Regina cursed the distance between her current location and the army. The psychic link was stretched thin, and it was hard to get a sense of everyone there. Especially the people further out, in the forward sections.

She also cursed the fact that she was currently in the air, and Queen's Summons didn't come with an allowance for differences in altitude. It did cancel out momentum, apparently — Ada had no downward momentum when she appeared, but obviously, she quickly started falling again. Seeing as she'd appeared in thin air just beside Regina, who was riding a flying drone.

Luckily, before she could panic, Thor swooped down. He had to take a tight turn and actually reverse direction for a bit, but he got it. It helped that one of the others must have used a Skill to slow Ada's fall. Regina reached up and pulled her onto Thor's back with her. It knocked the air from her lungs and she could sense that Ada was also a bit shaken, but they managed. Ada clung tightly to her back — by necessity, since there wasn't much room, but Regina could tell it was also reassuring her.

Alright? Regina asked both of them. Thor, do you need to land?

No, my Queen, he answered promptly. I'm strong enough to carry two people. Ada, are you okay?

I'm fine, she said. That was a little disorienting. We were attacked by two enemy champions! What about the rest of my force?

Regina focused on the psychic link again, finding the answer. The fall had distracted her, but the two attackers were already gone, and Janis was trying to assess the situation.

And she wasn't the only one affected. It didn't take either of them long to notice that Ada and her forward company was not the only target. Others were also under attack. Regina tried to mentally zoom out and get a picture of the situation. Most of their forces operating in the vanguard — distributed over a wide area — were hit. Specifically, their commanding officers. It was a confused jumble and the distance didn't help.

Slow down! Regina called to the others around her, briefly focusing on her surroundings again. There's been attacks. We're altering our route.

Unfortunately, she couldn't just detour to the north. While she had only taken some guards and a few senior hive members and members of her inner circle along, they were not a small group, and they had plans and obligations. But there were detours and then there were detours. In the psychic link, Regina sketched a new route for them, mentally prodding her companions to change course. It would bring them further north, and they might even stop at the furthest point. At least that should make her a little better positioned to help.

Regina checked on Janis first, aware she was the most valuable target. Luckily, it seemed the attacks hadn't reached this far. Janis was close to the center of the actual army, even if she was only surrounded by the soldiers of a headquarters unit right now. Getting to her would be hard. But Jay had taken no chances, and made them hunker down in the most defensible location around. This happened to be a minor keep the Empire had just won from the locals.

Janis clearly noticed Regina's attention right away and didn't hesitate. We've lost a few people, she said grimly. Most of their strikes seem to have succeeded. They were very targeted, and the enemy relied on stealth and surprise. Dan's team killed one. Dan himself is heavily wounded.

Regina swallowed heavily. That summary was very concerning. She focused on the psychic link and their commanders more closely. Eight attacks — at least twelve Champions involved. That's crazy, by previous standards, she thought distantly.

Four of her senior officers had been killed, two humans and two drones. As mentioned, Dan was heavily wounded. So was Dustin, a colonel who'd been in the south with him. Owin had gotten off relatively light, and she'd personally rescued Ada.

Chase and Lea were dead. She had lost two more drones. Two children.

Regina still remembered how Chase had gained sapience, one of the first Swarm Drones to ever do so, and how Lea had hatched, one of her first Shooters, when the hive had still been really small. She hadn't really been close to them, they hadn't spent much time together, even if they were senior members of the hive. Still, the thought of it made her so angry she just wanted to turn Thor around and go north to fight personally, and seeing their bodies through the eyes of others in the psychic link made her pulse roar in her ears.

Instead, she contacted Gale, Len and the others who'd been close to them. They were shocked and grieving, and they deserved to have her support while they did.

She also checked on Dan. He had several broken bones, a stab wound that had reached his liver and a burn on his face, but he was already being attended to by the healers. They assured Regina that there were no complications and he'd make a full recovery soon. The professional part of her agreed, even if she felt like fretting.

Still, she also kept an eye on the information being collected about the attack and the Champions who'd carried it out. Any details could be helpful, not only to work on individual threat assessment profiles, but also to collate expected powers and limits to champions of the gods as well.

