ACT 2 – TRUTH

Chapter 25 – The Mistake

Outside the front of the Transport, the edges of two larger asteroids filled the view, and beyond them the ever-moving landscape of other lumps of floating rock of varying sizes, some noticeably tumbling faster than others.

Nalla lowered her gaze down from the view to the displays in front of her. All the asteroids in view of the sensors were displayed clearly and those only partly in sensor range were projected with their predicted size, speed and possible gravitational pull if they were large enough. For now the Transport was sat in a relatively free space, holding place in low orbit of one of the largest asteroids they'd found so far. Its large size and gravity were keeping away smaller, potentially damaging, pieces of rock, so they had selected it as an ideal location for the deployment of the second sensor satellite.

The relative quiet space close to the target asteroid was something of a reprieve considering that they'd spent an entire day cautiously navigating between the floating ever-changing asteroids. Having moved slightly further into the field now, the number of smaller and less predictable asteroids had started to reduce somewhat, allowing a slightly less stress-inducing flight for the team. That said, Inifee was still very focused in the piloting seat to Nalla's right, constantly having to adjust the Transport's position relative to the asteroid and ever ready should any rogue pieces of rock abruptly appear on sensors.

"Approaching hatchway edge," announced one of the Technicians from the depressurised back compartment of the Transport.

"Understood," Nalla replied back through the audio link. Though she, Inifee, and one Technician were sealed inside the pressurised front piloting section, they still had donned their space-ready suit helmets just in case of an incident.

She shifted her gaze from the sensor displays to the camera view into the back section of the Transport, where two of the three Technicians back there were moving the sensor satellite's magnetised cradle to the edge of the open side hatch of the ship.

Everything was going to plan so far.

She switched her attention back to the sensors, knowing the Technician behind her was monitoring the deployment closely.

She felt tired, a deep weariness that was starting to slowly sap away her energy reserves.

For an entire day since the Transport had arrived in the asteroid field she'd stayed awake and alert, constantly keeping careful, contained watch over the new consciousness she could detect. She had not dared risk sleeping, afraid that in doing so her mental control would slip and she might alert whatever it was out there to her presence.

Not that she was entirely sure that it wasn't already aware of her and the rest of the team, but, so far, she'd not detected anything about the strange unknown presence out there to suggest it had.

In truth, the alien presence had not changed at all in the last day, but maintaining her awareness of it just on the edge of her mind while simultaneously not doing anything that might draw its attention, was a draining state to remain in. Whereas Inifee could take breaks from his highly focused piloting of the Transport, two of the Technicians experienced pilots who took short shifts to cover for him, she had no such backup.

At least not until the Sythus arrived, when hopefully Si and Emmagan might be able to provide additional insight into the new presence's mind, or at least provide her with psychic support. Plus the arrival of the Hunt Fleet would be literal military backup should she accidentally alert the new presence.

Until then though, she was the only one who could do this; to hold a subtle and tiring balance between watching but not being seen.

"Satellite is disengaged from cradle," a Technician reported over the link.

She slid her gaze back to the internal view of the back section of the ship and watched as the sensor satellite started to drift upwards, free from its cradle. She watched as the two Technicians reached out and placed their gloved hands to the back of the satellite and gently applied some momentum.

"Deployment push," one Technician reported as she watched the satellite drift out of the Transport and into space above the target asteroid. "Satellite has cleared Transport hatch. Sealing hatch."

Nalla ran her eyes over the console, watching the confirmation of the closing of the hatch and checking that no new rogue asteroids had been detected incoming. All was looking good.

"Re-pressurising back compartment."

Confirmation of the returning air and gravity in the back section played across her console.

"At pressure."

"Confirmed…clear to remove helmets."

Nalla reached up and quickly unlocked and removed her helmet, drawing in the freer air outside the suit. She knew the air inside the Transport was just as controlled as inside the suit, but the more open sense of space around her face helped combat some of the tiredness leaching her focus.

"Opening inner hatch," the Technician just behind her seat reported and she heard the hatch opening to the back section.

"Well done everyone," she said out loud once it was open and all those in the back could hear her.

"I'm moving us away," Inifee reported as he piloted the Transport forward.

"Distance cleared," the Technician behind Nalla reported after a few seconds. "Activating deployed Satellite Two's thrusters to bring it into geo-synchronous orbit with target asteroid."

Nalla kept her gaze running over the sensors, trusting in the Technicians to do their work in positioning the satellite and getting it's systems up and functional.

Inwardly though, she focused her attention a little more precisely, carefully watching the presence for any sign that it had seen the satellite deployment…

It felt the same as before.

If it had observed the deployment, it was not reacting in any way. Even a very controlled mind would still respond in some way to witnessing something of interest or just plain unusual, but the presence was just as before.

Though, as it was so very alien to her, perhaps its responses were different and not as predictable. Or, as her initial intuitive feelings suggested, it was possible that the presence was just too far away to be able to witness the deployment. Either way, nothing had seemingly changed.

Nothing except her own tiredness.

The prolonged state of focus was draining. Normally in such a state, she would reach out to her people to request their support, but she dared not do that now. She had no idea if such a significant psychic action as reaching out to Pelydr might alert the presence…could even reveal her people's combined web to the strange new consciousness.

No, for now she was going to have to hold the careful line by herself.

"We have confirmation Satellite Two is connected to Satellite One via subspace link," the Technician's cheerful voice reported, his web vibrating with success and pride in their teamwork. "Both satellites remain in synchronous positions with selected asteroids and we have good response to ping call. All systems working correctly, Honoured Elite."

"Transport sensors have lock on both satellites and receiving navigation data," Nalla added as she confirmed Satellite Two's position on the Transport's chart. "Excellent work everyone."

To her right, Inifee let out a pleased sigh as the Transport slid to a stop, the large asteroid still dominating the right side of the view out the front. "So," Inifee glanced round, "now we just need to decide where to go next, unless there's been any change to whatever it is out there, Honoured Elite?"

