Doctors, Grubs and Cocoons
No sooner had Timid turned in search of Colonel Bunker than three figures cut her off. Colonel Bunker herself, flanked by Doctor Shen and a newcomer in research clothing. A longsleeved white labcoat as usual except with a green stripe going from the shoulders down to the cuffs. She held a clipboard that had a large stack of papers secured to it as well as a pen in her other hand. The clipboard was kept close to her body as she approached, worry and nervousness radiating off of her despite the appearance of controlled calm. Shen was joined by Colonel Bunker in a sense of dread as they drew near along with the newcomer.
"Queen Blue Sun," Colonel Bunker began, halting a fair distance away from me and holding her hands at her sides in a rigid stance. "I owe you an apology."
I raised my eyebrow. "For attempting to steal one of my eggs, correct?" My head tilted as I looked once again to Doctor Shen and the female newcomer while they fidgeted like guilty pony foals.
"Y-yes." Colonel Bunker stammered, caught offguard by the directness of my reply. "I think that Doctor Vahlen will be able to explain the situation, since she is the one that the order came from."
The newcomer, apparently named Doctor Vahlen, shot a dirty look at Bunker before her previous mask returned. She took a single step forward to address me. "Hello, Queen Blue Sun. I, as you have just learned, am named Doctor Moira Vahlen." Her voice was different than that of Bunker or Shen; possibly meaning that she was from a different part of Earth. "You have questions, no doubt. The foremost being why I ordered a team to take one of your eggs."
I nodded, moving a bit closer to Vahlen while Timid, Soft and Rough moved to my sides. I noted that it looked somewhat like a standoff between myself and my friends against Bunker and her own people, but it was amusing more than anything. I was concerned about why they had entered the hive during my cocooned state, but in all honesty I wasn't entirely sure they were trying to take one of my eggs until now.
Doctor Vahlen continued her explanation. "You had already been in stasis for several hours with no sign of movement or life-- quite possibly from the hardened shell of the cocoon which you broke free of. I was concerned that the video feed I was receiving from my own department's monitoring equipment about your love-starved state upon entering the cocoon, and not having roughly any idea about your physiology or lifecycle, I made a reactionary call to secure one of your eggs in the event that you never... hatched." She adjusted her stance to favor the other leg before continuing. "Hindsight, of course, is always perfect. I asked Colonel Bunker to take me down here to apologize in person, and to ask a favor of you."
Both Shen and Bunker gave each other a nervous look before Rough spoke up. "You tried to take her kids and now you want a favor?" He asked harshly.
Vahlen was not impressed by Rough's tone, sending a look of contempt his way before choosing to ignore him altogether. "Queen Blue Sun, as I said before we know nothing of your kind apart from the fact that whatever field of energy you use to manipulate matter around yourself causes a massive spike of thermal energy. The more we can work in tandem to identify the causes of this phenomenon, the better we will be able to understand and co-exist with one another. Doctor Shen has already hypothesized a thermal generator that might be able to harness the raw heat that comes from your hive simply existing, let alone the temperatures from your 'remodeling'."
Shen seemed worried by his idea being mentioned, but remained quiet when I replied. "I already know what this 'energy' is; It's my magic." I stated simply.
Vahlen gave me a blank stare for a moment before blinking. "Magic." She deadpanned.
I tilted my head. "Yes, magic."
Vahlen looked to Shen and Bunker, whom both returned a helpless shrug. She then regarded my friends and asked, "You three have had the most contact with Queen Blue Sun. Do you have any insights on the subject of her 'magic'?" She asked skeptically.
"Well, it scorched the floor when she was a drone..." Soft provided helpfully. Vahlen wrote down a note of that on her clipboard.
"When she was smaller there wasn't as much heat as there is now. Maybe she uses more because she's larger?" Timid added, and another note was written.
"I'm standing right here, you know." I pointed out with a tiny bit of annoyance.
Vahlen looked from her clipboard towards me. "This might be going too far, but I have to ask: Would I be allowed to examine one... 'grub' from each of your eggs? They would not be harmed in the slightest and I would return them to you as soon as my studies were completed."
