" scene happens and then a lolrandom gateway to an alternate fucking universe appearing outta thin air would make any sort of sense? Getting back on track, the eldritch being had met humanity's predecessors (probably the Neanderthals) in their home universe before taking a permanent leave because they are getting their side's ass kicked in a galactic war. What is this war exactly? Well, everyone, both in this universe and the other one, knew of it as the War in Heaven. Which means this god is either; one, an Old One. Two, an Eldar god. Or three, a C'tan (or Yngir). And they are definitely NOT two or three.

This certain Old One had been here since the first dinosaurs were born and even posed as the Abrahamic god, writing down and handing out the holy scriptures and miracles to the prophets and all that. They need the power faith can give, after all. But remembering the numerous overzealous or misguided faithfuls made them frown (even though the being doesn't even have a physical face), for even they do not approve of the foolish actions taken by them. That line of thought was quickly squashed to focus on the plan, and they smiled in amusement at what is to come.

"Magnificent... Hehehahaha... I can't wait to see their shocked faces!" As to the reason why they escaped? Seriously, who wants to get sacrificed to rabid spirit-eating Kirbies (which are all Deus ex Machinas in the most literal sense) by a horde of cutting edge space-Egyptian Terminators? Definitely not the Old Ones and their allies, that's for damn sure. But, first things first, "They will need all the equipment and help they can get. I mean, they're fighting six major factions and then some. Three of these (fucking failures) are even made by us. Not even their knowledge of canon, rulebooks, and all that will get them all the way... So..." They snapped their fingers, and gifted incredible knowledge upon one random soul, one that would be born very soon. "She would be born quite a long time before the End hits. Well anyway, good luck to you, because you and the rest of humanity of this galaxy will need it," They smirked to the (un)lucky newborn, "Tsubakura Kanegawa..." and continued their work.

When the Old One was making sure that the star would catapult itself to kick off this plan, they suddenly had another idea; they could imbue a meteor that would warn the humans of the threat (or tamper with time to do it with a preexisting one) with Warp energy, which will unlock and bolster their latent psychic potential, if they have any that is. "Worth a shot, but I'm not sure... The Eldar, the Orks and these 'Chaos daemons' were evidence enough that the powers of the Realm of Souls were not to given nor taken lightly. This is a problem..." The Old One sighed in exasperation. "Ah screw it. I'll give them magic powers alright. It was a stupid mistake getting all of the "shamans" of this world killed. Hm... Wait. The medieval fantasy iteration of my old galaxy uses a safer version of psychic powers, and a far more varied one as well."

"..."

"I think I just got yet another brilliant idea."


{2028 AD - Germany - Bundeswehr Heer Base - Location Classified}


To many, it was the perfect image of a calm night here in Germany, and the beautiful meteor shower just outside of this base was merely a bonus. Unfortunately, the peaceful atmosphere was quickly ruined by the terrified scream of a corporal.

"HERR OBERST!"

Said Oberst simply sighed, 'So much for the peace.' The Oberst was quite an intimidating man, with his tall, muscled body, and well-built masculine facial features. His eyes were cyan in color, and his blonde hair involves a short flat-top and a length at his neck, which was subject to jokes for it's similarity with a certain videogame character (before he punished said jokers for that though). Hidden by his uniform was mechanical body parts, courtesy of SteinsTech, which replaced his lost ones in the GLA War. The name of this beefy (and somewhat sadistic) Bavarian colonel is Rudol Hanszecht. And his mood is most definitely soured thanks to this rude interruption. "What is it, soldier!?"

The panicking soldier flinched and began think out his next words out of fear, simply because of one little tidbit that also brought an end to the "Oberst Guile" joke: Fuck with Hanszecht, and he'll fuck you back twice (sometimes thrice) as hard. "Herr Oberst, you need to see this for yourself. This is very important! A meteor just hit Earth and there is something weird happening in space!"

