I Am The Swarm

The Riken officials, feeling emboldened by their newfound relationship with the Ji and believing that this situation was primarily the Swarm’s issue, responded with a mix of polite words and thinly veiled mockery.

Though they maintained a veneer of courtesy, their insinuations that the Koya Alliance were bullies who only preyed on the weak were clear.

This provocation enraged the Koya Alliance. What began as a discussion dominated by the Daqi representatives quickly turned into a collective rebuke, with representatives from various alliance members joining in. Even the Koriato, the leading civilization of the alliance, took the stage.

The Koriato were an imposing species. Five of their members, towering over two meters in height, attended the talks. Regardless of gender, their bodies were robust, and their meticulously groomed manes gave them the appearance of majestic lions.

Unfortunately, even with these “lions” stepping in personally, their unrelenting and exorbitant demands met with steadfast resistance from the Riken.

The Riken now fully appreciated the benefits of being surrounded by the Swarm. Any attack on their homeworld would first have to go through the Swarm. The 50-ship fleet from the Koya Alliance had been ignored by the Swarm only because it posed no immediate threat. However, if a large-scale invasion were attempted, it was unlikely that the Swarm would stand idly by.

Of course, this assumption required confirmation from the Swarm.

Thus, the Riken discreetly sought assurances from the Swarm. This was more for show than genuine consultation, aimed at placating the still-unconverted original Riken population. Once the Swarm gave their unequivocal support, the Riken negotiators felt a newfound confidence.

Though they didn’t know if the Swarm could truly stand against the Koya Alliance’s coalition of over 20 civilizations, they reasoned that it wouldn’t matter. If the Swarm fell, they could always surrender later.

After all, the Confederation’s rules would prevent their outright annihilation. As for the compensation, their total of 110,000 points would cover the alliance’s demands. If they were forced to pay it all, it wouldn’t make much difference compared to the current negotiation terms.

With this mindset, the Riken stood firm, refusing to budge. The talks dragged on for over two months, with neither side willing to compromise.

The Koya Alliance maintained their initial demands, while the Riken adopted a stalling strategy. Their message was clear: they would not negotiate, at most agreeing to pass along the message for the alliance to take up the matter directly with the Swarm.

The alliance members, in turn, thought: If we could negotiate with the Swarm directly, why would we need you to mediate? But they knew the Swarm was no pushover. The Swarm had grown closer to the Troi civilization recently, and their military might made them far less vulnerable than the Riken.

In reality, the alliance’s primary objective wasn’t to resolve the Daqi’s grievances but to exploit the situation for their benefit. At the very least, they hoped to secure some Longevity Serum materials.

News travels fast, and no secret remains hidden forever. Word of the Ji acquiring something valuable from the Riken had already spread far and wide in smaller circles. The fact that even the Ji’s task force had recalled its stationed warships hinted at the significance of the discovery.

The Koya Alliance, benefiting from their proximity to the Riken, wanted to claim their share before it was too late. If the serum-related data entered the Ji’s official exchange system, its price would skyrocket beyond reach.

Regardless of how crude the Riken’s technology might be, the Ji had spent 10,000 points to acquire it. Any resale price would undoubtedly be several times higher. The alliance was determined to act before that happened.

If the Koya Alliance could exploit a timing advantage and extract materials from the Riken before the Ji formally commercialized the Longevity Serum, it would save them a considerable number of points. Points, after all, were a precious currency—more was always better, and any savings were worth pursuing.

But as the days passed, the Riken’s stubborn, unyielding stance in the face of both coercion and persuasion left the Koya Alliance grinding their teeth in frustration.

Initially, they had considered massing their forces, easily gathering tens of thousands of warships from their member civilizations. However, the Riken’s precarious location presented a problem, they were surrounded by Swarm bases.

The true strength of the Swarm remained a mystery. The data provided by the Confederation offered no concrete conclusions, but the Koya Alliance could infer some clues from the way the Troi civilization treated the Swarm.

The Troi, who were part of the Locke Mutual Aid Society, had been longtime rivals of the Koya Alliance in the struggle for dominance in the Outer-ring. Despite countless open and covert clashes, the two factions knew each other well.

The Troi might appear straightforward and affable, but in truth, they were shrewd and calculating. The fact that even they treated the Swarm with such respect strongly suggested that the Swarm possessed considerable strength.

For the sake of tens of thousands of points, it might have been acceptable to bully a weak neighbor. But to recklessly provoke a potentially powerful force? That was a different story entirely—one that wasn’t worth the risk.

Yet this cautious approach did little to quell growing dissatisfaction among the alliance’s member civilizations. Fueled by the Daqi’s persistent provocations, frustration with the Swarm gradually escalated from mild complaints to outright resentment and finally simmering hatred.

Unfortunately for the Koya Alliance, the reality of interstellar politics boiled down to raw power. Though their collective anger toward the Swarm festered, they dared not act on it directly.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t that they lacked the courage—it was that their considerations held them back. The Swarm was, after all, a new and seemingly fragile force.

Their only notable victories so far were against a backwater civilization and a limited skirmish with the Daqi. And even in that battle, the Daqi had fielded only about 2,000 warships.

At that time, the Swarm’s forces had been limited. While the Koya Alliance was uncertain about the Swarm’s current capabilities, during their journey to Riken’s homeworld, they had passed near a star and observed countless Space Octopuses densely packed around it. Though individually unimpressive, such overwhelming numbers would be a logistical nightmare in combat.

If the Koya Alliance launched an assault and failed to decisively crush the Swarm, they would become a laughingstock to the Locke Mutual Aid Society. At their level of influence, preserving face in the absence of decisive action was of paramount importance.

What the alliance didn’t know, however, was that the Daqi had already conducted another offensive against the Swarm. That operation had ended in a swift retreat.

Embarrassed by the failure, the Daqi had expunged all records of the campaign and officially denied its occurrence. While a few rumors persisted, the line between fact and fiction blurred, leaving few to believe the whispers.

The Daqi’s lack of transparency extended even to their allies in the Koya Alliance, who were kept in the dark about the Swarm’s true capabilities. If they had known the real strength the Swarm had demonstrated during that earlier engagement, their current deliberations might have taken a very different course.

Meanwhile, Luo Wen, with little else demanding his attention, shifted part of his focus to monitoring the situation surrounding the Riken. As one of the key parties involved in the negotiations, Luo Wen found himself hoping for a speedy resolution.

The Daqi prisoners had been in the Swarm’s custody for decades. Many of them were indeed “homesick,” yearning to return to their people and reunite with family and friends.

But sadly, their civilization had proven too incompetent to arrange their return.

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