Epic of Bee

"We each have our own special room in the Hive Level next to each other. They are very comfortable to sleep in; maybe you will have to come to visit me one night, and I can show you the place," Xani said seductively as she walked through the Honey Gate.

I sighed and then turned back to the guards that had gathered. I wanted to upgrade them all right now, but it was already late, and Messia would be waiting for me.

"What do you all think about this area? I don\'t know too much about its limits or how much further it will extend, but I would like to know if any of you have any suggestions for when I do start upgrading things?" I asked the guards that were all gathering around me now.

"Can I get a workshop?" Jeff, the Explosive Specialist, asked with a grin.

"Please!" More than one guard begged in the back.

"Yes, I have some other material that I want to show you that I have found. I will see if I can get someone to go collect some Mortaris Shotiggi fungi that I discovered," I said with a smile.

"Thank you, the boys don\'t like it when I try new things, mix ingredients, or build bombs. There have been a couple minor accidents, but I found out that I am now explosion-proof! That is pretty handy when dealing with things built to unbuild people!" Jeff said with a forced laugh as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Minor? We had to get the Builders in to fix the three rooms you have destroyed!" Sam, the Hexblade, complained, but Jeff just waved him off.

"Yes, minor, it was in the pursuit of more knowledge and bigger explosions! Plus, it\'s not like they were busy, or we have a shortage of building material," Jeff said with a grin while spreading his hands into the air.

"You almost blew me up! And I am not bomb-proof! If I hadn\'t created that Water Wall, a bunch of people could have gotten seriously injured, or worse!" Davey, the Mage scolded Jeff, and that seemed to take the wind out of his sails, but this was good.

"Thank you for bringing this up; I will get on that first thing in the morning. Now, what other things do you think that we will need going forward? This is a good chance to bring up concerns so I can try to figure out ways to fix the problems. I want to know so I can watch for things that might help in the future," I said to the group, and a black wisp coalesced and then formed into John, Rixie\'s mentor, and my other AssassiBee.

"I think that you should think about long-range weapon turrets. In the last battle, the only support that we received from the ship was the drones. That makes me feel like we are not using the tools we have to their full potential," John explained, and I nodded to him.

That was a very good point about the fight with the Predator; we had gotten no support from the ship since we were fighting on the ground. This made me second guess myself in my choice of the Tesla points that I had gotten just because of how they looked, but that was a mook point.

"Very good, thank you, John. I will look into that as well," I said, but then the five trainers stepped forward.

"We know this is a lot to ask for each of us, but I think that having separate training areas for us might help train people faster. Now that we have the Rock Trolls, things are starting to get a little cramped, and this way, we can have better training environments," Mike, the Dagger Trainer, said.

"Yes, for some like Rich and I, grunts and the sounds of the steel connecting are fine. The problem is we can\'t have outside distraction from other training groups, or it lessens the impact of what we are trying to teach," Phil, the Staff Trainer said.

"And my men… man needs silence while practicing!" Greg, the Ranger Trainer, thundered with a smile, clapping Gabe on the shoulder, who rolled his eyes.

"You are the loudest person of them all! Even Tim doesn\'t yell at the Brawler as much as you yell at me!" Gabe, our only archer besides Greg, complained, and the group started to laugh.

"Thank you all for giving me some excellent ideas, and separate, and more specialized training areas is a very good idea. Now, I am starting to get tired. Tag, and Sig, can you please escort me to my Royal Chambers, and the rest of you are dismissed," I said to the group and then turned back to the Honey Gate, but before I could, the men all gave a resounding roar.

"HAIL THE QUEEN!"

The men roared so loud I thought that they might wake up the entire mountain range, and then they all thumped their closed fists to their chest. The respect that everyone showed me was surprising sometimes to me still, but now I was starting to understand.

I was the center of this all, and nothing could function adequately without me here. Still, the hive would be able to function with the help of my wives if I was not here, even if not well.

"Thank you," I said as I continued my turn.

My mind was going over the things that the ship could and couldn\'t do with me around as Tag and Sig walked into the Honey Gate ahead of me. I followed them through, still thinking about it and not really paying attention to where I was going, and I walked right into Messia.

"You look distracted, my dear, and tired," Messia said after I walked into her arms that she wrapped around me.

Suddenly, all thoughts left my mind, and they were replaced with only Messia. The feel of her body against mine and that unique way she looked at me made me forget everything.