Page 16

I was about to get a hot piece of Armor when he shoved me in this wretched CSP armor.

Damn it!

After the chamber releases me, I stagger into the room and assess my new dark gray suit. It has a zembi on one hip, a rifle on the back, and a handgun on each thigh. “Complete with weapons?”

“Yes. For fast response,” a voice says in my head.

“Who’s that?”

“Armor. You touched me in that suit, so I am logged first because I am closest. But all Titans should be on your visor. To call all of us, use the Local tag.”

I step into the hallway to find it abuzz with Titans handing things back and forth from various crates.

Missiles go one way. Parts for an engine go the other way.

Inside the medical bay, Atox is down to two Titans still on beds.

Yeti and Fenrir still haven’t awoken. Anilius is coiled up in a narrow compartment, repairing an engine. Turbine is beside him, prepping parts.

The pilots guide us in a barrel roll around an onslaught of Skysprinters slinging yellow and green rockets in our direction. My boots clunk and hold me to the floor as we spin, and gravity’s pull swings over my head and back under my feet again.

“Heading to the drop zone. Radar?” Armor asks.

“Javelin and Firebolt ready on your mark,” Radar calls up.

Armor stands in the center of the ship, hands on the walls.

Titans sneak past him, beneath his arms. His shield shimmers with light.

I’m not certain the repairs I made will hold.

I climb up Armor’s body and hook my legs around his waist. “Tell me when you drop the shields. I need to make sure my repairs are sufficient for this level of use.”

His eyes flash with communication. “Break coming. Be quick, please.”

The moment he nods, I open his chest panel, pull out the circuit board that needs repair, and close him up. His shield reignites. I carry the unit into the medical bay and use the Titan repair tools to replace the burnt bridge rectifier. It takes me all of two minutes with the tools on hand.

Snatching up a flashtack gun, I run back to where Armor stands in the middle of the ship, climb up his towering body, and wait for a signal.

“Now.”

I open him up and secure the board back into position, then begin soldering the wires back together, the ones I simply twisted together in the tunnel.

“Esthi...” He warns.

“I’m almost done.”

“We need the shield!” a pilot shouts back. “Barrage, twenty-plus, incoming!”

“Esthi!”

I finish the last and close him back up. Armor’s shield lights up bright pale blue-violet. A wave of light shimmers out from his body, spreading through the ship. His brothers brace themselves for impact.

The pilots guide us away from the majority of the attack, but three missiles smash into the shields: Armor’s and the ship’s built-in ones.

Armor curls forward and grunts. A swirl in the light around him makes me wonder if he feels the shield like his skin. Every hit we take makes him cringe, and spots like bruises appear on his synthflesh. But still, he keeps his eyes closed and holds his position.

All this time, I thought they were invincible, even though I knew better.

The Titans around me return to their duties.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” I ask Armor.

When he opens his eyes and blinks, he focuses on me. His eyes are covered in a milky blue pearlescent sheen, similar to his shield.

“I need you to be safe. I have arranged for a transport. We are a target. Titans cannot afford to lose you, Esthi. Not a cybertech. You are too important to my Brothers for me to be selfish and risk keeping you with me.”

I look behind him to where Joey sits in his cage. I bet I know why we’ve become a target.

“Kelta is coming with Thruster. Please ride with her. This is going to get messy. It’s best if you’re with another human. Exit out the rear airlock.”

I don’t like the idea of leaving. “Can’t I stay? You put me in a suit.”

He winces as another missile hits the port side of the transport.

“Armor.”

“Just go!” he roars at me.

I get down and back up. I don’t know if he’s suddenly changed his mind about us, or if he’s genuinely afraid this might be the beginning of the end.

“She’ll get you safely to space,” he says. “She’s a rebel pilot, according to Thruster.”

I don’t like it. “I’ll leave my bag in case you need my parts.”

Armor studies me for a long, sad moment.

“Come back to me in one piece,” I tell him.

Armor swallows but says nothing. I know he can’t promise that. But I want him to know he’s wanted. I hug him, kiss his chest, and hope it’s enough to keep him from doing anything exceptionally stupid.

As I walk to the back, I notice Joey and Lenarro in their cells. Joey’s almost laughing, his finger digging into his wrist in a pattern like Morse code. He’s got a built-in com in his wrist. I’d bet my life on it.

“Son of a bitch.” I charge into the room and punch him in the face. When he reacts to grab his face, I snatch his wrist up and inspect it.

Embedded communicator.

“Any available Titans to kick two leeches out in a pod? I could use some help.”

Mace peeks in. “Problem?”

