Path of the Hive Queen

Regina could feel Lord Daine’s nervousness. It was distracting. He shifted slightly, visibly restraining himself from pacing, as he stood in front of her desk. Regina resisted the urge to look up from the report she was reading. She wasn’t entirely sure exactly why he was nervous … she was trying not to peer too deeply, indulging her curiosity wasn’t worth breaching his privacy like that.

This report didn’t seem that bad, but maybe she was missing something?

With a silent sigh, she kept reading. It might not have been terrible, but it wasn’t exactly good or encouraging either. Few of the other reports touching on this matter she’d read over the last few days were, but this one was more important.

Finally, she closed the folder and finally looked up at Daine. “Thank you for your patience. I suspect I can see why you wanted to discuss this in person, but please tell me what you think is important.”

They were inside her office — not her most private one within the suite where she actually lived, but one a little farther out, where she often met to work with other people. Max was currently one door down in an adjacent room. Ira would have accompanied her, but was busy for another half hour. Regina had made sure no one else was around, and this room was regularly swept for bugs, both magical and electronic — not that she believed her enemies had access to anything like electronic devices, but it was better to be thorough — so it was safe to discuss confidential matters.

He straightened slightly. “Yes, Your Majesty. There are several points I would like to address. In particular, I would also like to discuss how we may address this conspiracy going forward, as I believe we hold sufficient information to now enable us to act in ways which might have been unwise before.”

Regina raised an eyebrow. He wanted to take action? She gestured for him to go on, then paused and jerked her head at a chair. This time, he followed the unspoken suggestion and sit down, pulling it a bit closer before the desk first.

“First, we now have final confirmation of Baron Elric Neralt’s role in this group,” Daine began. “We have positive identification from several occasions. He is clearly in their leadership cadre, if not at the highest possible level. His specialty seems to be in providing information pertinent to the court, the Hive and your own past adventures — if you’ll pardon the phrasing — as well as access to Forest’s Haunt. We have also caught a reference that suggests he might be using his abilities to aid in fortifying a defensive location, or perhaps several, for other members.”

“Yes, I suppose that tracks,” Regina muttered, nodding. She had expected this confirmation, but the reminder that Neralt had betrayed her still rankled a bit.

“Secondly, we have finally confirmed a suspicion I’ve had since the start: They do operate several groups. It is not quite a cell structure, there is too much movement between them, at least at the leadership level, but many of their ‘regular’ members will, largely, only meet others of their own ‘group’. We have managed to identify what I believe is the vast majority of the second group’s members, thanks to our informant finally being invited to their meeting.”

“That guy deserves an award,” Regina mused. “Maybe when this is over. And there’s definitively no sign they might suspect him?”

“We can’t be entirely sure, but I would think it’s very unlikely,” Daine said. “I can’t see any benefit to exposing so many of their members to a mole, even if they were trying to give us a false sense of safety. We’ve been cross-checking wherever possible, and I’m quite confident in most of our assessments regarding members of this organization. They truly are aspiring rebels.”

“Hm,” Regina nodded. “Speaking of, have we got a name yet?”

“Unfortunately not. Or perhaps fortunately. I think there may be some superstition to it, but they also seem to believe that using a name would make them more likely to attract attention.”

Regina supposed they might have a point. On the other hand, she knew it was easier to identify with and get invested in a group that had a name; easier if it helped people feel like they were part of something important or meaningful. Still, it was pretty obvious these people’s leaders weren’t really professionals — if there was such a thing as professionals here. Regardless, they were clearly good at what they were doing. Natural talent or maybe lessons from somewhere else?

“You know what I’m going to ask next,” she acknowledged with a wry smile. “But I’ll ask anyway. Have we found actual signs of influence or participation from outside the Empire?”

“Actually, we have indeed, my Empress,” he answered promptly, almost smiling. At her surprised look at his reaction, he smiled slightly. “Not from the Confederation or Esemen, mainly — but there are several people from the border principalities who I am now certain have contact with this conspiracy and are involved with it. One was a member of this second group I mentioned. Interestingly, his grandmother was Esemen. We do also have some more pieces pointing towards the Western Confederation and the religious orders, though.”

