It had been planned in detail when Regina would set out and who she would take with her. A large entourage made sense, not only because of Max’s continued insistence on bodyguards, but as they would be traveling to a diplomatic summit and she had the impression showing up with more servants or subordinates might be a sign of rank and power. Not to mention that they were hosting this conference, so Regina needed to have enough people there to take care of issues that might arise and to guarantee everyone’s safety. From each other, if necessary.

Their best-laid plans went awry almost immediately. Tim asked her to spare some of the warriors who had been planned to come with her to go to the front, and Ben kept her updated on developments and announced a major battle just before Regina was set to depart.

Naturally, she decided to stay back in the main hive base. She could follow the battle using the psychic link during the trip, but she felt better at the base, and it allowed her to watch and give some guidance, when necessary, without distractions.

It would be the biggest battle of the current stage of the war, the first real battle, in actuality. Regina watched attentively as flying drones circling overhead tracked the progress of the gnomish division that had set out against them. They were partly moving through tunnels, but parts of the route were in the open air, enough to make their advance obvious.

Ben had decided to stand and fight. He considered the target the gnomes had chosen too important to abandon: a town the hive had only just recently taken, one of the biggest so far. More importantly, it was located at the crossing of two major roads as well as a pretty large tunnel leading deeper into the mountains, which the hive had used as their route of advancement to take it. That made the settlement of major strategic importance, a lynchpin of the entire western part of their Confederation.

They had enough advanced warning of the movement to gather reinforcements there, though not as many as Regina would have liked. The gnomes hardly committed all of their forces to this attack, so the hive would have to beware of other threats and prepare for attacks from other directions. It was why Ben and Tim usually preferred to go on the attack themselves, Regina knew. The attacker had the initiative and the defender had to cover their territory or make sacrifices. But it would have been stupid to think they couldn’t let the gnomes counterattack at all.

Janis, surprisingly, was the most relaxed. Despite spending a large part of her career as a commander in enemy territory, she was always sanguine about playing defense instead of offensive, pointing out the advantages defenders held. In this case, Tia agreed with her. She sent Regina another impression of the preparations they’d made just before the first gnomish soldiers reached them, apart from a few scouts they’d already tried to pick off.

They hadn’t had much time, so it wasn’t very in-depth, but the drones had laid some new mines Tia had designed and put up a low wall that would give them cover and hopefully hold up to even larger calibers, at least for a while. Mostly, they’d repaired the existing wall of the town, which the hive had bypassed with flying drones, and put up earthworks and piled sand sacks (although they weren’t usually filled with sand). Experience showed those kinds of ‘deep’ bulwarks worked against magical explosions as much as gunpowder-based artillery.

Then the gnomish soldiers reached them. They came in hard and fast, prepared to take losses against the hive. That was also something they’d learned, she supposed. Regina looked through the eyes of a few flying drones circling above, watching explosions swallow her sight of what happened on the ground for brief moments. The mines were triggered, but the gnomes had put their tankiest soldiers in front and then sent others directly after them, taking the same route, so the impact was limited. It had been a pretty obvious defense, she acknowledged. And gnomes, of all people, would have Spells or Skills to check the terrain and find buried things in the rock, anyway.

Still, forcing them to advance almost single file had advantages of its own. It slowed the gnomes down and made it easier for the hive’s ranged fighters to shoot them. There were several Shooters close by, mostly in the air, riding flying drones, who tried to pick off the leaders and the most vulnerable soldiers.

Then the vanguard of the gnomes reached the walls and the real battle began. The town had not been evacuated of all its civilians, there simply hadn’t been time, though the hive had gathered them in the center of the settlement. The guards needed for them wouldn’t be able to participate in the battle, but Regina couldn’t countenance leaving the civilians free to get caught in the crossfire, or to try sabotage. It meant the houses close to the wall were empty, and when some of them caught fire, they could simply be abandoned.

The gnomes had good firearms of their own. Regina switched perspectives to several of her fighters, trying not to distract them from their task with her presence. She caught glimpses of the enemy’s weapons, noting all the details she could find. Several of them were larger and bulkier, a bit like mini cannons carried by the soldiers with the highest physical stats. They shot what had set the houses ablaze, she was pretty sure. It didn’t look like proper incendiary ammunition, though she supposed with enough force behind it, setting dry wooden structures on fire wouldn’t need much.

As more of the gnomes reached the edges of the town, the melee picked up. The hive had ranks of War Drones, who the gnomish soldiers, most at higher levels, mowed down far too easily for her comfort. They were still outnumbered, though. On a signal given silently by the psychic link, the War Drones withdrew a step, and a few mages and others with damaging Class Skills opened fire. It forced the gnomes back from the wall, not letting them press the advantage.

Regina sighed and returned to her vantage points in the sky to get an overview of the battle. It was fought furiously, but she could tell it would not be a long one. Casualties mounted on both sides. Both sides were fighting too aggressively for it to be a drawn-out battle. She was tempted, for a moment, to try and intervene, spare more of her drones … but it wasn’t worth it, there was nothing she could really do without resorting to trying things she’d rather not.

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Instead, she just watched. She winced as a well-aimed Magic Missile shot a Drone Mount from the sky, preparing to use her Summons Skill to rescue the rider, but the young Drone Witch, Nia, managed to balance out the drone’s flight and crash-land behind the town without major injuries. Ben had already sent another drone to pick her up, this time not one with the Winged Drone Mount Class but one of the flying drones they’d been preparing for it by letting people ride them. It would be harder and less comfortable, but still possible. Relieved she wouldn’t have to use up her Ability for the day, Regina turned her attention back to the battle.

