"I hope everyone has had the time to read our report on the galaxy." Izuku begins as the swarm gathers for its monthly meeting. The crowd growing to such an extent with the new additions to Inko's administration and Nezu's politics brood that the meeting had to be held in a newly made auditorium. It is built like a traditional Greek theater, a quarter circle with large steps perfect to sit on. The whole room was filled with creep, which was terrible for the acoustics, but no one really cared as everyone's voice could be projected into the hive mind or be repeated by projectorlisks for non-swarm guests.
"Izuku, introduce some of our new members please." Inko interrupts. "This is the first gathering for many of them."
"Good idea mom." Izuku says happily, "I'll begin with Camie Utsushimi and Kaina Tsutsumi joining All Might in his continuing mission to protect Japan as heroes."
"Lady Nagant!?" Mina shouts in shock.
"Yes, young Tsutsumi was mistreated by the HPSC and wants to help solve the problems it created and left to fester. " All Might explains firmly. "She has left her old name behind, please respect this choice."
"Yes, a fine addition, Abathur is having a field day with her quirk. He wants to see how big it can go." Izuku says cheerfully, "But I digress, we have many additions and a report to get through. Gentle and La Brava have been with us for a while, but this is the first meeting they have managed to attend."
Gentle stands and bows, spilling his tea in his excitement.
"We have too many additions to Admin and politics to name now, I will introduce them during the post meeting party. We have however recruited a linguist to help the swarm learn languages faster and a few therapists with assorted specializations. They will be available for our use, and will help create a new brood to bring therapy to the masses. Several secretaries and accountants have joined and we now have our own fashion designer and model. Oh, those are Bakugo's parents."
"He's going to need ice for that burn." Momo whispers to Kyoka, earning her a dead stare. "What?" Momo asks.
"Later." Kyoka whispers.
After the whispers die down, Izuku continues. "We have also recruited a dozen support students and several business students, who will finish their education before formally choosing a brood."
"Hey you forgot me!" a voice shouts before a blue haired girl floats to the front. She has a fairy aesthetic, with very thin carapace and butterfly wings that were obviously for show as they didn't move.
"Sorry Nejiri, didn't know you were ready yet." Izuku says apologetically.
"No worries, I got excited and prodded Abathur until he let me grow faster." Nejiri explains, "I'm so strong now! I can't even find an end to my vitality! I could fly all day, I could already fly all day but you know. Anyway, I need a brood. Who has the biggest boys?"
"My Torrasques are the largest and healthiest strain barring unique strains and mutations." Itsuka says before thinking.
"I'm in!" Nejiri shouts, before nearly teleporting next to the already regretful Itsuka and interrogating her nose to nose.
"Anyway, we are here to discuss the galaxy and begin contingency plans to ensure our survival." Izuku says.
"Our survival?" Eijiro asks.
"We are outnumbered to a ridiculous degree and our enemy and to an extent our ally have little regard for civilian casualties and have already enslaved entire planets." Momo explains. "Didn't you read the report?"
"It was too long." Eijiro says lamely.
"Anyway, We should focus on Terra first. We've heard rumors that some nations want the UN to make contact with the galaxy. I believe it is in our best interest to delay this as much as possible, even to the extent they blame us." Izuku says as he nervously paces.
"Perhaps not that far." Nezu says, standing on All Might's shoulder at the edge of the front row. "We should delay, but only invisibly, on the surface we should help and organize a faction of countries looking to take it slow."
"We need more information before we make this move." Momo argues. "Postpone this decision for a month and see what we learn."
"Let's vote then." Izuku says and after a moment it's clear they would wait.
"Moving on, for our own survival our best option is to grow, and grow a lot. Rei is doing her best, but she has run into a sector of space occupied by a slave empire. I feel we should pacify them and expand." Izuku says.
"We should also colonize the many dead or otherwise unsettled planets in the galaxy. The main form of faster than light travel here is fast, but can't really leave explored areas safely. They haven't explored the many gaps in their maps in generations. We should exploit this to expand the swarm while remaining hidden." Momo offers.
