A.N.: And here we are, arc 3 starting off! It's been an amazing ride so far, and I'm very grateful to each and every one of my readers for taking it with me! For those who are concerned about some of the major players not being involved last arc that were shown, all of them will be involved at some point in the story, though not always at the same exact time! I don't want to reveal too much of course... I appreciate people being willing to deal with my very strange update schedule, which can be two chapters in two days or two chapters separated each by a week!
To Guest: Yes, Anya will use genestealers! However, I cannot reveal much, as again we enter spoiler territory...
With all that said, onto the story, and I hope you enjoy!
The streets of Valaon Prime Majorus were empty, silence reigning in the darkness of the night cycle. Few were those who were out at this time of night; Even in this relatively safe level. The immense flood lights that cast light on the city during the daytime were turned off, immense metallic contraptions that hang over the hive city's third level. The only sound that broke through the quiet was the occasional groaning of distant machinery; For the Imperial Industry never slept.
Alice knew it was a bad idea to be up at this hour. Even worse to be roaming the deserted streets alone, especially at her age. But she couldn't help herself; Her curiosity had gotten the best of her when she had noticed something a few days ago.
Every morning, before being forced to go to tutoring by her parents, she would sneak out of her room and go walk around the roofs of the houses in the level, meeting up with other kids her age and spending some time playing and arguing with them. It was a nice bit of freedom, and sometimes she wondered if her parents actually knew and let her do.
It was during one of those escapades that she had seen the strange man.
The strange man always dressed in a different outfit, but she was very very observant. Her tutor had said so multiple times, and she was proud of how good she was at noticing the little details. He sometimes was accompanied by others, sometimes was alone, but every single day he went through the same area. Different routes, different paths, but always the same area. He would stop near some buildings, observe some time before moving on. It was obvious he was trying to be discreet, trying to avoid attention. It intrigued her.
She'd wondered if he would also come out at night. As it turned out, he did. In fact, he was a lot more active at night, actually entering some of the buildings, using some strange devices to open the locks or windows, getting in unnoticed save for the young child hanging on the roofs.
Tonight, he wasn't alone. He was accompanied by three other people, each cloaked in dark outfits that helped blend in the shadows of the street. They stopped in front of one of the buildings, talking in quiet tones before entering, the last of them glancing around the streets cautiously before finally closing the door.
She hesitated for a moment. This was a bad idea. A terrible idea, even. But on the other hand, how could she leave such a mystery unsolved? Her decision made, she grabbed a hold of the drainage pipe, sliding down it carefully before landing on the ground with a roll. Walking up to the building, she ignored the front door, instead going to the side of the building. There, a few metres off the ground, was a single window with a slightly rusty latch. She climbed up to it, resting on the windowsill as she reached to the latch, carefully playing with it. She'd seen the man unlock the window a few times now, and if she just applied a little pressure here, then pushed a little there...the latch clicked, strained and unlocked at last, a grin appearing on her face as she immediately slipped inside the building. She'd done it! She was awesome! Holding back a squee of excitement, she took in her surroundings, her heart beating fast with excitement. It was an empty but pretty nicely decorated corridor; there was a flower pot in front of her on top of a small table, a painting of some strange animal that the title told her was a 'horse', and a nice velvet carpet on the ground. She resisted the urge to whistle. The building had seemed pretty big from the outside, and it seemed whoever owned it was comfortable in their money. She felt a stab of worry come to her. If she was caught, her parents wouldn't be able to bail her out of this one. She glanced at the window. Maybe she should just... but the sight of a half open door was far too tempting to resist.
She found herself at the top of a staircase leading down further down. She started going down, but as the seconds passed, she became more and more nervous. She must have been fifteen metres deep before she finally reached the end of the stairs, slipping past the open door onto a balcony looming over a large open room. On each side were stairs leading further down. She crouched down and peeked through the bars in the balcony fence, watching with wide eyes the side before her. Two dozen people, each wearing long robes, stood in a circle around the man she'd been following all this time, humming in unison. Before the man stood a man robbed in red, whose face she could not see beneath his hood.
