The sand floated up above the table, joined by numerous smaller blobs that slowly formed into small, human shapes, so many of them that they formed a cloud of satellites, blurring as they swam in darting orbits. The Marks and Danas of the hive, Ava assumed.

Nouresh smiled grimly. “Hello, you old bitch. Thought you’d find a new hive, did you?”

“We’re gonna fight that?” Jules asked excitedly. Ava, feeling sick with fear, glared at them.

“My crew is going to fight that. It’s time to see if my first mate can actually—”

As she spoke, another bubble floated up from the sand, transforming into a manta-shaped vessel slightly larger than the mother. It twisted, turning in the air, and all three of them felt a tug of gravity as the ship shifted.

“Good,” Nouresh said. “Get them gunside. Now, let’s see if—”

There was a muted clap-clap, clap-clap, clap-clap somewhere in the bowels of the ship. The miniature above the table shot off tiny darts that carved through the air toward the mother and her swarm. Torpedos, Ava assumed. The small humans that swam next to the mother broke away, swimming to intercept them. They exploded in showers of sand that fell gently back onto the table. Others made it through the swarm and exploded on the mother itself, leaving hollow craters in her sides. The sand-mother opened her mouth wide, but the terrifying screech came from all around them, leaking through the metal walls. Ava clapped her hands over her ears and shrank away from the table. The muscles in her legs felt hot and heavy, barely able to keep her upright.

Ava took strength from looking at Captain Nouresh. The intent look hadn’t left her face, but she was smiling now. “Good opening gambit, Mirya. What next?”

As if in answer, the Anahita released its own swarm of tiny, darting objects.

“Minnows,” Nouresh said contemplatively. “Interesting play.”

“Are they like drones?” Jules asked, leaning in. Sections of the mother’s swarm broke off to chase the minnows, which flew gracefully but in unpredictable, zigzagging patterns. Nouresh glanced over her shoulder, distracted for a moment.

“I don’t know ‘drones,’” Nouresh said distractedly. “We send them out to collect information, samples. I’ve never thought to use them as a distraction. Mirya’s good.”

The praise sounded forced. “Well, she learned from you, right?” Jules said.

“She did,” Nouresh admitted. More than half the swarm had abandoned the mother to chase after the minnows. The Anahita shot off another series of torpedoes, which sank into the mother’s unprotected flank. The mother roared again, shaking the walls, reverberating through Ava’s bones.

“Not bad,” Nouresh said. She was smiling now. “Are you going to finish her off?”