I Am The Swarm

“Sergeant Hasmu, I need you to lead your team to this location and capture several native creatures. The target images and coordinates have been sent to you,” Dr. Lute instructed.

The Cat’s Ear Spaceship carried a 500-member security force divided into ten squads. Opposite Dr. Lute was one of the squad leaders, Sergeant Hasmu, responsible for ensuring the safety of this planetary expedition. Half of his team had disembarked to provide protection, while the other half remained on the ship, ready to offer covering fire if needed.

Sergeant Hasmu was also the tallest Riken among those who landed on the planet. Equipped with his gear, his 2.7-meter frame towered over Dr. Lute’s comparatively diminutive 2.1-meter stature, making the latter seem almost childlike in comparison.

“Understood, Dr. Lute. But what about your safety?”

“Don’t worry about us. The other non-combat personnel and I will take the transport craft back to the ship. You, however, must exercise caution. The situation here is extremely peculiar, and we don’t know what might be lurking in the shadows,” Dr. Lute emphasized.

“Understood,” Sergeant Hasmu replied with a nod. The strangeness of the situation was not lost on him; even as a soldier, he could sense it.

They had expected to find a civilization here, yet discovered nothing. Then, when they suspected a navigational error, they stumbled upon radiation remnants on the planet’s surface.

After escorting Dr. Lute and the others back to the transport craft and watching it ascend, Sergeant Hasmu gathered his team and returned to the gunboat.

The 20-meter-long gunboat was cramped with 50 personnel aboard. On the journey down, half had traveled aboard the transport craft, which alleviated the crowding. Fortunately, Captain Reggie had dispatched an additional transport craft to assist them. Otherwise, even if they managed to capture their targets, there would have been no way to transport them back.

The gunboat took off, heading toward the designated coordinates. Meanwhile, the Swarm, concealed in the shadows, shifted its focus onto the gunboat.

This vessel was clearly on a mission. As it departed the radiation zone, it presented the Swarm with an opportunity. If the Riken weren’t planning to entertain themselves, the Swarm might have driven some native creatures to stir up trouble.

However, this time, it seemed unnecessary for the Swarm to act directly. The gunboat’s destination was clear—a direct flight to the nearest Feral Direwolf den located near the radiation zone.

Luo Wen immediately directed all nearby Swarm units to maintain a safe distance while establishing comprehensive surveillance over the area.

The Riken gunboat traveled quickly, covering the 50 kilometers in about three minutes, a feat attributed to the short distance that barely allowed the vessel to reach full speed.

The ensuing skirmish was brief, lasting only a few minutes before the security team overpowered the Feral Direwolf den.

The operation began with the deployment of 30 armed personnel a kilometer away from the den. The gunboat then ascended, releasing both reconnaissance and armed drones. While the number of armed drones was small—fewer than ten—their one-meter-long frames, mounted machine guns, and four missiles each, provided formidable firepower.

The reconnaissance drones reached the den first, providing the team with a visual overview and marking targets. With their aid, the security team initiated long-range attacks from their position a kilometer away.

They employed energy weapons—rifle-like devices that emitted ten-centimeter-long red beams. Upon contact, the beams inflicted burn damage and triggered explosions for secondary effects.

Though these weapons packed a punch, their firing rate was relatively slow, at about three to four shots per second. The upside was that they appeared to require minimal reloading; Luo Wen observed each gun firing over a hundred rounds without anyone swapping magazines.

Against the primitive Feral Direwolves, such ranged weaponry was more than adequate.

The fiery explosions seemed to awaken a primal fear buried deep in the Direwolves’ genes. While the scenes differed somewhat from their inherited memories, the destructive force bore enough similarity to evoke terror.

The den, home to over 300 Feral Direwolves, scattered after leaving behind several dozen corpses. The security team did not pursue them but instead consolidated their spoils and established a defensive perimeter to await the arrival of the transport craft.

Meanwhile, within the Swarm Network, a discussion about the skirmish and its implications was underway.

“Overlord, their technology, while different from ours, is not beyond our understanding. These firearms likely use some mechanism to process energy into beam-like projectiles,” an Intelligent Entity began.

“Indeed. Moreover, these energy weapons should be susceptible to our optical cloaking systems. Our cloaking technology utilizes nanocrystals on the surface to mimic environmental light reflections, blending into the surroundings. By analyzing the spectrum of their weapons, we should be able to adjust the nanocrystals to deflect the beams,” another Intelligent Entity suggested.

“I disagree,” interjected Tikas. “While the projectiles are fast, they don’t surpass our visual threshold. We can still see them streaking through the air. If these truly were light-based weapons, they would travel at the speed of light, making them invisible to the naked eye.”

The Intelligent Entities murmured amongst themselves, exchanging views. Luo Wen found himself leaning toward Tikas’s perspective. Having lived on the Genesis Planet for years and absorbed much knowledge, he now considered himself a quasi-intellectual.

These firearms likely condensed energy into projectiles that resembled beams but were in fact energy aggregates. This explained why their flight paths were visible.

If that were the case, optical cloaking would be ineffective against these weapons, as it couldn’t deflect such energy.

However, the bright nature of the projectiles made them easier to detect than the nearly invisible trajectories of metallic bullets. Luo Wen speculated that with the Swarm’s advanced dynamic vision systems and enhanced reflexes, there was a reasonable chance of evading these projectiles.

In any case, practical tests would be required to confirm their efficacy. For now, Luo Wen had no means to act directly without his physical body on-site.

With the weaponry discussion settled, the meeting shifted to the next agenda: devising strategies to confront this civilization from the M37 Star System.

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