"So. This is the new soul that wishes to be shown the truth of Salvation?" She frowned nervously as she looked around the room, trying to listen to the man's speech at the same time. There were candles lit all around, shelves covered in books lining every wall. On the back of the room was a massive curtain over the wall, preventing any examination of it. "Well then my brother, I am glad you have decided to embrace the one true Faith." The man chuckled. "Now, of course, you need to pass our initiation first. I am sure you were informed of some of the basics by our brothers and sisters, however, there is more you need to understand." An initiation? Was this some kind of club? She nervously looked at the door behind her. Maybe she should leave. "The Star Gods have liberated many a world already, however the times of Judgement have come. The End is near, and so they have sent a Herald upon this sinful galaxy to help ascend the faithful. It is our duty to prepare this world for her arrival." She grew pale at the words. Star Gods? There was only one God. This was...this was heresy. This had gone from dangerous to Dangerous. She gulped, slowly crawling backwards.
Someone grabbed her shoulder, a hand over her mouth before she could scream. She tried to bite down, but the one who had grabbed her ignored the pain, dragging her towards the stairs. It was one of the cloaked people. She trembled in fear, tried to kick them.
"Herald?" The man kneeling asked in a curious tone.
"Indeed." The man pulled a rope, the curtain drawing back. Alice found herself staring at the immense paintain covering the entire wall.
It depicted a child-like figure, white haired and with yellow eyes, casting a gentle smile as she stood triumphant above a human armoured figure. A space marine. In one hand she wielded a crystalline halberd which she had planted in the space marine, pinning them to the ground whilst the other was reached out, open as if to invite the watcher to take it. Unfurled behind her were a pair of brilliant wings of white feathers, hallowed in light. It was a beautiful image and it captivated Alice instantly. She felt as if the girl depicted was staring straight at her, inviting her to come closer, to take her hand. A gentle whisper that it was alright, that she would keep her safe. The image was heretical in the extreme, and yet...there was something so genuinely comforting about it. She found herself almost relaxing in the arms of the one who'd captured her.
"The Herald. She Who Shall Lift Us From This Sinful World And Elevate Us To The Stars." She noticed the man on the ground had gone extremely still. He didn't seem relaxed like her. "But you already knew that, didn't you little acolyte?" The man on the ground tensed. "Oh yes, I already knew of your little espionage on us. You thought you could infiltrate us like this and we wouldn't discover your attempts? You were discreet I will admit, but we have eyes in many places...and we see much." Two of the robed people pulled out weapons from under their cloaks, pointing them at the man on the ground. She started struggling all the more, the feeling of comfort broken by the sudden threat of violence. She was brought forth into the circle of robbed individuals. "And what do we have here? Another rat, come to try and nibble at the corners of our beloved family?"
"I've heard enough." The man on the ground said. He glanced at her, catching her eyes. He had a reassuring smile on his face, but his eyes were full of anger. "Ashley. Get them." A moment of confused silence passed before something tinked on the ground. Someone swore.
"FLASH GRE..." The world exploded in light, Alice crying in surprise as her eyes suddenly strained at the intense light. Cries and panicked shouts soon followed the sounds of a scuffle as fighting began, people bursting in the room and beating up the surprised robed people. At some point, the one holding her let go, followed by a strangled gurgle. By the time her vision returned, every single robed person was on the ground, unmoving, save for the better dressed one currently pinned to the wall with a gun to his head from the man who was on the ground. There were two new people in the room. One was dressed in full silvery armour, her helmet swiveling around the room like a predator looking for her prey. The other was decked in riot control gear, an electric staff in her hand and a riot shield in the other. That one went on her knees in front of her.
"Hey kid. Got a bit lost, haven't you?" Alice was too stunned to answer, just nodding quickly. "Aw. Poor thing. Let's get you back, shall we?" She got back up, turning to the man with the gun. "You got things covered, Harrison?"
"All good. I'm just going to ask a few questions to our friend here."
"Neat." The woman reached out, offering her hand. Alice almost instinctively glanced at the painting on the wall, but resisted the urge. "You've been a brave girl, but it's time to go home now, okay? And try not to roam into strange places again, yeah?" Alice nodded again, grabbing the offered hand.
She was going to have one hell of a story to tell the others the next day.
"Robert Jonasson. Thirty eight years old, a manager in the lasgun ammo manufactorum of sector five eight of level four. A few close connections, quite a few kids. We're already rounding them up, but some seem to have vanished into thin air before we could get to them." Harrison listened to the droning of the arbites. "No known criminal activity. Has been known to be a friendly and outgoing individual, always happy to help. Popular member of the community." Harrison's eyes were locked on the man in the room, looking through the tinted glass. The man seemed oddly relaxed for someone trapped in an arbites interrogation cell.
