Elder Cultivator

Step by step, Misi brought Crossed Antennae’s army of a million strong to their ship. The carrying case was insulated from casual inspection, and the slower void ants would take some time to make the relatively short journey on their own. Thus, they had gathered together and now took up a slightly inconveniently sized container. It could have been smaller, but this was a compromise to lower the number of layers the void ants were packed in. A few layers was fine. A dozen was not too bad. But those at the bottom of a multiple kilogram mass could become quite uncomfortable.

The latest communication from her void ants had been received several days prior. Either the relay structures had been destroyed, or the void ants had been annihilated. Crossed Antennae very much hoped for the former, and the Exalted Quadrant wasn’t known for leaving much of previous occupations behind. It was rather silly, in her opinion, as humans could use the same infrastructure, but because they did not understand some of it they crushed it all. A very human response.

A single human ship was far too voluminous for the void ants, but such ships were best equipped to deal with travel to an unsecured location. Once aboard, they were able to spread out to some extent, but they never moved far from their supplies because there was nothing useful for them to do while the ship was in transit.

Perhaps that was why it seemed to take forever, though it was only a few days. Crossed Antennae wondered what she was even doing. What was the goal? She was going to confirm the status of her colony. After that, she’d figure it out.

As if that made any sense. Clearly, they were already lost.

It was a good thing she had her royal guard to consider, or she might have never gotten anywhere. “Is there any purpose to this?”

Fire responded easily. “I don’t think you would have mobilized us for no reason at all.”

“Inaction is the most foolish choice,” Snips agreed. “If you truly find there is no purpose, we will have wasted just a small amount of time.”

“Ten million days,” Crossed Antennae said. “Spread among all of us.”

Their words resolved very little, but they at least broke her out of her thoughts.

-----

The planet in question, Temoria, came into view as they wound their way around groups of enemy ships. Those ships were greater in number because of the recency of the planet being captured, and they were the greatest threat. Only a small number of the void ants would survive the void of space should their ship be destroyed, and they would have little chance to defend it should they be attacked.

Fortunately, the twins were more than capable of bringing their ship past their enemies. There were also some benefits to going to a planet that had recently swapped hands… no planetary barriers. Not that most of the border systems usually had those, as they changed hands too frequently for the expense to be worthwhile.

The planet itself technically looked like the readouts Crossed Antennae had been staring at. She saw familiar continents, stretching widely around the planet. She could pick out the regions that the void ants had established themselves. However, seeing it again in person after some decades was quite different. Crossed Antennae recalled the queens she had left to take over. They had not taken upon themselves names as far as she was aware, but she remembered each of them.

If they were dead, she would make the Exalted Quadrant pay in blood. That thought lasted for several minutes before she managed to wrestle it into submission. She could deal much more damage to their cause if she did not compromise their mission. Knowing that, the sensible solution was an immediate retreat, as she would risk much for lives that could be replaced.

Some version of herself or her sister or even her mother from long in the past may have accepted that argument, but the void ants weren’t the same as they once were.

“We must land at each location to scour it for survivors,” Crossed Antennae declared. “Retrieval is our primary goal. Secrecy is paramount.”

Misi kindly took them to land at the first location, a forest marred by signs of battle. Large craters, toppled trees, and evidence of fires were the most prominent remains. Yet even with all of that, the greatest devastation at the moment was the trees that had been cut to establish new structures.

A great pile of refuse shielded their landing location from the Exalted Quadrant. They had active formations to cloak them on the way down, but remaining stationary within enemy senses was a risky proposition without combining traditional stealth elements.

The remains of former buildings made it clear that no humans would be around, but the void ants should have nests underground. Where they could freely live among humans their colonies were quite different, but underground there was plenty of space unused by humans which was good for the sake of secrecy.

“We will split the numbers between myself and the royal guard,” Crossed Antennae declared. “You may manage your groups as you wish. The majority will remain here, ready to respond to combat.” They really didn’t need so many void ants unless they were fighting.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Even the foundations of the sect that had once been before them were broken up. A good way to prevent any dangerous formations from remaining, but it showed a lack of trust in their ability to assess safety. Judging their choices wasn’t Crossed Antennae’s purpose here, however. She merely had to pick a place to start.

“Keep your senses open,” Crossed Antennae warned. “Let no humans spot your movements. If necessary, use blending protocols.”

Void ants were so much slower when mimicking their mundane cousins, marching in single file lines as if they could not plan their own routes or form into movement and combat groups. However, sometimes such limitations were necessary.

Crossed Antennae had already told the twins to care for their own safety. They did not seem concerned that their single ship could be spotted, but it still bore caution. In the worst case if they had to flee, Crossed Antennae could find some other way off planet. Operating human ships was difficult, but not impossible with sufficient numbers. And those she expected to have.

