Page 15 of Thruster (Hunted Relics #9)

When I wake hours later, Thruster’s sitting in the pilot’s seat, looking at an image onscreen. I climb into his lap and curl up against his muscled chest. I thought he was all machine until I encountered his interstitial fluid and saw the pulsing way the parts inside him moved. Thruster is not a metal machine, not completely.

“What are you looking at?”

He zooms in. “This is the cyborg that caught me. She’s part human. How much, I’m not sure. I’m glad she didn’t get to you. She hits hard.”

“Where did this picture come from?” I ask.

“Ship’s scanners.” He points in front of the nose.

Sinking dread grips me. “That’s probably who I saw when the Welvirs showed up. She disappeared right after I shot the second.” A symbol on her chest catches my attention. “Ooh, Thruster… That is not a cyborg.”

“What do you mean?”

“She’s not a Titan . If this symbol is the same one I’m remembering, then that is KillStar. She was a human Solcrue augmented with cybernetic parts from other humans. My father said they tried to free her and others, but couldn’t get her out. She had too much security around her.”

“KillStar?”

"She is more powerful than most Titans with weapons and upgrades that have been pieced together. She has the highest level of merge tech, so she can keep a few human things, like her face. Heard it's toxic as hell, though. Had to keep replacing biological parts. She's basically the Solcrue's version of a Titan, but she's a mishmash, not designed for any one purpose."

He draws me close, guides my braids behind my shoulder, and kisses my forehead. “Holo’s on his way to pick us up. Anyway, I bet she’s in constant misery with body parts fighting the others.”

“What makes you say that?”

“If I get a part from another Brother, it takes time to accept it and understand its capabilities as much as its programming to adapt to mine. We also have nanotoners that condition our interstitial fluid like spleens do with human blood. For her to be in WreckTank stages of merging…” Thruster trails off and looks away.

“What’s wrong?”

He shakes his head. “Just have a handful of flashes from that time.”

“You were a WreckTank?”

He tilts his head and looks down at me. "Every CyberTitan was at some point. It was part of the transformation process. They gave us memory blockers. They didn't quite work on Diesel. A few of us have images but not full memories. He dreams of it, remembers whole battles. But he was also a BloodCypher. Not many of us were mentally strong enough to handle that suit."

The more Thruster talks to me about what he’s seen, the destruction of Brothers, of ships, of the tearing feelings inside as his body operated without his will, the more sympathy grows in me for him and the more I want to protect him from further pain.

"I thought my life was hard in space," I admit. "I was alone on my ship for days or weeks without stopping at a communal asteroid hangar. My father drilled us with lessons on ship tech, armor, weapons, and strategy. He taught classes to other fleets. They taught us what they knew. It was just studying, scavenging debris fields, repairing ships in hangars or in space, upgrading weapons, watching over our shoulders, not sleeping more than a handful of hours at a time, always on patrol. Rag baths. Food rations."

I take his hand in mine and brace it to my cheek, begging for the comfort of his touch to ease the hopelessness I feel for our future. “Hiding, waiting…praying your kind was still out there somewhere, that we weren’t just hanging on until the Solcrue finally eliminated the last of us. But being torn apart and put back together sounds far worse.”

“I’m still here. We survived.” Thruster’s thumb sweeps over my cheek. “And I’m so glad we did.”

The rumble of engines on a ship makes us look outside.

“Holo’s here. You ready?”

“Never. I want to stay here with you forever,” I admit.

Thruster chuckles, kisses my temple, collects me, and sets me on my feet. "I wish we could, too, but we are stronger together. And I'd rather you not spend the rest of your days hiding and alone. You should be with other humans."

"Maybe I don't like other humans and only like one Titan." I still grab my weapons harness and climb into it because I know we have to go. The others need Thruster.

He’s a shy unit, the way he struggles to take a compliment.

“It’s okay,” I tell him as I open the hatch and the stairs descend. “I know I have to share. But I don’t have to like it.”

