A.N.: Hello everyone! Back at it again with a new chapter of tyranids doing tyranids (and not so tyranid) things! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it was a fun one to write! Thank you all for the reviews on the previous chapter, I'm glad people enjoyed it! It's always a little nerve wracking bringing a new faction into the story, as I want to avoid falling into the pitfall of doing a disservice to the faction by portraying it far weaker than it should actually be whilst not nerfing everyone around them to make them look better. It's nice to hear people have enjoyed it regardless of my own fears!

Also thanks for Pathfinder for pointing out that valkyries' aren't exactly air supremacy fighters, I have corrected that to more appropriate thunderbolts!


Bareus grunted as the boarding craft impacted the xenos shift, digging a hole into it before the mechanical hatch opened wide, leaving them exposed to a corridor. The space marine grabbed his power sword and bolt pistol, followed by the rest of his tactical squad. Their mission was to reach a location which was judged stable and safe enough to place a localisation beacon and allow for terminator teleportation, with their secondary objective to help them reach the Norn queens no doubt found in the ship and eliminate the tyranid capacity to produce more creatures with which to continuously bombard the world with.

The insides of the xenos ship were made of flesh and pulsating organs, and he had to resist the temptation to simply start hacking and slashing at the walls. This wouldn't help their mission however, and if anything might make it more difficult. Who knew how the ship would react to being attacked from the inside. Best to leave that as a last measure.

"Ahead." He heard through his coms, the marines behind him holding out chainswords and bolt pistols as they braced themselves. A cacophony of screaming, screeching and stampeding could be heard coming towards them. Bareus' eyes narrowed. The moment the first creature turned the corner it was already dead as the templars charged forth, their swords cutting through the mass of gaunts throwing themselves at them. Bareus saw how the creature's claws tried to rend him to pieces, their sheer number enough to allow them to get some attacks in before he could kill all of them; But his armour held strong, and before long the assaulting swarm was dead. Without hesitation they continued ahead, running through corridors of flesh and bone, eliminating anything they came accross. They met up with another squad as they faced a group of tervigons and their ever spawning masses of gaunts in a larger room. There Bareus saw his first brother fall, dragged under the mass of gaunts only to be torn apart as his power armour finally gave out. Another fell five minutes later in the maw of a tervigon, the massive creature lying in ambush behind the flesh folds of a trapped room. The sacrifices were not in vain however, as they eventually reached a large, open room, with far more space than needed for their objective. The apothecary with them inspected the walls and flesh, ensuring this was a normal room and not some stomach or muscle mass that would crush them the moment the terminators arrived. Then, once confirmation was obtained, they placed the localisation beacon down.

It did not take long for the call to be answered. In a flash of thunderous light, a dozen of terminators appeared; each wielding a powerful thunder hammer and storm shield. Their armours were far more resistant than that of the tactical marines, albeit more cumbersome and unwieldy. No word was exchanged. They already knew what they were there to do.

They carved their way through the living ship, searching for the Norn queens. The addition of the terminators was a welcome boon, smashing aside any opposition they came upon. By the time they encountered something new, they stood before an immense opening in the flesh, leading to a room of gargantuan proportions. They could see from where they stood that inside where what seemed to be creatures of such immense proportions they dwarfed even the mighty titans of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The Norn Queens.

But in their way, blocking access to the room, was a small, white haired child. The glowing yellow eyes were a dead give away. Bareus knew this creature to be one they were told of during their briefing.

"Xenos witch." He growled. The thirty over marines with him raised their bolt pistols towards her as the terminators slowly marched towards her. There was an air of caution. They had been told the child had been able to fight with a custodian guard and live. That, if nothing else, warranted being careful.

"Space marine." She answered, with a disgustingly human sounding voice. She sounded exactly like the child she chose to appear as. "I want to thank you for taking the time to come this far. I hope the trip wasn't too rough."

"Open fire." The order was short, curt, and followed by a barrage of rocket propelled projectiles aimed squarely at the child. She tilted her head as they came crashing onto her psychic shield, flashing in iridescent light.

"Rude. I wasn't done speaking." She smiled as they continued firing. "I...I wanted to..." She frowned as the shots continued pouring onto her. "Oh come on, I can't even hear myself speak! Give it a...ENOUGH!" She screamed, a psychic shockwave emanating from her slamming into the marines. Those that were unprepared were knocked squarely on their asses, Bareus being one of those who had prepared for such an eventuality and managing to stay grounded. The terminators were unphased, deciding now that the barrage was over their time had come to charge at the xenos. The heavy boots stomped against the fleshy ground as they picked up speed, barelling towards the psychic child with murderous intent. This seemed to catch her off guard as her eyes widened, raising a hand to try and stop them in their tracks. But stopping a terminator in full armour, having picked up full speed was a much harder thing to do than lifting even a heavier but immobile target; and she only managed to catch the first few before the others slammed into her shield with their hammers, crackling energy coursing against the now faltering shield. Bareus and his companions stood back as the terminators hit the shield over and over, powerful impacts creating cracks in the psychic bubble. They kept their aim steady, but would not fire unless a window of opportunity opened. No use endangering their brothers by distracting them. The child, to his surprise, laughed.

