Title: Victory or Death.

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: General for 40K and SAO

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Warhammer 40K or Sword Art Online.

Summary: Four Hundred Thousand players log into the much anticipated Warhammer 40K Apocalypse Online, only to find themselves trapped inside with no way out. 40K SAO crossover.


Jen and Neo walked along a pathway out from the Scholam, one of the earliest Scholar Players to complete the training, which was designed to take them to level 5, but due to the extra work they put in they were both almost level 6. The path they were on would eventually take them to the nearest Imperial Guard Training camp but there was turn off to the hunting grounds of the first quests. They had learnt that there are actually two Scholam, four Imperial Guard Training Camps and two Mechanicum Factorums on Cadmian for the starting Imperial players.

They were both still dressed in the starting simple black with red trim uniforms of the Scholam but Jen was armed with a Lasrifle, with a basic sword as backup, while Neo was armed with his preferred Laspistol and the same sword as Jen. As they walked they saw two figures approach from the direction of the Guard Training Camp. As they were outside the safe zone of the Scholam, they readied their weapons but did not raise them. The approaching figures were two Imperial Guard players. One was a large teenager with fair skin who looked like a running back or Rugby forward while the other was a petite little Asian woman, with short black hair and penetrating eyes. Both the Guard players had Lasrifles in their hands, simple flack vests covering their torsos while the man had a Laspistol in a holster at his waist while the woman had a bayonet.

"Hello." Jen said cautiously.

"Hey." The large Guard said with an American accent.

"I'm Jen, this is Neo." Jen said. "And you are?"

"I'm Rock." The big guy said. "And this is Tona."

"First and Only?" Neo said with a grin that got all four of them laughing and a nod from Tona.

"So… How's being in the Guard?" Jen asked.

"Bunch of hard asses, but overall, not too bad." Tona replied, surprising Jen and Neo with a solid Australian accent. "How's the Scholam?"

"Ehh." Neo replied with a shrug. "Most of them are up themselves."

That got a smile from the two Guard players.

"What's say we group up?" Rock said. "Figure with the four of us together we could clear the quests fairly quickly."

After exchanging a glance with Neo, Jen nodded and sent group invites to Rock and Tona as she was already the grouped with Neo. The pair quickly accepted the group invite and Jen shared the quests they had gotten at the Scholum with the two Guard players while Tona shared the Guard Quests with Jen and Neo.

The group made their way out into the field with Jen in the lead, Tona on her left, Rock on her right and Neo behind her ready to step in if close combat was needed. Looking through the updated quest list it looked like a lot of the Guard and Scholam quests were complementary. With a quick nod and a swift hand signal Jen lead the group towards the nearest group of quest targeted NPCs and began to open fire in short, disciplined bursts, joined almost immediately by Rock and Tona with the occasional pistol shot by Neo.


Jen, Neo, Rock and Tona walked through the Imperial Guard Training Camp, looking to turn in the latest batch of quests. Most of the Guard players ignored Jen and Neo by now, having become used to them over the last few days coming into the Guard Camp to turn in quests with Rock and Tona. While the Guard had quickly become accepting, the Scholam players still looked down on Rock and Tona whenever they accompanied Jen and Neo into the Scholam to turn in quests. After the brief completion conversation with the quest giver NPC, all four of them received popup notification that they had reached level 10. The whole group grinned and gave each other high fives at their achievement, they could now choose their specialisations. After agreeing to meet back up just outside the Guard Camp after their specialisation process was completed, Jen and Neo rushed back to the Scholam, looking for the Scholam Master. The Master was a wizened old man, with a ram rod stiff back and a completely metal, skeletal right arm.

"Congratulations on your successful graduation from Scholam Cadmian. You may now choose the manner in which you will serve the exalted Emperor." The master announced.

In front of Jen there appeared a box that stated 'Commissar' on the left and 'Sisters of Battle' on the right with a button beneath each. Next to her, Neo had the same choice, except he could choose 'Storm Trooper' instead of 'Sisters of Battle'. It came as no surprise to Jen that he immediately clicked on the left hand button. Jen herself only hesitated a second before selecting 'Sisters of Battle'.

"Your choices have now been made. Sister Jenith, you will report to Sister Superior Kathrine in the Ecclesiarch Chapel for your initiation. Junior Commissar Neoth, you will report to Commissar Rygel in the command centre. Bring honour to Scholam Cadmian." The Scholam Master proclaimed.

Jen quickly separated from Neo and made her way to the Chapel. She met with Sister Superior Kathrine in the back cloister. Kathrine was a severe looking woman in the black Power Armour and red robes of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, with a long scar down her cheek, which ruined the Fleur-De-Lis tattoo and short white hair. There was a long speech about dedication and devotion to the Emperor before a two vendor windows opened for Jen to make her new Specialisation purchases from.

On one side there was the choice of three different suits of Power Armour and three different Bolters to choose from, ranging from relatively cheap and ineffective to relatively expensive and of much better quality. The other vendor window displayed a selection of fifteen Sister of Battle NPCs, each with their own different set of stats and different recruitment costs based on those stats. These were the NPCs that she could select from to fight under her command. There a line of text at the bottom of that vendor window stating that at her current level she could only recruit two Sisters.