Thruster studies me for a long breath, then collects me, crushes me against the wall, and kisses me with hunger.

When he breaks the kiss and looks outside, I know Holo’s talking to him. The flashes of code I see in his eyes confirm it.

“Okay, let’s go.” I frown. Thruster sets me down.

He hikes below first, his rifle ready. Once Thruster has confirmed the area is clear and no one has wandered into our shielded area, he motions me to the ground with him.

I close up the FeatherLite and lock it with my hand. Then, I join Thruster at the cave's entrance. We cross the narrow meadow and climb the ramp of Holo's ship.

Thruster motions me to the co-pilot's seat. "I am ironically not a great pilot."

“You’re kidding.”

He grins. “Yes. I’m kidding. But I like your maneuvers.”

I waggle my brows. “You do?”

Holo purses his lips and shakes his head as he closes the ramp with a tap on a dash screen.

“What?”

“You two are like horny hot skins experiencing everything for the first time.”

“When you get your first flight to heaven, Holo, you will understand.” I wink back at Thruster, whose seams glow like a blush.

Holo lifts us up and sets us on a course toward the valley where the rebel camps hide. He glances back at Thruster, who clips into a charge port and then grips our seatbacks, watching ahead. "We managed to take down thirty-seven of forty fighters. The other three fled back to the Marst mothership. Savage wants you back on patrol, Thruster, and for Kelta to join up with Coil in the tunnels so he can get her to Clover."

Thruster shifts and grunts a note of disapproval.

“Speak your piece,” Holo calmly says as he checks the scanners.

“I don’t want another Titan touching her.”

Holo laughs haughtily once. “Don’t worry. She smells like you. They’ll know she’s claimed.”

“Shifter might not. He doesn’t seem to care.”

I notice a sprinkle of dots on a scanner and tap it to zoom in. “Shifter?”

“He can slip through cracks in walls, hide in them like he’s part of the structure.”

“Sounds cool.”

Holo nods like he agrees. “But we’ve had trouble keeping him out of the women’s cave.”

I point to the screen as his words hit me. “You just called us women.”

“That’s what you are.”

“All the Titans call us females.”

Holo cocks his head like he isn't sure why he said it either. "Perhaps it's because I've overheard Diesel speaking with Rhee more than others. He has used to the term. But right now, we need to focus on the incoming assault squad."

Thruster disconnects, lights up behind us, and opens a side door. “I’ll take care of them. Just get Kelta to the BlazeStar.”

"Copy," Holo replies like it's just another day at work.

I reach for my buckle, wondering if there’s a way I can help Thruster, like the gun I saw in the back of the ship.

“Stay,” Thruster says just before kissing me and walking back to the open door.

But before he can launch out, the floor of the ship caves upward and the ceiling tears open in a fiery green blast.

I hunker forward, but the seat harness catches me. I can't see him through the clouds of smoke. The dash lights up with warnings, and a chorus of frantic alerts pelts my ears.

Holo looks over at me. “Brace your head!”

There's no time to ask why. The co-pilot's seat seals up in an egg-shaped pod, and Holo kicks me out of the ship sideways.

As I fall, I clutch my head and scour the blue sky for what could've caused such damage. Someone in a freakish ship of swooping ailerons like a metal squid zips around Holo. I pray for a sign of Thruster, but I never see his gold light leave the door as our ship nose-dives toward the planet.

Brace for Impact flashes on the screen in my armrest. Hoverpads slow me, but I still hit the ground hard. The pod jolts and bumps as I skip and roll through desert brush that scrapes the hull. When I finally rock to a stop, I’m hanging upside down in my harness.

My whole body aches. My braids swing beneath my head. Blood pools in my face. Fucking hell.

I rip open my harness and fall to the floor, catching myself limply. Slapping the Open Door button, I’m greeted by the sunlight and the sight of a smoke trail that vanishes at the other end of the desert.

Oh, stars! Thruster?

There’s no sign of him in the sky.