Author's Note: Wow, can't believe so many people have already stumbled across this story! Thanks for the feedback thus far! As we progress, I'll detail where I deviate a bit from canon-while I'm sticking to mostly canon, my interpretation of XCOM 2 will have a lot more real-world weapons, tactics, and numbers versus the gameplay for XCOM 2. I'll explain once we get into that area, but that's till around three or four chapters away.

Edboy4926: That's the plan. :) Won't have the entire fleet going though-it would be a curbstomp of unreal proportions if I put an entire Imperial Navy task force, a Deathwatch strike cruiser, and all the troopers through with it. It'll be a much more limited deployment.

GETH Prime: And the Ethereals! CLEALY TIME-TRAVELING TAU SCUM. Also-remember when Berserkers and Archons were scary? 1.5 tons of flying Astartes landing on them with a bolt pistol and power-axes. Boom. (And Sectopods are going to cower when a special visitor comes looting along…)

BluePanedGasMask: Thanks! Definitely a short prologue, but I'm aiming for ~2,000 word chapters from here on out twice a month. Work is busy so I write when I can.

Orbital Fortress Pacificus Imperialis

High Orbit over Hydraphur

Rajarius Sector

Segmentum Pacificus

999.M41

Lord Admiral Edmond Garcius was a man of routine and precision. As the senior officer aboard Fortress Secundus over Hydraphur, he was responsible for the identification, challenge, and direction of every ship that came in over the zenith of Hydraphur. By his will, thousands of fighters, lance satellites, and light escorts patrolled the upper half of the vast void over Segmentum Pacificus's fortress world. With one message from his mind, the vast guns of the Segmentum's Own and Battlefleet Rajarius could be brought to bear on any identified threat.

Ships approached Hydraphur only by his permission and nothing else. It did not matter who they were-richly attired Rogue Traders in robe of opulence and nimble sprint-ships, Imperial Navy task groups armed to the teeth, even Astartes battle-barges carrying companies of the Angels of Death. All of them pre-cleared passage to Hydraphur with his staff first via astropaths prior to appearing in-system. This was as much respect and custom as it was to avoid the potential risk of being vaporized by the automated defense systems when IFF systems were slow to spool up.

All of this was known.

Which made Garcius all the more bemused when the Immaterium ripped asunder and deposited an unannounced arrival well within the Identification zone for Pacificus Imperialis.

"Tanner, bring us up to Alert 2. Inform Patrol Group 5 to vector in on the contact immediately," he said while glaring at the vast auspex screen and the unknown contact displayed. "Give Lord Admiral Svien my compliments, and ask him to bring Terra's Thunder and her task force to stand-by in case we need to backstop the group."

"Yes my Lord."

Across the command center, dozens of vox operators began relaying commands to far-flung ships. On the sceen, the green sigils of Patrol Group 5 began changing course for the unidentified contact, and the blue sigils of Svien's task force flashed to life as the ships moved to follow the swift destroyers and corvettes of the patrol.

"Issue challenges in the meantime, and maintain lock on the contact. One false move, and I want them blown out of the void."

He frowned, staring hard at the blinking yellow contact sigil on the screen as dozens of missile batteries and lance emplacements tracked what still seemed a speck in the void out of the armorcrys windows. If this was a hostile, why in the name of the Emperor would they only send one ship? And if it's not a hostile, what the warp are they playing at, not clearing this with me beforehand?

"Sir!"

Garcius snapped around. "What is it, Tanner?"

"Vox contact from the contact sir… and a visual confirmation of who they are. It's the Voidfire, Inquisition-flagged."

"Show me."

The tac officer nodded and brought up a separate window on the auspex. The ships of Patrol Group Five had gotten close enough to transmit back visuals of the Lunar-class cruiser, painted pitch-black with the stark exception of a long string of Ork and Tyranid skulls painted across the bow. In the smaller screen, a raven-haired woman stared out warily, as if exhausted by all the universe had thrown at her. She wore a black urban combat harness, with an laspistol stuffed in a shoulder harness under her left arm alongside a pair of silver warknives strapped to her waist. Her eyes were storm-grey, with deep fatigue lines creased underneath.

