Regina had canceled most of her meetings for the day. Of course, that just meant there were new ones that had sprung up, owing to the present situation. But she had given herself a lot of quiet time, and made extra sure she would not be disturbed when Madris and her group actually infiltrated Prekan.

Now that things had settled somewhat, for the moment, she ceased focusing on her psychic senses and instead turned her full attention to the world around her.

This time, she wasn't sitting quietly on her bed in her bedroom or anything. Instead, she was in a conference room with several of her closest advisors and some officers who weren't currently needed elsewhere. As well as the few drones she'd summoned from Prekan. They didn't strictly need to be here, but she liked keeping them where she could see them right now.

For now, she stretched a bit, ignoring people's looks, before she updated them on the situation again. Several other drones in the room were also doing that, as they talked over the psychic link to drones in Prekan, of course.

"We've heard from the ambassador, Your Imperial Majesty." One of the aides that went in and out of the room had passed a message to Daine, and he looked up now. "Elakand is grateful for our alliance and more than happy to grant our soldiers safe passage across their lands. They've stated they are willing to help. In fact, they would welcome deployments of Imperial soldiers, to assure everyone's safety. And the Prince has expressed willingness to travel to Cera to assure you of his intentions in person."

Regina smiled. Prekan didn't directly border Esemen, although it didn't make much of a difference. The strip of land separating them wasn't too large. But the country it belonged to, Elakand, was clearly not making the same decision Prekan had. It sounded like they were trying to assure their safety instead. The ruler was probably not just coming because he wanted to talk to her; that Cera was far from the fighting was a happy coincidence, she was sure. It seemed they were trying to get in good with the Empire, though. They would probably also try to talk to the Esemen. Not that she was necessarily opposed to someone playing intermediary and possibly helping to calm the situation.

"Extend my compliments to the ambassador." She turned to her own aides. "Come up with an appropriate gift for me, please?"

"Of course, my Queen," Tio nodded. He was one of Ira's mentees and had quickly proved he was good at organizing things. Few people cared that he was technically a Shooter.

"And we should schedule an audience with him for later," she added. There was a lot of diplomacy to be conducted, she couldn't leave all of it to her subordinates.

"I suggest hosting a state dinner for the envoys and important visitors from the eastern countries," Ira spoke up. "It might be good to get a sense of them as a group instead of only dealing with them individually, and giving them attention will be appreciated."

Regina nodded. "See to it. We can make time tomorrow, I'm sure."

There was a short silence as several other people also made some mental reconfigurations to take account of these developments. Regina was grimly certain she would not have time for much else today or the following days, and she'd be lucky if she got enough time to sleep.

Still, she couldn't be too annoyed. She was just relieved that they had finally rescued June and Edmund and her drones. Well, for a given value of 'rescued', of course; they were still there and they might still have to fight again.

"What's our overall progress?" she asked. "Give me a brief status update."

She could have just looked in the psychic link, and had done that before, but getting a summary and their take on it would still be worthwhile.

"The castle in Prekan's capital has been fully secured and is under our control," Ben reported. "Unfortunately, our garrison strength, so to speak, is still low. It would be hard to hold it against a dedicated assault. We simply have too much need of soldiers everywhere. The city is not what I would call entirely secured yet, although we do have overall control. There is no resistance of note at the moment. We will need to deal with the local institutions; there are quite a few local nobles, trade guilds, and the like that have private guards. They seem to have accepted our occupation for now, but we do need to set up a proper administrative structure, even a temporary one."

"We're working on it," Regina replied. "Please go on."

"Our mobilization is progressing as planned," he reported with a hint of pride. "We will be able to move the full corps we have planned and simultaneously move the corresponding troops up to guard the border by the next few days. It will drastically cut into our available pool of flying drones, so we are moving troops by road in several steps and iteratively where possible. The divisions sent to reinforce the northeast report only minor delays. The gnomes report they have fully called up their eastern forces and will move into position to support us.

"Madris and Tim have been leading two groups out to chase after King Stephen and the Order of the Sun Temple' men. They've met up with a strike force of dark elves. Unfortunately, as they had to secure the castle and find the tunnel first, the enemy has got a notable head start. They're getting very close to the border with Esemen."