Rolling formations were obviously unnatural to human eyes, but they were very efficient uses of void ant numbers for movement. Crossed Antennae organized her people into a cylindrical formation, keeping her awareness primarily on potential sight lines to nearby cultivators. Here the rubble and new construction were quite advantageous.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Riding atop the formation to keep a proper view, Crossed Antennae guided them with her motions, down what had once been a street and was now little more than packed dirt. Not that the void ants cared.

Because of the way everything had been torn up and the time that had passed, Crossed Antennae almost missed the pheromones. Almost being the key word. Perhaps they had already passed some, but she signalled for the formation to pause and shelter under a decaying log while she descended to the ground.

Yes, there it was. They’d gotten close enough, and while the scent was old it was a good sign. Void ants had been active here around the time the last message had been received- which meant they were active after the fall of Temoria.

They should not have been expecting retrieval, but hopefully they had chosen to survive regardless. After all, it was not unreasonable that the planet would one day fall back into the hands of their allies. The exact orders for a planet’s fall were adaptable according to how each queen best saw the mission should be carried out.

It took some time for Crossed Antennae to find the correct direction to follow the pheromone trail, but soon it became more powerful- more void ants had passed this way and more recently. Humans stomped around nearby, but the cover of brush allowed the void ants to keep up a strong pace. They seemed to be gaining, and Crossed Antennae expected to catch up before nightfall.

She left her own signs indicating where the void ants should go, if they were split up and not part of this group. Her own royal authority would be recognized as higher than the local queens. Though she did hope to find everyone together.

-----

Darkness came. It seemed the pace of the void ants had increased, throwing off Crossed Antennae’s estimates. She eventually made the decision to move forward alone, as her own speed outpaced even a proper rolling formation. The rest would establish a temporary nest, finding what food they could in the surroundings to sustain themselves. It wouldn’t do any good for them to wear themselves out and go hungry.

Crossed Antennae’s legs moved swiftly, her somewhat greater size and significantly greater strength propelling her forward. Flight was even faster, but made her more likely to be spotted. Thus, she made use of that only in the densest surroundings when cultivators were distant.

Then she saw them, pouring out of mounds among the leaves. She landed heavily next to the colony, and there were a few tense moments.

“I am the queen Crossed Antennae,” she declared herself in the moonlight. “I have come to retrieve your colony.”

The local ants had no spokesperson visible. A small few approached to verify her identity via scent, but they did not respond directly. Instead, they signed to each other, a wave quickly spreading through the colony.

Crossed Antennae couldn’t wait for void ant scale communications to work well in a mobile form without a relay. Though in this case, she couldn’t have been certain they would be able to flee with such equipment. On the other hand, fleeing without it would also be a danger to the colonies.

The scent of one of her daughters soon reached Crossed Antennae. She sensed confusion, but also relief. Conversation was difficult in the dim light, but she was soon brought into the tunnels. One chamber inside housed some small lights, concealed from the surface by twists and turns.

“We expected no rescue,” the queen explained. “We abandoned our colony, taking with us any signs of being anything more. The plan was to dispose of it somewhere far afield.”

“That will no longer be necessary,” Crossed Antennae said. “I have a ship that can carry us. Is your whole colony here?”

“We should have over ninety percent of survivors. Some were out on missions and can’t be expected to report back.”

“Very well,” Crossed Antennae said. “We will establish a location for them to gather, should we have a chance to pass by once more.”

Ninety percent was more than enough. They might lose some exceptional individuals, but that had to be balanced against potential catastrophes of remaining in place or returning. Since she had come, Crossed Antennae intended to do this right.

This was one. Now there were just far too many left.

-----

There was some use to the otherwise far too many ants she had brought along, at least. She had them split up into many smaller groups of thousands, creating smaller rolling formations that weren’t much slower. They would cover a much wider area on their return trip to the ship, allowing any void ants that came across to get the message.

The royal guard should be leaving similar pheromones even if they did not come across the colony’s trails. The schedule was to have them return within several days and report, but since Crossed Antennae had accomplished the goal they would move on once the various groups arrived.

For the sake of sustainability as they retrieved more colonies, most of their numbers would be inactive, minimizing food intake. One void ant ate insignificant quantities, but millions started to add up. There would only be so many opportunities to gather food that they could keep for the duration of their mission.

The ship should already have sufficient supplies, but if an emergency came it would be too late to suddenly become conservative with their food intake. So they would have to start right away. Those who were going to be active would eat their fill, but the others wouldn’t exactly go hungry.