Path of the Hive Queen

As always, Regina waited impatiently for the new drones of her unlocked Template to hatch. Three days wasn’t a particularly long time, especially if you compared it to how long it could take. It still felt like it took longer than it actually did.

The first batch hatched with several drones. She’d added twenty of them over the course of one day, since the name sounded useful and she was curious to see the possibilities.

They ended up looking a lot like Drone Workers. In fact, they seemed to be basically like Drone Workers but a bit more specialized. Their work-limb wasn’t as adapted to digging and instead would work better as a tool for artisans or handicrafts. Despite the name, Regina had the impression that they weren’t limited to either ‘arts and crafts’ things or to something that might be considered crafting in video games. Instead, it seemed more like a general purpose description for people working with their hands, though maybe not writing. Blacksmiths, carpenters, woodcarving and so on — but especially for the workshops that the Hive had been raising. Mechanics and technicians. She suspected many of them would Evolve to Classes like Drone Engineer.

Their skillset wasn’t exactly entirely new, but it did help to fill out the hive’s roster and would provide people for the tasks they needed most in the coming years. Regina was happy with it. She wondered if she’d done something to unlock the Template, perhaps have a certain number of people working somewhere? It didn’t look like she was unlocking a new Swarm Template and she was a bit concerned about that, though she supposed she didn’t need to with the Form Drones, so having a new Inner Hive Template was nice, anyway.

She didn’t get to spend much time talking to the new drones, though. Partly, she didn’t want to single them out or show favoritism. She also had a lot of things to do. The war against the gnomes was proceeding quickly and with the news of a military coup in the Gnomish Confederation and the raids into southern Cernlia, she had to be prepared.

Kiara had decided to continue her tour, just with stricter security arrangements. Regina was a bit concerned for her, but she made herself accept her friend’s decision. She might have demanded a bit too much from Cernlia recently, anyway — Galatea had dropped a few hints and Janis seemed to agree. So Regina needed to give Kiara the chance to establish and secure her authority among her subjects.

The raids didn’t actually concern Regina as much as the progress of the Imperial army into the Gnomish Confederation. She knew she wasn’t a great general compared to the others actually working as her generals — though after all this war, she wasn’t exactly a bumbling novice either — but she knew the raids couldn’t seriously threaten their position by themselves. Cernlia was still much less involved in the war effort than the hive. And the gnomes were clearly still using the majority of their forces to defend against the Empire’s advance. They might simply not have the troops for the full-on invasion she’d vaguely anticipated for a while now. Either way, she was glad it was ‘only’ raids and not an invasion.

Still, there wasn’t much she could do about it except wait and have her generals handle things. And maybe make things easier for them in the meanwhile, or in the long term.

Ironically, the war was actually throwing a wrench in their plans to (re-)organize the Imperial military. They had to work with what they had and trying to do a major reorganization of their forces in the middle of a war seemed stupid. That didn’t mean they couldn’t prepare the groundwork, or set up the necessary infrastructure for the professional military force she wanted, although that was proving to be a big challenge. Mass-producing weapons was not a simple feat. And that didn’t even take into account all the other supplies or infrastructure for it.

Her current focus was building a network of good roads across the Empire. The locomotive project was making progress, but was still limited. They were moving away from coal or even oil-powered locomotives, but weren’t really at the point where they could just use renewable energy reliably. Electrical motors for the trains weren’t easy and electrifying the rail lines would be additional work even with existing power stations, and seemed easier to sabotage. But roads didn’t have those issues and could be spread more widely. Building proper, useful roads was easy if you put in the effort. The Romans had done it and they hadn’t had access to magic or the technological options they did. Cement was relatively simple, and the Empire had more than enough access to tar. Regina wanted to make the roads good enough to eventually support heavier vehicles, and smooth surfaces were probably better, but all in all it was still easily doable. It just took money and manpower.