"I'm going in." The arbites glanced at him.
"We can't just let you in near the suspect sir, with all due respect." Harrison flashed something at the arbites, the woman immediately growing pale. "O...oh. I'm so sorry, sir. Please, go right ahead. Just give us a sign if the perpetrator causes any issues."
"It's fine. Ashley, you're coming with me." The arbites didn't protest as a heavily armoured and armed woman followed him into the interrogation room.
"Aaaah...acolyte." The man smiled. "I would welcome you to my humble abode, but well. My hands are a little tied right now." He glanced meaningfully at his chained hands.
"I'll survive." Harrison replied blankly. He sat down on the other side of the table, Ashley coming to rest against the wall, placing herself in between the two. Harrison noticed the very short, but very noticeable concerned look the cultist gave her. "So. Robert. How did this all start?"
"Do you mean my induction?" The cultist asked with a dramatic sigh. "Well, unfortunately I do not have much of a story there. I met a woman, fell in love, and well...she showed me the truth. We had children, I was taught further by her, and eventually took over her position as local leader."
"Local leader. How local are we talking?" Robert shrugged.
"Oh not much, just the local parish. About the entire sector."
"You're being awfully cooperative." Harrison noted.
"What use is there in hiding this kind of information? You'll get it out of me one way or the other." The cultist answered. "I have to admit, I underestimated you acolyte."
"That's nice." Harrison brushed off the compliment. "So. This...Herald of yours. Mind telling me what that's all about?" The cultist's eyes shone.
"Aaaah...our beloved Herald. The one who walks before the Star Gods, who carries their message. Who became one of them more than any other, who is embraced by the Great One beyond any other. The Beloved." He shivered. "The Devouring Angel." His smile grew rapturous. "Amica."
"Anya." Harrison softly added. The man's eyes widened.
"You...you know...but how?" Harrison stared him down.
"We met shall we say." Robert immediately tried reaching for him.
"You did?! What was she like?! What w..." Ashley was already grabbing him by the head, slamming it down into the metallic desk. The cultist let out a cry of pain as she lifted his head back up by the hair, blood dripping from his now broken nose.
"You dare try and touch the emperor's chosen, filth?!" She snarled with such fury the cultist tried to cower away, unable to escape her grasp.
"Thank you Ashley. You can let them go." Without a second's hesitation she did as told. "And again, stop calling me that."
"Sorry. Reflex." She muttered. To her defense she did seem repentant, but Harrison knew better than to immediately believe her.
"So. How did you learn of that Herald of yours? I thought you lot were cut out of the Hive Mind." He asked bluntly. No use beating around the bush.
"Ah...well, we are. Mostly. We are independant from it, but..." He grew silent. "I do not think I should tell you."
"I think you ought to. Otherwise, I am going to have to leave you to the tender love and care of dear Ashley here." The sororitas cracked her knuckles. Robert looked at him with obvious fear. Then a resigned look came to him.
"Very well. In that case..." His eyes grew blank, and he collapsed to the ground. Harrison leaped to his feet, running to the side of the man, swearing. He reached for the neck.
"Fuck. Dead. Just like that." He sighed. "Damnit. A two week long lead, and it just...fucking cults." Ashley leaned down, patting him on the back.
"It's alright. At least we now have confirmation of a genestealer cult infestation on the planet."
"They were worshipping Anya. Why the fuck were they worshipping Anya?" She didn't respond at first.
"I'm not sure." She eventually said. "What I do know is that we're going to annihilate those filthy heretics." Harrison gave her an annoyed look.
"I hate that I agree with you on that for once." She clapped her hands happily.
"Amazing! Let's go inform the inquisitor then!"
"...Let's." And there started the worst part of his day.
Damn it all.
"OI!" He startled, cowering instinctively at the loud voice. "BOSS!" A momentary relief. The ork wasn't there for him. He continued polishing the ammo he'd been thrown into earlier, sneaking glances at the conversation near him, his pointy ears twitching at the loud grunted words.
"WHADYA WANT, YA GIT!" The massive ork growled back, testing their power claw. "IZ BUZY THINKIN WHERE TO GO NEXT!"
