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.

There was a slight murmur through the collected Imperial Players as Jen and the Hand emerged from the central stronghold. Most of the fighting on the walls and in the courtyard of the Hardpoint had very heavily favoured the Imperials, while the central stronghold had been brutal, with the Hand taking the brunt of the fiercest fighting. More squads, some uninjured but most injured and/or missing members, emerged from the central stronghold but they kept a gap between themselves and the Hand.

Amongst the Hand, there were four litters, each carried by two Troopers from Kestrel's Squads, carrying Sister Susan with her amputated leg; Sister Rose with her gut wound; Veteran Kira from Zenith's squad with her barely attached knee; and Sister Joyce, who had taken the brunt of a frag grenade in the final assault and was barely alive despite Nora's skills. Many of the other members of the Hand, both Player and NPC alike, were supporting each other as they were injured and exhausted, but despite all that there were only two deaths in the Hand, both of them Troopers in Kestrel's two Squads.

All their armour was scarred and rent in places, and they were all covered in a mix of T'au and their own blood. Apart from the four on the litters, the most dramatic 'wound' was Marias, who had a missing wrist and forearm, but it was her artificial right arm which she had deliberately put in the way of a T'au blow that had been aimed at Tona's head. Hawk, with blood running down her temple, was being supported by Kestrel who, like Marias, had mostly damage to her extensive bionics rather than injury to what remained of her flesh.

As the bloodied but unbowed members of the Hand shuffled forward, the crowd shifted, starting with Lina, Cam, Ripley and an Infantry Commander Player in a Camo-Cloak, they began to snap to attention and salute the most famous Guild. Despite her injures, Hawk smiled over at Kestrel. This was the first time since her wife had joined the Hand that this kind of adulation had been awarded to the Hand for a new action, an action Kestrel had participated in.

Once the moment passed, Lina tapped the Infantry Commander Player on the shoulder and they both walked forward.

"Canoness, this is Sergeant Argo. Her squad were the ones who did all the faked T'au transmissions." Lina introduced.

"Hey Rat." Kestrel said with a slight wave with her mostly organic hand.

"Hey Kes." Argo replied.

"Rat?" Jen asked confused.

Behind Jen, Ryker stiffened, but if anyone noticed they attributed it to his injuries.

"Argo the Rat." Kestrel explained. "Best Imperial Info-broker around."

Ryker shuffled forward and leaned into whisper in Jen's ear.

"If she is an Info-broker, maybe she can track down Kyras and his group." He suggested very quietly.

"Enough chat." Sister Hospitaller Nora snapped. "We need to get the wounded to the hospital behind our lines. Now."

Lina nodded and got on the Vox to call in medical Valkyries, that were on standby, to pick up the wounded starting with the Hand. The first medical Valkyries arrived a few minutes later and the ramps opened up with a few Medics descending to assist the wounded in boarding.

"Argo, I will have something to discuss with you soon." Jen said just before boarding the Valkyrie.

The moment Sister Hospitaller Nora had walked into the Base Hospital where the Hand had been evacuated, she had taken one look around and, in a tone no one wanted to mess with, had taken charge and was ordering the Doctors and Surgeons on how to deal with the patients and had the orderlies scrubbing the place to within an inch of its life. The place had most of its casualties from the two Front Line Sectors where the now mostly Third Line, Players were operating.

Joyce and Rose were both hurried away into surgery while the rest of the Hand were seen to in various places around the Hospital for the plethora of wounds they had sustained. Jen had ended up in a private room, at the insistence of everyone else and over her own protests. Sister Sabatine, with a bandage over the eye where her Helmet's lens had broken even though the eye itself was undamaged, was asleep in a chair by the door dressed just in her robes.

Ryker continued past Jen's room, with the next room being Sister Rose's room where Sister Cassandra was sitting by her bedside reading aloud to the other Sister, what sounded like one of the Histories of Imperial Saints. Sister Magritte and Sister Tara from Marias' squad were walking in the other direction fully armed and armoured. He guessed they were on security patrol as their wounds were minor. Veteran Jane was leading a small gaggle of orderlies, snapping instructions to them for the care of patients. Sister Hospitaller Nora was doubtless in Surgery, as she had been almost constantly since they had arrived two days ago, only catching an hour or so of sleep a few times, as far as Ryker knew.

He moved into the low care ward where a number of the Hand and other Front Line Guilds who had been in the Central Stronghold who were only lightly injured were staying, with most of them taking shifts providing security patrols like Magritte and Tara. Most of the NPC Squads were housed in larger wards while the more prominent Players had private rooms. He knocked on one of private rooms and waited for permission to enter.

"Come in." the tired female voice said just loud enough to hear through the door.

He opened it and walked in. Hawk and Kestrel were lying on the large bed, with Hawk deep asleep and curled into Kestrel's side. This was technically Hawk's room as Kestrel's 'injuries' had been mostly to her augments and they had been repaired by Remnos and Siphon.

"Ryker." Kestrel greeted. "What's up? Do they need Helen?"

Ryker stopped himself from smiling. Almost no one used real names in the Game, even when they knew each other in real life, but Kestrel occasionally did with Hawk, but only ever around the rest of the Hand. He took it as a sign Kestrel was comfortable with and trusted the rest of the Hand.

"No. I actually wanted to talk to you." Ryker replied. "You seemed to know Sergeant Argo quite well. What can you tell me about her?"

"Rat?" Kestrel asked, a frown crossing her face. "I first met her on Macros' Garden but I did not get to know her well until after you two joined the Hand."

Kestrel nodded her head at both Hawk and himself.

"She's one of the best Info-Broker's in the Game. She was a Beta Tester, and says they got past Macros' Garden but the only option in the Beta was Hephestus, and the Macros' Boss Fight was different. Tells you strait what's fact and what is rumour. Many of the Second and Third Line Guilds who did not have their own Scouts used her Info, particularly as she scouted many areas herself. Those you guys did not clear out first." Kestrel explained. "The Dedicated used her info on a number of occsssions."

"Can we trust her with Jen's safety?" Ryker mused.

He needed to find out if Argo could be trusted. Could she really be 'the vermin' in the Beati's prophecy. The one to 'lead to justice', or was he just grasping as straws? Was he seeing a solution because he desperately wanted one?

TBC….