HIVE FLEET BEHEMOTH
The first contact with the Tyranid race was in 745.M41 when Hive Fleet Behemoth
invaded the Ultima Segmentum. The Adeptus Mechanicus base on Tyran was the first
world known to fall to the Tyranids and also the origin of their race name.
The base came under furious attack and, knowing they were doomed, the base commander,
Magos Varnak, was able to seal a data codex detailing every scrap of information
he had learned about the Tyranids deep below the surface of Tyran. If others
might learn from their deaths then at least their sacrifice would not have been
in vain.
Inquisitor Kryptman, investigating scattered reports of worlds stripped bare, pieced together the scant shreds of information and realised the scale of the threat. He discovered the data codex on Tyran and was able to alert the forces of the Imperium to the danger of the Tyranids before it was too late. The hive fleet was heading directly for Macragge, the homeworld of the Ultramarines Chapter of Space Marines. Despite the best attempts of the Space Marines, the Tyranids were able to invade Macragge and swarmed across the ice floes to attack the polar defence fortresses that had thus far kept the largest hive ships at bay. The carnage was terrible and the entire 1st Company of the Ultramarines was destroyed defending the fortresses.
In space, the hive fleet was narrowly defeated by the combined forces of the Ultramarines and the Segmentum Tempestus battlefleet at the Battle of Circe, which saw the destruction of the Emperor class warship the Dominus Astra. Following this victory, the Ultramarines fleet raced homewards and when the 3rd and 7th Companies descended to the planet's surface they recaptured the smashed polar fortresses and the bodies of their fallen comrades. The Tyranid invasion had been halted, but at a terrible cost.
The piles of dead aliens on Macragge provided the Adeptus Mechanicus Xenobiologists with a mountain of data to analyse and interpret. The facts that came to light were to form the basis of all Imperial knowledge regarding the Tyranid race until the presence of Hive Fleet Kraken was detected in 992.M41.
HIVE FLEET KRAKEN
Two and a half centuries passed with no further sign of Tyranids and many members
of the Administratum began to question the need for such a vast military presence
facing a threat that must surely have been defeated at Macragge. When armed
rebellion broke out amongst many of the systems in the Eastern Fringes, these
officials claimed that the populace was rebelling against living under martial
law. The Inquisition moved to investigate these revolts and despatched Inquisitors
to quell the Ultima rebellions. Inquisitor Agmar arrived on the hive world of
Ichar IV twenty seven days after an organisation known as the Brotherhood had
taken over the planet, and he quickly became convinced that the insurrection
had unfolded as part of a carefully orchestrated plot rather than a spontaneous
outpouring of discontent. Agmar requested the assistance of the Ultramarines
as Imperial Guard regiments continued to bombard the cities and fought vicious
battles with the fanatical cultists of the Brotherhood.
A brood of Tyranid Warriors emerges from the jungle.
While Agmar awaited the arrival of the Ultramarines, the war ground to a bloody stalemate, with casualties mounting daily. Agmar launched a surprise raid on a Brotherhood temple slaying a Neophyte of the Brotherhood, and, as he pulled back the Neophyte's hood, his worst fears were confirmed. The Neophyte was a Genestealer Hybrid, a being with the intelligence of a human and unnatural alien ferocity. The Brotherhood was nothing more than a front for a vast Genestealer cult which had infiltrated to the highest levels of authority and corrupted the planet from within.
When the Ultramarines arrived, they were able to drop to the planet's surface with only minor losses and swiftly captured the rebel command posts, throwing the Brotherhood soldiers into disarray. Regiments of Imperial Guard launched a major assault in support of the Space Marines and as Inquisitor Agmar's auguries detected Brotherhood units leaving their cathedral headquarters, he knew the chance had come to end the revolt with one decisive blow. Ultramarines Terminators from the 1st Company teleported into the cathedral and began an assault into the darkness of the tunnels below. Guided only by their suit lights, the Terminators advanced into the dank tunnels, their auspexes showing multiple foes closing rapidly on their position. At first all that could be heard was the insect-like chittering of alien claws on stone and chitinous bodies rushing towards them. As the first creature burst into the light, four viciously clawed arms raised, storm bolter fire ripped it apart and the Terminators saw for the first time the true face of their enemy: Genestealers! Scores of the deadly aliens rushed into the chamber, filling it with their ferocious charge. Bolts and righteous fire slaughtered the Genestealers in droves, but still they came on, scrambling over the piles of their own dead to reach their quarry.
No matter how many aliens the Terminators killed, there were more to take their place and each strobing flash of gunfire showed them closer than before. It seemed nothing could stop them and three Terminators were dragged down, ripped apart by the Genestealers. Falling back to the crypt, a rearguard bought time for their brothers with their lives, allowing the survivors to regroup and prepare for another assault. Genestealers attempting to encircle the Space Marines were driven back with flamers, forcing them to come head on at the Terminators. As the aliens charged forwards, a mass of rippling claws, fangs and chitin, the Librarian leading the Terminators summoned a cleansing storm of searing warp fire. Howling blue flames swept through the crypt, flooding the tunnels around the Space Marines, instantly incinerating the Genestealers and filling the chamber with the stink of their burning flesh. As the brood screamed and melted in the fires, storm bolter fire blasted the remainder apart and the attack was over.