“He’s been communicating with a device in his wrist.”

“Fucker.” Mace storms inside, grabs Joey by the collar, and readies a hand over his wrist. “You’ll probably lose the hand, so you’ll get to look like your friend over there.”

Joey quiets.

“Which do you want? To be thrown out or lose your hand?” I ask.

“ Blood tracker,” Joey grins.

Mace nods, frees him from his harness, and drags him to the rear airlock.

Lenarro calls to us. I can’t hear him, but I can see it. I round the corner into his room.

“Send me with him.”

“Why? You have a chance to be free.”

“No, he doesn’t,” Armor says in my helmet. “He has harmed many to keep his cover. Throw him out.”

I tilt my head, listening to the many Titans who agree with Armor. “Never mind. I got vetoed.”

“Sounds about right,” Lenarro mutters.

I draw my zembi and ignite it. “Try anything...”

He lifts his hands. “You know my story. If Leah’s safe with the Titans, nothing else matters. But maybe I can finally fuck some shit up. Just tell your sister hi for me.”

“I’ll do that.” Probably not. Doubt I’ll ever find her anyway.

I release him and motion him out back with Joey. Our boots clomp over the metal walkway as we meet up with Mace and Joey. The ramp lowers before us, sending warm desert air swirling through the back of the ship.

“She’s in there,” Lenarro tells me. “You have to dig her up. Torture makes us build up armor. Adapt to survive. If anyone can reach her, it’s you.”

“I won’t forget this,” Joey remarks.

“Neither will I,” Lenarro mutters, sliding me a glance.

“I will find you and kill you!” Joey shouts, spittle flying from his mouth.

“Oh, shut up.” Mace picks up a foot and shoves him out the back.

Lenarro runs to the edge and dives after him.

“I do not understand his dedication to the enemy,” Mace says what’s on my mind. “I have relayed the warning that we were being tracked to the Brothers.”

“Thanks.”

He points out back. “Your ride. Use the targeting system on the suit. It will guide you.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Jump.” Mace walks me back a few steps, taps my visor, and illuminates a program. “You really haven’t done combat?”

“Not really. I’m just a cybertech, not a badass! Pulling a trigger from the shadows versus flying over a desert is very different!”

“You’ll be fine!” Mace grins. “Thruster will catch you if you miss, but the window’s closing, girlie!”

A yellow rocket-of-a-Titan flies up beside the fighter.

“Need a boost?” Mace lifts a boot.

“No! Fuck!” I eye the ramp, the gap to the trailing ship, and the ship’s hull. The targeting program shows me where to place my feet.

I run down the ramp.

“Faster,” the program says.

I sprint with everything I’ve got the last few steps and launch out of the CSP transport. Sand passes hundreds of feet below me in a heart-pounding rush.

Air whips around my suit. The ship adjusts its position slightly, and I land on the hull.

“Magnetic boots engaged.”

My feet stick firmly to the hull. I straighten and look back at Mace to find Magma standing beside him with a shiny metal object.

“Nice job, Esthi. I’m Thruster. My mate, Kelta, is inside. She can hear your coms, too.” The Titan waves. “Now, I must return to battle.”

Thruster roars up to the ramp, catches a shield, and darts off again.

“Son of a bitch. I bet he could’ve picked me up and set me down here!”

“Yeah, totally,” a woman laughs over my coms. “But that’s no fun. And everything uncomfortable expands what we believe we are capable of. That was just a test of your suit. Seems it’s working. And I think you’re probably going to need it.”

A hatch pops open on the roof. “Come on in!”

I hike to the hatch and clumsily climb inside.

The hatch seals on its own, so I walk myself to the seat beside hers.

Just as I get belted in, a blast goes off in front of us that shuts down every light in the ship.

Gravity grabs us, and we plummet toward the dunes littered with flaming debris from ships of all kinds.

“Two seconds!” Kelta reaches down, pulls out a leaver, and shoves it into the floor, then taps a backup battery symbol on her dash. Something whirs and cracks. Engines come back online, and power returns to the ship. “Shielded hypercapacitors, you fucks! Solcrue can eat a dick!”

She turns to me and holds up a fist. “‘Sup? Heard you’re a cybertech.”

I hesitantly bump her fist. “Yeah.”

“Good. So all I have to do is keep you alive until after the end.” She gives me a worried glance, then tracks her mate as he burns across the sky. “Distraction maneuvers haven’t been going well. But the hydramidium shield should help.”

Purple smoke billows out of the back of the CSP transport.

“Iridithatium. Smart,” she remarks.

“I think CSP already had it installed.”