My first instinct nearly made me snarl at Vahlen, but I held it in check and let out only a grumble of annoyance. My narrowed eyes and serious expression were apparently enough to get my feelings across.
"Perhaps another time, then." Vahlen amended, backing away from me and holding her clipboard to her chest like a shield.
For a tense moment I held a staring contest with Vahlen while I tried to figure out her intentions. Obviously she wanted to study myself and my hive, but I had no idea where that would lead. Did she actually want us to co-exist, or was there some other motive? I couldn't risk any harm coming to my grubs, as every one of them would be needed to expand the hive into something that could support generations to come. They were barely out of the egg, and already this Doctor Vahlen was thinking about experimentation and study. There was also the fact that she was higher in the social hierarchy than Colonel Bunker, since she was able to order Bunker around. That meant she wasn't a typical human... so she must be a Royal, right?
"Queen Blue Sun?" Shen asked, breaking the standoff while adjusting his glasses. "About my idea that Doctor Vahlen mentioned earlier..."
I broke my glare with Vahlen to neutrally address Shen. "Yes, Doctor Shen?"
"If you would be willing, A space could be excavated within your hive to allow for a thermal generator to be constructed and adapted to withstand the enormous temperature that your 'magic' generates. This would provide a proof of concept that could help all of us in the long run as well as provide some assistance with our day to day operations. We have significant power draw from other projects within Cheyenne Mountain, and I know they could use the energy that our funding simply cannot allow for."
A generator? "How large would this 'Generator' be?" I asked, my interest and suspicion peaked.
Shen looked to Colonel Bunker and Vahlen a moment for support, yet finding blank faces he turned to speak with me instead. "Well, the problem is that we-- I, don't know that yet. There would have to be a significant space for tinkering, engineering, other kinds of machinery needed to move the building materials in place as well as safety barriers set up to avoid any harm coming to your... offspring." He explained, his voice a mixture of excitement from the possibility of discovery and worry that he might offend me.
I took a moment to stare at Shen, as I had with Doctor Vahlen to consider. I had no issues with Shen, as he mostly stayed true to his word and was nothing but polite to myself and my friends. He seemed to fill the role of a father figure more than a scientist, and something about him made me give him the benefit of doubt.
"Very well, Doctor Shen." I said calmly, nodding my head slightly. "You may build your generator within my hive, so long as you ensure no harm comes to my grubs." I turned to Colonel Bunker to address her specifically. "Colonel Bunker, what has happened to Jack O'Neill and his team?"
Bunker bit her lip a moment before replying hesitantly. "They were... reassigned to a different project within Cheyenne Mountain. I doubt that you'll be seeing them again."
I raised an eyebrow of suspicion. "Reassigned?"
Vahlen and Bunker shared a look before the Doctor spoke. "I decided that it would be best for both parties if the team I had sent to take your children from you was no longer within the same sector to avoid... incidents."
I had little issue with that personally, but my friends had more than a few favorable interactions with Jack and his team. "What of my friends? Will they be allowed to see them?"
Vahlen regarded my friends almost in surprise before replying. "I very much doubt that, Queen Blue Sun. The specifics of their involvement in their new project would be detrimental to the possibility of your friends from seeing the light of day again, were they to find out."
"What, and being friends with an alien queen isn't grounds for that already?" Timid snarked.
Vahlen's tone was sharp. "The entire world has seen Queen Blue Sun, child. Be thankful of that fact, for your sake."
A single step from me was all it took to make Vahlen cease her hostility, the Doctor retreating another step. "W-well," She stammered unintentionally, "If there is nothing else to discuss, we all have work to be doing at the moment." She looked to me specifically and made a short bow. "I apologize for my rash actions earlier, Queen Blue Sun. I wish you good luck for the future of your hive."
For some reason I hadn't been expecting that compliment, but even less so the fact that it had been a genuine wish. "Thank you, Doctor Vahlen. Good luck in your own work as well." I replied with measured patience.
The Doctor used that as a cue to leave the hive as quickly as possible, turning around on her heel before fastwalking towards the blast door and leaving Shen and Bunker in the figurative dust.
