Regina ignored the headache building behind her temples and worked her jaw up and down to resist the urge to yawn. She’d gotten little sleep and would get less in the coming hours, but she didn’t care about that. She had work to do.
She couldn’t say she was very happy about Janis’ decision to take the fight to the gnomes by ditching her ground-bound troops and launching a lightning assault with only flying drones and riders, but she hadn’t protested. The decision made strategic sense. She might be a bit concerned, and that was not groundless — the composition of the forces meant there would likely be higher casualties. On the other hand, it was also a strike calculated to be decisive, to potentially stop the war or at least move it into a new tempo, so it was just as likely there would be fewer casualties in the long run.
Either way, it was important to stay unnoticed by the gnomes as long as possible and to be aware of their forces’ positions, so Regina stretched her psychic muscles. She was the only proper psychic they had, after all.
Well, there was June. Regina turned her head a bit and watched her apprentice sitting on the chair beside her, although she didn’t need to use her eyes. June was frowning in concentration, sweat pearling on her forehead. She had been getting better, but this was really a bit much. Only the large concentrations of minds involved made it feasible for her at all, and she probably wouldn’t detect anything short of the gnomes secretly assembling another army. But it was good practice, in Regina’s opinion, so June had to bear with it.
She smiled a bit and turned her full focus back to the western part of the Gnomish Confederation.
Janis’ plan had encountered a few hurdles, but it was still on track, more or less. Several of the flying drone groups, these ones largely composed of Winged Drones with fewer sapient soldiers, had been discovered by gnomes and got into firefights. Although those fights were more like exchanging potshots. The gnomish units in question were small, probably prepared as part of their larger strategy to harass the incoming Imperial army. They even seemed to have trouble communicating the threat back to each other.
The hive’s psychic link, of course, meant they didn’t have that problem. Several flocks of reinforcements were already on the way, plans adjusted so those gnomish units would be wiped out first. It was much less important than the major battles coming up, though, just small skirmishes.
Janis had taken the majority of their forces deeper into Confederation territory and attacked a string of outposts and bases the gnomes had set up roughly in a hooked line positioned against the projected path of the Imperial advance, also shielding several of their cities further in. She’d been working her way up that collection of targets. The first one or possibly two had been total surprise attacks, but Regina had already warned Janis that it wouldn’t be so easy from now on. The gnomes were very much alarmed and alert.
Of course, she could sense they still didn’t have the forces to match Janis, not concentrated in one fort, so it was fine.
Janis herself wasn’t paying much attention to Regina, but that was to be expected. She was clearly hopped up on adrenaline and focused intently on the next fight, a combination of excitement and nerves churning in her mind. Her mana was still carefully regulated, and Regina wouldn’t want to be the poor bastard who ended up on the other end of her Fire Manipulation.
Janis sent a wave of Winged Drones first, but then asked Thor to descend, followed by other fighters. Normally, they might have only relied on Swarm Drones to minimize the risk to sapient drones. But that would not be a good idea in this case; this was hardly the only battle they were going to fight. Sacrificing all the Winged Drones would just mean they’d all be gone, later, and the people would have to fight anyway, but without their support.
She handled it just fine, though. They relied on soldiers equipped with long-ranged weapons and magic users, fighting from relatively high up in the air. Flying affected their accuracy, but also let their mounts dodge attacks more easily. Thor in particular got many attacks thrown his way, maybe someone had recognized Janis, but he dodged most of them easily. The remaining arrows and musket shot, carrying less force as they were shot almost straight up into the air, only hit his shell strengthened by a defensive Skill and barely fazed him. And Janis was wearing her armor.
The fight continued pretty much the same as the previous ones had, and while Regina still kept a metaphorical eye on it, she mostly focused on their surroundings, trying to detect any potential gnomes she might have missed. There were none, of course; her sensory abilities using psychic skills had progressed enough that it would probably take a truly dedicated Class or a high-leveled Class’s dedicated Ability to fool her.
And she didn’t have to worry too much about individual gnomes, anyway. Janis’ army’s presence was pretty hard to hide now, so stealth wasn’t the top priority.
I think things are going pretty well, Regina commented to Janis.
The other woman badly hid the way she startled at being suddenly addressed. I suppose so, she answered. After a moment, she asked, Did you find any cause for concern?
No. The gnomes are reacting as you and Ben expected. Maybe a bit faster, but I don’t think they can really assemble a force ready to face you until you’ve at least wiped out this ring of outposts. Regina paused for a moment. That fire is not very subtle, though. You should probably clean up this place.
I’m the one risking my life fighting here, Janis grumbled. Don’t worry, we’re on it.
At some point, while Regina hadn’t paid much attention, they had indeed ended up setting the outpost on fire. The basic structure the gnomes had used was mostly made out of wood, which helped. A few mages were already trying to put it out with water Spells. Janis turned her focus to it and Regina watched distantly as she smothered the flamers with her manipulation Spells, a nice mixture of air and fire elemental magic.
Not that burning it down was necessarily a mistake, anyway.
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Janis’ strike force quickly cleaned up, made sure the wounded received medical attention, and then set off again to continue their mission. Regina left them to it, not watching as closely now. Instead of focusing on the details, she made sure she had a good understanding of the whole operation’s progress. Then she turned her attention to the gnomes and tried to evaluate their response.
Militarily, it was pretty easy, if not simple. There was only so much they could do to hide their troop movements, especially from something like her psychic senses, and they clearly had other priorities, as well. Regina watched as the gnomes’ units got moving, anticipating their paths. It would be hard for them to catch Janis’ force; that was the point. Their commanders seemed to understand that as well and focused on reinforcing the bases they could quickly.
