Flame studied Jin’s face.Whatever he read there made him smirk.“Tell the Phoenix I said hi.It really has been an honor.”
The human disappeared into the honeycomb.
“What an annoying, strange man,” Jin muttered.
Maggie found a corner and lowered herself into it.“He’s not the strange one.”
“Quiet, Maggie,” Jin ordered, listening.
There it was again.A sniffle.A light cough followed.
“It seems this cell is already occupied,” Jin murmured, moving toward the back wall where a blanket had been draped strategically over the edge of a small cot.
He snagged its edge, drawing it back to reveal a trio of small faces.
“Hello, there.My name’s Jin.What’s yours?”
Kira – Space
“Easy, easy,” Raider muttered, backseat driving like the control freak that he was.
“You know they can’t hear you, right?”Kira asked.
“I’m sending them a subliminal message.They’ll get it.I’m certain.”
Kira chuckled, her tension easing.
The honeycomb passed over them, getting larger with every second.
“You think Jin is okay?”Raider asked.
“Yeah, I do.”
Kira might not be able to reach him because of the stupid cuff but Jin’s presence rested calm and easy in their bond.There were no signs of turmoil or emotional upheaval that would indicate trouble.
Raider sat forward suddenly.“Hey, look at that.Does that look like a ship to you?”
Kira peered out the porthole, glancing where Raider indicated.There in the shadow of a hexagon was a single seater space craft.
“You’re right.It does.”
The ship was human built.A model common to this sector.Pirates liked them, but they were also used by a lot of merchants and private escort companies.
“It’s a long way from the location Graydon’s people pinpointed as the place Belladonna was using as its landing bay.Looks like we might not be the only ones who’ve infiltrated this place,” Raider remarked.
“Technically, we haven’t made it inside yet.”
Raider waved away her objection.“Semantics.”
The rest of their journey was uneventful.Passing quickly until they were through the forcefield of the hexagon they’d chosen as their entry point.
Every one of the thousands of hexagons along the exterior had a barrier protecting it, allowing its inhabitants to slip in and out at will.Those forcefields were what prevented the atmosphere inside from escaping and the whole hive from decompressing.
It was also why they were so difficult to defeat in battle.No matter how much firepower you lobbed at a honeycomb, you wouldn’t do enough damage to destroy the ship in its entirety.It was designed to break apart.As soon as those pieces hit a planet’s outer stratosphere, the Tsavitee inside would awaken to ravage everything below.
You had to destroy a honeycomb so thoroughly that nothing remained.Then spend weeks, months, years mopping up any stragglers that survived.
If even one hexagon reached a planet without rupturing, you would have an infestation on your hands before you knew it since they were also capable of parthenogenesis.In other words, asexual reproduction.
