Swarm Ascendant

Finland and Norway was approached and asked whether they wanted to join the Scanian initiative as well, but Norway chose to fortify their Fjord- and Mountain-redoubts, while Finland did as had always been the plan in case they were invaded: They retreated their populace into their thousands of kilometres of nuclear shelters.

--Scandinavia, wikipedia article, 2034

***

It was hard to tell when exactly it had happened. Maybe it had been the moment we stepped into the forest, maybe it was once the first gunshot rang out, or maybe it was when the first Concussion Grenade had been thumped out via underslung grenade launcher to deal with an approaching pack of fifteen Threes and two Fours in an explosion of dirt, moss and Antithesis bits.

But regardless, I was pretty confident the Hive knew we were here by now, and like some demented, life-sized immune system response it was trying to flush us out by weight of bodies.

Thankfully, we had bullets on our side, and the Flechettes were doing a good job of mulching anything they touched. Which was good, because it had come to the point where my five drones not being used for surveillance simply could not keep up with the amount of Antis coming at us. Still, I tried to thin the herd as best I could, weakening and killing as many as I could, and trying to keep the pressure off of the squad, who had switched from single shots to bursts of three to make up for the lack of time to carefully aim between targets.

So far, we hadn't seen anything heavier aside from a single Tank-like Six that the IFV had opened fire on and blown the front off of. This was still manageable.

I was fretting a bit, feeling like I should be doing more, at this point little more than a mobile turret base for my Plasma Caster, which hissed out the occasional shot. Okay, so I guess I was also acting as an information system, informing the squad of where the enemy was currently coming from, but still.

Another heavy clump of Antithesis came in, and another grenade sailed out to meet them. This one, a Resonator, landed and started screeching with an infernal wail, and the flesh of the nearby Antithesis bubbled and melted off of their bodies in great lumps, disrupting their charge before it had even really begun. The stragglers on the edge, less hurt and still mobile, were picked off by gunfire, and for a moment the battlefield was quiet.

"Hornet, reload?" Keen asked tersely.

"Of course."

Thirty magazines and grenades, as discussed.

[Here you are.]

New Purchase: Magazine of 30x 5.56 Polycoated Flechettes x40 - 80 points

New Purchase: 10x Mark I Concussion Grenade - 50 Points

New Purchase: 10x Mark I-D Resonator Grenade - 50 Points

New Purchase: 10x Mark I Flesh Melter - 50 Points

Points reduced to... 1561

A bunch of magazines and grenades appeared at my feet at the centre of the formation, and I winced a bit at the increased cost of buying magazines preloaded. But then, I doubted the Antis would give us the time to sit down and refill the magazines manually.

One by one the squad came over and picked up magazines as needed to replace the ones they'd used and dropped, and supplement their grenades, while the rest stood guard.

Once everyone was topped off, I wondered at supplementing my own lethality.

Is there anything I can buy that'd immediately help out?

[A number of your drones are running low on toxins. You should consider buying that resupply station we talked about. In addition, you have the points to greatly increase the size of your swarm, although increasing your command capacity to match will take time you do not currently have. They will be inefficient, but still increase your potency.]

Leave enough for another resupply, and spend the rest on the backpack and drones.

[As you say.]

New Purchase: Exo Logistics attachment - 100 points

New Purchase: Wasp Mk 1 Recon Drone x 24 - 1200 points

Points reduced to... 261

A large box appeared at my feet, black with yellow highlights and a stylized half-gear, half-wasp decal stencilled across the top.

What's this?

[I thought you could use a little cheering up.]

I ignored that, smiling barely at all, and opened the box. Inside was a medium sized, slim backpack looking thing, with clamps along the edge instead of straps. I grabbed it, and felt a connection to the 24 new Wasps inside. It was a bit overwhelming.

I slung the backpack over my cannon-less shoulder where it grabbed onto my back and clicked into place. With 24 mental commands, the drones inside started swarming out and hovered around me, two dozen sleek black and yellow shapes a bit longer than a finger.

They were beautiful.

I landed one on my held-up hand, and stroked it with a finger. I may have cooed a bit. Looking up, I found Speedy and Herb looking at me with disbelief.

I coughed.

Okay, so maybe I should keep the cooing in check.

Regardless, I switched my surveillance drones for new ones, calling the old ones back for a resupply. For a moment the air around us was filled with the buzzing of drones getting into position, then I once again established a perimeter, this time a much denser one. It was a bit tricky to keep them all on task, now that I had thirty-four of the things flying around. They had a tendency to stall out or wander off, but I managed to keep track of them all.

"I should be able to help a bit more, now." I said into the silence.

"I'm just glad those things are on our side." I heard Pingo mutter.

We moved out again after a barked command from Keen, chucking Flesh Melters at the piles of corpses as we went past.

It wasn't long before we ran into more Antis. The brief lull turned out to be an aberration, as more and more Threes and Fours tried to press us, but this time my increased swarm proved able to handle the worst of it, allowing the squad to take their time and pick their shots. I was intercepting them further out, allowing the toxins time to act before they reached us. It was intoxicating to see my drones dance from enemy to enemy, lifting off after a quick sting, leaving walking corpses behind. This time the Antis were joined by the flying birdlike Ones, which were a bitch to hit with a gun but which were less manoeuvrable in the air than my Wasps, and with their lower mass fell prey to them faster, almost raining from the sky. Occasionally I would fly a depleted Wasp back to me, have it restock, and fly it back out, being careful to maintain a rotation that allowed most of them to be out at all times. Even more occasionally, a Wasp would be damaged, caught in the mouth of a Three or clipped by the tentacles of a Four. Those I'd have fly back, or in one case, wait in place for me to come pick up, before having them repaired in my backpack.

