She tilted her head in consideration.Its likeness really was amazing.Spherical in shape.Only much larger than he’d been.Even the porthole on the front bore an uncomfortable resemblance to his “eye”.
“You asked how you were getting there.This is how,” Graydon said.
Kira stiffened, picking up the relevant part of that statement.“‘You?’Not ‘we?’”
Graydon’s smile crinkled the skin at the corners of his eyes.
Raider missed the implication as he inspected the vessel.“Where’s its propulsion system?”
“There isn’t one,” Finn said.
Raider looked up with a frown.“This can’t be big enough for more than two people.”
“It’s not.”
Oh, for goodness’ sake.
“It’s for us, Raider.We’re the ones traveling in that thing,” Kira snapped.
Finn nodded.“That is correct.”
She’d forgotten how deliberately obtuse Raider could be when there was a situation he didn’t want to face.
“They have their synth armor.They don’t need anything else,” Kira explained.
Like the Hadron suits the Curs had worn into battle, synth armor was capable of sustaining life for a short time.The plating naturally stored breathable atmosphere in the walls of its cells, enabling them to last up to two hours without an external oxygen source.Coating the scales in theirkiactivated a propulsion system that functioned much like a wave board.
“Let me get this straight.”Raider held up a hand.“They expect us to climb into that thing.And then what?They push us over to the honeycomb?”
“My, my, aren’t you the quick one?”Talon quipped.
Raider snarled.“Fuck that!”
“Raider,” Kira started.
“Do you know what that means?”Raider cut her off with a slice of the hand.“We’ll be sitting ducks.”
“I know.”Reluctantly, Kira looked at Graydon.“Is there really no other way?”
“If there’d been time, I could have arranged to haveRasvelsuits on hand,” Graydon explained.
Rasvelsuits were the civilian equivalent of synth armor.More widely available and much easier to procure.
“As it is, thelanis the only vessel that can make it across without being picked up by their systems,” Graydon continued.“It’s this or you remain here.”
“We won’t let harm come to you,” Talon promised.
“I don’t think we have a choice, do you?”Kira asked Raider.
His jaw clenched as his gaze lingered on thelan.“No, I guess we don’t.”
Jin – Pirate Base
Jin memorized the twists and turns their path took as Flame marched him through their base, one of his burlier friends carrying Arly like a sack of potatoes over their shoulder.
As headquarters went, Belladonna could have done worse.A Tsavitee honeycomb possessed decent defensive capabilities and its location within the wreck of the Falling ensured no one could trace their position easily.
Jin hadn’t gotten a good look at the structure from the outside, but he could tell from the journey so far that enough of it remained intact to house a decent sized force.
