The Imperium's Frontier: Victoria Hive

A Hive City is the largest and most chaotic human settlement in the history of human civilization within The Imperium. Every Imperial system possesses only one Hive City as its capital, serving as the core of the system's administration, judiciary, religion, and economic production.

Almost all Imperial Hive Cities can trace their history back thousands of years. When a planet welcomed its first colony ship and the Adeptus Mechanicus constructed its first plasma reactor, the construction of a Hive City was placed on the agenda, eventually evolving into this behemoth over the course of several centuries.

Some Hive Cities even predate The Imperium itself. Long before the Dark Age of Technology and the Age of Strife, these colonial cities, originating from the earliest era of human expansion, already existed like stars scattered across the galaxy.

Countless cities of various sizes eventually merged into one. The land was leveled by an endless expanse of structures; soaring spires and ornate upper-level architecture pierced the heavens, layered upon countless other constructions. Beneath the surface, dense urban clusters were built layer by layer, extending like a honeycomb deep into the planet's core.

This is a grand masterpiece of human civilization, symbolizing humanity's total conquest of a planet, yet it also signifies the planet's destruction. When such a massive Hive City is completed, it usually means all the planet's resources have long been exhausted.

The unbridled breeding of a massive population eventually crushed the planet's ecology. Endless generations of humans, along with their buildings and machinery, swallowed everything, turning it all into part of the ever-expanding city.

Ultimately, the planet could no longer produce natural resources. The only resource it could provide was labor—endless, inexhaustible human labor. Hundreds of millions of people were sent to other worlds in the system to develop and extract resources, which were then transported back through the massive orbital Starport circling the planet's equator, finally to be processed and forged in factories that stretched to the ends of the earth.

Vito sat in the cockpit, watching the Hive City below through the thick shuttle glass. The shuttle descended in a straight line from low orbit. After breaking through the stratospheric storms, he arrived here, witnessing the behemoth firsthand.

Billowing smoke and toxic exhaust rose from the surface. Even the sky had turned a sickly grey-green due to the emissions from the Adeptus Mechanicus factories. Forests and mountains had vanished generations ago, and the oceans left no trace of their former existence.

Vito operated the flight stick, maneuvering the sleek, slender shuttle through the magnificent architectural clusters. They descended in a straight line, passing beneath the ornate buildings of the upper city to enter the Hive City.

Vito looked around. The surrounding space was completely filled with overlapping buildings of all sizes, arranged layer upon layer and connected by floating platforms and roadways.

The sun's light could not reach this place. All illumination came from various shop signs, streetlights, and passing vehicles, their colorful lights converging into a bizarre, hallucinatory dreamscape.

"Ah, this kind of Hive City again," Vito sighed. He had been to many Hive Cities, and to be honest, not all of them were this oppressive and unsettling.

Vito flicked the switches on the dashboard. After pressing several buttons in succession, the vector thrusters began to rotate. Propelled by intense blue flames, the shuttle descended slowly, landing steadily amidst a violent blast of reverse-thrust air.

The sturdy landing gear slowly lifted the hull, allowing the beautiful interstellar shuttle to settle onto the platform as the vector thrusters gradually cooled.

Vito stepped out from the hatch below. As he stood on the platform deck, the entire structure began to move, heavy mechanical gears pulling the extended landing pad back into the main building.

The surface Starport is the first stop for all non-noble travelers arriving on this planet, and Vito was no exception.

Vito looked to one side. A heavy transport ship, as large as a skyscraper, had also landed on the massive deck. Cooling gases and pressurized vapors vented from the hull, swallowing everything in a rolling white mist.

Vito straightened his collar and looked ahead. The landing pad was pulled steadily into the Starport structure. The sturdy reinforced concrete walls rose up like a bunker, forming a barrier that isolated the planet-sized city outside.

Inside the land-based Starport, under a dome supported by massive metal struts, a golden Imperial Aquila hung high in the air. Beneath it, countless ships of all sizes were docked. Travelers, Rogue Traders, and cargo ship workers moved about, walking beneath the giant vessels. The clamor of voices and the deep rumble of power engines formed the main melody of this place.

"Purpose of visit?" A lethargic administrator walked up. He held a divination tablet, pointing at the screen with a stylus while muttering unintelligibly, but fortunately, Vito could hear him clearly.

"Sightseeing, visiting, and travel," Vito said with a smile. The administrator rolled his eyes. "Who comes to this hellhole for travel and sightseeing?" "Then what do you suggest I fill in?" "I don't care. Just put 'private business.' That'll be 2,000 Imperial Aquila coins for docking and management fees."

As the young, lazy administrator spoke, a Servo-skull flew over. It hovered in front of Vito, presenting a card slot for him to use.

Vito took a black card from his coat, inserted it, and pulled it out a moment later. The Servo-skull returned to the administrator's side, emitting a mechanical tone: "Payment complete. Landing authorized."

The skull flew away, perhaps to collect the next payment, but the administrator didn't care, scribbling on his tablet. "Name, ship name."

Vito smiled and looked toward the ship exit at the end of the massive Starport. A vessel was sliding onto the runway with its thrusters firing slowly. Judging by its markings, it seemed to be a transport ship from the Owen-4 system he had visited before.

On the side of the runway, several large cargo crates were stacked. Crew members were negotiating with a few bald locals. Each of them had a snake tattooed on their arm—a unique-looking species, though Vito was certain all native species on this planet were already extinct.

But the transaction seemed to be going smoothly. They reached an agreement, and the local gang members were already making the payment. The Starport guards on the side seemed as blind as if they hadn't seen a thing, though Vito was certain they weren't blind.

Vito tilted his head slightly, as if pondering something, but the administrator began to curse impatiently. "Hey! Idiot, name! Do you intend to waste my whole day here?"

"Vito, Vito Constantine. This beauty is named Aquila. Take good care of her," Vito said, taking the registration form from the administrator. The latter shrugged helplessly. "We will. Now go do whatever it is you want to do."

"Hey, buddy, a question." "By The Emperor, ask it, hurry up." The administrator stopped, shouting irritably. Vito remained smiling, pointing toward the distant transaction.

"Over there, those local gang members, what is their gang called?" The administrator looked over, his eyebrows twitching. "The Devout Society. I advise you not to get close to them—religious lunatics from the Lower Hive." "Religion? The Ecclesiarchy?" "Yeah, yeah, but they're crazier than the lunatics in the cathedrals. Anyway, stay as far away from them as you can."

"I'm curious, friend, in the chaos of the Lower Hive, is the faith of the Ecclesiarchy really that developed?" The administrator shouted irritably, waving his finger. "Who are you? A scholar? Go find those missionaries and ask them; don't bother me."

He walked away impatiently, his attitude extremely arrogant and perfunctory. Vito chuckled, hands on his hips, watching the young administrator walk away. He wondered what the man would think if he knew he had just treated an Inquisitor with such an attitude.

Vito shrugged, but he was lucky he wasn't one of his neurotic colleagues. So, this young man could continue with his arrogant attitude until, one day, he was taught a lesson by some short-tempered captain.

Vito rubbed his chin, looking thoughtfully at the Imperial Aquila above, patted the bolter at his waist, and headed toward the Starport exit.