Regina breathed a quiet sigh of relief when the group finally left the meeting with the marquis and his followers. It had been interesting, she supposed, but she’d feel better once she was back in her hive’s core territory. Especially since she wouldn’t have to focus on politics then.

Of course, she would have to concentrate on getting the hive ready to enter their war instead. Regina didn’t regret the agreement they’d come to, but no matter how you looked at it, the timing could have been better. They would almost certainly have to make compromises where the war against the gnomes was concerned. Substantial ones.

Well, at least they’d rather conclusively demonstrated that the gnomes couldn’t actually beat them, at least not by sending an army out to assault her hive. If they didn’t manage it now, they wouldn’t if they tried again, with many of their soldiers and elites now dead. Even if they had gained some experience.

No, she actually almost expected the gnomes to sue for terms sometime soon. It was clearly the rational choice. Of course, their ideology might get in the way of that. She supposed that, to the faction in power, it might be tantamount to admitting defeat — or worse, admitting that they hadn’t been quite so truthful about their enemies and their reasons after all — which might stop any such attempt before it could start.

One thing was clear, the gnomes and their military leadership hadn’t exactly covered themselves in glory in this war so far. This might imply there was some political interference, as well. Of course, it might just be because the gnomes hadn’t actually fought a real war in a long time, and had wildly underestimated their opposition. They did seem to be pretty arrogant, on the whole, about their power compared to other people, too.

Regina was looking forward to breaking that arrogance into tiny little pieces.

For now, she traveled back to the main base of her hive with her companions, while she watched the aftermath of the battle that had been fought not far from it. There were a lot of dead to bury or burn, both enemy soldiers and her own drones. The Workers and their units of Swarm Drones were hard at work repairing their defensive measures, too. Meanwhile, a large part of the forces that had fought at the mountains was spreading out, trying to catch any gnomes who might have escaped and started trying to regroup. Any gnomes who tried to go back to their home would have to go straight through them, so Regina wouldn’t bet on them succeeding.

Meanwhile, Lyns and his people would make their own preparations. She was curious about how his talk with his wife and younger daughter would go, telling them he was sending them to the hive, but not enough to try and spy on them. Regina had avoided personally meeting with Kiara, after all, since they had both decided that drawing attention to any connection there might be between them was unwise. The fact that Regina had made demands that would keep her at her father’s side and involved in the war might already be enough. Regina didn’t want any more drama than she had to deal with.

The noblewomen (or woman and girl) would arrive at one of the villages at the edge of their territory. Regina was still unsure about where to take them after that. She supposed she’d decide depending on their attitudes and wishes. She hoped they wouldn’t be afraid to fly, too, since she didn’t have any good, convenient means of transport other than Winged Drone Mounts. Something to consider, definitely, she reflected. It might be worth getting a few horses, if we can’t build a good wagon.

Well, Mia could probably put something together if she had a bit of warning, and they’d have to have Swarm Drones pulling it. It would do in a pinch, even if Regina wistfully thought about real cars and trains.

Not long after the battle, Regina leveled up again, which was probably to be expected given the damage her drones did and the Experience they must have gained. To her disappointment, she didn’t unlock another drone Template. On the other hand, she was at level 49 now, and her next level-up should unlock another Ability. She was looking forward to it.

Most of her senior drones were also at their level boundary now, and she suspected that a few of them might even have been ahead of her if they could have. Ben leveled up shortly after her. As a Drone General, he had to have gotten buckets of Experience for the battle and the rest of the war recently.

Regina breathed a sigh of relief when she finally returned to the hive. After talking to a few people, she fell into bed and slept for four hours. She was awoken by an uncomfortable feeling she recognized after a moment. Regina visited the hatchery, then took a shower, stumbled back into bed and slept for another five or so hours. After she woke up, she checked on the progress of the hive’s cleanup and their growth.