Even relatively flush with Imperial Credits from completing both Scholam and Guard quests, Jen quickly realised that she could not afford the best equipment and the best available NPCs. In the end, she decided to go for the mid level Power Armour and Bolter on the equipment side (after selling her Lasrifle but not her sword to Kathrine) and to recruit one mid ability NPC, a Sister Rose, and one higher ability NPC, Sister Magritte. While Sister Superior Kathrine sent an initiate back to summon Sister Rose and Sister Magritte, Jen opened her inventory and equipped her new Power Armour, in the black and red of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, before manually removing the helmet and clipping it to a small ring on the waist of the armour. She equipped the Bolter as her main weapon, which she magnetically attached to the side of armour's backpack, which contained the power source for the armour, for easy reach and the basic sword that she had kept which was sheathed on the opposite hip to where her helmet hung. Her Scholam uniform she placed into her inventory for the time being for safe zone occasions where she did not want to wear armour.

Sister Rose and Sister Magritte soon emerged from the rear of the chapel, both in their Power Armour and robes with their Bolters fastened to their backpacks and their helmets clipped to their waists. Rose was a smoothed faced woman who looked like she had just lost the last of her baby fat, with short red hair and innocent looking blue eyes. The stats Jen had read indicated that she was a decent shot with her Bolter, was slightly weak in hand to hand combat and was quite devout but had little combat experience. Magritte, on the other hand, had and olive complexion, black hair and hard, dark brown eyes. Her stats indicated that she had good tactical instincts, a slightly better shot than Rose and had two bloody campaigns under her belt.

"Sisters." Kathrine said to the two newly arrived Sisters. "This is Sister Jenith, she is to be your new commander."

"It is an honour to meet you, Sister Jenith." Sister Rose said with a deep bow.

"By your command, Sister." Sister Magritte replied simply.

With a last nod at Sister Superior Kathrine, Jen turned and walked out of the Chapel, with her two NPCs following behind. She met up with Neo in the entrance hall of the Scholum. He was now dressed in the iconic Great Coat and peaked cap of a Commissar, but Jen could detect the slight odd creases in the uniforms clothing that indicated armour underneath, with a Bolt Pistol holstered at one hip and a Chainsword clipped to the other. There were no NPCs with Neo as the Commissar class was a support class that could improve the performance of other players NPC but could not recruit their own, at least not at first.

Jen introduced her two NPCs to Neo and then they made their way out of the Scholam. As soon as they left the safe zone around the Scholam, both Rose and Magritte smoothly donned their helmets and drew their weapons, which they held in a loose, relaxed grip.

Tona was waiting for them just outside the Guard Camp, relaxing against a wall with two NPC troopers in tow. Tona introduced them as Trooper Krys, an unassuming looking male trooper with a Lasrifle and bayonet in flack armour, and Trooper Jane, a solid looking female trooper with a grenade launcher in her hands and a cocky grin on her face. Tona explained, with a broad grin on her face, that she had taken the Infantry Commander specialisation, which meant that she would not get a large number of NPCs under her command, unlike the Command Officer specialisation, but that she had more flexibility with the load out and abilities of her squad.

"Where's Rock?" Neo asked.

"He should be along soon. Boys and their toys." Tona said, somewhat cryptically.

They waited there for a few minutes until they heard a regular, low level thumping that seemed to be getting louder. Jen and Neo looked around, slightly concerned, while Rose and Magritte raised their Bolters to ready positions.

"That should be Rock now." Tona said.

Jen waved for Rose and Magritte to relax as the source of the thumping came into view. It was Rock, and he did not have any NPCs with him, instead he approached in the striding form of a Scout Sentinel, the Imperial Guard light recognisance walker with a wire frame cockpit, reversed hinged legs and a single multi-laser jutting out of the right hand side of the cockpit. Jen could see Rock's face, below his helmet, with a massive grin. Rock had obviously chosen the Armour Commander specialisation for those players who planned to one day ride into battle in a tank.

"Told ya. Boy's and their bloody toys." Tona added.

"What do you think?" Rock asked.

"That you're compensating for something." Jen deadpanned.

That got a big laugh from Tona, Neo, the two Guard NPCs and even Rock. Rose merely smile while Magritte shook her head and chuckled under her breath.

"Ok, let's get to the spaceport." Neo said. "What's the next planet classified as?"

"Agriworld, called Macros' Garden. But there is supposed to be some rebels and a small feral Ork clan." Tona replied.

Cadmian had been a safe starting world as it was a Fortress World, a world in which most of the local dangers are contained and the majority of the population was trained to fight. The Argiworld would be different, with vast areas sparsely populated; there would be plenty of places for dangers to build, especially if there were Orks around.

The journey to the spaceport was quick and easy, in a central save zone but the guards would not let a player enter the spaceport until they had reached level 10 and chosen their specialisation. As soon as they passed the guards into the safe zone, Rose and Magritte removed their helmets and clipped them to their waists. Rose got an appreciative whistle from Krys which caused her to blush and earned Krys a whack over the back of the head from Jane.

Rock got slightly annoyed when his precious Sentinel was locked in the hold of the shuttle that would take them to the interstellar spaceship in orbit above. They were soon all strapped into the shuttle along with a single other player, a lone figure that was cloaked and hooded in the red of a Mechanicum Tech Adept and felt the weight of the rapid acceleration of the shuttle to make orbit.

Jen though about the semi-permanent nature of the group, now her friends, and wondered if it was too early to make it official and form them into a guild. She would have to discuss it with them on the trip to the Agriworld.

TBC…