"Hah, this thing is still quite energetic."
Inside the subterranean research facility of the Imperial Palace on Terra, the Emperor was holding a Tyranid organism that closely resembled a Lictor with his psychic power. Perturabo felt that this was because the Tyranids had not yet evolved to the level seen in 40K.
Currently, they knew very little about the galaxy, so developing a specialized swarm tailored against humanity would still require some time.
This Lictor-like bug was currently thrashing its claws and mandibles, desperately trying to gouge two pieces of flesh out of Perturabo and the Emperor.
However, even though it was practically face-to-face with them, this tiny Lictor could clearly accomplish nothing against two super-beings who could make even the Hive Mind stumble if they met face-to-face.
But in the next instant, this Lictor was slit open from its lower abdomen. Blood flowed out but did not splatter. Though it continued to struggle, its breathing grew shallow and labored. Before long, the Lictor fell completely still and lifeless.
"Its life force is indeed somewhat tenacious. If it were a Space Marine who hadn't undergone the Primaris surgery, it would likely be quite difficult to contend with them purely in terms of vitality and combat effectiveness."
Perturabo was surprised by the immensely powerful vitality of the Swarm.
He had always known of the Tyranids' capabilities from before, but witnessing it with his own eyes still made him feel that this thing was somewhat overtuned.
In the Warp, just the Shadow in the Warp formed by a single mainline fleet was enough to shield out the gaze of the Four Gods. In the material universe, they could continuously consume and evolve, and they could even targetedly produce corresponding units for assassination based on recorded enemy data—even replicating memories one-for-one to ensure sufficient experience.
In the original history, the Swarm had wandered the galaxy for many years, becoming fully well-versed with the combat units within the Imperium long ago, specifically crafting the most cost-effective combat units according to biomass ratios.
It could be said that the Swarm was not just greedy; they were cold-blooded and highly intelligent. The Great Devourer was an ultra-powerful living computer driven by the greed for biomass.
In this regard, it shared a major commonality with Guilliman.
The Emperor's precise psychic power dissected the Lictor, quickly revealing its internal structure.
Perturabo's deep blue eyes flashed with light as he stared at this corpse, which could be said to maximize genetic efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Credit where credit was due, the Great Devourer truly stood unrivaled when it came to mass-producing troops.
"Oh? Now this is interesting."
As if sensing something, the Emperor suddenly spoke with a smile.
"What is it?"
"This thing is actually still alive—no, it shouldn't be said that it's still alive, but rather its memory is still alive, and it is actively trying to find a way to escape my control. Interesting."
The Emperor watched the segment of memory that was continuously trying to break through his psychic grip, growing rather intrigued. He knew that this must be the Hive Mind that Perturabo had mentioned previously.
An entire race sharing a single consciousness could only be described as somewhat terrifying.
"It is likely the Hive Mind reclaiming their consciousness. We took out quite a few of its vanguard forces, so even if it intends to invade this time, it will probably have to carefully consider whether it's worth it."
"But do not forget, we possess five galaxies. Our strength is not enough to contend with five Necron empires and five Great Devourers, let alone a horde of Chaos traitors and those detestable xenos."
Perturabo and the Emperor remained somewhat anxious about the Imperium's current situation. While things were certainly not bad right now, facing so many enemies simultaneously was still a daunting task.
"Let's dissect all these bugs first. Let's see what components they are made of first; perhaps we can devise some countermeasures."
No matter how adaptable the Swarm was, they bound to have weaknesses. Synapse creatures were one; once the psychic connection was severed, the Swarm became nothing more than a bunch of physically powerful bugs, entirely different from the rabid dogs they were with it.
However, Perturabo still wanted to find some physiological weaknesses of the Swarm. Given that it hadn't been easy for the Swarm to conquer a single galaxy over so many years in the original history, their strength was bound to be finite. Since their strength was finite, it proved they definitely had weaknesses.
The Imperium in the original history was in a state of continuous decline, but the current Imperium was right in its ascending phase. With the resources of five galaxies available for allocation, they could fully search for whatever weaknesses these bugs might have.
The Emperor and Perturabo brought a large pile of Tyranid specimens captured by fleets across various regions onto the operating tables.
These Tyranid units were not overly powerful; well-known units like the Swarmlord or Norn Emissary had not yet evolved.
On the dissection table, a Tyranid Warrior-like bug was pierced through its body by countless nano-alloy probes.
