“Okay, okay, I think… yeah, I think I’ve figured out how to shut off the auto-pilot here,” Jace was saying, nodding his head in satisfaction. “Ah, got it! Yes, I… oh…”
“What ‘oh’? That does not sound like a positive thing,” Khoth asked.
A screen flickered to life in front of the console. It showed what was happening outside of the craft. They were in orbit around Earth. The planet glowed beckoningly below them. It was, admittedly, beautiful with its blue and white swirls, but it was far away. Ahead of them, however, was the Hive. It was far closer than Khoth had ever feared it would be.
“That’s not a moon,” Jace whispered with a trace of hysterical awe in his voice, “that’s a space station.”
“What do you mean?” Khoth frowned. “That is not a space station, that is a Hive--”
“I know! I know! It’s a movie reference--oh, forget it! It’s too hard to explain,” Jace said. “Moon, space station or Hive, we are too damned close to it! Does the Hive have weapons? Oh, of course, it does, but they’re not aimed at us as far as I can tell.”
“No, they do not want to lose their cargo,” Khoth guessed and his gut twisted.
The Hive was structured as a stretched circle, long on the sides and narrower on the bottom, with large, regular circular indentations all over the outside. The comparison to an Earth’s wasp nest was incredibly apt. They even were the brownish color that such nests were. But this nest was one-hundred times the size of the needle ship they were on. The Hive loomed before them as they flew ever closer to it.
“Can you tell if they are aware of us?” Khoth asked, imagining the Khul scanning them right that moment.
Even if the Khul realized they were there, they wouldn’t destroy this ship. One Pilot, one Alliance soldier and a cleaning bot would not be considered a threat. They would simply bring the ship inside of the Hive and meet them with overwhelming force. Then Jace and Khoth would be in pods, softening and screaming with tubes stuck down their throats.
I will kill Jace and myself before they take us, Khoth thought with sudden clarity.
He had no desire to die. He wanted to live. He wanted to fight and win. Jace was a marvel and that he should die after just showing them endless possibilities seemed… pointless.
I should not have brought him here, Khoth thought as well.
He had believed that it was safe. Relatively safe. But it had not turned out that way. By insisting that Jace come along--and then by not objecting to it when the young man enthusiastically agreed--Khoth had been handing the Khul the secrets of the Osiris.
I am going to have to kill us both. Khoth’s hand went to the hilt of the rahir. I am going to have to...
“They’re--shit, they’re scanning us!” Jace cried. His hands danced over the controls. “Gehenna, shut that scanner down or cloak us! Do something!”
I’ve cloaked our signatures to make us seem like we are cargo, she said briskly.
Khoth drew in a relieved breath and his hand dropped again. But this was only a temporary reprieve.
“We are going to be cargo if we do not get out of here,” Khoth reminded them both. “Can you not pilot us away from the Hive?”
Jace’s hands moved over the controls like darting birds. “I--I’m trying but… shit! We’re in a--a tractor beam!” Jace let out a hysterical laugh. “Of course, we’re in a goddamned tractor beam!”
“Is the ship not powerful enough to break free?” Khoth already knew the answer and, if Jace even attempted it, the Khul would know they were inside.
“No, no, it is most definitely not,” Jace told him and shuddered.
They both watched as one of the indented spots on the surface of the Hive opened and the ship they were on was pulled into it.
I will do this quickly. I will not let Jace suffer, Khoth thought as he realized now that they were going into the Hive and there was no chance of escape. I will not let the Khul have the information we possess.
Khoth silently closed a hand around the rahir’s hilt and was about to unsheath it. The armor was formidable. He would have to convince Jace to retract his helmet and then--
“I’ve got a plan!” Jace shouted. “Gehenna, can you keep up the cloaking once we enter the Hive?”
Yes, I can! She answered.
“All right!”
The screen before them split in two. One side was the image of them being swallowed by the Hive, while the other was showing them both schematics of the ship they were on. Jace suddenly pointed to one area that looked to be a slender space hidden behind some of the tanks.
“We can hide there,” Jace said.