But Regina also tried to get a read on their state of mind, which was a bit trickier. There was some shock, alarm and the usual cocktail of emotions that preceded a fight, that much she had expected. But the level of fear, was it higher than expected or too low? Making judgments like this was not as easy as guessing their tactical responses. Besides, she had to admit there was little chance of getting to feel the reaction of those gnomes who really mattered, who’d make the important decisions — even if she wanted to, she’d have to devote so much time and energy to searching for specific minds in the sea that was the gnomish capital with no guarantee of success that it would be pretty pointless.
The strategy was still paying off, though. Janis’ strike force and the others had now pretty much demolished every outpost or base the gnomes were using in a wide arc around the paths the army could take further east. Regina turned her focus to sniffing out leftover groups of gnomish soldiers and sending their locations to her commanders so they could take care of them, too. Now, the next phase started.
Janis split up her large strike force, more of an army already. She would send several units further east, under the command of reliable commanders who wouldn’t act too aggressively. But strategically, their force could threaten the approaches to the capital. If the gnomes elected to weaken the defenses of one of their other cities, they might even take one of them as well, at least with reinforcements. Meanwhile, other troops would be assigned to the area the gnomes had burned and mined, helping to clear at least one good path through it, so the ground army could catch up.
Supplies would be a problem, of course. They were carrying some and could raid for more food. Beyond that, the other part of Janis’ strategy would come into play — the southern Cernlian border. On her orders, Dan and the other local commanders had already started some counter-pushes of their own against the gnomish raiders. Several would actually lead to incursions into the Confederation’s borders, ostensibly in return for the gnomes’ raids and to disrupt the enemy’s ability to continue them. In addition, they would be carrying extra supplies, and flying units in need could retreat there to resupply. It wasn’t a small distance, but it should be doable if they planned ahead. The psychic link’s coordination ensured they would be able to time everything correctly, and maybe form the equivalent of bucket chains passing food or ammunition to where it was needed.
If not, it would simply mean additional attrition for their Winged Drones, as much as Regina disliked the callousness towards her drones. But she had already shifted a number of Drone Breeders to breed exclusively Winged Drones. Their numbers would be refilled, even if it took a few days for them to be ready.
God, I’m truly coming to despise war. Regina shook her head, then blinked her eyes open to stare at the ceiling. She knew the feeling would probably fade at least a bit, and the accomplishment of having won a war wasn’t to be underestimated, either. She didn’t doubt her ability to go to war again if it was necessary. She felt she was entitled to the sentiment, though.
For now, there was little she could do except wait and occasionally use her psychic abilities to check if the gnomes were preparing any hidden surprises. It was a good thing that she did, too. Just when she’d started to think she was being needlessly paranoid, Regina noticed a group of soldiers quietly assembling some ways off the main roads, a considerable distance away from one of the outposts Janis had already burnt down. However, their focused minds and what little she could pick up from them made it clear they had a plan. Maybe some Class Skill to move them quickly to take back the outpost, or maybe they were going to try and ambush one of the hive’s units of flying drones. Regina speculated for a moment, then shrugged and pointed them out to Janis.
A few minutes later, her commanders had put together another minor strike force, led by some of their stronger sapient drones, and prepared an ambush on the gnomish force. They could move quickly enough to forestall them. Although the gnomish soldiers did start moving roughly in the direction of Janis’ strike force just before the Imperial troops reached them.
Regina paid particular attention to them, but if the gnomes had any special means of scouting for the drones or detecting ambushes, they hadn’t deployed them yet. They seemed to be caught by surprise as the Winged Drones started circling lower and dropping bombs on them.
Regina breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the fight continue, and their ambush successfully crush the gnomish strike force. Then she yawned. She waited until the minor battle was done, scanned the surroundings again, then performed a wider sweep. Finally, she allowed herself to open her eyes, stand up and pace around her room for a bit.
You should sleep, Max sent her, clearly sensing her attention was no longer focused on the psychic link.
Regina almost snapped back at him, but paused. She was feeling like the walls of the room were shifting a little. The sun had already risen a while ago, she hadn’t slept during the night, and things were relatively calm right now. But they’d probably get more chaotic again later.
Fine, she grumbled. But wake me in a few hours.
Max sent a wordless affirmation and Regina plopped back onto her bed, trying to ignore the discomfort in her core, she hadn’t had time for her usual schedule yet. She fell asleep as soon as the thought passed through her mind, though.
As she should have expected, Max stretched the meaning of her words to their limits and it was considerably later when she finally woke up. Regina yawned, splashed some water on her face and dragged herself to the bathroom. A quick check showed that nothing important seemed to be on fire currently and there was no panic spreading through the psychic link, so she left it alone until she’d added some more eggs for the nursery. She let Ira clean her up without fuss while she ran a slightly more detailed check, then dragged herself back to her bedroom and sat down on the bed again.
Maybe she should have paid attention earlier, though. As soon as she was ready, Janis contacted her, clearly having waited just until she was available. She seemed exhausted but still focused on her task.
Did I miss an emergency? Regina asked.
Not really. There is a situation that’s pretty urgent, though. Janis sent a quick impression of a memory: a group of gnomes approaching on tamed monsters, a white banner streaming from a lance. They sent an envoy again. The gnomes want to talk.
Regina blinked, then focused more intently on what she could sense of their forces and the state of the front. Janis had clearly managed to defend her gains, and their troops were distributed as she’d intended. The gnomes kept a surprising distance from her positions. The Empire now controlled a bridge into the heartlands of the Gnomish Confederation, they were a stone’s throw from the capital and the gnomes wouldn’t be able to keep up with the Winged Drones.
It looked like they might have finally accomplished what they wanted.
They’re offering to surrender. Not unconditionally, but they want peace negotiations.
Regina smiled.