Chapter 90: Gorgon
"Hive Fleet Gorgon evolved from a Tyranid splinter fleet that fled to the Eastern Fringe after the main force of Hive Fleet Behemoth was defeated by the Imperium. They hid in a corner of the Imperium, increasing their biomass by devouring isolated, remote planets. After some time, they entered the territory of the T'au Empire."
"Although Gorgon had not recovered to the scale of Behemoth when it entered the T'au Empire, it was still enough to pose a serious threat. After rapidly devouring several of the T'au Empire's trade worlds, the T'au finally discovered their existence and engaged them in battle."
A room full of extreme racial purists, upon hearing that the T'au had been invaded by the Tyranids, all had a look of schadenfreude on their faces. A few who had suffered at the hands of the T'au even laughed out loud. Even the Grand Inquisitor himself, as he said these words, had a slight smile on his lips, but he quickly suppressed it. He continued in a serious tone, "According to the intelligence I have, at first, the T'au successfully repelled wave after wave of the swarm. But Gorgon showed an astonishing ability to adapt."
"Upon discovering that normal Gaunts could not pass smoothly through the dense forests, Gorgon immediately generated a variant of Gaunt that could move through the woods as if on open ground. And when the T'au deployed the Kroot to defeat the variant Gaunts, a Gaunt specifically designed to counter the Kroot soon appeared, swarming them and devouring those bird-men to the bone."
Grand Inquisitor Gaius asked with a grave expression, "How difficult are those xenos who can evolve by devouring flesh? All of you who have fought them know very well."
The Grand Inquisitor's words made the humans, who had just been gloating, frown. But what Gaius said next made their hearts sink to the bottom. "Later, Gorgon even evolved a special attack Gaunt that was almost completely immune to the damage of ion and plasma weapons. The T'au were forced to pick up the weapons of the fallen Kroot to use. But when the T'au picked up the more primitive Kroot weapons, Gorgon evolved a Gaunt with an optical camouflage effect!"
"The speed of evolution and the adaptability displayed by Hive Fleet Gorgon is the fastest among all known Tyranid fleets!"
Not only were the commanders in the room shocked into a grim silence by the Grand Inquisitor's words, but even Omega was startled. His mind was now racing: Immunity to ion and plasma weapons?! How? Can even a basic unit like a Gaunt generate its own 'shield'?
"Grand Inquisitor Gaius," a general asked, "from the T'au's current situation, it seems they ultimately defeated Hive Fleet Gorgon, or at least repelled it. How did they do it?"
"The arms race between Gorgon and the T'au lasted for nearly a year, until a T'au commander realized that Gorgon, in order to quickly adapt to the changing battlefield, had over-relied on producing small, simple life forms, such as Termagants and Hormagaunts. Large synapse creatures like Hive Tyrants were few and far between. So he decided to launch a suicide charge against the swarm, to kill as many synapse creatures as possible. The T'au's suicide attack successfully killed a large number of Tyranid synapses, forcing the swarm to retreat from the planet."
After hearing the Grand Inquisitor's explanation, the atmosphere in the room immediately relaxed. A "suicide charge"—was there any intelligent race in the galaxy better at it than humans? Of course not. A little Gorgon, just a little "sacrifice," was nothing but a lamb to the slaughter. But what the Grand Inquisitor said next made them unhappy again.
"The T'au Empire had found a way to deal with the ground swarm of Hive Fleet Gorgon, but they were still in a stalemate with the Tyranids. Just as they were at a deadlock, a massive fleet from the Imperium appeared. This fleet was originally supposed to participate in the Damocles Gulf Crusade, but it was a hundred and fifty years late due to the warp."
Scrap! was the collective thought of everyone in the room.
"When the expeditionary force began to carry out its original mission and attack the xenos, the T'au also sent a delegation to explain the situation. At first, the Imperial fleet did not believe the xenos. But after discovering Hive Fleet Gorgon and confirming that the Damocles Gulf Crusade had been forced to stop due to the Tyranid invasion of the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar..."
Chapter Master Marneus Calgar immediately became the focus of everyone's attention. But the face and thoughts of an Imperial demigod were not so easily read by mortals. However, among this group was Omega, who was proficient in human anatomy and understood the function and state of every muscle. The little cog-head discovered that Calgar's facial muscles were actually stiff. He was trying his best to maintain a "blank expression."