Though Hanszecht voiced his disapproval, he still got up and grabbed his half-empty coffee cup and walked towards the "Space Observatory" as he puts it just behind the soldier. He was quite surprised by the news, 'The shower wasn't supposed to be anywhere near Earth's orbit. What changed?' After some time, he reached the room and was greeted by saluting (and agitated) soldiers. "What happened?" He asked, to which one of them replied, "Sir, look here." Drinking the remainder of his coffee, the Oberst then saw what made that soldier from before so worked up and had the decency to drop his cup. "GET GENERAL VON KUERTEN AND THE CHANCELLOR ON THE LINE! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!"


Humanity has always looked to the stars and future in both awe and wonder. But after that fateful day, when the stars itself made heavenfall and a second chance to a future was given, humanity wished they were blind. That they never had to face the horrors of this universe; that they could have lived in blissful ignorance and the safety of this world.

But alas it was not to be, yet they had endured and became stronger than I would have ever believed they were ever capable of becoming. When faced with the impossible, humankind had rose to new heights by utilizing the power that they held at their fingertips the whole time, but never reached.

This story has been written so you who have not been backed into a corner like they had, can have the knowledge they do without having to be in constant danger like they are. For even being as strong and powerful as they are now, survival is never a guarantee in this soulsforsaken universe.

But now I am getting ahead of myself, so how did this all began you might ask?

Well, however clichéd and cheesy it might sound to you, it had all started with a bang... A meteor shower to be precise. A meteor shower that should have not even scratch the satellites turned out to do just that, made planetfall, and cause hundreds to thousands of deaths and countless property damage across the world, and that was not even the end of their string of misfortunes.

After they underwent through that catastrophe, they proceeded to find out how in the warp they were caught off guard by it. They redirected their telescopes to find what was responsible for it, and made a truly bone-chilling discovery that would change their world forevermore.

Out there in the cold void of space, a neutron star roughly 10 kilometers across and possibly with the mass of 3 suns was discovered to be heading towards their star system. It's gravitational field was responsible for the deadly hailstorm of meteorites via the disruption of their orbits.

Even worse was the fact that it's trajectory indicated that their star system was smack-dab right in the middle of it's path, which means it would destroy Earth and the rest of the star system in approximately seven and a half decades at best.

Soon all that would be left of their world, their cultures, and their people will be whatever escapes the doomed system. Panic and discord (and fervent denial) ran rampant across the globe as the most optimistic plans for building interstellar ships would leave billions of people behind, not to mention the ridiculous expenses and time required.

But then everything had changed when an anomaly was detected within North America right outside the city of Portland, Oregon; a glowing white oval about as wide as a city block and 4 stories tall.

They soon concluded that it was a two way wormhole after a scout drone traveled to the other side and what was better is that it is connected to a terrestrial planet akin to Earth, and they hoped that this as of yet unnamed world could be our salvation from the neutron star that they started calling Typhon.

They tried to study the anomaly, but it began to destabilize itself and soon restabilizes as soon as they stopped. There were only theories as to why it was doing so but everyone present couldn't help but feel as if someone was playing games with humanity, and they are actually correct, though they did not know that. But they did not have much of a choice if we wanted to survive Typhon intact. So they stopped trying to properly study it and proceeded to simply understand and then colonize the world on the other side.

They had decided to call it the Gate of Noah (or Noah's Gate, the Noah Gate, or simply the Gate), in honor of the Prophet Noah. It was better then calling it the strange glowing hole to bumfuck nowhere.

The first to be sent was an international collaboration of military and science personnel, codenamed Project ARK. Also in honor of the Prophet Noah.

The task of the scientists was to learn about the planet's ecology and geology as well as astronomy. There wouldn't be much point to colonization if this world was going to be burned down by a neutron star as well now would it? The mission of the military was to protect the scientists, explore the planet, and pacify any and all threats to the colonization efforts.

Turned out they were going to have a lot of work ahead of them.

And they are going to need to improve their armed forces, a lot.

And they are going to need to improve (and adapt) their civilization, a lot.

And they are going to be doing both of these things for a long, long time.


