Despite Regina’s concerns, it seemed pretty clear the gnomes weren’t going to march an army out and attack the hive right off the bat. Maybe they hadn’t been completely prepared, after all, or maybe they did want to let the hive come to them. She supposed that the timing of Bea and the others’ visit might not have been good for them. The gnomes hadn’t known they were coming, at least not far in advance, and if they were determined to strike before the group got back to the hive, that must have limited their options.

Unfortunately, that didn’t give her any indications about how long, exactly, the gnomes would take to get ready, or how far along they already were. And her efforts at surveillance didn’t contribute that much, either. Especially if she had to worry about single scouts or small units that the gnomes might be sending.

And yet, despite all of that, Regina still relaxed slightly. As eager as she was to get up close and personal with the gnomes and make them pay, she was content to wait until her hive had grown enough to secure victory. And it was growing rapidly.

Ray stayed with the elves, for now. He would be needed to coordinate their support efforts, and it was good to have a channel to talk to Enais and their government. Regina was even considering sending someone to the Cernlian rebels’ forces, although she wasn’t sure she really wanted to give them the ability to speak with her that easily. Especially since there would definitely be questions about how a hive ambassador actually communicated with their home.

Her increased range also meant she could send Winged Drones flying over a lot of territory that she estimated belonged to the Gnomish Confederation of the East. There were a few more above-ground cities, although none was easy to get to - even from the air, mostly - and she knew there would be more below ground. While the gnomes did happily trade with others, they didn’t like to let other races too deeply into their territory, and the elves weren’t very interested in that, either. Which made it hard to get anything like reliable information on their geography and numbers.

Right now, she was relying on Dark to give her the best intel. The little bird — which wasn’t so little anymore, since he had gained quite a few levels since she got him — was still their best scout, especially in regards to stealth. She’d already had him take a closer look at two other cities behind the one with the museum, although she’d also ordered the bird to be careful and not risk exposure. That limited what she could learn, but at least Regina was starting to get a better picture of the Confederation, its structure, and its infrastructure. Not to mention where and how it was using things like steam engines, since those were rather hard to hide.

The Confederation was big, a lot bigger than she’d truly realized. At the same time, it wasn’t really nearly as big as it could have been, in some respects. The terrain wasn’t particularly well suited to agriculture, although, naturally, a lot of its territory was still farmland. But given that they didn’t have anything like proper industrialization, a lot of the gnomes’ population was still bound up in agriculture. And the towns and cities she saw weren’t that huge, so judging from those, the land was a lot more sparsely inhabited than it had once been, too.

You’ve done good work, she told Dark, sensing his fatigue and small aches and pains accumulated over the long journey. Come back home, you’ve earned a rest.

The little bird responded with a surge of joy and a feeling of affectionate playfulness, like a bump with the head or maybe even a nip at her fingers. Regina chuckled to herself and sent the equivalent of ruffling his feathers while he turned around to head north.

Dark was pretty smart, and his time connected to the psychic link had clearly not done him any harm in that regard, either. Still, he was a long way from the Swarm Drones who’d gained sapience, and she didn’t think he ever really would. He had become quite good at using the psychic link’s communication, but he still wasn’t really up to more abstract concepts, and she knew his ability to understand her words was only due to their connection, to the meaning being psychically transported directly. Then again, they didn’t really need anything more than that.

It would take him a while to head home, so Regina turned her attention to other things in the meanwhile, though she made a mental note to check in with Dark regularly.

She’d been assembling a mental picture of the Confederation and the areas around and between it and the hive, adding information from her various scouts. Jem was very helpful in that regard, and using a Drone Keeper’s ability to channel information and knowledge and bind it into the hive’s link gave it a kind of solidity that it never could have had otherwise. It meant the map was available for other hive members to call upon, and add to, at least in principle. It still didn’t quite work perfectly and there were a few kinks to work out, but Jem was getting on top of it. Regina suspected this capability was going to be very useful when the time came to really wage war and fight battles, and Ben felt quite enthusiastic about it.

Regina also contacted Ken regularly, and at the same time, she pulled together as much information about the gnomes as she could get from him. Ida, another Keeper, was largely in charge of that effort, and the knowledge she was providing to everyone was very welcome. She had a knack for finding and analyzing details from even little evidence, like glimpses Ken caught of gnomish soldiers in the city. Her analysis of the outpost Janis and the others traveled through had also given Ben quite a lot to use, even if it did mean Regina had to detail several Winged Drones to go back and take a closer look at it from above, and they lost over half of them. Still, that was more than worth it … hopefully.

Regina was just stepping out of her rooms and considering whether she should call another meeting to discuss their intelligence efforts and its bounty when she got a System notification she’d been waiting for.

You have leveled up

She smiled to herself as she went outside. Her leveling had been slowed drastically in the last few months, probably because she had reached the third Tier. But it seemed to have sped up a bit now. Maybe it also had something to do with how she’d been managing and growing her hive, and now that she had started to expand furiously again, she got more Experience? She hoped she’d reach the next two levels quickly, in either case.

On the other hand, once the fighting started, Experience should come in rapidly, anyway.

Regina shook her head to dismiss her musings and called her System status screen to check her stats.

Regina Hive Queen Level: 43 Mana: 7467/18000 Hive: 234/435, 0 Swarm: 20870/80000, 1000 Con: 15 Str: 14 Dex: 16 End: 17 Int: 27 Wis: 26

Regina frowned thoughtfully. Even before she’d started sending out more Drone Breeders, she’d had about twenty thousand drones. There’d only been time for a few hundred new drones from those efforts, it just hadn’t had enough time to bear fruit yet.

