Deep below the ground, many pairs of eyes watched the screens before them. Many voices spread rumours in low murmurs. Most sounded concerned, a few mildly frightened. All were awaiting some instruction from the three individuals who were front and centre in the room.
One had his arms crossed over his chest, the backs of his hands wrinkling with the onset of age. He surveyed the scene before him from beneath his white eyebrows, both set into a troubled frown.
Another had her arms separate, one hand holding a data slate to her side, the other held upwards in front of the green collar of her otherwise white coat, absently twirling a pen between her slender fingers as she pondered.
The last had his hands clasped behind his back, level with his hips but not resting upon them. His feet were shoulder-width apart, and the shoes adorning them carried a military shine. He studied the situation presented with a stern face, which betrayed no signs of what he was feeling.
The screen before them was one of the few within the room to not be holographic. A single, one-hundred-and-twenty-inch monitor built into the wall served as their information readout. Smaller displays were available to the other men and women working in Mission Control, beneath the large, projected globe floating in the air above them. A small green shape, that of Skyranger-1, had just begun moving across the spectral atlas’s surface, tracking the progress of the aircraft it represented.
“So,” the man in the green jumper eventually spoke, turning to face the other two, both stood to his right, “can we contain it?”
The woman in the middle showed no reaction for a moment, before also turning to her right. “Dr Shen?” she offered.
The aged man gave the other two a hapless look. “I doubt it,” he spoke, a hint of worry in his otherwise wizened voice, “Our current containment chambers suffer periodic damage under the stress of any housed psychic alien. An Ethereal, if left to its own devices for a few days, could break out. It’s only dues to rotating them between cells and maintaining the ones left unoccupied that we’re able to prevent them escaping.” He pointed back to the screen as its video looped, showing scenes of the battle from both a soldier’s-eye-view and from satellite cameras. As he gestured, it demonstrated a shot of the new contact easily deflecting a barrage of plasma fire away from itself, selectively repelling only the shots that would have landed a hit. “Any creature with the power and focus to pull a feat like that could escape from containment within hours, if not less.”
The officer sighed, “So the only way to be safe is to execute it on arrival.”
“Not necessarily,” The woman between the two men offered, beginning to tap around on the touchscreen of her PDA with her pen, “recently my team have been working on a device which would inhibit the capabilities of any psionic creatures it was correctly attached to, a ‘psionic dampener’, if you will.” A schematic for the device appeared on the screen in front of them, growing into view over the footage of the engagement. The main component of it appeared to be an abstract assembly of various components, most identifiable as the neural implants possessed by Ethereals. “We’ve developed a prototype which would effectively nullify all the abilities of a Sectoid Commander, allowing them to be safely contained. Similar designs for Ethereals are under testing, but so far can merely impede their powers, not seal them off completely.”
“I don’t see how that helps us, Doctor,” the officer spoke again, “that thing is far more powerful than”-
“But,” the scientist continued, “The main constraint on our current designs is portability – both prototypes are designed to be worn by the creatures they affect while being physically tamper-proof. A larger, immobile design could easily be created, scaled to block any attempt at psionics made by our new capture. We won’t be able to move or experiment with it for a while, until we create a better containment strategy, but we can keep it safely contained until such things are invented.”
“The scaling should be fairly linear,” the engineer said, now leaning forwards to analyse the blueprint, “It’ll take a little time, but we ought to be able to produce a sufficiently large device within the next twenty-four hours. It’ll need to be inside the chamber with the alien, but sturdy enough plating on it’s casing should prevent the alien from damaging it.”
“We can keep the subject safely sedated until the device is complete,” the researcher noted.
The officer frowned at the screen for a moment, before looking back to the woman before him. “Dr Vahlen, do you really think it’s worth creating a whole new containment strategy for a single alien, when we’re cleaning up remnants after their invasion failed? Can we justify the cost of that?”