"I don't like her." Rough grumbled.
"I think she's cute." Timid replied without thinking. Our stares attracted her attention, and then she gave the three of us a reply of, "What?"
Soft rolled her eyes and Rough smiled in response, but the moment was interrupted by a collective chittering from the spawning pool. My attention was immediately focused on my grubs as I quickly moved past my friends and ignored everything else. Looking down into the pool, I noticed that the grubs were larger even still, though they looked hungry.
"Whoa, they got big fast!" Rough commented, remembering to keep his distance from the edge.
"They must be the size of my palm by now!" Soft cooed.
"You might want to leave the room. I have to feed them, and I don't want to place any of you in danger." I stated, moving down into the pit as my now larger grubs swarmed around me. They were halfway up my legs from the density of them as well as their size, the group of them becoming a wiggling blob.
"Still gross." Timid whispered, stepping away from the edge.
"We'll be outside if you need us, Blue." Rough replied with a wave, a hand on Soft to pry her away from a very wide eyed grub looking back at her. "Stay safe, okay?"
I nodded and carefully sat down, moving a few grubs from my path as they came to my neck. "I will, Rough."
I watched them leave the edge of the pit, and after a few minutes the loud noises from the blast door's closing had ended in a metallic slam. My grubs were huddled around me, crawling on me and a few were taking a spot on my crown as well.
"Well, my grubs. You are hungry?" I asked in a soft voice, nuzzling a few of them and receiving happy squeaks in reply. "Well then; let's feed you!"
My horn lit into a blue-purple glow as before, bathing the interior of the hive in its light as the grubs looked toward me in awe, their eyes wide and hungry. I channeled the love I had as well as the strange multicolored flame of emotion into my horn and caused an orb of it to condense on the tip before lowering it towards them. They swarmed over each other, climbing and pressing against another to be the first to get to the love.
I raised my horn out of reach, a displeased look on my face. "What have I told you, time and again?" I scolded. "What comes first above all else?"
They were frozen for a moment, looking at each other and a few shrinking away. After a short time, a Caretaker started pushing a larger warrior that was unable to move on its own towards my horn. I smiled as more grubs shoved the oversized one ahead of themselves, helping those that were too fat for their own good to get food as well, rather than starve them.
"The hive comes first, my tiny grubs. Selfishness will see the death of the hive. If you do not look out for another, none will look out for you. I, as your Queen, will always place your best wellbeing at front of my thoughts. You should do the same for everyling else. Without unity, we are pathetic. Together, we are unstoppable!" I said with vigor, noticing that a bit of Chrysalis' own speeches had come to mind. She wasn't wrong, and if not for the unexpected re-uniting of the bride with their groom, we would've been successful in taking Canterlot where so many others had tried and failed.
I lowered my horn to allow all of them to feed, now that the larger ones had been pushed to the center. The smaller grubs were riding on the backs of the larger ones-- the smaller ones being mostly tunnelers-- and they again looked out for another. It would remain to be seen if the lessons they had learned would carry over to when they cocooned and hatched into their roles as drones, but I was confident that I could teach them regardless of the outcome. I was a full Queen now; my duty was to my hive above all else, just as theirs was to the hive and myself. I would have to introduce them to my friends and the humans in the future, though they would be able to control themselves much better when they had taken their new forms. As grubs, they were capable of little more than assisting another and basic speech, but as a drone... well, I had become a queen, hadn't I?
As the grubs fed, the larger ones were pushed towards the rear to allow the other drones to take their fill. Many streams of magical mist were coming from my horn down to each grub, creating a web of 'energy' that made my hive glow like a lighthouse in the night. I hoped that I wasn't damaging anything else of the human's, though I doubted that any technology they thought to bring into my hive would survive for long; unless I worked with Doctor Vahlen, that is.
