I Am The Swarm

The Swarm Empress’s return journey started off relatively smoothly.

“Your Majesty, we need to enter the LKDW157 Star System ahead. You will transfer to a new ship there,” a foreign race member reported to Sarah with utmost respect. Sarah merely nodded in acknowledgment, and the foreigner retreated carefully.

Although Sarah had only ever fought once, her lone resistance against the Ji race’s pursuit had left everyone who knew the details in awe. Even though she was eventually captured, that awe had not diminished in the slightest.

The mysterious organization, with years of operations embedded within the Ji race, had naturally obtained detailed records. They knew that, never mind a merchant vessel—even a warship, once boarded by the Swarm Empress, could be easily destroyed at her whim if she so desired.

Therefore, after Sarah awakened, the mysterious organization imposed no restraints on her. On the contrary, they elevated her treatment to the highest level—after all, the two sides were now allies.

More than three months had passed since Sarah had regained consciousness. Though this might seem like a long time, in the vastness of space, it was negligible. Even though the ship carrying her wasn’t slow, it had only managed to travel from the Star Gate to the nearest star system in that time.

In the endless starry expanse, Sarah had already transferred ships three times. Though all of them were merchant vessels, their styles and sizes differed, and they belonged to various factions.

Each time she transferred ships, Sarah wore a protective suit provided by the mysterious organization. It fully concealed her form, and among the similarly dressed foreigners, she appeared unremarkable.

Not only that, she had used the abilities of her biological armor to alter her height and physique during each transfer, making her movements even more difficult to trace.

The star system ahead, though merely part of a Mid-ring civilization, occupied a strategically significant location. Despite its limited military power in the eyes of the Ji race or the Swarm, as an old and established Mid-ring civilization, spacefaring ships were already commonplace among its civilians.

Moreover, it was located so close to a Star Gate that it served as a major transportation hub. With countless merchant vessels passing through daily, once Sarah’s ship reached the system, she would be well hidden among the crowd, greatly increasing the difficulty of locating her.

“If the target hasn’t changed course, then she should be entering the LKDW157 Star System soon.”

“If that’s the case, then things are about to get complicated.”

“Don’t panic. Shortly after the target escaped, we notified the Motexi. All ships entering LKDW157 are now under lockdown—allowed in, but not out. If she heads that way, she’s in for a surprise.”

“Heh, the Motexi must be cursing us. As one of their key revenue sources, locking down that system for so long has put enormous pressure on them.”

“Hmph. The weak don’t get a say. Even if they’re upset, they’ll carry out our orders.”

“Then if the target really is heading in that direction, that’s actually good news. Even if she blends into the system, we can take our time searching. What worries me is that she may have changed course and gone elsewhere.”

“It doesn’t matter. If we can seal off LKDW157, we can seal off a few more. If the target keeps fleeing, she’ll stand out all the more. Also, while the XM768 Star Gate was badly damaged, the garrison preserved most of the engineering bots and material depots. The repairs are ahead of schedule. Give it another half a year, and we’ll be able to deploy troops via the Star Gate. Once that happens, we’ll coordinate with the fleets closing in from outside and recapture her for sure.”

“Let’s hope so.”

Half a month later, the vessel carrying Sarah arrived at LKDW157. Because of her escape, the Ji race was bound to invest significant resources in the region—not just military power, but other assets as well.

In the virtual network world, Lumina possessed unparalleled dominance. Whether it had been an AI in the past or now as a sentient being, that had never changed. Normally, a Mid-ring civilization wouldn’t even be worth allocating computational resources to monitor. But now, it is different. The defenses painstakingly constructed by the Mid-ring civilization were as fragile as paper—Lumina effortlessly took control of every surveillance and monitoring device in the area.

Aware of the Ji race’s internal workings, the mysterious organization had predicted this outcome. That’s why, after their initial meeting with Sarah, they had completely severed contact.

This left the ship carrying Sarah somewhat isolated—operating solely on pre-arranged plans. No one expected it would result in such a predicament.

Still, remaining hidden wasn’t an option. The Swarm Empress’s value was far too great—there would never be a time when the storm simply passed. The mysterious organization had no choice but to press forward with her transfer.

In order to maximize confusion and misdirection, they spared no expense in staging a grand spectacle. As a result, Sarah remained in LKDW157 for over a month while preparations were made.

Surrounding the XM768 Star Gate were three star systems. On one particular day, over 100,000 various types of vessels suddenly defied the Ji race’s blockade orders and departed their respective starports, flying out in a chaotic wave.

Although the Mid-ring civilizations that governed the three systems acted swiftly to intercept them, the results were poor. In the end, over 80% of the ships broke through the blockade and vanished into deep space.

“Those rats really went all out.” Watching the green blips representing marked ships scatter across the map, a Ji race commander was livid.

“Don’t underestimate them. They represent the most ancient powers—second only to the Ji race. Their history even predates the rise of the New Ji race.”

“Exactly. They have people embedded among us. Much of what we do is transparent. Being countered like this was inevitable.”

“Hmph. It’s just eighty or ninety thousand ships. They can’t stop us. In fact, they’ve done us a favor in some ways.”

“That’s true. These vessels have no defense against our intrusion. Their surveillance systems will serve us instead. We were short on eyes before, and now—voilà, a pillow dropped into our lap while we were dozing.”

“Poetic justice, some might say.”

“Still, they really had no other options. Breaking through the blockade was their only sliver of hope.”

“A sliver is still too much. I hope we haven’t made any mistakes that allow them to grasp it.”

“Mark all those ships. Assign extra artificial intelligences to track them. With overlapping surveillance, they won’t escape.”

“Let’s hope so.”