Chapter 612 The work of war
The ants were not aware of the age old adage from Earth "battles are won on the training ground", but they certainly knew how to throw their efforts into wholehearted preparations regardless. Not that much changed once the invasion forces had been spotted, the Colony had been working full throttle on building capacity and shoring up their defences already. It was however, undeniable that the imminent threat added a certain frisson to the air.
Perhaps the mandatory rest observers were a little less diligent, perhaps a few more workers decided to push their next torpor back a few hours, perhaps those teams training in the various expanses within the Colony's territory took a few more risks. Everyone pushed that little bit harder, trying to eke out that final edge that would help the family to survive.
As the workers, crafters and soldiers raced to complete their tasks, far to the East of the Colony, the initial skirmishes had already begun.
POW! POW! POW! POW!
"SHOT OUT!"
"Two kilometre clearance! GO! GO! GO!"
"Next team in five! Five! Keep clear of the sight lanes and watch your abdomens. I want those antennae sharp and eyes focused. I'm talking every lens!"
The last team to fire their long range acid barrage raced through the tunnels, putting a solid distance between themselves and the enemy as stealth specialist scouts kept an eye on the response from the Golgari. Most scouts took extensive range extensions in their acid setup, but not all invested in extensive acid setups like the Eldest. Those that did chose to divert Biomass investment away from more typical mutations, like improving the mandibles or carapace, and instead poured those points into becoming dedicated acid artillery.
"Did we hit?" One scout asked her sibling as they ran to the clearance zone. "I didn't even see them."
"The spotter had us lined up pretty well. Even if it wasn't a direct hit, with that much acid in the air, something must have gotten hit," the other reasoned.
"Quiet back there!" The larger scout running in front sent back to them. "You're clogging up the tunnel with scent. Just run!"
They continued to run in silence, the ten scouts keeping to a tight formation, their heavily mutated legs whipping through the air and sending the terrain flashing past. When they finally arrived at their destination, they found dozens of teams resting in groups around the tunnel, some clearly preparing to head back to the front.
In the centre of it all stood an ant larger than the others, one of the council members, Burke.
"Well done team," she welcomed the newly arrived group, "head to the back and rest your legs. We have a stash of Biomass back there, make sure you fill up, mutate if you can and get ready. When it's your turn to head back, I'll let you know."
The scouts saluted their elder with an antenna snapped to their head and scuttled away to take their place amongst the hundreds of other ants. Burke watched them go for a moment before turning back to eastward facing tunnel entrance, waiting on the next group.
"How goes it?" Advant asked, approaching from across the ceiling.
"Why are you up there?"
"I've been training my grip. I've let it stagnate for too long, so I'm sticking to ceilings as much as possible."
Grip was an important Skill for Soldiers, since they had the most mass of all the castes, they needed higher ranks of Grip to compensate in order to be able traverse walls and roofs as they wanted. They could solve the problem by improving the strength of the gripping claws on the end of their legs during evolution, but no soldier was willing to spend the energy on something that didn't directly improve their combat capability.
"So, how's it going?" Advant asked again.
Burke sighed, or at least, unleashed the pheromone equivalent.
"It's hard to say. We aren't allowed to get close enough to really assess what's happening, so we don't really know if we are achieving anything at all. These are maximum range strikes. Most of the scouts can't even see what they're aiming at."
"The idea isn't to inflict damage, remember. The whole point is try and fatigue the enemy."
"I know."
It had been Frances, the healer's idea, oddly enough. The ants had an enormous advantage, from what they'd seen, in numbers over the enemy, which meant they could afford to be profligate in their use of each ant's energy. If ten ants were able to wear down a single Golgari, that would be a worthy trade. The healer had pointed out that fatigue would be a far greater danger for the sapients than it was for the Colony. By constantly threatening the enemy and forcing them to defend against an endless acid barrage, the council aimed at sapping energy from the invaders, bit by bit.
"I just wish we could engage them more directly," Burke said, "it feels like we aren't doing enough."
"You're starting to sound like Leeroy," Advant joked, "be patient. We aren't going to be able to beat these block-heads without fighting smart. If it comes down to it and we have to swarm them through the tunnel walls, we will, but until we don't have a choice, we need to explore every possible advantage we can get our mandibles on."
"I know, I know. Imagine a scout being lectured by a soldier on patience."
"Had to happen sometime," the two of them clacked their mandibles in a quick laugh as another team raced through the tunnel toward them.
"Good work!" Burke greeted them before asking them to take their place. "Next team away!" She called, sending another group of scouts running back to the front to repeat the never ending cycle.
"What to do you think about what Sloan said?" Advant asked.
"About the tunnel collapses? I think it makes sense. We have to try and think about countering things we haven't seen yet, and she made a good argument."
"I suppose," the soldier didn't sound convinced, "I just don't know how they could counter an entire tunnel dropping on their head."
"Just because it worked for us once, doesn't mean it's going to work every time," the scout lectured her sister, "I'm with the generals on this one. There's no way they don't have a method to detect or prevent tunnel collapses. They live down here. I think the only reason we managed to pull it off last time is because they didn't expect it. They certainly will now."
"Alright, fine. I suppose you're right. How do you think the other scout teams are finding things in the deep?"
"I have no idea, but I'll tell you what, I'd rather be me than Wills right now."