The General

Indigo and Cairo seemed at home in the war room. They stood with the locals around the tactical workstations and spoke of attrition and geodesics.

I stood in the back watching the big displays. The fighters swept through the colony clusters. A half dozen starships weaved an parried between the rebellious moons.
It was beautiful.

The moons were home to a leaderless populist enclave. Another paradise, really. A human paradise though. They had surpassed the need for rulers or even currency. All there needs were met by 'machines'.
No commands, and no commanders in their war, but they were formidable with very old algorithms.

Their fighters /swarmed/ Using patterns we see in many freemoving predators. Strategic code that in a very real sense has been optimized since the earliest artificial life. Very efficient, amost like...

"Wait."
No one heard me, but I didn't notice. I stepped closer to the display until I could trace the paths of fighters with my fingers. "This is hierarchical flocking. These are not anarchists anymore. They have a leader."
They were not swarming as pure boids. They were chaotic and adaptive, but the forms of the swarms matched the behaviors of group organisms
on Ovoreg 3, or better: the Deathfish of Antares 11.
"Wait! Indigo, Cairo: Listen."
I turned back to the display "Just look at the pattern: these and
these track together. And these units mirror those, until they get..
to here, and then they swap
roles. This is not a swarm, it's all coordinated. They are following
cues in groups and subgroups..."
I could watch reactions to situational updates propagate across the swarm. It was so chaotic! But if they were following the Antarean model, The information would eventually propagate to, and the important changes propagate from, a single member of the school.
"Can you predi..."
"Shhh..." Why does she talk all the time? I mean really. And no, I couldn't have predicted their movements. I am not a general.

"...There, that's him. Kill that one."

Three minutes later the battle was over.

I killed a good man. He inspired his people. He was brave. He was doing what he thought was right. He may have been doing what really was right. He died because I saw him. I believe I did the right thing, I'm not sorry about what I did. But I have to keep an eye on what I am doing. There has to be a point to it all, it has to matter.

We are Finishing This.