Regina was in the process of looking over some plans of expanding their new roads from the major routes between cities when she was contacted by Ben once again. She looked up from her paperwork and rubbed her forehead. She’d been trying not to dwell on the ongoing fighting too much, but the concern she could feel from him didn’t give her a good feeling. She put down her papers and focused on the psychic link.

We may need to rethink our plans for advances into the Gnomish Confederation, he said bluntly, getting right to the point.

Why? Regina asked. Are we not making enough progress or are they doing something unexpected?

Neither. Well, both, I guess. Ben seemed faintly exasperated. Maybe you should look for yourself, My Queen?

Regina raised an eyebrow but allowed him to guide her focus in the psychic link without further questions. Ben wasn’t good enough to really point her at very specific pieces of information — she wasn’t sure anyone but herself was that good with the psychic link, maybe some senior Keepers — but he could show her who to pay attention to and that was usually enough. Regina quickly took a closer look at the minds of several of her sapient drones as well as switching through the perspectives of other Swarm Drones. Their memories were usually less helpful, but not useless, and their senses were clear.

These villages are all abandoned, aren’t they? she asked after a moment.

They are, Ben confirmed, and that’s only the start of it. They’ve evacuated everyone in a broad swath of land ahead of our advance. It’s not just to protect them, they’re clearly using this as a chance to prepare their ground. That’s where the minefields come in.

Regina grimaced. She’d seen those, or at least the aftermath, in the drones’ minds. The gnomes were getting good at using explosives like that scarily quickly. They’ve also completely torched any vegetation they could get to, probably to deny us food, she noted after a second.

It would only be partly successful. It would have needed a concerted campaign to really get rid of all the greenery, even this close to winter, and it would have probably interfered with their evacuation efforts. Still, there were quite a few forests turned into little more than ash in the wind and the charred skeletons of trees. That didn’t even count the fields. Finding food for the human soldiers in their army was going to be pretty much impossible, and they’d have to bring in food for the drones as well since there were too many to feed off the land in any real way.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if they’d poisoned the wells and probably some waterways, Ben said. We’ll need to check for that.

Regina was silent for a moment, considering what she’d seen and the implications. Scorched earth tactics, she said. They’re going to hurt the gnomes more than us, though, aren’t they?

Maybe, Ben said. Their usefulness is limited in a world with the System and magic, but I wouldn’t discount the effect, Mother. General Aliekin has shown he’s willing to do what he can to hurt us and slow us down even if it hurts his own people too.

The idea of setting the countryside on fire just to slow down an approaching enemy might have shocked some people, but Regina couldn’t say she was very moved. She suspected she’d be willing to do the same in that position, a thought she didn’t examine any further.

It was obvious he’d at least gotten Ben to be cautious, though. Which was probably smart. Landmines could do a lot of damage even to the hive, even if they had drones who were good at sensing things below the ground. Artillery emplacements could probably be used and moved more quickly with magic and Class Skills, and the gnomes weren’t exactly useless with direct offensive magic, too.

They’re going to try to slow us down further and whittle away at us with more than just this, she said. Expect ambushes, night raids, traps, guerrilla tactics and asymmetrical warfare in general.

I know, Ben said. He didn’t sound very happy. We’ve got enough experience with it, I suppose it was time for the shoe to be on the other foot.

Despite herself, Regina smiled a bit at his quip. She was glad that Ben at least seemed to be confident they could handle things, even if the gnomes’ tactics managed to delay the army’s advance a bit. Not that she disagreed, either. I wonder what his ultimate goal is, she said. Would we be able to negotiate with them?

It might not be the best thing to attempt this right now, Ben warned her. It would make them think their plans are working, maybe even that they’re winning, and that would make them less likely to agree to negotiations at present.

I know, Regina sighed. Anyway, do what you have to do, Ben, but try to keep casualties down.

I will, my Queen.

Regina was about to metaphorically hang up and turn her focus to other things, before she paused, remembering something. Oh, have you heard the news yet?