Unfortunately, not all of their System notifications had been seen and could be reported by someone, but enough did to make it clear that these attackers probably had mostly divine-related Classes; offshoots of priests, paladins and the like. That was interesting for several reasons. It was unlikely that they could consistently give these champions the respective Classes in a normal Class Progression, especially since many had to have been chosen recently, unless they deliberately picked people who were close to the Threshold. It seemed more likely that they'd mostly chosen people who already had divine-related Classes like that. That also made sense, since the gods would probably trust their priests to act according to their will more than others.

Well, unless they'd all just gained so many levels so quickly that it didn't matter. Which was a concerning prospect. Those Champions her people had seen seemed to be quite high-level, though most actually didn't have a visible level since the people who'd seen them (long enough to pull up the System notification) were lower level.

Regardless, the army's advance had ground to a half for the moment as they sorted out the aftermath of the attacks. No one knew if they would be repeated. Jay and the others responsible for security had already intensified their security measures, and new measures and spot-checks were being instituted. Of course, those might or might not catch anything.

I don't think they can just do this at will, Janis said as they discussed the aftermath, that evening. It was late, but neither of them would get much sleep. Simply penetrate our defenses as they will and assassinate commanders, I mean. They clearly coordinated these attacks, when it would have been easier to just do something like this constantly. It looks like they didn't want to waste the chance. And they waited until we were ostensibly beyond your range.

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I suppose, Regina mused. I might have caught them if I had actually been looking for them at all. We will need to move more psychics in the army, they could at least help defend against further attacks. But we would also be giving them more targets.

I know. Janis sighed. June is going to insist on joining the army now.

Regina gave a mental headshake. I don't think I can stop her, but I'll assign her to you. Take care of her?

Of course. Kiara would kill me if I let anything happen to her, anyway.

Regina winced slightly, but decided not to say anything. Instead, she changed the topic to discuss their current progress.

They couldn't let this stop them. She and Janis were both aware of that. Their momentum stalling out would be a major problem. Regina didn't like that it meant the army would advance further into the Western Confederation, out of her range, which would hinder their response to further attacks, but they'd already been planning for that and this wasn't enough to dissuade her. It couldn't be, she knew the strategic situation and the advantages they would get from being on the offensive. Not to mention that she didn't want to risk getting bogged down or having the tables turned, anyway.

We may have to do some reorganization, she finally said, thinking of the dead commanders.

Yes, that seems like a good idea. I'll be shuffling some units around, I think. And we might benefit from a clearer delineation of responsibilities anyway. Janis sounded more cheerful, although Regina could tell she was forcing it to lift the mood. Oh, are we getting a fancy title for the army? I want one!

Regina smiled slightly. Yes …Crown Princess Janis Starlit von Woltan, you are hereby officially charged with commanding the Army of the Elbe.

Understood, my Empress. I will discharge this duty to the utmost of my ability.

I know. And I know you'll do well.

Just to confirm, are you sure about the name? It kinda suggests a certain course.

Nothing they couldn't figure out anyway, Regina answered with a mental impression of an unimpressed shrug. And it might even be a little misleading.

Alright. Then I should go and get that reorganization started.

Yes. I'll sign the paperwork to make it official. Take care.

Of course, she couldn't actually sign paperwork while they were still in the air, but it didn't take long for her group to reach the next city, where Regina called a stop and touched down. The local officials scrambled to welcome them, but she breezed past their attempts and ensconced herself in an office, only stopping long enough for a meal.

Then they moved on. She touched down on her former main base as well. Forest's Haunt was unfortunately relatively close to the Esemen border, at least compared to Cera, though not on a side that had seen any conflict so far. It still made Max faintly twitchy, she could tell that even through the psychic link, when they went there. Unfortunately, when moving to New Anberg, there was really no getting around it, considering everything they had to move there in addition to themselves.

She'd heard several complaints and concerns that the new capital was too close to Esemen. Regina had assured them that their concerns were heard, but her mind was made up.

The Hive had been gathering a lot of strength, and purely coincidentally, a lot of it was in the region south of Forest's Haunt and well placed to travel to that town and onward. The Imperial army also maintained quite a few bases there. The whole area was well-connected by railway lines, which she was confident would speed their troop movements and logistics in a way their enemies weren't truly expecting.