"Oh, you guys are strong! Good!" She jumped back, superhuman strength sending her flying a few dozen metres as she let the shield go, opening her hand. The astartes were already firing on her, a new shield having slammed into place to protect her as she opened her mouth. "TYRANIC..." Bareus had a sick feeling in his stomach. He mustn't have been the only one, as the terminators all raised their shields towards her. "...PIERCING BARRAGE!" A veritable deluge of psychic energy, condensed and moulded in the rough shape of spears descended upon the terminators, crashing into their shields and crackling against them. Those that were lucky were only hit with one or two of the psychic attacks, and their shields held strong. One however found himself under a dozen of the attacks, his shield breaking and his armour burning under the intense power, wounding them greatly. Despite this, the terminator was still alive, and when his squad charged the psyker once more, he followed dutifully, throwing his broken shield as an improvised projectile towards the child. She yelped as they reached her once more, gritting her teeth as she focused on keeping the shield up against the relentless assault of the thunder hammers. She opened a single hand and cried out: "TYRANIC DRILL!" The energy spiral emerging from her hand slamming into the nearest terminator, overcoming the tough terminator armour and carving the astartes inside into bloody chunks, their body falling to the ground. But eleven still remained, still attacking her with relentless energy. Her eyes glowed a sickly yellow, crackling energy running across her body as she screamed, raising her hands and lifting the terminators surrounding her in the air. As soon as she did, the astartes opened fire once more, peppering her weakened shield with bolt shells. She did not scream an attack as she splayed her arms open, sending the terminators flying into the walls of the room with terrible speed. There was terrible power surrounding the child. It seemed she was done playing around.

Well, Bareus thought as he pulled out the multiple frak grenades linked together, initially meant to be used against the Norn queens. So was he.

He barely glanced at the rest of his squad. They knew what he was planning, opening fire on the child as she screamed out an attack, piercing bolts of arcane might descending on the assembled marines, forced to dodge the attacks. Bareus saw on his HUD as brother Gabriel was killed instantly as three bolts stripped his armour and flesh from his body. His rage only grew as he ran towards the child, holding the collection of grenades in his hand.

"ANYA!" A scream echoed as another creature emerged from a side corridor, its chitinous armour covered in blood, bolt marks carving its regenerating body. The thing's eyes widened at his sight, rushing forth with desperation in its yellow eyes. "BELOW!"

The child did not have time to pay attention to him as one of the terminators threw their hammer at her, smashing into her psychic shield. It finally cracked; Bareus saw his chance, throwing the grenades towards her. He saw the moment her eyes shifted towards the grenades sailing towards her, her hand raising as her eyes glowed with power and fear, a new psychic shield barely starting to manifest around her.

Bareus fired his bolter into the grenades before she could stop them. Too close to get away. It did not matter to him.

The explosion consumed his being, the shockwave sending even the terminators to the ground.

The smoke had not yet cleared before the creature was upon the downed marines, the latter recovering from the shockwave in an instant. Honed battle instincts kicked into place, allowing the first marine she plunged her bone sword down towards to roll to the side, raising their bolt pistol and firing a point blank bolt shell into it. The humanoid creature snarled and with speed surpassing even that of the marine grabbed him by the armour, lifting him up and crushing his neck. She stood taller than the terminators at three metres and a half. From the corridor she had emerged from came a cohort of a dozen tyranid warriors, many of which bore more or less grievous battle damage. For the first time in his life, Nasarus could certify he felt a rage that rivaled his own as he barely glanced into the eyes of the warriors as they descended upon the remaining terminators, bone crusher claws grasping at shields and cutting at limbs as thunder hammers smashed bone and flesh.

Nasarus looked to where the child had fallen. The small human-like figure was torn to shreds, every limb save for the right arm having been ripped off if not outright burned away. Even the remaining one was shredded, barely holding on by a shred of flesh. The body of the child was in no better state, the flesh having been almost entirely stripped; her eyes having been boiled away, only that hellish yellow sickly glow flickering in and out of existence in the empty orbs. His eyes narrowed.

The xenos witch was still alive. No matter how extensive her wounds were, the glow in her eyes was unmistakable. This was a tyranid, he reminded himself. No matter how much it may look like a human on the outside...there was nothing human about her. He ignored the battle around him, instead choosing to run towards the child, his bolt pistol aimed squarely at her as he revved his chainsword. A bolt shell, two, three he fired, only for those yellow pinpricks to look directly at him. Each of his shells were stopped by small barriers, each appearing in front of the projectile and shattering on impact, but enough to stop the bolt shell from actually reaching her. She seemed unable to move, as her body lay motionless.

His charge was interrupted as the ship rumbled, the various participants of the battle finding themselves sent off balance. A second later, as they returned to their fighting, Nasarus was informed one of the battle barges had been hit by a bio-plasma shot from the colossal bioship, forcing the rest of the fleet to pull back to avoid suffering the same fate. There would be no escaping this place for them.

