NationStates Jolt Archive

They are nearly invisible in the blackness of interstellar space. For untold centuries, they have drifted through the empty chasm between stars, even between galaxies. Ice cakes the shapes into unrecognizable lumps. They seem to be merely large comets.

Yet, deep within them, life stirs. They are warmed by the distant light of Sol, prodded to action by the proximity of worlds. The trajectory of the cluster of objects takes them through the empty orbit of Pluto and Neptune, towards the dimly glowing sphere of Uranus. Months pass as they near the gaseous world. The ice begins to melt, bit by bit, revealing patches of massive scales shimmering with metallic hues.

Ancient life awakes.

<<Tag per fellow 'Nid player>>

OOC: Please don't go near Neptune-I've got a station and gas-mining operation there.

((Having interests in the area would be a good excuse to send something to check up on your new neighbor, Imperial.))

((Having interests in the area would be a good excuse to send something to check up on your new neighbor, Imperial.))

Good point, but i'm just making sure you don't actually attack neptune. I'm going to look on the NS thread, then i'll post IC on this thread.

The largest of the objects shudders as its icy coccoon begins to break up, its growing heat creating great fissures in the ice. As more of it becomes visible, its scaly, almost chitinous hide glimmers dimly. Great orifices house lesser cretures, ready to be launched by the spasms of incomprehensibly huge mucles.

Intelligence begins guiding the path of the vessels (they can no longer truly be called "object" - they are obviously some kind of spacefaring life). The drift of the creatures changes, drawn by the presence of presence of life even out here in the far reaches of the system.

*deep space message intercepted*
The armed republic of rebel grots knows what this menace is. We faced it many centuries ago. They are the Tyranids, the great devourer. They cannot be bargained with, they seek only to rend flesh, feed and destroy. They move like insects, from planet to planet, from system to system, devouring all in their path. They grow as they feed, and they multiply. Run. Run while you can. For these are the tyranids, and they will not be stopped.
If tyranids are the future we are already dead.

*contact lost*

*deep space message intercepted*
The armed republic of rebel grots knows what this menace is. We faced it many centuries ago. They are the Tyranids, the great devourer. They cannot be bargained with, they seek only to rend flesh, feed and destroy. They move like insects, from planet to planet, from system to system, devouring all in their path. They grow as they feed, and they multiply. Run. Run while you can. For these are the tyranids, and they will not be stopped.
If tyranids are the future we are already dead.

*contact lost*

((I couldn't have asked for a better "ominous first contact" than this. Well, I could have, but I wouldn't have gotten it.))

The organisms settle int the rings around Uranus, nearly indistiguishable from the lumpy rocks making up the miniature asteroid belt. Tiny pods, spores of some kind, are jettisoned from the largest of the creatures. They will spend the next few years working their way into the heart of the system, seeking out centers of life and exploitable materials.

Ah, but he is already here and has been for some time. :evil:

One of the pods lingers in a near-Earth asteroid belt, waiting for the proper time of the year to descend, with the meteorites, to the planet below. The outer shell burns away in the atmosphere, leaving the creature within to land under its own power.

*In the underground command sections of Mercury [[Note that I can change this if someone is using Mercury...I just thought that it would be suitable as a Deathworld for Imperial Guard]] the Imperial Surveillance crews examine their screens dilligently, searching for any trace of approaching Xenos...However, the Hive Fleet has not yet been detected by the humans in their cities beneath the surface of the first rock from the sun*

We, the Empire of Nirn, offers our condolences. This, however, should not be taken to mean that we'd actually do anything to help you.

We urge all sides to show constraint.