And at her neck, shining brightly, was a red rosette with a bleached skull staring out.

"Admiral Garcius, I take it?"

"It is. Identify yourself, Inquisitor. You've given our station a bit of a fit with your arrival."

"Very well. I am Tyrvoria Kassidan, Ordo Xenos. Apologies for the unexpected arrival, but my mission is time critical and required expedited travel to Hydraphur. I need a docking slip for four days while the rest of my team arrives."

He snorted and shook his head, "Impossible. We are completely full with ships awaiting repair and refit from-"

She held up a hand to stop him.

"Admiral, you may want to consult the information I just sent you." She grinned into the screen. "And tell Admiral Svien that the Thunder needs to finish loading the payload by the time Endless Vigil arrives in system."

Garcius glanced down at the datapad proffered by Tanner for a second, then drew in a sharp breath.

Magenta-level. Bugger. This is going to be problematic.

"Very well, Inquisitor. We'll clear you a docking station within six Terran hours. We already have the itinerary for Endless Vigil and will clear them a station close to yours once they arrive in system."

"Thank you, Admiral. Kassidan out." Her image blinked off the screen.

Garcius stared at the screen for a second longer, then looked over to his tac officer.

"Bring us back down to Alert 4. And ask Magos Teleric to visit me within the hour. We need to figure out which of these wrecks," he motioned out at the countless docking slips filled with the damaged ships of more than a dozen battlefleets, "that we can move out of the way."

Inquisition Lunar-class Cruiser Voidfire

High Orbit, Hydraphur

Rajarius Sector

Segmentum Pacificus

999.M41

"Rise and shine, Toad!"

Gunner Jon Strachan, Catachan Jungle Fighter, Inquisitorial acolyte, decorated soldier and even more decorated troublemaker, snapped out of sleep in a sacra and amasec-fueled daze. He instinctively reached for the comforting grip of his warknife (which most of the Inquisitor's retinue would have classified as more of a "fething big broadsword") but came up empty. Annoyed and somewhat wary, he opened his eyes to the glare of the pale shipboard lights.

"Looking for this, Toad? Ask nicely and I might let you have it back."

Sitting at the foot of the bunk across from him, Sabbatine Rains grinned as she tossed the massive blade from hand to hand with practiced ease. While half the size of the massive Catachan (who they instantly nicknamed "Toad" after his tendency to tip his stubber rounds with Barking Toad toxins), a lifetime of duties aboard Rogue Trader vessels and with the Inquisition had taught her well in how to fight with any weapon-even when the "dagger" was nearly a foot and a half long. Twirling the blade by the handle with one hand, the green-eyed redhead watched with amusement as Jon struggled to get out of bed.

Two bunks over, Hariic MkClen watched in silence as Strachan finally extricated himself and began chasing Rains around the room, rolling his eyes as he sharpened his Tanith warknife on a whetting stone and waited for his laspacks to finish charging. Focusing his mind away from the antics of the two, he slowly ran the knife over the stone again and again, the straight silver screeching softly against the hard stone as he reminisced again on how he got here.

I wonder where the regiment is now? He thought, slipping the knife back into the sheath and picking up an autopistol magazine. The Tanith 1st and Only, the most decorated regiment of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade more than 200 years ago, had eventually won settlement rights on a forested world deep in the Khan Group of Segmentum Pacificus. Tanith Secundus, as it was called, had then slowly repopulated, with the world now numbering in the millions of people after over 200 years. Subsequent foundings of the Guard had produced additional Tanith regiments of infantry and armor, but the First (and to many, still the Only) retained their hard-won reputation for stealth, reconnaissance, and doing the fething impossible. MkClen had served as a Scout Sergeant in the Tanith First for nearly 12 years before Commissar Criid had seconded him to the Inquisition for his expertise in hunting down Dark Eldar, a skill he shared with his great-great-grandfather, Oan Mkoll.