What news? She felt Ben’s attention expand a bit as he swept through the psychic link.

I finally got word from one of our contacts in the Gnomish Confederation, Regina said. And it had been a pain and a half. They’d barely managed to set up rudimentary channels of communication before this coup hit and disrupted all of it. Aliekin has been consolidating power and the fate of the former Executive Council has been decided.

Shouldn’t it have taken longer that this if they got a real trial? Ben asked, his focus returning to her.

Regina shrugged. They were put in front of a military tribunal, apparently. To be fair, it’s not like their guilt is really in question. I’m sure getting them a proper civilian trial and using the opportunity to really investigate and review all their crimes would have been his preferred option, but that would have taken weeks or months longer. The general probably wanted to have the question settled earlier, to create a fait accompli.

I see. What did the tribunal decide, then?

All the men have been sentenced to death, executions to be carried out posthaste, and the women’s sentence has been commuted to lifelong imprisonment.

She could feel faint surprise from Ben. I’m not sure if I should consider that merciful or not, he commented.

Regina shrugged. She thought she had a better understanding of the gnomes’ culture and traditions. For the gnomes, it’s generally seen as bad to kill women, even if it still happened occasionally, she said. That’s just one more thing the previous regime didn’t bother with, they removed all potential threats regardless of factors like gender. But this war has also brought up memories of their beginning, when they almost lost against the remaining Hivekind, and I think the sentiment has actually swung to be more protective of women right now. Maybe to justify why only the men are soldiers. Aliekin is probably distancing himself from the previous regime on purpose, demonstrating restraint and showing that he’s ‘more civilized’ than them. She paused for a moment, frowning. It doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t in a few months all suffer unfortunate illnesses or accidents or hang themselves in their cells, I suppose. I don’t think he’d do that, but I’m not sure.

Ben was silent for a moment and she could sense him thinking through the implications. What about the rest of them? he finally asked. Their supporters in high positions? The Executive Council members can’t have been the only ones guilty.

There are further trials for those people, some of them still ongoing or pending. It depends on the person and the circumstances, but from what we can gather, most of them are going the same way as the councilors. There are even a few military officers on trial, though most of the accused seem to be civilian government functionaries.

Regina wondered about that part a bit. So far, it didn’t seem like Aliekin or the other generals were in any hurry to instate a new Executive Council. He had officially proclaimed himself the head of an interim government, they’d already had news of that a few days ago. So far, the gnomes, beaten down by the war and thoroughly alienated by the regime’s oppressive methods, had seemed to accept it. Most of them probably hoped that things would get better.

And what if they don’t? she wondered. Wouldn’t they turn on him just as quickly? That meant he had to keep being successful or his power in the Gnomish Confederation probably wouldn’t last long. The previous regime had, at least in principle, come from a proper, legitimate government. He’d simply taken power in a coup. It had to be less secure.

As long as they remain alive, the female gnomes of the Executive Council will be rallying points for any reactionaries or remaining supporters of the regime, Ben commented. Regina realized he’d followed at least the general trend of her thoughts.

True, she conceded. But I can’t really see them being in power again. Even if Aliekin screws up, are the people going to just want them back? Somehow, I doubt it.

Fair enough. Ben shrugged mentally. Does that mean anything for us?

Regina took a deep breath. Keep pushing, she told him. We might still be able to force them to come to the negotiation table. The point of this isn’t to conquer every square meter of the nation, it’s to reach a peace agreement we can be happy with. I trust you to do what is needed.

As you command, Mother.

Regina exhaled a deep breath as Ben mentally withdrew, focusing on his officers and the armies spread across the region. She stood up and paced for a bit, thinking through everything they’d talked about, before shaking her head and returning to her desk. Even if they didn’t have a step-by-step plan for dealing with the gnomes, it was still important to build up the Empire the best she could. The ripple effects of these events would propagate outwards and who knew what kind of results they would have in the long term? She could only try to make things better for her people, to make sure they were prepared.