Two Terras

Gate

Castius sipped his recaff, he savored it and let the taste sink in. The warmth ran down his throat like a cleansing flame. Small luxuries like this made the Halo Stars almost manageable. It had been nearly three days since the fleet had entered the sector and already the fleet found itself with a host of problems. One was the strange parasite that sat in your gut and consumed every morsel of food sent down there, then the damned thing moved onto eating the gut of its host. So far the Magos had isolated the source of the infection, the cargo hold of an Imperial Lander was full of them. Castius ordered it vent into space and fired on by the escorts. That was a good morale booster fleet-wide. The next problem was more severe, shape shifting xenos that infiltrated a couple escorts and Castius's own vessel. Luckily, the xenos only possessed the intelligence of a small child and were harmless. Nevertheless, he had kill teams patrolling the lower decks and searching for anyone out past curfew. The Magos had reported that the xenos had different features from baseline humans, they were cold-blooded and often stayed in isolated dark areas. So far his kill teams reported over a dozen found and executed. Castius wondered whether or not there were more. 

The next problem was the very planets they passed, the fleet had encountered 5 planets so far and each was worse than the next. Castius had strict orders not to engage the planets themselves, only judge their danger. And Castius was thankful for that. each and every planet was entirely hostile to human life. Castius doubted even the Astartes could last long there. 2 resembled jungles but long range scrying had revealed the plants were all a connected lifeform. The Magos advised staying far away from that and even proposed an orbital bombardment. Castius waved the bombardment off but decided to not go near the jungle mind. Another planet was inhabited by massive sand worms larger than a frigate. Castius didn't touch it. The last two were curious. One was a failed imperial attempt at colonization, the ruins of hab blocks and ore mining facilities dotted the planet. No clue was given to its eventual demise but Castius once again decreed that landing troops was a bad idea. The last planet was what was giving the most problems. It was covered entirely in water, but while augurs and scrying methods usually penetrate water this planet was covered in an augur defying screen. The Magos had shook her head and made a sad whirring noise when Castius asked what was wrong. He left it. Now the fleet was full steam towards a large empty expanse of space, the Magos had reported a curious signature there. One too small to be a planet but large enough to fit an entire Battlefleet. Castius had his misgivings but his duty was clear. If the area was hostile he would retreat, if not then he would let the Magos do her research.

A couple hours later...

Castius stared out of the Ocularis. The massive armorglass window at the front of his ship's bridge had the same image infront of it. A throne-damned Eldar gate. And the strangest thing was, it was active. Castius had arrayed his fleet in a defensive position, over a dozen weapons batteries were pointed directly at the massive gate. All weaponry capable of rendering any starship ruined in minutes. "Magos? What in throne damned hells is this thing doing here." The Magos's eight eyes whirred and clicked, mechadendrites connected to the augur arrays shuddered and shook before being withdrawn. "Reports inconclusive, power building." Castius perked up, the Magos's last statement  caught his attention. "Repeat last." When he received no response and only a blank eyed stare Castius leapt towards the magos. He had seen machine shock before, and the last thing he needed was the Magos going into it. "Dammit Hecta wake up, repeat last now!" It took the Magos a moment to regard the Admiral, when she spoke it was soft and quiet. "Inconclusive, power feed building. Possible forced entry." Castius what about to call the fleet back when the gate opened. And his billion ton starships shuddered.