Warhammer: Starting as a Planetary Governor

As the Genestealers dispersed from the Patriarch's remains, all that was left on the ground was a skeletal husk.

Its flesh had been devoured down to the last morsel by its offspring.

Eden confirmed that the Patriarch was utterly dead, its representative light extinguished from the Hive Network.

This meant he could now fully take control of the Hive Network, commanding millions of Genestealer offspring and billions of cultist followers.

This battle had been a monumental success, a windfall of power that bolstered Eden's strength significantly.

But just as he prepared to further manipulate the Hive Network, an unforeseen event occurred.

Suddenly, millions of Genestealers in the vicinity froze, lifting their heads as one to stare at the sky.

Throughout the underhive, every Genestealer mirrored this behavior.

It was an instinctual reaction embedded in their very genetic code, heralding the arrival of a being they were born to serve.

Eden felt it too—a terrifying presence that made his body tremble involuntarily.

His psychic senses screamed in warning, urging him to avoid any attempts to probe the Warp.

And he understood immediately what this meant.

The Hive Fleet had arrived!

At least, it had entered the star system containing Urth.

The Tyranids were guided by the Hive Mind, a consciousness so vast and overwhelming that it left an imprint on the Warp itself.

This manifestation of the Hive Mind took the form of an oppressive shadow, a force so immense that it could drive psykers or even Chaos entities mad, causing them to perish on the spot.

Eden sensed the Hive Fleet's encroaching presence, its shadow smothering all Warp activity.

Warp travel and communication had become impossible.

This meant even fleeing to the Warp was no longer an option.

The Hive Mind's influence was like a galactic bug in the system—an incomprehensible and unstoppable force.

Fortunately, the fleet approaching Urth was merely an offshoot of the Tyranid main force, a mere tendril of its incomprehensible might.

If it were the full might of the Hive Fleet, Eden couldn't imagine how the Imperium could survive.

But even this tendril was far beyond what Urth could resist.

There was no hope of defeating it, no possibility of escape or aid.

Eden was filled with a profound sense of despair but quickly rallied himself to act.

He instructed the Little Sun to fully replace the Patriarch and seize control of the Hive Network.

Once in control, Eden immediately deactivated the psychic beacon that had attracted the Hive Fleet.

He then directed all his energy to sever the communication channels, effectively isolating the Hive Network into a closed system.

By cutting off these channels, he prevented any possibility of the Hive Fleet re-establishing control.

The process of severing the connection drained nearly all the energy Eden had painstakingly accumulated.

But it was a necessary cost—if he survived this ordeal, he would have gained an invaluable psychic Hive Network.

Such a network was far beyond anything he could have constructed on his own.

With these preparations complete, Eden turned his gaze skyward, bracing himself for what was to come.

All he could do now was pray.

Pray that the Hive Fleet would lose interest and move on after finding the beacon extinguished and the Hive Network inaccessible.

In the Depths of Space

The void shimmered as the Hive Fleet emerged from its faster-than-light travel, arriving at the edge of the Urth system.

Encased within a dense cloud of defensive spores, the Hive Ship's tendrils swayed in the vacuum of space.

Around it floated countless bio-ships, forming the core of the fleet.

This colossal living spacecraft was not only a command node for the Hive Mind but also a vast biofactory.

Its chitinous exoskeleton and leathery hide shielded it from the harshness of both the Warp and the void.

When the Hive Ship reached a new world, it would unleash billions of Tyranid organisms, engineered on the spot to adapt to the planet's environment.

These nightmares would consume everything.

But for now, the Hive Fleet, reliant on conventional propulsion, drifted toward Urth, its arrival still years away.

Suddenly, the Hive Ship halted, as though encountering an unforeseen obstacle.

Within its pulsating, organic interior, vessels of blood and tissue throbbed rhythmically.

Swarming its labyrinthine corridors were Genestealers, Tyranid bioforms, and horrors even more dreadful.

At the ship's heart, the Synapse Creature—a grotesque being with its body fused to a network of blood vessels—scrutinized its surroundings.

This creature served as the fleet's psychic command relay, coordinating the Hive Mind's will.

But something was amiss.

By now, the Synapse Creature should have seamlessly integrated with the Vanguard Hive Network.

Instead, the psychic beacon guiding them had abruptly gone dark.

Even stranger, the Hive Network itself was now unreachable.

"What is this anomaly?"

The Synapse Creature attempted to reconnect, reaching out along the old channels.

The only response it received was a garbled message:

"Sorry, the subscriber you dialed is not in service. Please try again later."

For the first time, the Synapse Creature was genuinely confused.

Nothing in its genetic memory offered guidance for this unprecedented situation.

Should they proceed with the invasion, despite losing contact with the network?

The planet had become an unknown entity, potentially teeming with life—or perhaps a trap.

As it pondered, another psychic signal flared in the Warp—a new and more enticing beacon from another system.

This signal was far stronger than the one Urth had emitted.

The Synapse Creature interpreted it as a grander feast awaiting the Hive Fleet.

In the end, it chose the safer path.

Marking Urth in its memory, it redirected the Hive Fleet toward the newly discovered system.

...

In the Void

The Hive Fleet altered its course, following its bio-ship harbingers to the next feast.

The Narwhal Ships, specialized in creating gravitic warp corridors, locked onto the gravity well of the new system.

As space twisted and folded, the fleet entered faster-than-light travel once more, vanishing into the depths of the void.

Eden exhaled deeply, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Finally, it's gone…"

But he remained unaware that the Hive Fleet's sudden appearance had already set off a chain reaction of events across the entire sector.

(End of Chapter)

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