Omega Scout was a little torn. She wanted to go outside and scout out the surrounding hexes since they were making a home here, but there may be ways of extracting that data already here, she did have access to a memory copying machine. She requested that Doctor Omega Get the schematic for the machine so that she didn't need to hunt down one of the machines and eat it.

Her other desire was to consolidate power. For that she first needed to talk with the ant queens, they agreed to work with her fairly quickly after she killed the old head Queen, but the zombie horde attacking cut their conversation short, Ant Queens are fraking serious about attacks on the nest.

So, for now, she would do both. She headed for the Queens while making plans for her own memory scanner and a teleporter.

The most important elements of the original memory scanner were a steel latticework crown, with various attachments, and the large machine to act as a memory storage system. She purchased a Large soul gem from Holly to act as the memory storage medium, this one only had room for 20 full souls, but since she was only making a copy of parts of a mind and soul she estimated it could fit the data from 100 people of the Orc Chefs level. she then replaced all the electrodes with a single nanite injector, as her nanites were better at interfacing with foreign flesh than some silly looking electrode hat. This meant that any piece of headgear, or any gear, could infect a target with her nanites and allow her to peruse their skills. She had to include a condition that a full memory scan was only available to willing faction members for the system to not register her new device as a weapon. But she could still learn to copy the abilities of enemies by infecting them with her nanites and watching them use the ability, or just from studying their body, depending on if she is trying to copy a natural ability or someones learned skills. So she could learn to copy an infected non-faction members blacksmithing skill as he worked his forge, but not look at his memories of learning the craft. While faction members could upload skills for the rest of the faction to learn if they wanted to spend the XP on it.

She stopped in her tracks, surprised by the revelation. That was the key to using this tech to make their faction strong, skill-sharing.

Normally a person with unspent XP naturally puts those points into an ability they use. So the blacksmith from the previous example that is not apart of the faction may earn 100 Xp for completing a big order, then those points get split between Strength, Endurance, and Intelligence for stats and their smelting and smithing skills as they work on their next order. Most people can't even see their unspent Xp value, or how much Xp they currently have invested in a skill, stat or power. they just see the results when a skill or stat levels up. Her System Integration Skill allowed her to check some hidden metadata like that. But she could then display that value her nanites see to the infected faction members, then they can buy a skill or ability from a list of currently uploaded skills or abilities they qualify for.

Misuse and lack of understanding of these hidden stats actually explained why the scientists deleted the memories of her that they stole: the memories were tied to the Xp they stole from her, and when they used the machine to give themselves stolen skills, They were taking that Xp out of the computer just like they took it out of her.

Her rework of the system was not stealing the XP though, just copying the skill, which she had originally done so that she was not handing out personal memories with the skill info, as well as to save data storage space. This meant someone needed to use their unspent Xp on buying the skills they wanted, and by making the skills cost 10% more than their actual Xp value, she can have the system build a pool of unused Xp so that she can grant skills as quest rewards or in emergencies even if the person does not have enough unspent Xp of their own for it at the time.

Her mind was abuzz with the possibilities of this addition to their new system as she entered the Queen's prison cell in the core of the hive.

She was not purposefully keeping the remaining Queens prisoner, it was more that, the chamber had been designed that way. Each Queens’ rear end was stuck into the wall behind them so that workers in the egg chamber behind them can collect eggs as they are laid without actually interacting with the prisoner queens. The queens were each fed by a balloon looking honey pot ant storage ant known as a replete, hanging from the ceiling. Each replete was so bloated with food that their abdomen looked like a large jar full of sugary liquid, each a different colour too, based on whatever substance the honey pot repletes had been stuffed with.

Omega had to wonder where the colony got enough food. These were huge ants, and the wasteland hex outside did not seem like it could sustain a 5 or 6 queen colony as it did. The small version of these honeypot ants that existed before the apocalypse would store flower nectar or aphid cow excretions, some just with water and a few with prey bodily fluids in these large replete ants, living food storage to keep the colony sterile. Some people would eat them whole, natures candy. The biggest of these apocalypse honey pot ants was full of blue goo, and its gaster was swollen to the size of a large van while the normal-looking ant section was in the large dog to small pony size range, impressive it could stay up there.