Mia was expanding the ‘hatchery’ area of the hive again, this time digging down. They’d kept most of the recently hatched Drone Breeders here because of safety concerns, which meant there were a lot of new eggs to house. They should probably adjust it now and move some of them to the northwest, to get closer to the new front that would open against the Cernlian king.

Regina contacted Ben after a moment of thought. We need to build new outposts and bases in the opposite direction, to prepare for the new war.

Already on it, my Queen, he assured her. That is, Tia is making plans and preparing to oversee them.

That’s good. Regina smiled. How do you feel about this development, Ben?

He stayed quiet for a moment, giving her a contemplative impression over the psychic link. It’s not my place to say whether or not it was the right decision, he finally answered. I’m just carrying out your strategies and trying to achieve the objectives you set on a military level. That said, I can see both good and bad points to this. It’s going to make things more complicated, at least in the short term, but it also opens up some possibilities.

You’re not afraid this will be too much for us? That we’ll be overextended? she asked.

If I truly thought we were going to lose the war — either war, now, I would have said something, he replied with a fleeting smile. Of course we’ll need to be careful. But I’m pretty sure we’ve broken the core of the gnomes’ military strength. Ordinarily, I’d advise finishing them off now. We shouldn’t need all our forces to keep them penned in, though, especially considering how our numbers will grow. I need to talk to the others and crunch some numbers before I can offer any firm recommendations on deployments into Cernlia, though.

That’s fine, Regina replied, sending him a warm mental smile. I’d rather have well-thought-out and considered plans. Let me know as soon as you’re ready to discuss the situation.

I will, my Queen. Thanks.

By now, the hive had actually cleared most of their territory again. Any gnomes not dead or captured had already run far enough away that the area was pretty safe. The hive’s forces in the mountains were settling in, digging and constructing new outposts and bases as well as tunnels between those. Tia was examining the fortress and considering rebuilding it.

That left one open question, of course, namely what to do with their prisoners.

The hive had a meaningful number of those for the first time. They’d basically shattered the gnomish army in the area instead of doing a hit-and-run attack, and it showed. Regina hadn’t given the drones strict instructions to try and take prisoners this time, but she’d also made it clear it was an option, depending on the situation, so they hadn’t just executed anyone who was incapacitated. So, most of the prisoners were wounded to some degree, but almost all should make it.

Regina wasn’t sure what to do with them. Just keeping them posed a number of issues. For one, they didn’t have much food that they knew was safe for gnomes to eat. Water wouldn’t be an issue with the wells they’d dug, and some magic, but they also needed a good place to put them and sufficient guards. For now, they’d decided to keep the gnomes in a relatively large underground room they’d excavated, outside the core part of the main base. The drones had started expanding it, but it might not be a viable long-term option. For reasons of sanitation, if nothing else.

Ransoming prisoners of war was apparently a standard practice around here. Unfortunately, all of them had seen quite a bit of the hive’s defenses, so Regina was hesitant about ransoming them back to the Confederation, assuming something could be arranged. On the other hand, it might be a very good move in terms of psychological warfare. Demonstrating that the Hivekind provided for their prisoners, gave them medical treatment and let them go home. That should undercut the gnomes’ propaganda pretty nicely.

Anyway, some of the gnomes who’d escaped must have seen the hive capturing some others, so they couldn’t just kill them all without dealing with that later, anyway.

For now, Regina decided to shelve the issue. They would keep for a while with the current arrangements. The hive would need to reassess a few things and adjust their logistics, anyhow.

To that end, Regina called a meeting with Mia, Ivy and a few of the other drones who were more concerned with ‘support roles’ and keeping things running behind the scenes. Since all of them were currently in the central base, they met in person. One of the newer additions to the hive’s buildings included a meeting room with a large table, chairs and cabinets, with thick walls that isolated sound pretty well.

“Thank all of you for coming,” Regina began after sitting down. There was no nonsense wasted on protocol or waiting for her to take her seat, and the others looked at her expectantly. “I wanted to discuss the state of our logistics, especially with respect to our agreement to help the Cernian rebels. What can we actually offer them in terms of supplies or support?”

