Hive Fleet Gorgon

Hive Fleet Gorgon was a Tyranid Hive Fleet which invaded the Tau Empire in 899.M41. Gorgon was destroyed in 903.M41 by the combined forces of the Tau and the Imperial Guard. A remnant of Hive Fleet Behemoth that survived its destruction at the Battle of Macragge, the splinter fleet began consuming poorly defended imperial worlds to replenish its numbers. By the time this splinter made its way into Tau Space, it had grown to become its own Hive Fleet.

Gorgon was small compared to other Hive Fleets, but it was characterized by adapting to new weapons and tactics at a rate that was astounding even for the already rapid evolution of the Tyranids. In response to the pulse weaponry and ever changing tactics of the Tau, Gorgon's primary stradegy was the utilization of smaller and faster breeding Tyranid organisms to accelerate its evolutionary process. As a consequence, larger tyranids were few in number within the hordes of Gorgon.

First Encounter At Sha'draig
Gorgon, after it devoured the worlds inhabited by several Tau trading partners, launched its first attack on the Tau Empire by destroying an orbital perimeter outpost of the Sha'draig colony in late 899.M41, then continued on to the shipyards of Sha'draig's moon. Initially the shipyard's interceptor guns held Gorgon back, but soon an adapted strain of gargoyles with a refractive mucous coating that lessens the damage from interceptor fire overwhelmed the shipyards and slaughtered its remaining defenders. A fleet from the Kel'shan Sept, commanded by Kor'o Valroth, was sent to investigate the outpost's silence. Gorgon continued on to the Sha'draig planet itself and by the time the Kel'shan fleet arrived in 900.M41 it was already under siege. The fleet broke through the Tyranid blockade surrounding the planet long enough to deliver reinforcements to the surface.

On Sha'draig, hormagaunts assaulted the Tau outer defence lines in the nearby forests, which Shas'el Vorcah had filled with Kroot auxiliaries directed by Shaper Pechallai. However many of the Hormagaunts ended up entangled in the forest's undergrowth where the Kroot could easily dispatch of them. Next, adapted swifter Hormagaunts, less prone to being entangled, attacked again and slew thousands before they are also eventually stopped. A final wave, consisting of Hormagaunts honed to pierce and tear Kroothide, proved efficient enough and swamped over Pechallai's defences. The Hormagaunt's adaptions however had weakened their own resistance to injury and so when they emerged from the forests, the Tau defenders quickly gunned them down.

Gorgon's cycle of adaptation began again, and soon Hormagaunts and Termagants were deployed with close to total immunity to pulse rifle fire. These creatures overrun the main settlement of Sha'draig, forcing Shas'el Vorcah to withdraw his forces to the mountains. The Tau, in response to the creature's resistance to their current weaponry, sent Stealth Teams to recover the kroot rifles from Pechallai's fallen defences and distribute them amongst Vorcah's surviving defenders. The enemies responses to each other continued, with the Tau racing to develop new technology and weapons and the Tyranids breeding new biological creatures with ever more suitable adaptions. At one point Gorgon spawned Hormagaunts and Gargoyles with chameleonic hides to blend in with their surroundings, making them all but hidden to the Tau except for their battlesuit sensors.

In 901.M41, Supreme Admiral Kor'O'Vanan deemed the situation on Sha'draig unsalvagable and ordered a withdrawal. His fleet broke through the blockade and attempted to evacuate all the surviving ground forces, but Shas'el Vorcah remained behind under the guise of covering the retreat. However his true intention was to continue the fight with a series of suicide missions to break the Tyranid synapse web. Vorcah's tactic was successful and eventually drove Gorgon from Sha'draig, but not before it had been almost completely consumed by ripper swarms.

Harvesting of Ka'mais
In 902.M41 dozens of hive ships detached from the main Hive Fleet and invaded the Tau colony of Ka'mais. This triggered the emergence of an unexpected Necron fleet from Ka'kais' dead moon which then set about destroying the outnumbered Tyranid ships. On Ka'mais a day of celebration was declared and as the Necrons landed they were greeted with great ceremony by a grateful people. Despite the welcome, the Necrons attacked without mercy and Ka'mais was harvested.

The Kel'shan Ethereal council ordered the evacuation of the colony worlds between Ka'mais and Kel'shan. The evacuation fleet from one of these worlds, Ho'sarn, was ambushed by Gorgon and slaughtered.

Victory At Kel'shan
As Gorgon left the Ka'mais system in 902.M41, it was attacked by Kor'O'Vanan's fleet at the Battle of Sol'ai Rift. At first things favoured the Tau, until a cluster of Ramsmiter and Razorfiend bio-ships appeared with near total immunity to the Tau's Ion weaponary and the Tau fleet had to withdraw. The Tau however managed to take out many of Gorgon's Narvhals, bio-ships which the Tyranids use to travel faster than light, hoping to buy time for Kel'shan to further fortify against the coming Hive Fleet.

Gorgon, on its way to Kel'shan, consumed the Roksh system, home of the Rokshashi Wealthweb  merchant guilds. Several Tau trading fleets in the system and a secret Tau listening post on Roksh XVI were also devoured.

Miraculously an Imperial fleet emerged from the Warp in 902.M41 at Kel'shan, but immediately besieged the planet. Commanded by one Castellan Crask of the Cadian 18th, the fleet was an element of the Damocles Gulf Crusade. Unbeknownst to them, they had suffered an enormous time distortion in the Warp and were currently fighting a war that had ended 150 years ago!

Volroth's fleet, heavily retrofitted at the Kel'shan shipyards to beat Gorgon's immunities, was diverted to engage the Imperial fleet. Soon Gorgon arrived to descend upon Kel'shan and joined the already underway battle. Now faced with a common enemy, Crask and Valroth agreed to a truce and together their fleets turned on Gorgon, destroying close to all of its bio-ships. The Tyranids were unable to adapt quickly enough to the disparate nature of the Tau and Imperial Guard forces combined, and at the Battle of Worldspine Ridge in 903.M41 the last Dominatrix and Hive Tyrant was slain. Bringing the end of Hive Fleet Gorgon. Unfortunately, the truce between the Imperium and the Tau also ended shortly after.