Managing escalation might be the trickiest challenge we are facing, Regina had told Ben.

He preferred to focus on the military aspects of their strategy. Political implications and goals were not really his field. That said, it was just as true now as it’d ever been that politics shaped war. You wouldn’t go to war without any need for it, after all. Even if it was as simple as expanding your Hive’s territory and blooding your drones or gaining resources, blindly charging at the closest possible target was going to get a lot of people killed.

This war wasn’t really about the Hive’s land or resources. It was about its strategic position, though - in both the short and long term.

As Ben watched the progress of his attack against the Nerlian castle, he pondered escalation and its implications, both military and political. Feronet Castle was situated in an important location, guarding the way deeper into Nerlia on its southwestern flank. The Hive needed to take it to secure their advance, if they didn’t want to risk having a proverbial knife ready to be stabbed into their back. It wasn’t the only key point like this, of course, just the most important.

The castle’s lord was what would be roughly equivalent to a Cernlian viscount, he’d learned, and he had clearly taken good care of his fortifications. The walls were kept in good repair, and the siege engines atop them, while not very relevant to the battle yet, could probably help to hold off a conventional attack pretty well.

Unfortunately for the Nerlians, they were dealing with the Starlit Hive.

“They may be preparing for a sortie,” Ada said.

Ben nodded calmly. He’d been half-expecting such movement for a while now. The Nerlians had to know they couldn’t just sit there and let their walls be pounded into dust.

“Is this going to be a problem?” Regina asked.

Ben didn’t turn around. He’d sensed her coming up behind him, and didn’t take his eyes off the battle. “Not likely, my Queen,” he answered.

Then he switched his focus to the psychic link, including her so she’d know what he was doing as he gave orders to his officers. Switch up. High-levels back, send heavies and younger War Drones to the front. Careful of high-leveled attacks targeting sapient drones.

He watched them carry out his orders, occasionally chiming in with a further command or nudge to get their positioning perfect.

The younger War Drones were going to die in large numbers, he knew, but he put aside the solemnity he felt at the thought. The survivors would have earned enough levels from the battle to be considerably more dangerous, and it was necessary to gauge how their opponents would react to swarm tactics. With heavies, higher-level and tougher Swarm Drones, to anchor them, they should be able to hold against any counter-charges and rip through the enemy.

It was a general’s duty to spend their soldiers’ lives carefully, but still spend them to accomplish their strategic and tactical objectives. He might still fail his Queen in miscalculating their worth, but it would not be because he was afraid to pay the prices that must be paid. Although he was glad he wouldn’t have to fully risk sapient drones this time.

The humans were taking their sweet time with the sortie, though, if they were really intending to do one at all. The reason why rapidly became clear once he noticed the shapes rising into the air behind the battlements.

”Fliers, about thirty, levels twenty to fifty,” Ada reported quickly.

Ben nodded. Wing one, engage, he ordered. Wings two and three, circle around and take their flanks. Wing four, you’re on defense. Make sure they don’t get to our ground troops. He frowned, squinting a bit and paging through several sets of eyes, before he continued to a different collection of minds. Retreat further, slowly and carefully, he ordered his Warriors on the ground.

“You’re pulling the sapient drones back?” Regina asked. “Right before the enemy is going to hit?”

Ben glanced at her. There was no recrimination in her tone, just a request for information. It still made him shift a bit uncomfortably. “Yes,” he said. “I think - ah, there they come.”

The defenders opened the gate and started their sortie from the ground. They must have put high-level fighters in front, since the vanguard cleared the gate quicker than should normally be possible. His own formation met them and the real fight started.

“I feel like our enemies always have stronger fighters,” Regina commented. “At least, those who are actually fighting. Do you think they’re deliberately tailoring their approach to it? People with skills that are good against swarms?“

“Of course. We have an expendable, quickly-replenishing horde of individually weak fighters,” Ben said, shrugging. “Swarm tactics are our bread and butter. They are expected to be.”

“I get the feeling there’s more to it,” she said. “Walk me through your thoughts?”

Ben hesitated, then decided the fight was going as well as could be expected and looked at Regina. “Of course, my Queen,” he said, before he paused to gather his thoughts for a moment. “Our ability to share the senses of and directly control our Swarm Drones is what really makes us dangerous,” he began.