The grubs in the back were already beginning to cocoon, their tiny forehooves leaking the ooze that would create their temporary shell that would be shaped by their small horns. The look of absolute confusion on their faces was amusing, but I didn't want them to be distressed for long. I made soft cooing and chittering noises to them, reassuring them that everything was fine, and that this was a normal thing to happen. I had completely forgotten my own transformation from grub to drone, though that was possibly from it being so long ago. There was no way of keeping time in the hive, so I had no idea how long I had been alive to begin with. I knew that it was long enough to see a once thriving hive turn to desperation with the Gougers constant attacks and our dwindling supplies of love, and I was determined to avoid the same fate as Chrysalis' hive did.
The grubs in the center were cocooning now, noting that it was the Infiltrators that were next to transform. The fat ones in the back had been the Warriors, so I assume it made sense that due to their need of harder carapaces and chitin that they would need more love. The next two would be the Caretakers and finally the Tunnelers, so my mind drifted away from that as the grubs began stacking atop of one another and cocooning.
I still had to figure out what that multi-colored flame was, and what Vahlen wanted with my drones. She wouldn't be able to get her hands on my grubs now at least, until I laid more. Colonel Bunker needed a talk as well, in order to determine how far I would be able to construct my hive to avoid these other facilities that Vahlen had mentioned, and to prevent unintentional damage to their 'technology'. With Doctor Shen... I wasn't entirely sure how he was going to prevent his materials from melting. Maybe Vahlen might come up with something...
I sighed, interrupting a few of the grubs and causing them to stare at me. I cooed at them again, petting them with my hoof as they absorbed more love from me. "It is alright, my grubs. Your queen is just... thinking."
This placated them, and they resumed their previous activities of cocooning. I would probably have to work with Vahlen in the end, though anything they did with my grubs or my drones would be monitored closely by me. If she harmed any of them...
A tiny grub made a sound of protest and drew my attention. Looking down, I found that my forehoof had been accidently squishing them while I was upset with the thought of Vahlen. I picked up the grub in my magic and rested them on my hoof, leveled to my face.
"Are you alright?" I asked with worry. They were slightly deflated and it made me feel terrible to see them.
They gurgled, and nibbled on the edge of my hoof. I gave them a bit more love than the others to make up for my mistake, and they soon re inflated to their regular grubby self.
"I didn't mean it, little one. Are you better?" I asked, holding the grub in both of my hooves now with their lower half dangling down, their midsection between my hooves. It smiled at me, its forehooves reaching out towards me. I pulled it close and gave it a hug, careful to not squish it again. "Your Queen will protect you, tiny grub. No matter what." I whispered reassuringly.
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Nice one!
Shen, and Moira Vahlen?
VIGILO CONFIDO!!!
Hope SG-1 shows up again in the future. Though I am curious whom else would be be making a cameo if any.
As for that new professor, I really am not sure what to think of her. Either she's just a bit cold or she really is evil.
Not sure what kind of generator they want to put in the hive but maybe I'm just thinking too simple. My idea would be using pipes to transfer fluid through the hive and out to some other non-hive area where turbines would spin and run generators, sending cooled fluid back into the hive to get reheated in a loop. Most power plants work like this, be it coal, oil, gas, or nuclear pile as the heat source.
I do wonder if a piezoelectric wafer would work, heating just one side to cause a DC current. I might have the item mislabeled tho, but it's a solid-state cooler that pulls heat from one side to the other when a current is put through it, reversing when the heat goes the other way.
How many different scifi series exist in this mountain? We already have stargate 'M.I.B. and X -COM.
I really hope they end up back in Equestria, I'd love to see the reactions to Queen Blue Sun.
doctor vahlen needs to be an antagonist later on
Can I give you my Changling OC?
Now we've got X-COM.
Keep Vahlen away from the grubs. She has no restraints.
i.imgur.com/y8IXpKS.jpg
It wouldn't really take much to make a thermal generator for the hive.
I mean, the geothermal generators in Greenland work off of magma. If the hive can one up that, then the scientists should be turning their attention to changeling genetics and biology, possibly work it with CRISPR to make it so that no human has to fear fire anymore.
7731797 She's the scientist in X-Com who you use to torture aliens to death. To be fair, the aliens in X-Com really, really deserve it.
YES life is complete all we need now is bradford and we got the dream team back togeher....
i hope poor bluey can survive...
