So quick note before we go anywhere there are some AU elements in this thing. I couldn't for the life of me figure out when the Dark Crusade took place in Warhammer lore so the date might be off. Other than that the Supreme Commander universe got some upgrades as well. This particular version I cooked up is a no holds barred version of the Infinite War, that continually escalated, culminating in the UEF going full ape and start cracking planets. So it probably will fit right in with Warhammer brutality.


My eyes snap open, briefly glancing around the familiar cockpit. My implants whirl to life, erasing the grogginess in the span of a millisecond.

'Aura' I thought, 'Status.'

The AI in question responds in an instant, 'hull is green, weapons and shields are online and charging,' she paused, 'Communications are online, Coalition command is not responding to hails however.'

'Not unexpected, The Princess warned us this would likely be a one-way trip,' I grimace, 'Did the rift close at least?'

In the back of my mind, I could feel Aura shifting through the ACU's Black Box. Satisfaction accompanying a video file floats across the link, the implants occupying a portion of my brain went to work reconstructing the memory.

I stepped through the rift, external cameras scanning the array of war machines the Seraphim had cobbled together, millions of experimental assault bots, a similar number of experimental bombers blotted out the sky. Though I couldn't see them, long range radar pinged the thousands of warships hanging in low orbit.

Several bombers split from formation, speeding straight for my position but they were too late.

I remembered clutching my rosary, as the bomb detonated not with a traditional explosion but a hiss, like compressed air escaping its seal.

The Way was a web way of souls, dreams made manifest. All the dead streaming in because of the Infinite war had weakened the barrier between what was real and what wasn't. When I fired Black Sun, with a push of a button I had nearly doubled the death toll, securing my spot in hell with some of theworst war criminals in history.

And when I pulled the trigger, all hell broke loose.

One of the cameras mounted on the back of the ACU caught the green miasma spill out, filling the breach. An inhuman roar tore through the Way, the volume making me cup my ears instinctively.

Aura rips the memory away, forcing me back into the present.

Sweat coats my palms, a trickle of something wet dribbles down my chin. I reach up wiping the substance, my sleeve coming away covered in blood.

"What" I croaked "Was that?"

Aura appeared on my main monitor, wearing the signature UEF uniform, shifting nervously. "I was unaware of humans…" she hesitates, "negative reactions to the Way."

"The Aeon have shown no such reactions in the past, so I assumed it was safe." Aura turns, hiding her face, "I'm sorry."

I lean back into my command chair, "No not that," I breath, forcing the tension to the side, "That roar, what was that? It definitely wasn't human, and I've never heard Seraphim scream like that."

Aura turns back to me concern tugging at her features, "Unknown" she replies slowly, a request to access my memories ping my implants, one I accept easily. The AI reviews the video, then my memories with dawning horror.

"Michael, I'm not detecting anything from the feed," The monitors of the cockpit lit up, "plug me in now."

I knew that tone of voice well, the same kind she used when she threatened to cut me off from stims after a near week-long campaign.

"Alright, alright." I sooth. "No need to get antsy."

I ignore the subsequent "I'm not antsy!"

With a mental command the port jabs into my neck, and my vision changes from the inside of Aura to a vast desert. The connection process was always a weird sensation, going from two eyes to a couple dozen external cameras, and it only got better each time another unit was produced. If it weren't for Aura translating the information in a way my brain could take, brain damage would've likely killed me before the Capellan Offensive ever had a chance to take a piece.

Fletcher thought he could handle the strain, but it broke him.

Shaking away the memory, I experimentally close my hand into a fist, and the ACU repeats the action. Motor functions look good.

'Engineering suite is up and running,' Aura thought. 'I'll need proper medical facilities to make sure there's no lingering taint.' A coded blueprint came to the forefront of my mind.

Instead, I place down the blueprint for a land factory. Queuing up a dozen engineers with a couple Snoops mixed in. Two beams shot out from my wrist, crisscrossing as the form of the factory slowly took shape.

'Michael...' Aura practically growls.

If I could, I would have held my hands up in surrender. 'Hey! I'm just trying to make sure we can react when we get jumped.' The factory finishes a second later, a similar construction beam shoots out from the factory at its assembly pad as it begins on its queue.

Aura reached across the link, rotating the ACU and initiates construction of the medical facility.

Perks of sharing a body I suppose.

Sensing my thoughts, Aura audibly huffed. 'Not my fault you don't know the words self-preservation'

I shrug, the AI helpfully stops the ACU before it tries to construct the second floor before the first.

'Not my fault trouble always finds me.'

'I don't need a single processor to know that is the most blatant lie I've ever heard' Aura retorts causing me to snort.

The first engineer comes off the assembly platform, giving it its orders, some power gens and a couple mass fabricators. The area lacked any immediate materials that could be used for easy mass, usually metals were best, but sensors weren't picking up anything.

