Lin Cuo did not close the interface right away. He expanded the Source World entry for the New U.N. Forces' long-range escort air wing another level, wanting to see just what could send an emigrant fleet equipped with VFs, light carriers, and Fold communications into the losers' bracket.
The moment the display opened, he saw a battlefield where conventional star charts had ceased to mean anything.
An immense biological fleet blanketed the space lanes like living continents. Countless smaller organisms poured from the bellies of the motherships, while the New U.N. Forces' variable fighter formations repeatedly wove between the fleets. Main guns and reaction warheads could indeed tear those gigantic biological vessels apart, but for every one destroyed, more appeared behind it.
The system gave only a single name as the primary cause of defeat.
[Tyranids.]
Lin Cuo stared at that name, his finger already halfway away from the signing button.
"Okay, that I can understand."
At least he recognized these things. Knowing them did little to improve the situation, but the Tyranids still fell within the category of knowing what to fear. What truly made him withdraw his hand completely was the second layer of causal tracking beneath the primary threat description.
There was no name, no image, and no civilization level. Every field contained question marks.
[Secondary tracking source: ????] [Current behavior: pursuing the Tyranid swarm along its pheromone, psychic, and Fold escape trails.] [Relationship with the Tyranids: predation/hunting.] [Threat level: ????] [Capable of cross-world tracking: ????]
Lin Cuo looked at the final line and fell silent for a moment.
"System, what exactly do these question marks mean?"
[Your current civilization level does not grant clearance for safe observation.]
"Is it helping humanity fight the Tyranids?"
``` [No behavior aiding human civilization