“I get that it’s a big advantage, but it’s not directly making them better fighters, is it?” she asked. “And it’s not like one sapient drone can control an entire unit of Swarm Drones at once, not every movement. But I guess you’re talking about tactical strengths and weaknesses?”

Ben nodded. “Our weakness is the flip side of the expendable horde,” he said. “Arguably, it’s a mirror of the weakness in the structure of a Hive, with the Hive Queen at the center. Swarm Drones are not sapient. Unlike our enemies.”

“They can bait them into traps or grind them down with clever tactics,” Regina said, brow furrowed as she considered the matter.

Ben hid a pleased smile. It was nice to see his Queen engaging and broadening her understanding of this subject. “Exactly,” he said. “Our sapient drones hold them together, they’re the ones who control them and guide them on the tactical level, so our armies aren’t vulnerable to this kind of weakness.”

“So, targeting officers is a more important tactic against Hivekind than any other race,” Regina realized.

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“Indeed,” he smiled slightly. Then he glanced back at the battle. “For now, the question is if they realize all this. How much have they heard about us?”

The battle had started to broaden, he noticed. The defenders had formed ranks, but they were loose and tended to see small eddies when individual fighters used Skills or even magic. The Hive’s own forces were holding them off, but had gained little ground. So far. In a few places, he could see the balance of the fight swing in their favor, the numbers of War Drones starting to overwhelm the opposition. The first part of the reserves he’d prepared were also trickling in to reinforce them.

“Even if they do, they can’t expect to win this,” Regina pointed out.

“Sometimes, that’s not the point. You can win battles but lose the war, or even lose battles but win the war,” Ada spoke up quietly.

Regina’s eyes narrowed, and he could tell she was considering that they were not the only side here who might want to gather information for future clashes. He’d already tasked several of the others to keep an eye out for any attempted communications from the castle. There was no guarantee they’d even notice anything, of course, or be able to stop it, but they still obviously needed to take steps.

As if to punctuate his thoughts, the Nerlians finally made a move. He watched as several shapes quickly rose over the battlements, mages or high-level fighters flying over the walls. One of them strung a massive longbow and an arrow made of light appeared in it.

Ben had only just jumped into the right drone to watch it more closely when the arrow took flight and shot toward one of his senior officers, Tad. Tad backpedaled quickly, but he might not have been fast enough. At the same time, one of the War Drones right beside him jumped in front of him. The arrow went straight through it, but was slowed enough that it only thudded into the ground uselessly.

Regina cursed softly beside him, but Ben barely registered it. He was too focused on the fight right now.

A small cluster of Winged Drones immediately descended on the archer. Half of them died quickly, but they kept him busy, so Ben turned his attention to other fights. Two of the other reinforcements appeared to be mages, although most likely not as high-leveled. They rained down Fireballs and bolts of lightning on the Hive’s drones. Ben quickly gauged their effects, but didn’t see too much cause for worry; their range wasn’t enough to seriously threaten the sapient drones. They were already retreating even further. The humans seemed to realize that as well, turning their efforts to the oldest and strongest of the War Drones fighting.

Ben itched to intervene, but held off, reminding himself this was a test as much as a battle. They could not always count on air superiority, so they needed to be able to fight on the ground. That meant refining their tactics. Besides, Regina had dictated that they would fight this war ‘traditionally’, as much as was feasible and not damaging in the long term.

He understood her reasoning, even if he didn’t believe he knew all of it. It was a careful balance of managing impact, reputation and threat, he thought. Giving the Hive time and space to grow without everyone gunning for us.

It didn’t seem like they needed any advanced tricks here, anyway. Their combat lines had turned into a meat grinder, a sight that was probably not unexpected for the locals. The elites were shifting the scale in their favor, but Ben could tell that was a passing spike. Already, the exchange rate was starting to tilt back in the Hive’s favor.

High-level people could still get tired, after all, and one of the disadvantages of relying on Class Skills was their usually limited use. Ben watched their enemies closely, switching between a few perspectives, and took notes on how they managed them.

This is proceeding pretty well, but we could do better, Ada commented quietly.

