It was a magnificent winter night. Three moons shone with such an intensity that the snow-covered fields were almost as bright as if it was daylight, and the air was so clear that you could see the horizon perfectly. However, the hobgoblin sentry standing guard on the lookout tower above Goblinia was too cold, bored and sleepy to enjoy this view.

  He couldn't wait for the change of guard so that he could head to the mess hall and enjoy a warm meal before going to sleep, but unfortunately there was still another hour until then. The number of sentries disciplined enough to be trusted not to fall asleep in such a quiet night was actually rather low, and to make things worse a few of them had caught a cold so the rest had to pull double shifts to cover for their absence.

  These sentries were more than repaid enough for their services, as they had all the food and respect they could desire —plus, an increased chance to be picked to visit the Mothers' house— but still, at times like these the hobgoblin found it hard to keep going. Idle thoughts of just allowing himself to close his eyes and rest a bit started to surface in his mind. After all, who would notice? This land was safe since the orcs had been dealt with, so there was basically no danger at all.

  Using an old trick mastered by most guards everywhere, no matter their race, he closed his eyes, dozing off while still standing upright. He wasn't really asleep and he would still be able to react at the first sign of something going wrong, like an officer sneaking on him to do a surprise inspection, but at the same time he was, for all purposes, blind to what was happening around him.

  Because of this, he failed to notice the faint wisp of smoke rising from the forest south west, heading straight for the Vexlands.

  “Can you do anything about that smoke?” Gar-Gar asked with a tinge of apprehension in his voice, looking outside of a porthole at the small column of smoke rising into the air. “They're going to see us coming if they look at the sky.”

  “Sorry Elder, but I can't do anything about it.” The pilot Tinkerer, a female brown-furred kobold named Nik-Nik replied without even looking away from the rudder. “I'm already operating at the lowest possible setting to reduce the exhaust output, and if I lower any further there wouldn’t be enough power to make the Hexambulator move.”

  Gar-Gar frowned but decided to let the matter go, especially since he could see the point. Honestly, it was a bit of a risk to bring the Hexambulator with them, as it was the exact opposite of stealthy, but the power of the machine more than made up for that, and they needed all the power they could get if they wanted to take down the bugs.

  “Then stay on route and stand ready.”

  “Aye aye, Elder.” The pilot said.

  Gar-Gar sighed, and moved away from the pilot cabin, making way through some very cramped corridors until he reached a small room filled to the brim with communication devices and six Tinkerers operating them. This was the HQ of the kobold army, of which Gar-Gar was the commander in chief.

  “Any news from the scouts?” He asked.

  “No, Elder.” A Tinkerer replied. “They are still keeping watch on the nest, but from what they can tell it's completely dormant.”

  “Tell them to be careful. It might be a trap.” Gar-Gar said. “What about the rest of the army?”

  “They are keeping pace with the Hexambulator.” Another Tinkerer said. “Nothing to report aside from that.”

  “Good.” The Elder nodded. “Tell them to keep moving until we get to one hundred meters from the nest, and then get into battle formation and be ready to attack.”

  “Yes, Elder.”

  As the Tinkerers got to work, Gar-Gar moved away, heading to one of the few portholes of the Hexambulator. From there he could see the forest moving below him as the colossal machine stomped its way through the trees as if they were tall grass. That spectacle, a testament to the power of the Tinkerers' creations, relaxed him somehow, but the tension of the upcoming battle still weighed heavily on him.

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  A few kilometers north-east to the Hexambulator, Tek-Tek was carefully moving through the snow-covered forest, his senses alerted like never before to spot any possible threat. Luckily so far he hadn't found anything more dangerous than a lone fox, but with the bug nest so close he couldn't afford to get careless. He was scouting ahead alone, isolated from the others, so if anything happened no one would come to his rescue. It was such a dangerous task that the kobold would have almost preferred fighting on the frontlines, but unfortunately his talents as a scout overshadowed his value as a soldier. He had been saddled with the responsibility of exploring the area to the east, to ensure that the army wouldn't be flanked from there.

  To make things worse he couldn't even carry a communication Device with him, since they were too cumbersome for a scout, so he was effectively cut off from the rest of the army. He did have a couple of flares to signal the presence of a threat to the rest of the army, but using them would basically be a suicide since it would give away his position. Still, if it came down to it, Tek-Tek was ready to lay down his life for the sake of his kin, though deep inside he prayed to every single god he knew the name of that he wouldn't need to do that.

  He kept moving, slowly and steadily, until he finally reached the end of the forest. With impossibly cautious movements, the kobold started walking on all four, keeping a low profile as he approached the undergrowth at the edge of the treeline to peek at what was beyond.

  The landscape in front of Tek-Tek was nothing short of breathtaking. Even the mold-wax looked eerily beautiful under the intense moonlight, and to the east it also abruptly gave way to snow-covered fields that extended as far as the eye could see.

  Then, the kobold noticed something weird.

  To the north east, the lights of a large town shone brilliantly through the night.

  Dumbfounded, Tek-Tek stared at the settlement for a minute, incapable of processing what he was seeing.

  It made no sense for a city to be so close to a bug nest of this size. As far as he knew, the bugs would attack everyone as soon as they had enough numbers, and would not stop until either they or their victims were completely exterminated. Coexistence was utterly impossible.

  And yet, there was a city there, only a few kilometers away from the bug’s nest.

  Feeling more bewildered the longer he thought about it, he decided that there was something wrong with this entire situation. He had felt that way ever since he had seen this nest, and though his doubts had been placated by the words of the Elders, now they had come back in full force.

  He turned around, preparing to run back to the army to tell them to stop and wait until they knew exactly what was going on here, but right then, before he could take a step, a bright light suddenly flashed in the night, immediately followed by the sound of an explosion.

  The attack on the bug nest had begun.

  The hobgoblin sentry was immediately awakened from his slumber by the sound of distant explosions. He stood up, instinctively grabbing his spear as he scanned the horizon. He immediately found the source of the disturbance: to the south west, the Vexlands were illuminated by sudden flashes of light, accompanied by a cacophony of sounds, from powerful explosions to the staccato of gunfire.

  It only took a moment for the sentry to realize what was going on.

  The Vex territory was under attack.

  Without any further hesitation, the hobgoblin grabbed his horn and blew it three times in quick succession, the sound meant to signal that they were under attack.

  In response to that alarm, other horns sounded all around the city, repeating the same signal for all goblins to hear. As he watched his fellow goblins waking up and preparing themselves to face this threat, the sentry could only formulate one single thought.

  He hoped that the higher ups would still let him keep his job after this.

  The Hive was under attack.

  The Hivemind processed this information dispassionately. Had the Queen been there they would have probably felt anger and fury, but the Queen was far away, cut off from the rest of the Hive, and so her individuality and emotional side couldn't affect the Hivemind's reasoning.

  The Hivemind still missed that connection though. Their Queen was peculiar and strange for a Vex, sure, but her uniqueness had also allowed the Hive to survive and even thrive under extremely hostile conditions. Besides, the Hivemind was first and foremost an extension of the Queen's will, so it was only natural that it would seek her to be complete.

  However, no matter how hard it tried, the Hivemind couldn't contact the Queen, so they had to make do with their own capabilities to follow the primary directive given to them: defend the Hive.

  Using the Broodmothers as a focus point for their gestalt consciousness, the Hivemind immediately took initiative to neutralize the current threat. All Vex drones started moving together as one, waking up from their hibernation to deal with the enemy.