He ran out of bolt shells before the witch ran out of power to stop his attacks. Only a few metres separated him from his quarry. A warrior tried to step in his way, only to get sent crashing to the ground as a terminator, his weapons torn out of his grasp, tackled him to the ground and started pounding at the creature with their bare fists, ignoring the claws that came to pierce at his side, breaking through the reinforced armour in their desperate effort to throw him off. To his immense frustration, he could feel immense pressure on him, the glow in those empty sockets intensifying as an invisible force tried to pin him in place, to prevent him from taking so much as another step towards the witch. He glared back into the thing's eyes, defient, and took another step forward. The glow intensified, the pressure growing stronger. It hurt to take the next step. He still took it. He felt as if his muscles would tear. He took another step, his chainsword held in front of him as if some crude spear. He saw the hand of the creature twitch, the fallen corpse of a battle brother raising for a moment before flopping to the ground. Fury filled him at the attempted defilement of the body of his dead brother, giving him the strength to take another step forwrad, the tip of the sword grating at her stomach, almost enough to start cutting at her bones. A wet gurgle came from what remained of the child's face.

"GET THE FUCK OFF HER!" Something slammed into his side, sending him flying away from the child from the impact as he hit the ground a dozen metres away, his rubs cracked. He coughed out blood. Dammit, he'd been so close! The tallest of the creatures, the abominable thing that had torn brother Maxim's head off, had been the culpable thing, now standing over the remains of the child with a snarl on its armoured face. The fight against the warriors had turned to the favor of his battle brothers, though many lay dead. Only three terminators and four of his battle brothers still stood, all weapons pointed towards the child. The thing reached down, grabbing the child and shielding her with its body as it ran away into the Norn Queen chamber, her back shredded from the numerous bolt shell impacts until she eventually collapsed, a hundred metres away, at the feet of a tall creature. The thing let out a low rumble as it lowered its head towards the fallen tyranid, before raising back up towards the marines. The newly spawned hive tyrant raised its bone sword towards them, cracking the fleshy whip in its other whip, a powerful heavy venom cannon held by its second pair of arms.

The next instant, one of the marines was pulverized by a shot from the organic weapon. Another's very soul was flayed as it was smitten from his body, the terminators advancing undeterred by the newly appeared foe. Nasarus knew the fight was over though. They had lost too many fighting the abominable xenos on their way here, and they had little in the way of facing a hive tyrant now.

That is, until he noticed one of the terminators was holding something as it ran past the hive tyrant, directly towards the end of the chamber, towards the monstrous, colossal form of one of the three titan sized beasts linked to the rest of the ship. Something they had not been told of. The hive tyrant was too busy fighting off the marines trying to get to the query it was now protecting with its body and mind, holding the psychic shielding around the child and her protector from the bolter shots as it took down the marines one by one.

His eyes were blinded by the low yield, portable nuclear weapon that blasted the Norn Queen and terminator as he threw it up, the distance and psychic shielding of the hive tyrant enough to prevent the child and tyranid creature from suffering any further injuries. Nasarus, however, felt a vicious joy course through him.

For where once had stood the massive form of the Norn Queen was a crater of flesh and gore. Two still remained, but even the loss of one would surely dampen the tyranid war effort. This was their victory, no matter how pyrrhic.

His thoughts were interrupted as the venom cannon fired onto his fallen form, melting him into goop.


"Private Anvers Dean. For the crime of stealing your fellow guardsmen rations and running away during battle, your sentence is execution." A single lasgun shot echoed through the silent morning air. She looked on, her gaze empty. Her fist clenched at the sight of the executed soldier as he fell at the feet of the commissar.

Her battalion, along with many others, had been pulled back to the main camp in order to rest and recover before heading back to the battlefield. The very morning however they had been dragged out, along with their fellows, to witness the military court as it judged and sentenced the various wrong doing of the guards on the world.

"Sergeant Varen Walsi. You refused to order your men to charge as your commanding officer instructed and instead ordered a retreat." A group of a dozen men and women stood behind a large desk in the open air, the symbol of the Aquila glaring back at the assembled thousands of guards. The man being questioned was dragged in front of the desk by two kasrkin soldiers.

"It was suicide! He wanted us to charge a haruspex with nothing but a dozen men and lasguns!" The sergeant yelled, only to be smacked by the butt of the karskin's weapon.

"Blessed is the mind too small to doubt." One of the judges, an old woman bearing the symbols of the ecclesiarchy spoke. "Your duty was not to question, it was to act. For your crime, death." The commissar raised his boltgun. A single shot through the head was the end of it. She bit her lower lip, willing herself to silence despite her indignance. The body was dragged away, and another man was brought forth. Her heart clenched at the sight as her eyes widened.

"Commander Toji Izana. You have defied the instructions of the Adeptus Astartes, opposed the actions of the black templars chapter and declared the Emperor's work mutation." The words were said with frothing fury as the woman spat them out, all judges glaring at the baneblade commander. "For this crime of high heresy, I would have you burned at the stake, but my fellows have deemed such measures...unnecessary. Execution will suffice." She wanted to scream, wanted to protest, but a hand grabbed at her shoulder, making her freeze. She looked back, finding a...were they a woman or a man? It was hard to tell. The androgynous individual shook their head, tilting their head towards the karskin standing in front of the crowd of guardsmen. She got the message. Any wrong move and she would be the next one standing at the front.