Dr Vahlen looked almost insulted. “Officer Bradford, this alien represents a peak in power and manipulation of psionic energy, the likes of which have not previously been observed. The potential to be gained for harnessing this power, the benefits it would grant us… they’re unimaginable!”
Bradford shrugged, “If you say so. Begin fabrication of the device, then, and keep the alien unconscious until it’s safely secured. Dr Vahlen, Dr Shen, you are both dismissed.” He turned and left the room, walking casually as opposed to the military march one might have expected from him.
“I hope you have some ideas on how to build a more permanent solution,” Dr Shen noted aloud.
“It’s the logical next step.” Dr Vahlen pointed out in response.
***
The squad compartment of Skyranger-1 was nearly silent, save for the low rumble of the engines outside and the frantic, panicked muttering of its resident psion.
Pimenova had taken quite some time to regain conciousness, but hadn’t shown major injury from being thrown. She’d been strapped onto a stretcher for take-off. Bruising along her back was to be expected, but no broken bones or internal damage, from what Bishop could see. Scratch damage, in effect.
That wasn’t where she’d been attacked, though – mentally she was a semi-intact mess, if the snatches of English among her otherwise entirely Russian muttering where any indication. Mentions of “Waking Nightmares”, “Demons” and “Not like us” were common. From what Guseva had said, though, she was still sort-of there – the Russian parts of her babble involved her trying to remind herself what was real, and what wasn’t – separating the psionic trauma within her mind from the physical world around her. Based on that, she would come out alright, the squad reasoned. At least, once she uncurled herself from the foetal position and stopped shaking quite so much.
They didn’t blame her for staying as far away from the alien as possible, though. No-one in the jet wanted to be near it. Even paralyzed, incapacitated, it unnerved them. To all five of them, it was a blessing that the surprise attack had worked on the damned thing. Otherwise, the alien had demonstrated one thing; it was untouchable. The one thing that X-COM had always had, whether it was Chrysallids, Cyberdiscs, or Mutons, was the guarantee that they could, and usually would, hit and kill their enemy.
And now here they had one that they couldn’t.
God forbid more of them show up.
I was playing XCOM when I got the email saying this updated...
You sir, have good timing.
The part that worries me is the interrogation.
XCOM's methods are rather... invasive. Their subjects don't survive the process.
Unless they can bridge the language gap, they won't realize Twilight's innocence until they're pumping electricity through her brain.
2235957
I figure I can justify them using a somewhat less-lethal method to poke around in her head; this is the first unicorn they've found, and the war's over. If this one dies on them, where the hell are they going to find another? (I see the interrorgation as observing brain patterns in reaction to external stimulus - having a good psion on hand will probably stop it being quite so lethal).
2236097
I thought that they dont die during the interrogation and they just kill them after they are done getting the info.
Oh well, good thing Twilight will get 'special' treatment!
When will the next chapter come out, if your not too busy?
2236584
I've got coursework coursework coursework over the next few weeks, but I'll be writing when my muse hits me (read: when I work out what's going to happen next).
Dr. Vahlen... she can creep me out when it comes to speak about power...
more?
intrigued.
Dr. Vahlen has a poor imagination. Everything's "unimaginable"-- I mean, damn girl, use a different descriptor once in a while! Unprecedented, paradigm-shifting, something! >_<
That said, I enjoyed this so far. Hopefully it's still alive. >_>
2455719
Yep! I've got a good idea of where the story's going... about four chapters from here. I'm not exactly sure what to have happen next. Obviously, there's going to be a good deal of the research team testing Twilight's magic, but I'm not sure whether to put it from twilight's perspective, or write it as lab reports, SCP style. Probably the latter, since Twilight's going to have her own observations to think about.
I find it a bit of a op Twilight here. Bullet through the head can kill anything. Respect her, yes. Fear her power, yes. Think she's unkillable? No.