"Both need to happen. Defeating the slavers will be good practice, as they are at a similar tech level to the rest of the galaxy. And no level of uncontested expansion should be curtailed." Ochako argues.
"I don't have the manpower to do it alone yet." Rei says quietly.
"That at the very least has a simple solution. You find us planets and we colonize them. At least one planet for each of us, once a month and we should be fine." Izuku says.
"I don't really want to leave earth unattended right now." All Might argues.
"Do both at the same time you big oaf!" Gran Torino shouts angrily.
"How?" All Might asks.
"Be in two places at once. Nezu gave us all High Spec! It's so easy to multitask now. There is no excuse!" Gran Torino shouts, causing All Might to shiver in fear.
"A-alright, I'll figure it out." All Might stutters, nearly knocking Nexu off his shoulder with his shaking.
"With that settled." Izuku begins, inciting a groan from most of the audience. All Might thought it was funny but couldn't laugh at the moment. "We can move on to the juicy politics now."
"We can keep this short." Kyoka interrupts aggressively. "The galaxy is nearly empty of democracy, both sides of the war are corrupt beyond imagination and most planets are not much better. Neither side even cares about casualties because both armies are just money in the end, not sentients. At least in their eyes."
"Well yes." Izuku says softly.
"And, both sides' leaders are manipulative old men, who should be home with their loved ones rather than ruling the galaxy. Count Dooku is a known Sith, who are an order of bad guys that have been around for thousands of years. Palpatine is a demagogue who has managed to stay in office well beyond constitutional limits and continues to change the constitution to allow this to happen." she rants.
"True." Izuku manages.
"Is that all?" Momo asks.
"I probably could rant more, but these Jedi get enough hate on the holonet. They don't need me adding to it." Kyoka says, voice calm once again.
"On the other hand, we have established good relations with the Wookies and Mon Cala. And our ambassador to the Jedi Order is on her way." Izuku says, trying to add some positive notes after Kyoka's depressing rant.
"Speaking of the Wookies and Mon Cala, we need a transportation system." Melissa says seriously as she stands. "Both Kashyyyk and Mon Cala are very far from Terra, and only Ochako can reliably form a wormhole that far. Only Leviathan's are practical since they can make it in only half a dozen jumps, but the average overlord takes ages, warp is way too slow, and the hyperlanes are a mess with the war, and even then would require massive detours."
"I don't want to become a transit worker, we need a solution." Ochako adds.
The whole auditorium paused for a moment as everyone considered the question.
"What about having Abathur create a creature to do it?" Momo asks.
"Not a bad idea, but where to start? We could consider a larger overlord, but that might become too intimidating for the locals." Izuku half-mutters as he considers Momo's suggestion.
"It could be ground based." Kyoka suggests.
"No, then we will need a sizable base just to travel anywhere." Izuku says, cutting off that suggestion.
"Clone Ochako?""Get Ochako to learn how to create these subconsciously." Mina and Eijiro suggest simultaneously.
"No." Ochako answers immediately.
"I think we are approaching this the wrong way." Nezu begins carefully, "Perhaps a change in our thought process instead of an evolution."
"That's a good point." Melissa says, "We can't just evolve every solution."
Everyone turns to stare at her.
"W-well we can... but we shouldn't close off other paths just because we have one that always works. With enough zerglings we could move the earth, or we could find a long enough lever."
"Leaving that interesting metaphor behind," Izuku says diplomatically, "I have an idea, remember how we interrupted Kurogiri's warp quirk with the formation of overlords? Well, what if we find a formation that allows them to work together to build a sort of warpgate?"
"Like the protoss, but not immobile and left in remote locations easy for the enemy to occupy?" Ochako asks, gaining a few chuckles from those who had looked into the swarm's history.
"That's the idea." Izuku says.
"And we can base the overlords off of nearby asteroids." Momo adds enthusiastically.
"It's all coming together, we can even base them in empty systems next to troublesome areas to keep the enemy guessing." Kyoka says.