"I can't just..." She murmured.

"He's already dead." They whispered back. "Join them, and their act was for nothing." She clenched her fist tighter, feeling her nails dig into her skin. Damn him, but he was right.

"Due to your rank, you have a right to plead and repent. What say you?" The audience was silent as the commander stepped forward.

"For my words...I have this to say." The commander's voice was hoarse. She could see now the signs of torture on him. Blackened, bloodshot eyes. A skin covered in faint, subtle criss cross of fresh scars. "If a small mind is something to aspire to in our beloved Imperium...no wonder our enemies have been so successful." The woman snarled, raising to her feet as the crowd murmured.

"Better you'd have saved your breath if you were going to be so wasteful with it. Commissar." The commissar gave a single nod, raising his bolt pistol.

She flinched as the gun fired, the hand on her shoulder an anchor of calm that prevented her from doing something reckless. She wanted to look away, wanted to close her eyes as the commissar pulled the trigger. But she refused. She needed to see. Needed to witness it for herself.

The image of the commander's head being pulverized by the bolt shell would be forever engraved in her mind.

She stood there in silence as the next accused was brought forth, the hand on her shoulder pulling her away.

"Come on. Let's get you out of here." She did not resist as the androgynous person dragged them away from the crowd. She wasn't the only one leaving, many dispersing now that the main event was over with and only a few lower ranking grunts were to be given less severe punishments for various other crimes. She stared blankly forward as he brought her to the barracks, leading her into one of the meeting rooms. It was only now she realized the person was a commander themselves, going by the symbols on his uniform. He helped her sit down before taking a seat himself. For a moment she just sat there unmoving. Silent. "You know..." She looked up at them. The officer had taken off their cap, revealing long brown hair. "Toji was a friend of mine. A good friend. What happened to him..."

"It was unfair." She said in a broken voice. They nodded slowly, looking at her carefully.

"Yes. It was." They brought a hand to their forehead, massaging it slowly. "He was...well. Always a bit brash and brazen. He would have done what he did for you for...well, anyone under his command, really. He's done it in the past. But this time...he defied those a little out of his reach."

"He didn't...he just protected me. And they just...they just..." She took a shaky breath. "They killed my brother. They...they killed my brother, and they were going to kill me, and the commander stops them and he's punished for it." She was shivering. "I'm so...so angry. Is it wrong of me to be so angry? Were they...were they right? Do I deserve to die for just..." She looked down to her hands. "For something so small?"

"No." The words were hard, the person's eyes glinting with certainty. "People are afraid of change. Many of them react violently, and well...the Imperium has a tendency to cultivate the most radical, reactionary in its citizens. Especially at the higher levels."

"I hate them." The words came out as a whisper; A hushed admission, as if she was afraid of saying them. "I hate them. I want...I want to kill them."

"Kill them and you get your revenge." She looked up, eyes wide, only just realizing what it was she said. "But nothing will change. Change is something that is antithetical to the Imperium; And yet, it is what it needs the most. What the galaxy needs the most." They smiled, a beautiful smile that seemed to make their entire face shine. "Change is not something to shy away from. It is a wonderful thing, brimming with potential. Much like yourself." She blinked at them. "Do you want to make them pay for what they did to your brother?" Her eyes narrowed. "To Toji?" Her nails drew blood so tight were her fists.

"Yes." She hissed, rage in every fiber of her body.

"Then hit them where it hurts them most. Take what they care about most and bring it down; Their obsolete ways of seeing things, their outdated beliefs." They put a hand on her shoulder. She felt herself stand straighter, her anger fuelling her as she listened to the individual. "This galaxy has been stuck in this status quo for long enough. It is time to make things different."

"How?" She asked. "How can I do it? I'm alone."

"You are not alone. There are many out there with a similar drive, a similar rage. Who have suffered at the hands of the Imperium." They grinned. "You merely need to find them."

"...Why are you telling me this?" She asked, suspicion arising within her as she glared at him.

"I want what you want. I want change. I want something, anything to be different." They sighed. "It's always the same story, the same events, over and over. The details are different, the setting changes a bit but everything remains *the bloody same*. Nothing will change unless we make it change." They raised their hand at her. "I guess you could say I am an agent of change."

"...I don't even know where to start."

"I will help you." She looked at the hand, hesitation gripping her. The sound of a boltgun echoed through her mind, memories of her brother turned to fine red mist flashing before her eyes. She did not see the way the person's eyes glowed a faint blue. She grasped their hand, holding it tight.

"Fine. I refuse to just...sit down and accept this. I'll do anything." The person grinned wildly.

"You will not regret this." She let go of his hand, a new purpose flaring within her as he softly said: "With our combined efforts, we will ensure things go Just. As Planned."


Lord Commander Marques looked to the fizzling screen, having cut out as the nuclear detonation took off. He grimly bowed his head in respect. They had failed to accomplish their secondary objective of killing the anomalous tyranid organism, but they had crippled the hive's capacity to produce new organisms and in all likelyhood weakened the hold of the synaptic web. This wouldn't last forever.