Its physical stature was not large, roughly matching a Space Marine who hadn't undergone the Primaris surgery. It looked like a fusion of some humanoid organism and a crustacean, its pale purple exoskeleton glinting with a damp sheen under the lights.
By now, it had been dissected by the Emperor and Perturabo, its entire body laid bare before them. Just as before, the Hive Mind was relentlessly recalling the consciousness bound to this Tyranid.
"It must be said that the vitality of these things is truly tenacious. Such a minor unit can actually retain a faint spark of life under injuries of this severity."
The Emperor spoke, extending a hand and hovering his fingertips less than three centimeters above the Tyranid Warrior's body. A highly faint pulse of golden psychic power was released from his fingers, stirring a ring of pale purple ripples across the surface of the Tyranid Warrior's exoskeleton.
"Furthermore, the Hive Mind is still attempting to maintain this individual's basic functions, likely evaluating how to targetedly develop bio-forms to counter the Imperium."
Perturabo gave a grunt, his tone ambiguous as to whether it was praise or derision.
"A bunch of bugs, yet they have quite a lot of little schemes."
"Their vanguard forces have already begun scurrying across the major sectors. I suspect the Hive Mind has already preliminarily gathered our data by now. If it truly aligns with your prior intelligence, then I believe their objective this time is not just biomass, but also the genes of individuals like us. They are likely determined to claim them."
"Then we shall have to see if their teeth are sharp enough to tear a piece of flesh off us."
Perturabo was not actually worried about the Swarm targeting the Primarchs. Setting aside the fact that every single brother was currently extraordinary, even if they truly suffered a lapse in judgment and had a couple of pieces of flesh bitten off, it wouldn't be a major issue.
A Norn Emissary capable of matching a Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes already required a mainline fleet to expend a massive amount of biomass. If they truly wanted to target a Primarch to produce a corresponding unit, setting aside how staggering that biomass requirement would be, merely losing one by accident would likely leave the Hive Mind so heartbroken it wouldn't be able to breathe for a day.
"You are usually incredibly cautious regarding them, so why are you acting like this now?" The Emperor didn't quite understand.
"I only place importance on their mass-production and adaptive evolution capabilities. As for whether they can truly cause any catastrophic upheaval here, I believe that as long as we can continue to develop, these bugs cannot be considered any major threat."
Perturabo held the exact same attitude toward the Swarm; though he was cautious and placed them on the same threat level as the Necrons, the true threat of the Tyranids still paled in comparison to the Necrons.
"The Abominable Intelligence is their natural nemesis. Unless they can evolve to eat machinery raw to strengthen themselves, we will win this war no matter what."
"If any unforeseen accidents truly occur along the way, do not forget that while we cannot intervene too much, if it truly comes down to blows, the 'Legions' under our command do not fear the Swarm in the slightest."
This was one of Perturabo's hidden cards, though it was an absolute last resort.
Previously, the Retribution Crusade had been driven by fury, and coupled with a slight deficit in their own troop numbers, they had deployed a portion of the Iron Daemon hosts. But that did not mean Perturabo would truly abuse such power.
If the Warp hosts rampaged through realspace, the Warp veil would only grow progressively thinner.
"I believe it is still best to use it as little as possible. You had also better create a few more offshoots of the Primaris or Custodes surgeries. We still require some powerful Legions right now." The Emperor did not entirely agree with this approach.
"I will do my best to research some anti-psychic and psychic-suppression weaponry and gear to better prepare for hunting the Swarm in the future."
"Do not forget about the Grey Knights' side either. The threat of Chaos is not a single bit lesser. Although they don't possess much power now, it is hard to say what the future holds."
"I know. Let's continue the experimentation."
The automated mechanical arms in the laboratory activated simultaneously, twelve nano-probes inserting into the Tyranid Warrior's ganglia points in perfect synchronization.
Perturabo walked before a massive holographic display wall, his fingertips sliding rapidly across the virtual control panel to adjust the parameters of each dissection step to a micrometer level of precision.
These machines were all transported over from Olympia, designed by Perturabo's own hands, with the Emperor having made partial adjustments to them as well.
The dissection protocols and mechanical precision and efficiency they had engineered were at a level that would make even the Magos Biologis of the Adeptus Mechanicus fall to their knees and chant hymns of praise.
The probes embedded themselves into the independent psychic resonance circuits within the Tyranid Warrior, capable of simultaneously recording the electrical signals, chemical composition, and psychic fluctuations of the Tyranid tissue at a molecular level.
