Deep Mountainous Outskirts of the Empire
A group of soldiers had been exploring the outreaches of the empire for a while after they had gotten reports of weird sounds coming from a nearby mountain, so an expedition team had been sent to the mountain to investigate. The trek had been long and tiring for the group of six, however, they had soon made it to their destination which was a slab of earth that was the base of the mountain. Figuring that this would happen the captain of the squad motioned for the demolition man of the squad to set up which he did with a grunt as he began planting a bunch of bombs at the base of the mountain. He told his squadmates to step back a few feet as he also got himself a good distance away before hitting the trigger and blowing up the side of the mountain and revealing what looked like a sphincter in the shape of a circular door. It opened up revealing the hallway was also organic with many doors on the side as the hallway seemed to go on forever.
"Well, this is it. Whatever was causing the disturbance is in there."
"So who's going in first?"
The group of soldiers looked at each other before the first one of the group finally relented and entered first.
"Fine you assholes. I'll go first."
The group entered through the sphincter door and ventured deep into the darkness to the point where one of them lit their lantern.
"So did the higher-ups even say what was causing the disturbance?"
"No not at all. All we know is that we were sent to investigate."
"Tch. That's just like the higher-ups sending us out here without information. Oh well, let's get this done then we can all go out for drinks."
The rest of the men in the group cheered and continued their trek through the hall until they reached their destination.
"How long do you think this has been here?"
"I have no idea but it's giving me the creeps."
"I don't know but maybe we should leave."
"Don't be a pussy! Besides, we'll be in and out before you know it."
The soldiers groaned before they all entered the structure together.
As they walked, the ground below them felt squishy and wet but it was still solid enough to where their feet didn't sink into the floor. The soldiers continued walking through the structure, exploring it to their confusion and chagrin.
"What is this place, you guys?"
"I don't know and I don't care. Let's just chart this thing and leave before we find something worse."
"Come on man don't jinx it. Besides nothing could be worse than walking on whatever this stuff is."
As if fate decided to intervene and answer the soldiers' dismay, what they were standing in was actually a dormant Tyranid hive frigate and deep in the structure when the team had entered the vessel they had triggered the alarm and in doing so cause the frigate to awaken one of the Tyranids from its slumber via the hibernation casing. The creature tore open its pod and slowly exited the flesh-colored casing. It was standing at 1.9 meters tall but it was hunched over. Its skin was pale and its midsection and the back of its bulbous head were covered by a black carapace. Its body was slender and bony and had two secondary limbs that were shaped like gnarled hands also its chest was covered by the same black carapace on the back of its bulbous head. This creature in particular was a Genestealer from an alien race known as the Tyranids. The Genestealer surveyed its surroundings before it detected some organic lifeforms inside the frigate so it went to investigate. The group of expedition soldiers had been exploring the hive frigate for the past 2 hours with nothing to show for it.
"Hey, we've been scouring this place for a while now and we have nothing to show for it. I say we head back and just report what we found."
"I agree with Alex. There's nothing here. Hey, John shine your lantern this way so we can head back out."
"Yeah sure no…problem."
John was about to shine his lantern when he stopped and heard the sound of skittering almost like an insect coming down the hallway.
"What the hell was that? You guys hear that?"
"Yeah. Yeah, we did."
"What's going on?"
The group looked down the darkened hallway but they saw nothing however they heard the skittering again from the darkened hallways and a loud screech causing the group of six to form a tight circle as two of them pulled out their rifles while the other two pulled out their long swords and the last guy pulled out a much bigger rifle than the other two.
"Where is it coming from?!"
"I don't know?"
"Just sit tight and keep your eyes peeled maybe we can-AHHHHH!"
In an instant, the soldier was dragged into the darkness of the hallway as gunshots rang off followed by the screech of the Genestealer before it all went quiet making the now group of five shake in fear as their hearts were beating out of their chests.
"What the hell is going on?!"
"I don't know!"
"Where is this thing?!"
"Who cares! Keep your eyes peeled and kill on sight!"
The five panicked soldiers kept looking around for their target when they once again heard the skittering around them then skittering started getting faster until the Genestealer then pounced on the group of five soldiers. They screamed in terror as they did their best to fend off the Genestealer but while their swords did inflict some cuts it was ineffective as their shots bounced off the carapace of the Genestealer and seemed to only aggravate it. The Genestealer let out a high-pitched roar before it used its rending claws to take a piece out of one of the soldiers he screamed in pain before it attacked the other solider and took a bite out of his neck. The soldier mustered a scream before his words died on silent gasps as his blood began to pool and paint the organic floor of the frigate. With three of their comrades dead the last three members of the expedition had only one option left and that was to run away as fast as they could. Their efforts were in vain however as the Genestealer pounced on them as well but instead of taking a bite out of them or clawing them up it began using its eyes as it induced hypnosis knocking out the soldiers. The Genestealer proceeded to thrust its whip-like tongue into the three men depositing its DNA. The Genestealer then grabbed the three men that it had either injured or killed and dragged them deeper into the ship.
-line break-
The Genestealer continued dragging the bodies deeper into the frigate as one of the soldiers began to stir. The soldier saw the creature was dragging him somewhere and he saw his own blood create a wet trail down the hallway.
'What the hell? Where am I?'
The soldier looked around panicked and saw the creature dragging him and his now two dead teammates somewhere but he had no idea where.
"H-Hey? Where are you taking us? Answer me!"
The Genestealer while it could understand what the human was saying ignored him entirely as it continued dragging the guy and the other two corpses until it had reached its destination which was the center of the frigate, and below, was a mouth that led to the bio juice below it that fed the ship. The Genestealer then tossed two of the dead soldiers down below as the mouth opened up to receive its tasty biomatter snacks as the last soldier knew what was going to happen next.
"W-Wait hold on! Please don't! Stop!"
Ignoring the pleas the Genestealer tossed the soldier down and the man saw a mouth open up before the last bits of his vision were filled with lime green color. He was digested by the pool of acid as he screamed in pain then the ship began to glow with life. The Genestealer then walked away as it ascended a level in the ship before reaching its destination which was a chamber that held its fellow Tyranids who were still hibernating. It then walked over to the Tyranid pods and sent out a psychic signal to the ship notifying it of the additional energy it received which caused the vessel to unseal the pods revealing what was inside which were several more Genestealers, a Tyranid Prime, two groups of Tyranid Warriors, two Carnifexes, two groups of eight Termagants, and two groups of eight Hormagaunts. The Tyranid Prime stepped out of its pod and looked around before looking down at the Genestealer as the two bioforms traded a psychic communication. The Prime went down the hallway with the rest of the group following their synapse leader as the Genestealers also followed suit before both groups of Tyranids found their way outside. The Genestealer gave the Prime one last look before it took its brood and went west looking for a spot underground to make an underground hideout to control and grow the cult once it would evolve into a Patriarch while the Prime took its hunting pack and went east.
-line break-
The Prime and its hunting pack had been walking for three hours when it noticed something down the ridge that overlooked the valley as they saw massive fields, houses, and people. The prime gave its orders to its hunting pack as they headed down the hill toward their quarry. The Tyranids now had one goal on this new planet; to consume all the biomass they could and leave nothing alive. Nothing would survive the swarm's fury.