And it wasn’t like every drone she had was combat-capable, far from it. A large percentage was still Production Drones, which she definitely wouldn’t send into battle. And Regina knew she needed numbers, or at least, she felt comfortable with those.

In any conventional engagement, she’d need to outnumber her opponent heavily. Her War Drones were at a significant disadvantage to any gnomish soldiers they’d face in terms of stats, and probably even levels. Not to mention that they didn’t have armor or weapons, beyond what they were born with.

Even an army of ten thousand, which she could easily manage, probably sounded big to a native of this place and time. But it definitely didn’t to Regina. She knew the gnomes had a much larger population than that, and probably larger armed forces, as well. If they were really serious about this — and they’d have to be, sooner or later — they could put a lot more people under arms, she was sure about that.

Of course, Regina didn’t intend to rely on numbers, even if she didn’t want to depend exclusively on technological toys. She’d already seen how much some semi-modern explosives could wreak havoc with a medieval-ish army, even with the System. But that had been a relatively small conflict, with a relatively small battle, and it hadn’t involved underground territory or anything. And for that matter, the gnomes were clearly a bit more advanced than the local humans.

She looked up at the sky as she walked through the streets of her hive’s main base, frowning at the gathering clouds. It looked like there might be heavy rain this night, perhaps even a thunderstorm. That would probably be good for the plants, at least, but it might be an issue for her Winged Drones. Well, there was nothing to be done about it, and a little rain wouldn’t hinder them too much, anyway.

Regina kept walking quickly, passing the improvised fields and orchards — all overgrown with the ‘weeds’ which formed a main food source for the hive — and then the secondary training field. They had several of those scattered around now, but this one was supplied with weapons racks and even some tools and barricades for testing more destructive weapons. She paced past one side for a while, watching a few Warriors drilling a swarm of War Drones. There was a limit to what they could do without actual enemies to fight, though, and she wasn’t sure how well this would hold up in battle. Then again, getting the sapient and Swarm Drones used to working with each other, coordinating, taking and implementing orders, was worth it in its own right.

After a while, Regina moved away, turning her attention once more to the scouts she’d set in place. The weather front was coming in quickly now, it had already reached the Winged Drones furthest to the east, although it was still just a threat on the horizon for those more to the southwest.

Regina focused in on Dark, watching the little bird fly back to her hive at a speed few hive drones could have matched. He was taking a relatively direct route, and there was always the possibility of gnomish scouts or outposts spotting him. Although in the growing darkness and given his stealth abilities, they’d need to be extraordinarily lucky just to see him, never mind actually attacking.

Regina started heading back out towards the main training ground and the ‘hatchery’ area where the local Drone Breeders were stationed, before she paused. She was just about to close the connection to Dark’s mind, but something caught her attention. She wasn’t immediately sure what, it had probably been something in her subconscious that noticed some sign of alarm.

But she hadn’t come this far by ignoring her instincts, especially where psychic stuff was concerned. So Regina slowed down, closed her eyes, and diverted more attention to her little scout. After a moment, she also ordered him to slow down and turn around. She didn’t find anything at first, but she kept at it.

There. It had taken a while for her to locate because it was so faint, and Dark had already moved past the source. The contact was also moving. But now that she’d caught on and focused, she could tell there were foreign minds here.

Nothing was visible, and even Dark’s keen ears couldn’t hear any noise that shouldn’t have been there. His sense for mana, rudimentary as it was, didn’t catch anything, either. But Regina had means of detection not limited to any of those senses, and to her, they were clearly present. They were strong minds, focused and steady. Definitely not some stealthy wildlife.

Gnomes. Regina scowled. It couldn’t be anyone else, not out here, and not hidden like this. Probably elites, she concluded. High-level fighters with good Skills. I was watching for raiding parties, but I didn’t think of something like this. Well, a good thing I sent scouts out, I guess.

She shook her head and headed back inside the building, fleeing the first scattering of raindrops. Then she opened her mind to more of her hive, contacting many of them and pulling them together into the equivalent of a conference call.

Dark just helped me spot some visitors on his way back, she informed them. I’m expecting gnomish raiders, probably quite strong ones.

What did you find, my Queen? Ben asked, his mind suddenly focused with sharp-edged intensity.

She shared the rough sensation she’d gotten, although she knew it would be difficult for her drones to understand, since they lacked the psychic capabilities she had. This seems to be just one squad, but there are probably more, she continued. I’m sending more scouts out, but we, I, may miss some of them. It’s probably best to assume the worst in this case.

I’ll recall those on the outer perimeter in that direction and anyone else they might try to pick off, Ben said.

Send at least a few Swarm Drones out to scout more intensively, though, Tim said. Any bit of information they can get would be valuable. It’s probably best not to let them know we’ve already spotted them, though.

Regina smiled slightly as she listened to her commanders reacting and strategizing. I have every confidence you will handle this well, she said. Make your preparations, and hurry. Unless I miss my guess, we’ll have the first real battle of this war soon.

Even if it’s just a small skirmish, Max commented with a dash of humor.

We’ll provide them with a warm welcome, either way, my Queen, Ben promised.

Good. Regina hissed softly, a sound lost to the rain and wind. I’m looking forward to it.