The stars were one of the upsides to the whole situation, Regina thought. She only had dim memories of the time before, and certainly no personal ones, but they did not include views like this. The light pollution of modern life would never allow it. It was still a bit bittersweet, though, reminding her of how different this place was compared to her reference point. And what it lacked. Light pollution didn’t come from nothing, after all.

Still, she was only distracting herself, and she made herself focus on the situation at hand. The stars and the moon were still shining brightly in the sky, and it should still be some time before it started to brighten with dawn. Regina figured that pre-dawn counted as morning and that the day would count as being begun, the time as the next day, or rather the next month. There was still enough light for her to see clearly, although she didn’t know about the elves, and humans would probably have trouble. Unless they had a helpful Skill. That was always a possibility.

The drones around her blended in with the shadows pretty well, but once they were out of the forest, they’d be in the open. There was no going around the open fields surrounding their targets. They’d considered an approach by water, but it was a lot harder to avoid all the monsters that might be lurking in the river, and fights meant noise, besides the splashing water and the issues of temperature, breathing and other inconvenient considerations.

At some point, they’d just have to rely on speed over stealth, she figured. Besides, the humans shouldn’t be able to get reinforcements from anywhere nearby or get any very quickly.

Actually, she figured that was at least half the reason the elves were supporting her in this. If you could even call it support, considering they probably fielded more raw power than she did. But they had agreed that Regina was officially calling the shots, so she didn’t much care. Obviously, the elves wanted to use this to further their war, as one operation of their war effort. And if Regina actually managed to establish herself and come to some kind of terms with the humans, they would just see that as an unexpected bonus, she suspected. Even if it meant she might not join their war outright to fight against humans, or rather some humans.

Ben had told her the elves probably just wanted to secure their flank. The newly Evolved Drone Commander was sticking close to her at the moment, on her left side while Max had taken the right. She could vaguely sense him giving orders and passing intelligence between other drones. His new Class had given him a Skill that allowed him to make better use of the psychic hive link for such a purpose.

Then Regina turned her attention farther away, to currently more distant members of her hive and further reaches of the psychic connection. She checked briefly on Dark. The bird monster flew through the night air on stealthy wings, hopefully very hard to make out against the dark sky. He still stayed relatively high up, so a stray look shouldn’t out him as anything more than a random bird in the night, perhaps startled by some monster in the forest. She conveyed a sense of approval for his actions, since he was sticking closely to the instructions she’d been giving him. It was also nice to have a high vantage point to look at the scene spread out below, although, in the darkness, there wasn’t that much she could see. Dark’s vision was good, but it still had its limits, and trying to make out details from this height at night would be asking a little much.

Then Regina took a deep breath and dove into the second originally foreign consciousness in her hive.

Although she’d already used Infect on this one several days ago, she felt like it was a longer and more complicated process to integrate it into the hive. She even caught herself thinking of the monster as an it instead of her, not like Dark, who she always called him. Like people did with their pets. But the still unnamed (she was going to ask the drones for help with this one, then at least Max couldn’t snark so much about it) new hive member was different than her little bird.

For one thing, she had already reached level 20. She was also a bit of a grumpier personality, if Regina had to put a finger on her experiences connecting to their minds, though not necessarily smarter. It had been a difficult fight to subdue her, although Regina had only watched it from a distance while Tim fought. The biggest difference was, of course, that the monster was a Mana Beast, a big monster about as different from Dark as you’d find. She resembled a large bear, though the head looked more feline, and the fur was a spotted brown and black color. Her sharp teeth and claws looked dangerous, but they were misleading.

Regina had wanted to get a second scout, but this little treasure had been too much of a temptation to resist. She was still keeping her last two slots open for hopefully sapient recruits, but with her new Swarm Drone type, she shouldn’t be missing out too much. The new minion was also one of the very few monsters she’d seen or heard about in the forest who was almost entirely focused on magic, something she definitely needed more of in her forces.

"It’s almost time,” Ben muttered quietly beside her.

Regina turned to look at him and nodded, slowing down even more. They would stop and lay in wait once they were a little bit farther. There had been discussion of staying in the forest to begin with, but they had decided that it was better to be closer. The stealth and illusion Skills and Spells they used, mostly coming from elven soldiers, should be enough to keep them undetected before the commotion started. And if not, they’d just lose a little bit of the advantage of surprise.

Regina glanced around, then focused on various other drones. Mia had stayed back. She was still in the process of becoming a Drone Engineer, not a Class that would do very well in a fight. Tia and the rest of what you could call the hive’s real leadership were here, though. She couldn’t see Ada, who was further out doing her thing, but most of the others stayed with other drones.

Regina hadn’t been out of the forest since the elves rescued her from the village, and it looked a lot different without a monster horde crawling over the fields, even at night. She kept her focus on the village, though. Regina would primarily be supporting the team they sent to take it, although her ability to instantly coordinate with her drones was too useful to forgo for the other part, too. They’d settled on doing simultaneous assaults on both the castle and the village pretty early in the planning. That way, there would be no risk of reinforcements coming from the other place to unexpectedly flank the attackers, and it would curtail the Cernlians’ ability to bring important assets or people out of the area. The more complicated planning and timing was worth it.

Or so Regina had been told, anyway. She wasn’t a strategist. She was trying to learn, but she still knew that Max, Tim and Ben had a much better intuitive grasp on strategy than she did.

Finally, Regina faintly felt a stir going through her psychic link at the same time as it did in the physical world. She stopped and dropped to her stomach, hiding herself in the long grass. She wore an old gambeson with long strips cut into its sides that would hopefully allow her to use her wings, but she didn’t even need the extra insulation. Then she focused on the link again and checked on the other drones who were closer to the fort.