"Contact the ground forces. I want a general push." One of his aides nodded, rushing to the command hub, passing on instructions pre-planned for this very outcome. The marshall of the black templar turned away, walking out of the room. Marques did not have to ask what he was planning to do. The battle barges and strike cruisers having redployed themselves in the orbit of the planet was answer enough. They would be able to count on the templar's assistance for the general offensive. His eyes drifted to the distant behemoth of a ship. For a moment, he considered ordering an assault on it. But the memory of his own butchered attack and the more recent annihilation of an entire battle barge kept his hand, making him turn his focus back on the ground forces.

As he witnessed the armoured battalions deploy, he felt a pang of regret at the execution of one of the baneblade commanders. The man's expertise and leadership could be sorely used here. In truth, Marques could have forgiven the man his actions for the most part, had he not done the unforgivable.

He had questioned those above on the chain of command.

You did not accuse a chapter like the black templar without dire consequences. Even the Inquisition was wary of doing so. For a mere baneblade commander to threaten one at gunpoint was taking things too far. An example had to be made, as regretable as it was. Still...part of him felt a nudging of worry. The strict discipline being enforced had taken its toll on troop morale who were already subjected to extreme conditions facing the tyranid invasion. There had already been reports of commissars getting killed in...suspicious circumstances. Some blammed tyranid infiltrators, lictors and other such organisms.

If these were capable of inflicting lasguns wounds to the back, Marques felt they had bigger problems on hand.

He had a choice here. He could relax things, allow talks to be freer and for criticisms to be expressed. In the presence of zealous black templars, who would no doubt take offence to many of the things the guards might say. With the scrutiny of the Ecclesiarchy ever vigilant. And with the sororitas on route.

Or he could tighten discipline and hope things didn't blow up.

Decisions, decisions.

All of them wrong.


The commissar snarled as he fired his boltgun forward, striking a hormagaunt in its disgusting xenos head. He glanced at the rest of his squad; a troop of flamers in charge of going through the corpses the tyranids left after their retreat and incinerating them as best they could; deny the foe biomass and ensure no nasty surprises were left for when the bulk of the troops passed through the territory. He rolled his eyes as one of his soldiers got too close to the corpse of a carnifex only to almost have his face torn clean off by a hormagaunt laying in ambush, yelping as he fell backwards.

"For fuck's sake Jim, check your fraking corners!" He growled, shooting the hormagaunt in the side, another member of the squad firing a lasgun shot in the head to finish them off. "And if you're going to fall, do it in a way that won't blow us all up! You almost detonated your canister!" A grumbled thanks was muttered, the soldier dusting himself off before glaring at him and walking away. Despite himself, the commissar felt a sliver of unease coil up his spine. A few days ago, such a remark would have elicited laughter from the other soldiers and an embarassed apology from the soldier. They knew their duty was dangerous, and were grateful their commissar took it seriously too.

Recently however...well. The troops hadn't been happy.

The tank batallion had been popular with the troops. One of the first to have encountered any major success on the ground, they'd relieved many a fort and defensive position and had been a good morale boost for the army. What had been done to them by the templars had not been well received. On the other hand, there were those who had been saved by the astartes and those whose faith was more strict than others, for whom the astartes were divine carriers of His Will. Friction was taking place between those two groups, which only serve to make more and more pick a side as things escalated.

He'd always kept a professional distance between his squad and himself. It was necessary for the job, and his men respected him for it. Now however...as they looked back at him darkly when they thought he couldn't see them, he wondered if perhaps trying to show to his soldiers he was more than just the tool of the higher ups...he sighed.

It did not matter. In the end, they would do their duty.

Still, tonight he would keep his gun on his person.


"What did you say?" He cracked his knuckles as he glared at the man before him. The smaller, but slightly more muscular man spat on the ground.

"I said, fuck them. Bastards come down here, do fuck all compared to us, and have the gall to start shooting us when they don't like how we look?" The man snarled. "Fuck them."

"You..." He took a menacing step forward. "If it hadn't been for the astartes, some of us wouldn't be here!"

"If it hadn't been for them, some of us would!" He wasn't sure who threw the first punch. It could have been him. Could have been the other, or someone completely unrelated. The barracks erupted into violence. It wasn't long before the military police came in and started beating everyone indiscriminately until the fighting stopped, the instigators dragged away for interrogation.

He was allowed to go back to the barracks.

The other was executed the next morning.

The night after, no one said anything. Not to him at least. Many hid knives and guns under their pillows.

He felt as if anything could set it all off.


Jane was wondering if they had forgotten about her.

It had been…well she wasn't too sure how long. It could have been an hour, or two days for all she knew since the last time any creature entered with some…food. She preferred not to think too much about what she'd eaten.

Some part of her felt she had seen it move. She ignored that part very well.

She'd felt the ship shake, and from that a thousand possibilities ran through her head. Had Marques launched another attack? No, surely not. With what ships would he even do that? But then…had the tyranid behemoth gone on the offensive? Dread pooled through her at the thought.