"Nothing new," she replied and felt Inifee's web shifting with concern for her. She suspected her tiredness was showing, but that did not matter; her focus and cautious control was all that mattered for now…at least until the Sythus and the rest of the Hunt Fleet arrived.

"Good," Inifee replied with a supportive smile. "Then I guess we just continue onwards?" He looked over his shoulder towards the Technicians.

"Satellite Two has good resolution on the field around us," one of them replied. "Its additional sensors are picking up a relatively clear series of spaces we can use, sending the data through to the Transport's computer now."

Nalla watched the data arrive and populate the sensor chart in front of her. "Received." She shifted the display's view around to gauge the three dimensional spaces between the asteroids.

"'Clear' is definitely a relative term in this asteroid field," Inifee joked as he reached in and tapped an area of the chart. "If we slip around this asteroid and through there," he turned the chart's view, "that should take us to that next open area."

"Agreed," Nalla nodded, though in truth she trusted Inifee's assessment far more than her own right now.

"Setting course," Inifee announced as his dark dextrous hands shifted back over to the piloting controls. "Let's see what else we can find in this moving maze."

Nalla nodded with a smile, enjoying the burst of excited optimism in his web, which today felt like a nourishing balm on her tired senses.

As the Transport began moving forward, she once again slid her attention back on her steady careful awareness of the unknown presence.

Just one more day until the Sythus arrived… she could hold on that long.

0000

The silent, bulky Drone stopped ahead of Mind Song and stretched out a thick arm, one dark-clawed finger pointing to an empty seat in front of an interface console.

It was a different seat within this database access chamber than he had been given yesterday, which was in itself a very clear message. He was to sit where Lost Lineage decided and, by moving his access point each day, there would be no opportunity for him to manipulate any single interface point.

Not that he had any intention of doing so, but the message was clear.

As he sat down on the slightly cool bone-crafted stool in front today's access point, he heard the Drone's footsteps retreat back across the chamber. Glancing over his shoulder, Mind Song watched the Drone stride out of the single entrance into the chamber to stand guard outside in the corridor, its muscular shoulder settling into place just in view.

When he had been granted his first access to the Hive's historical records yesterday, he had been left alone in here for hours to work, the Drones standing silent guard outside the entire time. Various Warriors had come in and out of the chamber to use the various access points or the large three-dimensional holographic display set to one side of the space, but none of them had paid him any attention. Today, there were only two Warriors in here, one sat at an access point several seats down and the other at the hologram, which was currently displaying a solar system. A cursory glance over the hologram confirmed nothing interesting, so Mind Song turned his attention to today's access point.

Of course he was not fooled by the seeming lack of any focus on him, for he had no doubt that every single move he made through the interface into the historical records was being watched in real time. Any deviation from his task of researching possible clues to the Skerti would no doubt be noticed immediately and likely responded to in the harshest fashion. Not that he intended to do anything like that, but he felt faintly amused at the obvious unseen monitoring.

Settling his hands onto the console, he slid his mind against the interface and pulled up a new search criteria to begin the day's research. When he had started this work yesterday, it had been immediately obvious that Lost Lineage's database was an amalgamation of many other Hives' records, no doubt copied from those she had dominated. The result was an extensive and long history recorded in this Hive's database, which was impressive, but equally worrying given that he had found no evidence of the Skerti within it.

However, his hours of research yesterday had found one potential pattern from the past. Through targeted searches into missing Hives and kin, he'd found a period in Wraith history in which a shockingly large number of unexplained losses had occurred over only a handful of years. However, it seemed that the losses had been dismissed as simply a product of the times.

It had been a particularly significant period in the history of Wraith kin, but before his and Long Sleep's own batch birth, so he had no direct knowledge of the events. Still, they had been dramatic days and well known to all Wraith. Resisting the oppression of the Old Lanteans, Wraith kin of all lineages had started pushing out through the stars, claiming new Feeding Grounds and fighting each other to keep them. The Old Lanteans, in the middle times of their era, and become prey for the first time, which had forced them to give up their pacifist ways and the first great battles had begun.

Mind Song had heard many stories of the first massive space battles at that time, with huge numbers lost but also significant victories. By the time he and Long Sleep had been birthed, Wraith had been powerful, but not yet in full control of the galaxy. The Queens had started birthing more batches and more Hives had been grown than ever before, all focused on destroying the Old Lanteans. Eventually, in the late era of the Old Lanteans, the lineages had finally stopped fighting each other long enough to ally together under the rallying cry of the Warrior Lineage, forming a vast Fleet of Hives and ships, crewed by a massive force of additional cloned armies, to force the Old Lanteans back until all the ancient Prey had held was Atlantis. And after the long siege, the City had been sunk and the era of the Old Lanteans had ended.

In all those many long years of war, many Wraith kin had been lost, especially during the middle era of the first great battles. Still, the sudden spike in numbers of unexplained losses across all the combined Hive records in Lost Lineage's database was interesting, especially the number of Hives that had disappeared.

It was reasonably common for Cruisers and Fighters to be lost between warring Queens, but Hives were rarely destroyed. Valuable resources, as were their occupants, Hives were usually captured and incorporated into the victorious Queen's fleet. Yet, these numbers suggested a particularly horrific loss of Hive numbers, along with all their accompanying Cruisers, Fighters and crews.

Given the timing, the losses had been attributed to the Old Lanteans, but why would that have been the case only over such a short number of years? If the Old Lanteans had been so successful in destroying vast numbers, why had they become less efficient later?

It smelt of something else, that there had been another factor in play at the time…perhaps the Skerti?

So, having found that possible echo of the Skerti in the historical records yesterday, today he planned to start going through all records within that middle era of the Old Lanteans to look for further clues or even rumours of a new enemy in the database. There were a significant number of records to read, and even if he was given the same number of hours access today as he had yesterday, he was not sure he could read everything.

There was also Lost Lineage's theory that the Skerti were allied with the Lanteans to consider. He wasn't convinced by the theory, since it seemed based solely on the fact that the Skerti-captured fleet they were soon to engage were on a course through the galaxy that would eventually take them to Atlantis. Yet, given the unexplained spike in Wraith losses had occurred during the middle era of the Old Lanteans, it did raise questions.

