Please favorite, follow, share, and/or review

I felt... Well glad to be closing in on the massive space-faring organism. It was the one place I truly felt safe, where everyone felt alright at really. That moist, warm, flashy beast with its dim lighting was considered home by me. I hated that, I hated being unable to laze about a proper bed or go for a brisk walk around a meadow. Or that none of the Hybrids saw anything wrong with the fact that each of our aircraft was being snagged up by the massive tendrils and pushed back into its body. Not all on the same vessel, my flagship would've gotten crowded fast plus it would take a lot longer to get everyone on board. As the ships carrying us needed to clear the tentacles. So spreading everyone to some nearby vessels was a necessity.

Everyone was ecstatic when we reach the interior and the ram dropped. Following right behind me as they wondered at the pulsating glowing walls and the sheer number of fellow Hybrids aboard the ship.

"Everyone, come greet our new additions!" I shouted through with an air of enthusiasm aimed to encourage everyone. Nobody noticed how false it actually was as many of the thin clothing Hybrids from Typhon contrasted the coverings of the desert-living Carldaris ones. Or the few guys in Imperial Guard uniforms. I felt Norma's presence before spotting her and she eagerly joined the others in greeting the arrivals. There was this curious air about the whole thing. Like meeting some cousins for the first time and wondering how you were related.

I saw Merrick and a former voidsman from the security team size each other up based on their body builds. I detected some degree of a rivalry brewing even before one of them open their mouths to speak. Getting the impression both wanted to see what kind of skills the other has to contribute to the brood... Well, so long as they didn't go on and try and kill one another I guess some sparring with one another was fine.

"That's something I wanted to go have with the Guardsmen to see if they would teach me anything new."

"Norma, hello!" I said, this time with a real sense of excitement. "How has everything been here, has everyone behaved themselves while I was gone?"

I knew they would but it didn't hurt to get a verbal response from someone.

"Oh yes, Great Carrier. We have all remained as far away from the pods as instructed." I savored the real warmth behind her smile. It was nice to be around such happy emotions after those days of running around a desert and launching an invasion.

"Right the invasion forces still on Caldaris." I had to focus on everything else besides socializing, that was for any free time later.

As the diversion they caused was no longer needed I send out the order to have them die. Whether is less by each other talons or blades or perhaps there was a defensive line they could run up and stand there to be shot. That taken care of there was still the matter of the fleet using their hit-and-run attacks on us. I had flooded the smaller ones with Tyranid warriors and had basically taken care of them. However, the larger ones had space and voidsmen to spend on holding back any boarders from reaching the bridge or making a significant dent in any shell-loading crews.

So after a moment, the larger cruisers pulled back to reassess their ship's situations while the next wave came in and I leased their loads. Frigates on my side did their best to avoid the torpedoes but being so close some took damage. Their frontal armor aided greatly in preventing anything serious from being ruined but as the Imperial ships turned they unleashed macro-cannon rounds. The shells further ruined the integrity of the Bioship's ability to keep up the fight on either side. I needed to either commit more vessels to the fight or just run towards the edge of the system and ignore the defenders. I opted for the ladder of the two options, as I had no interest in taking this dust ball and spent enough biomass on it. Fighting off the Imperial fleet would have been a pointless gesture of deterrence as more were likely on their way to come help them. This was the Blood Raven's recruiting word and while I had not encountered a battle barge right now. That did not mean someone was diverting one here to face the Splinter fleet threatening the Sub-sector once again.

It was best to pull out before those reinforcements showed up to threaten us. Perhaps if I showed I had zero interest in Caldaris or Sub-sector Aurelia in general. They too would pull away and focus on the myriad of other threats already here. Call in the presence of a Splinter fleet to any authorities that had the resources to spare dealing with it. That was a problem for another time, as soon as we left it would be nothing but preparations for my next invasion. A real one this time to both recoup as much biomass lost and to draw that Farseer in for the kill.

I frowned, Tuirin was still out there and I was going to try and force him to attack me to finish the Farseer and his forces off. Getting them to rush to the defense of their precious Maiden world was the easy part. He wanted me dead and it would appear as if I was going down there for revenge or to gather biomass now that I had a larger fleet and deplorable army. But killing him and ruining any ships they had was another matter altogether. I didn't know what else they might bring to bear on the planet now that they wouldn't be on a human-controlled world. A defensive war would be preferable but perhaps with numbers, I could grind the forces of Iyanden down with attrition and good application of specialized units.

