My Advisers listened in agitation-charged silence.
"Yesterday, a group of ten more humans—as these giants are called, a word which you might as well use by now—entered the settlent we've been dealing with. On mounts—horses, I guess. They were armored and ard with weapons made to kill other humans—you can think of them as Warriors among humans—and acted aggressively."
This brought looks of confusion on my girls' faces.
"The new 'humans' attacked the ones we knew, Father?" Bloodhero asked in puzzlent. "Why? Are new humans a different kind from the other ones? Like wasps? Or different ants?"
Of course, the idea of in-species fighting was puzzling for bees. Fighting their own, aside from Queen-on-Queen killings, was innately alien to them. On Earth, at most bees would steal honey from other hives, but this was only done when there wasn't enough food otherwise.
"Humans are not like us, Bloodhero. They live in groups, but they procreate in pairs. They compete against each other all the ti."
Bloodhero's face cleared, and she nodded in understanding. I continued.
"In simpler terms, these people ca to the village and used diplomacy to conquer this place. They threatened locals with weapons, and even killed one who protested. Then they went to rest in the biggest house the locals had."
Next to , Ambrosia inhaled sharply.
"They dared to conquer the place *we* were about to conquer…"
"What?!" Things-Things clenched her fists and pouted. "But their things were almost *ours*! And now there's *another* dead giant we can't dismantle? So many materials are left to rot…"
"You can't gather *everything* in the world, Things-Things… We must be content with what we have," Worriesgone said sagely and patted Things-Things on the shoulder.
"The materials are *really* not the main point here," I added sourly. "I'm worried about what these warriors will do next. Although the language research of them didn't even *start* yet, I can guess that by now they know everything about the Bee Empire that the locals had."
"Then it's reasonable to guess that they will act similarly," Researchina said. She humd thoughtfully. "If I add a typical hamrhead personality of Warriors to my predictions, it's safe to assu that they will attack us."
Bloodhero scowled.
"Don't put *their* 'warriors' in one line with ours! We've already taught them a lesson—two lessons! They will cower in fear if they know what's best for them, and if they don't—we will kill them as they co. It's nothing new! Their armor and weapons are made against other humans, not us."
"I had enough attacks on our empire. Even easy victories co with deaths of our own, and then Nectus is driven to resolve the consequences," Ambrosia said heavily. "We must ensure that humans *definitely* won't attack us. I've been thinking about this since Nectus went on the rescue mission, and I believe I have a foolproof solution."
I turned to Ambrosia curiously.
"Really? Do you have a plan to deal with them?"
I had so thoughts, but nothing that I could call "foolproof".
Ambrosia nodded regally.
"Indeed. Until now, we fought humans in daylight, but we don't have to do this every ti. Instead, we should send several groups of Commando Bees into the village—as many as dragons can carry. The vulnerable areas of humans are already known—their eyes are their weakest spot, even when covered by eyelids. A single sting in each eye of a sleeping human will render them blind. Blind humans won't be able to attack us."
I opened my mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.
"Three dozen Commandos will blind all the warrior humans and half a dozen more. If we spend more ti preparing, we can blind their entire colony. Even if they won't be afraid enough of us, they will beco helpless and *will* have to accept our rule."
Bloodhero smiled.
"What a brilliant idea, Mother-Queen! I suggest we use borrowed stingers of Beemarines as spare weapons—then three squads of Commandos can blind the entire village by themselves."
"Then we can kill them all, like they deserve!" Workharder snarled.
"Which will make them *absolutely* unable to attack us," Tabletina added, twirling a brass scalpel in her fingers.
I hid my face in my palms, but it just made imagine the consequences of such a plan more vividly.
Quiet and too tiny to notice, Commando Bees will co to humans overnight. They will take their positions and strike as synchronously as they could—maybe a dragon's growl will be their signal.
Dozens of stingers will pierce dozens of eyes. Screams will fly toward the sky as people wake up in terrible pain and unable to see.
Overnight, third, half, or the entire village will beco a settlent of cripples, barely able to do the simplest tasks like feeding themselves or finding water to drink. n, won, children—who cared? Not bees.
Even if the damage from stings wasn't permanent, the devastation it will bring was just the thing I was trying to avoid.
"Necty?" Ambrosia asked, forcing to look up at her puzzled face. "Why are you reacting like you spent too much ti standing in smoke blown from the kitchens?"
I took a breath.
'Am I acting too soft again? No, no, I'm not! My actions have reasons. We are walking on a tightrope. This village doesn't exist in a vacuum, and the appearance of these bandits is the proof of it. If the villagers get too bold, they attack us. If they get too scared, they will seek help from outside no matter what it will cost them! And we don't have the power to kill everyone and leave nobody a chance to escape, even with Amby's idea.'
However, I had to admit—her plan had so rit. A lot of rit, actually—it was just a matter of approach.
"I'm fine, Amby. Your plan–we can use it. After we make so corrections. After all, these bandits are not only a potential problem for us, but for the other humans as well…"
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