Had the Old Lanteans been allied with the Skerti? If so, it had clearly been a successful pairing given the destruction of so many Wraith kin, so again why had that stopped? Had it been a friendship that had turned sour?

Or had the Skerti been enemies of the Old Lanteans as well? Perhaps it had been the Old Lanteans who had removed the Skerti threat? If that theory proved correct, then perhaps the Skerti-captured fleet were heading to Atlantis not to find old allies, but old enemies.

It was a question with no answers yet, but could perhaps be useful information, especially if he needed something to trade with Sheppard and his people in the future.

Moving through various records from the start of the target historical period, he became vaguely aware that the Warrior several seats down from him had finished his work, the male moving away across the chamber. Mind Song glanced round, seeing that it was now only him and the Warrior studying a new solar system on the large hologram. Again, the display seemed uninteresting other than he was pretty sure the solar system was from within Sharp Claw's former Feeding Ground.

Feeding Grounds…

If the theory held that the Skerti may have been enemies of the Old Lanteans, but the Skerti had been seemingly very destructive on Wraith kind, why would the Old Lanteans have removed them? The Old Lanteans had all but given up their pacifist ways by their middle era, so why not let the Skerti run rampage against Wraith kin? Perhaps the Skerti had attacked the Old Lanteans too? Or Human Prey as well?

He called up a search criteria and asked the interface to find anything in the target time period about any unexplained deaths of Prey or the Old Lanteans.

One record flagged up instantly, so he called up the details from the database.

It was an entry recorded by one of Lost Lineage's own Sister Queens who had reported the loss of an entire Human Prey world but not to a culling. He read on quickly.

The Queen in question had previously seeded a small moon with Human Prey, having removed them from an Old Lantean protected world. The practice had started during that period, taking Prey to planets or moons without any Portals where the Human Prey would live and multiply away from the protection of the Old Lanteans. Available as a reliable food source, the Queens would then visit periodically. On such a visit, this Queen had arrived at the moon only to find that every single Human, in all their small separate settlements, had been found dead. The furious Queen had described the moon to be full of "piles of dead prey, stacked up on each other and burnt. All unculled and wasted". She had concluded that the Humans had either killed each other or it had been a disease. Both explanations didn't make sense to Mind Song.

In his experience, there were always survivors even with mass die outs from disease among Prey, and if it had been warfare between the Humans, then why had even the youngest infants been killed? That was not how most Humans behaved.

But perhaps how something else had behaved, and the brutality of it felt comparable to the massive losses of Wraith.

It was the right period, and mass slaughter of Human Prey was not how the Old Lanteans had behaved…they had defended the Prey. So, if the killing had been the Skerti, he suspected he knew how the Old Lanteans would have responded.

Footsteps to the left pulled Mind Song from his silent pondering and he glanced aside to see a new Warrior had entered the chamber and was sitting down at an access point one seat away from him.

A Warrior with short hair.

Ah…the plan had worked.

Mind Song shifted his gaze away from the new arrival to see that the other Warrior who had been studying the hologram earlier had gone, perhaps some time ago. He was alone in the chamber then with the short-haired Warrior, as intended.

Long Sleep had planned to find a way to urge the unknown Warrior to take advantage of Mind Song's time in this access chamber and, once again, his Batch Brother had exceeded in his task.

Mind Song turned his attention back to his access point, shifting through the search results again as if he were simply continuing with his research for those watching his activities in the database.

"Greetings," he said softly, just loud enough for the other Warrior to hear him but not so that his voice would carry.

"We must be careful," the Warrior replied with the same low voice.

"Understood," Mind Song nodded faintly.

Long Sleep had shared with him an image of this other 'captive' Warrior who had been reaching out to them during their stay on the Hive, but Mind Song would easily have been able to identify the male. Not only was his strange haircut so noticeable, but seeing him in the flesh only confirmed that he was obviously not of Lost Lineage's 'pure' lineage being shorter but with broader shoulders. And it was not just his appearance that was different; it was his mind as well. Though contained, the Warrior's mind was close enough to the network that Mind Song could sense the sharp crispness of high intelligence in him. It was rather shockingly refreshing after so many days on this ancient Hive with its near identical crew.

Yet, it wasn't just the male's build and mind that set him as unusual, and which presumably had led to him being deemed 'impure' by those onboard. There was something else about him that was different, something that Mind Song could not quite identify but it was certainly like nothing else he could remember encountering. Which meant that this male was surely the product of another mutated batch.

Though Mind Song and Long Sleep's Queen had been rather unique in her willingness to experiment with mutations in her batches for a short time, there were stories of other mutated Warriors, especially during the era when mass batches had been produced to swell Wraith numbers to push back the Old Lanteans. In the end, cloning had been the means to produce so many kin quickly enough and without draining the Queens' resources. Yet, it had been a very long time since Mind Song had encountered anyone as overtly unique as he and Long Sleep.

And the reason for the male's reaching out to them seemed even more understandable now, as long as this was not some elaborate ploy on Lost Lineage's part.

"Are you being watched?" Mind Song asked the unnamed Warrior as he absently scrolled through more records.

"I am of little interest to them," the Warrior replied quietly.

"You are not of this Hive originally," Mind Song stated.

"No," the Warrior replied quickly. "My Hive was attached by Lost Lineage, and I was brought here."

"Just you?" Mind Song asked.

"Yes," the Warrior confirmed. "I had some information which she deemed worthy of letting me live."

If this male was simply playing the role of an embattled victim he was very good; barely restrained angry resentment bubbled just under the surface of the Warrior's words and within his mind and Mind Song suspected the Warrior had not spoken with anyone not of this Hive in quite some time.

It was a state he knew all too well from his own long imprisonment, but that this Warrior had been the sole member of his Hive held onboard by Lost Lineage was exceedingly promising.

"Your information was about the Skerti?" Mind Song cut straight to the point, his hopeful suspicion waiting for confirmation...

"No," the Warrior replied though, immediately crushing Mind Song's theory. "It is about…another threat."

