I Am The Swarm

After the coalition forces in the LKDW262 Star System had largely unified their stance, they quickly organized their defenses. However, it was already too late.

The surging tide of the Swarm had already destroyed three layers of orbital defense systems. These relatively outdated, low-powered, and immobile fixed defense facilities were systematically picked off and obliterated by the Primordial-class units.

The outermost Moto colony had also fallen, and the Moto inhabitants within had lost contact, their fate unknown.

With no other choice, tens of millions of warships from various races gathered in the outer orbit of LKDW262’s habitable planet, hoping to rely on the strongest orbital defense system here for one last stand.

“Has there been any response to our call for reinforcements?”

“Sir, the frontlines have received the message. General Difeck replied that the frontlines are under heavy pressure, and the troops are too entangled to disengage. However, he has managed to withdraw the Moto fleet and send them back to assist.”

The commander nodded. The situation on the frontlines was being reported in real-time, and it was indeed as Difeck had described—they were in a difficult position. Sending the Moto fleet back was likely the best they could do, and it was unreasonable to demand more.

However, the Moto fleet’s warp technology was acquired on credit, and they only had the most basic version. Although the frontlines were only 0.2 light-years away from LKDW262, it would still take them at least two to three months to return. Moreover, given their combat capabilities, even if they did return, how much they could contribute was questionable. There wasn’t much to expect from them.

“What about the other fronts?”

“Sigh…” the commander sighed quietly.

The current situation was dire. The nearest star system, LKDW263, was too preoccupied with its own troubles to help. The coalition civilizations bordering the Moto had already sent large numbers of troops earlier. Even if they still had forces to spare, they were unlikely to deploy them now, as they would need to conserve their strength for when the Swarm turned its attention to them after overrunning the Moto. Although such preparations might not make much difference in the end.

The commander’s only hope now lay with the major civilizations of the middle and inner circles. Their warships were more technologically advanced, and the faster ones had already set out two or three decades ago. However, without their communication codes, the Mutual Aid Society had no way to contact them while they were in warp travel.

Thus, only their own races knew where these fleets were at the moment.

Rescue might arrive at any second, or perhaps it wouldn’t come until LKDW262 was destroyed. This left the commander torn between hope and despair.

The Swarm, however, paid no attention to the psychological drama of these races and continued to execute their plans methodically. The Primordial-class units carefully and meticulously cleared every corner they passed, showing no change in their approach regardless of the strength or weakness of their opponents.

Soon, the various Primordial-class clusters converged 5,000 kilometers away from the habitable planet. Arrayed against them were the dense formations of the coalition fleet and their fixed defenses.

Cold, metallic constructs stood silently, exuding an aura of solemnity. Lights—beacons, indicators, and warning signals—flickered intermittently, while small vessels darted back and forth.

Engineering robots and alien engineers in protective suits nervously inspected the operational status of the equipment, maintaining or replacing worn-out components in preparation for the imminent battle.

The Swarm also temporarily halted their advance. Floating in the void were their combat units, even more densely packed than the coalition forces. Their long tendrils swayed unconsciously, with bioluminescent lights flickering on and off in a mesmerizing display.

“What a beautiful species,” some of the aliens murmured, their emotions complex. Beautiful things often resonated with sentient beings, but the beauty of the Swarm was something these aliens could not afford to appreciate.

The battle began shortly after. The Swarm had approximately 50 million large combat units, while the coalition forces had just over 20 million warships. Even with all the fixed defenses included, the total number of operational units that could fire was barely 30 million.

The enormous numerical disparity, coupled with the lack of technological advantage, immediately put the coalition forces at a disadvantage from the start.

The Primordial-class units charged forward under heavy fire, advancing while simultaneously returning fire. Attacking a cornered defensive force was the Swarm’s favorite scenario. ŗ𝐀𐌽ò฿Ëᶊ

Both sides’ long-range weapons had similar ranges and firepower, with the Swarm’s being slightly superior. Under these conditions, even in a long-range exchange, the Swarm had no reason to back down.

However, the Swarm’s close-combat capabilities were far stronger. The coalition, forced to defend critical targets, had no room to maneuver. This gave the Swarm the opportunity to close the distance, and once they did, the coalition forces would be mercilessly overwhelmed.

The course of the battle unfolded exactly as expected. The fixed defenses, lacking mobility, were prioritized and systematically destroyed under concentrated fire.

The shattered debris scattered in all directions, and the coalition, with their tightly packed formations, found themselves struggling to deal with the wreckage of their own defenses.

The remaining coalition warships’ firepower was insufficient to stop the Swarm’s advance. All they could do was watch helplessly as the Swarm units loomed larger and larger in their view.

But that wasn’t all. Once the Swarm closed to a certain distance, the Primordial-class units released swarms of mature and larval bodies from within their bodies. These smaller units were now within their effective combat range.

Despite their small size—some of the larval bodies were less than ten meters long—they were still a significant threat. Even Viller’s disc-shaped flagship, which was over five kilometers long, would find it difficult to deal with larval bodies at close range, let alone the coalition warships, which were only about two kilometers long.

The coalition forces, already at a disadvantage, found their situation worsening with the appearance of these mature and larval bodies.

The coalition warships’ long-range firepower primarily consisted of main and secondary cannons. The main cannons required more energy, had a slower rate of fire, but were immensely powerful and long-ranged, capable of dealing significant damage to all Swarm units. The secondary cannons required less energy, fired faster, but were less powerful. While they were effective against the Swarm’s smaller units, they had limited impact on the Primordial-class units.

However, the energy generation systems of the coalition ships could only produce a finite amount of energy per unit of time, making it impossible to power both the main and secondary cannons at full capacity. Thus, the challenge became how to allocate energy between them.

No matter how the coalition forces chose to distribute their energy, the results were equally ineffective. Prioritizing the main cannons meant they couldn’t stop the Swarm’s smaller units from closing in. Prioritizing the secondary cannons was even worse, as they couldn’t halt the advance of the Primordial bodies, and the numbers of mature and larval bodies far exceeded the Primordial bodies.

For the secondary cannons to have any chance of slowing the Swarm, they would need to achieve the firing rate of close-range defense guns, coupled with perfect accuracy—a level of performance not even the Ji race could attain.

Following the destruction of the fixed defenses, coalition warships began to fall, and the rate of losses accelerated. The disadvantage snowballed, growing larger and larger.