Chrysalis

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."

hit, with that much acid in the air, something must have gotten hit,"

there!" The larger scout running in front sent back to them. "You're clogging up the tunnel with

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

all stood an ant larger than the others, one

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

the hundreds of other ants. Burke watched them go for a moment before turning back to eastward

asked, approaching from across the

you up

grip. I've let it stagnate for too

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

going?"

at least,

happening, so we don't really know if we are achieving anything at all. These are maximum range

inflict damage, remember. The whole

"I know."

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,

just wish we could engage them more directly," Burke said, "it feels like

we have to swarm them through the tunnel walls, we will, but until we don't have a choice, we need to explore every