20 December 2009The Swarm's first spacecraft, the SC Amber, is finally ready for operation. It had been finished the previous month already, but being essentially a prototype, it had undergone extensive testing before being declared ready for duty. Now, all that was needed was a competent captain.
Several of the queens, including Gamma herself, were favouring a drone only crew complement (preferably her drones) that would take all their orders directly from a queen or the Swarm Command Structure if it had to. Reason eventually won the discussion, however, as there would be significant delays in communication with Wrixom as soon as the craft moved more than a very short distance away from the planet and it was decided that a captain was needed to be able to make decisions on the spot.
Once again, the Swarm looked to IM and her Infertiles as there were no other real options. HN-31-OZY from Gamma Hive was chosen by consensus despite her genetic condition that resulted in a severely weakened immune system as she had shown a knack for both surveying and operation of the new orbital survey equipment.
Of her own violition, and since nobody had made any other suggestions, Gamma orders her shipyard to begin construction of another vessel of the same class.
HN's orders from the queens had been clear. Survey the closest stellar bodies to Wrixom for minerals and any other interesting features and send back the information as it becomes available. With this in mind, she gives her first orders and the Amber sets off towards Scylla, Wrixom's only moon.
21 December 2009"We have completed survey operations on Scylla" the HN's voice spoke from the speakers. The video was halting and grainy due to interference from the nearby solar bodies. The drones were working on canceling it out and promised smoother video links in the future.
All the queens were listening to the HN's communication, but because they couldn't agree on who actually were to speak to her, the honour fell to IM.
"And what were your results?" IM asked. There was a second or two delay in the transmission due to the range and all the queens were holding their breath. Minerals on Scylla would be easily accessable, even with nothing but the primitive engines they currently had available to them. Everyone wanted to be the first to exploit it.
"Nothing. No trace of even a single transnewtonian mineral. Scylla is dry."
There were numerous sighs of disappointment from the assembled queens.
"Are you sure, HN?" IM asked again.
"Well, I have found a slight bug with the survey equipment. Not a bug, really, more of a limitation. There are a few ground formations that resist penetration, so below that, who knows? A dedicated ground team would be able to get a more complete picture. What I can tell you, is that it is very unlikely that there would be very much to mine in any case."
"Thank you HN. Continue to planet five and begin scanning it and its moons" IM said.
"Yes, First Governor" HN replied and broke the connection.
The Swarm's first offworld survey operation was off to a most inauspicious start.
4 February 2010The first offworld transnewtonian minerals are found on the sixth moon of the fifth planet around the primary. Good concentrations of five minerals are found, including duranium, in quantities larger even than what Wrixom was estimated to hold. The queens, and especially Kappa, were ecstatic. Her projections have just been getting worse and worse as mineral use climbed and she had been starting to get afraid there simply wasn't enough minerals close enough to get the Swarm off the planet.
The fact that they still had no way to extract the minerals, as the moon was completely uninhabitable, did not seem to dampen their spirits any.
14 March 2010Someone rather interesting had arrived at the Swarm Hive, and IM had no idea how to handle the situation.
"Queen Delta, what is the meaning of this?" IM asked, flabbergasted. Hive Queens never left the safety of their hive, yet here stood Delta, in the flesh, right next to her.
"IM! I was between reproductive cycles and feeling rather bored in my big, stuffy hive so I decided to pay you a little visit. You know, to see what exactly goes on in Swarm Hive. Now, lets have the royal tour."
Delta brushed past her, followed by a number of abnormally large, bulky drones. Her bodyguard.
"Delta, isn't this a bit dangerous?" IM asked, almost in a state of panic. "There are drones of numerous hives here, constantly running about. Not to mention all the Infertiles like me, we have no loyalty..."
Delta waved her off. "Nonsense. There are other kinds of loyalty than genetic. Why would anyone want to harm me here, after all?"
"If you had just given me some warning, I could have..." IM tried but Delta cut her off.
"Now that would have been dangerous. Give my enemies time to smuggle a tactical nuclear device in here? I think not, for both our sakes. Now isn't this just wonderful? Look how industrious everyone is!"