Then a group of five Model Sixes charged us, ramming through trees like so many matchsticks, as a great number of dogs tried to flank around us. My Wasps proved ineffective against the Sixes, futilely stabbing at thick skin and bony plates. One Six wobbled and crashed onto its side, as two of its legs stopped working after some lucky hits. Regardless I wasn't quite able to micromanage my wasps enough to target weak points, relying instead on more generic orders, so I quickly decided to focus on the more numerous dogs instead.

The IFV auto-cannon opened fire, crippling Sixes as it caught them, Concussion grenades sailed out and staggered them, and they were going down. My swarm descended on softer targets. It wasn't quite enough, though, and while the squad was able to keep the dogs off of us with their rifles, the only thing we really had that was effective against the Sixes was the IFV. I tried targeting my Plasma Caster at them, but while it did leave sizzling holes in their hides, it simply didn't have the stopping power required. As they closed in, they died, but a single remaining Six made it far enough to close the distance and ram into Grim, sending the man flying.

Eyon, I need a solution. Now.

[Understood.]

The Plasma Caster dropped behind me as the shoulder mount freed its clamp, then a boxy yellow tube with a bulb at the end appeared in the Plasma Caster's place.

Catalogue Unlocked: Class II Harmonious Swarm - 400 points, 1 token

New Purchase: Stinger Teleportation Delivery System - 250 points

Points reduced to... 58

The Stinger on my shoulder zeroed in on the Six, which was now lining up on Speedy who was futilely spraying Flechettes into its bony face. Then the Stinger hummed three times, and nothing much seemed to happen.

Eyon! I wailed, as the Six charged at Speedy, who managed to narrowly dodge. At the end of its charge it stumbled, though, took two steps to the side trying to maintain its balance, then slumped over.

Ahead of us the swarm slowed the charge of the incoming dogs, some dying from the toxins, some getting too close for comfort and needing assistance from a rifle, while Pingo was dragging Grim towards the back of the IFV.

[The Stinger is a range-finding and teleportation mechanism for delivering packets of neurotoxins directly-]

Then a shadow passed over us and a massive scaled dinosaur looking bird with something like a six meter wingspan, a Model Eleven, descended from the sky, clipped Herb with a wing, snapped a large bony beak around Rash and tossed him into a tree. My Stinger snapped to and began humming continuously. The bird ascended, flapped its wings a few times and turned to come in for another pass. On the way back though, it spasmed, faltered and fell back to the ground, where it shuddered and thrashed for a while before finally falling silent.

Target Eliminated!

Reward... 100 points

Before the massive bird had even entirely died, I rushed over to Rash, soon joined by Keen. Rash blinked and moaned, and thus proved my worst fears wrong, but still looked rough. The birds teeth had failed to penetrate too deeply through his armoured vest, but there was blood oozing out, not to mention anything internal from the fall, like his ribs or...

I was hyperventilating.

Keen pulled an inhaler, a Nano-Regenerative Suite, from a pocket and shoved it into Rash's mouth. He had the wherewithal to breathe in. I relaxed a bit. I was still maintaining watch over the area, although now I had taken to occasionally flick my view skywards. How had I missed that?! We weren't clear clear, but my swarm was holding, assisted by gunfire from a returned Pingo, as well as Speedy, Grif and Herb, who had gotten back to her feet but looked a bit woozy. Bear in the IFV had decided that now wasn't the time to conserve ammo, and was taking out Threes at range, while Red was moving the IFV carefully over to where Rash was lying.

Red pulled the IFV into position and opened the back door, and Keen called Pingo over and they dragged Rash into it, then she quickly returned outside.

"Hornet, keep them at bay, rest of you, fall back. We're taking a breather." Keen called.

The squad fell back in good order, covered by the auto-cannon and my swarm, entering the IFV and strapping in. I followed, pulling in my swarm and landing them on the IFV as the door closed behind me, then stumbled as we lifted off and took off back the way we had come.

"We're flying off to camp for the night and let these two heal up." Keen said, nodding at Grim, who was sitting strapped into a seat, and Rash, who was lying on the floor in the middle of the IFV. "Tomorrow, we'll be back to finish what we started." She turned to me. "Good work out there. I'm assuming we can thank you for things mysteriously falling over and dying?"

"Yeah. I think I can teleport neurotoxins into things now? Not sure what the range is, though."

[As I was saying, the Stinger is a range-finding and teleportation mechanism for delivering packets of neurotoxins directly into the nervous system of targets. The range is relatively modest, only up to 100 metres, on account of the small size, but it contains a wide selection of toxins effective on models up to the low twenties. Note that you have also unlocked a wide selection of new drones.]

That's... neat? Anything in particular you'd recommend? Being able to take down the Sixes and other heavy models would be good.

[Yes. You can install the same teleportation mechanism on your drones, although in miniature form with much reduced range. Still, it will do wonders for their armour penetrating capabilities.]

I looked at my point total in the corner of my vision. I was back up to 514.

[If I might suggest a strategy? You can control your drones out to roughly five kilometres. You do not need to walk all the way up to the Hive, nor to engage the Antithesis in combat where they can potentially reach you.]

That was... Yeah. Don't fight the enemy on their terms. Safe and Controlled. Maybe I could take out the heavy models before we moved in. Heck, maybe I could take out all the Antithesis before we moved closer to the hive.

I turned to Keen. Time to talk strategy.