Were they already above the world?

Her train of thought was interrupted when a tall, ridiculously tall creature stepped into the room. It looked…well. Humanoid, but there was no doubt this was a tyranid. It seemed almost like a more human tyranid warrior, with a chitin-covered face.

"You." The creature threw a lump of food at her. "Eat." Jane stood stunned for a moment. Besides the child, none of the creatures had proven capable, or at least willing, to speak. As quickly as she came in she turned, about to head out when Jane called out:

"W…wait!" The creature stopped. "I…what's going on? There hasn't been anyone in a while, and all this shaking…" Jane gulped as the thing turned around. Having it be so close to her was a daunting sight. She had worked with space marines before and was no stranger to being beaten in size; but this…this thing would have towered over even fully armoured marines.

"You are here because my sister wishes for you to be. You are unharmed, because my sister wishes you to be. Were it up to me, you would be devoured to the last ounce of biomass." The creature's eyes burned a bright yellow, Jane feeling herself drained of her measly courage. "I know not what she sees in you. I hope it is mere boredom that makes her act so, or loneliness from her kind. If not…I will kill you myself." Jane gulped, but found it in her to speak.

"I…she wanted to…to talk?" The creature's eyes narrowed, but it made no move to interrupt her. "I'm not too sure why…but she seemed to want to…show me? I'm not sure that's the right word…"

"Show you what." The creature gritted out, looming over her.

"The Hive Mind." She whispered softly. "She wanted to show me the Hive Mind." Silence. The creature's eyes were wide with shock now, before a small grin came to her face.

"Ah. So it's like that. Oh dear sister, you should have told me you were so lonely…" The creature leaned down towards her, bringing her face right next to hers. "And what do you think of my little sister's offer?" Jane had to use every bit of her self control not to instinctively crawl away from the terrifying creature.

"Um…well, I…" She gulped. "It's…it's not right. To do so would be heresy."

"And what is so wrong with that?" She snapped her eyes to the monster. But there was not the genuine curiosity of the child; none of her strange, distorted innocence. The thing knew full well what was wrong, and yet still wanted to hear it from her mouth.

"It's…it's heresy! It is against the God Emperor's creed, against his teachings. It is abominable, monstrous!" She glared, finding strength in her dogmas. "As is your kind, xenos!" The creature snorted, a breath of hot air brushing against Jane's hair.

"Monstrous, hm? To your definition perhaps. But if 'our kind' is so monstrous human…yours is equally so, if not more." Jane was stunned, unable to comprehend such an absurd statement.

"I…what?! Are you…are you serious? How can you even compare us to your wretched existence xenos!" She pointed to the creature. "Your appearance is abominable, you go from world to world consuming everything! You breathe poison, spit acid, eat anything that comes your way, kill everything that fights back! We are nothing alike!" The creature chuckled then, kneeling down to bring herself eye to eye with Jane.

"And what does mankind do? At least, under your Imperium. Tell me human…what do you do when you find a world with aliens already inhabiting it?" Jane shook her head.

"That's different. Xenos are hostile, or will become so!" Jane heard the thing mutter a 'I wonder why…' but continued on. "It is either them, or us!"

"And why does it have to be you then?" The answer brought Jane to silence. "It's such an obvious answer right? And yet, from their perspective, it's just as obvious. Why are you in the right, and they are not? Both of you are fighting for your right to existence. And when you do find a world, regardless of it it's inhabited or not, you settle it, expand by consuming its resources, and eventually move on when the world is drained." The creature's grin widened as she leaned in closer. "You do the exact same as us. You consume to grow. You learn to adapt. You try and evolve. You're just a lot slower at it…and often fight back against the lessons the universe desperately tries to teach you." Jane stood silent for a few moments, trying to gather her thoughts and argue back.

"We do not…strip worlds to the bone. And we do not merely consume mindlessly, for no reason other than to continue consuming more and more. Humans have intricate lives, complex social systems. We make life enjoyable!"

"There is nothing enjoyable about living in the Imperium." The creature said bluntly. "You can ask Anya how it worked out for her."

"Anya?" Jane asked.

"My sister." Jane's eyes widened.

"Wait, that thing was…human?!" The creature snorted.

"Didn't the custodian tell you?"

"I thought the child would have lied to mess with him during the fight, frankly. So…it is true?" The creature shrugged.

"Ask her yourself. In the end, mankind is as much of a monstrosity to many species in the galaxy as we are to you. You come in, destroy anything else, and make more of yourself. The means are different, the time scale is different, but the end result is the same. More humans, and less of everything else." She shrugged. "There's nothing wrong with that. It's the way the universe functions. Good and evil are just…arbitrary concepts. What makes a human feel nice and warm is good, what makes them feel bad and cold is evil. You've always enjoyed shrouding yourself in righteousness when it comes to humanity's actions." She smiled. "In the end, it's every species trying to carve out their lot in the galaxy at the expense of everyone else. They might play around the concept, pretend otherwise, but everyone is out for themselves when it comes to the species level. The end result of anyone gaining a clear advantage in the galaxy other the others is…well, them being the only one left."