"DATS DA THING, BOSS! WE'Z THINK WE FOUND SOME OF DA BUGZ!" The ork warboss froze, a grin slowly stretching their lips, revealing vicious teeth. He rose from the ground, showing his full height. The ork was massive, towering over the smaller boi.
"WELL? KEEP ON YAPPING!" The boi, to his credit, showed not a hint of fear. That was good. There was a reason the boss liked this one.
"IZ GETTIN' TO IT! WE'Z FOUND SOME HUMIES HIDING IN ONE OF DER SHIPS, AND DEY SAID DEY WUZ RUNNIN' AWAY FROM DA BUGZ! SOME PRETTY TOUGH ONEZ AS WELL!"
"Tough onez ey?" The boss chuckled. "Well den. Kant leave a good opp-ortu-ni-ty like dat alone now kan we?" The boss lumbered forth, the boi immediately stepping out of the way as the warboss exited the ramshackle palace, out into the massive ork camp. There were tens of millions of orks here alone, and many more spread across the previously imperial world. Devastated now, thanks to him. Leading the boyz from tribalistic warfare to creating great idols of metal and scrap to annihilate the cities of the humies. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" The loud bellow thundered in the air, silencing the orks going about their various tasks, captivating their attention immediately.
"DA BOSS! DA BOSS IZ 'ERE!" Shouts echoed through the camp as they all began converging towards him, chanting as he raised his arms.
"LISTEN ERE YA GITZ! NOW IZ HEAR DAT WE GOT SOME BUGZ NOT FAR FROM 'ERE! Y'ALL EARD OF DA BIG WAR WITH DA BUGZ, AND NOW WE HAVE SUM RIGHT 'ERE! SO I SAY, TAKE YOUR LOOT, TAKE YUR SCRAP, TAKE UR DAKA AND LETZ GO KRUMP SUM BUGZ!" The roar and cheering of the orks was deafening, only overpowered by the powerful bellows of the ork warchief. "WHADYA SAY!"
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The warchief grinned.
"DATZ WAT I THOUGHT! PACK YOUR THINGZ, WE'RE LEAVING!"
"Now that we are all here, I declare the first meeting of the Tarrasque High Council started!" Anya clapped her hands, smiling at the other four entities sitting at the large table like growth of chitin emerging from the ground. "Now, before we get into the meat of this meeting, does anyone have any questions?" Her little sister raised a hand. "Yes, Ayna!"
"Why are we here." Her sister asked, looking mildly exasperated; Which was an interesting expression on a three and a half metre tall tyranid creature.
"Well to have the meeting! I made this room specifically for meetings." Anya announced proudly. The walls, rather than pulsating flesh, were made of colorful chitin that gave it a slightly metallic, silvery look. Colorful streaks of red, orange and purple decorated the room in strange pigmentation.
"I meant why are we meeting like this. Physically. In person. Sat around a table." Ayna enunciated each and every word clearly. "We are all literally connected mentally. We can know what each of us is thinking, like, instantly. It's faster, more efficient and does not require us to sit down at *a table*." She pronounced the last few words particularly disdainfully. Anya frowned at her, pouting.
"But it's not as cool! Come on, we're like, evil space aliens! We got to have an evil meeting table!"
"Evil is subjective and you know it." Anya rolled her eyes.
"Yes yes, I know, I know. Look, I went through all the effort of making us a meeting room, a cool table, and chairs at the appropriate size for everyone!" Anya angrily stomped on the ground. "I want to have a cool sinister meeting where we discuss our plans for world conquest!"
"We already conquered, like, two worlds." Her sister retorted. "If anything, we're going for galactic conquest." She added petulantly.
"You know what I mean!"
"Oh come on. If Amica wants to have a meeting, let her have a meeting." Jane intervened. Whilst Ayna was sat opposite to Anya, she sat to the direct right of the child. "It's not like we're low on time for travel. It'll take us days to get anywhere."
"Shut up Jane, your opinion doesn't count. You basically worship the ground big sis walks on." Jane frowned at the verbal jab.
"I'll have you know worshiping is for gods. Amica is much better than a god." She added with a disdainful sniff. Anya giggled at that, making Ayna shake her head.
"You're such a brown noser Jane."
"Bite me Ayna." The tyranid smiled a smile full of long, sharp teeth.