Regina nodded. She could faintly sense the mood in the room shift. She had already moved a few Drone Breeders into positions closer to the border, or at least to their key logistics nodes set up to support operations in the region, and had them making more flying drones. It was always going to happen. They might have had to reorient a little, but the Imperial military had made a lot of plans and they were prepared. Ben's progress showed that.

She'd still hoped to avoid an actual military confrontation, had hoped to simply get June and the others out quietly, but it was clear that attempt had failed. Maybe it had never been a realistic option. Not if her enemies sent their best Order fighters and Helen to bring them to territory that was firmly under the gods' influence. Regardless, now that they were on this path, they would wage this war properly, show their strength, hopefully minimize disruption to the civilian life of the small kingdom, and make sure they were prepared for the larger conflict to come.

Regina was more concerned about King Stephen and his supporters apparently escaping. It didn't sound like her people still had much hope of catching them. She could feel the gazes of several people in the room on her. There was a bit of tension in the air, and she knew they wondered how it would go; would she risk pressing into Esemen if their quarry crossed the border?

There was still no official alliance between Esemen and the Western Confederation. But at this point, everyone probably figured they had a secret alliance. That shouldn't be much of a thing here, but they weren't limited to the medieval playbook. There was probably a treaty with some secret agreements in place. Getting into a war with one nation would mean a war with both.

For now, Regina refused them an answer and instead focused on the details she could affect, mostly regarding their military movements and how to handle the territory they were now occupying in Prekan. Over the psychic link, she set large groups of drones in motion. Swarm Drones especially still sometimes reacted better if a command came from her, unless the Hive member giving the order was actually present. It was hardly a large concern, but she figured she might as well do it.

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A few minutes later, someone else she had asked for in the course of her efforts to address the situation was shown in. Now that the gnomes were joining the Empire, Marianne Neralt had little to do, and she'd been recalled to the capital for now. Last Regina heard, she'd been a bit restless. This should do fine. Regina glanced around, but she figured she didn't have secret orders that the people present here shouldn't hear, so she simply waved the lady over.

"My Empress." The older lady knelt before her.

"You may rise," Regina said, wondering at that. Everyone had seemed a bit more formal today. She'd never punished anyone for not showing enough reverence to her, unless they were actually acting disrespectfully. It meant this sort of thing was mostly up to the people to decide what they considered appropriate. She knew it would be stupid to stop them from these obeisances, of course; trying that would undermine her position. Not that she really wanted to, it was a useful social signal.

"My congratulations on the victory against Prekan and the rescue of Princess June and her companions," Neralt said, also inclining her head at Kiara, who was looking over from where she sat on the other side of the room at another small table. "How may I serve you?"

"Thank you," Regina responded, not particularly surprised she was aware of that. The rumor was probably starting to spread and Marianne was well-informed. "I have another task for you, now that you have served the Empire so admirably with the gnomes, Lady Marianne. I would make you military governor of the area of Prekan we have under occupation."

The woman hid her surprise well, at least outwardly. "I am honored, Your Imperial Majesty. I will do my best to meet your expectations."

"Of course. I have the highest confidence in you. Although I will be available to help if there are any issues, of course. I will be keeping a close eye on the area for now."

Regina didn't say that she was the obvious pick. Marianne had experience with the Esemen and the gnomes, and had at least started to make contacts with the dark elves in Icnes Oliren's embassy. Being a human would make some things easier with the locals, but she'd also shake things up a little.

"May I ask what this role will entail? I am not an officer of the military."

"You will need to coordinate closely with the Imperial military in the area, of course. Particularly with their commanding officers, and perhaps the general staff. You will also be working with an elected council we are preparing to set up. The idea is that, if we remain in possession of the territory, this council will gradually be given the power of government. For now, you will be the highest authority directing administration of the region. The army will assist, including enforcing martial law, curfews where appropriate and the like."

She inclined her head. "I see. I will strive to discharge my duties well, My Empress. I assume I am also to act as a diplomatic representative for the Empire?"

"Yes, exactly," Regina nodded, pleased that she understood. The Imperial official in charge there would be a natural diplomatic point of contact. There would be drones present to link them into the psychic network, of course, so any important messages or proposals would still reach her quickly.

"For now, please take a seat," she added, waving her into a chair. "We must discuss the military situation."

