Over the course of the next few cycles, the world of Vior'los was stripped bare of every last shred of biomass. The ribbed mouthparts of the hive fleets had descended to feed, hungrily sucking up the rendered down gruel of their conquests from the many digestion pools below. Farsight and his commanders monitored the vile spectacle from high orbit. As the twin flames of grief and anger twisted in his gut, O'Shovah began to doubt the course they had chosen. When he cast a questioning glance across to O'Vesa, the wizened scientist just smiled and pointed back towards the bio-ships themselves. Farsight saw nothing at first, but soon, a black stain began to spread across the chitinous flanks of one of the Tyranid vessels. Within a matter of only a few moments, the affliction had spread to a second ship, followed swiftly by another and then another, until none were free of the malign tendrils. The bio-ships shuddered and writhed as the discolouration blossomed outwards to cover them entirely. One by one, the fleshy Tyranid vessels fell into themselves, rotting and falling away like a piece of fruit decomposing in a matter of seconds. Before the hour was out, the bio-ships had disintegrated entirely.
The countermeasures the Earth Caste had made, explained O'Vesa, had been a suite of self-replicating poisons. The necrotising agents had been on time-delayed release in order to ensure they were fully taken inside the Hive Fleet before activating. The vector of transmission had been the bodies of the Earth Caste scientists themselves; they had imbibed the poisons as their last act upon Vior'los. Once their bodies were broken down in the digestion pools, the bacterial codes they had locked within themselves infected the air itself. As O'Vesa had hoped, the Tyranids had even stripped most of Vior'los' atmosphere away to fuel their further conquests. In doing so, they had doomed themselves to a swift and painful death.
The countermeasures the Earth Caste had made, explained O'Vesa, had been a suite of self-replicating poisons. The necrotising agents had been on time-delayed release in order to ensure they were fully taken inside the Hive Fleet before activating. The vector of transmission had been the bodies of the Earth Caste scientists themselves; they had imbibed the poisons as their last act upon Vior'los. Once their bodies were broken down in the digestion pools, the bacterial codes they had locked within themselves infected the air itself. As O'Vesa had hoped, the Tyranids had even stripped most of Vior'los' atmosphere away to fuel their further conquests. In doing so, they had doomed themselves to a swift and painful death.