2529412
It didn't go through: Deadeye aimed slightly above her, realising that a direct shot would just bounce off of her telekinetic shield. Also, it's technically not a bullet but a searing bolt of plasma, which is really only worse for you and can melt steel - which is why setting a shot six inches wide still smouldered her hair a little.
2538367
I'm looking at the Xcom wiki and it seems your setting her up to be Ethereal-ishly powerful. Again, just sounds a little op to me.
2538592
Yes while she may be a bit op you also have to remember a fundamental part of MLP. Twilight is the embodiment of the element of magic while also being Celestia's personal protege. Having a cutiemark of magic certainly doesn't hurt either. if anything she is overpowered in her own universe and she has just finally been challenged in this one.
Also please write more Axquirix, this is pretty damn good so far.
2552926
I guess I'm just weary when this happens. Next thing you know she's so powerful that she rips open her restraints, but acts reasonable with the humans and after a moment of surprise the humans will be reasonable too and see the error of their ways. Then they team up and own the Etherals & Co. after which the Etherals discover Equestria which they plan to take over. Then all the elements of harmony and the new elements of x-com team up for a battle royale against Discord, Chrysalis (or whatever), Sombra, Nightmare Moon, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Now yes, I am using exaggeration, but I've seen this formula to many times. I'd like some character development with my ponies please. But I'm still willing to give this story, like every other similar one, a chance to make me eat my words. I sincerely hope Axquirix doesn't dissapoint.
2553048
Yeah no one likes a mary sue and all that so no pressure Aquirix from us.
Good luck, and remember. We will be watching.
2553048
You got one plot point right. Exactly one. Have fun figuring out which.
2553348
I'm definately continuing this, but it's on hiatus for a little while due to exams.
2554289
That even one of those predictions are fulfilled makes me skeptical.
But as I said, I won't throw up my hands in disgust just yet. Prove me wrong!
2554471
I will be handling said point -very- carefully. Also, I have basically no plans on saying exactly how Twilight wound up in the XCOMverse, because anything involving Twilight Sparkle and teleportation gone wrong has been done to death already, and besides, it wouldn't add anything but exposition, which there will already be plenty of for more important plot points.
2554519
---TOP SECRET---
Council Report - RESEARCH PROJECT: SPARKLE
Grade: D+
While the initial reports of the project were... promising, the lack of update during the last eight months was causing the funding nations to grow more and more uncertain about the value of this research project. If no more meaningful discoveries or breakthroughs can be made, we will have no choice but to discontinue this project and terminate the subject.
Remember, we will be watching.
--EXALT ACTIVITY--
EXALT has stolen XCOMs pony
They could kill it, Sparkle could not keep deflecting shots forever.
6392355 Yeah, but do they know that? We all know XCOM's usual opposition - if you don't know what it does, assume it's a perpetual murder device.
shoulder-width
Bullshit. The computer is a cheating bastard. You can have the whole squad targeting a foe with 80% chance to hit or better and all miss one after the other. That's why I haven't played in months.
fetal
Some other small typos:
due
its casing
you made her way to goddammed powerful for a fucking scientist pony, I hate when stupid shit like this pops up out of nowhere "oh hey, twilight kicks special ops ass, because magic" fucking no, I'm so fucking tired of good stories being shit because magic is way to overpowered, you have a good story, but she was just out cold, then boom! fucking god of war? bullshit.
anyways, now that I've said my rant~
I've enjoyed this so far, and I really want to know what happens next, so onwards!
Why you make Twilight Sparkle so overpowered? It's a pretty boring thing.
6926048
Getting knocked out in 30 seconds while at most only deflecting a few plasma shots, incapacitating one psionic, and knocking over one panicked squad member is hardly god of war material, don't you think?
I get the feeling Xcom 2 is going to roll around the corner.
It seems that the XCOM in this universe has had a substantial upgrade over baseline canon.
As we see a peaceful solution is not even considered anymore...
The humans need the friendship of magic badly...
To bad she can't help they from the campaign start developing armor and utilities.