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Octavia held her hands out. “Let me show you the pattern I was following.” She accessed the data chips and downloaded the files of information she’d sent herself. “Do you see that fluctuation point two minutes into the message?”

Jude stood so close she could feel his body heat. “I see it.”

She forced herself to concentrate on the data. “That’s when the frequency hops. It starts at two minutes and reduces every thirty seconds. Then it returns to its original pattern. That’s what they’ll be using to communicate with. This is the next pattern they’ll be using.”

The door opened again. Danni strode in. Her gaze ran over Octavia. “I’m glad to see you’re alive. Tobias gave me a debrief on the mission before returning to his assignment with Hive Two. What’s the situation with the communications from the State?”

“We figured out the pattern,” said Jude. “Well, Octavia did.”

Danni nodded. “What are they talking about?”

“We’re about to find out.” Octavia gestured to the small black box sitting on the side of the bed. “Can you switch that on?”

Jude powered up the box and linked it to the port screen.

“We need to give it a minute to sync in with the networks.” Octavia keyed in the information about the pattern the State were using.

Anticipation hung in the air as they waited quietly, watching the data streams run across the screen.

“Now we need a live data feed,” said Octavia. “We need to find the channel the State are broadcasting over. We need a radio.”

“Sophia will hate that,” said Jude.

“She won’t mind on this occasion,” said Danni. “She has her own portable unit in her office.”

“What won’t I mind?” called Sophia from her office.

“We need to listen to State communications,” said Danni. “Figure out what it is they’re talking about. Bring out your radio.”

Sophia emerged from her office and passed them her radio. “Go ahead.” She remained by the door.

Jude switched on the portable radio and scanned through the channels. It took several minutes, but he picked up the strange language on a sub channel network.

“That’s it.” Octavia’s eyes brightened. “I think the device has it.” She blocked out all distractions, focusing on the incomprehensible babble coming through the radio. “If I’m right, they will change channels in five seconds. We’ll be with them when they do.”

She counted down in her head. The radio went dead, then the signal started again.

Jude grinned at her. “The program’s working.”

Octavia let out a sigh. It was perfect, following the pattern the State used to communicate and jumping channels with them.

“We’ll need Kade for this next bit,” said Jude. “He’ll decode it once he’s got a complete message to work with.” He commed Kade, asking him to meet them in the medical bay.

Octavia fought the tiredness creeping through her veins. The dragon serum was working. She felt less sore and her cheekbone didn’t ache, but she’d give a lot to have a good night’s sleep and a decent meal. That would come. They needed to focus on this first.

Kade walked through the doorway, his own port screen with him. “You have a message that needs cracking.”

“It’s almost complete,” said Octavia.

“I can run the data now,” said Kade. “See how much you’ve got.”

Kade linked his port screen to Octavia’s, and she shared the data she’d gathered.

“How much can you decode?” she asked.

“Give me a minute,” said Kade. “I’m good, but every program takes a little time to work.”

She bit her lip, wanting to urge him to hurry.