Ben and the others had made plans for far more than their current army that was pushing into the Western Confederation.

Considering how much their trip had been delayed, they stayed overnight at Forest's Haunt today. It was not a long night, anyway, and Regina didn't get as much sleep as she'd have liked. Still, everything seemed a bit less bleak the next morning.

The newly-christened Army of the Elbe was moving again, as well. Janis had done well in minimizing the disruption caused and getting everyone focused and moving, incorporating the changes to the structure as they went. Regina had insisted that Ada stayed with them for the night, but she was also eager to get back to the army.

"Take care of yourself," Regina told her quietly as they stood on an airfield between the main base and the town, preparing to get on their mounts. Her guards had withdrawn a few meters and they had some privacy. "I don't want to have to do this again."

"I will, My Queen," Ada assured her.

"I mean it. If I lost you too …" she trailed off.

Ada opened her mouth and through the psychic link, and maybe because she knew her drones, Regina could tell what she meant to say, before she hesitated and switched tracks. 'I'm ready to die for the Hive', or something like that, perhaps. Instead, she just nodded and smiled slightly. "I'll take care, and I'll make sure the others are careful, too, Mother," she promised.

"Good." Regina clapped a hand on her shoulder.

Then she watched as Ada climbed on a flying drone and lifted off, before turning to the other people around and gesturing at them to continue. Thor nudged her slightly, and she pulled herself onto his back, then waited for a few second until he ascended.

As they flew, she couldn't help consider whether she'd made a huge mistake.

Starting the war now had gone against her strategy, arguably. The Empire was probably getting further ahead of their enemies with every passing day, so they had every incentive to delay it for as long as possible. But she'd been angry and fed up and she still didn't think that her reaction was wrong.

She absolutely couldn't afford to let her enemies dance around her without reacting. They'd already tried to kill people she loved, now they'd destroyed a village and committed mass murder, who knew what would come next? As Empress, she had a responsibility to her people. To protect them. Even if they would have accepted just letting this slide, which she seriously doubted, others would see it as weakness. And it would leave the initiative entirely to her enemies, which was always a bad move. Of course, there would probably be a lot more of her people dying before this was over.

On the other hand, the delay had probably also given the gods time to empower many more Champions. And who knew what else.

Regina was shaken out of her thoughts when they finally arrived at the construction site of her new city. Though it wasn't just a construction site anymore.

A large part of the heart of the city had already been built. Thor obligingly turned in a slow circle above it so she could take everything in. A lot of the surrounding area was still bare and marked with ropes and signs to guard the eventual construction of the outlying parts, but they had constructed a lot already. Further out, fields had been prepared and seeds sown, workers were currently finishing up roads, and the canal they'd planned was being dug, even if it was only a small ditch yet. It was only a trickle, but people were already moving in, and soon enough, many new villages would sprout up around the city and along the roads to take advantage of it.

There was a new palace at the center of the city where she would live, connected to a large, multi-winged structure that could house much of her hive. It was built as a part of this larger structure, but the drones had decided to make it fancy (and Regina had bowed to the inevitable and let people call it a royal palace). It was also close to a set of halls and office buildings that would contain most of the Imperial government (the originally planned government center had expanded a lot). The gardens seeded throughout and around the complex were still bare, but they would be beautiful once they were finished. The main buildings, especially the above-ground part of the hive's home, were a curious but strangely elegant mix of several architectural styles, taking inspiration from the 'Ancient' world and the hive's own experiences and design principles. Inside, it would be even more different.

"New Anberg," Regina muttered, nudging Thor to descend. They came to a halt in the middle of the central area, and she slid down, dropping to her knees and touching her hands against the ground.

There had been some debate about the name, but it was deeply meaningful to her. A way to honor her past and promise to let its legacy carry on into the new nation she was building, hopefully without being dragged down by it.

"It will be a good home," Thor said.

Regina smiled. "Yes," she agreed, "it will be."

A home. A new capital for her nation, and eventually, perhaps, a shining light that would reflect around the world.

Maybe she was indulging in megalomania a little, but she didn't care.

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