M32: The Third Xhorik War - Initial Stage

Opening

During the War of the Beast, WAAAGH! Zuffskull first materialized in the Gothic Sector, where it swept across several systems before striking at the heart of the Laygus Sector. Initially, the Ork fleet and Battlefleet Laygus inflicted heavy losses on each other as the Ork armies made planetfall across multiple systems. The Ork armies quickly overcame the research stations on the moons of Phoenis, the Deathworld of Oymykon, the shrine world of Atalya, and the industrial world of Korvis-Octis and its asteroid mines. UberBoss Zuffskull personally led the largest armies against the biggest prize, the heavily fortified hive planet of Occular. As the Imperial armies and fleets fell back before the Ork onslaught, Occular, as seat of the Sectoris-Capitalis, became the rallying point. As tens of millions of soldiers and war machines from both sides poured into the meat grinder on Occular, the Ork momentum was finally slowed. 

As the intense fighting on Occular was consuming massive resources at an unsustainable rate, UberBoss Zuffskull sent one of his most capable warlords, the Blood Axe General Woundwart, to outflank the Imperial forces and capture the ample resources of the Xhorik System for use in his campaign. As a Blood Axe, General Woundwart was unusually organized by Ork standards. This led to some of Zuffskull's other warlords to distrust the General for his non-Orky behaviors, such as making a plan before attacking, but Zuffskull recognized and utilized his unique talents for logistics and discipline. The General in turn selected a few warbosses to augment his personal Blood Axe forces on the mission to take Xhorik. He brought Dagzag's Speed Freaks for their ability to scout and raid across vast distances, keeping the human defenders guessing where the next Ork attacks will land and preventing them from concentrating their forces. Finally, he would bring Ugwurr Grimzod (Ugwurr Blueface) and his Deathskull warband for their proficiency in looting, scavenging and collecting all manner of potentially useful supplies. Woundwort elected to bypass the outer planets entirely and direct his attack at Xhorik Prime, the most populous and developed planet of the system, where the looting would be richest.

The Ork invasion occurred under the cover of an attack by their fleet, led by Woundwort's personal rok and command ship, the Morkfist. With most of Battlefleet Laygus heavily engaged at Occular, the Xhorik System was left to its own defenses. Orbital battle stations and planetary defense ion cannon batteries provided formidable protection, destroying two Ork killkroozers and numerous landing craft during atmospheric entry. However, as a large, converted asteroid, even superheavy planetary defense weapons could not penetrate the Morkfist's hull which was hundreds of meters thick. 

To reduce their losses during planetfall, Orks concentrated their landings in the far northern latitudes, far from the heavily defended population centers. The few human defenders fought valiantly to buy time for the rest of the planet to organize their ground defenses, but they were overwhelmed by vastly superior Ork forces. As the Orks consolidated their landing zones and drove south toward the main continent, the stage was set for a battle for control of Xhorik Prime. 

A New Threat Awakens

Sometime during the previous centuries, a vast number of spore pods had also arrived in the northern polar region of Xhorik Prime, carried to the planet on a crashing comet from outside the galaxy. Nearly 8,000 years later during the Tyrannic Wars, Imperial scholars determined these were most likely among the first Tyranids ever observed in the galaxy. They hypothesized that the Hive Mind sent spore pods on comets through the warp to investigate a multitude of galaxies for the presence of life to serve as fuel for their consumption. Some of these comets would eventually crash into random planets and if any signs of life were detected, the Hive Mind could be psychically notified. Millenia later, the true Hive Fleets would arrive in vast numbers to consume the identified biomass. The spore pods that had arrived on Xhorik Prime were eventually identified to be associated with Hive Fleet Tarasque, but of course that understanding only came much later when the full Hive Fleet arrived. 

Upon landing, a few select spores containing Lictors and Genestealers were genetically coded to open first and scout for signs of life. If any potential food sources were found, they would signal additional pods to open and release their hungry contents, and so on in a chain reaction. Due to landing in the far northern polar regions, the initial Lictors did not find any significant life and so the vast majority of the spores remained in a state of stasis, buried in the frozen glaciers and tundra where they landed after being scattered by the explosion of the crashed comet. And there they remained for centuries, waiting for something to waken them. On some planets, spores have remained in place waiting for lifeforms to evolve in-situ or to colonize the planet from afar. The Hive Mind is immensely patient, and millennia are but moments to its eternal consciousness. 

The heat, pressure, and vibration of the landings of millions of orks in the polar region was enough to alert and awaken a number of spore pods. As Orks streamed over the frozen surface, in search of human defenders to attack and supplies to pillage, the smell of biomass was triggering the most sensitive spore pods to burst open, freeing their contents. As Lictors and Genestealers emerged, they ambushed small bands of Orks to feed. This feeding triggered the release of synapse signals that began to awaken more and more pods to burst, enabling tens of thousands of Tyranids to claw free and dig themselves out of the snow and ice, searching for more life. The Orks continued their march south, unaware of the loss of stragglers and small bands to the Tyranids behind them that were growing in number every day. As the Tyranid scouts moved farther south, they came into contact with plants and trees. This plethora of biomass was enough to trigger most of the remaining spores. In addition to the scouting bioforms of the Lictors and the hunting bioforms of Warriors and Gaunts, some pods contained the bioforms that would start harvesting the planet's biomass and converting it into more Tyranids.