That he had used the current tense, not the past tense suggested that the information he knew was regarding an ongoing threat to Lost Lineage then. It also likely explained why he was still onboard, and alive; he had not simply shared information in return for which Lost Lineage kept him alive, it was an ongoing situation.

Interesting…

What could he possibly know that would be so vital for Lost Lineage to keep an 'impure' Warrior on her Hive?

And if he wasn't the source of her intel on the Skerti, then perhaps Lost Lineage's original explanation was true.

"Do you know how she came to learn of the Skerti' return?" Mind Song asked.

"She found out from Sharp Claw's Hive. Or from its debris at least."

Ah, so either that part of Lost Lineage's explanation had been real, or it was the only explanation this Warrior had heard.

"You are sure?" Mind Song checked.

"They found a large enough piece of Sharp Claw's Hive in the debris field to access the last records in her database. I overheard some of the Keepers when they were discussing how to break into Sharp Claw's protective coding."

Ah, so finding a message helpfully left by her fellow Queen Sharp Claw had been a lie. Lost Lineage had instead retrieved the information about the Skerti from the remains of Sharp Claw's Hive…which she had clearly not recorded in her own database on this Hive. Lost Lineage was likely holding that intel only in her own memory, nothing recorded anywhere for another Hive to steal as she had done. Controlling who knew about the returned enemy.

"You and your Queen need to be careful," the Warrior insisted quietly, "this is not the first Gathering of Young Queens that Lost Lineage has formed."

Mind Song frowned at that news. "Formed to attack the Skerti force before now?"

"No, not the Skerti, other Hives. She and two Young Queens formed a Gathering to attack my former Queen. The two Young Queens did not survive."

Mind Song nodded at the warning and let out a resigned breath. It was just as he had feared. Lost Lineage's overly generous promise to share Sharp Claw's former territory was a ploy to tempt in inexperienced Young Queens to use and then either abandon or kill. New Breath was in as much danger as he had feared.

"There has been at least one other Gathering since in the time I've been onboard," the Warrior added.

"How long have you been on this Hive?" Mind Song checked.

"Just over half a hibernation year," the Warrior replied and a rush of weary tiredness was obvious on the edge of his mind as well as in his voice.

"The information you hold on this other threat must be very valuable for her to keep you this long," Mind Song probed.

"She keeps me here for future use," the male replied. "And when such a day arrives, I suspect it will require…sacrifices on my part."

An ultimate grim sacrifice most likely.

"Until that day, I am ignored or hissed at as if I were vermin." Yes, angry resentment was most definitely bubbling along with the fear, and Mind Song could understand why. Not only was this Warrior living in a very dangerous state of limbo, but his intelligence suggested he had once held an important role in his previous Hive. Perhaps a Keeper or a specialist of some sort. Yet, here he was reduced to the lowest position, waiting for his death to arrive when it suited Lost Lineage.

"But she does not keep you locked away," Mind Song pointed out, wondering if Lost Lineage was making some use of his skills.

"Where could I go?" The Warrior muttered. "My main assignment is cleaning the webbings throughout the Hive." They were using him for the dullest menial work, which was clearly a waste of talent.

Yet, the information he held was clearly still worth a great deal to Lost Lineage to keep him on her Hive. However, it was very interesting that the Warrior had not yet offered to share that same knowledge in return for rescue off this Hive, which was a curious choice. In fact he had not asked for help as yet.

Or, perhaps, given the seeming strength of the male's mind and character so far, was he perhaps too proud to ask? Mind Song could admit he could understand that stance.

He was reminded all too well how he'd at first resisted Sheppard's offer for them to combine forces to escape Kolya's dungeons. Until that point he had never even considered teaming up with a Human to escape together, would not have thought it possible; yet Sheppard had proven otherwise. He had made a reasoned logical argument, the Human's passion for life driving him to make an offer that Mind Song would never have made in his place. And it had worked out for both of them.

Those events had been proof enough for Mind Song that sometimes taking advantage of an unusual opportunity was worth the risk. But of course he had had no doubt at all that Sheppard had hated Kolya, but this Warrior still remained an unknown, with secrets that he didn't seem willing to share even in return for his freedom.

Mind Song kept scrolling in and out of historical records in the database, nothing standing out as useful so far, but keeping up appearances of his research.

"Who was your Birth Queen?" He asked the Warrior.

"Vast Reach," the male replied.

Mind Song remembered her, a tall elegant Queen of a manipulative and clever lineage, which explained the Warrior's intelligence, but not his other unusual traits.

"I recall that she had rich Feeding Grounds near the galaxy centre," Mind Song tested.

"She did, but at the time of my batch birth she had briefly lost that part of her territory."

Which meant the Warrior had been born after the Old Lanteans had gone, when Wraith power had been at its strongest.

"I remember the time," Mind Song replied. "She allied with one of the Mind Lineage to retake their territories."

"Yes," the Warrior nodded. "I was there for the battles, we held a far larger Feeding Ground by the end of it."

The touch of pride in the male's voice, and the accuracy of the details, suggested the male was being honest. And it also conveyed his experience too.

"Did Vast Reach value experimentation?" Mind Song asked subtly.

"In regards to technology and Human Prey genetics, yes," the Warrior replied.

That answer seemed to imply that the Warrior's unusual traits had not been born from an intentional mutation then. Interesting again.

"You and your Batch Brother though," the Warrior added, "were the results of experimentation?" It was the male's first question, and a direct query about their mutations. There had been no obvious prejudice in the male's voice, instead there was a warm curiosity lingering on the edge of his mind.

"Yes," Mind Song replied. "Our Birth Queen believed in seeking ways to improve and evolve our kin, not to dwell only in the old ways."

Out the corner of his eye, Mind Song saw the Warrior nod his head. It was perhaps just to convey that he understood the reasoning, but possibly also that he agreed with the forward thinking mentality of their old Queen. It did not matter perhaps, but it was very refreshingly to interact with a Warrior who did not immediately look down upon him and Long Sleep for their nature, accepting them only when they had proven their worth. Though, given how excluded this male seemed to be on this Hive, perhaps he had simply grown to understand what it was like for them.

