Page 10 of Thruster (Hunted Relics #9)
Kelta’s claim of me lights a stronger fire in my engines. The three of us swerve and fire at the enemy in a smooth aerial dance that leads the Solcrue in the direction we want. For a moment, I feel a long lost resonance re-emerge as the three of us bank together, arcing toward the oncoming fleet. I have missed my Brothers for so long but have found their spirit in an unlikely place.
ThrusterClover: Do you copy?
CloverThruster: Copy. Ready when you are.
ThrusterClover: Confirm shield status.
CloverThruster: bolstered and holding. Ready for impact. Break this bitch out! I’ve been stuck here for way too long.
“Who’s Clover?” Kelta asks.
"How are you hearing Titan conversations?" Holo asks before I can.
“Who is this?” Clover demands. “This is a secure channel!”
Kelta splutters as she circles up into the sky and fires down at a Solcrue fighter. “I’m Thruster’s mate. Who are you?”
“She’s a pilot, Kelta.”
Proximity Alert.
I see it in my vision and dart aside, let the Skysprinter’s fire plant in the mountainside close to where the BlazeStar hides.
Kelta dives far below Holo and the other ships that gain on us. "I tapped a screen in here, and it flashed blue, then opened a channel with different chatter. I don't know what I did."
“Who is your father?” I ask.
“Asgier Toriszi, Starjumper, Class Five. But my mother was a starship engineer.”
Clover makes a noise I can’t interpret. “Thruster, you get your mate to me as fast as you can. We need her help.”
“We have to get you out of there first.” Holo races ahead of me and banks away from Kelta’s position, drawing Solcrue fire across the mountains. “Keep going Thruster. We’ll circle back.”
I click back as a Skysprinter approaches me from behind. I levitate just enough above their ship that I can see them when I look past my rocketboots. Then I cut power, let their speed bring them to me.
Catching the wing of the Skysprinter, I grin and wave at the soldier inside, who snarls at me with deep green and black eyes. He lifts a gun and points it at me as I rip his wing in two. The ship careens toward the ground. A bullet skims my shoulder. Another punches through my side from a ship on my tail.
I never sensed them coming. They aren’t on radar.
Engines sputter. Sparks crackle inside. I try to adjust my hoverpads to compensate, but a third of my engines shut down.
Shit.
I wish there was a place for a soft landing, but we’re in mountain territory. I pick a dense forest and hope the trees slow me down enough that they ease my crashlanding.
I send out a signal to Holo where he will find my body. Then I call Kelta.
“Thruster, what’s wrong?”
“I’m tagged. Engines are failing in my lower left side. I’m going down.”
“Where are you at?”
"Ask Holo." My survival programs run, switching boost to minimal, closing up engines near critical cores, and preparing for impact.
As the wind whips around me and my roar dies to a hum, I feel the potential grip of decommissioning.
“Kelta?”
“I’m coming, Thruster.”
I laugh. “Yeah, you did.”
She chuckles softly, sadly. A sharp breath rasps over the coms. “I’m on my way.”
"Just want you to know, you've made my existence mean something. Made it personal."
“Stop talking like this, Thruster. Just focus on landing in one piece,” she quickly says.
Treetops smack my boots, rake over my body, and snap under my sheer force.
“I’m not sure, Kelta. But I think what I feel for you is lo—” A branch hits me hard in the back of the head, spinning me forward and switching off my vision.