When his legs twitched, the void ant private realized that he still had legs. Which implied, among other things, that he was alive. And conscious. Neither of which he ever expected again. Confusion and concern rushed through his body. What if he had been captured by the enemy? They could torture him and… and what? He likely couldn’t give up information even if he wanted to. That thought was comforting, but what was even more comforting was a wave of pheromones informing him that everything was safe.

Something came into his eyeline. Another void ant. Good. She was very close, though. It made him uncomfortable, until he realized she was actually quite a bit further and larger. Which was another kind of discomfort.

“You don’t need to be worried,” she conveyed with her limbs and her pheromones. “And you don’t need to try to stand.”

Good, because he was pretty sure his body wasn’t listening to him. Everything was weird. Especially since the Great Queen was here in person. And yet, not quite as big as he remembered. Not that it would make any difference for her to be slightly smaller. His antennae twitched. Ah, he was worried those had corroded off. “What happened?”

“You would know best,” the Great Queen signed. “As you were the one present. But I think it should suffice to say you successfully stopped them. And something about your unique physiology allowed you to survive. Perhaps because you are a male?”

Ah. He’d been caught. “I apolo-”

He barely began before he was cut off, the pressure of authority weighing down on him. “It was not my will that drones should die. It was simply the way of ants, even ones such as us in our early development. I appreciate above all those who are loyal eternally. You wished to contribute to our cause, and you worked to that end. I will not fault you for that.”

A huge sense of relief flushed over him, which brought back to him more of the feeling of his body. Which reminded him of the pain. “... How bad is it?” he asked.

“All of the others perished,” she said. Most had their chitin at least partially melted by caustic gasses. Levels of toxins sufficient to kill human cultivators were present as well- and their efficacy was well tested on the other occupants of the vessel. I would not have bet on the survival of any of my kin, and certainly not their health.”

“I see,” he replied. “In that case, I don’t imagine I have any value after you ask your questions. I would prefer to die, should I lack any further uses.”

“I would not rush to such decisions,” the Great Queen declared. “Were you aware that your wings had begun to grow back, before you went on the mission?”

“... so you knew the whole time.”

“I would have certainly recognized a queen. Even now, your wings have begun the process again. I would not expect any benefits from a near death experience, but perhaps your very survival is what should guide our expectations. For the moment, however, you should give your report. Then rest.”

He did give his report, explaining what he had observed about the ship and the contents. Though he didn’t have the knowledge to provide much context.

After that, he got to eat a truly marvelous pellet. It was condensed fats, proteins, and infused natural energy. It tasted delicious, but he couldn’t eat all of it right away. It was nearly the size of his body, after all. It might not have seemed particularly large to the Great Queen, but to him it was still quite large.

-----

Some void ants shared the sleep cycles of their less intelligent brethren, resting only in very short bursts. Others slept for longer periods, and for those that were injured they would drift towards the latter options, potentially sleeping until other biological needs overtook them. Regular ants would usually just perish with any sort of injury, but void ants took care of their own, when the resources allowed. And it had been a long time since they were lacking in resources.

The private had no idea how long he had been unconscious. But it was not so long that anyone took away the pellet of food in front of him. He ate as he could, his body only partially able to move, and then he slept. Again and again he repeated until everything was gone… and his pain had reduced to a small throbbing.

Perhaps some part of his body had lost feeling, rather than being healthy, but he still preferred that. And… he found he could stand, though his legs didn’t easily support him. He staggered over to a small reflective surface he saw on the corner of whatever room he’d found himself in. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say that the figure in front of him was about to perish.

His mandibles were perhaps the most intact part of him. Even his eyes, from what he could see, were pitted and misshapen. Compound eyes weren’t good for picking out those details, but void ants learned to interpret more complex information… and this explained why he had missing sections of vision. His chitin was certainly melted in some places, almost all the way through in some spots. That would explain the standing difficulties. But there were certainly some slightly visible nubs that might become wings.

He made his way out of the room, following pheromone trails- though he didn’t have to go far. The void ants had some sort of setup in the very next room. Obviously not one intended for them, considering the ridiculous height and openness of the room, but at least there were no humans stomping about. Not that he disliked humans, but he wasn’t fond of the idea of being squashed accidentally.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He made his way over to a dispatcher who would be able to tell him what his assignment was. Those ants who coordinated the others were indispensable.

“Your rank?” the ant asked, pheromones asking him to display his answer appropriately.

That was a good question. What was he? The elite squad he was on had been destroyed, so he might just be a private. Or perhaps he was stripped of his rank. “Don’t know,” he said, displaying himself for appraisal.