"Then you both need to be especially careful on this Hive," the Warrior warned the obvious.

Now Mind Song was the one to nod with a smile. "Mmm, because we are 'impure'."

"There is a chance she may not let you leave."

"We are ready to act should that be the case," Mind Song replied calmly as he moved further through the chronological records of the period he was researching. It was a shame that he could not employ this Warrior to assist him in the research, as he suspected the male would be good at such work; certainly more useful than cleaning webbings.

"I would imagine that," he said continued, "given their ignoring of you, that you have witnessed a great deal about how Lost Lineage works and her previous use of other Young Queens?" He presented the opportunity for negotiation.

"Yes," the Warrior replied with feeling. "More than they know. There are a lot of weaknesses to this ancient Hive," he added in an even lower voice.

It was perhaps the closest to an offer to exchange information so far.

It would be a potential risk to help him, as though Mind Song doubted this was some form of elaborate trap, still stealing a Warrior who Lost Lineage thought valuable enough to keep around on her pure Hive, was also a hazard.

Yet, Mind Song could not find it in himself to ignore the clear signs of anxiety and hope emanating from this proud Warrior, the captivity clearly wearing away at him. Mind Song knew that feeling all too well and, where Sheppard had once given him a chance to escape, perhaps he could now do the same for this Warrior.

He suspected he knew what Sheppard would say if he were here.

"If," he began quietly, "an opportunity were to arrive for a swift departure from this Hive, would you be in a position to take advantage?"

"I would ensure that I was," the Warrior replied smartly, and the flare of relief was obvious even on the edge of his mind.

"Would she notice your absence instantly?" Ming Song checked.

"I doubt it," the male replied. "She rarely ever focuses on me; none of them consider me of any interest outside of their scorn."

"Then keep close track of where I and my brother are at all times within the Hive," Mind Song instructed him. "Be close enough to act in a moment."

"I shall," the Warrior confirmed, his voice sounding stronger to Mind Song's ears. "I have the information I came here to access from the database. I need to leave now."

Mind Song nodded, keeping his eyes forward still as he pulled up a new search on the database. "It was a pleasure to meet another experienced Warrior."

"For me as well," the Warrior replied. "I will keep close by," he added as he lifted his hands from his console and shifted to get up from his seat.

"What do they call you?" Mind Song asked, after all he and Long Sleep could do with an actual name for the previously unknown Warrior.

The male didn't answer right away as he stood up. Silently he reached down to the console again as if checking he had closed the access point.

"My old name no longer fits who I am," the Warrior said quietly, an unexpected thick sadness filling his voice as he turned to leave. "Now I am known as Michael."

He strode away out of view.

Mind Song frowned at the shockingly strange name, and had to work not to look round as Michael's footsteps retreated across the Chamber and out into the corridor outside.

Michael?

That was not a Wraith name.

It sounded almost…Human.

00000

The scar treatment had gone on longer than Oneakka had expected, but finally the latest session was done. The multiple thin needles and faint electrical stimulation treatment in and around his scar lines did seem to already be helping with his flexibility, but he really hated the deep itchy sensation afterwards. To help distract him, he had set out on his daily walk around the Facility. The movement seemed to help and watching everything going on, Elite, staff and Recruits moving through the hallways, helped him not give into the desperate instinctive urge to scratch at his scars.

The distraction was getting better too, with the corridors now flooding full of Recruits let out from the final lessons of the day, which meant Late Meal would be officially starting soon. As his walk took him through a central lobby, he headed towards a side wall panel and tapped it awake. Yes, it was almost Late Meal, for which he had originally been going to eat only with Massa, but as Smee had cancelled Late Meal with Raven, she was now free this evening. Though, then Massa had changed his plans, now having his Late Meal with a group of other Tutors, which meant that Oneakka would be eating alone with Raven. It felt like it had been a long time since it had just been the two of them eating together, not since the days of the more intense stages of his recovery when she had sat with him most evenings.

He was particularly pleased she was free this evening as he wanted to make sure that she had no delayed effects from having sat in that below freezing box during the experiment earlier. She'd insisted she was fine, and the scientists had made it clear that she'd been the one controlling how long she'd stayed in there, but she'd been in that frosted up box in pretty much just her underwear. As much as he had understood the charts and test results the research team had shown him proving that Raven really could tolerate considerable cold, he had pointed out the logical point that they had no idea how a Glisi might react later. There was every possibility that she could tolerate such extremes but then suffer for it later. The scientists hadn't seem to think that would be the case, and had asked her to check in with them if she felt unwell later, but given how stubborn the female could be, he wanted to make sure for himself.

He tapped the wall panel again and called up the Beacon list, requesting Raven's location in the Facility. She was still in her quarters. He'd walk by there, see if she was ready for Late Meal, and likely catch her unawares so he could truly check she wasn't getting sick from the experiment.

He set off through the Facility, Recruits dodging out of his way as they filled the corridors. The teenage ones weren't very good at paying attention to the space around them while they were excitedly talking with their friends, so it was good practice for them. He made sure to walk directly through the middle of the corridor space, forcing them to adapt and change their paths. Some had to be warned by their friends to move aside and one young embarrassed female almost walked right into him. She dodged away at the last minute, nervously uttering apologies, but he kept moving forward, letting them learn. Regardless as to how comfortable they were in the Facility, they needed to be always aware of their surroundings.

The crowd reduced as he reached the visitor quarters of the habitation sector. He knew where Raven's quarters were, but he'd never actually visited her here before. Following the long slow curve of the corridor, he finally came to her door number in the left-hand wall. He reached up and triggered the call chimes, then glanced each way down the corridor. Not many people were moving around here, but then this area was dedicated to visitors or guest staff. Ru's quarters were in another corridor though, which presumably annoyed the Engineer.

Raven's door slid open to reveal her on the other side. "Oneakka?" She frowned at him, clearly surprised at his unexpected visit.

"I was doing my daily walk around the Facility, thought I'd see if you were ready for Late Meal," he explained quickly.

