Page 25

I have missed a rocket suit. I wore one before the Creators gave me my wing upgrade. The drone of engines that echoes inside my pressurized carapace is comforting. I hold Esthi close and aim for Craze’s ship.

He’s a long way off but serves as a decent shield against the Solcruean weapons fire the way their shields barely shimmer as they take hits.

Esthi clings to me in a desperate way that makes me all the more committed to getting her to safety. Even without my shields, she still trusts me and feels safe with me. And that means everything when I feel like my skills are limited in this condition.

A Solcruean fighter sends vibrant green bullets, cutting up the space around us.

ArmorEsthielle: Tighter!

She hugs me like her life depends on it. And it does. Her suit is badly damaged. Her visor’s flickering, so I know she’s losing control of the rockets at her feet. I am our only chance at making it to another ship.

Esthi screeches as a missile blazes by her thigh.

I draw the rifle from my back, adjust our position with the thrusters in the suit, rotating so I can get a clear shot, and account for the change in trajectory when I fire.

I target the ship and don’t wait to pull the trigger.

The bullets race across space, pelting their shield and throwing them off course.

As they bank away from us, I tag the side of the ship until I have a shot at the engines.

But they dive away from us before I can rotate far enough to take them out.

Another ship targets us. Then another. There’s little space between bullets, but I sling my rifle onto my back, clutch Esthi, and try to fly us out of it.

All around us, Titan ships take hits. Craze’s Ravenger is hard at work combating the Solcruean fighters while enduring a barrage of weapons fire from the approaching berserker.

Esthi jolts in my arms.

ArmorEsthielle: Are you damaged?

Her com clicks on, and she sobs out, “We’re not going to make it are we?”

Rocket tails reflect in her eyes when I look down to inspect her face. “I’m scared, too. But we’re not out of service yet. Until then, we need to focus on what we have, not what we don’t. Can you do that for me?”

She licks her lips and nods. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Esthielle. You are strong and smart. We will get through this together.”

Her gaze darts across her intermittent visor diagrams. Manual mode blinks.

Esthi reaches down, finds a button on the side of her suit, depresses it, and opens a panel.

What is she doing?

She clicks something into place. Her boots kick on. She spreads her legs to either side of mine.

“Omega and Titan Force…” a voice calls over coms. “This is Asgier Toriszi of the Astral Rebels Alliance. We are here to assist.”

Out of the darkness of space, hundreds more ships join the battle in a mass wave that merges with ours and engages Solcrue.

“Does anyone have eyes on Leah Krader?” someone asks.

Leah’s voice comes over the coms as her and Savage’s fighter banks back for another attack pass. “Halim, is that you?”

“Josarin is on guns, Miss Krader. It took us two years, but we never gave up hope you were out here,” Halim replies as a ship banks in and parallels Leah’s.

“Takes a lot more than my half-brother to take me out. Glad you’re with us! “

Hundreds of rebel ships, from single-person fighters up to larger transports and bombers, flood the stars.

Many open portals below their vessels and swallow Titan ships, scooping us out of the sky like nets.

They ignite with the dark ink of rebel portals, swallow Brothers, switch off, and fire at passing enemy ships.

The vessels are a mismatched bunch, but it shows human resourcefulness, something I’m grateful for.

All this time, we worried there was no one left but the human servants and a few forsaken souls in Naryth on Earth Minor.

A ship rises beneath us, the torch symbol of rebels painted on the roof. The person inside closes his helmet and waves at us. He fires Gatling guns at Skysprinters and fighters as we change direction and fly to his ship.

Landing on his hull, I help Esthi inside before climbing in myself. I close the hatch. A blue shield ripples over his hull.

“Welcome to the Pissy Sissy. I’m Reidar. No portal for us, but she’s pep in a can. Strap in!”

Esthi and I take seats and belt in.

“Got any extra guns?” I ask.

“It’s a one-pilot ship. I have all the controls. But some information would be helpful,” he says as we dive through the battle, taking out Solcrue fighters. “Any idea where my sister is, Kelta Toriszi? Have you seen her?”

