I am fairly sure that this is my longest chapter ever, so enjoy!

Coruscant was the shining capital of the Galactic Republic. Nearly the entire planet had been turned into one super-city, with skyscrapers dwarfing the planet's natural mountains. It was the most populated city in the entire galaxy, and home to countless persons of great importance. It was the home of the center of Galactic politics, the Senate District, in which hundreds of representatives tried to push forward their planet's goals, or their own. It was center of the economy as well, due to its location at the center of hyperspace coordinates. It held the repository of knowledge known as the University of Coruscant, and hosted great patrons of the arts who supported structures like the Galaxies Opera House. Despite all of this, one indescribably important and old structure stood out among the rest: the Jedi Temple. In the High Council Tower, the Jedi Council met to discuss the current matters of importance and in general, lead the Jedi as a whole in terms of decision-making.

One fateful day, the members of the Jedi Council were convening, all in person from Yoda to Plo Koon, because of some unsettling news. A message had come from Bisaan, and while this was to be expected, what was not expected was the garbled nature of the message. As its final moments played out, the twelve masters seated around it looked on in rapt attention.

Orsan looked like hell. He was covered in cuts and bruises, and blood was flowing freely from a puncture wound in his shoulder. The background ambience consisted of yelling, the crackle of a lightsaber, and a thousand shrieks and snarls. "This is Jedi Kni-*GHSHSK*-rsan! Bisaan has fallen under attack by an unk-*GSHKKSHK*-my! The spaceport has been overrun and-MASTER THERE ARE TOO-*" at that point the sound of a body dropping could be heard as the sounds of the lighstaber and Tirii's voice abruptly ceased. Orsan whipped around in horror but before he could utter a word, a creature that none of the Master's had ever seen before leaped onto him. It was vaguely humanoid, but only in that it had two legs and two arms which ended in long, blood-red scythes. It had a reptilian mouth filled with teeth, and it had a purplish-red layer of carapace over its body, which terminated in a relatively short, thick tail, ostensibly for balance. Orsan was impaled through both shoulders, and his scream of pain was quickly cut off by having his throat torn out by the thing. The corpse fell onto the communications array, and the transmission stopped.

Silence reigned in the council chamber as this new development was processed. Finally, Master Mace Windu spoke.

"We have to find out about this new enemy: what it is, what it wants, and how to defeat it."

Master Tiin then added his two cents to the conversation. "I agree. These creatures have already proven themselves to be hostile, and we need to know about their capabilities. We also should let the Senate know about this, it's clear that these things will not discriminate."

"A great shadow, there is, in the Force. An endless hunger, I have sensed. Coincidence that these creatures have also appeared, I think not." Yoda began to inform the others in his own particular methods of speech.

Depa Billaba then asked something that had been on the others minds as well. "What about trying to find out more about these creatures? How should we go about doing this? I propose that we send a team of senior Jedi to investigate."

Windu concurred with her, as did Yoda, Tiin, Eeth Koth, and after about five minutes of consideration all of the Masters had agreed. They would send Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and A'Sharad Hett to the systems near Bisaan in order to try and figure out more about the Swarm, while the Council would try and deal with the political hell that would follow on releasing information of the Swarm's existence to the Galactic Senate.

Route from Taris to Bisaan, Midway.

The Tyrant was confused, or as confused as something with its level of self-awareness could get. It had succeeded in killing two of these 'jedi', and already their bodies were in the process of being assimilated by the ripper swarms. This had been very good news, as now the Tyrant could study their genes and figure out everything about them, or at least these two specimens. The process was not complete yet, however, due to the presence of some foreign cells that were actively working against the assimilation. What was most puzzling was their ability to send transmissions.

The Tyranids possessed a unique ability known as the 'Shadow in the Warp' which completely nullified all communications to a planet that had been targeted. Utilizing method had given the Tyranids an advantage over the humans back in their home galaxy; however the fact that these people had managed to get off a transmission was troubling, as were its implications.

Before the Tyrant had been basing its decisions and assumptions on the premise that this galaxy, though different in terms of species composition, was still similar to his home in how things worked, namely FTL, communications, and the like. However the fact that these people were using an unknown method of communications meant that all of their other technology could be radically different as well. In short, an advantage the Hive Tyrant thought it had possessed was in fact nonexistent.