It was almost over, already. The gnomes were fighting hard, but they’d lost a lot of their numbers. Regina had to reluctantly admire their discipline. She was aware that for most forces from Nerlia or Cernlia, losses like this would have already led to a rout. Of course, that was not a problem the hive ever had.

“Regina?” Max’s voice broke her concentration.

She blinked and turned to look at him, letting the psychic link and the battle fade into the background. What?

“We need to set off now if we want to make our planned arrival time. Unless you’re fine with being late?”

Regina sighed, and briefly checked on the battle again. It was going about as well as she could hope, she supposed. The cleanup would take a while, probably longer than the actual battle. “No. Ben or the others will call me if there’s something I need to know. Let’s go.”

Maybe she had cut the timing a little close, she mused. But she’d wanted to stay here in the base and not wait around in the middle of nowhere for longer than necessary. However, if they were much later, she risked arriving only after a significant number of their guests, which was apparently bad manners since she was supposed to be the host.

They walked outside of the base proper to a small cleared yard where flying drone mounts waited for them. Thor had taken it upon himself to transport Regina again. Usually, she’d have preferred for him to join the fighting in the south, but they’d argued for the diplomatic impact of making an impression and Max preferred it this way, as well.

Once they were all ready, the drones took flight. Regina watched the village and base shrink below her, before she focused her attention on the psychic link again. The battle was proceeding as expected, with the gnomes finally starting to withdraw and the hive consolidating their position.

Then she moved on to where her focus should currently be. In a way, it was a shame that the war against the gnomes hadn’t progressed further. She would have liked not just to know more about what was beyond the Confederation and the mountains, south of the Alps, but to send envoys. But that was probably expecting a bit too much, and maybe it was better if she held this conference and what would follow before they established a real corridor to Italy and the rest of Southern Europe. For now, they had attendees from several nearby countries.

Regina was nervous, she would admit to herself. Although Max would definitely be able to tell. A lot hinged on this, and although she knew that if this went badly, it was hardly the end, she could always try again or adjust her approach, she didn’t want that to happen. Regina still felt a bit embarrassed when she thought about what she would really be asking for, but the feeling had faded over the last while, as she’d prepared. The Delvers might be a bit too fanatical, but they did have a few good points. And didn’t she have a responsibility to the world? To try something, even if it wasn’t necessarily the best thing she could possibly do. But she’d just been a doctor, she didn’t have all the answers for how to deal with a situation like this. Not that anyone would. But she needed the ability to act to reach any of her goals.

Regina tried to distract herself by watching the end and aftermath of the battle, but she still felt restless. It didn’t help that she didn’t feel like they accomplished anything there. Sure, they pushed back the gnomes. That was nice. But their own casualties were pretty high, so the losses they cost the gnomes didn’t mean much. It was just a lot of people (and Swarm Drones) dying for little reason. Not that she felt guilty — they’d started this, after all — but she didn’t like it. What was the point? Had the gnomes just wanted to test their defenses? Did they think they’d take back the town and halt the hive’s advance? Or were they just trying to distract them while they got up to something somewhere else?

When they finally arrived, her musings were interrupted and she seized the opportunity to distract herself with something else. Although it only made her anxiety about this conference return. Regina took a deep breath and reminded herself that she had already prepared everything. The groundwork had been laid weeks ago, if not months. This was a bit of spectacle, not much more. And besides, she was the one in power here.

Not everyone had arrived yet. They came from distant locations in some cases, so people were dropping in at different times. But she could already see Kiara here, accompanied by a relatively large escort that was camping outside the town, the Cernlian royal banner fluttering in the breeze. They’d used some of the remaining tamed monsters to travel.

Of course, she was sure of Kiara’s loyalty and the young queen would only have brought soldiers she trusted, so Regina had no concerns and was inclined to be happy with her show of force.

The elves were on the way, according to the last update, and about half of the Nerlian delegation was here already. Several lords were coming, and Regina had invited a few people from the territory still under her control. Their escorts were smaller, naturally.

There was a large space left open, directly outside the town’s walls, and Regina’s own entourage set down there. Thor crouched down and Regina slid from his back, bending her knees to absorb the impact. He was the biggest of the drone mounts in the hive, but that didn’t make climbing up or down easier. When she turned around, she saw several people watching her. Some of them turned to go back to whatever they were doing, but not everyone.

“Hive Queen!” June called.

Regina turned and walked over to where the girl was clearly waiting for her, almost bouncing. She smiled. “June. Or should that be Princess now?”

June shrugged. “You’re my master, so you can be as informal as you like. I mean — that is —“ she fumbled.

Regina understood what the issue was after a moment and interrupted. “That’s good, June. Did you or your sister want a formal agreement for your apprenticeship, now that she’s officially the queen of Cernlia? We can draw up a contract, although setting fixed terms might be a bit restricting. If that’s what you want, we can certainly work it out, though.”

June was relieved. Sensing her emotions so easily reminded Regina to teach her how to shield her mind a bit better. “No, that’s not necessary, I don’t think, Master. Although we might want to make it clear in an official setting when there’s an opportunity.”

Regina nodded. Calling each other teacher or student in front of a gathering should do it, she figured. “My drones are setting up our accommodations,” she said instead. “Do you want to accompany me? We can go over what you’ve learned in the last few weeks and you can show me your progress.”

June accepted eagerly. It would also give Regina a nice distraction before the real summit started, so she considered it a win-win.