Hive Cities can be said to be a characteristic product of the Imperium of Man. Take the Hive City Marcus is about to arrive at as an example. Its base diameter reaches thousands of kilometers, almost equivalent to a continent of steel. Its height is even more towering, with the highest buildings of the Hive City breaking through the clouds and reaching the stratosphere. Even from space, it can be clearly seen.
It is entirely a crazy mountain piled up by massive amounts of steel and concrete. At the same time, it is a city of miracles and sins, crammed with billions of souls. If the Tyranid were to obtain the massive biomass within the Hive City, their threat level would skyrocket. This is also why Acheran and other Imperial Commanders are eager to activate the 'Aurora' project, using psychic cataclysms to eliminate the Tyranid.
Accompanied by the friction flames caused by the rapid breakthrough of the atmosphere, a thunderhawk gunship was approaching a Hive City at an astonishing speed. The target of Marcus and his party's journey was a certain Adeptus Mechanicus facility in the upper levels of this Hive City. Fortunately, the Tyranid had not yet launched a full-scale invasion of Avarax, so the Empire temporarily maintained air superiority. Otherwise, without the cover of fighters like the Stormtalon, the thunderhawk gunship might not have been able to reach its target location at all.
After successfully breaking through the atmosphere, the previously slightly bumpy thunderhawk gunship immediately stabilized, and its speed also slowed down slightly. The thunderhawk gunship then headed towards the spires of the Hive City. About ten minutes later, a huge Adeptus Mechanicus facility standing in the spire area appeared before everyone's eyes.
The Tech Sergeant responsible for piloting the thunderhawk gunship found a safe platform and then slowly descended. Before opening the hatch, the Tech Sergeant spoke to them over the comms channel: "This is the closest place I could find. You need to find a freight elevator to enter the facility. Please call me when you need to leave."
"Understood."
Once the aircraft had settled and the hatch opened, Marcus and Titus stepped out of the cabin. Behind them, the thunderhawk gunship soared back into the sky, as the Tech Sergeant still needed to transport the other Astartes in the cabin to other areas.
Standing at the edge of the platform, Marcus leaned out slightly and looked down. What met his eyes was an endless, seemingly boundless cluster of spire buildings. A light breeze blew, giving a feeling of impending fall. If one were to fall from this height, let alone Marcus, even an Astartes would have no chance of survival.
Withdrawing, Marcus looked at the Adeptus Mechanicus facility in the distance. Two colossal statues in the style of Tech-Priests were embedded within the facility. Each statue held a brass-colored mechanical gear axe in one hand, roughly estimated to be hundreds of meters in size. The other hand held a giant steel cable, tens of meters in diameter. Below the two giant cables, a massive track was suspended. And below the track, a huge cargo elevator platform was hanging.
"We must activate that freight elevator to enter the facility."
Everyone left their platform and began to explore downwards, trying to find a way to activate the cargo platform. They hadn't gone far when they arrived at a platform covered with the bodies of Adeptus Mechanicus personnel and Tyranid drop pods. The lingering smoke indicated that the battle had only recently ended. Everyone silently heightened their vigilance. Since no friendly units were found, there must still be remaining Tyranid nearby.
They slowly moved forward and soon discovered a servo-skull floating in the air. The servo-skull also detected them, and after identifying them as friendly units, floated towards them. "Fabricator, elevator repairs are not yet complete. Please perform sacred maintenance."
Everyone exchanged glances, and Titus spoke, "It seems this elevator is broken. We need to restart the power to get it running."
The servo-skull, recognizing the voice, immediately replied, "Operating before full repair is unwise. You can override safety protocols through the control room, but at your own risk."
Marcus checked the Hive City map on his Auspex, then raised his hand, pointing above their heads behind them, to a room glowing green: "The control room should be there, but the main entrance is destroyed. We'll have to find another route in."
The others looked and saw that several huge spore drop pods and a large amount of rubble had blocked the original entrance to the control room. After checking the map for a while, Chairon spoke, "I found another route. I'm marking it now. Check your displays."
Everyone immediately set off, following the marked route. Behind them, the servo-skull slowly floated to the body of a Fabricator, then played a voice message: "Fabricator, your Cogitator system has been idle for three hours. Please resume prescribed functions."
Walking at the end of the group, Marcus, who clearly heard this, couldn't help but inwardly complain, "Good heavens, the person's been dead for three hours and they still want him to get up and work. The Adeptus Mechanicus's blessings are too good."
The group crossed piles of Tyranid corpses and burning armored vehicles in the plaza, arriving before a tightly shut steel door. After scanning and confirming their identities, the door slowly opened. As soon as they stepped inside, dozens of Hormagaunts rushed out from various hidden corners and attacked them.
With a thought, the bayonets Marcus carried immediately unsheathed, swiftly dealing with the dozens of Hormagaunts. Titus and the others only fired a few shots, and the battle was already over. After passing through a narrow corridor, they exited.
As they emerged from the corridor, a massive thunderhawk gunship roared past before their eyes. And behind its fuselage, thousands of Night Lords were flapping their wings, chasing the thunderhawk gunship, attempting to tear it from the sky. From the external markings, it was clearly the same one they had just ridden. A few seconds later, the thunderhawk and the Night Lords disappeared from their sight.
Chairon tried to contact the Tech Sergeant in the thunderhawk via the communicator, but received no response. "Damn it, these cursed bugs are invading too fast!" Gadriel said through gritted teeth. All they could do now was to quickly enter the Adeptus Mechanicus facility and pinpoint Morias Lutz's location. Without delay, they immediately followed the route planned on their displays.
They hadn't gone far when a bridge defense line, piled with the bodies of Astra Militarum and Tyranid, appeared before them. Not only that, the Auspex showed that a large group of Tyranid was closing in on their position. Above the long flight of stairs before them, a large group of Tyranid led by Tyranid Warriors were scaling rooftops and rubble, roaring and charging towards them.