This series of Battle Reports account for the first and only recorded sighting of Mordheimer's original Pocket Tyranids (Tyranicus crumens) later renamed Pocket Genestealers (Corporaptor crumens). This was originally published on the Campaign's board (now dead) from Oct 21st to Nov 20th, 2006.  A little long, but it is a whole campaign!

Prologue 

It was very late at night, and the young Magos could still hear the chants of the pilgrims outside. That was Terra… always busy with the sounds of the litanies regardless of the hour. The Immortal God-Emperor demanded such devotion. His duties, like any other doctoral student, were to his own masters at the Learnatorium. He had to research the life of Senior Magos Cathera Drace, a renowned Xeno-Biologist.

Cathera Drace was well known, among fellow techno-priests, for his dedication to the study of Xenos, especially the Tyranids. Everyone, even over 100 years after his Inquisition for heretical xenophilia, sexual attraction to aliens, still refers in secret to his major contributions to the Imperium such as Advanced Camouflage Adaptations of the Mantis Stalker, Tyranicus chameleo, of Medusa V, Material Integration Proposal of the Imperial Chain Sword with the Sewerstalker’s, Corporaptor hominis, Rending Claw Based on Adaptive Tensile Strength Characteristics and Genus Development: The Evolutionary Map of the Norn Queen, Tyranicus primogenitor.

Those were easy assignments. Anyone could find thousands of doctoral thesis on those topics. He had to be mandated to research some of his obscure work. While Cathera Dance’s life on the field was indeed exciting, his academic achievement and graduation depended on this homework. What kind of professor would assign such obscure task? At that moment, he realized he should have not made that prank call to Inquisitor Mallek from the professor’s office. Stupid Servo-Skulls!

Billions of electronic tomes! This would take an eternity… The Emperor would rise again before he would be able to finish searching this cathedral; and to make matters worse, there we 1,742 more cathedrals to search, all with different tomes. The heretical thoughts crossing his minds were quickly dismissed when a full Librarian Servitor approached.

- “I have been commanded to assist you I your research. Please state the nature of your study by Topic, Sub-Topic, Author, Event of Reference, Level of Clearance.” The young scholar smiled… the Emperor was on his side, blessed be His name!
- “Uuhhh… Xeno-Biology, sub-section Tyranids. Cathera Drance. Tiberius Excursion. Authorization code Blue Gamma Three Nine One.”
- “Accessing, Omega Red Three restrictions in place. Vault 508,454,086,107,308. This way please.” Blessed be His name indeed.

After reaching their destination level, the Servitor retrieved the data-pads and placed them on the private study room. The scholar started reading, and discovered right away that Cathera Drace had a strange fascination, almost heretical, with ancient historical occult references. He often referred to The Middle Ages and The Dark Ages. By his accounts, these were times way beyond the Eye of Terror, the Horus Heresy and even the Purity Crusades. This were times beyond the Emperor, blessed all who utter His name. Human religion icons of the times had minimal understanding of the perils of the Warp, and thus attributed human military organizational structures to its entities.

These observations, while at first seemed to be a deviation of the topic, proved to be relevant. This is how Cathera Drace named the Tyranid sub-species he discovered on Medusa V: Marchosias. In ancient demonology terminology, Marchosias was one of the powerful Great Marquis of Hell, commanding thirty legions of demons. He was a strong and excellent fighter, very reliable to the conjurer, giving true answers to all questions. Marchosias hoped after one thousand and two hundred years to return to heaven with the non-fallen angels, but was deceived in that hope. Great reliable fighter.

During his incursions as a young Magos in Medusa V, Cathera Drace discovered that a splinter cell of Tyranids had deviated from the typical development. While this is no strange occurrence among this highly mutable Xeno genome, what was of particular interest to him was the group’s departure from numerous smaller individuals (Gaunts, Gauntii virago) to a smaller more specialized and hyper aggressive non-synapsed bound group of individuals (Genestealers, Corporaptor homini.) Naturally great hand to hand combatants, he nicked-named these group the Marchosias Splinter.

Over twenty years later, during his experimental work on Tiberius 9, he found them again. They genome survived the destruction of Medusa V and now they were a Hive Fleet of their own. Cathera Dance would come to regret publicly, almost three years before his final Inquisitorial Survey, all of his experimental work on the Imperial Research Facility Tiberius Sigma Phi. Thousands died… all because of his research.

- “This would not be such a bad dissertation work after all.” Muttered the young Magos.

Chapter 1: Bring Out Your Dead…

Omfridus Ludovicus knew his assignment was going to be a very long and arduous one when he saw that the Black Templars were involved. Reading from the manuscripts left by Cathera Drace was somewhat complicated. They were full of details and personal references, making them hard to decipher.

Magos Cathera Drace just arrived to the Tiberius 9 Space Port when he was summoned by Inventory Officer. His equipment arrived in good conditions, but some of the biological samples seemed ruined. Fortunately for him, the microbes could be found in almost any Class M planet. Drace managed to pin-point the most probable location of the sample; 85 miles south of the Tiberius 9 Imperial Research Lab. He arranged with Commissar Hinton for a small platoon to escort him to the jungle site.

