Sorry for the insanely long wait guys. I've had a lot to do and very little time and motivation to write. I wanted to make this chapter longer, but I figured I should get something up for you guys to read. I will (Hopefully) get the next chapter up much faster.

Note: Several people have commented that I am undershooting the size of tyranid ships. I did this so that star wars ships would actually have a chance against them.

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Chapter 4: Predator and Prey.

The main hangar of the prey-station was quickly filling with bioforms. First, several broods of Hormagaunts and Genestealers had been deployed to eliminate anything inside. One brood had already claimed first kill, having slain an injured, blue-skinned amphibious biped. Now, the broods of Termagants were being deployed into the hangar, as well as additional assault-beasts.

The prime new all of this before its assault-beak even made contact with the station.

It could feel the vibrations as the beak ground through the metal skin of the outer hull. Then, it was expelled from the warm, slimy gut of the boarding beast into the cold, stale air of the hangar.

Its massive form hit the deck with a wet thump that shook the deck, shortly followed by five more thumps. Growling, the prime rose to its feet. It shook, spaying the remaining slime onto a nearby group of termagants. Its enormous body was revealed, and it was the stuff of nightmares.

It towered over the other bioforms in the in the hangar, standing three meters tall. It had a wide, thick chest, covered in a light blue, rib-like carapace. Its back, thighs, shoulders, and the center of its chest were protected by overlapping plates of dark red bone. It had a thick, muscular tail which ended in a small claw-like appendage. It stood on a pair of muscular, double-jointed legs that ended in horse-like hooves. It had two pairs of muscular arms, each pair wielding a different set of weapons. The topmost pair ended in almost human hands that grasped the hilts of a two lethal weapons.

Identical, blood red swords.

The weapons were a meter and a half long; single edged, and made of a chitinous substance. The blades of the swords were serrated for the first half meter, while the rest of the leading edge was solid. The top of the blades thickened, and slanted at a forty-five degree angle from the slightly curved cutting edge. From the 'hilt' of the weapons protruded a tail-like growth that burrowed into the Prime's forearm. The weapons crackled faintly as they moved through the air, small arcs of blue energy occasionally running the length of the swords or jumping between them.

The middle set of arms ended in two menacing, three-digit hands. The two fingers on each hand were equipped with foot-long, razor sharp, diamond hard red claws. The claw on the thumb was much the same, except it was much smaller, only six inches long, though just as deadly. Although not nearly as impressive as the swords, it was a foolish foe indeed that ignored them. They were incredibly strong, and, when coupled with the overdeveloped musculature of the Prime's hands, could tear through a foot of steel like it was paper.

Its shoulder armor swept up impressive spaulder-like protrusions that framed its head. The Beast's head was protected by a great crown of boney armor. It extended past the back of the skull onto a three-pronged crest. Nestled beneath the armor at the front of the head was a pair of green eyes that glowed from within with an evil malicious intelligence. It had no visible nostrils, just a wide, tooth-filled mouth that took up most of the lower half of the skull, and housed a tongue armed with a bone spike on the end which it could shoot out to take nearby enemies by surprise. The back of the head bulged out to house the beast's enormous brain.

This creature had existed for centuries, and had fought, and consumed, dozens of races. Many races had named it, in an attempt to make this monster appear mortal, and defeatable. It had not worked, but one of the names had stuck in the limited consciousness of the Prime. "Lau'shet". It meant "death of hope" in the language of the blue ones. It liked it. So, with what little self-awareness the prime possessed, it had taken the name for itself.

Lau'shet looked around the hangar, seeing a multitude of over two hundred creatures milling around in leaderless confusion. It reached out to its matriarch, and let the will of the hive-mind flow into it, and through it, into the minds of the smaller creatures. The lesser bioforms quieted, and gathered into their broods. Through the link, Lau'shet sensed its brood-mates move to stand protectively around its massive form, shielding their leader from potential attack.

There were five of them, all of the warrior form. They looked very similar to the prime, the only difference being smaller shoulder armor, less impressive head crests, and a lack of the chest armor and tail-claw.

All the members of the brood had long, slightly curved, razor edged claws of fused chitin and bone on their topmost pair of arms. The claws extended downwards from the underside of the "hands", perfect for stabbing and slashing. The middle pairs of arms held strange creatures that did not even resemble weapons. One of the creatures carrie meter long, cannon-like organism known as a barbed strangler. It consisted of a large, muscle-lined tube which was covered in a protective shell of red bone attached to the right arm. The second component was a bulbous, fleshy sack which made up its left hand. The two were connected by a muscular feeder tube, which carried the weapons ammunition from the sack to the barrel. The other four warriors carried shorter weapon symbiotes. These weapons, if possible, looked even weirder than the barbed strangler. They were about one meter long, and covered in the characteristic red shell. They are known, fittingly, as deathspitters. The deathspitters were carried with both of middle arms. The barrels of the weapons were lined with muscles, and the ammunition chamber had reptilian eye on it. Both the strangler and spitters had a tentacle-like appendage that extended into the creature's right forearm.