We will need to get more training on battle lines and shield walls, he agreed.

“Do you think we’ve learned enough now?” Regina asked, a little drily.

Ben glanced at her and shrugged. He suspected other people’s generals would have resented having their ruler looking over their shoulder like this, but he always found her presence to be reassuring.

“I could send in the reinforcements we’ve prepared, widen our lines and attempt to encircle them,” he said after a moment. They did have walls to fall back on, but he supposed it would be worth the try, at least.

“Whatever you think best,” Regina said.

Ben nodded and sent the orders over the psychic link. Most of his commanders were already prepared for it, and the reserve they’d kept ready melded seamlessly into the order of battle fighting in front of the castle. There was a moment of tension, like a coiled rubber band, before things snapped into place, the sapient drones in control of the Swarm pulling them into a proper intertwined formation. Ben closed his eyes and took a mental step back, touching several minds simultaneously. He nudged them, barely forming the thought, and the response rippled across the mass of War Drones as they shifted according to his command.

It was like nothing else, and he would never get tired of that feeling. Right now, however, it was time to bring this battle to a close.

Ben was just about to turn his attention to one of the wings when a small spike of pain through the psychic link caught his attention. He turned his gaze forward and realized that Gale had been injured, an arrow sticking out of his wings. He’d been leading a flight of Winged Drones further off, away from the concluding tangle with the humans’ tamed monsters.

“They kept some elites back to use as a trump card,” Ada muttered. “Clever.”

Ben watched in concern as Gale lost altitude, his damaged wing unable to keep him aloft properly. A moment later, there was a small flash of magic and he appeared in front of them on the slopes of the hill. Regina had teleported him with her Ability, he realized.

Then a large Fireball shot towards the corner tower the arrow had come from, engulfing its upper reaches. Ben glanced at Regina and raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment. She must have been angry. That had been a pretty large distance, and even if the spell didn’t lose altitude it must have been easy to dodge, but he supposed towers couldn’t do that. At least other mages are unlikely to pump that much mana into a single Spell, he consoled himself.

“Ben,” his Queen said, her voice tight. “It’s time to finish this. End this battle.”

“As you command,” he muttered, then reached into the psychic link again and gave new orders.

The ranks of War Drones kept out of the fighting so far set into motion, and Ben widened their lines as well before narrowing them into spikes at specific spots, attacking the walls from several directions. The bombardment, which had already turned away from the area around the gate to prevent friendly fire, stopped. The front ranks of his assault companies started to set down large planks of wood they’d been carrying, first held up as protection against arrows and now bridges over the moat. Then they crossed.

The defenders shot at them, but they were already thin. Horns blew and those fighting at the front attempted to withdraw from their sortie, but Ben didn’t let them, thinning his lines slightly to keep them penned in from both sides and maintain the encirclement.

Winged Drones descended to pick off targets of opportunity, but Ben focused on the drones that reached the walls. They’d run more than a few tests, of course, but not under combat conditions like these. Still, Swarm Drones were pretty good climbers. Having claws and additional limbs tended to help. Some of them carried ladders, but they weren’t even strictly necessary. Drones started swarming up the wall in several spots, quickly widening into a tide sweeping up the castle.

They were taking casualties, and Ben clenched his teeth as he felt a section dying to Spells and what might have been some kind of ritual or enchanted defenses. The one after them immediately advanced, though, pressing through the bodies of their fellows to tie down the human defenders.

Remember that our Queen wants their lord alive, he reminded his commanders in a quiet whisper.

Acknowledgments came back, and the tip of the spear forming his assault split off to head deeper into the fortress. These were War Drones almost pushing the level boundary to sapience, and he suspected a few would cross it after this battle. They were not only stronger but smarter than most Swarm Drones. And now, they spread out to take the interior of the castle before the defenders, beleaguered and out of position, could stop them.

“It was costlier than I thought,” he muttered. “But not outside our tolerances.”

Regina nodded. Her face looked a little drawn, he noticed. The deaths must not be easy for her, she probably felt them more acutely. “I suppose our first battle is won,” she said quietly. “Good work, Ben.”

He smiled at her praise, but didn’t let it distract him. As she said, it was only the first battle.