I grimace, drops like this were always a pain. A Snoop, first of the scouts roll up in front of the factory waiting for orders. Patrol order given, the scout speed out of view to look for any nearby threats.

'Hopefully it doesn't find anything,' Aura thought, I try to hide my doubt, but the young woman senses it effortlessly.

'Please, our luck is never that good.' I pause, 'Speaking of which are we still in the Way? I'd rather not be caught with my pants down. Those experimentals weren't exactly looking very friendly.'

'Negative' Aura replies instantly, 'While you were buys being paranoid- 'I scoff, you can never be too paranoid. 'I cross analyzed your memories with the recordings, it seems that whatever creature that was in the Way caused instability in the Seraphim's dimension.'

I shivered, whatever could cause that kind of damage wasn't something I wanted to meet.

'After the point I had to pull you from the recording, several rifts opened up and swallowed whatever was caught inside their area of effect.' The ACU began to lower itself down to a knee, the facility it seems was finished.

'We were caught in one such rift' My vision returned to the inside of Aura; the vertigo hit like a brick combined with all my senses returning to normal all at once. I took a moment to right myself as Aura rotates the command chair around and the armor protecting the cockpit slides back, allowing the air inside.

The musty recycled air was replaced with a wave of heat causing my throat to dry up in an instant. I try to open my mouth to ask Aura for water but all that comes out is a croak. Aura thankfully was already on it, the cabinet containing my power armor slid open and the suit inside steps out on its own accord.

Aura came up water canteen in hand and offers it to me, "What would you do without me?" she teases.

I eagerly gulp down the water, "Die a horrible death from dehydration probably?" I stand up, holding onto Aura's arm for support, "Now help a man out, would you?"

Awkwardly Aura helps me inside the suit she was piloting, a similar port used to connect my brain to the armor jabs into my neck. Straightening my back I roll my shoulders, sighing at the pop.

"Thanks Aura."

"of course!" she chirps.

The weapon rack opens automatically as I pass, briefly considering taking my plasma rifle before discarding the idea.

Radar would've picked up any incoming, "Not that you would be out here if there were." Aura helpfully interjects.

I huff stopping at the entrance to medical, "if we aren't in the Way still, shouldn't we be able to contact Coalition Command?" I ask hopefully. Aura lights up the hallway pointing towards the scanner room.

"Sadly no" Aura appears as a hologram once we arrive, and gestures to lay down on a medical table sticking out of a familiar looking device. "The star formations do not share any resemblance to the ones in my database."

"Course that would be too easy." Laying down onto the table, it recedes back into the machine. "Any idea where we actually are then?" A thin blue line glows before traveling down the length of the pod and then back up again.

"My theory is that we entered an alternat reality of sorts" The AI said gently, "My long-range radar has picked up several special anomalies that bare resemblance to the tear that opened on Earth."

I wince at the unintentional reminder, what was left of UEF high command after the Seraphim invaded Earth had been quick to blame the dead President Riley, though were forced to surrender the one who fired Black Sun, me. High command's support wasn't born out of a sudden sympathy, if talks for an alliance fell through, I and the thousand or so commanders were all that was left from the near million who fought for Earth during the Infinite war and against the Seraphim.

Aura took the moment of distraction and joins our mind; the world slows to a crawl. Seconds felt like hours, hours felt like days, I felt each unit she had been controlling in my absence. The land factory had finished its queue, engineers were working busily, dozens of generators and fabricators had been tossed down. Two more factories finish one air, and one land, at the center of the base a radar instillation finishes.

The connection slowly starts to unravel, through our link Aura's relief is palpable.

Just as the link separates, I can feel the radar's first plus roll out as the scanner finishes and the table reverses.

The radar lights up.

I jump from the table and sprint back down the way I came, a Hummingbird slowly begins to lift off the pad as I exit the building. Information streams in courtesy of Aura while I scale the ladder back to the cockpit, armored door slams behind me as I roughly land in my command chair.

Connection established, I turn my attention to the scout heading south, watching from its cameras as it closes in on the grey dots speeding towards my base.

'Is this some sort of joke?' The Hummingbird screeches past the formation, if it could even be called that, the images are clear, but I order the plane to circle back just to make sure it's not a hallucination.

Turning back to my base, I queue a dozen MK1 Mech Marines with a pair of MA6 Striker tanks mixed in. The sole air factory starts building a flight of Cyclone interceptors.

'Aura' I think.

'More eco, some point defense and a couple factories?' She replies cheekily.

I snort 'You read my mind' making sure the AI knows just how bad the joke was.

'weeeelll' Aura drawls, 'I aaammm part of your head.'

'Your jokes are bad, and you should feel bad.' The woman giggles as the Hummingbird passes over the formation again, dimly I note the weapon fire up at the plane.

Vaguely humanoid, mouths open wide screaming to the heavens, carried on sputtering amalgamations of scrap metal that could barely be called motorbikes. Not one sharing a similarity with another and that realistically should have buckled under their weight.

Most of all was the telling green skin.