Would be nice to see woods again. Or any kind of green for that matter. He grimaced at the memory of the last world the inquisitor had dragged them to. Balhaut, even after all these years, is still a goddamn mess.

"A crown for your thoughts, Sergeant?"

"Just thinking of home, Ketera." He finished loading his pistol magazines and began manually checking laspack charge levels with a gauge. "And hoping that the next world has some trees. It's been a long time since I last saw green, or felt the cool shade of the forest on my face."

Off to his left and above, Vndicaire XILV nodded and closed her eyes once more, content with dozing until the Voidfire finished docking. Patience came easily to her, and she saw no reason to expend unnecessary energy when she could rest. The two loudmouths on the retinue were irksome at times, but she felt a kinship with the pale Tanith-born MkClen, a mutual respect on stealth skills and warfighting ability.

They'd been traveling for a month now, a mad dash from Balhaut back to Hydraphur that bordered on near-suicidal. The Voidfire's navigator had nearly been driven insane in his efforts, and the Gellar fields had nearly failed twice during the journey. Three different boarding actions by Orks and Dark Eldar had been attempted, and the entire ship's company was tired and spent after the journey.

But now, they were here, and with any luck, the inquisitor would brief them in on what exactly necessitated this-and what was to come.

"This is taking too gakking long."

Savant Adria Nihlos sighed and pinched her nose in exasperation as Tyvoria Kassidan, Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos, master of the Lunar-class cruiser Voidfire, pouted like a little girl while glaring through the armorcrys of the bridge at the damaged Chalice-class battlecruiser that was slowly being towed from docking slip 19-Gamma. It had only been five hours since the Admiral had contacted her, but Tyvoria was already beginning to feel impatient.

"There's nothing they can do, Tyvoria. Look at the engines on that BC." She paused to perform a quick scan with the shipboard auspex. "The Jurgenatii took heavy damage over Hagia against the Tyranids. The only way she's moving is with the tugs, and that's the fastest they can move a ship of her size."

"I know, Adria," the inquisitor admitted, turning to her and sipping from a mug of recaf. "But we desperately need to repair and resupply. As soon as the Vigil arrives in system, we need to make for Colchis. And the repairs to just the Voidfire alone will take four days. We don't gakking HAVE four days. Emepror help us, if Habeas could, he would have sent us straight there from Balhaut. The only reason he did not is because we need heavy support for this investigation, support that we cannot send to Colchis piecemeal." She finished her recaf and gave the mug to a waiting servitor.

Adria frowned, her forehead creased as she mentally calculated how long the repairs to their Lunar-class cruiser would take. Her mind, finely tuned for years in the Schola, noted at least twenty areas where time could be cut down or streamlined with enough people and material.

"We'll only need two days, but we'll need Gacius' approval for expedited repairs. He won't like it."

Tyvoria fingered her sigil and smirked. "It won't matter what he likes. Let me know exactly what is needed and I'll make the call." Her face sombered, and she looked over at her savant and friend of over 20 years. "Eldar. Tyranids. Necrons. A traitor legion's homeworld. I don't know what's going on here, Adria, but if Habeas is scared enough to send us there with enough Astartes and ships to conquer most known worlds in the Imperium, then we have to assume the worst. The fate of the Segmentum-or even the Imperium-might be at stake here."

"We must believe, Tyvoria. Sergeant Me'rai and his team are among the best the Deathwatch has. And Admiral Svien's task force is the envy of the entire Segmentum's Own. Whatever happens, we'll have them with us. And the Emperor protects."

The inquisitor nodded, and stared out the armorcrys again, the massive scarred hulk of the Jurgenatii slowly moving past, it's hull eaten through by bio-acid and warped by the flaying of massive tentacles.

"Let's hope he keeps protecting then."