hive fleet basilisk

+ + + INQUISITORIAL BULLETIN - PRIORITY OCHRE + + +

+ + + DISTRIBUTE TO INIBRIUM COMMISSARIAT, NORTHERN SALIENT + + +

KNOW YOUR ENEMY!

The attached pict-capts are renditions of the ferocious MAWLOC, a particularly perfidious xenos macro-organism that threatens Imperial positions across Inibrium Primus.

Your first and only warning of its approach will be the tremors of its emergence from its subterranean tunnels. Do not permit your soldiers to flee! By the time you have detected it, it will already be upon you.

The Magos Biologis have calculated an optimal strategy for culling such organisms with nearly 35% efficacy. First, direct any surviving members of nearby squads to hold the line and inundate the beast with massed lasgun fire (or at least, as massed as can be marshalled given initial casualty rates). As the beast becomes enraged, like a grox hassled by Okoran bloat-flies, it will turn its attention upon the guardsmen, leaving you precious moments to call in an artillery strike from nearby Basilisk emplacements on your own position.

Exit with haste, but ensure that none of your soldiers do the same! Their presence is necessary to keep the beast above-ground as the artillery aims, loads, and fires. If the Mawloc retreats to its subterranean demesne, all you will have accomplished is to waste the Emperor's holy shells obliterating the remnants of your own command. I need not remind a Commissar of the consequences of such a failure.

+ + + INTERCEPTED UNDERHIVE BROADCAST + + +

+ + + INTERROGATORS DISPATCHED TO LOCATE & TERMINATE SOURCE + + +

VOICE 1: ...from the ad break; you're still listening to UHFK 106.6 THE SCUM! Hang on, Gristle, I'm getting a note from our producers. We... have a caller?

VOICE 2: Aww, but Belch, I wanted to get back to our [peaking audio] 48 HOUR DJ SYNAPSE NON-STOP APOCALYPSE PARTY!!! [several air horns play, followed by the sound of panicked transmissions from members of the Planetary Defense Force mixed over sloppy chewing audio effects]

VOICE 1: We'll make it quick, one way or another! Gotta keep the producers happy - let's put this freak on the line!

VOICE 3: [crackly, through radio static] Help? Is this the emergency line? It's so dark. It's so quiet. I think there's someth-

VOICE 2: EMPEROR'S [audio peaks, word unintelligible], BELCH! This scummer thinks he's got the Arbites line!

VOICE 1: [choking back laughter] Hey! Hey! Caller, if you can hear us, help is deeeefinitely on the way. We're sending a whole company of the Emperor's Finest right to your coordinates! This is the day that peace and justice finally dawns on the Underhive!

VOICE 2: ...PSYCHE! You're totally FRAKKED, caller! No one's coming! Not for you, not for any of us!

VOICE 3: Oh no. Oh, Lord, no. Lord on Terra, save me from perdition. I can see its eyes. I don't want to die, I don't want to die, Throne preserve me -

VOICE 2: Hey, Belch, can we get those whimpers for the soundboard?

VOICE 1: Waaaaay ahead of you, Gristle. [comical boing sound effect, followed by VOICE 3's panicked entreaties to the Emperor of Man, pitched high and sped up]

VOICE 3: It's just staring. It has so many eyes. I can't stop - I can't stop - I can't move -

VOICE 2: Yeah, okay, BORED NOW! if this dipshit isn't gonna get eaten let's just put DJ SYNAPSE back on.

VOICE 1: No, Gristle, think! Forget the scummer who called us - we've got one of the Star Children on the line!

VOICE 2: Wait, yeah! Hang on, caller, buddy, can you put your vox closer to the creature? Get it right up in those... fangs? Tentacles? What's it got?

VOICE 3: It's... it's... oh, Terra. My arm - it's got my arm - it burns - [loud, inhuman slurping]

VOICE 1: Oh, yeah. That's the good stuff. Can you hear that, listeners? The favored children of the True Emperor have blessed us with their visage. Gristle, do you think it's time?

VOICE 2, VOICES 4, 5, 6 [simultaneous, in disharmony. Efforts are ongoing to identify source and identity of additional voices]: NOT YET. BUT SOON. THE SKY FILLS WITH ANGELS. WE SHALL SOON ASCEND.