"I…" She gulped. "But…I am human. Is it wrong of me to fight for mankind then?"

"No. But I will tell you this. No tyranid would ever attack an other unless it was for the benefit of the species as a whole. No tyranid would ever betray another one for its own gain, and any would gladly sacrifice themselves for the species. Can you say the same of mankind?" Jane lowered her eyes. "You call us monstrous…and yet we are more loyal to our own kind than yours ever was. If mankind is the superior being, why does it insist on tearing itself apart with such frightening regularity?" The creature rose to its feet. "My sister offers you a chance that no other has had so far. A chance to see things from a different perspective. A different view. With no lies, no deceit." It chuckled. "If she merely wanted to 'corrupt' you as a slave, she would have done so already. She has no reason to lie…she is lonely. She wants people to see it all as she does, with no lies and no deception. After that…the choice is yours. To follow or to leave." The thing stood at the entrance of the room. "And if you so choose…a chance for a different path than the dark one mankind has been stumbling into for the past ten millenia."

"...If I say yes. Not to follow, not to…" She didn't dare say it. Didn't dare let the traitorous thoughts in her mind. "But…but agree to see. Just to…to feel."

"Well, my sister is unfortunately in no state to grant your request." Jane blinked, surprised. "Black Templars came aboard the ship and tried to kill her. They failed, but she was…deeply wounded. She is currently recovering."

"...oh." She wasn't sure if what she felt was decepointment or relief. Perhaps both. If templars had found her, prisoner of xenos…she wasn't sure she would have been kept alive.

Not after they knew the xenos had been talking to her. "How long do you think…"

"Not long. Honestly, she could be healed by now, but…well. She's changing a few things about herself."

"Changing?" The creature nodded.

"Of course. We're tyranids. We're always changing something to make it work better. I hope she's gotten out of her habit of staying in that human body of hers…no matter how much you change the insides, if the shell is fragile, it won't matter." Jane nodded, unsure how to answer. The idea of being able to just change what you disliked about yourself, or just…add what you wanted was very appealing. Strange, but… she shook her head. Bad thoughts. She couldn't afford to think that way.

Otherwise…

"Ayna." The creature froze, before whipping around, eyes wide. Jane gasped. The child was standing right there, by the entrance. She hadn't even noticed her arriving. "Where is Nornie?" The creature tensed.

"Big sis…follow me." The child tilted her head, but followed along. She looked back, smiling and waving at Jane as she was guided away. Jane hesitatingly waved back.


Anya stared at the empty spot in the chamber. The two other Norn Queens were looking in her direction. She could feel the concern radiating from them. Ayna stood silently behind her.

"...how?" The white haired child asked softly.

"Nuclear charge. Low yield so we wouldn't detect it. Neither you nor I were in any state to stop it, and the hive tyrant was too busy keeping us alive to do anything." Anya felt a tight feeling in her throat as she gazed at the hole.

"So…it's my fault?" She said, her voice strangled. Two arms wrapped around her.

"No. No, it isn't. You…you did your best."

"No." Anya's reply was harsh. Venomous. "No, I didn't. I could have just…I could have just gathered every single creature we had here. I could have…"

"Shhhh…" Ayna's voice was soothing. "You couldn't have known."

"I was reckless. I did it back on Secundus, I did it against Occ…" Her eyes teared up. "I keep…I keep messing this up, and now…now Nornie is…"

"Enough." Ayna replied firmly. "There were always going to be casualties. To be tyranid, you have to accept that every single creature in our species might die. It simply is that way." Anys stayed silent.

"...No. Not everyone. You don't die." Ayna lowered her head.

"I'm different."

"...it was almost done." Anya muttered. "I was almost finished with it. Nornie would have never died if I had just been able to…" Ayna hesitated, but hugged her tighter.

"Finished…what?" Anya's eyes burned.

"The Remembrance."

Deep in the organic pools of the ship something shifted.


Marques nodded with satisfaction at the progress of his troops. The primary continent was almost entirely purged of tyranid structures, though many creatures still remained lying in ambush. The second continent was struggling a bit more, swarms of flying creatures having regained air supremacy and threatening to overwhelm any ground advance.

The good news was peppered by many things giving him reason to worry. Reports of officers getting murdered, commissars dying in strange incidents, troops going missing…it had all the signs of something dangerous taking place.

He turned to face his aide, instructing them to connect a line to the black templar marshall.


Anya pulled away from her sister's embrace, hesitating before turning around and giving her a quick hug. Then, she walked up to the empty spot where Nornie had once been, kneeling down and touching the gory spot.

"...I made a mistake. Many mistakes." She said softly. "You are right, little sister. Nornie died, but her biomass is still with us. Her memories, her experiences." She took a deep breath, a small smile appearing on her lips. "We are tyranid. We recycle, we repurpose, and so long as even one of us survives we never die. And yet…there are some I do not wish to see suffer this fate." Her hands clenched. "I don't care if it's selfish. I don't care if the Universe doesn't care. I care damnit, and that's enough!" She whirled towards Ayna, eyes burning with yellow light. "I will find those willing to obtain ascension as I have; I will elevate the wretched to our ranks, and I will scour the galaxy until there is nothing to threaten us left!" Psychic energy whirled around her, sending lighting bolts streaking through the walls. "Those who oppose us will be devoured, annihilated! Those who stand by my side shall be eternal, never dying!" Ayna's eyes widened as she felt her sister start to pull at the hive-mind's connection.

