Graevan, Capital Planet of the Phoenix Sector
A serious-looking middle-aged man in finery carefully browsed a parchment report. "So, the Hordem family on Aiur betrayed the Imperium? And an unknown force suppressed them?"
He slammed the parchment onto the solid wood table. Beside him, an Astropath kept his head down, hoping the man's wrath wouldn't be directed at him.
"The Tithe Fleet is almost at Aiur. For this to happen at such a junction, humph." The man's face was grim. As the Sector Governor, he bore some responsibility for such an incident occurring within his jurisdiction.
"Is the rest of the transmission still unparsed?" the man asked, turning to the Astropath.
The Astropath wiped sweat from his brow. "My Lord, the latter half of the communication seemed to be interfered with by the Warp. We only parsed one message from it..."
"What is it?"
"Hunger. Endless hunger."
The Sector Governor frowned deeply as if remembering something. "Notify the Inquisition. Have them send a team of Inquisitors to Aiur to uncover the truth. If there are complications, notify the Astra Militarum immediately to suppress it."
Lopez Beowulf, Sector Governor of the Phoenix Sector, issued the order to a nearby noble, who bowed and left the room. Beowulf then turned back to the Astropath. "The Astropathic family on Aiur is extinct. Notify the relay station to send a fresh detachment of Astropaths to restore communication links."
Standing alone in the room, Beowulf walked to the massive floor-to-ceiling windows. Watching the sunset over the city, his heart was filled with unease. Wars within the Imperium were increasing, and the Tithes demanded by Terra were growing heavier. He had heard from a friend in the Inquisition about new, powerful xenos appearing and warring with the Imperium.
Rumors spoke of an extremely dangerous xenos in the Ultima Segmentum that devoured entire Imperial planets. It took half the Imperium's strength just to hold Macragge, the homeworld of the Ultramarines. The parsed snippet from Aiur gave him an ominous feeling.
As a fringe sector, this corner of the galaxy had no resident Space Marine chapters—only four Astra Militarum regiments. Beowulf sighed. How much longer could the Imperium endure? Great God-Emperor, please protect the subjects of the Imperium.
He turned to leave; he had to report this to the Administratum. If it truly was the xenos seen in the Ultima Segmentum, the local sector forces would face only one outcome: total annihilation.
Alexei walked out of the PDF headquarters in the Lower Hive. He was heading toward the Zerg Hive Core in the Underhive; Zagara had sent word of a strange signal.
A full Terran month had passed since Alexei sent his report. Yet, for some reason, he had heard nothing from the Tithe Fleet, the Inquisitors, or the Astropathic reinforcements.
During this time, the Genestealer rebellions in other Hives had been stabilized under Zagara's command. The desperate cultists were being slowly devoured by the Swarm. The Sons of the Tide had been restructured into his private army. Alexei had sent troops to take over the military power of the sub-hives and used SCVs to airlift materials to build new Terran infrastructure there.
Under his expansion, the creep in the main Hive's Underhive now covered almost the entire area, except for vital buildings and ancient scrap heaps. Most of the factories in the Underhive had moved to the Lower Hive. Aside from SCVs moving resources, virtually no humans remained in the Underhive.
Emptying the Underhive population would normally have been impossible, but the demonic war had killed so many civilians in the Lower and Upper Hives that there was plenty of room for relocation. The residents were more than happy to move; compared to the deadly Underhive, the "007" (7 am to 7 pm, 7 days a week) work schedule of the Lower Hive felt safe, especially since the new Governor had mercifully reduced their taxes. To boost morale, Alexei even promised that those who performed well could earn their own housing in the Upper Hive ruins.
In truth, if an Imperial Planetary Governor acted even slightly like a human being, the lives of the lower classes wouldn't be so miserable. Sadly, such a request was too much for most Imperial nobles. Outside of the 500 Worlds of Ultramar or Garden Worlds, the lives of the Imperial masses were truly a living death.
Alexei reached the Hive Core. The ruins below the former factory district had been leveled, replaced by a vast, purple sea of creep. Countless Zerg ran back and forth. He spotted a familiar small figure riding on the back of a sprinting Roach—Ellie.
He sighed and let her play, walking toward Zagara, who was busy directing Hive Queens to hatch larvae.
"I'm here. What was this strange news that required me to come in person?" Alexei asked.
Zagara turned her eight legs. "Master, the Swarm's psionic network is being suppressed by an unknown energy. Abathur is seeking a solution."
Unknown energy? The Warp? No, the Warp shouldn't affect the Zerg network like this, or it would have been noticed long ago. Suddenly, a realization struck Alexei. He asked solemnly, "Did the psionic network receive a message?"
"Yes, Master. A meaningless message. It reveals only one thing: endless hunger from the void."
It's here. Why so soon? Alexei paced anxiously. He knew this was the will of the Great Devourer. The "Shadow in the Warp" cast by the Tyranid Hive Mind was what was suppressing his network.
He knew he couldn't wait. He was desperately lacking in aerial and anti-air units. Opening his interface, he selected a cost-effective Zerg genetic template and spent a portion of his stored biomass.
"Zagara, prepare for mass-hatching of Mutalisks."