The Swarm, similar to the Echoes that the Salient use, have a hierarchy in terms of physical prowess and strength as a whole.
At the very bottom—
Hollows.
The blade of my scythe clinks as it clashes with the sharp edge of one of the Hollow's limbs, thrusters on my arms blaring as I grit my teeth and lunge forward. The sharp movement pushes the Hollow back, its jaws opening to let out a shrill screech.
I cut my arm with my scythe through the opening, causing strings of floating blood to slowly transform into a puppet of myself. The wound heals quickly, and the last stream of blood twists into a sword for the puppet before I launch myself back at the Hollow.
With a final slash of my scythe, the limb of the Hollow snaps off with a sickening crack, black blood flowing out of the wound. Its thrusters activate, and I watch as it tries to escape before the puppet, controlled by Eidolon, stabs the Hollow straight through its neural sensors.
The jagged body lets out one final screech before going still. "Mmmm, Swarm blood." Eidolon purrs, the puppet moving closer to the black liquid, about to touch it with a hand, before a loud bang fills the air. A bullet pierces the puppet's hand, making Eidolon grumble as the puppet's body reduces back to blood that dissipates in the void.
"Stingy little cyborg."
"According to government protocol, you're not to drink anything other than animal blood." Akira says, her body floating down beside me. Since she was nearly fully cyborg, her body was able to withstand the immense pressure of the void.
"Where's Tara?" I ask, reaching out a hand to the girl before pulling her under my arm.
"14 miles away—here." I look up as the air around us ripples, the Pale Vein coming into view, with Tara in the driver's seat, grinning at us.
"Get in!" She says into the speaker, the noise loud enough to hear through the Void, and I smile before activating the blasters on my feet.
"Everything back to normal?" I ask Tara as I set Akira down, the pink-haired cyborg shuffling away to the side of the drifter, no doubt to log the battle and Eidolon's tendancies of wanting Swarm blood.
"Yeah, like Akira said, the winds were caused by the Hollow's appearance; I've already logged it through the Pale Vein's comms." I nod at her words, slumping down in the seat beside her in the control room.
"Good, I'll have to talk to Command when we arrive."
Tara lets out a low whistle, fingers dancing across the controls as the Pale Vein shudders back to life. "That bad?"
I glance back through the glass at the drifting corpse of the Hollow—its body slowly unraveling into the void, shards of chitin breaking off like dying stars.
"A Hollow this close to Myrr Cascade's magnetosphere is unusual. Better safe than sorry," I answer, fingers tapping against my thigh. "Plus, they'll want to speak to me anyway after Akira reports back on Eidolon."
A pause.
Then, softly—
"You wound me." The words curl through my mind, smooth and amused. I can almost feel it smiling.
"You tried to drink it," I shoot back under my breath.
"It was fresh. Do you know how long it's been since I've had a taste of real blood?"
Akira snorts from across the cabin, not even looking up from her interface. "Logging that as a behavioral deviation."
"Hey—"
"Repeated behavioral deviation," she corrects flatly.
Tara grins. "That's going straight up the chain, you know."
Yeah. I know.
My gaze shifts forward, past the glass, to the endless stretch of void ahead.
Straight up the chain meant Captain review, then forwarded to a Squadron Leader, and if Eidolon's behavior got flagged hard enough—
A General might look at it.
Worst case?
A Marshal.
My fingers tighten slightly against the armrest. The other two girls don't seem to notice anything, though; Tara's gaze is focused as she speaks into the drifter's intercomm to the control center back on Orin-Kai's surface.
The planet, which had been nothing more than a distant speck moments ago, now filled the viewport in breathtaking detail—the heart of Myrr Cascade's capital.
Its surface shimmered with vast stretches of illuminated cities, sprawling across continents like constellations brought to life. Networks of light traced intricate patterns between megastructures and floating districts, some suspended high above the atmosphere, orbiting in perfect synchronization. The natural terrain still showed through in places—deep oceans reflecting the glow of orbiting stations, mountain ranges carved into elegant terraces—but it was clear the planet had long since been shaped by intelligent hands.
A lattice of orbital rings encircled it, gleaming bands of metal and energy that pulsed with constant traffic—ships drifting in organized streams, docking platforms rotating with seamless precision. Higher still, defensive arrays and communication spires blinked in steady rhythms, forming a protective halo around the world.
To the side, I spotted the familiar blue glow of the Intergalactic Railway, the way I could have taken had I wanted to be tracked the entire trip. The Pale Vein lurches.
"Rough trip!" Tara whoops, tugging her gloves further over her hands while I stand.
"Thanks for taking me." I say, holding onto the rail as the doors of the drifter open with a clunk.
"Don't worry about it; I was planning on coming here anyway. I've heard there's some cool new tech being passed around, and I'll be damned if I don't get my hands on it for my baby!" Tara laughs and knocks on the Pale Vein's side.
I laugh softly, shaking my head. Then turn. Akira is already gone—leaping off the edge without hesitation. I follow suit. One of my hands rises in a wave to Tara before I continue to move with Akira. My exosuit draws the attention of civilians as we walk. Many looking in awe, some with slight apprehension, but most with pride.
The Salient are the soldiers that protect other galaxies from the Swarm's advances and have a good reputation in nearly every galaxy, though there are always a few outliers. Tara dropped us off at the capital of the Myrr Cascade, Thellis Fallen, a lush city known to build and adapt around the original nature of the planet. Due to that, the city was a mix of greenery and tall gleaming towers.
My exosuit whirrs as we continue to walk, its sensors adapting to the gravity, and Akira walks straight towards the large building in the center of the city.
Engraved on the side of the building are the words "Myrr Heliara Command Nexus." I scan my wrist as I enter, the doors sliding open as it flashes a green light.
"Ms. Vyreas, I'm glad to see you've made it on time." My head tilts up to the suited figure at the top of the stairs before letting out a soft sigh.
"Captain Vynn," I reply, walking up the stairs with Akira falling into place behind me, her head dipping at the sight of the captain. "It's been a while." A pause. "Where is the meeting being held?"