Its rudimentary mind processed this information as he relayed his orders to the rest of his fleets. Ever since the assimilation of Taris and a dozen other worlds which he had destroyed before they could call for help, the fleet had grown tremendously. It now numbered in the tens of thousands, spread over six distinct fleets. The first one, the one that had attacked Bisaan, was the smallest at only 2,500 bio-ships ranging from void fiends to devourer cruisers, with a 'core' of about a hundred hive ships. The four expeditionary fleets that had been going through the Outer Rim on a feeding frenzy from the sheer number of planets numbered at 3,000 assorted bio-ships. However, the largest was the hive fleet that had taken Taris and also hosted the Tyrant. This fleet numbered at 8,000 bio-ships and held the greatest number of hive ships at 750.

The Hive Tyrant looked at the possible courses of action, and decided to start expanding and assimilating in earnest. Before Bisaan it had been able to be slow and methodical because none of the planets had ever managed to get out distress signals. Now that the Galaxy knew of its presence, it needed to destroy and consume as many planets as possible and build its forces as much as it possibly could in the timeframe that it had before the races of the galaxy could mount a concerted resistance.

Following this path of logic, the Tyrant commanded the hive fleets to spread as far and wide as possible, and began the construction of several hundreds more bio-ships. Its last act before ordering the beginnings of constructing a new body for it to inhabit was to break the main fleet off from its current route and head instead towards the greatest psychic beacon it's infiltrators had created for it; Nar Shaddaa.

Coruscant

"- are their motives? Perhaps they can be-"

"- people are directly in front of this new threat! I demand that-"

"What do we have to defend ourselves-"

"-study this new species. It could hold massive potential-"

"-the rulers in the Rim? Surely we must do-"

"Order! We will have order in the Senate!"

Mas Amedda's voice boomed over the arguing senators, provoking a reluctant silence from each of the hundreds of dignitaries in the room. He motioned to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who took his cue to speak.

"It is clear that this new development must be dealt with swiftly and effectively. However, arguing like a bunch of madmen will get us nowhere. Now, let us proceed to discuss this matter calmly and without fuss, so that we may take action sooner."

Emboldened by these words one of the representatives from the Middle Rim immediately began to speak up. "These aliens have already taken Taris, and are less than 1,000 light-years from my home planet! What if these creatures were to set their eyes upon my home planet, or any of the adjoining star systems for that matter!? I demand that something be done to ensure the safety of my people!"

Another ambassador, presumably one whose system of origin was far away from the hive fleet, raised his own point. "While I must sympathize with my fellow ambassador, we should not be too hasty in attempting to destroy these life forms. We can only assume they came from the unknown regions, as something of this scope should have by all rights been spotted before. I propose that we attempt to study these creatures for a better idea on what we may expect from future developments concerning unknown space, and once we have finished studying them-"

"No! I will not endanger my people to satisfy mere scientific curiosity! I demand that the safety of my people be ensured before any so-called 'studies' are done! We may not even gain any information from these beasts!"

At this point one of the ambassadors who had been a part of the previous discussion began to raise an important point, one which many of the other dignitaries wondered. "Now I must agree that something must be done to make sure all of our worlds are safe, not just those in the immediate proximity of this alien fleet. However, with what will we defend ourselves? We have no standing fleet or army; the Republic has been at peace for a millennium!"

"Then get the Jedi to do it! I will ensure the continued existence of my people so that my planet will not be razed like Taris!"

The ambassadors of the hundreds of star systems continued to bandy words back and forth, continuously arguing the safety of the Republic versus the possible scientific benefits of the fleet. In the end, Palpatine informed the representatives that the Jedi had decided upon an investigative course of action, and that it would be prudent to simply watch what the results of the monastic warriors were. This was eventually agreed upon to be the best course of action at the present, but all of the representatives inwardly decided to send word to their home planets that it would be wise to begin to arm themselves.

After that point of discussion, the Senate began to look at the situation concerning the Seperatist movement, currently being led by the Neimodian Trade Federation.