"This shouldn't take too long to figure out. Ochako and Abathur, can you handle this?" Izuku asks.
"Of course.""Will do." they respond.
"Now we can get back to the topic at hand, our future plans." Izuku says confidently.
"I think we should approach some of the lesser/original Separatist planets." Inko suggests.
"I think I speak for everyone when I ask why?" Nezu asks with interest.
"I've looked at the movements history and their government and I believe the Separatist Council is the cause of most if not all of their evil. The original founding planets have legitimate grievances with the Republic and yet the council is full of beings that exemplify all the corruption the movement was created to oppose." Inko explains.
"So you believe the normal members are being lied to or are stuck with the council?" Nezu asks.
"Yes." Inko answers.
"I see that." Izuku says before Nezu could continue his questioning. "I feel we should carefully speak with them. If the opportunity arises we may be able to sway them."
"I can agree to that, but we don't have a diplomatic corps to do this right now." Nezu says.
"Nezu, you are in charge of politics, diplomacy is just the international version of this. I ask you to expand your brood, the new ambassador to the Jedi can be a template of sorts." Izuku orders kindly.
"And we should try to recruit some people." Melissa adds.
"Definitely, a skilled diplomat's knowledge will be invaluable to all of us." Izuku agrees.
"Oh, I knew there would be some new things joining the swarm, but this... this is wonderful! I can barely contain my excitement!" Nezu cackles loudly.
And with that the meeting soon came to a close, with only minor things to review and vote on. The after party was more exciting than any in the swarms history, as there had never been so many sentients in the swarm, nor so much optimism and youth.
"This planet doesn't look like much." Mina says as the shopping team of herself, Momo, Kyoka, Tsu, Ochako, Melissa, L-337 and Izuku exit hyperspace after a short jump from their wormhole. All of them dressed in suits and without much carapace.
"It's the home of one of the largest and most respected starship manufacturers in the galaxy." Izuku says, "Of course it's a polluted mess."
"Considering this galaxy's policies, yes." Momo agrees.
"This planet's glory days are long past unfortunately." L-337 informs them. "The probability of a bounce back is exceedingly slim."
"Good to know, we should stay in the weather areas for now, but don't miss an opportunity to drop a drone into the sewers if we can. No one has sensors for zerg infestation here as far as we know." Izuku says.
"Why do we need to buy from the manufacturer? Can't we find a dealer on a nicer planet?" Tsu asks.
"We want to buy in bulk. Dealers won't have the stock on hand and won't be able to secure it quickly." Momo explains.
"Can't we just buy one and copy it?" Tsu argues.
"Not if we plan to pass them as legal starships, we will need proper registrations and all that." Izuku answers.
"Though we could just pay for them, the Bureau of Ships and Services is actually a private cooperation for some reason." Kyoka says.
"Privatized DMV!?" Melissa asks in shock.
"Yes, and it's actually worse. Since it has no competition and no reason to not make as much money as possible by charging huge amounts of money, keeping very short hours to save on staffing, and registering almost anything. Unfortunately the dealer networks and major shipbuilders have contracts so copies will be very expensive to register." Izuku explains.
"How does this galaxy even function?" Melissa asks.
"Widespread bribery and poverty." Kyoka answers as they land at a spaceport in a relatively remote residential area.
"Why are we parked so far away?" Tsu asks as she consults a local map.
"This ship is dubious to inspectors and we don't want any trouble." L-337 says, "buy a nicer ship and local authorities won't ask questions when you show up."
"What a wonderful world." Tsu grumbles. "I only have one day on this trip, next time schedule the fun bits on the weekend."
"Sorry, I forgot you are stuck on Mon Cala." Kyoka apologies, Tsu merely shrugged she knew she needed to work on her multitasking, two places at once was rather pathetic at this point, of the first generation only Mina and Eijiro also still have this restriction.
"Anyway, let's get moving." Izuku says, walking towards the nearest transit stop with notable haste.
Some time later they entered the main dealership for Corellian Engineering Corporation. Izuku strides through the shining displays and directly towards the oldest salesperson he could see.