And that they did, for the next hour or so. There was a lot to be considered. Regina knew Ben and some of his most senior officers were treating this a little like a warm-up exercise, or a test for their coming war. Personally, she was also interested in their weak points. She could already see it was an issue that the rail lines weren't completed yet. There were some, of course, but hardly the network spanning the whole of the Empire that she wanted. It would have simplified their troop movements a lot, and also their logistics. As it was, the soldiers still had to move into Prekan on foot, mounted, or with limited flying drones, though at least the reinforcements could be moved up more quickly using the finished rail connections in eastern Cernlia. It meant the forces gathered around Cera would be lightened, still, but that was fine. Transport of food and other equipment, especially ammunition, also had to be organized.

And of course, Regina had to make sure that all of these plans didn't expose the existence and importance of the new excavation site and ruins they'd found. Ben had positioned some units nearby, close enough to defend the site, under the justification of a defensive node to protect the eastern part of Cernlia.

Finally, after they'd hashed out more of the plan, settled details and discussed some updates, Regina felt Tim contacting her again. She held up a hand and leaned back, closing her eyes as a signal that she was focused on the psychic link.

I'm sorry, My Queen, he apologized to start with. We're coming up on the border. I've had flying drones watching the area all along, but they haven't gone back up above ground. Our new allies admitted there were tunnels going right up to the border territories, I assume they've followed one to the end. And it's possible that the Esemen have actually expanded them from their side.

She could sense Tim's group, still in some tunnels meters under the ground. Dark elf scouts had shown them the way, but the passage was cramped, requiring them to go single-file, and their progress had been slowed. Madris was still a bit further away, detouring to avoid some features of the terrain. There were several crossings of the tunnels behind them, and maybe more ahead.

Regina pinched the bridge of her nose. When this is over, ask Madris to talk to them about collapsing their tunnels. We can't afford to give our enemies a road leading straight to our territory to attack us with. For now …

She paused, thinking. There was at least one psychic with the fleeing king and Order fighters, probably two, since unfortunately they'd taken the other one in their retreat as well as Helen. They were probably in contact with people in Esemen. It might also help to explain how they'd navigated the tunnels so easily. Unless it was straight-up a divine gift of information. Something still didn't add up, and she made a note to look into it. It seemed unlikely that they'd managed to map out all these tunnels without alerting the dark elves. She'd ask Madris later, but the dark elves had known people were in the tunnels and sent their own strike force; they probably had sentries, magical alarms, or something. The more likely explanation was a traitor among the dark elves who'd given info to the Esemen, King Stephen, or the Order of the Sun Temple.

Regardless, for now, it meant Esemen would be prepared. They were probably already mustering forces at their border. The flying drones had picked up increased activity and had also seen movements of people further away. They were focused on the border area and the land leading up to it for now, so they hadn't seen any details of what was going on further inland, but still …

You need to turn back, Regina concluded, unhappily. I might risk the diplomatic escalation, but if they have soldiers waiting for you, you risk being ambushed with superior forces.

I understand, Tim replied. She could see he was also frustrated, but he understood her reasoning. Should I also ask our guides about the information? He'd clearly picked up on her thought.

Regina shook her head. Ask Madris instead, discreetly. I'm not sure who we can trust. Although — I'll ask her if she can go after our enemies discreetly. We can at least watch where they go and what they do. We'll send a few flying drones as well.

She withdrew from Tim and turned her focus to other people, informing several other drones, before she sent a few orders to the flying drones with their advance force. This was already stretching her range pretty thin; if they went much farther, she wouldn't be able to see much. But even Swarm Drones, especially higher-level ones, were smart enough to follow orders to go somewhere, observe, and then return. And she had a few Keepers who were good at getting information from their minds and putting it in the psychic link.

Regina watched as several of them split from their flocks and ascended. They would be flying very high, hopefully escaping detection from the Esemen, or at least not being shot down as easily.

Then she searched for her mentor's mind, to ask another favor. She was tempted to request that Madris attempt to kidnap Helen or King Stephen — she'd shown she could do things like that before, after all — but she'd restrain herself. The risk was high, especially since they still didn't know what sort of abilities or protection the Champion had. But at least Madris could watch.

Pretty soon, Regina might send soldiers marching this way. Well, for now, she certainly needed to ensure the tunnels were guarded.

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