[UNIFIED HIVE STATUS – THREE PLANET NETWORK]
LV-732 (Hiveworld)Biome Coverage: 100%Swarm Count: 38,200Hive Yautja: 14,800Core Terraforming: 98.1%
Minaris-7 (Volcanic Forgeworld)Biome Coverage: 76.5%Swarm Count: 15,000Hive Yautja: 6,000Biomass Harvest: 22,000/hr
Verdantis (Green Warworld)Biome Coverage: 67.4%Swarm Count: 19,400Hive Yautja: 7,200Camouflage Hive integration in progress
Total Biomass Stored (Unified Hive): 1,218,710Biomass Gain Rate (Combined): +61,400/hrExpansion Protocol: PAUSED (Mo's Directive)
[FLESH CITADEL – VERDANTIS, HEART OF THE GREEN HIVE]
Verdantis is quieter now.
No more Mor'zhal.
No more flame.
Only the hum of new Hive growth. Thorn-towers pierce the treetop canopy. The ground squelches with moss-covered Hive skin. Carrion Dancers patrol the branches like ghosts.
Mo stands at the top of the Sporethrone, a hybrid structure made from the bones of both his Hive and Mor'zhal's. His new arm—reformed with Mor'zhal's own genetic material—twitches with new flexibility.
Layra kneels below, her body wrapped in grown jungle silks, adorned in green-and-black chitinic armor.
Layra: "Three worlds."
"And silence."
Mo replies without looking down.
"Silence is a lie. Something always watches."
[YAUTJA SPACE – CLAN VORN'RAK – BOUND FOR VERDANTIS]
In deep space, three Yautja warships streak through the void, tracking a pre-spaceflight signal buried in their hunter archives.
Verdantis was once a proving world, used by ancient Yautja clans to train young bloods. When Weyland contaminated the region, the ritual stopped.
But now, the signal pulses again.
The clan believes it means the old Hive of the jungle queen Mor'zhal has returned.
Warlord Kalth'zor: "We reclaim the kill grounds."
"We plant our honor back in Verdantis."
No one aboard knows what happened to Clan Ash Blood.
No one knows the name Mo.
No one knows the Hive wears their face.
[PLANETFALL – VERDANTIS SYSTEM]
Three sleek, plasma-armored warships enter orbit.Each bristling with hunter pods, smart-disc launchers, and bio-forged cloaking plates.
They scan for Hive signatures.
"Xenomorph presence: Confirmed.""Hive activity: Dense. Active. Advanced."
Kalth'zor: "Good. Let it be thick."
"We bathe in the swarm."
[MEANWHILE – WITHIN THE HIVE]
003—Mo's oldest Hive general—kneels in the Thorn-Forge, watching the sky light up with unfamiliar energy.
His voice is low, private.
003: "Ships above. Cloaked. Predator-class."
"Shall we strike?"
Layra approaches.
"No."
"Mo said to wait."
In the shadows behind her, Kharn, the Hive Yautja Commander, steps forward.
He's silent.Watching the skies.
Layra (quiet): "They'll see him soon."
"They'll see all of them."
[YAUTJA STRIKE TEAM LANDS]
Six drop-pods slam into the jungle floor.
Dozens of Vorn'rak hunters emerge—each blooded, each armored in generations-old helms and cloaks made of Xeno skin.They move swiftly.Precisely.
They don't talk.
They hunt.
And their prey is not ready.At least, they think it isn't.
Until one of them enters a thicket—and never returns.
Another finds a pile of what looks like Xenomorph skulls—but the skulls have mandibles.
The team stops.
Hunter 1: "This is wrong."
Hunter 2: "These… these are not our prey."
"These are us."
[HIVE YAUTJA – STILL HIDDEN, STILL SILENT]
Kharn watches from a high tree canopy, fully cloaked.
Below him, his kind walks.
Unaffiliated.
Still proud.
Still blind.
Layra speaks to him through the Hive Link.
"What will you do?"
Kharn: "Obey."
He signals.
No contact.No engagement.Not yet.
Mo's will is clear: Observe. Learn. Wait.
[MO'S CITADEL – NIGHTFALL ON VERDANTIS]
Mo walks alone.
His thoughts ripple through the Hive.
"They came."
"I knew they would."
He opens the biomass interface, but doesn't buy or create. He just watches the new figures on the screen.
Thirteen Yautja.
Each one marked with bloodline and status.
"When they learn what we are…"
He clenches his fist, the one forged with Mor'zhal's bone.
"Will they kneel?"
"Or will they burn?"
Behind him, Layra stands silent.
Her whisper is almost lost in the wind.
"Perhaps both."
[UNIFIED HIVE STATUS – END OF CHAPTER]
Planets Under Control: 3Swarm Count (Across All Worlds): 72,600+Hive Yautja Count: 28,200Biomass Storage: 1,218,710Expansion Status: PAUSEDThreat Detected: Yautja War-Group – Unknown Intent
Current Directive: OBSERVE.
