Maggie’s gaze flitted between the two of them as her forehead creased.
Flame sauntered to his pallet and went back to playing with his knife.“We’ll be there soon.Until then, I suggest you behave yourselves.You’ll have a longer life expectancy that way.”
Kira – Tuann ship
Kira silently contemplated the garden below.The lush green framed against the deep black of space.The meandering paths that snaked through its heart.Plants and trees existing in harmony with the universe.
“Reviewing all the mistakes you made and what you could have done differently?”Raider asked, joining her.
Kira hummed noncommittally, not even sure herself whether that meant yes or no.“What about you?”
Raider shook his head, his gaze fixed on the narrow slice of visible space and the cloud of debris that obscured the black.
“Maksym’s not dead.That means there’s nothing to review.”
Kira leaned against the railing and rested her chin on her folded arms.“I wish I had your optimism.”
Shortly after they’d separated from the station, the section Maksym was in suffered a catastrophic decompression.Graydon and others assured her something like that wasn’t necessarily lethal to someone with synth armor.Kira wasn’t so sure.Maybe she’d hung around humans for too long, but that sounded like a death sentence to her.
“Save your anger for the enemy, Phoenix,” Raider advised, turning away from the garden.“Now, let’s go.Graydon says we’re close, and you’re the only one who knows anything about this place.”
Kira straightened, trailing behind Raider as he led her to the bridge.
Graydon looked up as she entered, his features holding a question.Tucking her hands in her pocket, Kira found a spot along the wall to stand.
No matter how many times she saw them, she always thought Tuann ships were a fascinating combination of highly advanced technology and an almost spiritual existence.They lacked the controls necessary on a human vessel, relying on the soul’s breath of their crew to operate.As a result, their interior was as svelte and streamlined as their exterior.
The captain was a man Kira had encountered once before.In spirit anyway.Not so much in person.Over Ta Da’an when the Tsavitee tried invading her cousin’s planet.
As was the case during their last encounter, he was cool under pressure, showing no signs of strain despite being asked to navigate his ship into a section of space so dangerous that only the craziest of humans ever attempted it.
The minutes ticked by as the Tuann crew guided the ship through the debris field, communicating with each other often.Their instruments proved more powerful than those Kira was used to, picking up microscopic pieces of debris that theWandererwould have missed.Helpfully enough, someone seemed to have cleared a narrow lane through the wreckage, allowing them to slip past without much trouble.
Jin’s scorpion also played a role, fine tuning their navigation whenever they strayed from the path Jin had traveled.
“We’re here,” the captain announced a short time later.He nodded at the screen.“I’m pretty sure that’s what you’re looking for.”
Kira straightened at the sight of a massive Tsavitee structure that humans not so affectionately referred to as a honeycomb.Unsurprisingly, given its name, it resembled a beehive.The hexagonal openings along its exterior acting as easy points of egress when the inhabitants wanted to swarm a target.
“You’re right,” Kira confirmed.
During the battle, the honeycomb had lost one of its aft engines.Along with a good amount of the lower hive.The top half was still intact though.Traces of the clumsy repairs someone had attempted were visible in places.
The clincher though was the bright pink ship resting just inside one of the hexagons.
“How are we getting inside?”Raider asked.
His concern held merit.Their ship had disguised itself by mirroring the flight path of the wreckage around them, but flying closer would allow those inside the honeycomb to detect their presence.Especially if there were Tuann rebel forces in there with access to advanced technology of their own.
Graydon’s oshota all smirked at each other.
“We may have a way,” Graydon said with a look that said Kira and Raider weren’t going to like it.
When he got a look at what awaited them on the ship’s flight deck, Raider stopped short.“What is that?”
“The better question is why does it look like Jin?”Kira asked.
Well—the Jin before his soul moved containers.