Tyranids were not carbon-based organisms in the purely conventional sense—at least, certain parts definitely weren't.
The two men stepped up to the holographic panel, staring intently at the constantly refreshing streams of data.
Perturabo slid his fingertip, and the imagery on the holographic panel shifted from a molecular level to a tissue level, the Tyranid Warrior's body being broken down into countless two-dimensional cross-sectional images presented one by one.
The chitinous structure of the exoskeleton, the relatively soft internal organs, the densely distributed nerve bundles...
There was also a structural feature that caught the attention of both men.
Within its nervous system, there was no central brain in the traditional sense; it resembled more of a node designed to receive electrical signals and biological information.
The Hive Mind manipulated the Swarm not just psychicly, but physically all the same.
He circled a highly concentrated mass of neural tissue within the holographic image, the cluster measuring no larger than the size of a pea.
"The nerve bundles converge from various parts of the body into this exact position within the thoracic-abdominal region."
"A relay node. It integrates and compresses the information collected from various sensory organs, encrypts it, and then transmits it to a receiver via a signal frequency that we temporarily cannot decode. Furthermore, judging by the psychic fluctuations on them, they are biological systems that are interconnected yet operate independently."
"Even a tiny thing like this is this troublesome. I am afraid the specimens we have to dissect next will only grow more complex."
The Emperor frowned, finding the complexity of this xenos breed somewhat displeasing. After all, these bugs were the future enemies of the Imperium.
And this method of communication, combined with that horrific mass-production and adaptive evolution capability, destined them to inevitably become a highly troublesome and terrifying enemy in the days to come.
"By the way, didn't those boys tow back some ships? How is the investigation by those Arch-Magos coming along?"
Although the vanguard forces of the Swarm were few, that was only a relative term; the numbers brought back were still vast.
It was only because the Emperor and Perturabo currently possessed absolute power; otherwise, merely the Hive Mind attempting to utilize these Tyranids to cause trouble within the Solar System would have been entirely feasible.
Those Arch-Magos Biologis naturally wouldn't miss out on this "feast," stepping forward one after another to volunteer for the research.
"There hasn't been much progress yet, but they have discovered the areas where the Swarm refines biomass, as well as the locations for biological and psychic linkage. They haven't been able to figure out how these things operate for the time being."
"As for whether these bio-ships are completely dead, they don't dare to truly kill these warships off, so there is no real progress at the moment."
"A pity. Since these bugs' consumption and evolution capabilities are this effective, I originally wanted to find some methods from them to save the Second and the Eleventh. It seems it will still take some time."
The Emperor sighed, but Perturabo instantly bristled.
"These are xenos! Let alone the fact that these xenos are Tyranids! Have you lost your mind? Daring to look for things from them to help. Haven't the Second and the Eleventh been ravaged enough by you?"
Perturabo had always maintained the utmost vigilance against the Emperor's mind, which was always filled with wild, erratic ideas and capable of pulling off just about anything.
When the Primarchs were not in any major danger, the Emperor himself was the greatest danger.
"What kind of talk is that? Don't you find this consumption capability highly similar to the Eleventh? The things I stuffed into the Eleventh back then were indeed somewhat incomplete, which left him unable to autonomously choose which genetic parts to discard after consumption or which parts to retain, leading him to become like that."
"What if he had a choice? And if he could freely choose which xenos enemy to strike against, wouldn't we gain another Legion Commander? It would happen to add another measure of strength to the Imperium, wouldn't that be excellent?"
The Emperor thought this way and intended to act upon it. As long as this consumption and autonomous evolution capability could be transplanted onto the Eleventh, perhaps the Eleventh could change back.
Things going wrong? With him and Perturabo present, what could possibly go wrong?
At worst, if something went wrong, they would just suppress it and figure out a way then.
As for the Emperor's line of thinking, Perturabo actually agreed with a small fraction of it, but the moment he recalled that this was a capability belonging to the Tyranid Swarm, he shut down the Emperor's idea entirely.
"I am telling you, do not even think about this matter in the future. Do not forget that this is the Tyranids. Once something goes amiss with the Eleventh, the Hive Mind can arrive at any moment."
"What if the Eleventh and the Hive Mind happen to lock eyes during the process? I don't need to tell you how powerful the Hive Mind is, do I? It is at least on the same echelon as Chaos."
"If we fail this time, the Eleventh will likely be completely beyond saving."
"So, stop the horseshit thoughts in your head and continue the experimentation."