Author's note: A little idea that popped into my head while having a lie-in. I've not much of an idea where this is going beyond the first few chapters. I guess I'll have to wait and see.
Disclaimer thing: I do not own the warhammer 40k intellectual property nor the Mass Effect intellectual property, the only things I can lay claim to are the non-canon characters.
Dramatis Personae
Inquisition
Ordo Xenos
Inquisitor Tigurius Clavero - Radical Inquisitor of the Xeno Hybris philosophy.
Veteran Sergeant Ander Deniel - Head of a squad of Inquisitorial Storm-troopers assigned to Tigurius, known as the Tigers.
Corporal Oroitz Yann - 2IC of the Tigers. A skilled demolitions expert and shows an aptitude for stealth.
Trooper ValentÃn Matej - Point man of the Tigers.
Trooper Ean Pherick - Marksman within the Tigers
Trooper Nazariy Vlad - CQC specialist of the Tigers.
Crew of the Addo Perditio
Ship Master Cissero Arnam - Captain of the Addo Perditio
Commander Castor Mortimer - XO of the Addo Perditio
Deathwatch
Brother-Sergeant Barkiel Uller of the Salamanders -Head of the Deathwatch squad assigned to Tigurius
Tech-marine Castro Lesnar of the White Consuls - Deathwatch techmarine, assists in the enginarium of the Addo Perditio.
Codicier Deiad Raziel of the Storm Wardens - Resident Deathwatch Librarian.
Brother Amareo Aurio of the Red Hunters - Deathwatch marine, uses a variety of rare ammunitions.
Brother Kayvaan Xander of the Angels of Fire - Deathwatch anti-vehicular specialist.
Clade Vanus
Mortem Keth - Infocyte co-opted to Tigurius.
Order of the Cleansing Water
Sister Melitta Charmion - Surgeon in charge of the Medicae deck.
Prologue
The year is 995.M41, and the black ship Addo Perditio slips through the warp. Its Gellar fields are holding strong against the probing of the foul denizens of the warp. The ship is a matt black colour, with decoration picked out in a dark grey. The noble ship lacks the usual armoured prow of Imperial Warships, instead possessing a blunted nose, with three torpedo tubes on either side. Along its ventral and dorsal edges are a series of three lance batteries, long range laser weapons capable of crippling many vessels before they enter the range of the main cannon batteries along the port and starboard sides. Point defence turrets traverse, ever alert thanks to their hard-wired servitor gunners. The command tower stands tall, like a monumental cathedral spire, jutting out 100 metres into the void. The 4 outlets for the powerful plasma engines large enough to swallow many smaller craft whole. The total length of the vessel nearing a kilometre long, crewed by thousands of convicts and their drivers, the Addo Perditio is truly a awe-inspiring vessel. It goes without running lights, illuminated only by the sickly glow of the immaterium.
On board is the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Tigurius Clavero, en-route to the naval world of Bakka to join the fleet being assembled to combat the approaching Hive Fleet Jormungandr. There the ship will come under the nominal command of Admiral Vortigern Hanroth along side a vast selection of void-going craft, from the noble silhouettes of Space Marine Battle Barges to the forked prows of the xeno Demiurg commerce vessels, a rag-tag alliance of imperials and xenos, putting aside their differences to fight for the survival of the eastern fringe of the galaxy.
Unfortunately for the crew and passengers of the Addo Perditio, even in the 41st millennium, warp travel is a precarious thing. Entire fleets have been thought lost in the empyrean, only to arrive at their destinations centuries after they left, feeling as though it had only been weeks since they entered the warp. Rarely fleets have been known to arrive at their destination before they have left their departure point. These are the fortunate survivors of the perils of the warp, sometimes a fleet will be rediscovered as a compacted part of a travelling spacehulk. The Addo Perditio was particularly unfortunate, as though they left real-space in the year 995.M41, they would arrive at their destination 38,810 years too early. In 185.M03, or as it was known to humans then, the year 2185 AD.