The sound of chains reverberated off of the empty halls of metal and oxidized rust. An unconscious body clinked into place as piercings rimmed with steel and dried blood were stuffed with hooks. Flesh was stuffed with sedatives, analgesics and unknowingly flayed, pulled back to show muscles and tendons laden with gashes and metal ports. A young woman hung by her shoulders in a room illuminated only by screens chattering with the digitized psyches of unknown onlookers while an organic, inhuman screeching pierced the hall, pried from the mouth of a hungry and desperate creature.
She had fought hard for her Caelum, and now her Caelum would reward her.
It was standard procedure after someone had shown their loyalty and passion for the one place in the Milky Way that one could be what they needed to be. Any sentient creature singing a requiem for its body, for its mind, or for its soul, could reach out to the Caelum and it would do what it could to answer. Such had been the case for Lilith. A fearful girl stuffed into a corner of galactic society to be forgotten, destiny holding nothing more than a reserved space for several of her atoms in a bar of corpse starch. Such was the nature of the Imperium, it could have never been more than a human engine of hatred and galactic dominion.
So long ago had it been since Martian ships sprayed over in aquamarine and cream had descended into her hive. Small, but capable of atmospheric escape, they sat for hours and took in any curious souls who ventured into their ominously open cargo holds. Any planetary enforcers who dared bare their weapon often saw themselves reduced to various gasses and plasmas by esoteric and unknowable energies. Whispers amongst under-city denizens told of clean and fortified food being stored and handed out inside, while others spoke of them releasing strange bioforms that skittered and burrowed into forgotten pores of shattered rock-crete. What she did know was that after taking in a few of the curious, wounded, and dying capable of dragging themselves into the awaiting hold, the strange vehicle would seal itself and leave as silently as it came. One day, she decided that she’d take her chances with those willing to feed her over another night stuffing her gut with the boiled textiles she’d peeled from the dead.
The gnashing of teeth and whip-like tendrils reverberated ever-closer throughout the hall, the scraping of claws causing the creature’s cage to shriek and wail. The screens chattered amongst themselves once more, each enthusiastic letter causing the light to slightly flicker. Light barely reached beyond the displays scattered throughout the facility, finally illuminating the creature as it finally was hoisted closer to a screen. Through the haze of sedatives and anesthetics, Lilith could finally see her prize, her badge of honor for protecting the planet that sheltered her. Draped only in the dark blue shimmers of the screens and contained in a bronze cage adorned with purity seals and notes of previous tech-priests, a tyranid bioform thrashed and screamed for its freedom. Armored not in the colors of Hive-Fleet Leviathan or Behemoth, it was instead fused with motes of signature Krassian Bronze. Biological tendrils flitted amongst mechanical nerves and claws, carapace blended with alloy and synthetic organs. Behind it, massive wings twitched and strained, muscles weaved with wire and tubes.
Several turquoise-clad figures hauling the cage gently sat it down on the floor of the hall and tweaked several analog interfaces near the enclosure’s hinges. Backing away, only a single human voice called out from the hissing and clicking of mechanics and augmented-mouthparts.
“Lilith, as you’ve chosen to be called. You have proven your passion and dedication to Krasis and her denizens a thousand-fold, and in return, she offers you Change. Before you is a Tyranid hybrid, grown from your genes and blessed with the best adaptations and modifications the 7th can provide. She, though unyielding and powerful, will be as much yours, as you are her’s.When you wake up, there will be others like you to teach you how to take to her whims and accept her into you. For now, though, rest in knowing you are no longer alone, and your body is complete."
