M01E03 - The face of the enemy

What the frak, Doc, pour me another one.

Right now we have the Necromunda 8th on our side. They came with a couple of ships, mainly transports, but they also have two cruisers and a destroyer frigate. The shipyards are far from complete, with the Mechanicus centering their efforts in expanding their hive and turning their planet in a forge world. I guess we should meet with Colonel Mortz and discuss a plan of action, as well as warn the senate. Maybe we can still stop this.

What about the time issue? I would also like to know how much time have they been here, and how many are there.

Look, you have to understand how these things work. People think these are animals, and they compare the Tyrannids to a plague of locusts. That's not right. A plague of locusts will follow the food, and when they don't find any, they perish and die. They don't know how to scout ahead. Tyrannids don't enter the warp, their ships are much slower than ours. They travel the space for decades, even centuries, until they enter an inhabited system, and then they consume. They feast on all resources, and everything in their path dies. They assimilate the DNA of their prey, incorporating useful traits into their gene pool, and they move on. What is widely unknown is how the frak do they locate the inhabited worlds and came to find them. The answer is simple: those frakkers out there!

We've had this theory, and Battle Brother Esculapius was kind enough to confirm it, that the Tyrannids "seed" all the space hulks, derelict ships, asteroids and outposts they find with pure breed genestealers. When the "seeded" place is eventually discovered by Imperial authorities (or even xenos), the Genestealers attack the exploration crew, sometimes killing some crew members, but always leaving at least one survivor who is implanted with a seed, a form of Genestealer reproductive virus that contains specially-engineered Tyranid DNA. They can hypnotize or somehow paralyze their victims, and then they use their tongue to inject their victim with the seed virus.

This is a sketch I did when I was observing an autopsy that the Astartes apothecaries performed on a pure breed genestealer. See what I mean? Their tongue is like an injector.

This infestation is never fatal, but instead the virus' genetic material subtly alters the victim's DNA, producing in them a strong urge to mate created by the stimulation of the individual's sex hormones. The Genestealer DNA will be incorporated into the host's germ cells and so any child that results from this union will be a Genestealer Hybrid, which now has the complete loyalty of its parents through a psychic bond. The Hybrids continue to breed and multiply among the population of the host species, eventually forming a Genestealer Cult. As the Cult grows in numbers, it begins to spread its influence throughout the planet's political and social structure, placing its members in positions of power within the government and the military. It is believed that the hybrid-purebreed reproduction is somewhat cyclical, and eventually 4th generation hybrids like these here can spawn purebreeds, and these purebreeds will infect more victims. The most horrible part is that some of the members are not tainted in any way, you see?. The parents that unwillingly or unknowingly mated with a hybid fall under the influence of their hybrid progeny, and end up joining the cult. Since they are not tainted or corrupted, they pass all the DNA tests!

Don't you understand? the Cult's Hybrid members have a low psychic potential! they emit a collective psychic signal through the Warp that acts as a beacon for the approaching Tyranid Hive Fleet. That's how they find the inhabited worlds!

I'm not going to reveal my secrets to a rookie such as you, kid... but I'll give you a few pointers. To defeat a common enemy, you must become their worst nightmare. These purple-faced bugs are so fucking dumb they don't have fear. You must show them.

They will stab people, put their vile eggs inside them, turn them. First thing you must learn: in a warzone, there are no friendly civilians! anyone comes at you wanting a hug, you better watch your back 'cause they got an extra arm that's going to tear you a new one! Or they're strapped with plasic explosive. Anyways, if anyone comes smiling at you in the middle of such a crysis, you shoot first, ask questions later. Or, since dead men don't talk, you don't really need to ask. Just shoot, rookie. got that?

The hybrids are tougher than your regular civilian. Will probably take more than one shot to bring them down. Of course, I bet you're so lousy a shot that it would take yourself more than one try to blow your own brains out while sitting in the bathroom. Don't risk it. Kill them. They usually have hidden arms with claws, but they also carry weapons and they sure will shoot at you. Some are even capable to do psyker shit. Well kill them before they even try. Last thing you need is them freaking out and bringing some un-fucking-holy demons from beyond this world.

The pure breed fuckers are fast. They will strike at you with their four arms. their claws will go through your armor like a promethium-hot Catachan's claw goes through butter. You don't even need to bother to get armour, or you'll be just canned food for them. They're going to put their eggs inside your brain, literally mind-raping you. And you'll get back home without remembering it, and you're going to get your girl pregnant (if you managed to get any with a face like that). And your girl is going to give birth to a fugly purple-faced baby with four arms, of course you won't notice because he couldn't possibly be uglier than you are, rookie, but in fact, the baby will also make you his bitch, and you'll live to protect him while he's out there getting another girlfriend. And he'll have more chances than you to get to second base, I tell you that.

Don't bother trying to poison them, they take poison with their cereal. Don't bother to turn off the lights, because they can see you in the dark. You will probably piss yourself when you see them, because that's their effect on people that don't know how to keep their shit together. Don't bother trying to get a headshot or bust their kneecaps. They are really fast and they jump around and dodge ordinary bullets like it was easier than your mom. Don't use bullets. Kill them with fire or make them explode. Better even, fill the area with burning promethium and shrapnel and watch those fuckers trying to dodge the shit while you laugh at them.