To his surprise, instead of a group of fresh Imperial Guard rookies, High Marshal Nicolaus Baneblade was standing there, in all his glory. He was talking to a Sergeant, who immediately at the Xeno Biologist. “We will be your escort, we leave in two hours.” While the Templars resolve and determination is legendary, border-line stubbornness, the urgency of the Sergeant made Drace nervous. Unknown to him, Black Templars had a secret agenda. The records of it still guarded under high security, but aerial images from land-surveying Servo-Skulls would provide a nice insight.

Drace recalled the first encounter with the organisms from the Hive Fleet Marchosias. He was processing samples on his station, when the Black Templars rose to action. A singular light triggered a prompt response. The squads started converting on his location… slowly but steadily. Bolter shots were fired at the jungle… clearing over 90% of it on a 20 meter radius. The squad moved to see if they had any live targets when from the main Vox Drace heard gurgling sounds; marine were dying, drowned in their own blood. The screams were quick… someone was out there.

The marines, unable to feel fear converged on the location. The Sergeant moved with his retinue, but he was quickly terminated. The Black Templars took the loss with iron-willed resolution. They all knew what to do and sprang into action quickly. Another swift attack was in progress, but The Templars were in full alert… one of them survived and reported: GENESTEALERS!

Eighteen marines joined the melee… they barely survived. Five Genestealers had managed to dispatch over 20 Black Templars. Their coloration and particular structures demarked them as the ones from Medusa V. They had perfected the art of dynamic camouflage of the Lictors in the doomed world. Oddly enough, they seemed particularly interested in Drace’s equipment… or worse, in the Magos himself.

The Templars moved quickly out of the location, and delivered the Xeno Biologists to the Research Station. When they returned with an Apothecary, they discovered that all of the Tyranids and half of their brethrens’ corpses (and Hole Gene-Seed) were missing. Aerial imagery from the Servo-Skulls revealed several Ripper Swarms dissecting bodies, and moving them to the jungle. It could be safely assumed that they would be absorbed on gene-pools… the ‘nids would learn from this failure. 

Cathera Drace’s observations were clear. The Xenos of the Hive Fleet Marchosias were not ready to fight in small numbers. The events that followed amazed the young student…

“One just has to admire the fast evolutionary leaps that the Tyranid species take to adapt to new environments and circumstances. While at this moment I do not have a live or dead specimen, by the holo-images, a new subspecies of Tyranids may have spawned. I have nicknamed them Pocket Tyranids (Tyranicus crumens.) They seemed to be 40% smaller that a typical human and may travel in high numbers. They bipedal tracks seems similar to those of Genestealers (Corporaptor hominis.) Combat post-mortum evidence seems to point to Scything Talons as primary weapons. Further investigation would be required.”

The possibility of a new sub-species of Tyranids! What a find indeed! To Omfridus Ludovicus, this seemed to be a direct response to the absorption of the dead Genestealers and Black Templars that occurred shortly after Drace’s arrival. Something in Tiberius 9 was accelerating the mutagenic triggers that allowed Tyranids to adapt to adverse conditions.

The Ultra Marines, who are less secretive than the Black Templars noted on their logs that a team of rookies stationed on Tiberius 9 vanished during a routine patrol of one of the minor relay towers of the planetary communication grids. While none of the Marines’s gene-seed was recovered, as all the bodies vanished, some of the Armor was still on location. Small animal tracks were located all over the place, with an apparent pack behavior and random movement. What was left was marked with small ruptures, similar to those done by Necron Scrab Swarms equipped with Disruption Fields. The Ultra Marines placed a general alert, informing the certainty precense of Necrons on Tiberius 9. A complete Necronic Xenos Exterminatus was ordered, and the properly equipped personnel requested.

Omfridus Ludovicus, new that th Ultra Marines were mistaken. Not Necrons, but Tyranids were on Tiberius 9. This tactical error would cost many lives. Based on his knowledge of Xeno Biology, it seemed to him that the Tyranids were attempting to move to higher ground where the principal communication towers were located. It is a perfect location for such a structure. While Tyranids have no use for those structures, they could easily use the location for the same reason… to call home.

Four weeks of intense tedious research; that is how much Omfridus Ludovicus spent trying to get the time-table right. Comments and notes by the Magos Cathera Drace left a big hole on the sequence of events. At the time, the bureaucratic machine may have missed it as some uneventful time, but the young student new that something was happening somewhere all the time.

Investigation on Imperial records, at least at his Authorization Level Blue Gamma Three Nine One, revealed that the relay tower where the Ultra Marines vanished was directly linked to a Major Communication Network Tower that loss most of its functions in Tiberius 9 for quite some time. Digging deep on the records he found reports that Tau mercenary infantry (Kroots) were native to the area. The savage Xenos attacked the post, to which all contact was lost.

