I Am The Swarm

The Riken soldier’s task was indeed complete. His role was merely that of an initial screener; upon discovering valuable information and triggering the alarm, all the equipment and instruments in his room were remotely commandeered by the intelligence department.

Before long, the two-minute video stirred up a storm among the Riken leadership. Optical observation stations on Planet Riven, Planet Riwu, and even the Riken homeworld redirected more than 60% of their large-scale instruments to focus on the location where the monitoring unit had been destroyed.

It didn’t take long for them to locate the fleet.

“I’ll bet anything—those warships aren’t part of the Swarm.”

“Alcer! This isn’t the time for jokes!” Hamis snapped, glaring at Alcer, who shrugged indifferently.

Surprisingly, after a brief panic, the Riken high command settled into an unusual calm upon discovering this new fleet. Some even seemed to relish the situation.

Although the Rikens were currently surrounded and pinned down by the Swarm, they realized this also meant they were somewhat shielded by the Swarm. Any new force looking to trouble the Rikens would first have to contend with the Swarm.

This ironic layer of “protection” led to a rather relaxed atmosphere in what should have been a tense meeting. The Rikens adopted the mindset of spectators, anticipating the Swarm’s clash with this new faction and hoping to see them mutually devastate each other.

After all, the Swarm was their oppressive captor, not a trusted guardian. If the newcomers managed to engage the Swarm in a bloody conflict, both sides weakening each other would be a win-win for the Rikens.

They showed little concern for their own safety. To them, the Swarm was overwhelmingly powerful, while the newcomers, based on the size of their warships, appeared only slightly stronger than the Rikens themselves.

“It seems the Swarm likely noticed them long ago, which is why they’ve been holding their position. We were overthinking it before.”

“Still, those newcomers… their main engines look oddly familiar,” remarked a logistics general, staring at the high-resolution photos and videos captured by the Riken observation systems now trained on the dark-red fleet.

The remark drew attention. With so many advanced optical instruments focused on the new fleet, the Rikens had acquired exceptionally clear images of their warships. The general’s comment about the engines piqued interest.

“What did you notice, Safang?” someone asked.

Major General Safang was lost in thought, not responding immediately. Suddenly, he moved swiftly, isolating the image of the dark-red warships’ rear engine section. He then retrieved an image of a Riken warship, isolating its engine as well, and placed the two images side by side.

The other Riken officers crowded around to see. Gradually, their expressions shifted, mouths agape in astonishment.

“I understand that technological convergence can happen, but this… this is way too similar,” one officer murmured.

“If you hadn’t shown me the full images, I wouldn’t have been able to tell which was which.”

“There are some minor differences in the details, but they’re nearly identical,” Safang said, adjusting the non-prescription glasses perched on his nose. The familiarity he had felt earlier was now glaringly obvious, leaving him even more puzzled.

“This isn’t just about convergence,” Safang continued. “Every civilization develops with its own unique culture, which shapes its distinct technological style. Consider the stark contrasts between the Rikens and the Swarm. Even among ourselves, before unification, the differences in style and culture between various nations and tribes were worlds apart.”

“And yet, here we are—separated by who knows how many light-years—and their designs align so closely with ours. Even if both of us follow the mechanical technology path, it’s extraordinarily unlikely we’d arrive at such similar outcomes.”

“Exactly!”

The Rikens fell into deep thought.

After a brief silence, Hamis spoke up suddenly: “Have you ever wondered why this new faction came here?”

“I suspect it was the nuclear explosions that attracted them. If that’s the case, they can’t be too far from us,” replied Novaul, Fleet Commander of the Second Fleet, after some consideration. “Why bring this up now?”

Hamis didn’t answer directly but posed another question: “Where did our engine technology come from?”

Novaul rolled his eyes at Hamis’s seemingly erratic train of thought but managed to follow along. “From reverse-engineering the Treasure starship?”

“Exactly. Now, have you considered another possibility?”

By now, Novaul was catching on. He chuckled and replied, “That’s ridiculous. Sure, these newcomers appear a little stronger than us based on their ship sizes, but suggesting they’re the original owners of the Treasure starship? I can’t agree with that.”

Hamis, unbothered, nodded in agreement. “That’s exactly my point.”

Suddenly, Safang interrupted with a eureka-like realization. “I think I understand what Admiral Hamis means!”

“Oh? Then tell us,” said Hamis, gesturing for Safang to continue.

Safang nodded and took a moment to gather his thoughts. “Our engine technology comes from the ancient starship. It’s like crossing a river by feeling for the stones—it drastically shortened our research and development time, but it also passed on its stylistic influences to us. The similarity in engine design between our ships and the newcomers’ isn’t coincidental.” He paused, letting his words sink in.

“Since they aren’t the owners of the ancient starship, then they must have their own version of it!”

“You’re saying… they have another ancient starship?” The Rikens were stunned, finding the idea difficult to digest. Yet, upon careful consideration, they realized the possibility was quite high.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” someone muttered.

“Funny, so do I.”

What once seemed like a stroke of fortune now felt like a carefully orchestrated plan. That realization left a sour taste in their mouths.

“So, this new faction may not have been drawn here by the nuclear explosions after all,” Hamis said, nodding.

“Exactly. That’s what I’m saying.”

“Do you know what came to my mind first?” asked another officer.

“Some kind of experiment?”

“Haha, looks like we’re on the same page.”

“A civilization or faction, using us as test subjects, but now rushing in because they see us on the brink of annihilation by the Swarm?”

“That’s a good story. I like it.”

“Me too.”

“Looks like we’ve been underestimated.”

“It’s more about the imbalance of information. I’d argue that in terms of intelligence, we’re not inferior to any other species.”

“But the scale of this operation… If whoever is behind this harbors malicious intent, we might be in serious trouble.”

“Then, the Swarm is the wildcard?”

“Seems likely.”

“How are they different from us?”

“In countless ways. The simplest difference is that they primarily follow a biotechnology path. Even if you gave them an ancient starship, they’d have to reverse-engineer it and then convert its technology into their biological framework. That’s much more complicated than what we had to do.”

“But that might also make their adaptations more valuable. The Swarm could be in for some trouble.”

“Kind of makes me happy…”

Receiving all this in real time, Sarah Kerrigan sighed. “A civilization destined to be livestock—why bother thinking so much?”

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