VOICE 1: Thanks, Gristle! It's always wonderful to hear from our producers. I think we can wrap that call [vox disconnection click] and get back to the sloppiest, twistiest, and most monstrous of all beats! You know them, you love them, DJ Synapse produced their latest album: DEATHLEAPER!

The following fragment is the final message receieved by the Ordo Xenos relay before the sudden cessation of astropathic communications from the primary Choir Astra Telepathica on the hive world of Inibrium Primus.

+ + + EMERGENCY ASTROPATHIC BROADCAST + + +

+ + + PRIORITY CODE VERMILLION + + +

THESHADOWSAREDEEPANDTHESKYISFULLTHESKYISFULLTHEYAREHERETHEYAREHEREICANNOTSEEITISSODARKWHEREARETHESTARSTHESKYISFULLTHEYAREHEREITHASC [message terminates]

+ + + Thought for the Day: For every battle honour, a thousand heroes die alone, unsung, and unremembered. + + +

+ + + ORDO XENOS MEMORANDUM + + +

+ + + DISTRIBUTE TO SECTOR MILITARUM ASSETS ON AT-RISK WORLDS + + +

Loyal soldiers of the Imperium of Man! Your true faith and unshakeable bravery shall soon be tested. The Great Devourer knocks at our door: welcome its horrors with all the fury humanity has to offer. The Imperial Inquisition, in its holy mandate to safeguard the Emperor's realm from all that besiege it within and without, has designated this tendril of the Tyranid threat 'HIVE FLEET BASILISK'. Many lives have already been spent to learn of its methods; memorize the following tactical report to ensure that their sacrifice was not in vain.

Hive Fleet Basilisk's planetary assault forces predominantly consist of burrowing organisms and spawn that have adapted for the lightless conditions of their tunnels. As such, they are sightless, malformed, and fearful of the sky from which the Emperor's pitiless gaze shall scour them. Because they must squeeze their forms through the crust of humanity's domain, their warrior bioforms (designated RAVENERS - PICT-CAPTURE ATTACHED) are small and feeble, worm-like things that deserve neither your pity nor a moment's hesitation before you stomp them back into the ground from which they rose... [MESSAGE TRUNCATED TO FIT ASTROPATHIC CHOIR TRANSMISSION TIMESLOT]

FOR DISTRIBUTION TO ILLITERATE, CHILD, AND OGRYN SOLDIERS: Bugs come to kill you. They come from underground. Show no fear. Kill them all. The Emperor protects.

+ + + PRIORITY TRANSMISSION FOR BIOLOGIS OF MAGOS RANK OR HIGHER + + +

+ + + SPECIMEN PROTOCOL REVISION + + +

ORGANISM DESIGNATION: SCREAMER-KILLER

PROTOCOL REVISION: All participants in debates regarding this organism's prior classification as a subspecies of carnifex have been formally censured after a sample's bioplasmic organs destabilized aboard an Ordo Xenos specimen recovery shuttle, killing several Magi Biologis who were engaged in just such a discussion rather than monitoring the stasis casket.

+ + + ORDO XENOS SPECIMEN ANALYSIS / / PARTIAL DECLASSIFICATION + + +

+ + + FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION TO PHLEGETH SUBSECTOR COMMISSARIAT + + + COMMISSARS - KNOW YOUR ENEMY! Sudden, inexplicable migraines among your troops may indicate the presence of the fearful Neurolictor! This detestable organism saps the very willpower of nearby beings. Severe disciplinary action may be necessary to motivate your soldiers to locate and dispatch the xenos infiltrator wherever it may hide.

+ + + FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION VIA ORDO XENOS ASTROPATHIC RELAYS + + +

+ + + TYRANID FLEET DETECTED ON RAPID APPROACH TO HIVE WORLD INIBRIUM. + + +

+ + + FLEET DESIGNATED 'BASILISK' BY INQUISITORIAL AGENT SUNSET. SAMPLE ANALYSIS TO FOLLOW. + + +

ORGANISM CLASSIFICATION: BIOVORE

THREAT LEVEL CERULEAN

TACTICAL ASSESSMENT: Avoid engagements within visual range. Avoid engagements outside of visual range.