“She’s a firecracker, for sure. She was on the BlazeStar, last I heard,” Esthi says. “Her mate was hurt.”

“She found someone?”

I’m surprised by his ease of conversation while he fires at the enemy. But knowing Kelta lived in her ship, I wager he does with his. It’s just second nature to fly and talk, maybe even fire at the enemy.

“Sort of,” I clarify. “She’s bonded to my Brother Thruster.”

“A Titan?” he mutters in shock. Then laughs. “I’m not surprised. Thruster, huh?”

“He is severely damaged. She was not in a good headspace when we returned. You may want to reach out when there’s time.”

Commander SavageLocal: Retreat. I want everyone through now! Solcrue are targeting the portal!

Titans and Rebels without portals flee through the main portal. Portal carriers pull back.

I scan for any Brothers who might be adrift in space as our pilot races for a nearby portal.

The only free-floating Titans that register in the void are Fracture and Evo.

They’ve found their way to Craze’s ship and are rigging up a special weapon I’ve never seen before.

It’s just the two of them. I can’t explain the need to be with them, but it batters my core with demands.

“Can you drop me off there?” I ask.

Esthi looks at me like all she wants to do is get out of here.

“I can .” The hesitancy in Reidar’s voice makes me think he doesn’t want to.

“Please. It’s just… I need to be out there with them.”

“Why?” Esthi challenges.

“Rogues might be more advanced than Relics, but we’re always stronger together. And we need them to help us navigate the nebula. Whatever they’ve built is special. But we need to make sure they get to the other side.”

ArmorLocal: I’m landing near Fracture and Evo.

“If you’re going, I’m going,” Esthi says, unbuckling.

I don’t like the idea. I’d much rather her be safe, but she looks determined.

“Alright.” I turn to our pilot. “Go find your sister.”

“Will do.”

He opens the hatch. I grab Esthi around the waist and leap out, igniting my rocket boots.

We blaze a short distance to the hull and land with heavy clunks as our magnetic spacewalk heels kick on.

Esthi draws her rifle as I free mine from my back.

We march up the roof toward Fracture and Evo, scanning the hull for infiltrators.

ArmorLocal: How can we help?

FractureLocal: Connect to the power port at the junction.

He sends me a visual schematic. I grab the cable, lug the large wire rope to the port, and get it hooked up. Esthi fires her rifle over my head at an incoming Solcruean transport dripping soldiers onto Craze’s roof.

The weapon that Fracture and Evo have sits on a tripod that looks like a cannon or a launcher for a massive shell. The central cylinder bursts with storming blue light the moment I connect it to power.

Esthi fires at the charging soldiers as I get to my feet and turn to confront them. She takes one out as gunfire races in a mad dash for Fracture and Evo.

I’m too slow in my suit, heavy but without the maneuverability of my wings. I used to outstretch them and protect my brothers. Now I have only myself.

Fracture splits into a million pieces. Evo touches one of his crystal fragments and shatters with him. Bullets race through their parts, missing them completely.

Esthi leans away from them in horror. But the moment the bullets pass through, my Rogue Brothers pull themselves back together again.

Craze hikes up the side of his ship in a Solcrue officer’s suit of armor, blasting enemy soldiers off of the hull with a three-round burst rifle. Ranger joins us from another batch. Then RamBash, until I’m left wondering who is flying the ship.

CrazeNavi: Ready for deployment.

The ship banks hard toward the portal, shielding it as the last Titan and rebel vessels flee in the Ravenger’s shadow. Soon, we are the only ship remaining of the resistance on this side of the portal.

Craze’s squad picks off the landing soldiers but can’t seem to stop them from dropping in greater numbers from the ship.

RamBashLocal: I knew this would happen! We’re surrounded!

I put myself between the gunfire and my friends and mate, trying to hide them all with my body. I’m large, but not enough without my wings to protect them all.

Bullet after flaming bullet hits me.