"I would like to order several dozen light freighters and an assortment of other ships." Izuku says in a businessman's get things done tone, that he had perfected with Momo's help.
"Of course sir, what are you looking for?" The salesman asks kindly.
"I like the YT series and the VCX-100's but I'm not sure which to choose, I am looking to do some prospecting and surveying near the unknown region. I'll need extra range and consumables along with crew quarters." Izuku explains
"I would recommend the VCX-100, the YT series has many options, but for long term deployment and surveying the increased size and standard scout craft of the VCX is just perfect for your needs." The salesman explains, of course the higher price point and higher commission for the VCX-100 was a nice bonus as well, not that Izuku really would mind at this point.
"That seems reasonable, I brought the project managers with me today, perhaps they can have a tour?" Izuku asks while gesturing towards Melissa and Ochako.
"Of course." The salesman agrees, before gesturing towards a younger salesperson. "Please follow Al."
The two quickly followed the young man towards the hanger.
"And what else do you need today?"
"Ah, well I need a set of executive shuttles and transport craft, but my people are very picky. So I would like to buy an assortment of ships so they can take what they like when they like." Izuku answers.
"Ah, I can see you treat your employees well, perhaps a corvette would suit you. Our CR-90 is very fast and very customizable." The salesman says.
"Let us take a look." Izuku says.
The group spend a few hours touring many ships and all together making a huge purchase using the credits they traded from the Wookies. Izuku was sure he would never have to arrive on the outskirts of town again as he was sure to be labeled as a favored client of the CEC and would arrive in his brand new CR-90.
The rest of their day was spent browsing the many shops and businesses scattered around the city. Everything from clothes to computers along with an assortment of media. The next day they would visit the local Cybot Galactica and Industrial Automation dealers for the finest robots the galaxy had to offer, before spending the rest of the week visiting an assortment of planets for mostly media and some construction materials for testing. They also stopped to pick up a few medical robots and some spare cybernetics for study.
"That was a lot of fun, but it's good to be back." Mina says as they exit a wormhole above earth in their new CR-90, entering orbit alongside half their order of VCX-100s and an assortment of other Corellian ships, several of which were full of shopping.
"We were all here the entire time." Kyoka says.
"In spirit we weren't!" Mina insists.
Kyoka only rolls her eyes at this nonsense.
"I'm sure the Wookies are glad as well, we nearly drained their banks of physical credits with all the precious metals and woods we sold just to buy all this." Momo says.
"Should we find a major bank to work with?" Ochako asks.
"They are almost all corrupt, so I think we should hold off for now. This galaxy seems to not hold any stereotypes against paying in huge cases of hard currency." Izuku answers.
"Unlike Terra, where using millions in hard cash at a dealership to buy a fleet of the galactic equivalent of light trucks or vans would get you investigated for all kinds of possible crimes." Momo adds.
"Vacation is over. We have plenty of work to do. And Mei has been left unsupervised with the Gozanti-class cruiser for longer that is safe for the planet." Izuku says, sending everyone into action, Melissa in particular throws herself out of the nearest airlock and leaps to the mentioned cruiser.
Mina secretly grabbed the holonet connectivity cybernetic during the chaos.
'I really don't understand the military tactics of this galaxy.' Izuku thinks irritably as he follows Anakin through the darkness of Umbara. 'Why do they invade if they only want the trade routes? Just secure space. Or are they unable to do that and need to shoot from below? In that case why take the capital? I may have to actually intervene in this stupidity.'
"I'll stay with the troops." Izuku says, revealing that he was paying attention despite his usual distant look.
"Thank you." Anakin says, wondering if he should just ask the swarm to help.
Krell snarled at Izuku, clearly disliking the outsider.
"Carry on." Izuku says and Krell begins commanding the troops. 'This guy is even more of a moron.'
"Hold on." Izuku interrupts much later as the 501st prepares to attack the capital. "A frontal assault? Are we fighting with swords and arrows? This is ridiculous, and here I thought the Jedi were at the very least competent tacticians" he lied, as the swarm already considered them to be morons.
