It is the 41st Millennium and the Imperium of Mankind is at war.

Such was typified as two cruisers battled in the cold vacuum of space, exchanging fire with their weapon batteries.

Captain Trenske looked on as his vessel, the Righteous Flame, did battle with her counterpart, a blasphemous Chaos vessel. The Righteous Flame, previously part of a Battlefleet in the Segmentum Obscurus, had been separated from the rest of her fleet, due to the actions of the Space Marine Chapter, the Iron Knights, who had commandeered the vessel "in the name of the Emperor" for a raid they had planned against a Chaos-tainted world. The raid had, for the most part, been a success, though they had drawn the ire of the Chaos fleet, resulting in a lengthy chase that ended with the current battle. Trenske shook his head as he glanced at the heretical vessel, inscribed with all sorts of foul carvings. The Iron Knights were bold indeed, having adopted several traits from their Primarch, Rogal Dorn. As such, some parts of the Codex Astartes were forgotten, when it came to the annihilation of mankind's enemies, facts that the Inquisition were keen on pointing out. Some may have called it open heresy against the Imperium, for their negligence to rules put forth about Astartes being forbidden from possessing formidable enough craft that they could assault the Imperium, company divisions, and numberings. The Iron Knights made up for these accusations with their sheer number of victories against the enemies of mankind, utilizing their unusually large supply of Terminators and vehicles in full-scale assaults.

Trenske pulled his thoughts back together, having once again lost himself in remembrance. The two vessels were still pounding each other with their weaponry, visible damage apparent on the enemy ship.

"Sir, the enemy vessel is moving away from us. It appears to be making a Warp jump."

Trenske cursed under his breath as his gaze flitted to the ship once more. Indeed, it was veering away from the Righteous Flame, in a hasty attempt at retreat.

"Should we pursue?"

Trenske was about to give the order to hunt it down, but he was interrupted by a voice altered by speaking through a helmet. "Full speed ahead. Hunt the heretics without mercy."

Standing at seven feet in height, towering over everyone on the bridge, Brother-Captain Aedrus observed the Chaos vessel from behind the lenses of his helmet, just one piece of the sturdy Power Armour he was clad in. A bolter pistol was clipped to it, as well as his Power Sword.

Trenske nodded to his men on the bridge, as the engines roared to life; no doubt the tech-priests were consulting with the machine-spirits. Aedrus clanked over to stand beside him, as Trenske clenched his jaw as he watched the Righteous Flame move inexorably towards the vessel.

And then the Warp Portal appeared.

Several members on the bridge made surprised exclamations as the Chaos ship surged forward. Aedrus pounded his fist on a nearby console, in fury. "Push the engines to their limits, and power on the Nova Cannon."

The Righteous Flame's ace card, the Nova Cannon, was mounted on the prow of the vessel, and had the capability to cripple a battleship with ease. The only problem was its inaccuracy. Prayers to the Emperor were made as no doubt, the crew was loading the massive warhead into the cannon. Aedrus continued to stare at the vessel as it made headway into the vortex. When confirmation had been given on the Vox that the proper blessings were made and that it had been loaded, Aedrus bellowed out his command.

"Fire!" he exclaimed as a light tremor passed through the vessel, as the warhead was launched from its shelter, on a collision course for the Chaos vessel.

Instead, it hit the portal, and everything went to chaos.

The vortex had, through the mysterious workings of the Warp, adopted the properties of a miniature vacuum, and had begun to pull anything nearby into it. The Chaos vessel was gone in a flash, and soon the Righteous Flame followed it.

The first thing Ferias noticed when he awakened, was that something was immediately wrong. Cautiously, he reached out with his psychic abilities and recoiled instantly, upon detecting what lay outside the ship. They were drifting through the Warp, completely unprotected. Creeping out of his quarters, he spotted Daerid looking aghast. Upon noticing Ferias, however, he straightened his posture and gave a curt nod, Power Claws glinting even in the dimly lit hallway. "Brother Ferias," he greeted curtly.

"Brother Daerid," Ferias responded. "What is the situation?"

"We were pursuing a Chaos vessel, when the Warp, beyond comprehension as it is, locked us inside," Daerid reported, as he gave a slight agitated twitch. "Daemons could swarm us at any moment. Our Brother-Captain wants you on the bridge."

"Very well, then I shall oblige him," Ferias answered as he made his way towards the part of the ship.

The blast door slid open as Ferias walked through it, onto the bridge. The kaleidoscope of colours that was the Warp was in clear view at every possible and impossible angle.

"Brother Ferias," Aedrus called out, his back to him, as he too gazed at the pandemonium of the Warp.

"Brother-Captain," Ferias acknowledged as he placed his fist over the Aquila in a salute. "You said you had need of me?"

"Indeed. We are effectively stranded here and if we wait any longer, we'll be a daemon feasting ground. I need you to aid the Navigators in getting the Righteous Flame out of the Warp."

"I should be able to do that," Ferias replied as he closed his eyes in concentration, channeling his psychic might into the task. The effort soon proved to be draining, due to the willpower required to stave off the influence of Chaos. There was a tremor, and the distant sound of the engines at work.

"The machine spirits appear to be cooperative again," Daerid commented as he entered the bridge.

Ferias raised one hand towards him, requesting silence, as he could begin feeling the vessel move. Sweat beaded his brow in sheer concentration, as the Righteous Flame gave a groan, as they began to pick up speed. In an instant, the strangeness that was the Warp seemed to have vanished, and Ferias slowly opened his eyes. The insanity of the Warp had indeed receded, and the Righteous Flame had returned to real-space. Ferias then promptly turned about and retched onto the bridge.

"By the Emperor, Ferias," Daerid swore as he could not help but laugh. "You could have given a little warning."

"My apologies, brother," Ferias stated as he wiped the remaining phlegm from his mouth. "The effort took a marginal part of my energy."

"Fine, fine," Daerid chuckled as his gaze flicked to outside the vessel. "Now, where in the Imperium do you suppose we are?"

Ferias glanced at Aedrus and followed his gaze, noticing the planet that stood out in front of him. He could see primarily green and blue colours on it, with some grey to go along with it. "I suspect it is at least a habitable planet. Though, I am unsure as to where we might be."

Aedrus clenched his fist in front of his Aquila then unclenched it, as he turned to face his battle-brothers. "Get Erasmus to power on the Thunderhawk. We're going to take a look around."

"As you say, Brother-Captain," Daerid acknowledged as he turned to exit the bridge.

Ferias watched him depart, then went back to watching the strange planet. "Captain, if we are not in the Imperium, then where are we?"

Aedrus too had been watching the planet, staying silent for some time before replying, "We shall just have to wait and see, brother."