She looked well, no feverish flush to her cheeks or sick paleness…unlike how she had looked in that freezing box. He'd never seen her warm complexion look as pale as she had during the experiment.

"You have impeccable timing then," she smiled. "I was just about to leave."

He tried not to feel smug about that coincidence.

"I just need to put my boots on," she added and turned away, heading back into her quarters. As she walked away, he realised that she was barefoot, so clearly she wasn't feeling any chilled after-effects in her toes if she was walking around like that.

He'd checked the colour of her toes repeatedly during the experiment and, though they'd looked as pale as the rest of her, they'd not turned any worrying shades of blue. Clearly they were working fine now.

The pretty bare feet disappeared off to the right, out of his view, the rest of her quarters now revealed.

"Did you get the text link from Massa?" her voice called.

"I did," he confirmed as he peered into her home.

Like most quarters in the Facility, they were very small, especially in this sector. At the far end of the narrow quarters, there was a small table tucked into the left corner and there were several shelves along the back wall. There were stacks of electronic pads on the lowest shelf, then a couple of old looking books, and, on the shelf above, a healthy-looking green plant sat under a small glowing light.

From the right, Raven stepped back into view, socks on her feet now as she pulled on one boot. "Are you looking for it?" She asked with a strange expression as she balanced on one foot and pulled on the other tall boot.

He frowned; had he missed something she'd said?

"Looking for what?" he asked from outside the door.

"The Guardian Knife," she smiled. Ah, the Ugun knife Father had forged and she had been gifted by Jin. "It's over here," she waved through the air, a clear invitation for him to enter.

Rather pleased at the sudden invitation, he stepped over the threshold into her home.

"I keep it here on the table," she continued as he moved down the narrow corridor towards her, the quarters' door sealing shut behind him. In the right-hand wall of the corridor was a closed door, which was most likely her wardrobe, and, further in, an open door in the left wall was her bathroom. As he approached, he idly glanced into the bathroom, spotting a standard wide mirror on the wall above a large sink, around which she had a collection of bottles of varying sizes. He guessed they held feminine things…like scent and moisturiser…he wasn't entirely sure what females used on a daily basis.

Opposite the bathroom door, the somewhat wider section of her quarters opened up, revealing a waist-high chest of drawers in the far right corner and the rest of the alcove to the right was filled with her bed.

He slid his eyes quickly away from that to where she was pointing at the table.

The Guardian Knife was sat gleaming on a folded red cloth, resting on a nicely carved wooden box. It was clearly in a good easy access location.

"As instructed," she said stepping forward a little, "I use it for something every day." Given how small her quarters were, they were stood rather close, but there was nowhere else to stand without backing away from her.

"Good," he nodded, pleased she was using the knife; the blade spirit once again part of her life.

Her quarters smelt of her. Not just the scents of what he'd previously suspected to be things like shampoo and creams, but a fuller fragrance in the air that he could somehow identify as being her natural scent. It permeated the space, sweet and appealing in a worrying way.

"We should probably get to Late Meal," he decided quickly.

"I just need my pad," she moved forward, reaching down to the table, her shoulder slightly brushing against him in the narrow quarters.

He moved back a step as casually as possible, looking away as she picked up her pad and tapped onto her wall screen, presumably checking for messages.

His eyes fell on the plant on the middle shelf ahead of him. "Is that the plant you purchased back when we were on Saoka's station when you activated your old hack into his computer system?"

"Yes," she straightened up. "Good recall," she smiled with what had felt like a compliment.

He shifted his gaze to hers. "It was a memorable day."

"That it was," she nodded.

He considered her complexion, seemingly all back to normal again from earlier. "You feeling okay after the experiment?"

"All good," she smiled.

She did look very well.

"No after-effects?" He checked.

"Like what?" She frowned seeming honestly uncertain what he meant.

"Like numb fingers and toes," he suggested. "Feeling feverish."

"No fever and I can feel every part of me."

He glanced away so he didn't react to that comment. "Good," he stated as he turned away and started back down her small quarters for her door. "We should get going."

Despite his intention not to, he glanced over her bed as he passed by it. It was neatly made with the new blue patterned blanket she had purchased on Bakhau spread across its foot.

And there were four pillows.

For a single person sized bed.

That seemed excessive.

Unless it was because she shared her bed with another male. He doubted it would be Ru, considering the male's failed seduction techniques yesterday evening.

"That's a lot of pillows," he found himself commenting out loud as he strode past the offending pillow mass and quickly out of her nice-smelling home.

"What?" He heard her object from directly behind him as he stepped out into the antiseptic-smelling corridor outside. "You have like a hundred pillows on your bed," she added.

He turned to face her as she stepped through her door and then paused, turning her head so she could see the door slide shut behind her. A small but very telling check on her part; ensuring her home was shut and secure before she left. He approved.

She turned her dark eyes back on him.

"I don't have a hundred pillows," he told her, feeling more comfortable out here.

"There are certainly far more than my four," she bantered back.

"I was recovering from injury," he pointed out.

She lifted her chin in that challenging attractive way she had, her eyes narrowing at him. "So, now you are decently recovered, you have presumably gotten rid of some of those pillows then?"

He could argue that his bed was far bigger than hers, but he was inclined to stay away from any conversation that related to beds right now.

Besides, he'd had the same six pillows on his bed for years.

"We should go," he turned to start down the corridor and heard her chuckle with what she had, accurately enough, interpreted as a victory on her part.

"I have the extra pillows because they're comfy," she added as she fell into step with him down the corridor. "And I like to read in bed before I fall asleep."

He liked to read in bed as well, but he held back from telling her that because it didn't feel a safe subject of discussion. It didn't matter if the pillows were also used by a male in her bed, and he certainly wasn't going to ask. She'd insisted several times to Massa that she and Smee were only friends, and Ru didn't appear to have made much progress in his intentions to share her bed.

Not that it mattered. He didn't want to get involved.

"Did my quarters look alright to you?" She asked randomly.

He had no idea what she meant by that question. "Is there something wrong with them?" He checked, glancing at her profile.