"We don't have time." Krell argues.
"Clones don't grow on trees either. You have a limited supply, if you run out, you lose the war." Izuku argues.
"It doesn't matter, we have enough, Charge!" Krell orders.
"The swarm grows more disappointed in this alliance by the day." Izuku says before strolling off to continue observing.
"Excuse me, Mr. Overmind sir." Fives says nervously almost a day later. "We need to help General Kenobi."
"That would be the better plan, yes." Izuku agrees.
"But Krell won't let us." Fives says.
"Obviously, that moron couldn't lead a river downstream properly." Izuku says coldly.
"That's very kind of you to say." Fives says, before pausing and shuffling nervously.
"What do you want me to do?" Izuku asks.
"I don't know what you can do. You did well on Mon Cala, when you finally helped, but what can the Swarm do?" Fives asks.
"Well, the swarm is a minor galactic power from the unknown regions. We are at home on the most deadly of worlds and can fight as well as any army." Izuku summarizes, chuckling internally as he remembers the interesting essence he had already collected on this world.
"Can you take out the fleet?" Fives asks.
"Not in a hurry, but we can help. I'm assuming you will be commandeering the fighters you stole?" Izuku assumes.
"That's the plan, fly them into the ship and destroy the reactor from the inside." Fives says.
"As good a plan as any. I will join you." Izuku says with the first hint of kindness he had shown since he arrived on this planet.
"You would? But who to leave behind?" Fives says, somewhat shocked that Izuku would actually help.
"I can stand in the cockpit, and don't worry about the life support, I don't have to breathe if I don't want to." Izuku says.
"Excellent, we're good to go when you are." Fives says.
Soon they are entering the main hangar, Izuku sighs as the plan goes off track.
"I will guide the missiles into the main reactor." Hardcase says, "It has..."
"I'll do it." Izuku interrupts.
"But it's a suicide mission." Hardcase argues.
"And yet you would do it?" Izuku asks.
"I'm just a clone in the end." Hardcase says, "you are the leader of a swarm, you can't die."
"I am just one of many bodies. I am the swarm, as long as it survives I do." Izuku explains. "I will meet you on the ground." he finishes before grabbing the bombs and running off.
"I hope he meets us." Jesse says.
"I wouldn't want to explain how we let the ambassador and leader of an ally sacrifice himself." Fives agrees before they take off and leave the ship.
"Court marshall them!?" Izuku asks in complete disbelief. "After all the effort I made to get them back in one piece? Absolutely not. No executions. Hold them until their regular commander returns."
"Who's in charge here?" Krell asks.
"A moron." Izuku says smoothly, "You have no authority to execute them now. You can wait for their commander to return or you can send them to a proper tribunal. What kind or army would let a temporary general execute a different general's top officers uncontested?"
"This one. Execute them now." Krell says, turning away as if the decision is made.
"If any of you even think of executing them, I will dispose of you myself." Izuku says with a snarl before burrowing to observe.
It was a closer call than Izuku would have liked, but in the end no one was executed, not that Izuku left it to chance. He had one arm out of his burrow at one point, ready to tranquilize Dogma.
And then it went even further downhill, so once again Izuku felt the need to step in. "Now hold on a minute." he begins emerging from the ground and shocking the clones into stopping. "You have intel the enemy may have your armor and you just plan to run in there? Are you sure enough that you won't shoot at your allies? Or are you just going in there and firing from the hip? Why not plan an ambush here? When they charge into the open, reveal your trap and tell them to take off their helmets or die. While at least one of you is also not wearing a helmet."
"That's actually quite reasonable." Rex says, "let's do that."
"Negative clone. Charge at once." Krell orders.
"I don't think so sir, we have the advantage here if we hurry and set up defenses." Rex says, gesturing for the boys to get to it.
"That's enough, charge in or I will execute you myself!" Krell orders moving towards the clone captain, who doesn't even flinch.
"I"m sorry sir, I can't do that." Rex says.