{2028 AD, 3 weeks after the appearance of the Gate - Unknown World}

Captain Stephen Rogers was enjoying the view. After a week long hike his Ranger squad had reached the end of this vast forest. They looked through the gaps in the trees and saw a huge green plain stretching all the way to the faint presence of mountains in the distance. On the right side they saw the beach, it's sand glittering like gold under the sunlight. And the ocean was a wondrous blue, vast, and mysterious befitting of the strange new world the people of Earth found themselves in. He was taking it all in knowing full well that he was witnessing history in the making.

That was when he and his squad heard a noise and took cover behind the trees. There was still no telling what sort of dangers this planet hosted, so it was better to be safe then sorry.

It was then a little girl appeared. She was wearing a yellowish white blouse tied up with a belt around her skirt which was a quaint purple color; but it was obviously not washed often. Rogers simply blinked at her appearance before activating the radio.

"This is Alpha Squad to Central, come in Central." Rogers whispered to the radio.

"This is Central, go ahead Alpha Squad." Central replied.

"Uploading audiovisual recording, I think you're all going to want to see this."

His helmet's camera connected to the base and in a few moments a response came through.

"Captain… can you confirm what we are looking at?" Central asks dubiously.

"A peasant girl from something like the Dark Ages... and she's human."

"Dr. Kanegawa, any theories on how this is possible?"

"Up till this point it was unconfirmed whether the Gate was an intra or inter universe gateway. What we are seeing here suggests that it is the former unless any evidence to the latter comes up." The good doctor explained for everyone.

"So we went back in time like Doctor Who? And I thought we went to another planet in another solar system." A Private going by the name of Gabriel Jones remarked in astonishment, although Rogers can sense the glumness in his last words.

It was then that the little girl called out. "Daddy?"

Rogers was just about to ask for any orders when four tiny creatures came out of a thicket. They were green and disgusting.

'What the hell are these creatures?' Rogers thought to himself. And he is not the only one.

The girl noticed the green creatures too, and the green creatures noticed the girl. The four green creatures each carrying a knife started to speak to each other, keeping their eyes on the girl the whole time.

"Wots dis? A humie Gretchin? Yum yum!"

'Wait... Gretchin? GRETCHIN!?' Jones blinked owlishly 'I'm just imagining things. Yeah that's it.'

"Da Boss wud luv to eat er up!"

"I wanna get it's leg!"

"Yu's going to eat Squigs not humie Gretchin! Da humie Gretchin is for the Boss."

"Which boss? Da Big boss or the us boss?

"Da Big Boss, yu idiot! Da Warboss luv eating humies!"

Then the creatures charged and the girl she screamed and ran.

"Rangers, eliminate the four hostiles and save the girl!" Rogers ordered on reflex.

Alpha Squad fired their M16A5 assault rifles and catching the as of yet unidentified creatures with their metaphorical pants down. Three immediately died on the spot while the last one had it's hand shot off and then proceeded to book it out of there, disappearing into the thicket never to be seen again.

"All clear!"

Rogers looked down at the creatures and on closer inspection they almost looked like... goblins? "Central, we have a mighty fine mystery for the lab boys to figure out, what the hell are these critters?!"

"They're Gretchin." Said Jones whose face is drained of colour. "One of the Ork subspecies from Warhammer 40k."

"What, that tabletop game that depicts a hilariously over the top hellhole of a galaxy in the 41st millennium?" Kanegawa asked, then furrowed her brows in thought, "That... actually seems plausible. Or maybe this is it's Fantasy version? No, we would have made contact with someone by now. Hm... Curiouser and curiouser." she theorized.

"Oh please gods no!" Another Ranger, Dugan Falsworth, exclaimed.

"A-ha! I was right all along! Gimme my booze!" Jones now grinned like a madman upon remembering the bet his squadmates made sometime earlier, completely overriding any sense of fear upon learning that these things were Gretchins (maybe).

"We don't know that for sure," replied Sergeant John Barnes, more commonly called Bucky by his comrades. "So let's not jump to conclusions."

"Buzzkill."

That's Bucky for you, always reminding everyone to keep their heads on their shoulders. "We should get these bodies to the labs. The scientists will be able to confirm what these things are. Steve?" Bucky said while looking at Rogers as he said it.