The Terminators again pushed into the tunnels, undaunted by the paucity of their numbers, following the steady blip, blip of the Auspex. No further Genestealers barred their way and eventually the Terminators emerged into a vaulted chamber like the belly of a giant beast. The vast, bloated Patriarch of the brood sat upon a dais at the far end of the chamber, head cocked to one side as though listening for some faint call. As the Terminators levelled their weapons, it turned its gaze towards them, a monstrous intelligence lurking in its hooded eyes. Hundreds of creatures burst from radiating tunnels, Genestealers and pallid-skinned hybrids desperate to protect their all-father.
The
vast chamber became a nightmare scene of chaos as the Terminators hacked and
shot their way through the press of bodies, foul alien blood staining every
surface of their armour. The Librarian fought his way inch by inch towards the
Patriarch, each step becoming harder and harder as the alien flexed its powerful
will, its dominating psyche threatening to overwhelm him. A backlash of mental
feedback from the Librarian's psychic hood disrupted the Patriarch's power and,
concentrating all his energy, the Librarian teleported onto the dais next to
the Patriarch. Man and alien clashed in an unequal struggle, the Patriarch raining
powerful blows onto the Space Marine's armour. The Librarian could not match
the speed of the powerful alien and knew that without aid he was sure to perish.
In desperation he called on his battle brothers to pour their firepower into
the combat.
Bolter fire raked the dais with explosive shells, ricocheting from the Librarian's Terminator armour and Patriarch's carapace. But some bolts found homes in the alien's flesh and blew bloody chunks from its body. As the Patriarch reeled from the hurt done to it, the Librarian leapt forwards and smashed his force axe through its body. The giant beast screeched in agony as the axe struck again and again, blood arcing across the chamber as the Librarian hacked it to pieces. As the Patriarch died the brood was thrown into confusion and the surviving Terminators were able to slaughter the remaining creatures with ease. Vengeance for their fallen brothers on Macragge two centuries ago was exacted by the Terminators and nothing escaped their furious anger.
The telepathic link between the Patriarch and its brood was severed and the armed resistance of the Brotherhood collapsed. Triumphant regiments of Imperial Guard crushed the last pockets of resistance and in less than a month Imperial rule had been restored to Ichar IV. It was only in the following weeks that Inquisitor Agmar realised that something more was amiss. Astropaths had reported a keening cry in the Warp originating from Ichar IV that was cut off as the Genestealer Patriarch died. More worryingly, they indicated that this cry had seemingly been answered by a shift in the Warp, as though something vast and immeasurably powerful had turned its face towards the Imperium.
Within months of Ichar IV's recapture it became clear that a new hive fleet, dubbed 'Kraken' by Inquisitor Kryptman, had begun an invasion of the galaxy as reports of survivors fleeing the Eastern Fringes increased. Where Behemoth had committed its forces in a single sledgehammer blow, Kraken spread tendrils across an enormous front, appearing to be made up of dozens of sub-fleets. Whole sectors had been devoured with warp travel and communication within the warzones becoming incredibly dangerous and unpredictable. The enormity of the Tyranid invasion was staggering and the Imperial Tarot prophesied a time of woe, suffering and bloodshed on a scale never seen before.
The entire military might of the Imperium has been brought to bear against Hive Fleet Kraken, the forge worlds of the Adeptus Mechanicus are producing tanks and weapons in their millions. Thousands of regiments of Imperial Guard are being mobilised to meet the terrible threat represented by Kraken and Space Marines attempt to intercept dormant hive ships before the Tyranids slumbering within can awaken. Hundreds of inhabited worlds have been destroyed, stripped bare by the Tyranids, and two entire Chapters of Space Marines, the Lamenters and the Scythes of the Emperor, have been all but destroyed. The Eldar Craftworld of Iyanden has also come under attack from Kraken, and although the Tyranids were defeated there, the once beautiful craftworld has been virtually destroyed and its people almost annihilated. The terrifying tales of survivors spread fear and despair to every corner of the galaxy and, with reports of yet another hive fleet penetrating as deep as the Segmentum Solar, attacking perpendicular to the galactic plane, the monstrous cunning of the alien intelligence is truly terrifying.
Where the Tyranids have been met in battle, smaller hive fleets have broken off and fled towards the galactic core. These splinter fleets have made it past Imperial cordons and patrols and perhaps pose an even greater threat to Humanity. Smaller than most hive fleets so far encountered, they can still overrun isolated worlds far from the main warzones and with each planet they consume, their strength grows. As the war rages across the galaxy it is clear that the Tyranids pose the greatest threat to the Imperium in all its war-torn history since the bloody days of the Horus Heresy.
