Epic of Bee

The atmosphere in the room was tense as the four remaining Wasp Queens all stared at me. I could tell they were trying to figure out what my angle was, but I had none. I just wanted what was best for everyone, and that meant getting rid of Trent and his Lichtar for good.

Leah and Riza were standing on either side of me, but those were the only guards that I had. I had asked my wives to wait while I was in the meeting since I knew that this was going to be hard, so I wanted to Bee able to focus.

Three of the Queens were older, and one was younger. They all had different colors, but their eyes were all the same. Sharp and full of intelligence.

"So," the youngest Queen said as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, "What is it that you want with us?"

I took a deep breath and leaned forward, clasping my hands together on the table. "I'll get straight to the point then. I don't really want much, but one thing I want to start out with is that I will require one of you to stay here with us. You are all more than welcome to join my hive but as subordinate Queens. The rest is just figuring out how we can help you get settled in a place where you aren't going to rub shoulders with people."

"You want one of us to be your queen?" the oldest Queen asked, and I nodded.

"Yes, we need a producing Queen. We already have Helaina as my wife, but she has not laid any eggs yet," I explained, and the youngest Queen scoffed.

"You think we would just hand over one of our sisters like that? We would rather die!" she exclaimed as she got up from her chair and began pacing the room.

I sighed; this was going to be harder than I thought. "I don't want anyone to die, least of all you four. But this is something that needs to happen if we are going to move forward. Helaina is here with me, so you would not Bee alone. I would also accept all of your drones, or they can be divided out to the other three Queens."

The youngest Queen stopped her pacing and turned to look at me. "Why should we trust you?"

"You don't have to, but I am giving you my word that no harm will come to any of you if you help us out. We just need a producing Queen so that we can create more workers of all sorts and increase our numbers," I explained as calmly as possible.

"And what about when your numbers are high enough? What is stopping you from just attacking us and taking over?" the middle-aged Queen asked, and I frowned.

"I have no intention of taking over anything. My only goal is to stop Trent and his Lichtar from destroying anything else," I replied, which seemed to placate them a bit but not enough for them to agree just yet.

"We will have to think on this," the oldest Queen said as she got up from her chair. "You can go for now, but we will summon you when we have made our decision."

I nodded; it was better than nothing, at least. "Very well; in the meantime, please enjoy the hospitality of my hive."

With that, the meeting was adjourned, and Leah and Riza escorted the Queens back to their room. I sighed as I leaned back in my chair; that had gone as planned for the most part. As I was leaning back, the door to my meeting room opened back up, and Pixie skipped in with Gamble and Jess, but my Bee Brain and his new Sky Otter wife came rolling in wearing strange tactical gear and masks with visors that lit up.

Pixie walked over to me as Jess and Gamble scanned over the entire room. I was so thankful that they waited to come after they had left with the guards.

"Don't bother asking me what they are doing. This is why Gamble had Jess. I could never get on the same level as him about these things, but that doesn't make me love him less. There is a different side of him that he only shows to me, and I know that. I am sure that it is the same for you, right?" Pixie said as she waited for Gamble to scan her seat before sitting down. Jess just stayed in the doorway, keeping watch as Gamble continued to scan the room.

"There are all sorts of things that I don't understand about Gamble, but I know that he is one of the smartest people I have ever met," I replied as I watched him work. He really was something else, a true Bee Brain for sure. His wife Jess was also smart and handled everything with a level head. It was good to see the two of them together, and it was even better to see Pixie so approving of Jess. It made me wonder how my girls were when I wasn't around.

After Gamble was done scanning the room and pronounced it safe, we all sat down at the table, and Pixie began chattering away about something or other while Jess just sat there with an amused smirk on her face. The two women had been close since they got back, from what I could see. So much had happened, and I had many Otter things to check up on Bee-fore the day was done.

"So, how did it go?" Gamble finally asked when Pixie took a pause in her chatter to take a breath, and I sighed as I leaned back in my chair.

"It went how we thought it would; they want to think on it and, I assume, talk about what Queen that they would give up. That is if they do. If they do, then I will assume that they are going to come back with a Hive Hexed full of demands. I would like to avoid that if possible," I explained, and Gamble nodded.

"I agree; we don't need them to make things more difficult than they already are. I think we should give them what they want and let them go," he said, and I frowned.

"What? Why? That seems a bit too generous after what they have done," I interjected, but Gamble shook his head.

"No, it is the best way to keep them happy and off our backs for now. We can't have them constantly demanding things from us or causing problems within the hive," he explained, and I sighed as I leaned back in my chair. He was right; as much as I didn't want to admit it, this was the best way to handle things for now.

"Alright then; let's give them what they want so that we can focus on more important matters at hand," I said as I got up from my chair with Gamble following close Bee-hind me with Jess right Bee-hind him. Yes, Pixie was also Bee-hind, but she wasn't walking; she was Buzzing.

"Like what?" Gamble asked as we made our way out of the room and down the hall.

"Well, I thought that we should focus on Trent and his Lichtar first. He is up to something, and I want to find out what it is," I explained as we made our way toward my room.

"I agree; he is definitely up to something, but we need more information before we can make a move against him," Gamble interjected, and I sighed as we made our way through a Honey Gate to the bridge area, but it was changed greatly.

"Welcome to the new bridge! Even though you created it, I don't think you have got to actually see it firsthand, right?" Miasma asked as she came over to grab my hand and drag me over to my new fancy chair that had a few upgrades.

"No, I haven't had the chance to actually check it out yet," I replied as I sat down in the chair and looked around. Everyone was in their own area doing their own thing, but they all stopped what they were doing when they saw me sit down.

"Well, let me give you the grand tour then!" Miasma exclaimed as she began pointing out all of the new things that had been added or changed since we last left.

It really was something else; the stations were all going, and now there was a massive map with a ring of floating seats around it. The rest of the outside edge of the room was strange seats that looked like they were meant to seal the person inside of them.

"Those are the new work station that we work from the get around as projection to deal with problems easier. There are others that do this job, but these are for us if we come under attack again. This time, were are not going to let you get put into a position like last time," Messia explained, as she came over to stand on my other side as the rest of my wives that were present nodded. Serria was taking her catnap, and my Shadow Walkers were training with John and the others.

One person that I was waiting to hear back from was Bob, but Gamble had heard nothing, and I was having trouble getting a lock on him. Will was also still in the wind, but I didn't know what that meant. I just hoped that they were both alright and not in danger.

I took a deep breath as I leaned back in my chair and looked at all the new things that had been done. We really had come a long way, but there was still so much to do. I just hoped that we could get it all done before Trent made his move, whatever that may be.