Rogers nodded. "How about it Central?"

"Well, Doctor?"

"The labs have just been finished and the research teams are on stand by. We can begin autopsies on the cadavers as soon as they drop them off here."

Then they turned to find the girl peeking out from behind a tree still looking fearful yet also curious, "Central, permission to establish contact?" After a few seconds Central replied.

"Permission granted, we need to learn more about this world. Kanegawa had already sent a team to retrieve the bodies, so you don't need to worry about that."

Rogers put away his rifle and then called out to the girl. "My name is Stephen, are you OK? Can you understand me?

After a scant few seconds the child responded. "Yes... can you help me get back home?"

Rogers smiled. "We sure can as soon as we learn where home is. But are you sure we'll be welcomed there?" Rogers gestured at himself and his squad. "I think we'll get some funny looks."

The girl looked thoughtful for a moment. Then she looked at Rogers and his men and replied. "I'm sure daddy wouldn't mind. I'm Alena, and who are your friends?"

"We are called Rangers. This is Gabe, Bucky, and Dum Dum." Each nodding their heads when their names are mentioned, though Dugan facepalmed. "It's Dugan, kid, not Dum Dum. The Captain simply has a strange sense of humor." At this, everyone chuckled.

Alena smiled and said, "It's this way." and led them towards the village.


On the way Alena stopped to pick up some flowers from a large pond (which is big enough to be easily mistaken for a small lake) that curiously looked like violet lotuses, though the Rangers decided to shut their mouth.

After roughly half an hour the village came into view, the sun was beginning to set, and they could see dozens of people carrying torches. Rogers noticed a man was in front of the crowd addressing them.

"She cannot have gone far."

"Don't worry Elric, we will find her."

"Hey, what's that?"

The men turned to to see Alena being accompanied by four strange men, before anyone could react Alena rushed over to the man that was referred to as Elric. They hugged tightly and 'Elric' whispered in a dry, hoarse voice.

"Where have you been Alena!? When I found out that you were missing, I was so scared!"

Alena kissed her father on the cheek and smiled wide.

"I was bringing you a picnic basket daddy, and then I saw some goblins and then the goblins tried to eat me. Then Stephen and his Ranger friends saved me using those loud, exploding box... staff... things."

Like any child her age all the unnecessary details of the day simply flew out of her mouth. At first the crowd was relieved to see her safe, but then they began to worry at the mention of 'goblins'.

One of them, a large man with a sword in a leather sheath on his belt knelt down next to Elric and Alena.

"Alena."

"Uncle Hargen!"

"Alena, what did these 'goblins' look like?"

Alena paused for a moment.

"Well, they were green, short with big noses and they had knifes on them, and they spoke like really funny."

The crowd flinched at that description, and Hargen's grim frown rubbed Alena the wrong way. "Uncle Hargen, did I do something wrong?"

As a proper child she was worried she'd get scolded. Hargen, after hearing her, smiled again. "It's okay Alena, now you said those men saved you? Stephen and the... 'Rangers'?"

Alena nodded "They came out from the trees and beat the goblins with their metal wands and asked me if I was fine, then they helped me get back home. Look dad, I even got the friendship flowers for them."

Alena held out the violet lotuses she took from the pond and gave them to her father. Elric, with Hargen behind him, walked over towards the strange men wearing clothing that bore a camouflage-like pattern that could very well be useful for remaining unseen within the forest.

"I am Elric, to whom am I speaking to?"

The man in front the the group responded "I am Captain Stephen Rogers. A Ranger of the United States Army."

Hargen looked puzzled and then replied "I am afraid we are not familiar with the United States Army."

Contrary to what they had expected, Rogers laughed. "I am so GLAD that you are not familiar with them, if you were I would have lost what was left of my beloved sanity. These last few weeks have been crazy enough as it is." Seeing their questioning expressions, he continued "Long story short, we are from a faraway place that will be unlivable in..." Rogers paused realizing that the years on this world might be different from Earth's own. "Well, in the not too distant future at least. So we would need a new home if our people are to survive, so we're building a settlement at the base of the mountains." He then pointed at the faded mountain ranges behind him. "Our hope is that there may be peace between our people."