The Imperial Intelligence sent few Servo-Skulls to gather intelligence few hours after the attack, probably to mount a counter-attack. The Servo-Skulls arrive to the area, and they could access all data from the towers, and have 40% of their functionality. The Kroots, destructive by nature, did not have time to go rampant on the location. There was clear evidence that 100% of the humans of that location laid dead; most of them half eaten. The surprise was that over 30 Kroots laid dead; most of them dismembered by what the Imperial Intelligence denominated as “local fauna”.

Since the communication equipment was 40% functional, and local transmissions were uninterrupted, the High Command decided to abandon any counter-attacks to retake the location. They could use the local fauna as perimeter guards. If by some reason the functionality of the towers were lost, then they new that their new “pets” were over-taken, and special teams would be sent to the location.

Unnoticed by the Imperial Intelligence of the time, the survey images really amazed Omfridus Ludovicus. In one of them, he could see a pair of unidentified organisms; possibly the first blurred images of the Pocket Tyranids (Tyranicus crumens.) 

Chapter 4: The Corporaptor crumens

Sleep deprivation almost made Omfridus Ludovicus missed simple reference to an Imperial report that shed most light on how everything was developing. Magos Rufus Atehotuacus, Senior Xeno Biologist at Tiberius 9 traveled to Post Epsilon Three Nine Four to make a crucial transmission of current data. While Cathera Drace just arrived to the Research Facility, Atehortuacus had been in the facility for over a year conducting behavioral research in a small population of Tyranids that somehow struggle in the region.

The Guardsmen in the minor communication post were in no way prepared for the events that that dusk would unfold. Routine guard patrols were dispatched violently and efficiently just after they moved out of earshot. Amazingly, it was until the Junior Officer moved away from a console that he asked for an update report that he discovered that over 9 men were not reporting in. When he opened the com-link to escalate the matter, he understood why.

Death was actually as peaceful as it was described by Remembrances of the Old Times. Every sound and sight became much sharper. The Junior Officer could hear clearly the rustling of the grass blades as well as the unbuttoning of his lasgun’s holster. He could see clearly, even in those adverse light conditions, how bright the stars were shinning. He could count every single star, if time would allow. The only thing that made this moment imperfect was the damned taste of copper in his mouth. Thankfully it went away as it came. Regretfully, he saw his two comrades dead on the floor… just as his head was severed from his body.

Accounts shortly after were better described by Private First Class Marcianus, on his psychiatric holo-evaluations. 

Quote:

Marcianus was declared possessed by a Warp Entity, and put to rest shortly after. Interestingly, another report indicated that there were five creatures; short in stature, with two legs and four arms. While they were extremely fast and agile, two of them were killed. One was turned in to the Xeno Biology Department, but the other was nowhere to be found. The Poor Private could never figure out that he was dragging the entangled corpse of the alien behind him. What happen to it was unclear.

Magos Cathera Drace was delighted to receive the mangled specimen. From it remains it was clear his hypothesis were correct. A new mutation in the Tyranid evolutionary path had just emerged. The Corporaptor crumens had arrived. May the Emperor have mercy on those who cross the path of the new menace, the Pocket Genestealer!

Who could not tell that Omfridus Ludovicus was not exited? The introduction to the Pocket Genestealers (Corporaptor crumens) was too much for him to contain. But why was this not public domain knowledge? What happened to the “other” corpse? The answer to some of his questions laid buried on Cathera Drace’s personal logs. 

Quote:

Omfridus Ludovicus understood why the Pocket Genestealers never made the public light. There was no clear evidence of their existence… with the exception of the word of a now defunct Xenofiliac.

Chapter 6: Adaptive Xeno Stratagem

The next few events were easy to find. Omfridus Ludovicus could corroborate the report on several sources. Most demarked seemed to be the typical pleas for help, which characterized Cathera Drace on almost every mission in which his life may be in jeopardy. Now a Senior Field Magus Biologist, his words could carry some weight. Too bad they felt on Inquisitorial ears. The following is a transcript of the initial Astro-Report on the situation. 

Quote:

Epilogue

The young Magos was concerned. So much knowledge lost to the Adminstratum's bureaucracy. This information needed to be brought public, so the Loyalists to the Emperor could prepare and exterminate this Hive Fleet Marchosias. Just as he picked up the vid-vox, there was a knock on the door.

The young man opened, only to be started with a loud pistol blast. Looking down to his own chest, he could see his own blood pouring out... spilling in the floor. With even more astonishment he gape as he recognized the face of his assassin. Before he could say a word, he collapsed dead on the floor.

Nonchalantly, the assassin turn around. Before he closed the door and walked away, he dropped a small box into the young man's apartment. Just as he turn the corner, he heard that loud vacuum-explosion that could only be produced by such a nefarious devices as a Vortex grenade.

"That will teach you to make prank calls from my office, you ignorant bastard!"