[CURRENT UNIFIED HIVE STATUS]
Planets Controlled: 3
LV-732 (Hive World)
Minaris-7 (Volcanic Forgeworld)
Verdantis (Green Warworld – Contested)
Swarm Count: 72,600+Hive Yautja Population: 28,200Total Biomass Storage: 1,218,710Expansion Protocol: PausedThreat: Yautja Clan Vorn'rak – 3 Warships, 34 Confirmed Hunters on GroundHive Yautja: Still UndetectedMo's Directive: Observe, Maintain Silence, No Engagement
[VERDANTIS – NIGHT CYCLE]
The jungle breathed slow beneath thick green clouds.
From their landing site, Clan Vorn'rak fanned out into the treeline.Scouts deployed. Thermal sensors activated.They expected feral Xenomorphs, mindless drones.
What they found was...
nothing.
Too organized. Too quiet.
It disturbed them.
Warlord Kalth'zor stood at the jungle's edge, helmet scanning every inch of the canopy.Even his warhounds wouldn't bark.
One hound turned back toward the ship and refused to go further.
Kalth'zor (growling): "They fear prey that doesn't run."
He looked up—but the treetop shadows were already watching.
[HIVE WATCHERS – HIGH CANOPY]
Kharn, Hive Yautja Commander, lay completely cloaked among the vines.Twenty elite Echo-Stalkers crouched around him, linked into a localized neural loop.
Below: Yautja from his own ancestral line, speaking in war-code, still loyal to the old ways.
They didn't know what Kharn had become.
Not yet.
He blinked once, slowly.
Then turned and slipped back into the canopy.
"They are not ready."
[MO'S CHAMBER – THORNSPIRE VERDANTIS]
Mo sat beneath a dome grown from Mor'zhal's skull, vines wrapped around its hollow eye sockets. Layra stood to his left, 003 to his right.
A psychic feed projected Vorn'rak's hunt routes, conversations, heat signatures, and genetic identifiers.
Layra: "They've reached Temple Cradle."
Mo: "What did we leave there?"
003: "Yautja bones. Hive markings. Old armor, redesigned."
"They'll know."
Mo: "Let them guess."
[TEMPLE CRADLE – VERDANTIS SITE 031]
It was a hunting ground once. Now it was a ruin.
A cratered basin filled with roots shaped like ribs, spines arching up toward the clouds. Skulls lined the floor.
But not Xenomorphs.
Yautja.
With armor.
Hive armor.
One hunter bent down.
Hunter: "Brother. This one was from Ka'thar's line."
"But this armor… it's not forged."
"It's grown."
Silence passed through them.
Kalth'zor: "This is heresy."
"We burn it."
As the torch hissed—
A voice came from the treeline:
"You burn your past?"
The hunters spun.
Kharn stepped from the green. Uncloaked. Unafraid.
[THE FIRST REVEAL – HIVE YAUTJA UNVEILED]
Kalth'zor: "Identify!"
Kharn: "I am blood of Vorn'rak.I am bone of the Hive."
He opened his arms.
Armor hissed.Spines twitched.
The hunters froze.
Some raised blades. Others—hesitated.
One stepped forward.
Y'skar, youngest among them. Unblooded. Wide-eyed.
"You wear the Hunt.""But not as a trophy.""As your skin."
Kharn: "I hunt still.""But not for glory. For evolution."
"The stars will not bow to traditions.""But they will burn under unity."
Kalth'zor spat on the dirt.
"You are not of the blood."
"You are infection."
He raised his plasma caster.
Kharn didn't flinch.
Kharn: "You are not ready."
Then vanished into the trees.
[WAR COUNCIL – VORN'RAK]
Back at the drop camp, chaos reigned.
Hunters argued.Some demanded a full purge.Others—Y'skar among them—asked to learn more.
Kalth'zor slammed his gauntlet down.
"We do not debate with disease."
"Tomorrow, we burn every nest."
"And if that creature returns—its skull will hang beside Ka'thar's."
No one noticed that two of the scouts never returned.
Because the Hive had already started watching from within.
[HIVE CITADEL – THORNSPIRE]
Mo listened.
He heard every word.
Felt every heartbeat.
He stood.
Mo: "Some will kill."
"Some will listen."
"Both will kneel."
[UNIFIED HIVE STATUS – LATE CYCLE REPORT]
LV-732 Biomass: 1,218,710Swarm Count: 74,800Hive Yautja: 28,900Planetary Stability: Fully Linked
Verdantis Subzone 03: Contested
Vorn'rak Clan Forces: 34
Internal Tension: Moderate
Hive Yautja Exposure: Partial
Potential Defectors: 2 Confirmed