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I want her for myself. Esthi is mine. We have mated even if it was a half-awake, long overdue moment for both of us. But part of me secretly worries my Brothers will find her as intoxicating as I do. I do not want to fight them for her. But deep inside me, I know I will.

It’s the first time I’ve broken the Bond with my Brothers to think of something selfish. It’s not in me to take. My design was to sacrifice for others, to take the beating so they don’t have to.

But mating isn’t in my programming, yet I was not punished for burying myself in Esthi’s luscious heat. I don’t know what to do except protect her and keep her so close that no one else will try to take her from me.

I haven’t encountered a human, soldier, or civilian, who tried so hard to rescue Titans. But Esthi sits on the ground beside a Carver and wires up a long pigtail of cables from pieces she has in her pack. She strips a charging system that I assume is for her tablet and finishes the harness.

We were always tools, machines built to protect soft-bodied humans and fight the war against their descendants—the enemy Solcrue, who were once humans and fled the Sol System when it became toxic.

Humans like Esthi, Narythins of Earth Minor, like to see things through and fight to preserve what’s important instead of throwing away what’s broken for something new.

The little Gray female that’s saved me puts the same focus into healing my Brother. I just hope she doesn’t want to mate with him, too.

“We have to use a transformer,” she tells me. “Otherwise, the cables will only directly transfer your power, and you’ll be drained much faster. Solcrue might be shitty people, but they’re amazing with tech. Stole a lot of pieces from them since they throw away anything not perfect.”

I study her gear, the parts she’s spread out on the rock, and the tablet that scrolls through readouts from Carver.

“Where are you going to find more power?”

She looks up at me. “You. Just need a little. I’ll step it up with the transformer and give him more.”

“I am not a power unit.”

“Any one of you can be with the right harness.” She tosses me another protein bar and a small bottle of water. “We can get more food later.”

After consuming what she’s given me, a deep sense of guilt grips me. I am taking all of her best items. And based on everything I’ve heard thus far, I discover I have a question left unanswered.

ArmorClover: We lost the war, didn’t we?

CloverArmor: Our Tetrionic era was the most devastating. The Resistance held out for two more years. The Titans on Ellipsis fell here a year ago and spent two to three years sorting the salvaged parts of our Brothers on Hyperion before Poppy and Cara, the half-breed, broke them out.

She gives me the stats of the ships that were destroyed, the human lives lost, the destruction on Earth Minor, and the decommissioning plant on Hyperion where our active Brothers were held as prisoners.

The longer she continues, telling me of the battles on Ellipsis, the Brothers lost during the jailbreak, and the devastating conditions human females endured on Solcrue ships as anaja sex slaves, the sicker I feel.

Esthi pauses and looks up at me. “Something wrong?”

“I need a minute.”

She offers me her handgun as I turn for the door. “Watch out for wolves. And stay close. I’ll need you soon.”

My ultromotor powers up in my chest as I take the gun and feel her soft fingers slip out from under mine. I like the sound of her needing me more than I want to admit.

I climb out to the entrance of the cave and look back at Esthi. She is tough for a human female. Was her sister a Gray or something else? An anaja, maybe? Why is she out here searching for her? The Solcrue must have her.

A sense of failure tenses my insides. I feel unworthy of Esthi’s help and affection. But I am also sluggish from dried-out synthfluids and reeling from the surge of action after being buried alive for so long.

I sit on the rock of the opening and savor the feeling of a gun in my hands again as I scan the trees on the slope below us. Mapping the shapes of the ignition chamber, barrel, and handle, I pull up a schematic. It overlays my view of the forest and distant desert.

Slicecypher nine-millimeter.

100 manufactured.

Cybertech weapon.

Cybertech? I glance back at Esthi, who’s fine-tuning the harness. She definitely acts like one: always focused, doesn’t want to take anything for herself, and her job is her life. So much about her suddenly makes sense.

We cannot lose again. I cannot fail to protect my charges, especially now that she’s one of them, whether she stays with me or not.

I did not protect them like I was supposed to...like I was built to do. My human name and past are a mystery, but not the sense of duty I have to safeguard my military family. That is as ingrained in me as my digibadge. Both are tied directly to my ultromotor.

A spec of light passes across the sky, far out in the desert, near the silhouette of an enemy mothership in orbit.