Also if M.I.B. S.G.1 annd X-Com are cannon do all 3 dizasters happen??!?
Welp, x-commed.
I wonder if they'll ever get to Equestria, Chryssie's give probably really needs help.
Don't squish your kids, Roquefort.
There's 18 people reading this right now. Did you all just get home too? HI
7731899 Ooooh I see, I haven't played Xcom so I didn't know. While she seems to have an edge on her I do hope this means she can get on Blue's good side eventually.
So many tings, so many characters. Who wants to place bets on who shows up next?
7731889
Don't those work by pumping water down a drilled hole and sending the resulting steam shooting up a second drill hole to turbines? They're not exactly right next to the magma.
7732158
There's no reason why they couldn't do that with the hive.
7732161
You really expect the hive to be consistently hot enough inside that they could pump water under pressure against its outer wall and have it flash to steam?
Probably better to use another heat engine design.
7732182
Yes, I do expect the place where hundreds if not thousands of magical creatures are doing magical things in a world where magic from one powerful magical creature can get to several times the heat needed to boil water will consistently be hot enough to quickly boil water.
7732186
Point, I suppose. An argument could be made for either case, depending on how events play out.
featured again!
Oooo... shoulda known it was Valen's idea.
Oh, Oh! Blue should have asked Shen what the average temp was during her "remodeling", then when he answered looked purposefully at Valen like, 'Do you really want to try and take them now?'
Or even better, 'Rough, what is the general outcome of me lifting something with my magic?"
Rough waves his arms like an explosion and loudly says, 'Fuh-Woosh! ... and then... ash.' -slow blink-
-Witty Comeback- 'And If I tried to... 'study' your little ones?'
7731880 A candid picture, indeed.
I'll call the tiny grub towards the end
"Steven"
Me I'm curious to if you are going to have your changelings become like the ones in Season 6 final. The multi-colored fully formed ones.
I'm also kind of expected a biped form now that humans are the new Prey species. Then again humans do have a deep connection with Horses. Blue Sun did already adapt to the new world now there that multi-color flame to feed off. Out of all the stories out there yours have the most logical reason for a more humanoid changeling.
Okay, lots of little comments time!
Cough-Cough-The Stargate-Cough-Cough.
Annnnd the shipping begins.
One word. Ngawwww.
And we would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling foals. And their dragon too!
Cough-Cough-The Stargate again-Cough-Cough.
and lastly, keep up the excellent storytelling! I look forward to seeing more.
Doctor Vahlen vs Jack ONiell? Oh dear.
I suspect that the fastest way they have of putting a thermal generator for extreme temperature in the hive, as in something already available, would maybe be an experimental molten salt thorium design, but without the Thorium? Given that molten salt is being used as thermal store in at least one solar concentrator power station, so the steam boiler is seperate from the concentrator focus, and for longer energy store, just use larger molten salt tanks?
Sapphire slabs are now up to a quarter ton and quite capable of stopping 50 calibre non AP rounds, handling 2000 C, where steel and most lavas are very liquid at 1200C and Quartz glass for laboratory work about 1500C, but for top end, Tungsten slabs, like used for radiation shielding in hospital XRay departments can handle 3000C.
The magical heating of Earthly materials is really strange, given it doesnt work with Magical materials. Its almost like hawking radiation created by a reality mismatch. Which Daniel Jackson should find peculiarly similar to the transitional interface of an operating Stargate. just without the instantaneous vapourisation.
Wormholes can be very nasty things to mess with.
All the grubbies are bageling. Just one cocooning before theyre ready, then several moults to full size or like Blue, they coccoon instead of moulting, or a combination?
This is Steven. He will be the Champion of Drones.
And now it's crossed over with X-COM too. And it just had to be Moira, didn't it. Blegh. The xenophobe as the biologist. Needs 'Crossover' tag.
7732481 Not really a true crossover if it's just references. A fic doesn't really count as a crossover until something from a different series plays a part.
Essentially, it isn't a crossover if they mention the Stargate. It's a crossover if they go through the Stargate, or if the SG1 team's experiences with it play a part.
i hope blue has a nice life, but i kinda feel like shit is gonna be tested soon
Has anyone else noticed Blue Sun's initials are BS?