The Queens, however, were each the size of a transport Truck. The biggest being the honeypot queen, and the smallest a prisoner Amazon ant Queen and while they were stuck, they could still reach up to get food from the storage ant above them as needed. It was a simple and effective system, the replete ants are too dumb to do anything other than feed or be fed, to the point where they are even kidnapped by other colonies sometimes.

The Old Amazon Ant Queen who had been keeping these 5 queens here prisoner would have had to lead/carry the repletes in and out of the huge cell, but this way she could keep her prisoners fed and laying, without the risk of them getting control of their workers back. The prisoner Amazon queen could even do her laying for her, probably a daughter captured after her nuptial flight. Omegas examinations of the Queen she had killed showed that the organs used to mimic the scent of other colonies were severely overdeveloped on this one, explaining how she could dominate 4 other colonies. Also, the new Organs that allowed the Giant ant Queens to communicate telepathically with each other and with other sapient life were mutated as well, probably allowing for psionic attacks. Omega Scout's mind was too dispersed to be easily attacked by a creature using instinct more than skill to target it. So, that probably explained why it had seemed so shocked by how easily she kicked the Queen's ass after it decided to forgo diplomacy, the formic acid spray had been more of a threat to Omega, but it was still a gentle rain compared to the acidic gas Sydney, the Lab’s AI, had hit Doctor Omega with.

Then she had found the prisoner Queens, offered them jobs, then had to run to battle the zombies before she could debrief them. So she was excited to learn to run the colony alongside them.

She was also surprised to find them still stuck in the wall, why hadn't they got workers to dig them out? The large cell area was not sealed off from the rest of the colony, there was even a stream or workers going in and out and trying to clean the Queens, The Honey pot queen seemed especially annoyed by this, trying to shoo her own worried workers away.

“Why are you all still stuck in here? I thought you would all be relieved to be free?” Omega Scout both projected mentally to the Queens and said out loud. Psionic communication was new too, so saying it out loud helped even if she doubted the ants understood spoken Common.

The queens gave each other looks that Omega could not yet read. apparently, Giant Psionic Ant body language was not basic information.

The Vampire Ant queen pushed herself forward a bit so that I could tell she was the one speaking telepathically ‘Greetings, my Queen, I am Low-Queen Evangeline’ The Queen Surprised Omega Scout by bowing ‘We were not sure if you would want us to leave, we also have personal effects that we worry the workers will try to clean away, the poor dears don't really take complex instructions well’

Omega nodded before using the pheromone override function of the nanites to makes the workers leave, no longer able to detect the distressed queens, and detecting urgent work needing to be done elsewhere.

The honeypot Ant Queen visibly relaxed, before saying: ‘Thank you, my Queen, I am Low-Queen Sugar Bottom’

Omega furrowed her brow “What's with all this low-queen nonsense? You are Queen Ants, not like some human title that can be stripped from you”

The Amazon Ant Queen Came forward this time ‘I am Low-Queen Calamity. The Tyrant Queen, My mother, made us address ourselves as low-queens, we produce young, we don't rule.’

Omega was exasperated now “yeah, well I am your boss now, so none of this self-deprecating low-queen nonsense. I need you guys to run the colony for me, I am not an ant, and I know better than to micromanage something your instincts can probably do a better job of. Heck, I don't even know how you feed a colony of this many large ants.”

The Leafcutter Queen looked to Queen Sugar bottom before she spoke next ‘Thank you, my Queen, I am Queen Rosalie.’ she paused for a second to enjoy calling herself a Queen without fear ‘My colonies Workers must have a large cavern turned into a mushroom farm that can process waste, plant matter, or any other kind of biological product into little sugary polyps that my workers harvest, then store excess in the Honey pot ants. However, you are correct that there was an additional way that the tyrant queen obtained Food’

Before Omega could ask for more detail the last queen, The Bullet Ant Queen jumped in ‘Can I introduce myself before you go throwing Sugar bottoms pet under the wagon. I am Queen Tempesta, and if we are full queens, what does that make you? A Queen of Queens?’