Delta had turned in one of the larger rooms where a number of IM's assistants were setting up work orders and planning schedules for the drone teams. None of them paid attention to the new entree.
"Er, yes" IM tried to recover. "This is one of the..."
"No time, no time!" Delta cut her off and began walking again. "Can't stay long, so we must move along." IM had to rush to catch up. Delta breezed through a few more rooms, barely ever staying still long enough to look at everything before moving on but continuously and loudly commenting on how hard at work everyone was.
Only when they reached an empty corridor in one of the quieter areas of the complex did she lower her voice. "IM, did you know that our video links are not secure?"
"What?" IM asked in confusion. She had always assumed that private conversations were exactly that. Private.
"Yes. It is rather safe to assume that anything you say over any private connection is common knowledge. Sad but true."
"How do you know this?" IM demanded.
"Because I'm tapping a number of other queens connections as we speak. And they are doing the same to mine. There is a whole next level to this political game you are not even aware of, IM. But, don't worry about it. Just thought you should be aware. For your own sake."
IM's thoughts raced as her mind raced to figure out all the consequences of this new knowledge. "The research lab! Then your project is no longer secret!"
Delta nodded. "Indeed. I know Lambda knows and I suspect Kappa is aware. Who else, I am not sure. But that is not important. What is important is that everyone who knows is pretending they don't, which means they think they can get some sort of advantage out of this. Also, I think your facility is bugged."
"What?" IM was really out of her depth with all this clandestine stuff.
"Of course. Why did you think Lambda was so eager to give you a facility of hers? She probably has so many listening devices here she can monitor your heartbeats. I'm also certain the other queens aren't far behind, you yourself said there is little to no security here."
"I'll have to address that immediately" IM stated. She was more than just a little shocked.
"Don't bother. They'll just know something is up and this lack of security is the only reason they give you so much free rein. They don't need you to give them hourly updates, they get it themselves. Makes things easier for everyone involved, don't you think?."
"Wait, wouldn't they be listening to us now?"
Delta smiled and shook her head. "That's why we are talking in a corridor, smaller chance they bugged it. Also, one of my guards is carrying a jammer and activated it just now when I gave him a signal, just in case. All they are getting is static."
"So that's why you came here? To tell me all this?"
"Not exactly. That new fertile you have taken under your wing, what is her name again? PC-something, isn't it? I wanted to discuss that with you."
IM groaned. Of course, that particular bit of information would also be nearly public knowledge. "Am I in trouble?"
"For being sloppy? Yes. But we may be in luck. I had a drone sweep that room you and your stooges were chatting with her in and while it did find another listening device beside mine, it appeared to have malfunctioned some time ago and had not been replaced."
"What about in my office, when PC had just arrived?"
Delta shrugged. "You will have to bluff your way out of that one, if anyone asks. Shouldn't be too difficult. Just say you sent her away when you found out. What I want to know is whether you would, potentially, be willing to take another fertile queen. On the sly, of course."
"Another one?" IM hissed. "Why?"
"Well, let's just say that this particular queen would be very useful to you and to the Swarm in general."
"I don't know, Delta, I'll have to see. I have to remain impartial..."
"Don't worry about it. I think I have my answer anyway. Now, however, we must continue the charade. The tour continues!" They had reached the end of the corridor, so Delta gestured to one of her guards who flicked a switch on a small device he had been carrying in his hands.
After only touring a few more rooms, Delta excused herself, saying that she had important Hive business back home that she had to take care of. As quickly as she had arrived, she was gone again and IM realised that her visit had been just under an hour in total. Clearly she had set herself a time limit. Most likely so as to not give one of the other Queens time to react.
What exactly is happening:
First spaceship completed, yay! Too bad its slow as all hell with a max speed of 100km/s. Still, slow and steady gets the job done, especially when you have nothing better to be doing.
First few surveys were disappointing, especially Scylla (the moon). Would have been a easy couple tons of minerals. P5 M6 has some nice things, though.
Delta's visit? Wait and see