"Don't tempt me."
"Stop arguing you two." The person standing at the left of Anya spoke up. Resembling a male, smaller version of Ayna, the creature sighed. "If Amica wants to have her meeting, where is the harm? Weren't you literally complaining yesterday about not seeing your sister enough recently?" Ayna stood up ramrod, glaring the creature down.
"Oh you imperial little sh..."
"Awwwwww little sister, were you feeling lonely?" Anya giggled, jumping over the table and grabbing her sister by the arm. "Don't worry, big sis will make sure to give you plenty of affection and attention!"
"Wait no that's not what I saidddd..." Ayna wailed as she was physically dragged by the child a third of her size. The sheer ease with which Anya dragged her much bigger sister around was a sobering reminder to all those at the table that despite her frail appearance, the entity they called Amica was more than capable of killing each and every one of them with little effort. She walked back to her chair, dragging both Ayna and her chair with her, making her sister sit right next to her, arm to arm.
"There we go! Thank you for pointing it out Smith!" The former human smiled at her, nodding, ignoring the absolute glare Ayna was giving to him.
"Anytime, Amica."
"Now! Meeting time!" Anya declared. This time, there was no argument. "Alright, so. First of all. Introductions!"
"The synaptic web." Ayna bluntly stated.
"Ayna's arguing privileges have been revoked."
"Hey!"
"Introductions! I am Anya, or Amica, whichever you prefer. I am your beloved leader, founder of Hive Fleet Tarrasque, and..." Anya frowned. "I mean that's about the important parts I guess." She clapped her hands. "Next!" She looked up to Ayna expectantly.
"I'm not doing it." Anya stared at her. "I'm not doing it, I said." Anya stared some more. "Oh damn it all. My name is Ayna, and that is all you will call me. I am in charge of things when Anya is otherwise occupied, and front line leader." Anya grinned.
"She's also my little sister!" Ayna groaned. "Next!" Smith rose to his feet, giving a small bow.
"I am Smith, a more recent addition to the fleet. I was the first of the former Imperial Guard to emerge from their metamorphosis, and have been put in charge of leading them."
"Excellent work Smith!" The man's perfectly pleasant composure broke temporarily as a smug grin spread on his face before returning to a controlled smile.
"My name is Jane, Amica's admiral of Hive Fleet Tarrasque. I was the First to be reborn as she was." Jane reminded, glancing meaningfully at Smith, who did a slight deferential nod of the head.
"Good job Jane! And finally, last but not least..." A powerful growl echoed through the chamber.
"Aravak. Hive Tyrant of the Tarrasque. I was the First Hive Tyrant born of her."
Jane and Smith exchanged a slightly nervous look as the massive beast spoke. It stood at a solid ten metres tall, towering even above a normal hive tyrant. It wielded a long bone halberd clearly inspired by Anya's own though grossly oversized to accommodate the immense bulk of the alien, along with a strangely modified version of a heavy venom cannon. Its back was covered in long, viciously serrated spikes, and its long tail covered in barbs ended in a prehensive pincer strong enough to crush concrete into powder. Along its head were four pairs of eyes, each moving independently from the other, reptilian in appearance with a subtle yellow glow glimmering in the pupils of each and every one of the red orbs. Light blue electric arcs occasionally passed from one spike to the other, an external indicator of one of the creature's more fearsome abilities; One which it had inherited from Anya herself. It sat on a massive throne-like chair and made for a drastically imposing sight.
Yet for all those present it was obvious that the hive tyrant showed deference to the small child before it. It continued its introduction. "I will serve as one of her many generals."
"Thanks Aravak! I'm looking forward to fighting with you." The creature bowed its head deeply.
"I live to serve you, Founder." Anya giggled, seemingly pleased with the title.
"So. Now that introductions are done, time to get to the matter at hand." All present leaned forth, focusing on her words as she spoke. "This system is empty of any truly bio-rich planets now that we're done consuming Quintus. I've sent some ships to devour the other planets, but this will be done in a matter of a few days unlike the weeks it's taken the others. As such, we need a decision as to what our next decision should be." Silence for a moment as each member of the council considered the issue at hand.
"I would have thought the course obvious?" Jane dared ask. "Find the nearest world and, if our forces are sufficient, siege and crush it." Smith shrugged.