Once again before Omega could respond with an answer for the intense Bullet Queen, Or Question the Leafcutter Queen about this other food source and what it has to do with a pet another voice answered the Bullet Ant Queen Tempestas question about what to call a queen of queens. “An Empress”

The voice, out loud, in common, belonged to something hiding mostly covered by queen sugar bottoms… well, bottom. The queen sheepishly moved to allow Omega and the hidden woman, or person with a feminine voice, to get out of the hidey-hole.

A young boy climbed out before helped an older woman drag herself out of the hole, An Older Woman missing both her legs, and the boy was missing his right arm, and his left foot, now that Omega got a good look. She could not tell if these injuries affected them as much as they would a human, though she suspected not, as the boy had a limp from walking on the stump, but did not seem to be in the pain a human boy would be in from such a crippling injury. And the Woman dragged used her arms to do a walking drag kind of motion that was somehow fairly dignified despite her dirty appearance.

Also, they were both made of candy.

The boys ‘flesh’ looked like a partially eaten jawbreaker, hard, and with layers of different colours visible along with his injuries, he had a hard-eyed stare like he was ready to die fighting Omega, even though he looked like a boy of between 5 and 8. He set himself in between Omega and the crippled Older Lady and drew a makeshift club made from a broken ants mandible, his stance was a joke, his weapon useless. But Omega liked his fucking grit.

The Woman seemed like royalty, she had an air of dignity and grace that must be the result of massively impressive scores in more than one social skill. Her gown was barely enough rags to cover herself, she looked tired, hungry scared, and a bit like she was ready to defend Queen Sugar Bottom for hiding her.

“Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh, that explains why you are all so obsessed with the royal titles even though you are Ants, you ladies have a candy queen to teach you how to act royal” Omega Said, nodding to herself

Everyone looked a bit shocked, Omega Scout was getting better at examining the ant's body language. And the royal deserts acted like people, even if they were a new species from Omega's perspective, there was still less of a learning curve to reading them.

“Well then, Queen Candy lady, would you and… you will have to forgive me for assuming, your son. Like to Join the Nightmare swarm faction? It wouldn't be fair to leave you out after inviting these 5 fine Queens.” she spoke both out loud, and mentally, to ensure everyone could still understand her fine.

It took a while to get the story from the desert queen, Queen Crème Brûlée. Just like her namesake dessert, she had a hard burnt sugar skin, and soft gooey insides. The Tyrant ant Queen had discovered that a portal to a candy kingdom opens outside the candy shoppe on the surface, once a month she would send a horde of ants to strip the lands around the portal of every candy based creature and plant in the area.

Normally people from the candy kingdom knew when these portals open, and avoid the rampaging Ants, even going so far as to dump large quantities of sugary trash in the hex with the ants portal for them to dispose of.

So when the General Candycorn started a coup and killed the king, he also claimed that the Queen and Prince escaped when in reality, he dumped their crippled bodies in with the trash for the ants to dispose of. Luckily for the Queen and her son, they were able to play dead and the ants carried them to the Tyrant queen as food, the Tyrant, being too lazy to properly care for the other queens, dumped a pile of candy in for them to eat or feed to their Honey pots.

When Queen Sugar bottom had tried to eat the other queen, she had been surprised to find that not only was she still alive, and able to talk, she managed to get across that they should not eat her because she was a fellow queen, she was the one to eventually teach them to understand the common language, and about what it means for other species to be queens.

This also meant she was the one to convince the others that if all 6 of them were queens in her employ that automatically made Omega an Empress. Omega Tried TO argue, but before she could say more than “now wait, I don't wanna be an…..” the system Interrupted.

Congratulations! 4 or more system Registered Queens have accepted your Rule and declared you their Empress. New System Designation: ++Nanotech Golem-Swarm Empress "Omega" B(6)