"To prevent Hive Fleet Gorgon from growing strong again and becoming another threat to the Imperium, this fleet had to choose to cooperate with the T'au. Unexpectedly, the cooperation of the combined Imperial and T'au fleets made it so that Gorgon could not adapt to two completely different military systems at the same time, neither in space nor on the ground, and was ultimately defeated. This is also what I meant when I said that this joint fleet is not the first time humanity and the T'au have cooperated. It is precisely because of the results of the last time that this cooperation was prompted. Do you all understand now?"
After hearing Grand Inquisitor Gaius's words, some people still showed their dissatisfaction. Since they already knew the weakness of the hive fleet, in their eyes, there was no need to cooperate with the xenos. They were all enemies of the Emperor. It would be better to just cook them all in one pot.
Omega suddenly spoke up. "Grand Inquisitor, this resurgent Hive Fleet Gorgon must have some new changes, right?"
It wasn't that Omega wanted to show off. He had asked because he believed that with the evolutionary speed displayed by Gorgon, to dare to reappear so brazenly meant that it must have a way to deal with a combined human and T'au force. It would only be more difficult to deal with than last time. If humanity had not yet noticed, the consequences would be serious. And as expected, if it were that simple, there would be no need for this cooperation. What Gaius said next was a blow to everyone in the room. "According to the investigation of the fallen planets, this time, Hive Fleet Gorgon has evolved a special toxin sac. These toxin sacs are filled with a sentient, fine spore. Not only can it instantly adapt to and kill any life form it comes into contact with, but it will also share the most effective toxin formula with the entire hive fleet through a synaptic network. At the same time, it has also shown the ability to use toxins in a variety of ways. Gorgon has not attacked directly like other hive fleets. Instead, it has used its attacks as a diversion, to take the opportunity to mix its own toxic spores into the crops of these worlds. A few months later, a large number of food poisoning incidents caused by unknown reasons began to appear on these planets. Countless people drowned in their own suddenly foamed blood!"
"Hiss!" everyone gasped.
How do we fight this? was the question in everyone's mind. An opponent who carried a deadly poison that killed on contact, an opponent who would feign an attack and poison from behind. When a poison monster that was both fearless of death and insidious and treacherous was placed before everyone, how to defeat it was a problem everyone had to think about. This was no longer an enemy that could be solved with a suicide charge, with sacrifice. Gorgon's deadly poison had nullified humanity's greatest advantage.
Whether it was those who were extremely hostile to the xenos, or those who had suffered greatly at the hands of the T'au, no one said a word of opposition. If cooperating with the xenos could make it easier to defeat the Tyranids, no one would object. Because they all knew that the xenos were the enemy, but the Tyranids were a natural disaster. They could sacrifice the soldiers under their command, but the Emperor's coins had to be used wisely. They could always use the "saved" coins to continue fighting the xenos after defeating the Tyranids.
Omega, with an equally big headache, began to consider whether to let the Cogboy sacrifice itself. For example, a short circuit in a warehouse storing flammable and explosive materials... in short, he had no desire to face such an untouchable opponent.
Just as everyone in the meeting was discussing how to deal with Hive Fleet Gorgon, Calgar, who had been silent all this time, spoke up. "Everyone, please listen to me. Although Gorgon has evolved to be more dangerous, more cunning, it is not invincible. It is a Tyranid creature. We can use the Tyranid's instinct to devour to defeat it, to kill it!"
Hearing the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines' words, everyone in the room realized that this son of the Imperial Regent already had a plan to defeat Hive Fleet Gorgon. Everyone fell silent and looked at Calgar. Ventris, who had been a background character until now, took out a projection device and placed it in the center of the meeting hall.
When the holographic projector was turned on, a star map appeared before everyone. It marked the current location of Hive Fleet Gorgon and its previous movement trajectory. It also marked the possible future direction of Gorgon's movement. But Calgar did not speak again. It was still Grand Inquisitor Gaius who explained to the crowd, "Gorgon is influenced by the Tyranid's biological instinct. The purpose of all its actions is to obtain more biomass. We can use this point, using biomass as bait, to lead Gorgon step by step into the trap we have prepared for it. Because of the arrival of Hive Fleet Gorgon, the Genestealers in this area, sensing its presence, have all begun to riot. There have already been Genestealer-induced rebellions on dozens of Imperial worlds. We can use the Genestealers' ability to summon and attract the Tyranids to make Gorgon follow the path we have drawn for it!"
As the Grand Inquisitor spoke, he operated the holographic projector. A new route appeared on the holographic image of the star map. It also marked which worlds had had Genestealer riots. Some of these worlds were on this new route, but most were not. The feeling of unease in Omega's heart grew stronger.