"Wait, big sister, you aren't ready for tha…" Too late, as her sister started to scream as she floated mid air; pain filling her as her eyes started to melt, her mind straining to understand what it was she was connecting to.

Once again, she found herself fully immersed into the Network; the full extent of the tyranid hive-mind. As she expected it was far too much for her; already she could feel her soul being strained beyond the breaking point. But she was looking for something specific. Something familiar.

She found it.

She pulled, reaching out for the smaller network within the larger one; Now able to distinguish it from the impossibly complex web of connections. As soon as she did, she connected herself to it, a wave of relief coursing through her as she did. It was still a strain, the weight of billions of consciousness, but it was a manageable one. She felt the anticipation of every creature who suddenly felt her presence a hundred fold over, so much more keenly than before. She felt her sister's own soul, wrapped protectively over her own, taking some of the strain from her. She sent a wave of affection, receiving an overwhelming tsunami back from every single creature in the hive. They all shared many things in common. Hunger. Aggression. A single minded focus on aiding the hive. And strangely enough, a powerful sense of protectiveness and love towards her. She felt a smile come to her lips, tears coursing down her eyes as she poured her grief towards Nornie out, smothered in the happiness of finally truly, fully joining the network of her Hive. For a moment, she grieved with her Hive, before returning to her primary reason to connect with them. She grabbed for each warrior in a battle, every single one, for the harpies and the carnifexes, for any creature big enough to sustain these changes without losing their ability to fight effectively, twisting their vocal chords into something that could serve her purpose.

On a thousand battlefields all across the world, from space marine to infantrymen, from tank crewmen to fighter pilot, from artillerymen to commanders, from commissar to ogryn, all heard the deafening voice as it emerged from a million throats all at once.

"HEAR ME! HEAR ME ALL WHO FACE ME THIS DAY! TODAY, YOU DIE! TODAY, YOU WILL BE CONSUMED! TODAY, YOU FACE EXTINCTION!" Men stumbled in shock, soldiers whose moral was already on the verge of breaking running from the battle from this new sorcery. "IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY! I WAS ONCE LIKE YOU, A SLAVE TO THE IMPERIUM DESTINED TO DIE FOR THE SAKE OF MY BETTERS! I HAVE BROKEN AERIA SECUNDUS, SHATTERED THE SORORITAS! I HAVE TORN THE ASTARTES DOWN, BROKEN THEIR TERMINATORS! THOSE WHO ARE TIRED OF IT ALL, OF THE LIES, OF THE DECEIT, THE HYPOCRISY AND THE UNCARING CRUSHING GEARS OF THE IMPERIUM, COME TO ME!" Confusion and panic spread through the army over all continents, unable to comprehend what in the world they were witnessing now. Some, however, listened. The desperate. The broken. The tired. "YOU SHALL BE REBORN AS I WAS! AT MY SIDE, YOU SHALL BECOME UNDYING! YOU WILL BE GIVEN A FAMILY, A PURPOSE! UNITY OF ALL! IF YOU WISH TO JOIN US, YOU MERELY NEED TO THROW AWAY YOUR WEAPON AND COME TO MY KIND, ANYWHERE, ANYONE, AND THEY SHALL BRING YOU TO ME!" The voices died down as Anya started to return the vocal chords to normal, but not before a last, half growled. "HEAR ME NOW. I AM ANYA. I AM HIVE FLEET TARRASQUE. AND I HAVE COME FOR YOU."

In an instant, every single creature on Earia Quintus' eyes began to glow a faint, eerie yellow. Reports started streaming through the vox channels of sudden, brutal coordination appearing in previously disorganized swarms. Beasts that had seemed to have fallen on their primal instincts suddenly acted with frightening cunning and even intelligence. Synaptic creatures were reported leading massive assaults throughout each and every battlefield. What had been a decisive Imperial push was suddenly turning into a desperate battle to hold the line as conflicts erupted all throughout the front.

On the progenitor-class bioship, Anya floated down, Ayna rushing to her with concern in her eyes. To her relief, her sister's eyes were already regenerating, a wild grin on her face as they burned with energy.

"Little sister. Come with me. It is time to awaken the Remembrance. And with it…" A small giggle erupted from her, still drunk with the power she had felt connecting to the wide Hive mind. "I shall join the battlefield."


Lieutenant: "Lord Commander! One of the Xenos is on the line!"

Marques: "WHAT?! Pass them over!"

Lieutenant: "Yes sir!"

Marques: "...Hello? Xenos?"

Anya: "Hi, is this Lord Commander Marques?"

Marques: "Yes. What do you want, Xenos?"

Anya: "Yes hi, my name is Anya. I represent Hive Fleet Tarrasque. Roll for initiative."