"Then die, so your successor can!" Krell shouts, lighting his blade and bringing it down towards the clone, only to jump back suddenly to avoid a lethal spine from Izuku.
"YOU DARE!" Krell shouts.
"I asked a few protocol droids to assess what has been happening and they have determined that there is a 63% chance you are actually a traitor yourself, up to 90% if the attackers are actually clones." Izuku states, voice ice cold.
"I've had enough of your interference anyway, you will die!" Krell shouts, lunging at Izuku.
Izuku was clearly outmatched here, but he knew he didn't have to win. He had called for overseers to observe the battle after the successful raid, as he was tired of not knowing what was going on and he had noticed it actually was clones on the way. If Krell was seen fighting him in front of the clones, the incoming troops would be rather certain they were clones as who else would a Jedi lead? All he had to do was survive. Unfortunately this was proving harder than anticipated, two twin blades used by four arms was excessive in Izuku's opinion but clearly effective. Krell was also stronger than him, so when Izuku managed to close the distance and grab the handles, Krell easily broke Izuku's hands with his lower set of arms and launched Izuku a considerable distance.
'Where's Ochako when you need her.' Izuku thinks irritably as he picks himself up. The time for games was long past, so Izuku faked vomiting to get a few larva out before raising his arms for a punishing barrage of spines. Krell quickly learned why the ancient Mandalorians used slugthrowers against Jedi, Lightsabers simply can't deflect projectiles, and charred splinters begin pummeling his rather durable skin. Meanwhile twelve resculings emerge from eggs and surround the enraged jedi.
"What is this!?" Krell shouts in confusion, eyes trying to track the large dog sized creatures while softening Izuku's barrage.
"The swarm!" Izuku taunts, "you can never win against an enemy that never ends."
With a roar Krell throws himself at the resculings, slicing two in a blur of motion before the rest dodge and circle, attacking like a pack of wolves. Biting Krell's backside or arms when he wasn't looking. Normally a Jedi could track creatures in the force, but these freshly spawned resculings had the force presence of a newborn worm and were impossible for the rather weak Krell to track amongst all the other life on this planet.
But before Krell could be finished off, the 212th arrives and shoots the resculings quickly, protecting the Jedi and raising their weapons at Izuku.
"Looks like the intel was false." Waxer says calmly.
"What intel?" Rex asks.
"That Umbarans had retaken the airfield and were dressed in the armor of the clones they killed." Waxer says.
"Odd, we were told Umbarans dressed as clones were attacking our airfield." Rex says.
"That can't be a coincidence." Waxer observes, "How did they get our com frequencies?"
"I don't know, but our Jedi looks rather angry." Rex says, looking at the now seething Krell. "Also have your men stand down, the overmind is not a threat."
"But he was attacking the Jedi." Waxer argues.
"To stop him from executing me." Rex says calmly.
"What! Execute you? Why?" Waxer shouts with growing anger and confusion.
"I refused his order to charge the 'enemy' and instead wanted to follow the Overmind's plan to ambush you and force you to take off your helmets." Rex explains.
"I smell a conspiracy." Waxer says, emotion fading from his voice.
"Oh, my protocol droids have just increased the probability of Krell being a traitor to 99.431%" Izuku gleefully informs them, in a tone similar to a protocol droid.
The clones all turn to the, now frothing from the mouth with rage, Jedi surrounded by the corpses of resculings. "Sir, I'm going to ask you to surrender." Rex says tonelessly.
"Traitors! You will not survive this!" Krell shouts angrily, jumping at Rex once more. In an instant the clones open fire as Rex rolls out of the way. Krell turns to try another strike, but the sheer volume of fire was beyond any Jedi's ability to deflect or dodge. With several shots to his body, he was dead.
"Too bad we can't question him now." Rex says rather calmly for a man who nearly had his head cut off twice in less than an hour.
"I'm sure we will find out more once we investigate his quarters." Waxer says.
"But first we have a planet to win." Rex says, preparing to rally his men.
"What do you mean? We've already won. This was the last sector with hostiles." Waxer claims.
