“Damn it!” Sutok exclaimed to the monitor in front of her. It had been a long voyage, and the exploration vessel was about to return to realspace. It *would* be just after getting destroyed during the latest round of war simulations. The captain was growing crafty, and had suckered her task force out of position before hammering them into so much space dust. She supposed this is was what happened when a generalist tried to outthink a militarist. Revenge would have to wait.
Sutok shook her head as the ship slammed out of hyperspace, bleeding velocity swiftly.
“I’ll never get used to these new jump engines.” she thought as she waited for her scanners to begin producing useful data. Not only was the disorientation more severe, but the transition seemed to last forever. She realized that the transition was instantaneous in real-time, but subjectively it dragged. Ah well, at least the weeks of boredom were over, and now they would find out what awaited them.
The scanners finally cleared, and she began to examine the readouts. Her eyes snapped to the communications monitor in surprise. It seemed there was life in this system! Her pulse raced as she considered the report to send back to the queen. “Which planet is that signal coming from?”
“Planet alpha, sir!” replied the Com Officer.
There were three planets in this system. The closest to the star was a gas giant, and that appeared to be the source of the signal. The signal itself was weak, and indicated a relatively low level of technology, but caution had been bred into Sutok, and reinforced at the side of the Queen throughout her upbringing. “Launch a reconnaissance drone. Bring us closer, but keep alert!”
As ever, thoughts of the queen brought a feeling on longing. From the time when Sutok first hatched, the Queen had taken a special interest in her. At first, she received constant supervision, and primarily technical education. As she grew out of the uncoordinated larval stage all generalists went through, she received more physical training. There were several types of insectiods, but generalists were rare. It was much easier to design a being with a specific purpose, but every generation had a select few generalists. Of these, only one was designated the Queen’s Heir.
She remembered with great pride her Naming Day. Her training had been rigorous, and grueling, but she had not only completed it, she had excelled. The other generalists of her egg-group had been destroyed once she demonstrated her capabilities to the satisfaction of the Queen. There could be only one Heir, and her genetic makeup had proven the most successful of her cluster. The next generation of generalists would use *her* as a model.
She had not realized then how much she would miss the Queen’s presence during and after the hyperspace jump. Hyper-wave radio communication was so limiting! After a lifetime of near melding with the Queen, sharing not just words, but whole experiences, this restricted form of communication was depressing. Were it not for her long held desire to explore the galaxy, it would have been truly awful. To think that she would discover new life in her first system exploration! This was what she had dreamed of as a youngster.
The recon drone detected no energy sources other than that on the first planet. As the ship approached, Sutok considered her options. Her task was not to simply explore, but act an ambassador of the Queen if (and it *had* been considered unlikely before launch) alien life was discovered. Sutok recognized how much responsibility she bore, though she had a deeply ingrained distrust of non-Hive life.
The emanations from planet alpha indicated a low level of technology, especially compared to this ship, the newest and most efficient of the Hive’s fleet. The aliens seemed to be energy eaters, living primarily on the back of large filter feeders. “Let’s get to work on coming up with a means of communication. These blobs don’t seem to have much tech, so it’s going to be up to us to build translators.”
The second planet was an ice planet, consisting almost entirely of frozen water. The planet was riddled with caves and impact craters. These craters were clustered in such a way that the were almost certainly the result of a massive meteor shower. Adjacent to the caves were breathtakingly beautiful crystal mountains. Ever one to recognize opportunity, Sutok immediately ordered a survey of likely colony locations. This was one planet that had economic potential. The views alone would inspire insectiod artists to new heights.
While each member of the science ship had their own duties, there were now two critical tasks that only Sutok could perform. First, a message must be sent to the Queen detailing their current situation. Second, a careful survey was required to locate the correct jump points for transportation to other systems.
As Sutok transmitted the status report to the Queen, she couldn’t help wondering how the Queens University project was progressing. The leading scientists were all based on her own genotype, and she hoped they were performing their tasks satisfactorily. They would be her only progeny unless the Queen was to die (unthinkable). In such an event, Sutok would be required to rush to the Queen’s side and the Queen would begin the final stage of metamorphosis. This stage would complete the process of turning the Queen’s Heir into a new Queen in her own right.
While she could not deny a small quiver of anticipation when she considered her own elevation to Queen, she hoped that was a long time away. There was too much to galaxy to explore! Sutok began the arduous process of charting jumps to other star systems. Once accomplished, she would move on to the next unexplored star system. Perhaps life would await her there as well!