Deep in the second strata, a furious scout was running as if all the demons of the third were after its delicious abdomen. She had left her relay station thirty minutes ago and was almost out of gas, her mutations specialised in speed, not so much endurance. It was a close run thing, she staggered the last few steps, her stamina finally spent, but that was as intended. The Colony knew exactly how far she could run, just as far as every other scout in the chain, and she passed on her message successfully before being taken to a chamber to rest, another ant dispatched to take her place in the relay.
Word spread quickly, the pheromones filling the nest within minutes. There was no fear, only grim determination, and in the case of Leeroy, desperate hope.
"The Golgari are coming," Victor announced.
"Those rock-heads are late, I was almost getting bored," Burke said.
"We've got a lot to do," Victor shook her antennae, "almost too much. Even with the extra time, we still aren't ready. The new nests aren't fully fortified, our number of tier four combat castes isn't high enough and the core shapers aren't back yet. I'm worried."
"What about the Eldest?" Coolant asked, "what do we know about their status?"
"Runner came in a few minutes ago," Burke told her sister, "Eldest got tangled with something in the depths and is on the way back. Next runner should have better information."
"If it's a second invasion force," Victor muttered.
"Plan for the worst, hope for the best," Burke slapped her on the thorax with one antenna, "that's what we keep you generals around for, right?"
"Thanks," Victor grumbled, "leave all the planning to us, as usual. How did this happen anyway? It's not like the generals have the highest Cunning stat of the castes…"
The three council members turned to look at the corner of the grand meeting chamber. As if sensing their gaze, Cobalt looked up from the stone model she'd been crafting in the stone.
"Don't look at me!" she protested. "We've got enough on our plate trying shore up the defences! These things don't just invent themselves you know!"
"What are you working on right now?" Victor asked.
"A system that can relay pheromones long distances at rapid speed that we can place in the relay stations. That way we won't need runners, giving us a faster response time and freeing up those scouts for more important work…"
Victor considered for a moment.
"I can't argue with that. Keep up the good work." She turned to the other two. "I'll get back to planning then. No way in heck I could work something like that out."
"Stick to what you're good at," Burke replied, "speaking of, I'd better check in with the stations. If things go according to plan, we should be getting more detailed reports over the next ten minutes."
Her words proved to be prophetic, as several exhausted scouts sprinted into the outer edges of the nest, passing on their intelligence before staggering away to rest. Everything confirmed what they already knew, and drew a more detailed picture of the attacking force. Within thirty minutes, all available council members had gathered, putting their collective minds to studying the war map assembled on the council table.
"Did it have to be three dimensional?" Victoriant wondered.
"No," Cobalt replied.
"So why is it?"
"Because we could," the carver said.
"Forget that," Sloan snapped, "we need to focus here. From our reports so far, we're looking at a Golgari force that's five times the size of what pursued us when we rescued the Eldest. Not to mention, initial scout reports state that from what they've seen, these troops look significantly higher level."
"They brought out the proper soldiers," Leeroy leaned forward in her chair until her eyes were nearly pressed into the model. "I can't wait to fight them."
"You'll be waiting a long time," Sloan muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Now, let me draw your attention to this area,"
The general used her antenna as a pointer to indicate a particular section of tunnel at the lower end of the model.
"The Eldest passed beyond where our mapping teams have explored, but their last known position what at the end of this tunnel branch. Reports are still sketchy, but the Eldest informed the relay scouts that an unknown force attacked in the depths. Exact composition, strength and intention of this force is unknown, but we can't afford to underestimate it."
"That's right," Victor picked up where her sister left off, "at this moment, we are looking at deploying our forces to defend in depth evenly across the two known fronts. Information is critical at this early stage. Wills, what have you got for us?"
Newly returned from the field, the second scout council member cleaned her antennae, still dusty from the tunnels.
"We've got ten thousand scouts in the field, either in relays or in active scouting teams. Our stealthiest members are moving to track the progress of these two forces, but we still don't have eyes on the second. From what we see of the Golgari, they are coming in packed with supplies. Large trains of wheeled carriers pulled by what we assume are monster pets, not to mention a large contingent of mages. I expect they mean to set up a forward base."
"If they put a gate down, that could mean infinite reinforcements," Brendant observed.
"You think they want to challenge us on numbers?" Advant asked, incredulous.
"I think they're taking us seriously," Brendant replied, "which is not a good thing. Have we made any progress studying the gates we took from Rylleh yet?" She asked the two mages present.
Propellant shook her head.
"It's enchantment on a level that we haven't come across before. We don't even have a single mage who's managed to learn the relevant branch of magic specialisation yet. We're attempting to brute force as much information as we can, but it's very slow going and taking a lot of resources."
"To be honest," Coolant followed up, "I think our members would be better spent levelling their Skills and trying to unlock spatial magic before continuing this path of study. We can't afford to be this inefficient."
Victor wasn't prepared to let it go.
"If we can harness these gates, learn how to build them, how to work them, then our colony will endure forever, even if we lose this war. They'll never be able to catch us, we could spread across the planet."
"I think if they learned that we could make them, every sapient on this planet would join in the hunt to make us extinct," Coolant shot back.
"Enough! You two are too loud!" Vibrant smacked the table with one leg, the sharp sound ringing through the chamber. "Let the mages decide what they think is best! They're the mages! We have a heap of work to do preparing the defences and getting ready to fight, so let's go fast! I'm tired of talking!"
With that stunning declaration, the powerful soldier turned and dashed from the chamber, leaving behind nothing but a blurry outline where she used to be. The remainder of the council watched her go for a moment, all thinking the exact same thing.
"Did you ever think she'd get tired of talking?" Antionette wondered.