"What? Really?" Rex asks, slightly shocked.
"Yes, General Kenobi is being forced to rest, otherwise he would have come here himself." Waxer says.
"Oh." Rex manages. "Then we should start our evidence search at communications, as we really didn't know what was going on."
Izuku merely stood there and let them go about their investigation, nudging them toward a few things he knew would be important. They found a journal in Krells room, full of the ravings of a mad man. Plots to sabotage the clones and use that infamy to gain a position at Count Dooku's side. Izuku was glad that he was that stupid, sure that if Krell had just gone to Dooku he would have gained a position and actual knowledge, becoming a legitimate threat rather than a minor bump in a minor campaign. The only real progress made, at least in Izuku's point of view, was the clones' opinion of him and his help. They might actually ask for the swarm next time.
Meanwhile, at Mina's secret hideout. Just off of 1-A dorms, three bushes down and under the lid labeled 'nuclear waste do not touch.'
"I've gathered you all today to advance my great plan." Mina says, hunched over in the pitch black darkness of her tiny hideout. "With this networked cybernetic I acquired, you will equip a new strain of elite overlords to spread powerful internet connectivity across all planets. And you will begin translating heropedia into Aurebesh. You will write new articles based on galactic history. While the last one of you will create a new social media slash video sharing platform called SwarmMina" she orders the evolution apprentice, the swarms linguist, a general studies student interested in history that also joined the swarm since he found hero history dull and wanted to find something more interesting, and a programmer and app developer recruited from the support course.
"Sure, we can do that." the linguist says after they share a look, despite not being able to see each other.
"Why all the secrecy though?" the programmer asks.
"This is my secret project. No one can know until it's done!" Mina whisper-shouts.
"We'll keep quiet." The three former humans agree, while the evolution apprentice merely sighs internally and wonders what he did to be stuck with the least efficient commander. This one hadn't met Fumikage Tokoyami yet though...
AN: Well then, the plot continues. Will the swarm give up on the Republic? Or will it weather the Jedi's inept tactics?
Is the second movie canon? Eh, I don't really care in the end. Don't like how it ended but it has an interesting enough set up. Something needs to happen on Earth every once in a while. They do have a few remnants left to clean up, but it should all be cleaned up in Japan at least.
No real interest in any organization of all the encyclopedia entries. Good to know, won't use any energy on that yet then. If anyone does want to know where to find something just PM on FF or comment on Ao3 and I'll tell you which chapter to look for.
I don't really have anything else to say other than I'm going on a vacation of sorts. The first since I started writing. Though with my usual upload speed you won't really notice anyway. Should I be spending money on a trip while I still don't have my own place? Probably not, but I'm young and like to live free. It will be more than a week before I leave as of writing this, but it takes longer than that to write these sometimes. Might write something for a different work though.
Reiko has chosen to go a different direction in her quest to embrace the terror that is the shadow brood. What is more terrifying than an enemy that you can not see? One you can see and not hit. Her mutalisks are the most powerful and adaptable of all mutalisks, based on the primal mutalisk, they cocoon themselves upon taking lethal damage and revive after a short time. To maintain air superiority they can evolve into devourers that deal damage in an area and weaken capital ships and other large targets. Her mutalisks also evolve into guardians, though an evolved form that can also support efforts against large air targets. Corruptors form the backbone of her space superiority force, Reiko has chosen to allow them to not only release scourge on death, but also slowly grow additional scourge. Evolving into broodlords allows them to switch to a support role after space is cleared. Her most unique unit, Reiko's broodlords can carry more broodlings for a strong initial strike, while also creating a variant of flying locust in an odd tribute to the Mecha-swarm's Broodcarrierlord. These flying locusts allow for some defense against other air forces, in case the corruptors and mutalisks missed anything. But in Reiko's opinion the true pinnacle of her brood is the overmind's witness,a special overseer variant that plays inspiring or terrifying music and can project images above itself.
The sight of Reiko's swarms bearing down from above to the sound of Wagner's Walkürenritt is true terror to any foe, and that's before the large space strains descend...