"But how am I gonna ensure I get Tuirin and the Farseer doesn't escape when things fall apart like last time? If things get bad enough why not flee to fight another day than commit to a failing fight?"

Farseers were all about finding the best way to take a threat out and their ability to see the future could complicate things further. If Tuirin really took the time to realize what I was doing he might not take to the field in general to preserve himself. He is my real target on the Maiden World as filled with biomass that it was. Getting to come out would be done by me being on the planet and allowing himself an opportunity to run in and kill me. Not any of his lackeys, the Farseer himself had to be the one with the greatest chance to do so so he'd expose himself. There was this great desire to see me dead for some reason one he knew and likely blew out of proportions.

That was an issue with seers, wasn't it? They'd often cause more problems following some prophecy dogmatically without considering alternate options or thinking that they might be wrong. I doubt I could convince him I wasn't a threat though so a dual between us it is.

Although, that didn't mean it had to be some kind of fair duel. Perhaps I could draw Farseer Tuirin out with the idea that it would be, then disable him with some faraway attack he wouldn't expect coming. A Farseer like him would be difficult to ambush just by the nature of his abilities. Whatever I did, it wouldn't be as simple as burying a couple of brood warriors. So something far away that nobody would see or expect... Something that had a long-range yet was small enough to blend into the environment of the jungle. That could fire projectiles with reasonable accuracy.

I thought back to Elor and the Rangers who assisted me by picking off Ork Nobz and other heavy weapon boyz. Something like that would be great in the coming fight. Sure I did have plenty of Guardsmen with rifles, but I both didn't want to put the Hybrids in the line of fire like last time. That wasn't to mention the fact that there weren't many marksmen within the ones left. The battle at the outpost had reaped a great toll this night.

"Something more mass-producible that could help me not just on the Maiden World. But also in future combat against threats like Orks, the one enemy I could benefit from fighting and have zero qualms while doing it."

I made my way to the spawning pools, brainstorming on this new bioform. We were making decent progress towards the edge of the system and would make it without major resistance. I breathed a sigh of relief at that as some reprieve, however small, was better than none at all. Still, it was only sensible that I watched what the Imperial fleet was doing as we fled from Caldaris.

The Imperial Fleet must have been confused as to what was going on, they kept chasing after us but stopped firing. Maintaining a sizable distance as they watched us go. Perhaps it was the Tyranids on the surface hacking each other apart and running over to stand in from of gun nests and be mowed down. I wondered if the fleet backing off as we closed in on the edge of the system was some high authority deciding, hey if they wanna leave let 'em. Auraliea's got plenty of All this would be reported to someone high up within Segmentum Command by just how abused this all was. Being known to the Imperium at large didn't phase me that much, I own a splinter fleet, and those things aren't exactly subtle.

So that was bound to happen anyway, better to confuse them than have anyone feel concerned enough to throw someone at hunting us down.

Everyone was setting in and meeting their new

The FTL vessels began soaking in whatever they needed to propel us into the void. That being done I refocused my attention calm pool of slightly transparent green. The chief spawn pool of my flagship that allowed me to birth the Sargeants for the Gaunts and even that one Ripper. This wouldn't be that different. I was looking to create a new Tyranid warrior made for shooting a projectile over a long distance with great accuracy and maximum penetration. I felt that just tweaking a Termagant a bit would be enough, a longer barrel and enhanced eyesight meant for peering over a longer distance.

Then I realized that wouldn't improve the actual quality of the projectile fired which was either a spike or now a beetle-like creature spurted out. I needed something that could fly in a straight line, but I didn't have anything like that. Spike rounds were fired en mass at the center of someone's mass because they weren't accurate past a dozen yards. They were too susceptible to the wind, the beetles were better because they were living creatures with wings meant to course correct before impact. But they lacked any penetration, instead designed to use their razor-sharp teeth and pincers to tear into gaps in a person's armor. Boring into their flesh and causing as much internal damage as possible before dying. Cause they weren't built with complex internal to last more than thirty or so seconds outside the magazine of a Termagant.

Both munitions needed to be simply designed so the Gaunts that used them could easily make and store plenty. It fit the swarm tactics of Gaunts well but neither had what I wanted for the Snipergaunts. I was not about to give up on the idea. This might have turned out to be more complicated than I originally thought but so did the Sargeant production and I pieced it together...