Elric and Hargen looked at each other then after a moment Elric looked back to Rogers. "It is an old custom that those who have proven themselves to be friends of us be presented with the Pond's Grace Lotus." He handed him the violet lotuses he received from Alena.

"As far as I am concerned you have more than earned them for saving my daughter's life from the Orks." He smiled and finished "Allow me to formally welcome you and your men to the Moonbright village."

Rogers took the flowers and replied "Thank you," putting them in his pocket. "While I would like to continue the courtesies we have some pressing matters to attend to. If we are going to encounter these 'Orks' again, we are going to need to know everything you can tell us about them."

Elric thought about it for a moment then nodded "Very well. We can discuss this during the evening feast where we shall tell you everything we know about those damnable greenskins."

"That sounds good, thank you for your hospitality." Rogers replied and he reflected once more on the fact that he was experiencing history in the making. "Lead the way."


{720.M41 - Segmentum Pacificus - Vorsk Sector - Cabulis System - Crux - Imperium of Man: Civilized World}

Sudden appearances of random Warp Storms in the sectors within Pacificus worried the Segmentum Command. They did not relish the idea of losing contact with Crux and the nearby Imperial Worlds. Unwilling to take any chances, the Segmentum Command boosted the number of patrols and increased the presence of Imperial Guards around key worlds.

One of the Endurance Class Light Cruisers, having recently returned from patrol duty around the edge of the Star Charts and the edge of the Imperium, was refitted and restocked with supplies and troops. It now had new orders. It was to patrol the path to Ultima Macharia, the final frontier world of the Imperium that was established by the great Lord Commander Solar Macharius at the end of the Macharian Crusade.

The whole region has been under enormous pressure from various external threats as well as internal strife. The Chaos attacks around the Sabbat Worlds have brought uneasy attention from the high levels of Imperial government. Yet, the Segmentum Command did not act so rashly based on mere raids, despite the many lost ships that were sent to investigate. The rumors of a large fleet and armies to retake the Sabbat Worlds were still only rumors.

The Endurance class ship did not participate in patrolling the edges of the Sabbat Worlds for a while, not since its near disastrous encounter with an Ork fleet followed by Chaos attack. For another decade, the ship and its crew were given leave and sent to patrol the edge of the galaxy. This, however, would be the last flight of this forgotten ship.


{600.M41 - Segmentum Pacificus - Unknown Solar System - Beyond Segmentum Star Charts, North of Ultima Macharia, West of Sabatine}

With the silent thunders in the vast emptiness of the space, a tiny Warp storm emerged, and as if regurgitating a bad-tasting food, it spat out a crippled ship. This was the same Endurance class Light Cruiser that departed the Cabulis System 120 years in the future. It was heavily damaged and its life support was almost gone. The once-proud hull was torn apart and bits and pieces were corrupted by the influence of the Warp.

The remaining, and still sane, crew got aboard the still uncorrupted escape pods and jettisoned out toward the habitable planet. Then the ship exploded. The explosion swallowed many escape pods, but a good few hundred, each containing scores of men and women, rained down on the northern parts of the planet's main continent.


Author's Note: AAAAAND CUT! So... This. I am not very skilled at making a story, so I am profoundly sorry if it has less than desirable quality. Though you, the readers, can help me if you so wished. This fic is a "what-if" scenario which combines our world, the Rise of the Reds mod for C&C Generals along with a few others (like Red Alert and Warhammer Fantasy to name a few), and put it into the grimdarkness of Warhammer 40000. Why? Because why the hell NOD? Eh?

Kudos to anyone who got the references to other works sprinkled in this chapter.

An early warning, but an important one nonetheless; I seriously have a writer's block every single time I try to write down a story. I can imagine them just fine, but when I try to translate it to words... It looks like shit. Because of this, any updates would be sudden and sporadic.

And with all that said, I bid you adieu.

++Battlefield Control, Terminated++