"No, it's just with Amel's insistence on decorating her own quarters, I've not been in anyone else's quarters but yours and hers, so I'm not sure if it's standard here to decorate quarters?"

She'd not been in any one else's quarters? Not Smee or Ru's quarters then.

"They look fine," Oneakka assured her. "I haven't decorated mine."

"Of course you have," she disagreed though. "You have all your Ugun things, the big plant and your tapestry above the door."

That had sounded rather like another compliment from her. Two compliments in as many minutes?

He frowned at her, assessing her cheeks again for any signs of fever. She looked healthy, though there was something slightly different in the way she was freely smiling at him this evening.

"You have the nice Bakhau blanket," he pointed out. "And your own plant."

"True," she conceded as they turned a corner, moving out of the habitation sector. "I was going to ask Massa's opinion as he's been in my quarters, but I suspect his own quarters are probably full of baby things."

"They are," Oneakka confirmed.

"And I imagine he has camera-captured images on the walls?" She asked.

He considered her expression. "If you mean of him and Mera, then yes, he has images of her in his quarters."

She nodded. "And maybe even some from your earlier years as Recruits? You two and Kane perhaps?"

He felt like there was some amusing subtext here he wasn't clued into, a sparkling teasing in her eyes. "Sure," he said carefully. "Why?"

She looked away and shrugged. "No reason, just guessed as much, given he's such a sentimentalist."

He wasn't convinced by the explanation, but there didn't seem anything but a playful edge to her smile.

She did look especially relaxed this evening, cheerful in a way that felt new somehow. Unless it was some sort of mania from a growing fever after earlier.

"So you're definitely feeling okay after the experiment?" He checked again.

She made a show of rolling her eyes dramatically and looked at him as they turned another corner. "Yes, I'm fine. You can turn down the over-protectiveness."

He felt rather insulted by that comment. "How is it being overly protective? You were sat in below freezing temperatures in that box."

"And I feel fine for it. As I said, that was a normal day on the Glisi world."

They had reached the main corridor that led to the Canteen, the hallway busy today.

He contemplated pointing out that she'd not been wearing very much in the experiment as compared to the thick clothing the Glisi wore on a 'normal day', but he wasn't inclined to bring up her near-nakedness.

He'd been very well behaved while he'd kept watch during the experiment, keeping his gaze on her face, hands and toes, checking for signs of impending hypothermia. He'd not focused on the rest of her, though had been aware that her long legs had been as elegantly shaped bare as they were through her usual figure hugging clothing.

She'd not seemed self-conscious in wearing so little, but then she'd been in that box a long time before he'd gotten there, so maybe she'd gotten used to it. She didn't normally dress like that, the most skin she showed was low-necked tops when she went on social outings. He had several theories as to why she usually covered herself from her neck downwards; he suspected some of it might be from her earliest years on the Glisi world where bare skin exposed to ice and snow was dangerous, even for her people. Then he suspected that, for the rest of her childhood spent living on the streets, that covering herself had been a protective measure to avoid male gazes. Just thinking of that threat made him angry, but he had also wondered if she had dressed that way for another reason: camouflage.

Until she had lived here in the Facility, all her clothing had been either black or very dark shades of blue or green. Such covering would have helped her blend into shadows, and he recalled there had been a lot of shadowed corners on Dreamstation when he'd been there.

Sitting in that box today had been the exact opposite of how she had lived her former life; she had been bared, literally exposed to the elements and the eyes of the watching scientists…and his own gaze. That she hadn't seemed to mind said something perhaps: that she felt comfortable with him…or she didn't see his gaze as sexual.

Which was good, because they were friends.

Still, he had been thinking about that since the experiment.

"I do appreciate your concern," she added, cutting through his slightly distracted thoughts. "I promise I'll tell you if I feel ill, okay?"

He nodded, but she seemed to be humouring him. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

They'd reached the entrance into the Canteen and it was as busy in here as the hallways outside. There was a long queue for the food selection, the end of it almost reaching the entrance. As they reached the end of the queue, Raven ahead of him, she turned to face him.

"Did your scar treatment go well?" She asked.

"It did," he nodded, glancing briefly across the Canteen, pleased to see that their usual table was still free.

"Itching?" She asked.

He looked back to her and gave her a frown. "Only if you mention it," he winced at the sudden urge to scratch again.

She grinned seeming to have found that funny. "Are the treatments working at least?" She asked more seriously.

"They are," he nodded. "I think my flexibility it already improving with them and the new rehab plan."

"That's really quick to respond already," she smiled. "You really do heal crazy fast, Oneakka."

Another compliment?

He considered her gaze, looking down the small distance in their heights at her bright eyes. "It's not cold-resistant superpowers, but yes, I can heal fast."

Her smile widened at that as she glanced aside, the queue behind her moving forward slightly. She took a step backwards to keep up with the line and then lifted both her hands. "So, that's cold tolerance," she touched the first finger of her left hand, "back-flips," she touched against a second finger as he took a step forward towards her to keep up with the slight advance in the queue. "And being able to do high kicks," she concluded as she counted the last point on a third finger.

"What are you counting?" He asked, holding her shining gaze.

"Things I can do that you're envious of," she stated, glancing aside again as the queue moved forward again behind her. She took another step backwards to keep up.

He stepped forward towards her, matching the same distance. "I'm not envious of you using high kicks," he replied in their now traditional banter on this subject. "Because, as I've mentioned many times before, I would never use one because they're dangerous to use in a fight."

She rolled her eyes theatrically. "And, as I've said before, I think it's just because you can't kick as high as me; current injury excluded of course," she added, gesturing towards his middle.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Even if I was back to my full flexibility," he stated, "I would never use a high kick and you need to stop using them."

"I kick just fine," she stated with a proud challenge to her voice and in the lifted tilt of her chin.

Mmm, there was something a little too symbolic in that comment.

He considered her beautiful face and the relaxed playfulness to her this evening. "You're in a good mood," he told her plainly.

"I've had a good day," she replied, smiling as she took another backwards step with the queue.

He took a step forward, perhaps a fraction too close to her though.

He should move back.

