Dalka Prime

• White Dwarf 225:

Dalki-Prime was an agricultural planet with a diameter of 12500 km, slightly smaller than Terra. The tyranid fleet was able to remove the following quantities of material from the planet within 100 days [Terran Standard].

1.55billion cubic km water, one cubic km of sea water weights over 1 trillion kg

8.67 billion cubic km gases, at STP theoretically they could reduce this to 1 tenth its volume by super cooling and pressure (3 atm, and 0 C)

72 million cubic km soil, weighting over 20 trillion kg per cubic km.

It is nearly inconceivable how they were able to accomplish this in such a short time, much less explain where the materials were taken, as the typical Hive fleets encountered historically are not capable of transporting even a fraction of this volume. OVER 10 Billion cubic kilometers of material was removed from the planet this would require trillions of ships and is far beyond the scope of the entire adeptus mechanicus to accomplish given a decade.  Most astonishing is that this is insufficient to sate their hunger they strike again and again often within months.  We must somehow determine of these fleets are somehow sending material back to their home systems for it seems obvious that they are not using all the materials.

...

Day 50 All psychic contact with Dalki Prime is cut-off by the overpowering presence of the tyranidic Hive fleet which drops from warp space around the planet.  Preliminary estimates place the numbers of space born creatures at 1.46 billion.  All escape attempts from this point on are intercepted and destroyed.   Mycetic“poison spores” are released into the atmosphere.  These rapidly grow on all organic material, rhizomes borrow deep into organic tissue releasing enzymes to begin the rendering of the material.  This aid the rippers and also renders any exposed material useless to other creatures as a food source as the fungus is highly poisonous to most life forms.  Living creatures exposed to high concentrations [>200 per m3] spores typically develop lethal mycotial infestations within the primary lungs, death occurs within 24 hours.

 Day 51 primary consumption of all biomass on Dalki Prime commences with little resistance. Brood ships land on the planet and release the ripper larvae, billions upon billions of them.  These voracious creatures spread out divesting the planet of all organic material and return to the brood ships to deposit the nutrient broth.  Brood ships periodically return to orbit and unload this material to the great brood factories and feeder ships. Surface and Arial mobile life forms which do not succumb to the spore clouds are hunted and eliminated in the initial stages.  This continues
for approximately 8-10 days non-stop. Accomplished primarily by termagants, hormogaunts and gargoyles. The carcasses left to the rippers and the spores.  These hunter swarms return to the Rippers to obtain regurgitated digested food.

 Day 80 rippers having systematically divested the land masses and basolithic planes of soil and demis board the brood ships and return to space.  Once this has been completed the huge hive ships descend into the upper atmosphere.  These creatures, which resemble primitive radiant life forms, with long tentacles which drop into the atmosphere and begin removing it.  As the atmospheric pressure is reduces the water of the oceans begins to evaporate and it too it vacuumed up.  As the tectonic plates begin to move due to the shift in planetary pressures caused by the removal of the vast oceans volcanic activity increases dramatically.  Devoid of the huge weight of the oceans many areas rupture spewing hot gasses and lava onto the barren surface, as the hive ships take the last remnants of water from the planet they retreat into the warp leaving the barren sphere in its death throws.