"I'm not sure, I mean, our actions here are bound to have attracted some attention. An entire system depopulated, a Guard regiment and templar crusade crushed, and the extermination of a sororitas mission...these things don't go unnoticed. Attacking a world might just leave us with most of our forces tied down when the inevitable retribution reaches us."
"Staying on the defensive is not an option though. We do not have the means to fight against a full scale imperial retribution, our best option would be to go our and collect more biomass." Jane argued back.
"Passivity will make us weak." Ayna agreed. "However, some level of caution is required in whatever course we take. We're at our strongest, but the Imperium and other forces are not any weaker for our actions. The Tyranids might be able to crush the galaxy given time, but Hive Fleet Tarrasque is very very far from that point."
"Await the Leviathan." The growled words brought silence to the room. "The Hive calls you home Founder. Surely you can feel it." Anya stayed unusually silent, looking pensive. "It will give us the strength to act, the forces to face any opponent the galaxy may throw at us. Give us the ability to consume far more than our limited means give us. And most importantly, allow us to properly link with the wider Hive Mind."
"...I believe Aravak is correct." Ayna agreed. "We have taken many risks and our audacity has paid off, but if we push further we are begging to suffer from overextending. You have seen yourself what losing logistics has done to the Imperials on Quintus, do not let it happen to us."
"I concur. I believe this to be a more prudent approach." Jane added. "I can use the time to refine some of my designs for the fleet. Being able to break down and remake ships so easily is very, very useful to experiment with patterns."
"I bow to the council's greater experience in wide scale conflict. My troops would use the time wisely in getting used to their new forms and learning to fight in conjunction with the wider tyranid war system." Smith said. Anya looked at each of her councilors.
"Hm. Well, if you all agree...then wait we shall." She chuckled darkly. "You realize this means you're all tasked with entertaining me in training sessions."
A single silent whimper could be heard in the silence that followed that declaration. Not one would admit to being the one to emit it.
Left. She pushed with her powers subtly, moving with a speed and grace that shouldn't have been possible, using as little energy as possible for the motion as the projectile whizzed past her. Back. Again, she pushed using her powers, allowing her to avoid the halberd as it came crashing down where she'd been. She jumped out of the way of the tail as it threatened to slam into her only to feel the weapon of her enemy fire another projectile towards her. She felt her powers come forth, nudging her aside in order to dodge the deadly bio-plasma.
"Good. Avarak, you can stop." The creature immediately came to a stop, letting Anya land on the ground unopposed. "Well done big sister. You're becoming better at using your power efficiently."
"Thanks. Avarak is a good sparing partner." The child said with a grin, eliciting a pleased growl from the hive tyrant. "Though I'll probably need something a bit more intense if I want to be able to actually survive an orbital bombardment eventually."
"The principle is the same, only at a larger scale. If you can dodge it, do so. If not, then minimize how much energy you have to spend to counter the attack, and try and find room for a strike of your own." Ayna clapped her hands. "Alright, next we're going to..." A sudden feeling came over them, making them freeze in their movement as their eyes closed. Silence reigned in the large empty room repurposed as a raining room for Anya.
"Leviathan is here." Anya said with a rapturous expression, her eyes opening. They glowed with yellow light. "Let us go greet our kin properly."
At the edge of the system, the first ship of the tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan entered the stellar orbit, passing through as soon enough many, many more followed in its trail. Thousands of hive ships swarmed the empty void of space as they drifted closer to Hive Fleet Tarrasque. Long before the fleets actually entered contact physically the synaptic bonds snapped into place; The usual connection through the Hive Mind reinforced thenfold by their new proximity and their linking through the local synaptic web cast by both fleets. A flood of information soon followed as each fleet passed along a myriad of data on endless subjects, from the most minor nuances of a particular species of butterfly consumed on some distant world to the tactics employed with success against the ground forces of the Imperium of Man.
The node contemplated the product of its decision, long ago. That fateful time it presented the idea to the greater collective of elevating this child beyond what would have usually been planned for it. It had since been integrated into a far greater nexus of decision, tasked with managing the whole of Hive Fleet Tarrasque, at least in the context of the wider Hive Mind. It felt the child reach out. Request to connect to the wider Hive Mind. To its nexus specifically.
It granted access.
Recognition.
Acknowledgement.
Gratitude.
Acknowledgement. Unnecessary. Risky decision, optimal result.