They were doing much the same thing as the other group had, although they were spread out farther. The approach to the castle in the middle of the river would be much harder. They’d also determined that the strongest enemy fighters would be there, which meant that most of their own heavy hitters were assigned to it. That included Tim, who was leading the small number of hive drones assigned to this part. Regina dove deeper into his mind and felt him crouching low to the ground, keeping perfectly still.

Is there an issue on the other side? he asked her right away.

Regina really appreciated that her drones could directly talk back to her this way now. It still wasn’t easy or clear, and she used the general impression she got of his state of mind and focus in part to infer his meaning, but it was a lot better than them having to talk out loud.

No, I’m just checking in, she told him. Then they both fell silent and waited. It would not be long now. From Tim’s position, she actually had a better view of the soon to be battlefield. And more importantly, he was close to Anuis, who was essentially the overall commander of this operation.

After a time which she found difficult to determine, Regina watched Anuis stir through Tim’s eyes. The sky was noticeably lightening now, the first faint light of dawn starting to appear on the eastern horizon. “It’s time,” Anuis said softly. She glanced at Tim, who nodded to show they were ready. “Begin.”

Other elves passed on her order in a whisper. Then they started to move out. Regina watched long enough to make sure everything was going to plan, before she turned her attention elsewhere. She contacted several members of her hive, trying to pull them into a psychic conference, and passed on what she had just witnessed.

They still stayed motionless and silent for a while longer, lying down outside the village. The others would need more time in order to approach their target, and their element of surprise was more important to preserve than that of her group.

Regina didn’t have anyone in position to watch as the first elves sank into the water and started diving towards Forest’s Watch. There were no drones included in this part of the plan. This team had protection from river monsters because of an alchemical paste they’d smeared on their skin. It wouldn’t last long, but it would let them approach silently. Then they’d get started on the entrance. One of them was an Earth Mage, and the others had skills that would let them get through the gate or over the walls undetected. They couldn’t be sure that none of the defenders had a Skill like Danger Sense that might alert them to something going down, though, which made this one of the riskiest stages of the plan. Regina watched quietly as the rest of the strike team moved carefully closer to the fortress, preparing to support their comrades or take advantage of the opportunity they would create.

Then Ben whispered quietly, and sent another command through the link, a feeling that Regina amplified as much as she could. She waited for a moment to let Max go first, as he kept insisting on, then rose into a low crouch and started to make her way forward. Ada was watching their targets keenly, along with several others, and so far, there was no sign that any of the humans had detected them. The drones and the elves accompanying them crept forward quietly, only the soft rustle of grass breaking the silence over the field.

Regina quickly dove into her link to check on things. She was getting better at that, both at acting quickly and at getting a burst of information. She was also still moving. It gave her an idea of everyone’s position, and she could tell that they were all closing in on their objectives. She closed her eyes for a moment and focused on her mana sense. There was the faint tingle she’d learned was associated with Max’s shield, which he must have cast on her just after they left the forest. Beyond that, she could faintly sense a few magical signatures ahead. They were too far and she was too unskilled at it to make out much detail. But it did tell her there were at least a few people who could do some kind of magic among their enemies, as well as most likely a few magical artifacts, defensive enchantments or things like that. She wished she was more familiar with magic and what you could do with it.

Then a loud crash sounded from the direction of the castle. Out here, you barely heard it, and Regina wasn’t even sure if she was just imagining it based on the feedback from the drones closer by. They definitely heard it. She felt Tim freeze for an instant, before he looked at Anuis, all cold and professional again.

“Move in,” Anuis ordered in a clipped tone, no sign of surprise or dismay on her face.

Regina left Tim to his own actions and instead focused on the people around them. “Things are going down,” she whispered very quietly. This way, it would be easier to reach more drones quickly. “They’re moving on the attack. Let’s join in … now.”

She could only just make out the drones passing her words on to the elvish soldiers with them. Then Zoe started rushing forward, and the other drones and warriors followed. Regina heard Ben give a clipped command, and the War Drones moved out in front, ready to tank some damage for the sapient members of the strike team.

Regina herself stepped on her impatience and nerves and waited a second until she joined in the charge. This way, she was at the back of the middle part of their formation, if you could call it that. Max moved slightly ahead and to her left, in position to cover her against attacks. Ben had sped up a little and was in the thick of it, directing War Drones. His blade-arms seemed to glint in a stray bit of starlight.

Then Regina realized that it wasn’t the typical nightly illumination. Something started to light up the human village, and an instant later, it became a flash bright enough that it almost blinded her. She managed not to stumble or lose her step, using her other senses to guide her forward.

It almost looked like someone had set fire to the village. But after a moment, she realized they had probably lit several bonfires, which they might keep around in case of monster attacks or something. The extra light let her see the defenders, which were gathering at the corner where she and her first four drones had fought with the humans to hold off the monster horde what felt like ages ago.

Regina gripped the dagger she carried on her belt, slipping it out of its sheath, while she readied her magic. Her team was already very close to the village. Judging by the shouts rising up, they had been spotted, but that wouldn’t help the humans much now. She’d just have to make sure of that.

Zoe stopped for a moment, crouching down to present a smaller target, and threw something Regina couldn’t see very well. Then the brightness increased yet again as another flash erupted at the defensive position, shaking the shutters of the nearby houses.

Get them, Regina thought. The stealthy approach was over, now the real fight had begun.