Editing Hive Fleet (section)

== Organization ==

Most of the mass of a Hive Fleet is in its Hive Ships, massive biological factories that take in biomass from conquered planets and turn it into more Tyranids. Each one contains one or more Norn Queens, who sift through the biomass looking for interesting traits and genes that they can graft into their "children", chosen based on the obstacles they faced. Over time, this directed mutation and evolution results in different hive fleets having very divergent variants of warrior organisms and distinct styles of invasion.

The Hive Ships are protected by various strains of cruisers and droneships. Razorfiend Krakens hunt enemy ships, while escort drones cluster around hive ships as a living protective screen.

The Hive Fleets are rounded out by a pair of ship classes that they use to identify targets and get there in a reasonable amount of time. They send Vanguard drones ahead of the fleet, loaded with [[Genestealer]]s, [[Lictor]]s, and other infiltrator organisms, to candidate systems. Infiltrators that find their way to planets with lots of biomass found cults or colonies whose psychic networks act as beacons in the [[Warp]] and attract the attention of the fleet that spawned them.

Once a destination is determined, the fleet has to get there before it starves to death (analagous to the fuel limitations of other fleets.) It does this by employing a ship called a "narvhal" which somehow harnesses the target planet's gravity to bend space-time into a "corridor", which allow the fleet to travel to this planet at faster-than-light speeds (not as fast as a Warp-capable ship, but certainly faster than drifting at sublight). Presumably, this employs some sort of incredibly sweet facial horn. This bending has the fortunate (for the 'Nids) side-effect of causing tectonic upheaval on the target planet, disrupting any defenses but also warning anyone who knows what they're looking for that the fleet is coming for them. Narvhals have delicate gravimetric senses which are easily overloaded by nearby planets and stars, so the corridor dissolves as the fleet approaches its destination, and the fleet makes its final approach at sublight speeds, spending years or even decades in real-space. The fleet may hibernate to cool down and evade detection, only waking up when they are too close to be stopped.