If you find them, don't look at his eyes. Just pluck them out, then rip their tongue before they put a tiny ugly purple fuckface inside your arse. Now that I think of it, you don't have the chops to do that. Just be clever, kid. Just booby trap everything you can, duck and cover, pray to the Emperor, and if you think they're coming for you, get the biggest flamer you can and fill the area with promethium. I bet you couldn't shoot anything but your feet with your lasgun.

Well, yeah... fire works quite well on everyone. The hybrids are not armoured, not more than an ordinary person, I mean. They are more or less human... with some extra appendages depending on which generation are they. You fight them like you fight your common enemies, that would be my guess.

It's the purebreeds that you have to fear most. Their exoskeleton is as hard as a flak or carapace armour, and if they get close, it doesn't matter what armour are you wearing, because they will tear it apart. And they will implant you with an egg. I've seen Astartes armour sliced like a piece of cheesecake by their claws. Not even the terminator armours are completely safe against their claws, almost all of the Ultramarines' first chapter (the veterans and terminators) perished fighting the tyrannids in the battle for Macragge, but they prevailed in the end. I'd say let's make sure that the hospitals are under tight control of your Arbites . We're going to need them.

Justicar, what's the meaning of all this? I was summoned here with little explanation, as if I was one of your subordinates! Do I need to remind you the governor requested our presence here to fix a problem that probably wouldn't be here if you had done your work properly? And why are you here and not in your office, if having a meeting was so important?

Who's all this people?

You're an Escher? What are you doing and how did you get here?

I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION!

Look... this is not my planet. The planetary governor requested an imperial guard regiment and navy support to control and bring down a rebellion. I set up the quarantine, against the opinion of the senate, the governor, and everyone else, because I think we have to be careful. They have the PDF, and if we risked to bringing the transport ships down, the rebels could try and seize them, and it's my duty to make sure this doesn't happen. Now you mention that this Escher girl...

If this girl broke the quarantine coming down in one of our ships, that means the off-world instigator did a similar thing, too. You won't find any non-imperial thing out there, first thing the navy did was a survey using atmospheric crafts. There has to be a way of checking all the local ship's manifestos, but I bet if someone smuggled an unauthorized person into the planet, he has to have an accomplice on immigration or in customs, so he can pass through without leaving any trace. So, in fact, you look for the opposite thing you should: a person with a ship (or a fleet) with no complaints or incidents, at least in the time period you suspect the infiltration happened.

I remember reading on the archives about a big operation against smuggling from 24 years ago. It was under direct control of a commission appointed by the senate, and was in that operation where my predecessor died. The case files are classified, though, and I was never able to read them.

Well, the purebreed genestealers grow quite fast, and the hybrids just a little bit faster than the average human. If the contamination was 24 years ago, there's no way, or at least is very unlikely, that we could have 4th generation hybrids like these. For 24 years, we're looking at two generations, tops, if the hybrids bred when they were 12 years old.

I'm thinking that maybe they smuggled a few hybrids, at least second generation, and one purebreed at least (that would evolve into the patriarch). The magus (always 4th generation) would have come in the initial group or be born here of a third generation hybrid. In that last case, he would be a teenager now.

If my hypothesis happens to be correct, most of the hybrids we encounter should be easily identifiable by sight, and there won't be many purebreed genestealers aside from the ones they brought, because it's our belief that every 4th generation hybrid can engendrate only one purebreed, the rest of their offspring are 1st generation hybrids, as per the cyclical pattern.

Our real problem here would be to locate the thralls, who most likely will be in crucial positions inside the planetary government or armed forces. The 4th generation hybrids would target them as most viable candidates for breeding, and when they had offspring, they would become puppets of the cult.

Worst case scenario, I doubt that the cult is more than a few thousands strong right now. What I don't know is how many are required to make the beacon strong enough for the tyrannids to detect.

Tarantula here. Activate all scans, and launch aerial patrols. I don't want anyone flying in Ultima Epsilon without me knowing it. If anyone attempts to enter the world without permission, blast it to little pieces. If anyone tries to take off, send the fighters to intercept and escort them to St. Sebastian spaceport. If they resist, disable and aprehend.

Send supplies to the main camp. Triple-check the ships for civilians, and send all the follower civilian ships to orbit around another planet in the system. I don't want them caught in the middle. Load their ships with enough supplies to resist three months., we'll get ours from the planet. I want everyone in maximum alert.

Thank you. Inform me of any irregularities at once.

Well, gentlemen. The gears of war are in motion. Now you have to move fast and give me targets. I'd like to make sure this hive is clean and safe, just to be sure we have safe terrain behind us. My infantry forces can help the arbites in patrolling and protecting the strategic objectives. Our main encampment is just next to the spaceport, and my troops will be ready to be deployed as required by tomorrow, at 1200 hours. That leaves you with about 14 hours to make your plans.