Esthi sits beside me. “Beautiful, isn’t it, what we can create when we work together? Us, sentient beings, I mean. Humans create starships and new life like you. You safeguard us, give us hope, and preserve the future so we all can have one.”

I want to kiss her, hold her, feel her against me again. But Esthi’s mind is somewhere else, far away from me and this place.

After a moment, Esthi reaches over and rests a hand on my arm. “I wish we could’ve protected Titans better. Sometimes, our designs are susceptible to things we don’t foresee or aren’t strong enough to overcome. But that’s why Creators built you the way we did.”

I look down at her frazzled hair and catch her musk on the breeze. It is so different from the hot plastics and gear grease of Titans and the armored suits and munitions residue of male Omega force soldiers.

Esthi doesn’t seem upset that we failed humans in the war. She still looks up at the blue sky with hope.

As I tilt toward her for a deeper breath, she wrinkles her nose. “Sorry, I probably stink.”

“You smell like life. I am grateful to be in its presence again.”

“You set the bar low.” Esthi shrugs. “Well, there’s a creek around the backside of the cave where we can hydrate and clean off when Carver’s awake. I just need a little of your energy for him. He’s ready when you are.”

I look her over, wanting to commit her image to memory so it will be with me if I ever find myself stuck in another cage of mud or otherwise. “Thank you.”

She nods and looks away. “Let’s just hope that me breaking my cover doesn’t bite us in the ass.”

“I won’t let that happen. Anyone who wants to hurt you will have to go through me first.”

She studies me for a long breath, then leans into me and rests her head on my shoulder. Esthi wipes a hand over her eyes and sniffles. “Ready to save your brother?”

A twinge of pain curls through my ultro, though no alerts of damage appear in my vision. I wrap an arm around Esthi and hold her against me. “Things are going to move fast once we start breaking my Brothers free. Just stay close. I will keep you safe.”

“Okay.”

The pain subsides, and I let Esthi lead me back into the cave. It looks like she’s rolled him over with her pry bar and found another port.

“Turns out, his core and his ultromotor have two fuel cells that need charging for him to operate. I’m not sure if that’s the way it is for all of you or just his type. But I need access to your power ports next.”

I find the program and open all of them.

“Just two.”

“Which two?”

“You choose.” She lifts two cords.

It’s impossible to decide where I want her to touch me. I pick two on my neck, thinking it’s safe. But the cords don’t quite reach when Esthi tries to plug me in. But it makes her come closer so I can take in another breath of her.

Her lips part when she stretches and realizes I’m too far away.

I get a glimpse of the scars on her neck.

A memory comes back to me of mines, of the siphon hoses that vacuumed out the ore.

Ghost pains flare in my neck, remembering the sticky mud and gravel on the wet piping we had to haul in on our shoulders.

“Armor?”

I steal a kiss as I draw her against me. The memory fades amid the plush heat of her lips.

Esthi hums and melts in my arms. “Arm-mer.”

I break the kiss partially because time is slim but mostly because I’m getting hard, wanting to forget the universe of problems to hide inside of her, and because my ultromotor is spooling up, wasting precious energy. “Fine. It’s not easy when you taste so good.”

She giggles nervously and steps back. I open two ports on my sides. Esthi brushes my body as she slips the connectors into place. Her contact is brief but warm and gentle in an addicting way that makes me brace her hands against me.

“Armor…” Esthi sings out. “You have to let me go so I can help.”

I rumble a low note in frustration. It isn’t easy to let her walk away when I want more, but Carver needs to be my focus. Then my Brothers. And then getting off Ellipsis and back with our kind. After that, I can have Esthi to myself.

If we survive this.

Esthi taps her tablet. A draining sensation, like I’m losing nanosolution fast, grips me. I stagger a step. But a moment after the feeling starts, it stops.

Carver’s chest moves. He curls up like he’s dying and coughs out rocks. A string of muddy drool drips from his mouth.

After disconnecting us, Esthi lowers the half-empty bottle of water to his lips and helps him drink.

ArmorCarver: Status.

CarverArmor: Operational. Power Level – 12%. I am dry and worthless as wolf shit in the desert.

“He needs oil,” I tell Esthi.

She gets up and digs through her pack, producing a small bottle with a needlepoint nose. “This is all I’ve got.”

“You have oil?” Carver rasps.