"This morning," she started explaining though, so he held his ground, "I suggested a coding idea to the Project team that was very well received, then Amel and I spent Midday Meal playing with the goats, then this afternoon you tried to rescue me from a chilly cubicle."

He objected to her description of his actions in the Research Lab, but he rather liked the smile she'd used when she'd delivered her perspective.

"I didn't try to rescue you," he corrected. "And it wasn't just a chilly box. It was below freezing and most people would have been in pain, and probably end up losing fingers or toes to frostbite."

She nodded through his points with a teasing dismissiveness, but it felt like she was almost happily smug about him having been concerned about her.

Which he would have been for any of his friends sat in a box like that, practically naked.

He'd have done the same if it had been Massa or Emmagan in that box…probably.

Hopefully Raven understood that and hadn't misinterpreted it…not that she would have because they were both happy with this friendship. He'd been very careful to hold the clear line between them.

Even if she was looking very appealing this evening with her sparkling direct eye contact.

"One of the many benefits of having my own personal Elite protector," she added with a grin, but then her eyebrows shifted into a pointed look. "As long as he doesn't shout."

"I didn't shout at the scientists," he stressed. He hadn't needed to as they had understood the danger for an average person sat in that cold.

But there was nothing average about his Raven.

"Good," she stated simply as she glanced over her shoulder, the queue abruptly moving forward. She turned this time to follow it, moving forward a good couple of metres, almost at the food now. Though he saw her quickly glance off to the left and lift a hand to someone. "Smee's here," she said, her profile smiling brightly.

Oneakka's cheerful mood slipped as he followed her gaze to see said Security male was indeed stood off to the far left and was waving back to Raven across the Canteen.

"I thought he cancelled Late Meal on you," Oneakka frowned.

"He did," she confirmed. "He's on duty; they're dealing with that Recruit."

Oneakka moved his gaze from Smee's face to find there were indeed two other Security staff alongside him, all of them stood over a male Recruit who was sat at a table smeared with food. Something had happened, but it was over now, and the Recruit was hanging his head as Security talked to him.

Ahead of Oneakka, Raven shifted, drawing his attention back to her. She'd reached the start of the food selection and was lifting a tray and passing it towards him. He took it with a nod, but his gaze slid back towards Smee.

Though her back was now turned to Smee, the Security male was still looking at her.

"Do the scar treatments only work on recent scars?" Raven asked over the sound of her picking up another tray for herself.

"Usually," Oneakka answered as he stepped forward, moving with her as she reached the food, but he kept his eyes on Smee.

His colleagues talking with the Recruit, Smee's attention was instead solely focused on Raven's back.

There were all kinds of intentions in the male's gaze.

It wasn't the sickly desperate adoration Ru had shown, but a more wistful longing in the male's face.

Raven had told Massa, more than once, that she and Smee were friends only, but there was no mistaking the intentions in Smee's face as he watched her. If she thought Smee was just a friend, Smee clearly intended otherwise.

Oneakka moved without thinking, stepping around behind Raven's back so that he fully blocked Smee's view of her.

Smee's gaze immediately shifted onto Oneakka.

Raven behind him, her back to him, Oneakka held his ground and looked across the Canteen directly into Smee's eyes with all the angry threat he felt bubbling up in his throat.

Smee's eyes widened and he looked away sharply.

Oneakka waited a beat longer though, keeping his eyes on the enemy. Smee shifted his stance, finally focusing back on his job, listening to his colleague talking to the Recruit. And obviously avoiding Oneakka's gaze.

The message had been received, so Oneakka stepped back round to Raven's side and set his tray down next to hers. She looked round at him, a large serving spoon in her hand. "You like these?" She asked, unaware of what he'd just done.

He focused on the spoon to see it held pickled sprouts. "Yes," he told her and watched as she lowered the spoon's contents into a bowl and set it on his tray.

"Thank you," he said automatically, but the reality of what he'd just done was hitting him.

He probably shouldn't have done that.

Blindly he reached forward to the food selection, quickly picking something he knew that she liked as well. The peppered noodles, she liked them. He reached for the tongs and deposited a serving into a bowl and set it on her tray, and then reached for his bowl partly filled with the pickled sprouts.

He was aware that his heart was racing in his chest like he'd been in combat rather than just glaring at a male across a room.

"I haven't got any scars as new as yours," Raven was continuing conversationally, "but some of them feel, you know, that numb sort of feeling."

He nodded as he piled peppered noodles into his bowl. "Thickened skin and reduced nerve sensitivity," he replied without needing to think about it; after all he was something of an expert on scars.

Though apparently not an expert on how not to react impulsively.

He realised he'd put far too many noodles in his bowl, but he'd eat them. He set the bowl down on his tray and reached for some sweet-grain bread slices.

He shouldn't have gotten involved warning off Smee like that. Though, clearly the male needed to have his expectations restrained.

"Do you think they'd do a treatment on some scars for me?" She asked as she filled a bowl with salad.

"Probably," he replied distractedly. "You could ask your Healer."

His heart rate had started slowing again at least.

And he was successfully resisting the urge to look over his shoulder towards Smee again, even though the instinctive displeasure at turning his back to an enemy itched at his nerves like the treated scars in his lower belly and back.

Why did this keep happening? Just when he thought he had control of things in regards to Raven, something else always seemed to happen!

"I've got a quarterly medical thing soon," Raven continued, pushing her tray further along the food selection. "I'll ask then, see if I can have one or two particular scars treated."

"Good idea," he said nodded as he randomly put something else into a bowl on his tray.

It had just been a look across the Canteen, it hadn't really mattered.

Except he'd reacted too easily.

Gotten too…protective again.

But not for Raven's safety this time; no, this time it had been…possessive.

He crushed his lips together as he pushed his tray along to the pudding selection.

He needed to be more careful. But it was okay; he only had four more days until his break away, when he'd have two weeks in which he could get some distance and perspective.

Just four more days in which he'd make damn sure he didn't do anything else stupid.

No shouting, no arguments, no getting involved in Raven's personal life. Nothing impulsive.

Just four days.

000
TBC