7732447
Molten salt heat storage for power makes perfect sense.
Make note of the times when Blue uses magic without causing heat: mind magic, empathy sense, basic transformation, gel expulsion, emotion draw, all have no heat output.
Heat output happens when levitation is used.
I think the heat is from creating kinetic energy out of nowhere, enough to counteract the existing kinetic energy and potential energy of the target.
This happens in Equestria as well, the "glow" of a unicorn's magical field levitating an object. The lack of outright flame may be from Equestria's own global magical field de-localizing the effect or introducing massive field losses whenever doing levitation in Equestria's magical field because of Equestria's magical field resisting change against it's own magical field.
7732702 Yes, and I'm fairly certain that was intentional XD
And the next reference will be :
"Colonel , we have intruder on base !
- Report.
It's a brown little pony in a fez with blue box. I repeat : it's a brown little pony in a fez with blue box.
7732702
Cannot unsee!!!
Valhen, shen, all we are missing is Bradford... and a genuine alien invasion.
I will be very suspicious if a crossover tag suddenly appears
7733089
That BS is pretty cute though... >__>
7733073
I say old chap, is there a Doctor in the house?
so much love in this chapter. Queen Blue Sun code feed her new hive for a week there is so much.
Advanced tunneling techniques and the development of specialized generator tech...
This sounds like what could come BEFORE XCOM. The only real change would be they already knowing there is life out there. A single the size of blue's would not act in the war either way. If anything their numbers put then into the threatened species list
After all, how old is blue? They have no way to know it biologically, with the metamorphosis and stuff, so excluding word of God we will forever curious
Of course...I had a sneaking suspicion when I saw "Shen" being an engineer, but the instant I saw the name "Moira Vahlen" I knew this was an X-COM crossover. Likely in the Stardust universe.
It needs the crossover tag, I think.
with the introduction of Doctor Vahlen i was like:
weyland yutani...
motherfucker....
(alien reference)
[LOVING THE STORY BTW
]
Okay, SG-1 is out of the picture, what else can we expect. Maybe something like:
"See, Scully? I told you that Queen Blue Sun was real and not just some plot by the government to devert our attention away from global warming." ~ Fox Mulder
Oh god it's xcom... plz more
7733467 although the implications are fascinating I don't believe this story will be taking that direction. After all it's primarily focused on Comedy and character interaction so it would be out of place to have a large-scale alien invasion. But a big part of me is hoping they do go that direction! I mean just think of how fascinating it could be the implications of having someone like Queen blue there!
Well in any case it's going to be an interesting read either way
OK. I was excited last chapter, in fact so much that I decided to read chapters 27-31 in school yesterday cause i couldn't wait, but now....
I don't even know why but I'm so ready right now. For what? We shall see as this story goes on!
IM HYPED!!!
7734904 oh, no doubt about it. I only mentioned that because the experience with blue would undoubtedly become quite the cornerstone of the X-COM project if it came to be. But sectoids do not mix with Blue bluing and being so sweetly cute in general
On a side note, interesting how Vahlen reacted to Blue. We saw her as the little drone, they see what's potentially an intelligent Xenomorph Queen kept friendly by three fragile lives...
While she's actually a big goof that wants hugs, love and for her children to be happy. If they realized that everything would be quite smoother. But as a recent story told so eloquently, good decisions make for bad stories
Now, we just need that bloke Bradford, and the commander. After that Blue will start implanting her grubs in live human making them a zombie for a good while until the burst out into a changeling.
7735185 no argument here (lifts glass) to a better tommorow through changeling extortion!
The grubs are cocooning already?
Children grow up so fast.
Rough: "They say music can be heard in the womb and helps promote mental activity."
(glares at Rough)
"Oops?"
[(Rough plays "Alice in the Sky with Diamonds" in the hive)]
Timid: "I think only classical music promotes mental activity."
Rough: "The Beatles are over 60 years old, they totally count as classical."
[later]
Changelings: (talk with British accents)
Soft and Timid:
Rough: