Path of the Hive Queen

Of course, it couldn’t be that easy. It was like nothing ever could be.

They didn’t really have anything to go on when it came to trying to find Mesen. They didn’t even know if there were actually any of them in the world, or if they had sent … some other people, she supposed, or maybe robots, or hell, maybe mind-controlled grasshoppers; Regina really didn’t know enough about them to know what was possible. Even her allies knew little, since most of Leian’s knowledge was several centuries out of date.

The point was, they barely knew what to look for and didn’t know where to begin. Regina could hardly start sending drones out blindly. Instead, Iseis and a few of the others had started trying to gather and piece together information from seers and others who might have some clue.

But that wasn’t the only problem Regina had to deal with. It was almost funny, since she’d been worried about this only a few hours ago. That felt like far longer than it had been. Now, the situation in the south had almost been pushed out of her mind.

Unfortunately for Regina, her enemies weren’t content to wait while she assimilated new information, and the situation had to be dealt with.

At least they had a few, initial results from the agents they’d sent which they could use. For once, they had confirmed the Iliyan magistrate’s claims. It seemed like the governments, or at least some official institutions, of both Iliucin and Iliyan had worked together for this attempt to claim the old Hivekind base. Most of the troops involved came from their armies; sometimes permanent soldiers, sometimes mercenaries or others who were raised for a short period, under contracts the cities sold off.

That wasn’t great, but at least confirmation was better than nothing. It still rankled.

At least Veragles was claiming the city was not involved. Or so they said, anyway. Their government had officially condemned any violence, recognized the Empire’s claim to ‘Hivekind cultural artifacts’, and were sending envoys south. The few contacts Regina and her people had in the city had sent confirmation that this seemed to be sincere, and seen hints that Veragles was miffed at Iliucin’s actions. She was still waiting on confirmation from the dwarves; a significant number of them remained in the city, but it would take longer to get information from them, since it would travel on indirect paths.

They were still trying to find out which other cities might have been involved, or at least aware of this attack.

Of course, they didn’t have much time left. The negotiations had dragged on, but they’d finally finished, or at least reached a conclusion. Regina would have to make a few quick decisions if she wanted to deal with that.

Unsurprisingly, the cities’ representatives had both declined to pay any reparations for the attack. They had apologized — though it had been rather lackluster, and only done by envoys instead of formally by the ruling councils of the cities. And it was more of a ‘sorry for the mistake’ apology rather than truly taking responsibility. When pressed on it, they’d avoided any other commitments at all and instead dragged the discussions into a mire of debating the location of the base and which jurisdiction it actually fell under. If Regina hadn’t known their army wasn’t prepared for another assault, she might even have thought they were simply stalling to attack again.

Well, she supposed it was possible they were stalling for someone else. That was one of the issues with the gods; they could have their hands in many pies and interfere wherever they pleased, and it would be hard to know about it. At least in advance of things going wrong. But they really should have larger concerns right now, Regina reflected. I shouldn’t be too paranoid in seeing Deirianon behind everything, either.

In the meantime, she could either try to drag things out further until the situation was clarified or respond directly. Chewing on her lip slightly, Regina hesitated for a moment before reaching out to several of her most trusted companions.

I need your advice, she said. How should we respond to the southern cities? Should we send new demands? Maybe throw an ultimatum at them? Send more soldiers south? Stall talks until we have a better picture of the situation?

She could feel their collective hesitance. No one really had a course of action they actually liked. She’d also kept her own feelings and thoughts tightly locked down, so they didn’t know where her own preferences lay.

If we have to send soldiers south, we shouldn’t make it a permanent deployment, Tia finally said. With Max and Tim both out of reach for now, she seemed to have taken it upon herself to consider what they’d say. We need them up north.

True, but there is something to be said for a lightning strike to break resistance before it can get entrenched, Janis said contemplatively. That might allow us to then need less soldiers in the south subsequently. It would be a risky course, though. I’m not sure I’d advocate for it, even if I was inclined to choose violence over attempting a diplomatic resolution.

Regina frowned to herself. If they did choose a full military intervention, a plan in that vein would probably be best.

Well, admittedly our initial diplomatic attempts haven’t yielded much in the way of results, but I still wouldn’t give up on it, Ira spoke up. Maybe what we need is a show of strength instead of actually using our soldiers to fight anyone. If we can pressure them to back off, that’s what we really need right now, isn’t it? We have greater threats to face.

Which doesn’t mean we can ignore this threat, Regina said. Still, you’re not wrong. Let’s consider what we need … Information on what happened and why they decided to do this is a must. We also need formal apologies and reparations for our troops that were killed. In lieu of that, we could make them pay in another way, but not only would it be less actually justified, I don’t particularly need more territory in the south.

I think I have an idea, Janis said slowly.

Regina paused. She recognized the feeling of Janis’ mind right now, although she hadn’t encountered it often. But it reminded her that Janis was considered an accomplished strategist, one of the Hive’s best, for a reason.

That only made her more certain as Janis quickly shared the outline of her plan, speaking as much with feelings, impressions and visualizations to explain her reasoning as with words over the psychic link.

Which wasn’t to say that Regina didn’t have some ideas of her own, modifications and additions to contribute.

It needs some refinement, she finally said. But I think this is a good approach. Good call, Janis. Sit with a few people and work out the kinks, okay?

Got it. I think we can make it work, assuming we have everything we need.

Meanwhile, Regina checked her mana. Since she had been quite busy, she hadn’t had much time to actually go and Conjure things, so her mana pool was mostly full. Considering the size of her hive, that meant it was enormous. She could probably Conjure a literal hill of gold.

Not that she would do that, even if it would be funny. But it meant they had plenty of resources for funding and materials, not just for operations in the south, but also elsewhere. She should absolutely go and create a few of the rarer and more difficult to make substances soon.

But before Regina could even properly wrap up the meeting and leave the others with an outline of what they needed to do, she was distracted again.

She just felt Anuis entering her range again, seeming agitated, from … somewhere? Regina wasn’t actually sure. Maybe Alianais had brought her to the Mirrored Halls, like Leian had done with her? The elf was close to Forest’s Haunt right now and should have been well within her psychic range, or at least that anchored by the hive.

Regina mentally notified the others she was talking to that she needed a minute and, after considering for a moment, reached out to Anuis. Carefully.

Is everything alright? she asked. I couldn’t help but notice something, and you seem disquieted.

Anuis paused for a moment. Looking more closely, Regina could sense she was still in the forest, though at the outskirts, not close to anyone else at the moment. Otherwise the spot seemed random, but it might not have been.

Unfortunately, there have been developments, and they’re not good, she said, shaking her head. It’s good that you contacted me, Your Imperial Majesty. I would have tried to pass a message anyway.

I appreciate the respect, but you really can call me ‘Regina’, especially like this, when it’s just us. And what happened?

Alright, Regina. Anuis grinned slightly. She reminded Regina of when she was just starting out with her hive and the other woman had visited. I would explain, but I think it’s better if you get it straight from the source, so to speak. Alianais will show you. Put briefly, the gods talked.

Okay, Regina said, a bit dubiously. And how should I get in contact, Anuis?

That question made her hesitate for a moment. I’m not completely sure, actually. The same way you did before should work, I suppose?

Regina sighed slightly. On the upside, it was probably good if she had a chance to speak to Alianais face-to-face again.

Alright. Thanks for the message.

She turned her attention back to the others and ended the discussion they were having, before pulling on the connection to Ira again to arrange a few things. By necessity, it was going to take a little while, but she still wanted to be quick. Not just because Regina was curious.

It did mean having to make a few decisions regarding the logistics. The easiest way would be to go to Cera and visit a temple there, probably along with other business. But Regina was a bit hesitant to do that. It was annoying that she had to consider how she’d be moving the range of the psychic link every time she went anywhere, but that was the way it was. She didn’t really want to travel this far east right now, given what might be coming in the northwest. And a trip to Cera would have to take a while. Instead, she bit the bullet and arranged for another visit to the temple town she’d already seen before.

In the meantime, Regina decided to return to her quarters, add a few more eggs to the hive, and take a quick bath. She ate alone, which had become unusual lately, and spent a minute just gazing out at the city.

She was interrupted by a System notification.

Regina smiled. She was pretty sure her Experience gain had been increased recently, with the war, and everything. But she was also high enough Level now that the level-ups were obviously coming quite slowly. Considering how little time she’d really had, being Level 74 already was pretty high, actually.

She waited for another moment, though no other notification appeared. But that was fine. She’d already received a new Spell, or rather an upgrade, a few levels ago. Regina was hoping for a new Template soon, though; maybe in the next few levels. Maybe she had to unlock some requirements first? Regardless, she would get her next Ability choice with her next level-up. She was looking forward to it.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she brought up her status screen.

Regina paused for a moment, looking at the numbers for her drones. As she watched, they ticked down slowly. The last time she’d looked, the number had been higher. There must have been another battle outside of her range, or at least several skirmishes. She watched as a batch of eggs from Drone Breeders hatched and the number rose again by a hundred.

Blinking, she moved on to the other numbers on her sheet. Another stat point put in Dexterity, Regina noted. That was fine. She wouldn’t have minded another point in Int or Wis, but it wasn’t like she really needed more magical power right now, she supposed. It was probably a good thing to spread them out instead of leaving her vulnerable.

She closed the window, ate the last of her dessert she’d left on the plate, and turned away to change her clothes to something suitable for traveling.

It had started to rain lightly by the time Regina made it out into the courtyard, but she didn’t mind. Thor was waiting for her, and Regina greeted him while waiting for the rest of the party to finish. By necessity, it was a bit bigger than she’d hoped. Galatea and Iseis had decided to accompany them, Janis was coming too, and she was taking a few other drones, as well as a detachment of Star Guard.

The trip didn’t take long. Regina spent most of it immersed in the psychic link, catching up on work and reports. She’d rather do that than worry about what she might hear from Alianais. Though it was easy enough to guess that the gods hadn’t come to an agreement regarding dealing with the Mesen; or suspending hostilities, at least.

When they approached their destination, she also took the time to have Thor do a circle above the town so she could get a better look. Godsfern had clearly suffered from the religious upheaval and maybe the strain of the war; the atmosphere of the town seemed darker than before, the temple smaller in some way, even though it clearly hadn’t actually been downsized. The local administrators had been informed of their coming and cleared the area for her, so at least they touched down and could get inside without any issue. Janis peeled off to speak to the local magnate for a minute while Regina took in the temple and then entered, accompanied by most of the group.

Inside, it was even more clear that things had changed. She knew this temple was mainly dedicated to Alianais, but she wasn’t the only goddess venerated here. Or at least, she hadn’t been. Looking around, and with Regina’s magical and psychic senses, it was obvious some sections of the complex had been emptied, closed off. There were definitely fewer priests around than there had been before.

Regina wondered if they resented her for her decree closing temples. Then she put it out of her mind. She wasn’t here for them.

Though she’d have to at least say hello. Forcing a gentle expression onto her face, she turned to the priests who had assembled here, their leader clearly waiting to greet her. She’d ensure everything was in hand before proceeding to Alainais’ actual altar and calling out to her again.

At least this time, she was coming here by invitation, so the goddess shouldn’t be huffy about it.