Lau'shet reached out through the link; identifying two other broods of warriors, both consisting of three creatures armed with claws and deathspitters. Then, the Norn queen touched Lau'shet's mind, distributing her directions. One brood of warriors was directed to the lower portion of the station with twenty-four hormagaunts and ten genestealers to hunt down the few prey-creatures the Norn Queen had detected with her mind below the hangar the swarm was currently in. The second brood was to stay in the hangar with forty five termagants to defend their beachhead from potential counterattack. Lau'shet was to take the remaining bioforms to attack the main concentration of prey-minds were located. It directed twenty genestealers into the ventilation system, and led the remaining eighty hormagaunts and forty termagants into the main corridor from the hangar.

The gaunts chattered and growled in anticipation of what was to come. The brood hissed, and Lau'shet's boneswords let off great cracks and arcs of energy, sensing the excitement of the surrounding creatures. The prime gave a very crude imitation of a smile.

Time to sample the food.

"Move it, you worthless scum! And don't drop anything; these crates are worth more that all of you combined!" Alamog bellowed.

Baran stifled an angry outburst. They were in Alamog's private, internal hangar. The two ships inside, Alamog's private pleasure-yacht and Baran's ship, Stardancer, had been spared the destruction of the ships docked on the outer hull. But now, instead of fleeing, Alamog insisted on loading up all of his valuables before leaving. Now, he was yelling at his minions to load his things faster.

Baran decided to try again. "Alamog, we don't have time for this! We need to get out of here now. Before these things get here!"

The Hutt glared at him. "I agreed to your plan, jedi," he sneered, "but I am not leaving my wealth on this station. Do you know how much that statue alone is worth?" He gestured with his flabby arms at a statue being carried by a pair of gormelians.

Baran sighed. He had known that this would be the Hutt's response. Still, he had felt he needed to try. But, he didn't really have the energy for it at the moment.

"I'm going to check up on the outer perimeter." He said, and walked briskly away before the slug-like alien could respond. He walked to the only exit to the hangar, where a barricade had been erected. The mercenaries on guard there barely spared the jedi a glance as he vaulted over the barrier of crates and furniture. He walked down a ten-foot hallway and through the doors at the end into Alamog's throne room. Another barricade had been erected here, in a line across the room facing the door. More mercenaries and gormelians manned these defenses, including a pair of heavy blaster turrets set up to cover the door. Baran stopped to survey the defenses, and was satisfied with the layout. He passed the barricade and went through the doors to the throne room, to view their first line of defense.

Outside the doors to Alamog's throne room was a t-junction. The passages to the left and right lead to the storerooms and barracks for Alamog's men. These passages had been sealed; the blast doors closed and welded shut. The hall going directly away from the door remained unblocked, and it was down here that the invaders would be funneled. The hall was about thirty feet long and six feet wide. It ended in a corner which lead off to the right from where the defenders were waiting. There was no cover of any kind in the hall.

Like the other defensive lines, the inhabitants of the station had built a barricade across the hallway, made out of crates and furniture and spare ship parts. There were a dozen assorted mercenaries, armed with blaster rifles and pistols, seven gormelians with their axes, and a dwarf spider droid Alamog had been given by the commerce guild for services rendered in years past. They planned to funnel the creatures down this hallway and shred them with blaster fire, letting the axes of the gormelians take care of any that got to close.

Baran squeezed through the door past the spider droid (which was partially blocking the door) and stood amongst the guards.

"Anything yet?" He asked the captain, a grizzled-looking blue twi'lek who carried a heavy blaster rifle and had a vibro-sword strapped across his back.

"No, Yanax." He replied. "We haven't seen any sign of these 'monsters'." He gave the jedi a withering stare.

Something growled.

At once, every man on the barricade had his weapons at the ready, pointing down the hallway. Two creatures walked around the corner, and time seemed to stop.

The creatures were slightly larger than an adult human, and shared much of the same body shape as one. They walked upright on two legs, and had a rounded dead with no protrusions. But there the resemblance ended.

The beasts were about seven feet tall. They walked with a hunched stature, and were covered in an insect-like carapace that was a light blue color. They had four arms, each ending in a clawed, four-fingered hand. Their heads were distended at the rear, and their mouths were full of needle-sharp teeth. The men of the barricade could see a glint of primal intelligence in their glowing green eyes. All in all, Yanax thought that the creatures looked like what humans could have evolved into had their home world been harsher.

Both groups stared at each other for a moment. The creatures let forth another throaty growl.

One of the mercenaries reacted, snapping off a shot at the beasts with his blaster pistol.

And time restarted.

One of the creatures sprang forwards a good ten feet and began sprinting at the barricade, while the other stepped back behind the corner. The men and women at the barricade filled the hall with blaster fire, but the creature seemed to weave through the curtain of light, dodging through the fire with almost supernatural dexterity. The few shots that did connect did almost nothing, at worst leaving only a scorch mark on the creatures' armored form.