Reasoning irrelevant. Optimal result agreed. Gratitude. Gratitude was a concept that was not foreign to the nexus, but neither was it one it employed or felt. It was capable of recognizing it for what it was, having felt it in so many of its prey, but gratitude was not something the tyranid species experienced regularly, or at all. Things had changed with the integration of the child. While the greatest visible changes had been limited to the Tarrasque Hive Fleet, the wider impact was far more reaching than even the child could suspect. The feelings, emotions and new stimuli were, despite being insignificant at the greater scale of the whole of the Hive Mind, still completely new in their closeness to the species. It was one thing to destroy the mind of a creature or devour it and experience those feelings through its memories. It was another for a part of you to experience them. It changed things. So long as those feelings were kept within the species and did not affect biomass collection negatively however, there was no reason to discard them. Experimentation was the whole point, and the tyranids had not thrived by being unchanging.
Acknowledged. A moment of unusual pause in the calculation. Hesitation in the face of new stimuli and new capacity. Encouragement.
Surprise. Gratitude. Affection.
Affection. Then, almost as a reminder. Hunger.
Hunger. The strength of the agreement reassured the nexus, and the wider hive. The sincerity was full, the eagerness appreciated. Consume.
CONSUME. The Hive echoed the feeling. CONSUME. CONSUME
Consume.
The connection ceased, though never truly. The child was no longer in a direct link with the hive, no longer in a direct link with the nexus, but still there. Still present. Part of the Hive Mind.
The decision was made. The Experiment was successful. New potential had been obtained. Application was a different matter.
Further experimentation was required.
Anya hummed happily as she emerged from her immersion into the Hive Mind. No longer was it the painful, soul searing experience of before. Now it was like taking a deep into a near infinite ocean of thought and feelings, one she had learned to navigate well. She still did not know its true depths nor the furthest extents, and of course she possessed little more than a drop of the collective knowledge. It was impossible for any single creature to know it all. That was the role of the Hive Mind after all, and to distribute the knowledge as needed. Her eyes drifted to the transparent membrane giving view to the immense fleet her progenitor class ship and her comparatively much smaller fleet had joined. Despite the darkness of space, her synaptic link and enhanced sight allowed her to see each ship perfectly, every detail, ever smaller organism. She was sure any sane human, being forced to witness the amalgamation of biological matter and creatures, would be rendered mad.
She found it beautiful.
Still, there was one sight that would always surpass it. She looked up to the distant stars, those innumerable points of light that had fascinated her since the youngest age.
So much had changed since she first descended in those sewers, that fateful day. For better and for worse. She was struck by the most strange feeling of nostalgia, thinking of when she was nothing more than a human back in the slums. Unconscious of the truth of the galaxy. Of the wider universe. Only ever getting an occasional glimpse of the stars telling her there was more out there than her life and the world she lived in, of the stories her mother used to tell her. Her heart clenched at the memory of her soft voice and smiling face. What would she say to the monster her daughter had become? What she had done to survive, to finally reach those stars they used to speak of in awed words?
"It doesn't matter. I'm here now." She whispered. "And I'm here to stay."
It was time to move once more.
"Three...two..." The boy pressed a hand to his mouth to suppress his giggles. "One..." The girl's countdown almost made him burst out laughing. "Zero! Ready or not, here I come!" He heard the crunching of leaves as the girl started to look for the others. After a few minutes, distantly, he heard: "Oh, it's going to be one of those days huh...come on, you guys know I'm no good at finding!" He had to contain himself once more. Any sound and he would give himself away. He was determined to win the game this time.
"Ha! Found you!" Angry swears, followed by a thwack. "Language!" He bit down his lip. Seemed like Liam had been found. Minutes passed, more and more of his friends being discovered, until he was the only one left. A few more minutes passed before, defeated, his sister called out:
"Alright fine, you win! Come on out!" He grinned, a victorious smirk on his face. He triumphantly emerged from his hiding spot beneath the dug out roots of the tree, to the amazed calls of his friends.
"Wow dude, you really crawled into there?! It's full of worms and spiders!"
"Man, you're braver than I am." His sister however was clearly unimpressed, walking up to him and dusting him.
"Mom's gonna make you pay for that in cleaning, you know that right." He winced. Suddenly, the smugness of winning didn't feel quite worth it.
