It was cold, always oh so cold in the Swirl, even on the edges where the Remoras had their aeries and lairs; but this was worse, Mia Terasen mused, as her creche unit perched on the side of a massive sky-whale, waiting for their prey to get closer. This was bone-chillingly cold, and her Manta suit was freezing up. She would have to move, they would have to move, and soon. But of course, little time had passed since they had dropped down onto the hull of the sky-whale, and once they reactivated their Manta suits, she and the other Remoras would be again apparent to the sky-whales non-corporeal intelligence; it would be angry at them, so angry, as the sky-whales always were... quick to anger, but also quick to drift back into whatever dreams or memories they carried now that their original freight had long ago become flotsam and jetsom, and lagan lost to the skies and the seas below.
But they did need to reactivate and move, before the Mantas froze up at this altitude.
Mia knew better than to mess with the sky-whales, in the most general sense, at least. Her creche unit were pirates, stealing whatever goods they could from the airships, traders, and freighter crews foolish enough to traverse the Swirl, which was a necessity, of course, there was no other way to get from here to there, and back again, as the saying goes. But their was nothing, absolutely nothing to be gained from looting a sky-whale. They were animate, as were so many things, for as long as Mia could recall. Animate, awe-inspiring, and terrifying. But also useful.
She slowly raised her arm to give the signal, and the weight of the blades on here arm was almost too much to lift. The Manta was an amazing work of artifice, but it was not intended to be worn for long in un deactivated state, and she could see a thick rime forming on the suits worn by the other members of her creche, as she was certain they could see the same sheen when they looked at her, and they were all looking at her, eager to power up and move. But not yet. Mia could see the airship below, the quarry that they were poised to hit and loot, coming closer through the crackling mist of the Swirl... but it was not yet close enough.
She raised her arm slightly higher and held it. In her head she was counting down, triangulating a measured calculus of approach vectors, altitude, curve of the parachute sail of the air-ship as it drifted closer. It was actually making good speed. This was a clever trick Mia had figured out some years ago. In another life, she had been a scientist, blessed with impressive thaumaturgical sight. For it was true that the other Remoras in her creche unit had to trust her calculations, because they could barely see a handful of yards in front of them in the Swirl, having not the ability to see great distances through the Swirl; and this was the trick, that aboard the airship, there was bound to be a crew member or two, no more for they were frightfully scarce, with similar sight, and they would momentarily see the sky-whale looming above them, and then all hell would break loose, as they lowered altitude hurriedly to avoid the sky-whale's wrath, praying to avoid its notice. And that was the moment at which Mia and the other Remoras in her creche unit would reactivate their suits, enraging the sky-whale, and then abandon the protection of its massive hull, descending on the airship, and if they had the timing just right, the sky-whale would become a very sizeable distraction, hard for the airship and her crew to ignore.
Mia dropped her arm and whispered the name of her suit's animus, and again, she was warm, as though a shaft of sunshine had blessed her from above.