Baran ignited his lightsaber as the creature closed. It had run halfway down the hall when someone finally though to power up the spider droid. Its eyes lit up and it rose from its powered down position. It immediately identified the incoming creature as a threat, and began to track it with its cannon. The beast had launched itself into another jump when the droid's blaster-cannon boomed.

The shot struck the man-creature directly in the chest, and blew strait through. The creature fell to the floor, stone dead, the glowing edge of the wound slowly fading.

The creature which had been hiding at the end of the hall hissed loudly, drawing the attention of the defenders. It stayed were it was for a few moments, watching them, then retreated around the corner.

The Twi'lek captain turned to Baran, eyes wide, smoke wafting from the barrel of his rifle. "What the hell was that?" He asked in a shaky voice.

"I believe that is what we are fighting against." Baran replied, still looking down the hall, lightsaber ignited.

"Are you kidding me?" A human mercenary said. "Did you see how that thing moved?! If not for the droid, it would have been on us in a few more seconds. And our blasters did almost nothing against it. If we could barely stop one, what are we going to do when…"

The man was cut off by a screech.

The genestealer had no intentions of dying today. The prey-creature's defenses were too strong to be breached alone by direct assault. But, through its brood telepathy, it knew that one of its brothers was in the ventilation system near here, and it planned to join him, to flank around the defenses…

Suddenly, a doorway beside the stealer slid open.

The creature jumped backwards, crouching down reflexively. The room beyond was dark, but it could see perfectly into the room. Curious, the stealer crawled forwards to the threshold of the door. It saw a number of objects within that it could not comprehend the meaning of. It stood up on its hind legs and slowly walked into the room.

As it passed through the threshold of the door, an orange shape struck.

Worg drove his vibro knife into the neck of the creature from above as it walked through the door. He had been standing on a crate beside the door. The blade cracked through the beast's carapace and sank into the flesh beneath. On any other opponent, the strike would have been lethal.

But not this foe.

The creature let out a shriek of pain and lashed out at the Trandosian with its upper pair of arms. It was a clumsy, rushed strike, and Worg was easily able to dodge the strike. He ducked under the strike, rolling to the floor, then sprang up and kicked the creature in the chest.

The creature stumbled backwards into the corridor, hissing in anger. Worg slung the axe he took from the dead gormelians from his back and followed his prey into the hallway. The beast had recovered by the time he left the room, and swiped at him with its upper left arm. Worg leaned back to avoid the strike, but the tips of the creature's claws still managed to tear two shallow cuts across his chest. Worg roared in pain and anger, and backhanded the beast across the face, sending it stumbling back the way it had come.

Eager to finish the fight, Worg raised the axe over his head, holding it in both hands. He swung it down quickly, releasing the haft at the exact moment required. The axe spun end over end through the air, and struck the creature as it recovered from Worg's backhand. The axe struck the creature, blade first, directly in the face with a wet crunch. The beast stumbled backwards a few steps, then fell onto it's back.

Yanax and the other defenders had been ready for a horde of nightmare beasts to come around that corner. Instead, the creature that had just fled came stumbling around the corner, a gormelian axe lodged in its head. The people at the barricade stood dumbstruck, staring at the fallen monster.

An orange Trandosian walked around the corner, and stood over the fallen beast. Yanax could see a triumphant grin on his face. He bent over the beast and wrenched the axe out of its head. He then pulled a knife out of its neck, and began to saw at the neck.

"What the hell is he doing?" One of the mercs said to no one in particular.

"Trandosian culture centers on the hunting of dangerous creatures, and besting them." Yanax said. "I believe he is claiming his trophy."

With a triumphant grunt, the Trando pulled the almost bisected head off of the corpse. He wiped his bloody knife on his jumpsuit, then stood. He looked at the barricade, finally seeming to notice the defenders.

"A good kill!" Yanax called to him. "I would know the name of such a fine hunter."

The Trandosian chuckled at Yanax's clumsy attempt at formality. "I am Worg." He said. He began to walk towards the barricade, axe in one hand, skull in the other. "What are you doing?"

"We are defending this position until our ships are ready to leave. I don't think that this station is safe any longer, with those beasts running around."

Worg looked confused. "Shipssss? How do you have any shipsssss left? The sssspace creatures desssstroyed them all."

"Space creatures?" A Queegway mercenary said worriedly.

Worg reached the barricade and easily vaulted over it. He looked at the man who had spoken. "Yesss, something used a ssssort of electrical attack to dessstroy the ships docked with the ssstation."

Yanax did his best not to look worried. "Our ships were in Alamog's personal hangar." He said.

"Ah." The Trando looked back down the hallway. "You'll need ssssome help to hold this barricade." He said. He leaned up against the spider droid, which had been deactivated. "And I could do with some more trophiessss."