As they emerged from the forest, he frowned looking up. His friends were too busy angrily talking to each other about whose hiding spot was better or worse, whilst his sister was muttering something about having to wash all his clothes once they got home. But he was busy staring upwards as she led him by the hand. None of the others had noticed yet, and so he called out to them, dragging their eyes upwards. They all stared, confused.
When had the clouds turned greenish brown?
"Mayor! Mayor!" He rolled his eyes at the spitting voice. "Ya need to see this!" Grunting, he got up from his table and the needlessly complicated paperwork surrounding the taxation of the peasantry for their star born lords, turning to face the old woman having burst into his home.
"Jadie, I swear to the Sun God, if you are here to complain about pixies again..."
"A star has fallen from the heavens mayor! I told you, the witchery of Aniece has doomed us all!" He swore, tumbling out of his chair. A star from the heavens? More likely one of the metal vessels their starborn lords used to come to collect tribute. Had one of the other villages been late in their tax? Surely not, they all knew the consequences.
Outside the village a crowd gathered around the point of impact, looking down with curious awe as the dirt cloud slowly settled, revealing the strange organic mass at the bottom.
"What in the devi..." Something emerged from the pod. Something clawed.
"Sun God be good, it's a monster!" A woman screamed. Another pointed down with a pitchfork.
"Kill it!" No more was needed to be said as men and women ran towards their home, intent on gathering weapons and more. The last of these screamed as something pounced on him, jumping all the way out of the hole and onto his back, a claw the length of a forearm stabbed into him, killing him as the creature began rapaciously devouring him. Another half dozen hormagaunts emerged from the hole, rushing towards the houses.
Screams echoed through the night as the village was butchered.
"Hm, hm, hm..." Anya hummed, walking through the open field of wheat. "You know, this feels strangely nice."
"I believe human instincts flare up in the presence of large agricultural fields. The knowledge of vast quantities of food present in a single place, ready for the harvest." Her sister answered. In the distance, spores rained from the sky down towards the numerous small villages of the feudal world.
"Hm. Makes sense." She stretched. "Well, this one should be an easy one. I mean, a feudal world, really? The most advanced weapon people have here is like a spear. And not the cool energy spear that Occ had, just a regular metal spear. That stuff will barely kill a hormagaunt if you get lucky." Ayna shrugged.
"Not every battle can be a hard one." Anya sighed.
"I guess. It's going to be a boring one then." A shockwave slammed into them, almost sending Anya to the ground. Ayna grabbed onto her, eyes narrowing as she looked up. Anya looked up as well, her eyes widening. "What the...what is that?" She asked, confused. In the sky, what looked like little more than a massive pile of scrap and rock slammed together in a rough approximation of a ship was rapidly descending past the horizon. A minute later, the second shockwave hit them as it made impact on the planet. "What the..."
"Oh fuck me." Ayna said, slapping a hand to her face. "You just had to jinx it. How in the hell did we not detect this thing in orbit?!"
"It appeared right above the planet, already going down, like two minutes ago." Anya answered, receiving the information from Jane. "So again, what the hell was that?! I know the Imperials have kinda stagnated in technology, but even for them this is..."
"Not Imperials." Ayna's expression was pulled into an angry snarl. "Orks." Anya's eyes widened.
"Oh." A smile slowly stretched her lips. "Ohhhhh." She giggled, jumping from feet to feet as more tears in reality threw more ork rocks down onto the planet, the cobbled together ships slamming out of the warp right above the atmosphere of the planet. "Oh, this is going to be fun!" She said, clapping her hands together.
"I am going to end up with such a headache aren't I." Ayna sighed. Anya whooped as a particularly big ship crashed near the horizon, closer to them than any of the others.
"YEAAAAAH! BRING IT OOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!" She screamed, running forth. Ayna cursed, running after her.
In space, the tyranid fleet found itself dealing with a second ork fleet appearing near the edge of the system, some of the ork ships seemingly missing their jump and crashing into a nearby moon. Both fleets began positioning themselves to face the other one, separated by an immensity of empty space that both sides prepared to cross, eagerly desiring to crush the foe into nothing.
The war for the world of Concorsus had begun.
Ayna, watching an ork vessel enter upper orbit: "Why do I hear boss music."
Anya, watching the same vessel: "YES! BOSS MUSIC!"