Evo touches my shoulder as he finishes helping Fracture set up the radiant canister. Bullets start bouncing off of Evo like he’s suddenly built of my kind of metal. He and Fracture adjust a few settings on the weapon, lock in a ring, and hunker down.

“What now?” Esthi asks as she returns fire from behind my shield.

EvoLocal: Pray you aren’t any part Solcrue.

Esthi gives me a wide-eyed look.

Evo releases me, grabs the handles on the sides, twists them, and shoves them together. His palms drip with red blood, which makes no sense. Evo’s digibadge is not red, nor is his nanosolution. But nothing about Evo makes sense to me at the moment.

One last rocket releases from the berserker. I don’t see it until the Solcrue boarding party begins vanishing in a puff of mist under the power of the blue wave.

“Armor!” Esthi screams and reaches for me. The projectile punches through my middle.

Evo steadies the weapon as it blooms with light, billowing out like a luminous, spherical blast wave, while cold emptiness invades me and my nanosolution, along with bits of wiring, drift out into space.

Esthi’s face appears before me, terror in her beautiful eyes as she catches me.

“Armor!” her voice is a muffled whisper.

I’m okay. I want to say it because I feel it even though my suit depressurizes and shuts down.

I don’t need air. But the pain is immense. I just don’t want her to see it on my face. I don’t want to scare her more.

Solcruean ships nearby empty of their pilots and crew. But the wave only eats into the closest third of the ships.

The Ravenger makes one last turn toward the portal as the mothership and her berserker launch a fresh missile assault from the back of the pack.

NaviLocal: I’m at full throttle, but she’s not going to make it. Brace for impact!

As the portal nears and our fate closes in, another vessel punches through the portal—a rebel ship.

KeltaLocal: Hi, Aidathra. Miss me? This is for my mate, you…

She lets out a string of swears that would make Menace blush as she sprays cluster bombs out of the ship. They carve through space, separating into smaller and smaller bombs until they’re nearly a wall of explosives, racing to blanket the enemy in deadly blows.

EsthielleLocal: Kelta! Hurry! We’re heading back now!

KeltaLocal: get inside! It’s a rough ride through! Portal’s destabilizing.

A hatch opens in the Ravenger, and Craze helps Esthi inside. Evo picks me up and jumps in.

The moment we’re through, Craze closes the hatch. “Now, Navi!”

The ship surges forward. My vision warps, but I swear I see a woman standing at the front of the ship, lights blinking around her head, the ship tilting with her movement. Blue light of the old humans’ portal gates flashes over the nearby window. The ship slows.

“Welcome to the other side, Omega and Titan forces,” a feminine voice says. “One more jump. We’re just waiting on our last member.”

Come on, Kelta.

A port in the side of the BlazeStar opens, and a gold rocket arcs out of it, back through the portal.

Thruster…

I ping my brother. He pings back.

Rebel has worked magic again. I think he may have once been a Creator, himself.

Seconds later, Thruster returns atop Kelta’s ship, powering it through the portal. He fires at the portal as they pass, and it shuts down.

Commander SavageLocal: Prepare for final jump. Portal engaging. Be quick. We want to be sure no one gets separated again. We will regroup on the other side.

Esthi braces me. When I look down at her, I see my interstitial fluid has spilled onto the floor in pale blues and violets.

“We need a medical bay,” Esthi tells Craze.

He sees me, and his eyes fill with magenta light. All the other Titans reach down and pick me up, carting me down the hallway and through a series of smaller passages to a medical wing.

Lights blur overhead.

Esthi says something, but I can’t decipher it. I look at the scanner’s reports but can’t read anything on the screen.

“Craze?”

A Brother takes my hand. Magenta light moves overhead. “Armor, you came to our rescue right when we needed you. Thank you.”

I want to thank him but can’t get my voice to work.

“I know, Brother. Hang on. You’re in the best possible ship for repairs, trust me.”

Bright, lightless blue eyes hover close. Warm hands brace my body near my wound. I see a smile and remember the taste of her lips. “Es…”

“I’ve got you, Armor.”