Commander Pendulum stood at the head of the massive ant army before him. He shook his head and knocked his breastplate in disbelief. Less than two weeks ago, the Expeditionary Force that he led seemed almost invincible in its gallant strength. Now after a few battles and a great deal of marching through sand and soil, the army has been severely weakened by casualties and lack of supplies. For the first time ever, his dream of conquering all neighboring ant kingdoms now appeared questionable.

Still, the Expeditionary Force has not yet lost a single battle since it started its campaign less than a fortnight ago. The price for this feat was costly. In the east border, where they swarmed the colony extension of Zebedee’s kingdom, they lost more than four thousand regular troops and almost the same number of special units. More ants died during the northeastern march. Now as they are nearing the main stronghold of Zebedee’s kingdom, it looked as though the Expeditionary Force isn’t strong enough.

In light of this problem, Commander Pendulum sulked back to camp headquarters to call a meeting with his imperial chieftains. As the chieftains entered the tent, there was a uniform look on their faces — uncertainty.

“Gentle-Ants, I know that you know what our problem is. Everybody does, even the lowest ensign! I won’t speak many words. I want your opinion about this matter for I have doubts regarding the success of this campaign..”, said Pendulum.

Some of the chieftains looked at each other. Never before have they seen their Commander with such a humble and worried look. He was always strong and domineering as far as they knew.

The chieftains each aired their views one by one. After this was done, the entire ant leadership body seemed more divided than ever. One leader ant voiced out, “It all looks impossible!”, and another said, “Let’s go home and build a stronger force”. Others said, “Zebedee isn’t that strong as we think he is. It can be done”. Emotions were so strong that the meeting was instantly thrown into general commotion.

At this point, an aged dignified officer suddenly stood up to make a speech. Everyone closed their mouths to listen intently, for he was nothing less than General Dryden himself, chief of the imperial drones.

“Sir Pendulum”, he said, “comrades…of all divisions, mine has suffered the worst losses. This is because we are always at the head of the army. Yet, I’m a very experienced commander, and given the chance, I’m willing to suggest a tactic that would make us win this final battle.”