THE UNKNOWN

Chapter 1

high in orbit above Mars the UNSC infinity sat anchored in high orbit slowly crossing the martian night sky, the Reyes McLees ship yards casting a shadow over the infinities hull as the ship made preperations to return to deep space to fight against the covenant.

The mater chief stood on the observation deck watching the red planet below spinning in slow orbit below on the mars lights of the Misriah armoury lit up the darkness or mars's darkened side as weapons and munitions were mass produced for the war effort.

"quite a view" a recogniseable voice came from behind him and sergeant jhonson came to stand beside jhon."the fleet is readying to depart chief, time for you to be getting to the cryo chambers. Jhon turned to sergeant jhonson and nodded before walking to head off for the cryo chambers for the journey.

Ranchus rageous sat on his command throne aboard the furious vorlia flagship of the desert fangs. He shouted orders the naval crew around him as the battle for the fate of the 2nd legion raged all around them. Vorlia was a bottle world, a collosal cylinder shaped craft that was propelled through space by monumentaly large plasma reactor engines which surpassed those of rogal dorns beloved phalanx and was where Ranchus had grown to adulthood, he wasnt going to let it fall, even it meant bringing death to his own sons. he watched as the defence batteries fired out with blue blasts of exotic plasma fire as the ships experimental weaponary fired on the rebel craft.

"my lord, reinforcements are due to arrive soon"a crew serf said as he knelt before the primarchs throne.

"how long until help reaches us" replied the primarch as he scrolled through the hololithic scrolls before his eyes as he saw the casualties reports as the defended the home world valiently

and paid with there lives"so many lost" Ranchus thought to himself.

"the thousand sons, death guard, word bearers and luna wolves aswell as the emperors own fleet are enroute to our location and will arrive with the hour" the officer replied.

"we may not have an hour" the primarch replied trying to hide his anoyance but failing. The officer quickly turned and headed back to his duties as the giant gave the man an angry glare.

This shouldnt have happened, it shouldnt be possible he thought to himself feeling sorrow for his fallen sons who were blinded by their own minds no longer recognising those who hadnt

yet defected to there experimental implants designed by the primarch himself, that fact burdened the primarch more than anything it was his fualt suddenly there was a new warning signal that blared over the others and angry red lights shone lighting the room up with a hellish rendition.

"my lord the fallen have begun attacking the engines" said a familiar voice, it was of adrun nikea captian of the first company and by far one of the legions best and strongest warriors. "statistics show we will be dead in the void before reinforcements arrive" he said

"then were going to escape to fight another day" said ranchus watching as new reports came in, Ardun was right, there was no way that they could effectivlely defend the ship ling enough for help to come "divert none essential power to the engines and set a power the warp engines and geller field, were going to make an emergency warp jump" the primarch said

"with respect my lord, thats madness" the first captian said "we may not make it to the jump point"

"we need to do something" Ranchus snapped "i wont be responsible for the legion being wiped from history like we never existed!"

"our legacy will live on my lord" Ardun replied "we can' shmae our legion by letting those who come to help us by finding them waiting said another astrates said as pointing out to the raging conflict in the void.

"ENOUGH" the primarch shouted "decision is mine and I say we leave then we leave, or do you defy my orders boream" Ranchus said sternly

"never my lord" the astrates said bowing his head "your will be done"

"now take us in" ranchus said as he took one last look at the star Vorlia had orbited until now.

Magnus the red was pacing impatiently aboard the photeps inner sanctum, even now the home of the second legion was under seige and many of the primarchs and the emperor himself had taken notice, coming to aid the desert fangs fight off the invaders, who ever they were. Magnus became increasingly angry that he couldnt be there sooner to help his brother.

"how much longer until we arrive?" magnus snapped at the closest surf who reeled back at the sight of the crimson king towering over him like a adult before a child.

" we will arive monentarily" stammered the woman before exiting to return to the bridge; Magnus turned to the armoured transparent crystal of his sanctum looking out into the warp.

"im coming brother" magnus wispered to himself.

"i have no doubt the second legion care more than capable of fighting of whatever xeno breed the galaxy has to throw at them my lord" Ahriman said as he stood next to Magnus's giant stature.

"but surely there must be some degree of true danger if a legions home world is under seige" put in Phosis T'Kar

"your not helping" Ahzek snapped

"im calling it as I see it" Phosis T'Kar

"silence my sons" Magnus said as he watched the warp before him "T'Kar have the assualt craft ready to luanch and boarding torpedoes loaded"

"yes my lord" Phosis said with a bow and left the chamber.

The Photep and a dozen other ships of varried legions burst out of the warp into realspace out of the violet light of the warp gate sealing behind them instantly attack craft and thunderhawks roared forwards toward the wounded bottle world.

Logar joined Magnus in his sanctum and came to his side as the thousand sons flagship spead to its destination. Vorlia

A giant warp gate opened and violet lightning crackled around the giant ship world like a preadator dragging its prey in for the kill. Many of the rebel ships were destroyed instantly unmade by the raw power of the warp. The souls of those abord them consumed instantly; My lord the tech preists report a ship is on a collision route with us my lord" a woman said

"show me" the primarch rumbled

a large display came up of a luna class cruiser imperius litnea a ship of no significant difference to any other luna cruiser heading downwards towards the ship as the wapr gate pulled it in."where is the predicted impact zone"

"according to the simulations...the impact zone its...its the starboard warp engine my lord"she gasped in horror

"can we stop it in time" the primarch replied

"not without diverting power from the engines"

Then suddenly there was a large explosion and Vorlia Fell into the Warp.

The infinity was all prepared for the journey and the crew were preparing the final preperations for a slip space jump. Fleet admiral commander keyes sat on the captain seat. A digital hologram of cortana apeared before commander keyes "admiral we are ready to make jump for slip space" cortanna said

"take us in"keyes said.

Instantly there was a large eletrical distruption of energy and the ships lights went out and the emergency power glowed on giving the deck a dim glow. "what the hell was that?!" keyes shouted and looked around the bridge for a answer; however he got his answer as he saw out of the glass panneled window into the void of space. Where once there was nothing more than dust and emptiness was now a gigantic construct that dwarfed the infinity like a adult to a newborn.

The construct was burnished witth battle scars, burnt blast marks and a large glass glass section which displayed a large eco enviroment and the cylinder structure was being slowly pushed forward by massive engines that looked like they were powered by minatur stars. "my god that thing is huge"

"where the hell did that come from"shouted a officer at a desk.

"get us closer I want to find out what this thing is" keyes said to cortana

"right away" cortana said and as the power returned to the ship they moved slowly towards the construct.