Mantis Colony
The mantids' newest and least populated colony, destroyed when its entire system inexplicably went nova.
Story so far
Hive Re-Population Center 51 is a mantis colony - not the original mantis system, but the newest and least populated of several. In the epilogue it is the biggest story in the galaxy: the system simply went boom, and the news feeds replay its destruction on a loop.
Stars do not usually go nova without warning, and the absence of an explanation is what frightens people; the mass panic spreading through the news is as much a story as the deaths. York re-watches the footage with a strange, empty sense of satisfaction, mutters that it is what they deserved, and cannot make himself feel the words. Between this, an embargo on the Earth system's tunnel gate and the threat of war, traffic across the region has stopped dead - ruining, among others, Zander at Squirties.
Appearance
Seen only as news footage of a system annihilated without warning.
Role
The unexplained catastrophe that tips the wider galaxy into panic as the crawl ends.
Relationships
Sources — 2 recorded facts, by chapter
- Queen-led sward mantis social unit demanding total sacrifice, whose rules drove Everly into exile.
- The mantids' newest and least populated colony, destroyed when its entire system inexplicably went nova.