"Hang on, making the Sargeants work involved looking at all the templates I had. Realizing what makes the Lictors and especially Tyranid more independent and able to lead than others."

Thinking back to all the ranged weaponry I had seen used before I recalled one other that might hold the solution. The Centaur's massive cannon fired out a living creature that was fast and made with membranous fins to steer and make minor course corrections. So it was accurate as it could make those brief motions quickly as they soared towards the target. They also had the intellect to know what said area of the target to aim for. As when we were fighting Orks the projectiles had kept themselves as stead as they could when I told them to target the engines of the wartrukks.

"Oh! They are also armor piercing, they were intended to puncture tank armor."

Sure the guns were massive now and the projectile was the size of a shoulder-fired missile. But who's to say I couldn't scale down the cannons and their ammo to something a Termagant could use? Well having the intelligence of the ship hear its hivemind's will, I certainly seemed like they could do that. Before I gave any commands, I should take a closer look at how a Centaur's cannon functions. Once more I felt thankful that this psychic link allowed me to easily learn about anything within the Tyranid fleet. Like being given a wiki page with a carefully made illustration breaking it down.

The round bulbous rear of the cannon had a bunch of foot-long glands that built up immense pressure behind the four-foot-long round. Once that pressure had reached a sort of breaking point, where it was either realise or explode in the chamber. The Centaur would release the shot in the general mass of at target. Letting the shot itself make the necessary motions to hit identified weak spots or to ensure it landed on smaller and/or moving targets. It was a guided missile, except it didn't explode, just using its large mass and sheer velocity to do damage to critical systems or crew members within vehicles.

Something smaller could soar through the air at a great distance and rip through the brains of an Ork Nobz. Wrecking the brain and killing it without the need for pouring in a lot of ranged fire from elsewhere. Or having to lure them into a spore mine trap, just leave a few Snipergaunts on a hill or ridge somewhere and let them decapitate the Ork's leadership.

"Or blow the leg off a certain Eldar to make killing them a simple manner."

But I wasn't done quite yet, Centuars had a certain intelligence to them. Intended to allow them to recognize and recollect the weak spots found on vehicles to target. The Snipergaunts would need something like that to know what was a Nobz, the key differences between other Orks. As well as what officers in any opposing army I would encounter and combat. Crippling any field commanders to weaken the force over any in any army I would eventually fight was just sensible.

"Perhaps they should also have a more independent mind as Lictors do. To better operate on their own away from the main force."

Sending them ahead of the army in teams to go harass enemy forces on the March could work. The keen eyes of the Lictors would also help the Snipergaunts see further away to spot the targets I wanted them to hit. Headshots were going to be the main thing they would aim to do.

Another thing to consider was the kickback their rifles would have, because while I was scaling the cannons down to be wielded by Gaunts. There was a reason why the Centaur had hind legs and a rounded bulky body less muscle and with more softer materials. There was a denser bone structure too, because those cannons had some major kick to them, they needed those extra legs and shock-absorbing main bodies to not be blown on their rear. This was probably the reason why its behavior was to dig in its clawed feet and fire its spines as a turret. Also why its weaponry was used only by Centaurs despite its effectiveness. The projectile needed all that force behind it to be effective and the Centaurs had to be specifically designed to handle it.

"So unlike Termagaunt rifles, I can't mount these on Gargoyles. Which intentionally have a hollow bone structure and need to limit the mass it has for it to be as maneuverable in flight."

Well, some hind legs and more bulk to the main body of the Gaunt. That could increase their profile though and make counter-sniping easier or have regular infantry spot them when ambushed... Hell, I was already adding two traits from the Lictors. Why not the chameleon scales too? If I wanted them to operate as an ambush force and to continuously snipe enemy leadership it would be best if it was hard to notice them. If I couldn't make them small then having them blend into the terrain was the next best thing...

These new units were starting to get a lot more expensive to make than I thought. While I was confident I could make these on a sizable scale it certainly wouldn't be the same as regular Gaunts. But this had transcended from that class of 'Nids into something else. The base was being transformed to fit the brand new role within the brood as my best long-ranged attackers.

"It was time I had a prototype of the newest addition to the brood made and tested. Find and work out as many kinks as I could find in a controlled environment."

The last thing I wanted was for a much of fails in this idea to appear while a Farseer was rushing me with a spear...