“Ah. You have received a special appointment,” the dispatcher said. “And an odd title.”

“What is it? The title, I mean.”

“Son of the Queen.”

“That is odd,” he admitted. There wasn’t even a native void ant word for son, aside from drone. It was something humans used. “... Where is that in the hierarchy?”

“Subject only to the jurisdiction of the royal guard.” Obviously that was the royal guard and the queens, because everyone was subject to the queens. “I received no indication of subordinates.”

“Assignment?”

“Training, here on Egnos.”

“... We conquered Egnos?”

“That is correct,” the other ant explained without becoming annoyed at his many questions. “I believe you were transported here from one of the forward bases. You were comatose for a very long period.”

Training, huh? Well, he certainly needed that. He had to learn to walk properly, and figure out how he could contribute. In the worst case, he could be tossed towards an enemy planet and hopefully devour some of the energy of their planetary defenses.

-----

Running a planet of uncooperative individuals was a pain. Much worse than agreeable people, not that there was any surprise there. He’d been majorly involved in the affairs of In’istra as the head of the local branch of the Order of One Hundred Stars. Egnos was a lot more trouble… though the worst elements were being dealt with a little bit at a time. And fortunately, they had the resources to take care of all the slaves that were being freed, and more.

Even if only a tenth of a percent of the planet had been in slavery, vaguely, that was still millions of individuals. They didn’t have the food to take care of so many people, and they didn’t have the spare cash reserves among their fleets to sustain payments for food on that scale. Snatching it from the locals wouldn’t have been well received either, though that was effectively what they did anyway. They were just better able to justify it. Slaveowners and loyalists to the Void Scrying Sect and Twin Soul Sects, plus their other allies and anyone aiding their activities. A fortunately small portion of the population with a high portion of the wealth. They were able to be dealt with in batches, though the completion of the process was still underway.

As for the rest of the population, they had been resistant at first… until they realized that they were mostly going to be left alone. Anyone who had business relying in interplanetary shipments was out of luck, but Egnos had enough food to keep everyone from starving, and the rules imposed on them were mostly less onerous than those of the previous group in control.

Only the elite class rallied against them, but unfortunately for them they couldn’t run or hide- and they were quite easy to pick out by discerning their cultivation methods. Especially among populations of many who didn’t cultivate at all.

Varghese thought they could really use another decade or two to stabilize the local planet, but they were going to have to go on the offensive soon enough. They couldn’t just let the war languish, especially given what Anton had found. The exact details were still being figured out, as they couldn’t exactly test the devices. But word reached his ears that there were components meant to aid in the destruction of anything from a gas giant to the largest of stars. It was worrying they still hadn’t given up on that front.

Though one very large container couldn’t hold enough of anything to take out a star, that meant that they probably had many more they had already received. Or at least, they couldn’t bet that the enemy didn’t have any of it. And whether they would turn it on their own stars once more, those they were in a civil war with, or those of the Lower Realms Alliance or Shining Cooperative… they didn’t want any of those. Which meant not giving them too long to plan an attack of any sort.

The good news was that they’d finally gotten a message back, through the communications. Terse as it was, it was a step towards proper negotiations of some sort. Mostly, it said to stay away from the territory of the Fearsome Menagerie and they wouldn’t be shot for the moment, but that was sort of a ceasefire agreement.

They’d also gotten in contact with Tor and the Shimmering Spears. They represented a third, smaller faction. Notable among them was that they’d been promised the full cultivation methods of the sects, but as noted by Anton they were given incomplete methods instead. They had no reason to be loyal to a group that was willing to destroy allied systems and not even reliable enough to give what they were specifically promised. Varghese hoped the system destruction was a heavier factor than being slightly ripped off in terms of personal power, but either way was fine.

He’d spoken with Tor some, but there were better diplomats among their forces, and he was better served in other areas, helping keep the planet stable. Though his job had recently become much easier, since Devon had shown up. A cultivation on the verge of Enrichment… and he brought with him an experienced diplomat in the form of Aerona. She wouldn’t be much help on the combat side of things, but Varghese figured that if it came to the point where a single supporting cultivator’s combat prowess was necessary, they should have already retreated long before.

As for whatever horrible things were being shipped in from the upper realms, Anton was watching for that. There wasn’t anyone else Varghese would prefer to have assigned to the task, as he knew he could rely on Anton for anything. Like helping stabilize his stars when there was an incident. But if they tried that specific thing again, he was ready now. The people involved in causing any of the system-destruction level incidents didn’t tend to survive, so they weren’t getting any better at it. That, at least, he could be happy about.