“Oh? Go on,” she prompted, flipping through the report again to check the details. Nobles from the east trying to get in on this was maybe a bit concerning, but not really all that surprising or even particularly relevant. They might be afraid of Imperial expansion and trying to preempt it; probably not entirely without reason, she had to acknowledge. Still, eastern border nobles couldn’t exactly give these would-be rebels the support they really needed. As always, any concrete proof of involvement from her actual enemies would be more valuable. They’d seen hints before, but it was frustratingly elusive.

Daine launched into another report, this time more in-depth. Regina occasionally glanced at the written report, following along. Most of what he said was already in here, but it was still good to hear his evaluation and occasionally some additional context. Maybe having both a written and oral briefing was a bit much, but she’d prefer to be prepared.

There were several signs of her enemies’ involvement, but none really conclusive — It was getting there, though. A weapon that almost certainly came from the Brotherhood of Violet’s smiths here, a letter addressed to a merchant Daine had already identified as a go-between for Esemen there. (They hadn’t managed to intercept the full letter, unfortunately). And most importantly, the visit from a ‘cousin’ of an otherwise-unremarkable Nerlian lord that matched the name, Class and general description of a well-regarded adventurer with a Rogue-type Class who’d joined the Sun Temple, but whose current location was unknown (first name only, unfortunately). Their information on the orders’ membership was still scant, but it was something.

“Good,” Regina finally said. She tugged on her mandible absently. “We’ll discuss this in detail with the others; I’d rather get a few more opinions on what this means and its implications. A meeting of a ‘security council’, I suppose. Janis, Max, Ben, Ira, maybe Kiara, and a few others. Ira will be in touch about a time and location.”

He visibly hesitated for a moment. Regina raised an eyebrow. “Yes, Robin?”

“My Empress —“ he began, straightening up again. “I believe we have sufficient information to strike now. I recommend acting immediately, or at least as rapidly as possible. The more time we give them, the more this conspiracy will build momentum and fester, settling into the Empire like a cancerous tumor.”

Regina paused. Now there was an image. And now she knew why he’d been nervous; he’d been planning to propose this, but was uncertain how she would react. “You think we can’t gain more by waiting?”

Daine shook his head. “I think any gains will be marginal, Your Majesty. It is possible we have missed members, I must acknowledge that. If you prefer to be as certain as we can that we have caught them all, then I would recommend waiting. However, they would also grow in the meantime, and recruit new members. There is no guarantee that we would catch all new recruits, either. Not unless we manage to subvert them completely without alerting them, which is possible, but a risky strategy. Especially if they have psychic support.”

“Are we certain of their planned goals? Attacks, sabotage, things like that?”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty. As I indicated, they are in the beginning stages of planning to sabotage our artillery production, as well as planning a strike at the town of Forest’s Haunt — They are aiming for a workshop of the Hive, but their target is flexible and they may change it depending on the situation on the ground, I believe. We have also had hints of them hiring mercenaries or calling up knights and armsmen loyal to the individual nobles, under cover of contributing to the war effort.”

“And you think trying to shatter this group now before they can get off the ground with these plans is the best move,” Regina stated.

“Yes, my Empress. It is my professional judgment that this course of action carries less risk.”

Regina leaned back in her seat and absently tapped her fingers as she thought. A part of her really wanted to keep digging, to find real proof of their being backed by her foreign enemies, or to completely infiltrate and subvert the group so she could show them how much they’d failed. But that probably wasn’t constructive. He was probably right that they should stop this as soon as possible. She had no illusions that this would get rid of all such opposition to her … well, her regime, she supposed — but it should at least be a while before anyone formed a new plot. Assuming she didn’t leave these guys in a position to try again.

“And what exactly do you propose, as a way of ‘striking’ at them?” she asked. “A wave of arrests?”