There was a moment of silence as the drones present considered her question.

“Unfortunately, I think we can’t have an easy answer for that question, my Queen,” Mia said. “It depends too much on their needs and what they lack.”

“Especially for food,” Ivy added, nodding. “A lot of what we eat wouldn’t be suitable for humans. At least we know what that would be better than for gnomes - due to your own knowledge, my Queen - but there are still open questions. For example, can humans eat and digest what our Production Drones produce? Or which kinds? If they could subsist off that, it would be a very good thing.”

Regina nodded slowly. “You’re right. And short of a biochemistry lab, which we don’t have, the only way to find out is with experiments.”

“We could ask for volunteers from Forest’s Haunt or the others,” Ash suggested.

“Good idea,” she agreed. “Ivy, I’m putting you in charge of that. Take at least one magic-user who’s good at healing along for any experiments. I’ll see if I can find the time to come myself. Either way, consult with the Keepers, too.”

“How long would any food supplies we send them last?” Ash asked, looking at the others.

They seemed a bit uncertain, but Mia spoke up. “It depends. We did make some hay and the like, which should feed their horses as well as our Swarm Drones. Not sure about dried weeds, though. Grain can probably keep for a while as long as it’s kept dry, but we don’t have much of that. It varies a bit for the Production Drones’ stuff, but most of it is still edible after a few weeks at the very least. For us, anyway. We also have some preserved monster meat that should do well.”

Regina nodded. That was good to know.

“That aside, we will probably need more detailed information from the marquis and his people,” Mia said. “But I’m assuming that food, weapons and whatever combat equipment they need will be the main points.”

“I don’t think we can help them much when it comes to weapons,” Ria commented. “We can’t even buy actual metal weapons for ourselves. They should be able to use the gold you Conjured for them to buy what they need, though, my Queen, right?”

“I think so. I didn’t get the impression they were lacking in that respect, anyway. We could give them some of our more ‘special’ weapons, of course.” Regina frowned to herself. “I don’t think I’d be willing to go that far, though. We can and will use some ourselves, but I don’t want to hand them explosives or anything without being there to keep an eye on them.”

The others nodded. They all seemed to be in agreement with her words, especially Ash.

“We don’t have much in the way of other equipment, either,” Mia said thoughtfully. “It’s not like we need much of it ourselves. But things like clothes, boots, tents, and the like are probably important for them, too. Again, they might just have to buy that kind of stuff with money.”

“At least we won’t be dependent on such things ourselves,” Regina commented. “Good. That leaves medical supplies. We can probably send some herbs for local remedies we gathered, but I think magic will be the most important thing.”

“Does that mean you’ll send Attendants and Witches to heal their soldiers, my Queen?” Ash asked.

Regina hesitated for a moment, before she nodded slowly. “I think that may not be a bad idea. I’ll need to discuss it, of course. But I don’t think it would be too dangerous as long as Lyns can guarantee their safety. Obviously, I won’t send them straight to the front line, but maybe if they set up field hospitals in the back.”

Regina could sense that a few of them felt conflicted about the idea, but they didn’t speak up to voice any doubts. She could understand it, but in a sense, letting any of Lyns’ soldiers die that they didn’t need to would be a waste. They couldn’t replenish themselves like her own forces could, after all. And any wounded soldier they healed so they could go back to fight their enemies meant none of her drones would have to do that instead.

Plus, the cat was pretty much out of the bag when it came to showing their hive’s capability, anyway, but building goodwill with Lyns’ soldiers wouldn’t hurt, either.

“Alright, I think that’s it for now,” Regina concluded. “Take a look at our stockpiles and consider our options before you get back to me with an assessment, please.”

The others all nodded and chairs shuffled as they stood up. Regina left to visit the hatchery, already considering who she would need to meet with next, and how best to keep communication with Lyns going. She really wished she could just build telephones, or even something simpler like telegraph lines, but she didn’t even have the resources for that. At least there were magical ways of sending messages.