Daine hesitated for a moment, and Regina had to resist the temptation to peer into his mind to see what he was thinking. He was clearly pushing a specific agenda or plan, or at least wanted to, and she wondered about his motivations for a moment. Did he believe the harshest measures would be most effective? That attitude was lamentably common in her court, still. Did he want to expand his own capabilities, shield the social class he was a part of, demonstrate his loyalty or irreplaceability, or … Regina disliked questioning her subordinates’ motives like this, honestly. She thought she knew Daine, but still felt ironically in the dark about how he would really react.

“Yes, that would be best, but these arrests must be very carefully coordinated,” he finally said. “If you allow it, I would like a decree relaxing the usual regulations on the use of force. Most of our targets will not be weak. I doubt many will come quietly. And we should strike simultaneously, or as close as possible. The conspirators being warned and going to ground ahead of time is perhaps the biggest risk.”

“Which also necessitates keeping the number of people involved in the planning as small as possible, to prevent leaks,” Regina noted. “Which will be difficult if we are planning a large-scale operation. But I understand.” She frowned thoughtfully, considering the kind of danger she might be sending her people into. On the other hand, there were many reasons to try and take the conspirators alive instead of trying for some kind of violent instant purge. “I still want them to stand trial, Robin. But if a few of our targets die resisting arrest, I’m not going to hold it against you. As long as it’s genuine and not just an excuse for ‘eliminating’ them. We would also need to speak about what forces, exactly, we’re using.”

It went without question that the normal police would probably be overwhelmed. They could send some units of the Star Guard, and possibly other loyal soldiers from regular army units? That might be easier to keep quiet than sending a lot of drones, but it could still cause concern, and she wasn’t sure if it was a good idea.

“Then, we have your approval to go ahead, My Empress?” Daine asked.

Regina paused. She’d almost gotten caught up in the details without properly reflecting on whether she actually agreed with his idea. Regina tugged on her mandible again, considering for a moment, before she answered. “I’m inclined to agree, but considering the importance of this, I would like to get a second opinion. We will have a larger meeting, we can discuss it then. As well as settle some of these details if we do decide to go ahead. I’ll arrange it as soon as possible; you’re right that time is a factor.”

He half-bowed from his seat. “Understood. Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Of course. If you want to prepare briefing materials for the others and perhaps sketch out plans, it would be best to start right away. But please don’t spread these around. Is there anything else we will need?”

“Perhaps additional psychics assigned to support the operation?” he suggested tentatively.

Regina nodded. “I won’t send my students into direct combat, but they could be helpful in locating these conspirators. I will prepare a few of them to help. I believe that’s all?”

“Yes, I have no further points to address.”

Daine stood up. They exchanged a few more words before he bowed and departed. Regina looked at the folders again before sighing and carefully stacking them to the side. It was getting late for a training session with her students, anyway.

But she did tell them she would probably need some help for this and asked for volunteers, without giving them many details. Unsurprisingly, almost everyone offered to help.

In the end, they had the meeting she’d chosen the next day. As she’d expected, Daine still came prepared with a shortened version of his briefing notes, copied by hand several times, as well as a short plan of action.

Max and Ben were both in favor of striking early, as well as letting the forces they were using (law enforcement, technically) bring heavy equipment. Max was also ready to assign Star Guard to support the operation, but there was a little more debate about which units to send and who would have command.

Janis, unsurprisingly, emphasized the need to ‘get’ everyone who was involved — or at least as many people as possible — but also reminded Daine that this was a razzia with arrests, not a military operation, and that the presumption of innocence still held until suspects had actually been found guilty (even if they must use force to arrest them). She wanted no doubts that the Empire had played fairly and within its own laws. Kiara agreed with her, probably mostly to back her girlfriend up, and said little otherwise.

Janis also felt surprisingly bloodthirsty when the conversation briefly touched upon what the conspirators’ fate would be, but Regina did understand her feelings.

Ira was more concerned with the logistics of getting the people in place and seemed to take it as a given that they would act. No one else really shared any opinion on the plan itself.

In the end, everyone agreed they had a passable plan of action. A feasible one, at least hopefully. Things could still go wrong, and probably would — they always did — but Regina hoped they had it under control. It might even be a good test of their systems and capabilities. They could learn from this operation, take lessons for the future.

Now the only thing left was finally dealing with this little conspiracy.